F-4J engages Mig23 AI++

[xpelekis]

Smart AI capable of Aerial Combat Manouvering (ACM).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9wensPC-oY

Not finalized yet.

[Hooky722]

OOOOOooooOOOHHH!!! This brings a new spin on it!!! Impressive I shall be keeping an eye on this

[joe bob]

Sweeeeeet!

[Peg o my heart]

Oh that was awesome..!!

I always wonder how it feels to be inside the cockpit during real dogfight. A bit OOT but I remembered this clip right away afterwatching your recording...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0kAJunnnGQ

[YoYo]

Nice job! :wavey:

[Bjoern]

How do you trigger air combat mode? Fly to a waypoint where the OPFOR will spawn and where you can fight them?

[xpelekis]

This is one way.
What I prefer is AI being airborne patrolling between 2 Wpts and when user reaches a certain
Latitude or Longtitude (some miles away of the AI), this triggers a new Wpt for AIs after which
they have no Wpt to follow. Then the Simvar.exe takes over to guide AIs towards the player, proximation
to whom triggers the ACM.
Since AIs are already airborne, I can track them down with Radar and head to them.

[evvatc]

Wow, this sounds great!

Will the AI aircraft be able to recognize weapons launched at them and maneuver to evade them?

This is very interesting.

[Stickshaker]

This looks very interesting. Can the AI be used in combination with TacPac (to set up position, speed etc.) or is it purely a standalone feature?

[xpelekis]

Thank you for the comments. Some info about this.

The AI fighting the player, is a two parts act :

1. AI intercepting the player, ie moving towards & following him (offensive)
2. Evasive Manouvering if player at "Six" (defensive)

While the offensive mode is dynamic, ie AI plane tries to much speed & altitude
to get at player's position (first video),
the defensive mode is passive, ie random change of AI flight direction every few seconds
for AI manouvering out of current plane every few secs :


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY-6MMOvYPg

As I'm planning this right now, the condition that triggers the change
between these 2 modes (ie, offensive/defensive) is the enter or exit of
the player inside an area at "Six" of AI plane 1.5 Km wide.
On Player's Enter, AI goes defensive, On Exit AI goes offensive.

Another triggering feature (already impemented) is : each time player pulls the joystick
trigger (guns or missile either), AI goes defensive mode. If lucky enough, it may dodge
an incoming missile.

Since AIs can drop free falling objects (bombs, flares, parachuters, etc), it can also
be triggered for dropping flares also upon player's joystick trigger action.
I don't think such flares will be functional with Tacpack (since they are not being casted
via the Tacpack), but for immersion purposes it'll do.

This is an AI dropping a free falling bomb :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k9uqUF0AlY

For making things clear, this works only in Single playing. These are achieved by "patched"
.xml code in FSX Missions and Tacpack does not work in MP Missions. CS Weapons work
alright in MP missions but then there are other issues of net synchronization.

[Stickshaker]

Hello xPelekis,

Sounds very interesting! As I am not familiar with computer programming at all, I wonder what the user has to do in the 'finished product' to get the AI working. Do you have to modify the AI planes, or activate a certain function in FSX? But perhaps this is for later, I suppose you will write a brief manual?

[xpelekis]

Nothing "fancy" from user side... Progresses well and I hope I'll have it ready very soon
for beta testing from anyone interested.... But for sure not today.

[Dutcheeseblend]

Very interesting! I'm hoping for something like this since using TacPack. Could this also be suitable for WW2 birds? Might have different engagement radii, to make a dogfight more interesting...

[xpelekis]

Sure !... Principle is the same. It will just take a smaller triggering area and some test for proper WWII AI flying "model".

[Stickshaker]

Good to hear, xPelekis. I totally agree with Dutchcheeseblend

[roger-wilco-66]

WW2??? That sounds great!

[JimmyRFR]

Excellent videos.

A few questions for you:

- is the AI flight model customized or generic? As in, can you provide realistic turn / climb / roll / acceleration profiles for the AI to match the aircraft being used?
- if generic, are you forcing the AI to maneuver beyond the hard-coded settings in place for AI? As in, is your AI limited in bank angles and airspeed?

