Orbital AI Improvements & Missile Fixes

[josuenos]

• AI / WM:

  • Improvements to the Orbital AI
    • PID control option available, by default is active only during weapon firing, can be toggled to be active always or never active.
    • Improved maneuvering behavior, it is now better at intercepting targets, killing velocity, and prioritizes combat over minor orbital corrections when within combat range.
    • AI now capable of avoiding collisions with other vessels, debris, and asteroids.
    • Add option to set which side of the ship AI will present toward target using roll control (only active when PID is enabled).
    • AI now properly aims and fires unguided missiles in orbit.

• Weapons

  • Missiles:
    • Change missile drop time increment from 0.5s to 0.1s.
    • Modular Missiles will be selected to intercept missiles if they have Engage Missiles enabled.
    • Fix Modular Missiles with Orbital Guidance not hitting vessel and missile targets.
    • Modular Missiles with Orbital Guidance now perform vacuum clearance maneuver (similar to HEKVs in space).
    • Fix point defense missile interceptors not firing.
    • Fix missiles with no targeting type (i.e. AIR-2) not firing within engage range.
    • Missile turrets now track targets properly in space.

[josuenos]

Have you resolved the changes in the PR that Hatbat mentioned in https://discord.com/channels/720416076571082863/720423078533791854/1250429090914238536 . We can't use anything that comes from after he makes the license switch from CC-BY-SA to All Rights Reserved.

Yes, license is still CC-BY-SA, it has not switched yet.

[BrettRyland]

I'm still seeing craft that are on escape trajectories switching back and forth between intercepting targets and correcting their orbit.

I think part of the issue with craft falling into atmospheres is the distinction between unsafe and dangerous orbits. In CheckOrbitDangerous you're just checking whether the craft is below the minSafeAltitude, while fixing the orbit due to CheckOrbitUnsafe being true is dependent on whether there's a nearby target to intercept. The problem is then that if there's a nearby target, the vessel won't correct its orbit until it actually starts falling into the atmosphere, at which point it's basically too late (and requires the most Δv). I think changing the condition in CheckOrbitDangerous to something like

return (o.altitude < minSafeAltitude) || (o.PeA < 0.8f * minSafeAltitude && o.timeToPe < o.timeToAp);

might help (i.e., already below the safe altitude or heading downwards with a periapsis 20% below the safe altitude).