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Automaton Beta
Submitted
I expected the beta feedback form to have a text field to paste some notes. I'll paste them here. :p
Event controller
- Altitude and some other events have a search box that does either nothing or freezes.
- How many players know what "AND Gate" means? Why not call it "All/Any", and refer to AND/OR gates as explanation in the tooltip?
CTC
- The solar tracking is super cool but disappears when no camera is selected, I didn't even find it at first. Can you instead "gray it out" when no camera is there? Make it somehow noticeable for beginners and give us a reminder message on the right side to build and select a camera?
AI Recorder
- Why is the second Action slot for a waypoint "AI recorder" called "hide weapon"?
- The order of buttons/slider in the AI Recorder is not in the order I'd use them.
- Are the waypoint numbers the order? when I reverse the waypoints, the numbers stay the same, and I don't see them being reveresed. it would be clearer (if I understand it right) if the waypoints had unique ids and the order would be like line numbers, fixed in front. Also when deleting waypoints it's confusing if the numbers don't convey its identity.
AI Basic
- The AI Basic task's "follow distance" slider does not do anything when pulled to the highest and lowest value quickly.
- When I ctrl-click the pitch angle slider, it wants percent, but it displays 0-500?
AI Offensive
- The AI Offensive block control panel has the word "avail_i_able" in it.
UI in general
- Some of the new settings write "mix./max." with a dot and some without. And should it not be "minimum"/"maximum" instead of "minimal"/"maximal", not sure? kinda inconsistent.
- Why is the same button sometimes called "Setup Action", "Setup Actions", or "Select Actions"? Also, it should be "Set up Actions" in English. :p
Once after a crash the next AI blocks I placed were invisible, but that was not reproducible.
I like this feedback
Example case: Flight+Basic Atmo drone with 2 gyros, low pitch/roll angles, and tested to be able to fly. In half the cases, it works (follows me and shines a spotlight at me), and in the other half of times of experimenting, the AI Flight just says "block disabled". It's not "behavior disabled" (that's different). I haven't found the pattern yet how to reproduce it...
I added external buttons that switch off the AI behavior. And I have the same toggles on the drone cockpit's hotbar. Their states are not in sync -- after I push the button, the behavior is visibly off, and in the control panel it's also visibly off, but in the hotbar the Behavior toggle actions show "on".
And even the working drones generally die of "randomly" deciding to speed into an obstacle. =(
PS: A related question: If a add cockpit, press Y, and then remove/destroy the cockpit, how do I switch the power back on? =)
Example case: Flight+Basic Atmo drone with 2 gyros, low pitch/roll angles, and tested to be able to fly. In half the cases, it works (follows me and shines a spotlight at me), and in the other half of times of experimenting, the AI Flight just says "block disabled". It's not "behavior disabled" (that's different). I haven't found the pattern yet how to reproduce it...
I added external buttons that switch off the AI behavior. And I have the same toggles on the drone cockpit's hotbar. Their states are not in sync -- after I push the button, the behavior is visibly off, and in the control panel it's also visibly off, but in the hotbar the Behavior toggle actions show "on".
And even the working drones generally die of "randomly" deciding to speed into an obstacle. =(
PS: A related question: If a add cockpit, press Y, and then remove/destroy the cockpit, how do I switch the power back on? =)
Hello, engineer!
Thank you for your kind suggestions. We are moving this thread to the Feedback section for our designers and programmers for further evaluation and to consider possible recommendations in future updates.
Concerning the issue you have experienced, kindly create a new thread and put all the needed information like screen recording/video, repro steps, blueprint, or world save files there.
Kind Regards,
Keen Software House: QA Department
Hello, engineer!
Thank you for your kind suggestions. We are moving this thread to the Feedback section for our designers and programmers for further evaluation and to consider possible recommendations in future updates.
Concerning the issue you have experienced, kindly create a new thread and put all the needed information like screen recording/video, repro steps, blueprint, or world save files there.
Kind Regards,
Keen Software House: QA Department
AI Recorder test (space):
I put AI Recorder and AI Flight on the Sapper in a fresh Petram Asteroid scenario.