I was working on something similar last year, via an external program utilizing simconnect, and I stumbled on the above points. I started to play with the idea of controlling 100% of the AI movement using JSBSim, but it was clear it'd take me longer than I have to finish such a thing!

Regardless, watching this with great interest. :)

[xpelekis]

The offensive "mode" is generic but has the ability to direct itself towards the player. The AI is capable enough at the
horizontal plane (as in first video), good at turn descending and generic when goes skywards.

The defensive mode is not limited by anything : It can do rolls, hard brake turns, loops, Immelmans, barel rolls, whatever you name it... (as in the second video).

Now, the AI must "match" to it's flying parameters with user's aircraft. For example, the AI in second video is overpowered for the Phantom (needs less throttle and less elevator - this needs a bit of testing).

[JimmyRFR]

The defensive mode is not limited by anything : It can do rolls, hard brake turns, loops, Immelmans, barel rolls, whatever you name it... (as in the second video).

Are you giving it exact position and movement instructions, or letting it fly itself as an AI entity? Either way, as someone who's spent a good deal of time on this exact topic, I'm quite impressed. Good work.


Now, the AI must "match" to it's flying parameters with user's aircraft.

Actually, to be honest, I think it's far more proper that the AI matches it's flying parameters to it's type. That would let you dogfight with anything, and see the shortcomings of either the opponent, or your own aircraft. That was my goal when I started looking into implementing JSBSim to 'fly' the AI aircraft. This is also why I ended up abandoning the idea; I quickly realized that trying to accurately profile even one type of AI aircraft to fly as it properly should would take eons and involve far more energy than I was willing to invest.

[xpelekis]

This is a demo mission for you to have a first hand taste of the "AI defensive mode".
At the same time is a complete Combat FSX Mission with Weapon addons for the Tomcat drivers
(whether it be Catanneo's or Aerosoft's), engaging the user in an Interception task with
return to carrier Nimitz for landing.
Though mission does not start from carrier - for a complete sortie feeling - to save myself
some work, it serves it's purpose.

Download link here : http://flyingspirit.freehostia.com/Airpower/aimig.html
For not writing again the same things and sharing some other work of mine also (FSX only).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqqFrP5tAIs

Now on the main project, an obstacle has came in play :

Though AI can change from "defensive" to "offensive" mode, I can't make the opposite to happen.
This is due to an FSX AI control issue. At offensive mode FSX has no AI control to the AI, while in
defensive mode the opposite is the case.
I've thought of some tricks but remains to be seen.

On another note, offensive mode is just enough for planes like the Milviz F-4E/J that lose
energy fast in hard manouvering (like is the case in first video).

Ultimate purpose of this project is the ability of user to use programs like CCP & FSX@War for
spawning carrier, targets and various sea/land/air units inside FSX Mission environment where mission
controled "smart AIs" will exist for fighting & challenging the player.

[Dutcheeseblend]

Great great great!

Regarding the problem: Is it possible to reload the AI? I can imagine the default mode is Defensive (that's what I conclude from your posts), when it will change to Offensive the AI can't be set to Defensive anymore, but when the AI is reloaded it's Defensive again. Is that a correct thought? I'm not very familiar with the AI system, so...

Great work anyway!

[xpelekis]

Included "Read Me" in download updated with info :
1. Find the Mission under the "Challenges" category.
2. Run "Simvar.exe" prior flying the mission.



Regarding the problem: Is it possible to reload the AI? I can imagine the default mode is Defensive (that's what I conclude from your posts), when it will change to Offensive the AI can't be set to Defensive anymore, but when the AI is reloaded it's Defensive again. Is that a correct thought?

Reloading the AI is the workaround I'm also thinking. Though the default mode is "offensive" (ie, AI dynamically heading for the user). And when user manages for the AI's "Six", then the
"defensive" should take over (ie, highly manouverable AI changing randomly flight direction).