Vehicle Avoidance System
For a while, one major issue with vehicles was that they could drive full speed into each other and get stuck.
The problem was fairly simple: vehicles were not really aware of each other.
Static map geometry is easier to deal with. Roads, buildings, slopes, forests, and blocked areas can be baked into the navigation data or handled through pathfinding. Other vehicles are different. They move around, stop in unexpected places, and sometimes block the exact path another vehicle wants to take.
The first step was adding a registry of all active vehicles. This allows each vehicle to check if there are any others nearby, and whether they should be considered as an obstacle.
The second step was adjusting the driving logic itself. Vehicles in Drone Sector use a physics-based driving simulation, so the AI is not just moving them directly from point A to point B. It has to apply throttle, braking, and steering.
The solution I’m using right now is not perfect, but it works much better than before. When a vehicle detects another vehicle blocking its path, it adjusts its local destination point to steer around the obstacle. In practice, this usually makes it slow down, turn to the side, and continue once it has a clearer path.
There are still cases where it can fail. Very narrow passages are difficult, because there may simply be no room to drive around. Multiple vehicles blocking the same path can also cause problems. Currently the system mainly considers the most important obstacle, instead of solving the full traffic situation.
Still, this is a big step forward. It cuts out most unnecessary vehicle collisions, and when collisions do happen, the AI is much better at recovering instead of getting stuck forever.
Two Ammo Types Per Weapon
I’ve also updated the weapon ammo system.
Previously, each weapon had one ammo type assigned to it. This worked, but it made some more situational ammo types hard to justify. If smoke rounds, cluster explosives, or armor-piercing rounds took up a whole weapon slot, it was often safer to just bring more general-purpose explosive ammo instead.
Now each weapon can carry two ammo types. The player can also decide the ammo ratio between them.
For example, a weapon could carry 90% HE rounds and 10% smoke rounds, just in case smoke is needed during the mission. Or it could carry 70% HE rounds for infantry and lighter targets, with 30% AP rounds for heavier armor.
The goal is to make experimental and situational ammo more practical, without forcing the player to give up a whole weapon slot for something they may only need a few times.
What’s Next
In a few weeks I want to update the public demo build.
Ingmar Trump