Why do I need to enable showing the _block_ on the HUD to see the _path_ on the HUD? Seeing waypoints on the HUD is very helpful, but it takes 5 steps (show AI on info screen setting, show block on HUD, show path on HUD, build antenna, set to broadcast) that are not intuitive. How many people know how to enable that?
It took me a while to find out what "show selected waypoint" does because they never showed. I toggled it on and off several times and randomly I saw the expected blue signals minutes later, where I had expected them. Also why are they unlabeled? Even pressing H did not give them a label.
While recording waypoints in a cockpit on a circular path, the drone drifts and I use gyroscopes and WASD to turn to correct for that, which is also recorded. When the drone later flies autonomously, it flies at a different speed and doesn't drift as much, but it still replays my corrections and completely overcorrects... (Both with precision on and off.) I don't know what to do about that, other than recording everything at 10 m/s.
Reversing the path reverses the waypoint order (okay), and the drone also flies backwards (that was unexpected)?
In the waypoint list, you show the waypoint order as "waypoint 1, waypoint 2" and exactly the same when reversed (!), which is confusing. you are mixing indices and identifiers. I would have expected the index to be the first number on the line, and some identifier after the word "waypoint". E.g. "1 waypoint A, 2 waypoint B", and when reverted it would become "1 waypoint B, 2 waypoint A". Then it would be clear to everyone that waypoints have an identity and an order.
AI Offensive test (space):
I put AI Offensive and AI Flight on the Sapper in a fresh Petram Asteroid scenario. I added two autocannons to the Sapper. I added a battery and an antenna to an asteroid and transfered it to SPRT. There are large and small asteroids around as obstacles.
The first time I set these two AI blocks up on a drone, the drone didn't do anything and I couldn't tell why. The blocks showed Cyan and a countdown restarted every 30 secs but the drone never moved or saw any target, even though it showed up as red signal 200 m in front of it, and could be target locked. Then I copied and pasted the two SPRT blocks, which turned them into a mobile grid, and then the drone started shooting -- at the asteroid behind it... (Other players said its direction settings are likely swapped?) Are static grids excluded as targets?
Only after I set Facing Mode to manual and gave it a mobile enemy grid (battery and antenna owned by SPRT) it started shooting. And then, even with the AI behaviour switched off, it never stopped shooting at nothing.
Circle: With collision avoidance off, it indeed circled -- It also crashed into every asteroid it could find and got stuck in a hollow. XD With Collision avoidance on, it kinda moved back and forth near the asteroid, it did not literally circle, but okay. It avoided the asteroids well in space.
Stay at Range: Displayed the expected flying behavior (with and without evasive Maneuvers on) until it maneuvered itself into an angle where it couldn't see the enemy over the edge of the asteroid and then just stopped there (stopped doing evasive maneuvers). I switched the pattern to circle and then switched back to "stay at range" and that woke it up. It mostly managed to avoid the asteroids well in space.
Hit and Run: Behaviour looks pretty cool and I like the retreat angle idea.
Once when I switched between attack patterns, it forgot the selected guns and stopped shooting. Not sure how to reproduce.
It's cool to see waypoints appear on the HUD while it's planning its flight (with Show AI Functions enabled), keep that.
AI Basic (in space):
Is there an action to toggle the block from "Follow Me" to "Fly home"/"Autopilot" that a sensor or something else could trigger?
AI Defensive (in space):
Successfully fled when seeing enemy blocks. I set the waypoint size to 100m and it stopped 200m away from it, is that intended? I would have expected 100 or maybe 50 (if it's 100m diameter).
AI Recorder test (space):
I put AI Recorder and AI Flight on the Sapper in a fresh Petram Asteroid scenario.
Why do I need to enable showing the _block_ on the HUD to see the _path_ on the HUD? Seeing waypoints on the HUD is very helpful, but it takes 5 steps (show AI on info screen setting, show block on HUD, show path on HUD, build antenna, set to broadcast) that are not intuitive. How many people know how to enable that?
