{"data":{"id":13983,"title":"AI Design in Vanduul Swarm","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/transmission\/13983-AI-Design-In-Vanduul-Swarm","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/13983","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/13983","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"None","images":[{"id":1924,"name":"ScreenShot0075.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/9j3ylm6hvqmfor\/source\/ScreenShot0075.jpg","alt":"","size":287750,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2014-10-24T16:33:16+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1924","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1924\/similar"},{"id":1925,"name":"ScreenShot0030.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/14bjfh65d9p87r\/source\/ScreenShot0030.jpg","alt":"","size":177332,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2014-06-27T22:05:52+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1925","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1925\/similar"},{"id":1926,"name":"Missile_Hit_01.JPG","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/nbmvi99uenslvr\/source\/Missile_Hit_01.JPG","alt":"","size":145784,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2014-06-27T17:28:11+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1926","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1926\/similar"},{"id":1927,"name":"ScreenShot00229.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/1oe82tx9u3sshr\/source\/ScreenShot00229.jpg","alt":"","size":280933,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2014-06-27T22:07:35+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1927","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1927\/similar"},{"id":1928,"name":"ScreenShot0033.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/n44ql56a6qbmwr\/source\/ScreenShot0033.jpg","alt":"","size":108177,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2014-06-27T22:11:38+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1928","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1928\/similar"},{"id":1929,"name":"ScreenShot0036.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/0o3706rd44iybr\/source\/ScreenShot0036.jpg","alt":"","size":122991,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2014-06-27T22:10:20+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1929","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1929\/similar"}],"images_count":7,"translations":{"en_EN":"AI Design in Vanduul Swarm\nVanduul Swarm first went out to backers on June 4th, and many of you were waiting in eager anticipation to get your hands on it, for your very first chance to fly your ships and engage in your first Star Citizen dogfights. For our small team here in Edinburgh, Scotland, it was just as momentous \u2013 but for different reasons.\n\nWe\u2019re the team behind Kythera, the artificial intelligence middleware which powers Star Citizen, and Arena Commander v0.8 was its gameplay debut. We knew what you\u2019d see and what you\u2019d experience, because we\u2019d been improving, testing, tweaking and tuning the AI for weeks. But as we waited for the first feedback from backers, there were some things we just couldn\u2019t be sure of.\n\nHad we got the difficulty curve right? Was there a major bug or exploit that we\u2019d missed? Would you guys think it was fun?\n\nWe\u2019ve got a lot of games development experience behind us, but this release was very personal \u2013 and very immediate. Hours after that magic build was approved, it was being streamed around the world. 33,000 of you played it in the first 12 hours.\n\nThe best moment was tuning in to Twitch, to see an intrepid backer learning to play the game from scratch with thousands of other people looking on.\n\nAnd he seemed to be enjoying it.\n\nA Balancing Act\nAfter all, fun is what it\u2019s really all about. We at Moon Collider think that you as backers are helping to build the most ambitious game currently in development \u2013 but all that vision, realism and immersion would count for nothing if you didn\u2019t think it was entertaining to play. And as developers of your AI dogfighting opponents for Vanduul Swarm, we were right on the fun front-line. And ultimately it all came down to balancing.