As the AI couldn't keep every plane under control and some very good designs couldn't show their performance, I have done some manual rounds with 10 aircrafts which I think are the best racers here on SimplePlanes and also the Hammerhead by CodyS, because it performed way better than in the race and extremely good for a non-modded and simple design. I tried to fly the course as consistent as possible for good comparison. Keep in mind there is a bug that sometimes (or rather often actually) non-missed rings are counted as missed. You can notice those faulty misses by hearing closely. When there's a pling then it's not a miss, when there's a brrrt then it is a miss, the faulty misses go pling first and then brrrt afterwards, those don't count and I made sure there were no real misses in those rounds.
Watch the Videos of:
Thunderstone by @AgDynamics
Mamba Master II and Horizon Mk II - RS by @MediocrePlanes
Black Hand Racer/Superfighter by @OminousGloom
Ku.45 Scintilla by @Skua
C-F Jackdaw II B by @Seeras
KK-FF-UAP X - Mini Storm Special Sky Cup by @FullFruntall
JShay 002.2 by @JShay
Hammerhead by @CodyS
Frontliner-C XR-1 by myself
Frontliner-C XR-1.1-GL 2000+ also by myself
Feedback is appreciated! :)
Wow, thats awesome. 0o 3 secs faster as the AI ^^
@FullFruntall The upload is so much faster with this solution. Hope the actual quality on YouTube will also be fine. Sadly my CPU is not quite strong enough to record in full 1440p resolution without lag in the recording, so I have to downscale to 2048 x 1152. The bare video looks good, but let's see what YouTube makes out of it. :D
@AgDynamics Here we go! 0:37 manually. As I said, the AI manages 0:40 or above, if it doesn't crash and it does that 9/10 runs. :D
@AgDynamics Guess I'll have to give it a manual go then. :3 But first setting up my new capturing and editing software.
@bruthless https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZucYEWAXCgI
I got :37 on an earlier run. It seems to do best when the opponent blows up, it's probably framerate related. On my system it'll finish maybe 1 in 10 times, 1/5-ish in slow-mo. It's not actually a very good racer, I was just testing a theory.
@AgDynamics I tested your new plane. I am getting 0:40 with the AI, not even counting the real misses in. And it's crashing pretty often with and without vector-thrust. :/
@FullFruntall Oh, I thought it was only for streaming. Alright, then I'll definitely use that one. Hope I don't need an additional software for cutting, but that would also be okay.
@BRuthless for screen capture use OBS
Soe incredible piloting skills. Taking planes right to the edge. I like that
@AgDynamics @PhilipTarpley Now beat this! :D
Does anyone know a good free or cheap screen recording tool? Plays.tv is using 1-2 GB for just 8 minutes of 1080p video. The quality isn't that good and it takes awfully long to upload. Doesn't need to be something professional, just simple tools for cutting, good video quality and low video filesize. :)
@AgDynamics 0:34!!! But it took me like 10 tries to miss no single ring. Also the speed on the track is way lower at only around 2500 MPH. :D 16x stock VTOL-engines + 2 VTOL-nozzles (adjusted to maximum angle of 30° up and down) + 495 gallons of fuel.
@AgDynamics Alright. If my plans work, I've just got an umodded plane (just the maximum angle of the VTOL nozzles changed) that will blow anything out of the water. Just need to get 2700-3000 MPH through the course. Handling is superb so far. I also found another trick. Less nozzles = more performance. As you can see, I get almost 1000 MPH more speed just by removing all nozzles except for two. :D Sadly the launchpad wouldn't fit in a 20 x 20 square for the tournaments, gotta work on making it smaller.
@BRuthless check the description of that reconfigured Thunderstone.
@AgDynamics Keeping it as simple and standard as possible? Low pitch rates? :D
@bruthless Last night I reconfigured the Thunderstone a bit and got 0:37 with an AI pilot. Same overpowered engine as the original Thunderstone and roughly the same weight, but nearly a full 10 seconds faster.
The AI has a secret, and I know what it is. :)
@Skua the small people mde it farther and beat a lot of heavily modded people
@salvador3031 all the semi finalists were pretty heavily modded too, just not quite to the same extent as these ones
@BRuthless you can get a plane to 100%
@salvador3031 Everyone would have a chance with an AI that wouldn't always push the planes harder than needed and make less mistakes. No matter if modded or not. :D
@PhilipTarpley What blood? I am obviously a robot! :D Maybe I could send you some oil, if that helps.
LOL not even haalf of them got to the semi finals i think as long as xml modding is akllowed all the new guys have a chance.
@BRuthless We're all wondering here at the office if you are a Jedi? Can you submit a blood sample so we can test your Midichlorian count? :)
@PhilipTarpley Video of the Frontliner-C XR-1.1-GL 2000+ is now ready. :D It was 0:37 again. This wouldn't be possible without your improved input-system, which now allows for way smoother inputs.
@PhilipTarpley I am currently working on my fixed XR-1.1. One version also comes with a launchpad with detacher-launching and now it has a working external VTOL-engine, which is automatically dropped at start/is attached to the launchpad. Just one, because 2, 3 and 4 of them resulted in breaking the physics. The VTOL-engine in the fuselage stayed, so a total of two VTOL-engines, both at x8 power. 2200-2300 MPH without any misses is quite a struggle, but I finished one round at 0:37 with no effective misses. The AI always crashes it. Sadly I have to upload another video of it, as this damn plays.tv didn't record the end. :/ Will probably take some minutes.
This is amazing, thank you!
That is insane flying, I absolutely would not have believed it w/o video...no offense :)
@AndrewGarrison Thanks! The trick is just to bring the ring into the center of the monitor and flying a curve leading directly to the next ring. Also just making small and smooth inputs. If the AI could do that, it could beat any human through it's reaction time. Also it should be programmable to handle each aircraft's own features with the VTOL-input and activation groups. It's a pretty impressive AI already, but of course not perfect. :)