It took me a while to find out what "show selected waypoint" does because they never showed. I toggled it on and off several times and randomly I saw the expected blue signals minutes later, where I had expected them. Also why are they unlabeled? Even pressing H did not give them a label.
While recording waypoints in a cockpit on a circular path, the drone drifts and I use gyroscopes and WASD to turn to correct for that, which is also recorded. When the drone later flies autonomously, it flies at a different speed and doesn't drift as much, but it still replays my corrections and completely overcorrects... (Both with precision on and off.) I don't know what to do about that, other than recording everything at 10 m/s.
Reversing the path reverses the waypoint order (okay), and the drone also flies backwards (that was unexpected)?
In the waypoint list, you show the waypoint order as "waypoint 1, waypoint 2" and exactly the same when reversed (!), which is confusing. you are mixing indices and identifiers. I would have expected the index to be the first number on the line, and some identifier after the word "waypoint". E.g. "1 waypoint A, 2 waypoint B", and when reverted it would become "1 waypoint B, 2 waypoint A". Then it would be clear to everyone that waypoints have an identity and an order.
AI Offensive test (space):
I put AI Offensive and AI Flight on the Sapper in a fresh Petram Asteroid scenario. I added two autocannons to the Sapper. I added a battery and an antenna to an asteroid and transfered it to SPRT. There are large and small asteroids around as obstacles.
The first time I set these two AI blocks up on a drone, the drone didn't do anything and I couldn't tell why. The blocks showed Cyan and a countdown restarted every 30 secs but the drone never moved or saw any target, even though it showed up as red signal 200 m in front of it, and could be target locked. Then I copied and pasted the two SPRT blocks, which turned them into a mobile grid, and then the drone started shooting -- at the asteroid behind it... (Other players said its direction settings are likely swapped?) Are static grids excluded as targets?
Only after I set Facing Mode to manual and gave it a mobile enemy grid (battery and antenna owned by SPRT) it started shooting. And then, even with the AI behaviour switched off, it never stopped shooting at nothing.
Circle: With collision avoidance off, it indeed circled -- It also crashed into every asteroid it could find and got stuck in a hollow. XD With Collision avoidance on, it kinda moved back and forth near the asteroid, it did not literally circle, but okay. It avoided the asteroids well in space.
Stay at Range: Displayed the expected flying behavior (with and without evasive Maneuvers on) until it maneuvered itself into an angle where it couldn't see the enemy over the edge of the asteroid and then just stopped there (stopped doing evasive maneuvers). I switched the pattern to circle and then switched back to "stay at range" and that woke it up. It mostly managed to avoid the asteroids well in space.
Hit and Run: Behaviour looks pretty cool and I like the retreat angle idea.
Once when I switched between attack patterns, it forgot the selected guns and stopped shooting. Not sure how to reproduce.
It's cool to see waypoints appear on the HUD while it's planning its flight (with Show AI Functions enabled), keep that.
AI Basic (in space):
Is there an action to toggle the block from "Follow Me" to "Fly home"/"Autopilot" that a sensor or something else could trigger?
AI Defensive (in space):
Successfully fled when seeing enemy blocks. I set the waypoint size to 100m and it stopped 200m away from it, is that intended? I would have expected 100 or maybe 50 (if it's 100m diameter).
While trying to make a ship follow another craft, we noticed that the following ship was following the beacon in an irregular pattern: accelerating to a point and then decelerating to about 5m/s. What we noticed is that, since the follower only requests a waypoint once it reaches the previous waypoint it slows down considerably.
One possibility to solving that would be to have the follower request waypoints more often than it does now.
however the first idea isn't always the best ;)
Nice work though. I really like it!
While trying to make a ship follow another craft, we noticed that the following ship was following the beacon in an irregular pattern: accelerating to a point and then decelerating to about 5m/s. What we noticed is that, since the follower only requests a waypoint once it reaches the previous waypoint it slows down considerably.
One possibility to solving that would be to have the follower request waypoints more often than it does now.
however the first idea isn't always the best ;)
Nice work though. I really like it!
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