Combat Box SRS Bot Implementation

[Mikestriken]

As I am sure most, if not all here know about the dogfight server Combat Box has a AI implemented into their SRS comms which allows players to talk to high command, and request things such as permission to taxi, takeoff, to request call signs and provide a understanding of how command views the battlefield within the player's vicinity.

 

I want to see if we can get this implemented into PWCG somehow.

 

IMAO it would be worth if we can get the immersive stuff in there: Permission to Taxi/Takeoff/landing/emergency landing, Request callsign. (this stuff IMAO doesn't really impact the gameplay but I love being able to actually talk to the people in the game, it makes it so much more entertaining.)

 

It would be WAY BEYOND expectations if we can get the AI planes to understand what we tell them, like tell them if we see an enemy or to request assistance from any nearby friendly aircraft.

 

I asked the person who seems to be in charge of that server (Alonzo) on his discord what was possible and I have attached his responses, including when I mentioned the potential for its implementation with PWCG.

 

His two main concerns are that:
 - he will not be able to dedicate really anytime to develop this integration for PWCG.
 - He doesn't want this bot to end in the public domain, that is, he wants to capitalize on his monopoly on this bot in the dogfights servers.

I argued that:

 - As long as he discussed how he implemented the bot with Patrick and helped Patrick understand how he could implement a similar bot for PWCG, the development of it would all be on Patrick, so he wouldn't have to deal with working on both the bot for his server and the bot for PWCG.

 - Patrick could agree to not release the implementation until the bot is sufficiently hard enough to isolate, steal and apply to other dogfight servers for Alonzo then it could be released. He would naturally of course not disclose the specifics of how he is developing the bot either and whether the two want to shill out for an official NDA or just believe in mutual trust is up to them. Of course I am sure others like myself would be willing to support this financially to try and get this feature implemented.

 

His response to my suggestion was that I should post this thread and see what everyone thinks, especially @PatrickAWlson of course.

Edited May 18, 2021 by Mikestriken

[PatrickAWlson]

As far as I can see it's not going to work.

 

PWCG just makes missions.  It does not interact with the server in any way other than the mission.  Combat Box seems like something different entirely. If Combat Box is a chat box then it depends on humans.  The in game AI will certainly not work with it.  

 

I am also not keen on the idea of working with code that the author would prefer to keep private on an integration that the author does not have the time to support.  Been doing this long enough to know that is a recipe for failure.  

 

In the end I'm pretty sure that it is 1C that would have to write this code and not me.  It is the game that you are trying to interact with and not PWCG.

 

So, sorry to disappoint but I really don't think I can do what you are asking for.

[Mikestriken]

4 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

As far as I can see it's not going to work.

 

PWCG just makes missions.  It does not interact with the server in any way other than the mission.  Combat Box seems like something different entirely. If Combat Box is a chat box then it depends on humans.  The in game AI will certainly not work with it.  

 

I am also not keen on the idea of working with code that the author would prefer to keep private on an integration that the author does not have the time to support.  Been doing this long enough to know that is a recipe for failure.  

 

In the end I'm pretty sure that it is 1C that would have to write this code and not me.  It is the game that you are trying to interact with and not PWCG.

 

So, sorry to disappoint but I really don't think I can do what you are asking for.

Alright, fair enough.

I would like to add that, I don't think either of us really know how the bot is implemented.
From what the author said it seems like the data necessary for it to work stems from the creation of the mission and getting certain data from it (see the 2nd attached image)

There is still plenty of hope that it can be implemented and work, probably not in a way where we can communicate with the A.I. but still the immersive features I initially mentioned have a high probability of still working.

 

That said I have no way to rebut your decision to stay away from working with someone who would prefer to keep his work private.

 

Hopefully in the future this might change as people would find their own way to make bots of their own for their servers and the software might enter public domain in such a future. In such an instance we could still possibly see an implementation of this into PWCG ??

Edited May 18, 2021 by Mikestriken

[Alonzo]

9 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

As far as I can see it's not going to work.

 

PWCG just makes missions.  It does not interact with the server in any way other than the mission.  Combat Box seems like something different entirely. If Combat Box is a chat box then it depends on humans.  The in game AI will certainly not work with it.  

 

I am also not keen on the idea of working with code that the author would prefer to keep private on an integration that the author does not have the time to support.  Been doing this long enough to know that is a recipe for failure. 

 

Let me add some clarifications here.

 

Firstly, I think the word "monopoly" is a bit strong from the original post. Combat Box is one of several popular multiplayer servers and there is pretty intense competition between those servers. It's a bit of a winner-take-all because players see a highly populated server and just join that one, so you get a high concentration of players on a small number of servers. I think given that the CB Radio bot includes hundreds of hours of development time and is based on a machine learning model with a large database of real pilot voice samples, it's something special and not something we necessarily want to just hand out to competing servers.

 

CB Radio works on a multiplayer deathmatch server, reading the text log files emitted by the server. It also connects to an SRS server that pilots use for voice communication with each other and with the bot. I believe that a server running in co-op mode would emit the same log files, so the functionality could be similar.

 

The bot maintains an internal state of the current mission, by interrogating the log files. Attached is an example of some of the state that it knows about. The bot uses this state to respond to pilot requests over the radio. It can assign call signs, issue taxi clearance, and do advanced stuff like understanding a pilot declaring a bombing target and an ETA. It can vector other pilots to help a bomber, and it can give pilots a bearing to the nearest airfield.

 

I believe all of these things could work with PWCG, as they are not about directing Ai, they are about directing players. If directing Ai wingmen is something important, it could possibly be done using the server input MCU. The in-mission state is communicated to the bot using secondary objectives -- you can flip an objective to 'complete' to create a log entry that the bot picks up and does something with. I'm using this so the bot understands which objectives are destroyed in a multiplayer mission.

 

Personally I agree that adapting the bot for PWCG is not something we'd do lightly. It would be some effort and it would require support. And I haven't even got started on how we do speech generation, which is via a Google API which requires setup and (if you go over a million characters per month) incurs costs. But I do want to be clear on what the bot is and how it integrates with a running mission, because I do believe some kind of co-op campaign integration could work and provide value.

mission-status-sample2.txt