Crazy boat owners!

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[hjl]

I think Ship Sim is great. However, there are some strange things that will stop me from upgrading to the new version if they have not been corrected. The fact that the world is viewed from a wide angled lens is annoying as it is so difficult to judge distance. Another is the strange way other craft act and the consequences of their actions. For instance, I was berthing the cruise liner in Southamptom when a speed boat collided with the quay, barged along it for some distance, then jumped out of the water and parked itself on the quayside. Later, and this was most annoying, I had left my birth in Southampton with the cruise liner when another speedboat cut across my bow. I was unable to steer clear and there was a collision. The speedboat turned over several times but was then able to continue on its journey. I, however, in my liner was sunk.
This makes the whole idea of the simulator pointless. How can it be realistic if this happens. If these problems, and the stupidity of boats not taking any avoiding action to prevent collisions have not been corrected in 'Extremes' I will not be buying.
Am I alone?

[mvsmith]

I’m not sure what the point of your post is. Those things have been covered in many topics.
If you want someone to assure you that similar things won’t happen in SSE, you are out of luck. The extent to which they have been mitigated will be known only after release.
The behavior of AI vessels is a complex subject. There has to be a tradeoff between perfect behavior and computational burden that would place a capable system out of reach for many.

Some problems, such as an AI craft colliding with a dock, are due to a fault in that particular mission. The creator placed the path carelessly. Faulty missions are as likely to be created in SSE, perhaps more so given the increased complexity of the mission editor.

[hjl]

I think my main gripe is when I have been 'playing' the game for some time and doing everything as well as I can, to then have an AI boat take me out. It's so frustrating! Sometimes I think it would be better without other boats in the game. The pleasure for me comes from being able to pilot the large ships somewhat like a slow moving chess game. The exact opposite of a Grand Prix car.

[hjl]

...just to add to the above, the coliding boats were not part of a mission, but just free roaming.

[mvsmith]

Hi hjl,

I agree that poorly done AI can interfere with the pleasure that one can take in careful navigation. Some otherwise good missions are turned into a crapshoot by forcing the player vessel to cross a line of AI.
Given the technical problems in getting AI to obey COLREGS, creators should be very careful about placement of AI paths. Players, on the other hand, should also understand the limitations and behavior of AI, and operate under Rule 2 whenever they are near an AI vessel.
 
In SS08, AI ships move along defined paths. If, for some reason, they are forced off of their path, they go into headless chicken mode. They cannot change course to avoid collision. They will attempt to stop in a crossing situation (even if they are the stand-on vessel), or when overtaking. However, in stopping they are still governed by their normal dynamics, i.e. their normal stopping distance. If you attempt to cross in front of Latitude, move with alacrity.

Because AI ships are constrained to paths, observing them allows you to predict their movement.
There is one situation where AI ships will leave their drawn paths and return: Where a path makes a sharp turn, AI ships will turn with their normal ROT, they don’t “hang a right”. At such corners ships of different types will follow different paths while turning.

Regards,
Marty