Combat AI

## General notes

When you start bringing multiple ships into combat, you'll soon realize that the AI-controlled ships don't seem to be very effective in combat. You can see them flying around and shooting at the enemy, but they almost never score a kill. At least, not in space, but they seem to do a lot better in aerial combat.

Figuring out what the problem is, and what to do about it, is difficult because it's not possible to set up any kind of controlled experiments. Also, it's hard to determine just what the AI is doing, because you can't "ride along" with an AI-controlled ship. Everything on this page necessarily involves a lot of guesswork and shouldn't be taken as fact.

When going into combat, it's important to configure your squadron correctly.

* Transporters: if you're expecting to pick up salvage, disable the transporter from engaging in combat. If you're not expecting salvage, have the transporter retreat.
* Bombers: if you're expecting to need the bomber, disable it from engaging in combat. If you're not expecting to need it, have the bomber retreat.
* Ships without energy weapons: either disable them from engaging in combat until you're ready to fly them, or enable the use of non-energy weapons (that will also enable them to use any rockets or missiles).
* Ships with energy weapons plus rockets or missiles: enable the use of non-energy weapons if you're willing to pay for the extra destructive power they bring.
* Ships with chainguns and energy weapons but no rockets or missiles: consider enabling the use of non-energy weapons (the chainguns).

## Theory 1: Plasma weapons aren't a good match (against fighting ships)

### Underlying theory: failure to prosecute

If you watch an AI fighter in combat, you'll see that it will fire maybe a half-second burst against an enemy, then fly away. If one happens to be close enough, you can hear the short burst of cannon fire. The problem is that the AI doesn't lock on to the enemy, and the enemy gets away.

Dealing 50% damage against each of four enemies still leaves four enemies attacking you and four enemies for you to shoot down. Half-way measures aren't nearly as valuable as executing a kill.

Things get worse when you're attacking shielded enemies, which is almost always the case except in aerial battles. The short burst of cannon fire is absorbed by the shields, and the shields quickly recharge. In that situation, nothing is accomplished.

### Ion cannons

You want to get the shields badly damaged, and very preferably completely knocked out so they're inoperative during the first 50% of their recharge time. A short burst from plasma cannon won't do the job. That task calls for ion cannons. As many ion cannons as you can mount.

It's even better if you can back them up with laser cannons instead of plasma cannons, in order to deal as much damage as possible before the enemy's shields come back up.

Choice ship configurations:

* Viper with 2x Ion Cannon on the hardpoint, adding to the 2x Ion Cannon that's standard. Also has 3x Laser Cannon.
* Mamba has 4x Ion Cannon and 4x Plasma Cannon standard, along with a Double Plasma Turret that can attack unlocked targets.
* I-9 Eagle with 3x Ion Cannon on the hardpoint. Also has 3x Laser Cannon.
* Manta with 3x Ion Cannon on the hardpoint. Also has 4x Plasma Cannon.

The I-5 Vulture and I-7 Hawk can be equipped with 2x Ion Cannon on the hardpoint, but when combined with their Plasma Cannon those aren't top choices.

### Non-energy weapons

An even more effective approach is to use non-energy weapons that don't care about the shields. These can bring fairly rapid kills, but they come with ammunition costs. In point of fact, chaingun and 40mm cannon ammunition costs will be quite low, because the AI only uses short bursts. The main issue is that when you enable non-energy weapon use, you also enable any rocket or missile launcher, which will be freely used and which runs up the reload cost considerably.

Chaingun ships that can be configured without rockets or missiles:

* MK-6 Pretorian (3x Chaingun)
* MK-8 Triad (2x Chaingun)
* Black Swan (2x Chaingun)

The MK-10 Quad can be configured with a 3x Chaingun but comes standard with a missile launcher.

All 40mm Cannon ships (gunboats) are configured with a missile launcher.

The MK-2 Brutus has a Railgun, with no rocket or missile launcher. The railgun is extremely potent, but the ship carries only 30 shots, so it's probably not something you'd let AI control.

### Rockets and missiles

If money is no object, AI-fired rockets and missiles can be very effective, especially if loaded with self-targeting ammo. The self-targeting ammo essentially guarantees that the weapon is going to damage something, even if the original target has been killed. There's no wastage.

With missile launchers, there's the question of whether to load them with the hard-hitting G8 self-guided missile, or the X9-C missile that can attack multiple targets with four rocket-sized warheads, but can't deliver close to the total punch of the G8. It might be noted that a 6-missile launcher (MK-10 Quad) loaded with X9-C ammo delivers 24 rocket-sized warheads, while fighters can be fitted with rocket pods carrying 25 to 40 Z9 warheads.

When facing multiple waves of challenging enemies, it might be prudent to hold back one or more of your ships from firing their rockets or missiles until the additional waves arrive. That's obviously a judgment call, but (for example) expending rockets or missiles to take down a flight of interceptors probably isn't ideal.

A Mamba with a 40-rocket pod (or a missile launcher) on the hardpoint combines hard-hitting energy weaponry with separately controllable rockets/missiles. At least in theory, it should be a powerful AI-controlled ship.

The Cobra is generally pretty useless in AI-controlled combat, but it can be an effective rocket carrier with the optional 30-rocket pod. You'll probably want to instruct it to stay out of the battle zone until you're ready to have it unleash its rockets.

### AI wingman ship summary

The following ship configurations have been mentioned above as being potentially valuable for AI-controlled combat:

* I-9 Eagle with 3x Ion Cannons: ion cannons
* Cobra with 30-Rocket Pod: rockets
* Manta with 3x Ion Cannons: ion cannons
* Black Swan: chaingun
* Viper with 2x Ion Cannons (total 4x): ion cannons
* Mamba with 40-rocket pod or missile launcher: both ion cannons and rockets/missiles
* MK-6 Pretorian: chaingun
* MK-8 Triad: chaingun