\n\nWhile other teams were adjusting weapon capabilities, control schemes and flight control systems in to make the best first space combat experience they could, we worked with designers Ben and Will in Manchester on the AI opponents who focussed that experience to make it fun. And as those underlying systems changed under our feet, the Scythes had to adapt: when missiles became less powerful, we could use them more often; when IFCS made the ship more responsive, our Scythes could display more agility.\n\nVanduul Swarm came with the extra design challenge that it\u2019s not just your first glimpse of the dogfighting module, but also a training mission: the first opportunity to fly a spaceship in Star Citizen\u2019s universe. There\u2019s a lot to learn, and it\u2019s just no fun if you\u2019re blown to pieces before you\u2019ve even figured out the controls.\n\nYou\u2019ll know by now that the Vanduul come in a series of waves: fifteen of them, each more threatening than the last. We made sure that wave 15 is a challenge for even the very best players (nobody on the dev team got through it before release \u2013 though as we hoped, it seems a few of you have since!) But making AI hard is easy. Our first and toughest design problems came back in wave 1, when we knew our Vanduul might be facing rookie pilots, still stopping to check the flight manual.\n\nDisplaying Weakness\nYou might think that AI programmers want their AI to be as smart as possible, but the truth is more subtle than that. The best tactics for an AI don\u2019t always appear smart to a player (let alone fun). And while the Vanduul\u2019s AI doesn\u2019t \u201ccheat\u201d \u2013 it doesn\u2019t have access to any information a human player wouldn\u2019t have and it does obey all the same physical rules \u2013 it is able to process that information much more quickly and respond more precisely than the most experienced fighter ace ever could. So to give its opponents a fighting chance, we had to build in weaknesses as well as strengths.\n\nWe didn\u2019t always get it right first time. In an early version of Vanduul Swarm, we simply turned down the accuracy of the enemies\u2019 targeting. It seemed to be working fine, until we noticed you could sit your spaceship motionless in space, and the Scythes would still miss you! (We changed it to vary with your speed, but now it seems some people are doing very well in decoupled mode, as a turret flying in a straight line \u2013 maybe we should tighten that up?)\n\nWe also wanted to emphasise a particular style of combat in our dogfights. In PvP you\u2019re sure to see ships flying straight towards each other with all guns blazing, which can end up like a medieval joust. But we think what you really want is the thrill of the chase \u2013 the chance to hang on an enemy\u2019s tail and pursue your quarry through the blazing void. So we\u2019ve programmed the Vanduul to go into a retreating, \u201cfollow me!\u201d behaviour some of the time, to make sure you get that opportunity.\n\nSo will the AI always let you win? Definitely not. We may have reined back the Scythes in Vanduul Swarm, trying to ensure everyone finds their level on the difficulty curve in their own time, and we hope you felt we got that about right. But if you\u2019ve made it up to the later waves, you\u2019ll know the best of the Vanduul have a lot more to throw at you. And rest assured that, for the reasons we\u2019ve described, AI design for Vanduul Swarm is quite different from the vision for the larger Star Citizen universe, where you\u2019ll find AI pilots every bit as cunning and ruthless as the best human players.\n\nAn Alien Swarm with Personality\nChris has always emphasised to us the importance of personality in Star Citizen\u2019s AI opponents. In response, we built in loads of tunable parameters and a \u201cprofiles\u201d framework to help manage them, and Ben Sharples in Manchester was able to put this to good use.\n\nThose spacecraft flying towards you might all be Scythes, but they\u2019re not all the same. You\u2019ll have spotted that the load-out varies \u2013 for example the level bosses have missiles even while the grunts of the wave do not. But have you noticed that each boss engages with you in a slightly different way?\n\nThe first boss you\u2019ll meet is Little King, who\u2019s programmed to stay at range from you and deploy countermeasures to avoid missile strikes, drawing you away from the centre of the battle. In contrast, the second boss \u2013 The Priest \u2013 is a close-range fighter, who gets in as close as possible and inflicts damage in terrifying short sharp bursts. (By the way, there\u2019s a rumour on the forums that the Scythes are trying to ram you. They aren\u2019t really. It\u2019s just The Priest\u2019s way of saying hi!)