Top Gun AI - The Official Tournament Thread

[drtricky]

9 minutes ago, DoctorDavinci said:

I refer you to the rules for the current tournament posted on page 51 of this thread (one page behind this one)

Let me win, damn it! 

Edited January 21, 2016 by drtricky

[colmo]

Hi all,

When I invented the Top Gun AI format, I wasn't happy with the design constraints the starting positions of planes forced on us.

I've created a Kerbal Konstructs arena to remedy that, which allows planes to start about 11km apart. I'll run a tournament on it when I have time.

This video is a demo, links and notes are in the description.

I'm hopeful that we can develop more arenas which test different design decisions - in testing, I found a mountain arena naturally discouraged a low minimum altitude and high steer factor.

Edit: or not, I'm mystified by the complete lack of reaction to a useful innovation to the format?

 

Edited January 26, 2016 by colmo
Tumbleweeds

[CreativeCombat]

On 1/10/2016 at 0:04 PM, GDJ said:

SHUBADUB

Here's my submission. The purple/pink lines are BDArmoury Debug lines.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/1853zglcit3pjzl/GDJ-2-Interceptor.craft?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/npqcdjymyixo8ey/GDJ-1-Interceptor.craft?dl=0

Both planes are the same. 4X M230 turrets per plane = 8 points total for both planes.
No clipping of parts.
No hiding anything.

Best of luck to everybody in the tournament!

@CreativeCombat: Both planes are configured so everything turns on when you hit the staging control (space bar). AI pilot, Weapons manager, afterburner will turn on automatically. Hit the space bar again and engine goes into dry mode, weapons manager turns off, autopilot stays on.
I tried to make it as simple as possible for getting tournaments rolling a bit easier.

Submission inspected and accepted.  The action groups on spacebar were rebound to 0.  It's a good, solid simplistic plane and I love it for that.  I find it odd that it only has four M230s instead of six, though. 

On 1/19/2016 at 2:28 PM, DoctorDavinci said:

SHUBADUB

I now present the CANUKWorks DF-39 Manta V in it's final iteration ... I discovered that the V outperformed both the GAU and the M230 variants so I'm just gonna enter two Manta V's (I also linked my flag below)

DoctorDavinci - 1 - Manta V
DoctorDavinci - 2 - Manta V
FLAG

Weighing in at a meager 9.5 tons, it has a single hidden Vulcan for all your dog-fighting needs as well as sporting two fashionable Panthers and air brakes.

NOTE: The AI Pilot toggle, Guard Mode toggle and Activate Engines are hot-keyed to '1'

Plane inspected and accepted.  The action groups on 1 were rebound to 0.  Looks absolutely gorgeous, especially with the flag on it, it reminds me of a podracer.  I think it will do well. 

 

Friendly reminder to all that if you paint your planes with KerbPaint, they will fly in their colors in the tournament. 

Edited January 22, 2016 by CreativeCombat

[DoctorDavinci]

16 minutes ago, CreativeCombat said:

Plane inspected and accepted.  The action groups on 1 were rebound to 0.  Looks absolutely gorgeous, especially with the flag on it, it reminds me of a podracer.  I think it will do well. 

Thanx

It outperforms everything else I have designed although parts fall off of it with FAR and DD when she's close to supersonic ... I chalk that up to the AI not trying to slow down before initiating a hard turn at stupid speeds

Edited January 22, 2016 by DoctorDavinci

[GDJ]

3 hours ago, CreativeCombat said:

Submission inspected and accepted.  The action groups on spacebar were rebound to 0.  It's a good, solid simplistic plane and I love it for that.  I find it odd that it only has four M230s instead of six, though. 

It was a weight issue and six guns were no more accurate nor deadly as four with the M230. Besides, the extra weight kinda made the handling a little more "mushy".

[DoctorDavinci]

12 minutes ago, GDJ said:

It was a weight issue and six guns were no more accurate nor deadly as four with the M230. Besides, the extra weight kinda made the handling a little more "mushy".

I found the same thing with the Manta which is why I didn't enter a Manta with 2 Vulcan's, it put her balance out of whack ... You may not think so but 0.2 tons can make a huge difference in your Col/Com relationship as well as on inherent balance.

I ran a Manta V against a Manta V2 (2 Vulcan's) and the Manta V won out about 70% of the time

[GDJ]

2 hours ago, DoctorDavinci said:

I found the same thing with the Manta which is why I didn't enter a Manta with 2 Vulcan's, it put her balance out of whack ... You may not think so but 0.2 tons can make a huge difference in your Col/Com relationship as well as on inherent balance.

I ran a Manta V against a Manta V2 (2 Vulcan's) and the Manta V won out about 70% of the time

Same with mine. The COL/COM I can compensate for easily, but the added mass reduces the wings ability to affect the plane for maneuvering. 

Basically what Newton said: "An object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by another force". In our case, it's gravity and inertia we're fighting.

