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I've got a question about how the AI will deal with task force formations.
Let's say that my task force is a Space Superiority task force in a claw formation, with capital ships (carriers and ships with long-range firing capability) at the apex and pickets (fighters and destroyers used to destroy enemy fighters+missiles and harry enemy capital ships) at the tips of the claw.
The enemy has somehow circled around my task force without me knowing it, and my capital ships are soon going to be attacked by the enemy task force coming at me from behind. I've got to get my pickets between the enemy task force and my capital ships, and I've got to do it quickly.
Clearly, the fastest way for me to rearrange my pickets is to have them break formation; follow a straight line between their current position and their new position (the new position being the tips of a claw that is facing the enemy task force). In executing this maneuver my task force will be a chaotic jumble of ships for a few moments, but with any luck they will be properly rearranged before the enemy task force gets in firing range of my capital ships.
My concern is that the combat AI will set up "invisible walls," seriously restricting ship movements. The worst case would be if the AI demanded that the task force remain in claw formation throughout the duration of its pivoting maneuver; in other words, the task force will remain in claw formation, and the claw will (very slowly) turn to meet the enemy threat. The "invisible wall" will keep the ships in tight formation, even if it causes the desctruction of the task force.
Another case that would not be quite so damaging would be if the pickets were not allowed to get too close to the task force's capital ships; i.e. if the AI set up a bubble around the capital ships and said "Only capital ships may be in this bubble; everybody else must go around the bubble." The pickets might still be able to break formation, but they cannot take the fastest route to their new positions; they must circle around the invisible bubble.
The question, then, is: which of these cases (or what case that I have not mentioned) does the MOO3 AI adhere to? Does it allow for ships to completely break formation if necessary, does it set up "invisible walls" that ships may not cross but still allow for some freedom in resetting formation, or does it require that each ship adhere to the task force formation at all times?
A follow-up question would be: if two friendly task forces happen to come in extremely close proximity, will they continue to function as separate entities, will they "communicate" back and forth (in order to avoid redundancy in target selection, for example), or will they be capable of behaving as a single entity (if, for example, both task forces had similar or identical goals, and both task forces had taken some casualties such that combining task forces might be preferred to keeping the damaged task forces separate)?
Let's say that my task force is a Space Superiority task force in a claw formation, with capital ships (carriers and ships with long-range firing capability) at the apex and pickets (fighters and destroyers used to destroy enemy fighters+missiles and harry enemy capital ships) at the tips of the claw.
The enemy has somehow circled around my task force without me knowing it, and my capital ships are soon going to be attacked by the enemy task force coming at me from behind. I've got to get my pickets between the enemy task force and my capital ships, and I've got to do it quickly.
Clearly, the fastest way for me to rearrange my pickets is to have them break formation; follow a straight line between their current position and their new position (the new position being the tips of a claw that is facing the enemy task force). In executing this maneuver my task force will be a chaotic jumble of ships for a few moments, but with any luck they will be properly rearranged before the enemy task force gets in firing range of my capital ships.
My concern is that the combat AI will set up "invisible walls," seriously restricting ship movements. The worst case would be if the AI demanded that the task force remain in claw formation throughout the duration of its pivoting maneuver; in other words, the task force will remain in claw formation, and the claw will (very slowly) turn to meet the enemy threat. The "invisible wall" will keep the ships in tight formation, even if it causes the desctruction of the task force.
Another case that would not be quite so damaging would be if the pickets were not allowed to get too close to the task force's capital ships; i.e. if the AI set up a bubble around the capital ships and said "Only capital ships may be in this bubble; everybody else must go around the bubble." The pickets might still be able to break formation, but they cannot take the fastest route to their new positions; they must circle around the invisible bubble.
The question, then, is: which of these cases (or what case that I have not mentioned) does the MOO3 AI adhere to? Does it allow for ships to completely break formation if necessary, does it set up "invisible walls" that ships may not cross but still allow for some freedom in resetting formation, or does it require that each ship adhere to the task force formation at all times?
A follow-up question would be: if two friendly task forces happen to come in extremely close proximity, will they continue to function as separate entities, will they "communicate" back and forth (in order to avoid redundancy in target selection, for example), or will they be capable of behaving as a single entity (if, for example, both task forces had similar or identical goals, and both task forces had taken some casualties such that combining task forces might be preferred to keeping the damaged task forces separate)?
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