\n\nYou\u2019ll see this that taken to the next level in the Persistent Universe and Squadron 42, with individual pilots working to achieve their own long-term objectives as well as short-term goals, and their attitude to you informed by experience and displayed in their combat choices.\n\nCreating those characters will always be a tough job, both for designers and for us in providing them tools up to the job. But we saw one simple thing make a big difference in Vanduul Swarm: giving pilots names. \u201cBoss1\u201d and \u201cBoss2\u201d did behave distinctly, but with a name like \u201cThe Priest\u201d to hint at their behaviour, they sprang to life and we could start to get under their skin.\n\n(The teammates, incidentally, were originally called \u201cBen\u201d and \u201cWillus\u201d (we can\u2019t imagine why). And while we were sad to see them go, \u201cWarlord\u201d and \u201cVixen\u201d did seem rather more aggressive\u2026 )\n\nFriendly Hornets\nFinally then, let\u2019s take a quick look at the two allies who accompany you on your mission. \u201cWarlord\u201d and \u201cVixen\u201d are far from expert pilots, but we think they work pretty well at their real task: to give the Vanduul alternative targets and draw them away from you. This gives you a chance to choose your encounters and to see dogfighting going on around you in its full glory \u2013 it always looks best when it\u2019s happening to someone else!\n\nYou probably think we\u2019d planned it that way from the start, but we hadn\u2019t. The teammates were a late addition \u2013 a flash of inspiration from Will Greenough, a designer at Foundry 42 just down the road from us in Manchester. Adding friendly AI to the design at such a late stage would usually be a pretty scary thing to attempt \u2013 and I\u2019ll admit we were nervous of the issues it might raise. But actually, Kythera\u2019s Hornets were dogfighting against each other long before human players could join in.\n\nSo we didn\u2019t have to do any coding. And there was virtually no level setup, because our behaviors have always been unscripted \u2013 Kythera is all about AI being able to make informed decisions, not slavishly following designer cues.\n\nIn fact, the first we heard of the idea was that Will had already tried it and it \u201cbrought the whole scene to life.\u201d We thought it was pretty bold but we went for it!\n\nNext: The Universe\nSo what\u2019s next for Kythera in Star Citizen? Now the dogfighting module is out in the wild, we\u2019re turning our focus to AI in the rest of the game \u2013 and we have our work cut out for us!\n\nOn Arena Commander launch day, we were actually in Manchester for the Squadron 42 Summit. So we had ample reminders of how much needs to be done for AI in the rest of the Star Citizen universe \u2013 in particular FPS gameplay and bringing the enormous and diverse population of the Persistent Universe to life. We talk about a few of those challenges on our website\n\nThere will be incremental enhancements to Vanduul Swarm\u2026 but if extra features are slow to come, rest assured it\u2019s because we\u2019re working on whole new types of gameplay we know you want to see.\n\nIn the meantime, we can\u2019t stress enough how much we value your feedback. It\u2019s hard for us to find and read it all and still develop the game! But we\u2019ve never had such direct contact with you, the players, and we\u2019ve been very grateful for your support. We hope you\u2019ll carry on sharing your thoughts (and your bug reports!) right up to release day.\n\nWe hope you\u2019ve been having fun with Vanduul Swarm, but it\u2019s just the first step, and we\u2019re looking forward to bringing the rest of the universe to life.","de_DE":"KI-Design in Vanduul Schwarm\nVanduul Swarm ging am 4. Juni zum ersten Mal zu den Unterst\u00fctzern, und viele von euch warteten gespannt darauf, es in die H\u00e4nde zu bekommen, auf ihre allererste Chance, ihre Schiffe zu fliegen und an ihren ersten Star Citizen Hundek\u00e4mpfen teilzunehmen. F\u00fcr unser kleines Team hier in Edinburgh, Schottland, war es genauso bedeutsam - aber aus verschiedenen Gr\u00fcnden.