What's up with the Krants? (AI)

Prometheus

Spaceman
I'm basically playing the Simulator a lot these days to get my skills up to the levels needed for the campaign (after I pretty much fell flat on my ass trying it the first time).

So, in Kilrathi Gauntlet I'm getting quite frustrated with the Krants. It's not like they're killing me, but they appear to be overly evaisive, more so than any other Kilrathi ship. They just keep flying away from you, sometimes they even appear to be dodging shots, or most of the time just staying just out of your gun range. Even taunting them doesn't help. This results in my Afterburners being depleted much sooner if lots of Krants happen to be drawn from the hat.

Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

Any suggestions on how to overcome this... attribute?
 
This is because Krants are bastards :p

It depends on what ship you're flying. In a Sabre, Krants have a speed edge they use to stay just out of gun range. They use this speed edge to great effect.

Just search this CZ for posts about Krants by me...I've always hated the Standoff version because of all the reasons you mention...they just seem like the Kil are hiding their aces in them :p
 
The Standoff Krant is a notorious bitch, but I'm glad they made the cut as it's great to see them still relevant in 2669.

If you're flying a Gladius or Sabre, I suggest keeping back and letting the Krant get out of range - then when he starts to turn around towards you, hit him with a full volley, you might need to do it once or twice. Missiles are pretty much pointless here, for one it's a waste - and secondly the DF is the only one any good against this target.
 
Normally I use the Stiletto in that Sim mission, 'cause that's the ship you'll have to fly in the first few missions. "Shields like a raw egg" I use to say... ;)
 
"What's up with Krants?" sounds like it should be a pun... maybe a movie title of a comedy set within the Wing Commander universe.
 
Good idea.

Check out this awesome Krant I found in our news archive (with an awesome title). https://www.wcnews.com/news/update/3335

sadic-krant.jpg
 
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I still have Sadic's renders in my image collection. They were great stuff... still are, even today.
 
I always thought that Krants had dual canopies...
They did, originally in WC1. Some fan re-creations of the model also have dual canopies (does the Standoff version have 'em? I don't remember...), but others don't. It's a reasonable assumption that there might be a single-seat version of the Krant. All things considered, a dual-seat version is actually more surprising - would be a neat thing to explore in the future (at the moment, we can presume that it's related to the long-range jump-capable version mentioned in the Confed Handbook).
 
With some experience they become much easier, like every enemy in the game, but they still are quite a hassle. Those buggers seem to "fly by ear" more than any other enemy, doing bunny turns every time you fire your guns.

But then again, each ship has its own kind of personality and thats part of what I [strike]like[/strike] love about it.


But why I really wanted to post again in this post is because I wanted to ask if anyone else has noticed a tendency of Krants to ram you? Yes, sometimes you collide with alomst every type of enemy ships, but the Krants are the only ones that appear to intentionally ram you. Normally they do that if you are NOT targeting them at the moment, but fighting with one of their fellow furballs. (If you target the Krant it of course starts speeding away from you :D) I say "appear to" because it propably is not really intentional on their part, although I don't know anything about how the AI is coded so if someone knows better, feel free to correct me.
But otherwise, any theories on how this perception could be explained?
 
I don't recall experiencing collisions with the Standoff Kilrathi.

The original Nephilim, on the other hand, is a different matter, although that may just be because Prophecy fighters are that little bit faster.
 
I don't recall experiencing collisions with the Standoff Kilrathi.
You mean like, never? Sometimes it almost feels like a bumper car ride (although I have to admit that's a sign things aren't looking too good for me at the moment. ;))

Not a bad analogy, I think, when you compare how dangerous collisions are in WC1/2 (a single collision can be lethal, even if it isn't you can expect a good amount of damage) with Standoff (totally harmless, except when you're already messed up badly... or flying a very weak ship like the Hornet and have an head-on full-Afterburner collision); but I don't think I've made it up myself, I think I recall reading it somewhere on here.

But maybe your emphasis was on the word "Kilrathi", and now that I think of it, yeah in Confed Gauntlet I'm much more likely to collide with the enemies (or have them suicidically run into you / your path).



All in all I'm pretty surprise that I can, especially when I am flying a weaker ship myself, keep up in Confed Gauntlet better than in Kilrathi Gauntlet. Surprised because the Confed fighters are cleary superior.... Well, okay, you encounter a lot of Hornets and Raptors, especially at the beginning, so that may be the reason. But even, say, Rapiers, it blows my mind that I can blow a Rapier out of the sky more easily than a Krant. :D Do the Kilrathi maybe have higher Afterburner speeds?


Oh, and while we're at it, another peculiar "Kilrathi maneuver":

"A human fighter is on your tail, you have already suffered heavy damage, you know you can't take another hit from him, what do you do?" [Imagine on the picture besides that question, with a big asteroid visible in the viewscreen, very close, but your current course would safely lead you past it].
The correct answer for the Kilrathi (at least in the Simulator Gauntlets) appears to be "Turn/accelerate towards the asteroid, smashing your ship on it, so your attacker won't get scored with your kill." :D
 
I don't know about never, but certainly very rarely. I only meant Kilrathi to distinguish between my experience fighting them in Standoff and fighting the Nephilim in Prophecy. You could include the pirates in Episode 1 in that group.
 
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