[origin]

glad I read this before making any changes.  I will reread chiefs post and see what changes I should make and see what happens...

[Stormkeeper]

I usually see enemies using all their primary hardpoints, especially Seraphims.

Shivan primaries all look similar to me, though, and anyway in a firefight it's not like you're gonna close follow a Basilisk to see if its primaries are linked or not.

[origin]

You should be looking at editing the ai_profiles.tbl.  Depending on the depth of your mod, you may want to make a new profile, and have your missions use that, or you may want to write a tbm and just modify the existing FS2_RETAIL profile. 

OK now I'm confused.  Where exactly is the ai_profiles.tbl?  I can find the ai.tbl but not the other one.  Should I make a stand alone ai_profile and put in the mod or data folder?
I tired a tbm and received an error saying that I already had a FS2_RETAIL profile and the entry would be ignored.

[Spoon]

You have to create the ai_profiles.tbl yourself (dont worry, its not hard)
open note pad, copy paste this

Code: [Select]

#AI Profiles

$Default Profile:                              FS2 RETAIL

$Profile Name:                                 FS2 RETAIL

$Player Afterburner Recharge Scale:            5,    3,    2,    1.5,  1
$Max Beam Friendly Fire Damage:                0,    5,    10,   20,   30
$Player Countermeasure Life Scale:             3,    2,    1.5,  1.25, 1
$AI Countermeasure Firing Chance:              0.2,  0.3,  0.5,  0.9,  1.1
$AI In Range Time:                             2,    1.4,  0.75, 0,    -1
$AI Always Links Ammo Weapons:                 95,   80,   60,   40,   20
$AI Maybe Links Ammo Weapons:                  90,   60,   40,   20,   10
$AI Always Links Energy Weapons:               100,  80,   60,   40,   20
$AI Maybe Links Energy Weapons:                90,   60,   40,   20,   10
$Max Missles Locked on Player:                 2,    3,    4,    7,    99
$Max Player Attackers:                         2,    3,    4,    5,    99
$Max Incoming Asteroids:                       3,    4,    5,    7,    10
$Player Damage Factor:                         0.25, 0.5,  0.65, 0.85, 1
$Player Subsys Damage Factor:                  0.2,  0.4,  0.6,  0.8,  1
$Predict Position Delay:                       2,    1.5,  1.33, 0.5,  0
$AI Shield Manage Delay:                       5,    4,    2.5,  1.2,  0.1
$Friendly AI Fire Delay Scale:                 2,    1.4,  1.25, 1.1,  1
$Hostile AI Fire Delay Scale:                  4,    2.5,  1.75, 1.25, 1
$AI Turn Time Scale:                           3,    2.2,  1.6,  1.3,  1
$Player Shield Recharge Scale:                 4,    2,    1.5,  1.25, 1
$Player Weapon Recharge Scale:                 10,   4,    2.5,  2,    1.5
$Max Turret Target Ownage:                     3,    4,    7,    12,   19
$Max Turret Player Ownage:                     3,    4,    7,    12,   19
$Percentage Required For Kill Scale:           0.30, 0.30, 0.30, 0.30, 0.30
$Percentage Required For Assist Scale:         0.15, 0.15, 0.15, 0.15, 0.15
$Percentage Awarded For Capship Assist:        0.5,  0.5,  0.5,  0.5,  0.5
$Repair Penalty:                               10,   20,   35,   50,   60
$Delay Before Allowing Bombs to Be Shot Down:  1.5,  1.5,  1.5,  1.5,  1.5

$big ships can attack beam turrets on untargeted ships:  NO
$smart primary weapon selection:                         NO
$smart secondary weapon selection:                       NO
$smart shield management:                                NO
$smart afterburner management:                           NO
$allow rapid secondary dumbfire:                         NO
$huge turret weapons ignore bombs:                       NO
$don't insert random turret fire delay:                  NO
$hack improve non-homing swarm turret fire accuracy:     NO
$shockwaves damage small ship subsystems:                NO
$navigation subsystem governs warpout capability:        NO
$ignore lower bound for minimum speed of docked ship:    NO
$disable linked fire penalty:                            NO
$disable weapon damage scaling:                          NO
$use additive weapon velocity:                           NO
$use newtonian dampening:                                NO
$include beams for kills and assists:                    NO
$score kills based on damage caused:                     NO
$score assists based on damage caused:                   NO
$allow event and goal scoring in multiplayer:            NO
$fix linked primary weapon decision bug:                 NO
$prevent turrets targeting too distant bombs:            NO
$smart subsystem targeting for turrets:                  NO
$fix heat seekers homing on stealth ships bug:           NO
$multi allow empty primaries:                            NO
$multi allow empty secondaries:                          NO
$allow turrets target weapons freely:                    NO
$use only single fov for turrets:                        NO
$allow vertical dodge:                                   NO

#End
And alter till your hearts content.
Then save it as ai_profiles.tbl in yourmod\data\tables
FS2_retail is the default one though, you'll have to assign your custom profile in FRED.

[Akalabeth Angel]

I usually see enemies using all their primary hardpoints, especially Seraphims.

Yes but Seraphims only mount one type of Shivan laser do they not?

[origin]

Thanks everyone for the help - lets see if this does the trick.

EDITED - oh yeah that did it - works just like I hoped.  So once again I thank all of you.  This really is by far the best modding community on the 'net.

[Commander Zane]

I usually see enemies using all their primary hardpoints, especially Seraphims.

Yes but Seraphims only mount one type of Shivan laser do they not?
They mount all Shivan Light Lasers, but it's on three seperate banks, each one is on a very noticable location i.e. wingtips, center, dorsal.