\n\nWir sind das Team hinter Kythera, der Middleware f\u00fcr k\u00fcnstliche Intelligenz, die Star Citizen betreibt, und Arena Commander v0.8 war sein Gameplay-Deb\u00fct. Wir wussten, was Sie sehen und was Sie erleben w\u00fcrden, denn wir haben die KI seit Wochen verbessert, getestet, optimiert und optimiert. Aber w\u00e4hrend wir auf das erste Feedback der Geldgeber warteten, gab es einige Dinge, bei denen wir uns einfach nicht sicher sein konnten.\n\nHatten wir die Schwierigkeitskurve richtig gemacht? Gab es einen gr\u00f6\u00dferen Fehler oder eine Ausnutzung, den wir \u00fcbersehen hatten? W\u00fcrdet ihr Leute denken, dass es Spa\u00df gemacht hat?\n\nWir haben eine Menge Erfahrung in der Spieleentwicklung hinter uns, aber diese Version war sehr pers\u00f6nlich - und sehr sofort. Stunden nachdem dieser magische Build genehmigt wurde, wurde er in die ganze Welt gestreamt. 33.000 von euch haben es in den ersten 12 Stunden gespielt.\n\nDer beste Moment war, sich auf Twitch einzustellen, um einen unerschrockenen Geldgeber zu sehen, der lernte, das Spiel von Grund auf neu zu spielen, w\u00e4hrend Tausende von anderen Leuten zusahen.\n\nUnd er schien es zu genie\u00dfen.\n\nEin Balanceakt\nDenn Spa\u00df ist das, worum es wirklich geht. Wir von Moon Collider sind der Meinung, dass Sie als Geldgeber dabei helfen, das ehrgeizigste Spiel zu entwickeln, das derzeit in der Entwicklung ist - aber all diese Visionen, Realismus und Immersionen w\u00fcrden nichts z\u00e4hlen, wenn Sie nicht denken w\u00fcrden, dass es unterhaltsam war zu spielen. Und als Entwickler Ihrer KI Dogfighting-Gegner f\u00fcr Vanduul Swarm waren wir direkt an der Front. Und letztendlich kam es auf das Gleichgewicht an.\n\nW\u00e4hrend andere Teams die Waffenf\u00e4higkeiten, Steuerungssysteme und Flugsteuerungssysteme so anpassten, dass sie die beste erste Weltraumkampferfahrung machten, arbeiteten wir mit den Designern Ben und Will in Manchester an den KI-Gegnern, die diese Erfahrung in den Mittelpunkt stellten, um Spa\u00df zu machen. Und als sich die zugrunde liegenden Systeme unter unseren F\u00fc\u00dfen \u00e4nderten, mussten sich die Sensen anpassen: Wenn die Raketen weniger stark wurden, konnten wir sie \u00f6fter einsetzen; wenn IFCS das Schiff reaktionsschneller machte, konnten unsere Sensen mehr Agilit\u00e4t zeigen.\n\nVanduul Swarm kam mit der zus\u00e4tzlichen Design-Herausforderung, dass es nicht nur der erste Blick auf das Luftkampfmodul ist, sondern auch eine Trainingsmission: die erste Gelegenheit, ein Raumschiff im Star Citizen Universum zu fliegen. Es gibt viel zu lernen, und es macht einfach keinen Spa\u00df, wenn man in St\u00fccke gerissen wird, bevor man \u00fcberhaupt die Steuerung herausgefunden hat.\n\nSie werden inzwischen wissen, dass die Vanduul in einer Reihe von Wellen kommen: f\u00fcnfzehn von ihnen, jede bedrohlicher als die letzte. Wir haben daf\u00fcr gesorgt, dass Wave 15 auch f\u00fcr die besten Spieler eine Herausforderung ist (niemand im Entwickler-Team hat es vor der Ver\u00f6ffentlichung geschafft - obwohl es, wie wir gehofft haben, einige von euch seitdem haben! Aber die KI schwer zu machen, ist einfach. Unsere ersten und h\u00e4rtesten Designprobleme kamen in Welle 1 zur\u00fcck, als wir wussten, dass unsere Vanduul mit Anf\u00e4ngerpiloten konfrontiert sein k\u00f6nnte, die immer noch anhalten, um das Flughandbuch zu lesen.\n\nSchw\u00e4che zeigen\nMan k\u00f6nnte meinen, dass KI-Programmierer wollen, dass ihre KI so intelligent wie m\u00f6glich ist, aber die Wahrheit ist subtiler als das. Die besten Taktiken f\u00fcr eine KI erscheinen einem Spieler nicht immer intelligent (geschweige denn lustig). Und obwohl die KI des Vanduul nicht \"betr\u00fcgt\" - sie hat keinen Zugang zu Informationen, die ein menschlicher Spieler nicht haben w\u00fcrde, und sie befolgt alle gleichen physischen Regeln - ist sie in der Lage, diese Informationen viel schneller zu verarbeiten und genauer zu reagieren, als es das erfahrenste K\u00e4mpferass je k\u00f6nnte. Um seinen Gegnern also eine Kampfchance zu geben, mussten wir sowohl Schw\u00e4chen als auch St\u00e4rken einbauen.\n\nWir haben es nicht immer beim ersten Mal richtig gemacht. In einer fr\u00fchen Version von Vanduul Swarm haben wir einfach die Genauigkeit der Zielerfassung der Feinde abgelehnt. Es schien gut zu funktionieren, bis wir bemerkten, dass man sein Raumschiff bewegungslos im Raum sitzen konnte, und die Sensen w\u00fcrden dich immer noch vermissen! (Wir haben es ge\u00e4ndert, um mit deiner Geschwindigkeit zu variieren, aber jetzt scheint es, dass es einigen Leuten im entkoppelten Modus sehr gut geht, als ob ein Turm in einer geraden Linie fliegt - vielleicht sollten wir das verst\u00e4rken?