[spuds]

For the mod we're working on I'd like to add some dogfighting moves like "let him pass" and split S and skid and the momentum fighting style ect. How do you do that. The tables don't manage this part.

[Sushi]

Well, if by "skid" you mean glide, then yes, there is some support for those moves.

http://hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Ai_profiles.tbl#.24Glide_Attack_Percent:

The "let him pass" and split-S thing you'd have to code yourself.

[stuart133]

This would be pretty cool if you can do this. Love to see these ideas implemented in the game. It would also help with my board game somewhat. 

[General Battuta]

This seems like a poor idea (aside from glide). Why not just do the maneuvers yourself, as a real pilot would?

[Sushi]

This seems like a poor idea (aside from glide). Why not just do the maneuvers yourself, as a real pilot would?

I assumed he meant having the AI do it.

[eliex]

There was a really nice thread on "Things that AI Could Use" long ago in FGenDisc. Spuds might want to look for that if that thread is found.

[The E]

Well, to tweak the AI, you need to make an AI profile. http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Ai_profiles.tbl will show you how it looks like. Other AI settings can be found here: http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Ai.tbl

In addition, the AI skill is heavily dependant on the difficulty setting, the AI on Insane is not to be underestimated.

[General Battuta]

Yeah. The FreeSpace AI is actually nothing to sneeze at. Unless they have something to run into.

[stuart133]

Yeah. The FreeSpace AI is actually nothing to sneeze at. Unless they have something to run into.

What is with that. Even on insane the AI still crashes into stuff so often. I once lost a mission beacause the AI crashed into the cargo that I needed to protect. Dumb-ass pilots! 

[The E]

Those are different things. The AI on insane is competent in terms of dogfighting, but it still has problems avoiding collisions with large objects.

[Droid803]

Actually, they have trouble avoiding collisions in general.
I've seen them bumping against wingmates a lot when there's nothing to do.

[The E]

Have you played the game on insane yet? Where the player isn't buffed by the engine, and there is no restriction on how many enemies may target you at any given point? And where the AI is a lot more responsive compared to lower difficulties?

[General Battuta]

In real life having 25 kills means you are the crack pilot of an entire nation. Where as in freespace i have scored 183 kills in one mission, and by all acounts i'm a washout pilot (that took a 1.25 hours). In real life, a 4 on 4 fight would likely last for 5 to 6 minutes ending with meby 1 to 2 kills (sometimes none). I would like for freespace to be similar. 

Go play Falcon 4.0.

Alternatively, play on Insane (where you don't get as many invisible damage buffers, targeting protections, and AI handicaps) and delete your pilot file every time you die.

FreeSpace is meant to be fun, which real life isn't.

[NGTM-1R]

In real life, on the scale of combat FreeSpace proposes, 25 kills isn't much. The Luftwaffe's high scorers were well over 100.

25 in a single sortie is not as impressive as it seems either. The main barrier to such things in recent years has been lack of targets. Before that, it was lack of munitions. (And it still is, really.) FS craft suffer from neither.

[Dragon]

I'm making a mod that aims to be realistic, but it's really difficult to survive a dogfight flying 300m/s, with AI using it's weapons at maximum ROF and missiles being pretty much one hit kills (of course if they hit, at those velocities missile kills occur either from standoff or tail, medium range ones are rare). I had recently dropped the second idea (fast firing AI on all levels), but it's still difficult. If you want more realistic kill counts you may also try WCS, there you will most likely have 2-5 kills each patrol.

[stuart133]

Urrrgh WCS in insane was a whole new dimension of pain!

But still realism isn't really something that one can bring to FS. With fully Newtonian physics there is no "tail shots", the other fighter can just turn around and blast away. In real space combat fighters would be swept away very fast

[Scotty]

If that is the case, I suggest you head over to the multiplayer part of the game.

PM QuantumDelta if you want a good fight.

EDIT:  Holy **** I feel like a douchebag for that one.

[Dragon]

But still realism isn't really something that one can bring to FS. With fully Newtonian physics there is no "tail shots", the other fighter can just turn around and blast away. In real space combat fighters would be swept away very fast

Newtonian flight model was added into FS2 engine once, by Babylon 4: The Minbari Project demo. I really liked it because it was both fun and realistic, though I have to say that it was difficult compared to FS2 or TBP. I'm going to include such flight model as soon as it will be possible, until then I'm sticking to semi-realistic, BSG-like psychics.