[AI] Ion beam ships cannot attack concave ships

mleise

When under AI control, ships with nothing but ion beams fail to attack concave ships. The AI targets a part, but doesn't move into a position and orientation where the ion beams could touch it. Instead it seems to aim at a point slightly beyond the center of the enemy ship's bounding circle. Here is a simple set of two such ships:
image https://i.imgur.com/C72QQWR.png
image https://i.imgur.com/4pFSLF1.png
The same might apply to rail guns, but I haven't tested. Needless to say, not trying to deal damage is quite a problem for an AI in command of a battle ship. 🙂
A related issue is that - as far as I can tell - the AI doesn't really rotate the ship so that the ion beams will hit the targeted part. Especially after losing weapons one side of the ship, the AI should angle the ship to have the beams go on target. In the worst case it would fly into firing range, but the enemy is so thin that all remaining beams aim past it. Here is an example of a ship with an ion beam on the far left. When controlled by AI, it does not attempt to aim the weapon at an enemy straight ahead:
image https://i.imgur.com/oa210h6.png

Lafiel

Wrong tag.
This is not a bug. The reason are multi fold.

Range limit because the main target is far in the back, beyond the range while worthless targets are nearby and the ship keeps its distance (avoidance)
The ion is far from the center of the ship, hence. It can not be targeted from the ships center of mass where the control axis are. Weapons are not the center of the ship's world. 😆
It doesn't matter because such an enemy ship would also be out of range itself. If it has valuable parts in range it would be attacking and be attacked.

mleise

Lafiel
I didn't call it a bug, but it is certainly a valid issue that needs to be addressed.

Range limit because the main target is far in the back, beyond the range while worthless targets are nearby and the ship keeps its distance (avoidance)

That makes sense.

The ion is far from the center of the ship, hence. It can not be targeted from the ships center of mass where the control axis are.

That does not make sense, How do people make railgun brooms hit a specific enemy part in multiplayer if that's not possible? Also a damaged ion beam ship that lost its right side beams should be able to get the remaining left side on target and not aim past it.

It doesn't matter because such an enemy ship would also be out of range itself. If it has valuable parts in range it would be attacking and be attacked.

That's not what's happening ingame. Take these two ships as a better example. See how the L shaped "ship" fires from all cannons, while the ion beam ship stands there and stares at the railgun launchers i put there as bait. It neither closes in to destroy them not does it turn to engage the cannons. Can't handwave that away as a non-issue.
image https://i.imgur.com/OFjs1O1.png
image https://i.imgur.com/DznFBBu.png

Lafiel

The ship does not aim by controlling itself from the weapon. It steers based on approximation from it's center. It works for turrets but not for fixed weapons. Brooms work because they cover a wide area so some weapon will fire while others may not.

Railguns have higher targetting priority so the AI will not target the cannons. And because the ring is large based on the diameter which is larger than the actual one sided size the distance the ships keeps due to avoidance is also larger. Simple math.

mleise

Lafiel

The ship does not aim by controlling itself from the weapon. It steers based on approximation from it's center. It works for turrets but not for fixed weapons. Brooms work because they cover a wide area so some weapon will fire while others may not.

What I meant is what we players manually do: Rotate the ship during an attack to make all railguns fire in succession at the same target. It shows that angled attacks technically work, but the AI does not yet know how to make use of the feature to ensure that beam weapons go on target if they are off center for whatever reason.

Railguns have higher targetting priority so the AI will not target the cannons.

That's why I said "as bait".

And because the ring is large based on the diameter which is larger than the actual one sided size the distance the ships keeps due to avoidance is also larger. Simple math.

I understand the technical side, but it doesn't give me a cozy feeling about ships effectively being disabled by the shape of the enemy. 😖

Lafiel

That's why I proposed a long time ago to add variable range