\n\nWir wollten auch in unseren Luftk\u00e4mpfen einen besonderen Kampfstil hervorheben. Im PvP kannst du sicher sein, dass Schiffe direkt aufeinander zu fliegen und alle Gesch\u00fctze brennen, was wie ein mittelalterliches Turnier enden kann. Aber wir denken, dass das, was du wirklich willst, der Nervenkitzel der Jagd ist - die Chance, sich an den Schwanz eines Feindes zu h\u00e4ngen und deinen Steinbruch durch die lodernde Leere zu verfolgen. Deshalb haben wir die Vanduul so programmiert, dass sie sich manchmal in ein R\u00fcckzugs-, \"Folge mir!\"-Verhalten begibt, um sicherzustellen, dass du diese Gelegenheit bekommst.\n\nWird die KI dich also immer gewinnen lassen? Definitiv nicht. Wir haben vielleicht die Sensen in Vanduul Swarm zur\u00fcckgefahren und versucht, sicherzustellen, dass jeder in seiner Freizeit seinen Level auf der Schwierigkeitskurve findet, und wir hoffen, dass Sie das Gef\u00fchl hatten, dass wir das richtig gemacht haben. Aber wenn du es bis zu den sp\u00e4teren Wellen geschafft hast, wirst du wissen, dass die Besten der Vanduul viel mehr zu bieten haben. Und seien Sie versichert, dass sich das KI-Design f\u00fcr Vanduul Swarm aus den von uns beschriebenen Gr\u00fcnden ganz anders darstellt als die Vision f\u00fcr das gr\u00f6\u00dfere Star Citizen-Universum, wo Sie KI-Piloten finden, die genauso gerissen und r\u00fccksichtslos sind wie die besten menschlichen Spieler.\n\nEin au\u00dferirdischer Schwarm mit Pers\u00f6nlichkeit\nChris hat uns gegen\u00fcber immer die Bedeutung der Pers\u00f6nlichkeit bei den KI-Gegnern von Star Citizen betont. Als Reaktion darauf haben wir eine Vielzahl von abstimmbaren Parametern und ein \"Profile\"-Framework eingebaut, um sie zu verwalten, und Ben Sharples in Manchester konnte dies sinnvoll nutzen.\n\nDie Raumschiffe, die auf dich zukommen, m\u00f6gen alle Sensen sein, aber sie sind nicht alle gleich. Du wirst bemerkt haben, dass die Auslastung variiert - zum Beispiel haben die Levelbosse Raketen, auch wenn die Grunzen der Welle es nicht tun. Aber hast du bemerkt, dass jeder Chef sich auf eine etwas andere Weise mit dir besch\u00e4ftigt?\n\nDer erste Boss, den du treffen wirst, ist Little King, der programmiert ist, um in Reichweite von dir zu bleiben und Gegenma\u00dfnahmen zu ergreifen, um Raketenschl\u00e4ge zu vermeiden und dich vom Zentrum der Schlacht wegzubringen. Im Gegensatz dazu ist der zweite Chef - The Priest - ein Nahkampfj\u00e4ger, der so nah wie m\u00f6glich kommt und in erschreckend kurzen scharfen St\u00f6\u00dfen Schaden anrichtet. (\u00dcbrigens, es gibt ein Ger\u00fccht in den Foren, dass die Scythes versuchen, dich zu rammen. Das sind sie nicht wirklich. Es ist nur die Art des Priesters, Hallo zu sagen!)\n\nDu wirst dies sehen, das im Persistent Universe und in der Staffel 42 auf die n\u00e4chste Stufe gebracht wurde, mit einzelnen Piloten, die daran arbeiten, ihre eigenen langfristigen und kurzfristigen Ziele zu erreichen, und ihrer Einstellung zu dir, die durch Erfahrung informiert und in ihren Kampfentscheidungen dargestellt wird.\n\nDiese Charaktere zu erschaffen, wird immer eine schwierige Aufgabe sein, sowohl f\u00fcr Designer als auch f\u00fcr uns, wenn es darum geht, ihnen Werkzeuge zur Verf\u00fcgung zu stellen, die dem Job gewachsen sind. Aber wir haben gesehen, dass eine einfache Sache einen gro\u00dfen Unterschied in Vanduul Swarm macht: Piloten Namen zu geben. \"Boss1\" und \"Boss2\" benahmen sich eindeutig, aber mit einem Namen wie \"Der Priester\", um auf ihr Verhalten hinzuweisen, erwachten sie zum Leben und wir konnten anfangen, unter ihre Haut zu gehen.\n\n(Die Teamkollegen wurden \u00fcbrigens urspr\u00fcnglich \"Ben\" und \"Willus\" genannt (wir k\u00f6nnen uns nicht vorstellen, warum). Und w\u00e4hrend wir traurig waren, sie gehen zu sehen, wirkten \"Warlord\" und \"Vixen\" etwas aggressiver....)\n\nFreundliche Hornissen\nAbschlie\u00dfend lassen Sie uns noch einen kurzen Blick auf die beiden Verb\u00fcndeten werfen, die Sie auf Ihrer Mission begleiten. \"Warlord\" und \"Vixen\" sind alles andere als erfahrene Piloten, aber wir denken, dass sie an ihrer eigentlichen Aufgabe ziemlich gut arbeiten: den Vanduul alternative Ziele zu geben und sie von dir wegzuziehen. Dies gibt dir die M\u00f6glichkeit, deine Begegnungen zu w\u00e4hlen und den Luftkampf um dich herum in seiner ganzen Pracht zu sehen - er sieht immer am besten aus, wenn er mit jemand anderem stattfindet!