[Goober5000]

It's become apparent for quite awhile now that we've needed this, so I decided to just bite the bullet and do it. This combines the features from difficulty.tbl and the now-defunct UseNewAI command-line and mission flag to make one big übertablefile.

The nice thing about this is that unlike difficulty.tbl or the mission flag, you can have multiple profiles within your campaign.  (Thanks to Sesquipedalian for the suggestion.)  In addition to the retail profile (stored in the code, not the table file), you can create four additional profiles that you can configure whichever way you want.  You can specify which profile the game runs as default, and you can override the default in FRED on a mission to mission basis.  This is useful if you started FREDding a campaign using the retail AI but would like to use the new AI in some of the newer missions.

I'm still in the process of testing it, but it looks like it works pretty well and in any case it'll be in the new CVS build.  In the meantime, I've attached a sample table file so you can see what it looks like.  It's like an INI file in that you have a whole bunch of options that you can specify in any order.  Some of them are lists of values and some are AI flags.  Each is commented so that you can see what it controls.

There are a few neat settings in here.  There are a few bugfixes, but you can also try some other neat things like enabling the FS1 shockwave behavior so that shockwaves damage your subsystems.

EDIT: Oooops.  It looks like I uploaded my custom AI table instead of the retail one.  I'll upload the retail table when I get back home.

EDIT2: Okay, new version re-uploaded.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[StratComm]

How long do you think it will take for people to request more than 4 new AI types?

[WMCoolmon]

I'll try to wait a week before _officially_ asking about modular tables.

[FireCrack]

Intresting...

[Bobboau]

why doesn't this get merged into the exsisting ai table? then this stuff could be done on a per entity basis, you could make diferent races behave diferently.

[DaBrain]

Wow this is a great possibility for SoL.

:up:

[Wanderer]

Yep, i DLd it and noted that it offers just about everything we need for SoL AI...

[Goober5000]

why doesn't this get merged into the exsisting ai table? then this stuff could be done on a per entity basis, you could make diferent races behave diferently.

That would add another layer of complexity.  It's complex enough as it is.

Let's see how the campaigns use it first.  Mission-based AI should be sufficient for most intents and purposes.

[Cobra]

can you explain it a little more simply for us kids?

[Goober5000]

can you explain it a little more simply for us kids?

Download the file and read the comments.

[Nuke]

sounds intresting. il probibly play with it eventually.

[Cobra]

aha... i see, it kinda works like Rebel Assault II's difficulty manager, right? if it is, i can use this.

[CaptJosh]

In some respects it's like the AI difficulty settings from Command & Conquer: Red Alert's rules.ini file.

[TrashMan]

Interesting..

I didn't know FS2 retail was set so the player doesn't recive full damage.
This is so wrong.
Me and hte AI should be on equal terms. Everyone should deal the same damage from the same weapons and fire them at the same speed and recive the full damage if hit. It's that simple.

[CaptJosh]

Then you lose difficulty scaling, TrashMan. If you want everyone to deal out and take the same damage, adjust your difficulty setting. Of course, the enemy AI starts to get a bit smarter when you do that...

[Goober5000]

Table updated with another new flag.

[Pnakotus]

If I understand, does this mean you can use AI_type_yahoo for a mission, and set AI_type_yahoo up so that it contains various changes from the retail?  I never realised the AI was crippled so much, even on normal... and the game defaults to easy!  Using these tables, could a campaign author essentially override the difficulty setting, so they can have skilled, survivable AI pilots even if the player is on v.easy?  If so, thank christ: no more endless waves of laughably, pathetically poor Shivan pilots.

Anyway, I'm off to play v.hard.  While it's fair, the missions are designed around a 1vmany paradigm, so I'll get pwnzord.

[Cobra]

I didn't know FS2 retail was set so the player doesn't recive full damage.
This is so wrong.
Me and hte AI should be on equal terms. Everyone should deal the same damage from the same weapons and fire them at the same speed and recive the full damage if hit. It's that simple.

fun. wouldn't it be nice not to be able to hit anything?

[Sesquipedalian]

You can specify which profile the game runs as default, and you can override the default in FRED on a mission to mission basis. 

Um, how?

[Goober5000]

Um, how?

In the mission specs window, eventually.  Until then, just put $AI Profile: <name> at the bottom of the #Mission Info section (above #Plot Info).  FRED will load and save it properly, but I haven't edited the Mission Specs window to add a drop-down box for it yet.