@Amechwarrior : Testing the 1.1.0 AI with the exactly same battle as I tested with yesterday. In fact, I am making the EXACT SAME opening moves.
20M
enemy: locust 1V + Vindicator + SHD-2D + QKD (with one ML removed to make the 20M limit)
Me: Spider + 2 Cataphract
In 1.0:
My spider did what it always did running flank of the enemy and luring them away from the main force. The locust and the QKD took the bait, ran into visual range of my cataphracts after the spider, shooting ineffectively. All these while the SHD and the vindicator stayed out of visual range in the back, pinging and taking pot shots.
In 1.1.0:
My spider did the exact same thing. This time round, the locust did the same thing moving towards the spider but sensor locked one of my phracts and then all 3 of the enemy lance fired at my spider, missing everything but 2 or 3 LRM rounds. Once again, the enemy wasted one move pinging someone they aren't firing on.
In 1.0:
Because the QKD ran out into visual range after the spider very aggressive, showing its side to my 2 cataphracts, it took only 1.5 rounds to kill it by banging through its right torso and hence its CT. Locust chased my spider up a cliff before I gave it the off the cliff shake off... so basically, it had to go back around and down the cliff, taking itself out of the fight.
In 1.1.0:
This time round the QKD didn't run out after the spider like it did yesterday. Instead, it stayed back with the other 2 mechs in the forest towards the back end of the map. I continued to move my phracts towards the center staging area of the map where I usually post up and then, instead of the QKD, this time round, the SHD came to the edge of the forest within visual range AND..... sensor locked me... placing itself square in sight for punishment with forest cover. Instead of chasing the spider further, the locust turned around and headed towards my mainbody too. Its interesting to see such dramatically different behavior under the exact same conditions and in response to the exact same moves that I made before. Yesterday, the locust was just hiding and pinging almost all the time but today, the locust pinged me only once and proceeded directly to taking back shots on my team... I think this is a dramatically improved behavior!!!
The similarities ended there and VERY interesting things started happening...
The AI reserved down, forcing my phracts to move first and then after I have fired at the SHD, the VND jumped out of the forest into another closer forest to the left of my mainbody and fired at my phract rather than focusing on the spider like it did yesterday. The QKD jumped out of the forest to the right out into the open and fired and missed my spider which is currently almost coming around the back of the enemy mainbody. Locust was also approaching from the flank rather than chasing the spider like it did yesterday.
The QKD then moved out to chase the spider and ended up at that exact spot showing me the exact same right side as it did yesterday. I did the same thing, taking out its right arm and right torso but failed to get its leg this time. The QKD turned its attention towards my main body , moving towards me and firing and turned its injured side away from us. At the same time the SHD and VND were hiding in the forest behind, taking LRM and PPC potshots at my mainbody and the locust is already in position for back shots on my phracts.
Round 6, my spider is already taking back shots at the QKD. Now the VND and SHD comes out of hiding to fire at my spider. At the same time, I turn my phracts around and meleed the locust to death since the locust is on the blind side of the slope, I could do so without getting return fire from them. At this time, the spider took 2 very bad back hits on the QKD, almost coring through it, now all the enemies have turned to engage the spider. So I prompted killed hte QKD as it turned around with its back to my main body.
QKD died but the SHD and VND were still hanging around the forest at the back , shooting at the spider. 4 evasion pips seems to be god mode... Almost nothing but LRM rounds could hit the spider. The spider ran all the way to the back of the map, taking more back shots on both the SHD and VND. The AI seems really confused now as the VND simply sprinted out into the open like he just panicked! (was this by design??) Of course when a mech make a mistake like this, its going to die... my phracts killed him in a single volley of LL fire.
So now the SHD is last man standing on the enemy team while I still have my full team practically intact.
The SHD gave up chasing the spider and turned around and moved towards my mainbody. I stopped taking back shots on the SHD with my spider just so I can see what its last mech standing behavior would be like.
The SHD charged headlong towards my phracts firing away. I braced all my mechs just to see what its going to do, including my spider behind him. Then suddenly, he turned around and fired one nice salvo into my now stationary spider! Sneaky little B! Taking advantage of any and every little opening! (which is an interesting and good thing btw!) My spider starting to sprint away again badly injured. And interestingly, the SHD pursued the spider! I could have cored it out from the back with my phracts but I didn't and let it play out what its going to do. My spider ran so fast its out of sight real quick. The SHD then turned around again and engaged my phracts at brawling range. I let it fire at my lance for 3 full rounds before putting it down.
Overall, it was very interesting to see VERY different behavior in this version of the AI! The enemy mechs weren't hot enough to test for how far they will push the overheat ... will test again next time with kintaros in a desert and see what happens. All in all, I felt like this time round, the AI behaved even more humanly than the last time, making more human like decisions such as changing target priority based on changing conditions and was playing their role well. And do I have to mention how HUGE a difference this is vs vanilla AI hahahha. Thank you for the hard work and hope this info serves to help with fine tuning this extremely awesome mod!