\n\nDu denkst wahrscheinlich, dass wir es von Anfang an so geplant hatten, aber das hatten wir nicht. Die Teamkollegen waren eine sp\u00e4te Erg\u00e4nzung - ein Geistesblitz von Will Greenough, einem Designer bei Foundry 42, der direkt neben uns in Manchester liegt. Das Hinzuf\u00fcgen einer freundlichen KI zu einem so sp\u00e4ten Zeitpunkt w\u00e4re normalerweise eine ziemlich be\u00e4ngstigende Sache - und ich gebe zu, wir waren nerv\u00f6s wegen der Probleme, die sie aufwerfen k\u00f6nnten. Aber eigentlich k\u00e4mpften Kytheras Hornissen gegeneinander, lange bevor menschliche Spieler mitmachen konnten.\n\nSo mussten wir keine Programmierung vornehmen. Und es gab praktisch keinen Levelaufbau, weil unser Verhalten immer ungeschrieben geblieben ist - bei Kythera geht es darum, dass die KI in der Lage ist, fundierte Entscheidungen zu treffen, und nicht sklavisch Designerhinweisen folgt.\n\nTats\u00e4chlich war das erste, was wir von der Idee h\u00f6rten, dass Will sie bereits ausprobiert hatte und sie \"die ganze Szene zum Leben erweckte\". Wir fanden es ziemlich mutig, aber wir haben es versucht!\n\nDer N\u00e4chste: Das Universum\nAlso, was kommt als n\u00e4chstes f\u00fcr Kythera in Star Citizen? Jetzt ist das Dogfighting-Modul in der Wildnis, wir konzentrieren uns im Rest des Spiels auf die KI - und wir haben unsere Arbeit vor uns!\n\nAm Tag des Starts des Arena Commander waren wir tats\u00e4chlich in Manchester f\u00fcr den Squadron 42 Summit. So erinnerten wir uns ausf\u00fchrlich daran, wie viel f\u00fcr die KI im Rest des Star Citizen-Universums getan werden muss - insbesondere das Gameplay von FPS und die enorme und vielf\u00e4ltige Bev\u00f6lkerung des Persistent Universe zum Leben zu erwecken. Wir sprechen \u00fcber einige dieser Herausforderungen auf unserer Website.\n\nEs wird inkrementelle Verbesserungen an Vanduul Swarm geben.... aber wenn zus\u00e4tzliche Funktionen nur langsam kommen, seien Sie versichert, dass es daran liegt, dass wir an ganz neuen Arten von Gameplay arbeiten, von denen wir wissen, dass Sie sie sehen m\u00f6chten.\n\nIn der Zwischenzeit k\u00f6nnen wir nicht genug betonen, wie sehr wir Ihr Feedback sch\u00e4tzen. Es ist schwer f\u00fcr uns, alles zu finden und zu lesen und trotzdem das Spiel zu entwickeln! Aber wir hatten noch nie einen so direkten Kontakt zu Ihnen, den Spielern, und wir waren sehr dankbar f\u00fcr Ihre Unterst\u00fctzung. Wir hoffen, dass Sie Ihre Gedanken (und Ihre Fehlerberichte!) bis zum Ver\u00f6ffentlichungstag weitergeben werden.\n\nWir hoffen, dass du Spa\u00df mit Vanduul Swarm hattest, aber es ist nur der erste Schritt, und wir freuen uns darauf, den Rest des Universums zum Leben zu erwecken.","zh_CN":"AI Design in Vanduul Swarm\nVanduul Swarm first went out to backers on June 4th, and many of you were waiting in eager anticipation to get your hands on it, for your very first chance to fly your ships and engage in your first Star Citizen dogfights. For our small team here in Edinburgh, Scotland, it was just as momentous \u2013 but for different reasons.\n\nWe\u2019re the team behind Kythera, the artificial intelligence middleware which powers Star Citizen, and Arena Commander v0.8 was its gameplay debut. We knew what you\u2019d see and what you\u2019d experience, because we\u2019d been improving, testing, tweaking and tuning the AI for weeks. But as we waited for the first feedback from backers, there were some things we just couldn\u2019t be sure of.\n\nHad we got the difficulty curve right? Was there a major bug or exploit that we\u2019d missed? Would you guys think it was fun?\n\nWe\u2019ve got a lot of games development experience behind us, but this release was very personal \u2013 and very immediate. Hours after that magic build was approved, it was being streamed around the world. 33,000 of you played it in the first 12 hours.\n\nThe best moment was tuning in to Twitch, to see an intrepid backer learning to play the game from scratch with thousands of other people looking on.\n\nAnd he seemed to be enjoying it.\n\nA Balancing Act\nAfter all, fun is what it\u2019s really all about. We at Moon Collider think that you as backers are helping to build the most ambitious game currently in development \u2013 but all that vision, realism and immersion would count for nothing if you didn\u2019t think it was entertaining to play. And as developers of your AI dogfighting opponents for Vanduul Swarm, we were right on the fun front-line. And ultimately it all came down to balancing.