[drtricky]

18 hours ago, DoctorDavinci said:

I found the same thing with the Manta which is why I didn't enter a Manta with 2 Vulcan's, it put her balance out of whack ... You may not think so but 0.2 tons can make a huge difference in your Col/Com relationship as well as on inherent balance.

Yeah, your craft's low weight means it is very sensitive to changes in mass. My 40 ton monster on the other hand wouldn't give a flying crap if it had five vulcans I wish put on it .

So...

...wanna be a team? 

Edited January 23, 2016 by drtricky

[GDJ]

It's kinda too bad the .50 cal turrets and other .50 cal weapons weren't allowed. I found the Turrets very, very effective.

But, we shall endeavour with what we have to use. No biggie.

[DoctorDavinci]

11 minutes ago, GDJ said:

It's kinda too bad the .50 cal turrets and other .50 cal weapons weren't allowed. I found the Turrets very, very effective.

I find it's no challenge if you use .50 turrets as they tend to shred anything close by, even so far as to appear like they suck the craft into their line of fire

I'm liking the what I have learned from this challenge and actually believed it opened up my horizons for more inspired Kreations in Kerbal.

[DoctorDavinci]

54 minutes ago, drtricky said:

Yeah, your craft's low weight means it is very sensitive to changes in mass.

Exactly ... The main thing was balancing and having the proper weight distribution. Even a simple shift of a small amount forward or back would influence the way in which the Manta performed and she kept being wobbly. If my CoM was close to the bottom edge of my wings it would cause havoc with the balance which the second Vulcan did.

I even changed positions of the twin guns all over the Manta but could not find that sweet spot the single Vulcan variant has without having to play with the wing positioning ... I didn't want to spend the time getting it all perfect so I just entered the Manta V.

Edited January 23, 2016 by DoctorDavinci

[CreativeCombat]

3 hours ago, drtricky said:

Yeah, your craft's low weight means it is very sensitive to changes in mass. My 40 ton monster on the other hand wouldn't give a flying crap if it had five vulcans I wish put on it .

So...

...wanna be a team? 

Please submit it, I'd love to see such a craft in a f(l)ight.  We're a bit starved for submissions at the moment. 

 

3 hours ago, GDJ said:

It's kinda too bad the .50 cal turrets and other .50 cal weapons weren't allowed. I found the Turrets very, very effective.

But, we shall endeavour with what we have to use. No biggie.

I may have thought that the M230 was a .50 caliber weapon.... 

[GDJ]

2 hours ago, CreativeCombat said:

I may have thought that the M230 was a .50 caliber weapon.... 

Nope. 30mm.

Only the turret and the Browning is .50 cal. 

Not going to complain now. It's done. Let the carnage begin!

[SasquatchM]

Is there an updated version of KerbPaint, or new masks at least?  I have an entry ready to go, but several of the parts no longer have paint support.

[SasquatchM]

Here is my submission:  the Coral Mk 2

Hopefully it is not too clippy.

 

 

SHUBADUB

Edited January 25, 2016 by SasquatchM

[DoctorDavinci]

If you want I have another fighter that I can enter that fits the rule of no clipping wings and such ... Here's some pics of the M230 variant

CANUKWorks DF-42 Sting M230-4

 

[drtricky]

23 hours ago, CreativeCombat said:

Please submit it, I'd love to see such a craft in a f(l)ight.  We're a bit starved for submissions at the moment. 

If you want more people to submit, you may want to make a separate thread.

[CreativeCombat]

31 minutes ago, drtricky said:

If you want more people to submit, you may want to make a separate thread.

I should.  I'm planning to make a Gentlemen's Aerial Battle Club thread at the conclusion of this tournament, to compile the numerous threads there are currently.  Theres been at least seven so far, and four of those are active and bouncing around the front page. 

Suggestions for what to put in the OP would be appreciated.  I would prefer to let tournament hosts decide the rules for their tournaments on an individual basis, but I'm not sure how to describe such a system clearly and efficiently in a single post, or even how such a thing might work. 

Edited January 25, 2016 by CreativeCombat

[Mars Rocks]

SHUBADUB

Here's my submission:

Plane one: Smiley Plane

Plane two: The "Enough" Maneuverability Fighter

The first plane is difficult(but far far from impossible) to shoot down, and can be surprisingly nimble and accurate with its single GAU-8 30mm gun. It makes use of a mixture of heavy and light armor, as well as magnetic locking of the supercooled wings to hold the them in place. It has lost over 30% of its parts in battle yet survived fight another day. However, when it does get shot down, in my testing it was because a bullet phased through its armor to explode the fuel tank or command pod within, which bisects the craft.
It is powered by two Wheesley Turbofan engines, one in the back and the other in the front with its thrust reversed.

The second plane is a simple yet surprisingly effective design. Coming in at only 18 parts, if damaged it becomes worthless as a fighter, but with the wide vectoring range of the Pather afterburning turbojet engine, it can usually survive the loss of one wing and avoid crash landing. With only a single engine, it is slower than many other planes, but its high lift rating makes the minimum speed lower, which contributes to its low turning circle.

