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The AI FFG’s ability to pick up the Kilo submarine is very evident in the Filipino Convoy mission. Where even when submerged at 320 meters and at a complete stop the FFG will always attack at around the 3 nautical mile mark.

To sit and watch the AI collision avoidance will have you saying “Wow! That was great” and occasionally in the same breath “surely that didn’t happen?”

I have conducted a test with four FFG’s setup with overlapping box search patterns with myself in a FFG doing my best to cause a collision and to the credit of the AI after 15 minutes at 8x I was not able to cause a single incident. You would be well aware of what a magnificent feat this is if you have seen me drive!

On the other hand, the AI collision avoidance appears to be torn between avoiding the other platform in its path and following the plotted course. This may be why the AI will often only change course to avoid another platform only at the very last minute.

Where an AI platform is following another slower platform one time it may slow down, another time it will run over the ship in front and on another time they may avoid each other. The platform in the lead will never make any move to avoid a collision.

Platforms heading towards each other will often in an attempt to avoid each other will have Platform A turn to the right, then Platform B will turn to it’s left and they are again on a collision course. The same process happens in the opposite direction and is repeated until they hopefully pass each other.

At times when the AI has successfully performed collision avoidance, it will do the unexplainable and collide with the other platform.

Once two platforms have collided, often they will continue to do so until one or both are destroyed.

Land is also an issue for the AI platforms. I set two Oliver Hazard Perry’s with a plotted course directly over an island. For Platform A I set the first waypoint on the island with the second waypoint behind it. For Platform B I plotted one waypoint in the water several miles behind the island, but directly over it. Platform A went to go around the Island until it was in line with the first plot, then it turned hard right and did an impression of a beached whale. Platform B tried to go round the island but just never quite made it. I repeated the test several times always with the same result.

On other occasions when the land mass is large enough, the platforms will not attempt to go round, just run aground.

If a submarine is set to a depth of 100 meters and the entire plot is set up for that depth, if any part of the plot covers a shallower depth, then the submarine will immediately surface and proceed along the plotted course.

Sonalysts are aware of the strange behaviors described above and are working hard to resolve them.

Mission Designers (both single and multiplayer) will need to keep the above-mentioned AI collision avoidance issues in mind when making missions.

The players AI unfortunately lets the player’s platform run aground on either land or the sea bed without so much as an “Excuse me Captain but…”. The same AI also will not avoid another platform. Two basic actions I would have expected.

These issues will affect everyone except those who play exclusively against human players and exclude all AI platforms. The degree in which the player will experience the AI path finding, collision and appropriate use of weapons issues will largely depend on the missions designers consideration the AI’s issues, coupled with circumstances.

Overall, I would say that the AI is need of some serious attention in the upcoming patches.

Mission Editor

As Dangerous Waters does not have a ‘Dynamic Campaign’ it falls onto the shoulders of the mission editor and the community at large to make Dangerous Waters a classic single player experience. Assuming, that is, that the rest of the simulation holds up.

Thankfully, Dangerous Waters does ship with a very powerful mission editor that includes such essential items as whales and icebergs! Those who take joy in making challenging missions will be in heaven.

Whilst the mission editor is easy to use and a mission with several platforms can be easily created within 10 minutes it will not be easy to create a challenging mission and even more difficult to create one that can be played more than once without a sense of Déjà vu.

Making missions that make the other players believe will be an art in itself. In this modern technical environment, an understanding of each platforms real world capabilities and an understanding of each navy’s doctrine will be essential to creating realistic and exciting missions.

All that said, Sonalysts have crammed the mission editor with a host of tools that will enable you to do so. Such as;

Dynamic Locations: A dynamic location can be used separately or you can string/chain two or more dynamic locations together. From dynamic group/s objects will be added to these locations randomly at game start based upon the minimum and maximum number of objects specified.

Script Editor: Allows you to fine tune the set of events that can occur when a goal is met. You can specify that the MH-60R Multi-mission Helicopter attacks the cargo ship #2 with the Hellfire ASM.

Doctrine Editor: Allows a mission creator to specify criteria that must be met before a trigger can fire. The doctrine language allows testing of detection performance, engagements, the existence of objects, alliances, ROE, aircraft landing and taking off, the taking of photos, and much more.

The sea state and wind are defined by regions, with the regions being as big or small and as numerous as you want. Sea state and wind are configured separately. There can be many Sea states regions and wind regions, with the wind affecting the sea state. As an example, if the sea state is set to ‘2’ with a wind of 40-60 mph then the sea state could raise to 3 or 4.

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