\n\nWhile other teams were adjusting weapon capabilities, control schemes and flight control systems in to make the best first space combat experience they could, we worked with designers Ben and Will in Manchester on the AI opponents who focussed that experience to make it fun. And as those underlying systems changed under our feet, the Scythes had to adapt: when missiles became less powerful, we could use them more often; when IFCS made the ship more responsive, our Scythes could display more agility.\n\nVanduul Swarm came with the extra design challenge that it\u2019s not just your first glimpse of the dogfighting module, but also a training mission: the first opportunity to fly a spaceship in Star Citizen\u2019s universe. There\u2019s a lot to learn, and it\u2019s just no fun if you\u2019re blown to pieces before you\u2019ve even figured out the controls.\n\nYou\u2019ll know by now that the Vanduul come in a series of waves: fifteen of them, each more threatening than the last. We made sure that wave 15 is a challenge for even the very best players (nobody on the dev team got through it before release \u2013 though as we hoped, it seems a few of you have since!) But making AI hard is easy. Our first and toughest design problems came back in wave 1, when we knew our Vanduul might be facing rookie pilots, still stopping to check the flight manual.\n\nDisplaying Weakness\nYou might think that AI programmers want their AI to be as smart as possible, but the truth is more subtle than that. The best tactics for an AI don\u2019t always appear smart to a player (let alone fun). And while the Vanduul\u2019s AI doesn\u2019t \u201ccheat\u201d \u2013 it doesn\u2019t have access to any information a human player wouldn\u2019t have and it does obey all the same physical rules \u2013 it is able to process that information much more quickly and respond more precisely than the most experienced fighter ace ever could. So to give its opponents a fighting chance, we had to build in weaknesses as well as strengths.\n\nWe didn\u2019t always get it right first time. In an early version of Vanduul Swarm, we simply turned down the accuracy of the enemies\u2019 targeting. It seemed to be working fine, until we noticed you could sit your spaceship motionless in space, and the Scythes would still miss you! (We changed it to vary with your speed, but now it seems some people are doing very well in decoupled mode, as a turret flying in a straight line \u2013 maybe we should tighten that up?)\n\nWe also wanted to emphasise a particular style of combat in our dogfights. In PvP you\u2019re sure to see ships flying straight towards each other with all guns blazing, which can end up like a medieval joust. But we think what you really want is the thrill of the chase \u2013 the chance to hang on an enemy\u2019s tail and pursue your quarry through the blazing void. So we\u2019ve programmed the Vanduul to go into a retreating, \u201cfollow me!\u201d behaviour some of the time, to make sure you get that opportunity.\n\nSo will the AI always let you win? Definitely not. We may have reined back the Scythes in Vanduul Swarm, trying to ensure everyone finds their level on the difficulty curve in their own time, and we hope you felt we got that about right. But if you\u2019ve made it up to the later waves, you\u2019ll know the best of the Vanduul have a lot more to throw at you. And rest assured that, for the reasons we\u2019ve described, AI design for Vanduul Swarm is quite different from the vision for the larger Star Citizen universe, where you\u2019ll find AI pilots every bit as cunning and ruthless as the best human players.\n\nAn Alien Swarm with Personality\nChris has always emphasised to us the importance of personality in Star Citizen\u2019s AI opponents. In response, we built in loads of tunable parameters and a \u201cprofiles\u201d framework to help manage them, and Ben Sharples in Manchester was able to put this to good use.\n\nThose spacecraft flying towards you might all be Scythes, but they\u2019re not all the same. You\u2019ll have spotted that the load-out varies \u2013 for example the level bosses have missiles even while the grunts of the wave do not. But have you noticed that each boss engages with you in a slightly different way?