Setting Aggression Levels in CFS3

**Daiwilletti** · April 17th, 2016, 15:02

Finally had a bit of quality time and installed Rising Sun and the Hotfix. Great add-on, am looking forward to trying Talon/Hobbit et al.'s work on theatres such as PNG.

When going through files in the AppData pathway (Win 10), I found an interesting line in the _mission.xml file. For the escorting fighters (QC mode, intercept was the mission I flew), there was an entry Aggression="2".

Does anyone know how this entry got there, or if there is any other file controlling the appearance of the entry? I got shot down by the escorting fighters, but that may have been simply unfamiliarity with the P40b. However the fighters seemed a bit more persistent than usual.

How long will the Aggression entry remain in the _mission.xml file, which gets rewritten for each mission? All these questions and no answers...

D

**Daiwilletti** · April 17th, 2016, 15:06

Of course I could try adding an aggression entry in the pilotconstants.xml, for both AI fighter and bomber pilots, but I am not sure how widely this set of constants is applied. Pilotconstants.xml seems to apply to all pilots flying with you in a campaign, but not sure if it influences QC enemy AI...

**Led Zeppelin** · April 20th, 2016, 11:58

I don't know, I have never seen this entrey before.

In PTO/Rising sun, the "problem" is CFS3: AI Japanese fighters have a huge advantage, your AI wingmen will always engage a dogfight and be shot down.... and once you"re alone, you're dead. I don't think it has anything to do with a parameter in a file.
You vave the same problem un ETO/MAW when you fly a 109 against Spitfire for exemple.

***NachtPiloten*** · April 20th, 2016, 13:36

In mission files we have:

<Unit ID="9211" Type="spit_MkIa" IsPlayer="y" Skill="2" Payload="0"/>
<Unit ID="9212" Type="spit_MkIa" Skill="1" Payload="0"/>

and the skill is whether the pilot is a rookie veteran etc. I reviewed campaigns and did not see "aggression"

**Daiwilletti** · April 20th, 2016, 14:00

After a bit of experimentation, it appears that the Aggression parameter in the AppData\Roaming pathway for Rising Sun, in the _mission.xml file, disappears after you fly a different sort of mission. This suggests that the Aggression parameter is an artefact of the original instal which does not persist.

However I would dearly love to find a way to get the parameter to persist, IIRC the parameter gets exploited in the BHAH/WOFF series.

I am experimenting with adding an Aggression parameter to the pilotattributes.xml file (sorry I mentioned pilotconstants above but I always mix the two files up

) but as said before I don't know how widely the pilotattributes are applied, whether it is only to AI wingmen in a campaign setting.

@LedZeppelin, I agree there is very much a mismatch between the 109 and spitfire in ETO but that subject deserves its own thread !

@Nachtpiloten, yes skill is the widely used parameter but I am sure I have read old threads in OFF where an aggression parameter is discussed, which is why I was so interested to see the aggression parameter appear initially in my Missions\_mission.xml file under the AppData\Roaming etc pathway.

As mentioned, the aggression parameter only appeared at first use in the _mission.xml file, using the default QC option of intercepting an escorted bomber formation, and the aggression parameter applied to the escorting enemy fighters. The _mission.xml file gets overwritten every time a different mission is flown, so it was only by chance I looked at the file in the fresh RS install, before flying a different type of mission.

Another possible route is to insert the parameter into the uisel.xml, in the same way that I use to influence campaign mission skill levels.

**gecko** · April 22nd, 2016, 09:21

WOFF may or may not use it, they rewrote the AI (wish someone here knew how to do that!) so they may have just created a new parameter. However, what you've found may still be active as is. Have you tried doing that same QC setup and alt-tabbing out of the mission, changing the value and resuming the mission?

Somewhat related, I once found a file that contains the results of your last mission. It is created at the end of the mission and deleted sometime before exiting CFS3. For the life of me I can't find it again. It may have some useful info as well.

**Daiwilletti** · April 22nd, 2016, 17:11

Originally Posted by gecko

WOFF may or may not use it, they rewrote the AI (wish someone here knew how to do that!) so they may have just created a new parameter. However, what you've found may still be active as is. Have you tried doing that same QC setup and alt-tabbing out of the mission, changing the value and resuming the mission?

Somewhat related, I once found a file that contains the results of your last mission. It is created at the end of the mission and deleted sometime before exiting CFS3. For the life of me I can't find it again. It may have some useful info as well.

hi gecko

, yesterday I read an interesting post by Winding Man about their approach to AI behaviour. It included matters such as health and fatigue, even proximity to the frontline! Here is the bit I have:

"We are able to make the AI fly even closer to the limits of every aircraft - we have set them to what we believe is representative of the pilots in WW1 and to what makes the game 'playable/survivable' to a certain degree (degree being so relative).

Things to consider when looking at flying/skill aspects of AI:

1) What is his rating Novice Veteran Ace etc.

2) What is his current morale state - affected by
Proximity to lines
Over enemy terrain or over friendly terrain
How many friendlies with him and their state
How many enemies near him and their state
His aircraft state
His health state
Does he have good altitude and position - tactical state

If morale is low he is defensive and trying to get away

3) What is his current fatigue state - is he tired - if so limits certain moves.

4) Proximity to ground - limits certain moves - looking out to avoid trees scenery objects and terrain

5) Is he executing Offensive or Defensive moves - due to proximity and position of other aircraft (not just player)" - Winding Man 2013

Obviously a lot of this stuff is new but what I am interested in is what is "native" to CFS3? Wouldn't mind betting fatigue, health, eyesight (mentioned in a thread recently) help an AI pilot's skill/aggression behaviour.

The parameter "aggression" is relevant to CFS3, I just don't know if it is hidden in the main exe or capable of being influenced. The file about results must be the one which is accessed in early versions of OFF, because they always showed stats after a mission so it seems logical it is something hidden away in the various log files that float around. I am pretty sure I've seen the parameter "aggression" mentioned in CFS3 log files, along with the references to odd pilot assignments like "kamikaze_attack" and other artefacts that may never have been operationalised.

Good suggestion about alt tabbing out of the mission I definitely want to pursue this however likely to be slowly as I am at a critical phase in rebuilding a motorbike in real life!