[diamondgeezer]

Right, here are parts of the entries for two fighters I'm experimenting with:

Fighter the first
--------------------

$Damp:         0.15
$Rotdamp:      0.35
$Max Velocity:      0.0, 0.0, 175.0
$Rotation time:      3.3, 3.3, 3.3
$Rear Velocity:      0.0
$Forward accel:      1.0
$Forward decel:      0.75
$Slide accel:      0.0
$Slide decel:      0.0
$Power Output:      2.0
$Max Oclk Speed:      210.0
$Max Weapon Eng:      0.0
$Hitpoints:      280
$Flags:         ( "in tech database" "player_ship" "default_player_ship" "fighter" "ballistic primaries")
$AI Class:      Captain
$Afterburner:      YES
   +Aburn Max Vel:   0.0, 0.0, 280.0
   +Aburn For accel:   0.6
   +Aburn Fuel:   330.0
   +Aburn Burn Rate:   60.0
   +Aburn Rec Rate:   25.0



Fighter the second
------------------------

$Density:         1
$Damp:         0.1
$Rotdamp:         0.3
$Max Velocity:      25.0, 25.0, 250.0
$Rotation time:      3.35, 3.35, 3.35
$Rear Velocity:      25.0
$Forward accel:      0.80
$Forward decel:      0.70
$Slide accel:      2.0
$Slide decel:      2.0
$Power Output:      1.5
$Max Oclk Speed:      275.0
$Max Weapon Eng:      100.0
$Hitpoints:         280
$Flags:         ("fighter" "in tech database")
$AI Class:         Captain
$Afterburner:      YES
   +Aburn Max Vel:   0.0, 0.0, 310.0
   +Aburn For accel:   0.4
   +Aburn Fuel:   300.0
   +Aburn Burn Rate:   70.0
   +Aburn Rec Rate:   25.0


My problem is thus - the second fighter, which is an AI controlled enemy, is whooped by the first fighter. And I don't just mean me and the computer in a one-on-one - I set up a twelve on eight dogfight, and the bad guys only got one of my guys at best, and I only got one or maybe two of them so it was mostly AI vs AI...

Now, the idea is that the baddie fighter, the second one, is faster but less manouverable than the goodie fighter, so they're pretty evenly matched - but is this actually going to pan out in game? Is there a way to jig the bad guy so that he's on an even footing with the good guy whilst keeping the speed/agility thing? Or do you lot think I'm best off giving the two ships equal stats and just lying in the tech descriptions?

I shall leave you to ponder the riddle I have set before you...

[StratComm]

What difficulty setting were you on when you were testing?  That could explain it.  The other possibility is that player-friendly ships automatically execute a better AI algorithm in order to give them survivability as wingmen.  The fighters don't appear to be significantly different in the tables you posted other than some minor turning/slide/speed/acceleration differences.  Try reversing the tables, making it 8 on 12 with your allies being the "enemy" fighter and the "good" fighter as the hostiles and see if you get the same results.  Knowing a bit more about the fighters and weapons would of course help, but I can understand the desire to keep that secret.

[Sesquipedalian]

Given the very similar values for the $Rotation Times...

Thought the first:  
Fighter #1 is using ballistic primaries and thus is not sending any energy to weapons.  It may be that this extra energy is being rerouted to shields and engines, which would boost its speed and survivability both.  I am not sure, however, as I haven't tried it out myself.

Thought the second:
Differences in weaponry could be a major factor here.

Thought the third:  
It may be that the higher velocity of Fighter #2 is working counter-productively.  I know precious little of the workings of the AI, but if it is doing a bad job of matching speed with the target, lots of overshooting is possible.  I believe I once heard that the Velocity Mod had to reduce the $Rotation Time of each ship to a fraction of its original value to compensate for the radically increased velocities for precisely this problem.

[IceFire]

FS2's AI goes to hell when you get above 140 m/s basically.  They do not perform like they do at slower speeds.

[CP5670]

I see the hitpoints in those entries but not the shield points; what are they set to? The first one also seems to have a significantly better power output, which I think affects the rate at which shields recharge (among other things). The other possibility is the speed thing that Icefire is talking about; the computers do lots of strange things at those kinds of speeds.

[diamondgeezer]

[Dr Weir] Where we're going, we won't need shields... [/Dr Weir]

No shields, see

The weapons are more or less equal - the bad guys have an energy cannon with half the fire rate but twice the damage of the good guys' balistic primaries. The diffcultie is is set to medium, as it should always be when testing

I'll go experiment some more when work gives me five minutes to myself