[CreativeCombat]

14 hours ago, Mars Rocks said:

SHUBADUB

Here's my submission:

Plane one: Smiley Plane

Plane two: The "Enough" Maneuverability Fighter

The first plane is difficult(but far far from impossible) to shoot down, and can be surprisingly nimble and accurate with its single GAU-8 30mm gun. It makes use of a mixture of heavy and light armor, as well as magnetic locking of the supercooled wings to hold the them in place. It has lost over 30% of its parts in battle yet survived fight another day. However, when it does get shot down, in my testing it was because a bullet phased through its armor to explode the fuel tank or command pod within, which bisects the craft.
It is powered by two Wheesley Turbofan engines, one in the back and the other in the front with its thrust reversed.

The second plane is a simple yet surprisingly effective design. Coming in at only 18 parts, if damaged it becomes worthless as a fighter, but with the wide vectoring range of the Pather afterburning turbojet engine, it can usually survive the loss of one wing and avoid crash landing. With only a single engine, it is slower than many other planes, but its high lift rating makes the minimum speed lower, which contributes to its low turning circle.

Submission inspected and accepted.  No edits were necessary.  This plane is wonderful and silly, and I love it for that.  Fabulously ridiculous.  

22 hours ago, SasquatchM said:

Here is my submission:  the Coral Mk 2

Hopefully it is not too clippy.

 

 

SHUBADUB

Submission inspected and accepted.  Edits made were extreme and extensive, but only involved the wings.  The edits made were necessary on account of the clipping inherent to the original version.  I'm sorry, but I can't rightly accept something as clipped as the original version was when I have been negotiating with BlueCanary over his comparatively minor wing clipping with the Anduril. 

Video of clipped version can be found here. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtgBgG-xxWg&feature=youtu.be 

Craft file here. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/31kc4st9mszfrfp/SasquatchM%20-%201%20-%20Coral%20Mk2.craft?dl=0 

I would find it understandable if you prefer the modified version not be flown in the tournament at all, but I could not accept the original version submitted due to its clipping. 

[Mars Rocks]

1 hour ago, CreativeCombat said:

Submission inspected and accepted.  No edits were necessary.  This plane is wonderful and silly, and I love it for that.  Fabulously ridiculous.  

 

Thanks!

On 1/24/2016 at 5:08 PM, CreativeCombat said:

We're a bit starved for submissions at the moment. 

 

If you're looking for more entries, I'm working on a pair of VTOL fighters that might be ready before February. I'll post some pics later.

[Zahida]

SHUBADUB

After much trial, tribulation, and testing, I present the successor to the CF-59 Naga, the CF-63 Empress. I went through something like over a dozen different aircraft designs before I decided on this one.  Both my aircraft are the same model but one has two 20mm cannons and the other only has one. I took inspiration from the SU-37 and MiG-29 when making this, and I think it turned out pretty well. Please tell me if I need to change anything. Turning on the AI autopilot is done by pressing "0" then spacebar. 

Aircraft 1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5xzmd8szuhvaayi/Zahida%20-%201%20-%20CF-63%20Empress.craft?dl=0&preview=Zahida+-+1+-+CF-63+Empress.craft

Aircraft 2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/k29r9nobdt9xfg5/Zahida%20-%202%20-%20CF-63%20Empress.craft?dl=0&preview=Zahida+-+2+-+CF-63+Empress.craft

[SasquatchM]

5 hours ago, CreativeCombat said:

Submission inspected and accepted.  No edits were necessary.  This plane is wonderful and silly, and I love it for that.  Fabulously ridiculous.  

Submission inspected and accepted.  Edits made were extreme and extensive, but only involved the wings.  The edits made were necessary on account of the clipping inherent to the original version.  I'm sorry, but I can't rightly accept something as clipped as the original version was when I have been negotiating with BlueCanary over his comparatively minor wing clipping with the Anduril. 

Video of clipped version can be found here. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtgBgG-xxWg&feature=youtu.be 

Craft file here. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/31kc4st9mszfrfp/SasquatchM%20-%201%20-%20Coral%20Mk2.craft?dl=0 

I would find it understandable if you prefer the modified version not be flown in the tournament at all, but I could not accept the original version submitted due to its clipping. 

I feared as much and have an alternate craft as well.

[drtricky]

20 hours ago, Mars Rocks said:

Plane one: Smiley Plane

Plane two: The "Enough" Maneuverability Fighter

Your first plane, I gotta say, is going to frustrate a hell of a lot of people like me. Also, you lied; that thing is about as nimble as an eagle with a brick tied around it. 

Your second plane may be suffering from some kind of glitch with the controls, as when I try to roll it, I notice that it doesn't depress the elevons all the way, unlike changing the pitch which pushes the elevons all the way.

Edited January 25, 2016 by drtricky

[SasquatchM]

Actually your revisions to my original craft are acceptable, i would like to add a different 2nd craft however.

 

The Two-Step