\n\nThe first boss you\u2019ll meet is Little King, who\u2019s programmed to stay at range from you and deploy countermeasures to avoid missile strikes, drawing you away from the centre of the battle. In contrast, the second boss \u2013 The Priest \u2013 is a close-range fighter, who gets in as close as possible and inflicts damage in terrifying short sharp bursts. (By the way, there\u2019s a rumour on the forums that the Scythes are trying to ram you. They aren\u2019t really. It\u2019s just The Priest\u2019s way of saying hi!)\n\nYou\u2019ll see this that taken to the next level in the Persistent Universe and Squadron 42, with individual pilots working to achieve their own long-term objectives as well as short-term goals, and their attitude to you informed by experience and displayed in their combat choices.\n\nCreating those characters will always be a tough job, both for designers and for us in providing them tools up to the job. But we saw one simple thing make a big difference in Vanduul Swarm: giving pilots names. \u201cBoss1\u201d and \u201cBoss2\u201d did behave distinctly, but with a name like \u201cThe Priest\u201d to hint at their behaviour, they sprang to life and we could start to get under their skin.\n\n(The teammates, incidentally, were originally called \u201cBen\u201d and \u201cWillus\u201d (we can\u2019t imagine why). And while we were sad to see them go, \u201cWarlord\u201d and \u201cVixen\u201d did seem rather more aggressive\u2026 )\n\nFriendly Hornets\nFinally then, let\u2019s take a quick look at the two allies who accompany you on your mission. \u201cWarlord\u201d and \u201cVixen\u201d are far from expert pilots, but we think they work pretty well at their real task: to give the Vanduul alternative targets and draw them away from you. This gives you a chance to choose your encounters and to see dogfighting going on around you in its full glory \u2013 it always looks best when it\u2019s happening to someone else!\n\nYou probably think we\u2019d planned it that way from the start, but we hadn\u2019t. The teammates were a late addition \u2013 a flash of inspiration from Will Greenough, a designer at Foundry 42 just down the road from us in Manchester. Adding friendly AI to the design at such a late stage would usually be a pretty scary thing to attempt \u2013 and I\u2019ll admit we were nervous of the issues it might raise. But actually, Kythera\u2019s Hornets were dogfighting against each other long before human players could join in.\n\nSo we didn\u2019t have to do any coding. And there was virtually no level setup, because our behaviors have always been unscripted \u2013 Kythera is all about AI being able to make informed decisions, not slavishly following designer cues.\n\nIn fact, the first we heard of the idea was that Will had already tried it and it \u201cbrought the whole scene to life.\u201d We thought it was pretty bold but we went for it!\n\nNext: The Universe\nSo what\u2019s next for Kythera in Star Citizen? Now the dogfighting module is out in the wild, we\u2019re turning our focus to AI in the rest of the game \u2013 and we have our work cut out for us!\n\nOn Arena Commander launch day, we were actually in Manchester for the Squadron 42 Summit. So we had ample reminders of how much needs to be done for AI in the rest of the Star Citizen universe \u2013 in particular FPS gameplay and bringing the enormous and diverse population of the Persistent Universe to life. We talk about a few of those challenges on our website\n\nThere will be incremental enhancements to Vanduul Swarm\u2026 but if extra features are slow to come, rest assured it\u2019s because we\u2019re working on whole new types of gameplay we know you want to see.\n\nIn the meantime, we can\u2019t stress enough how much we value your feedback. It\u2019s hard for us to find and read it all and still develop the game! But we\u2019ve never had such direct contact with you, the players, and we\u2019ve been very grateful for your support. We hope you\u2019ll carry on sharing your thoughts (and your bug reports!) right up to release day.\n\nWe hope you\u2019ve been having fun with Vanduul Swarm, but it\u2019s just the first step, and we\u2019re looking forward to bringing the rest of the universe to life."},"links_count":2,"comment_count":200,"created_at":"2014-06-27T00:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"11 years ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-05-08 11:10:02","valid_relations":["images","links"],"prev_id":13981,"next_id":13984}}