Combat Tricks: Increasing Combat Challenge (OBS Mod and Guide)

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DrBullwinkle
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Post by DrBullwinkle » Tue, 18. Jun 13, 19:19

No fault, nap_rz. It's a feature, not a bug!

Xenon and Kha'ak do not have M8's, so I gave them Vipers. Hence Xenon Viper.

Don't look at them in close-up view and be happy. :)

If you really hate them, then delete the SRST.xml in addon\director. The only changes that I made to SRST were adding M8's and M7M's for races that did not have them.

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Post by nap_rz » Wed, 19. Jun 13, 02:31

DrBullwinkle wrote:No fault, nap_rz. It's a feature, not a bug!

Xenon and Kha'ak do not have M8's, so I gave them Vipers. Hence Xenon Viper.

Don't look at them in close-up view and be happy. :)

If you really hate them, then delete the SRST.xml in addon\director. The only changes that I made to SRST were adding M8's and M7M's for races that did not have them.
yes but as I said, XRM do have xenon m8, named xenon R also they have m7m named xenon G, I don't know yet if the khaak have them though, I could easily check them

so how can I change this myself? :?:

thanks for the help[/b]

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Post by DrBullwinkle » Wed, 19. Jun 13, 02:33

nap_rz wrote:how can I change this myself?
Edit SRST.xml.

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Post by nap_rz » Wed, 19. Jun 13, 04:03

DrBullwinkle wrote:
nap_rz wrote:how can I change this myself?
Edit SRST.xml.
and what to do? sorry I'm far from my pc now

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Post by DrBullwinkle » Wed, 19. Jun 13, 04:06

nap_rz wrote:
DrBullwinkle wrote:Edit SRST.xml.
and what to do? sorry I'm far from my pc now
Oh. Well, in that case:

1) Go to your pc.

2) Edit SRST.

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Post by nap_rz » Wed, 19. Jun 13, 07:27

DrBullwinkle wrote:
nap_rz wrote:
DrBullwinkle wrote:Edit SRST.xml.
and what to do? sorry I'm far from my pc now
Oh. Well, in that case:

1) Go to your pc.

2) Edit SRST.
and how do I change that, what parameter to look, change to what, from which file... :?:

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Post by nap_rz » Wed, 3. Jul 13, 20:12

talking about extreme combat missions...

a very hard patrol mission resulting in at peak almost 800 ships in a sector... well that's including many, many bailed ships and astronauts from bail addon and A LOT of RRF ships from IR2... but you got the idea...

http://i.imgur.com/j1R9ozw.jpg

slideshow redefined :mrgreen:

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Post by DrBullwinkle » Wed, 3. Jul 13, 21:28

Yeah, by changing the settings you can do just about anything with the modified OBS.

However, for lurkers, you will not get 800 enemies with the default settings. Not in a normal game, anyway. ;)

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Post by nap_rz » Sun, 7. Jul 13, 16:19

how to decrease OBS for high combat rank? which value in the parameters actually matter?

and to uninstall, simply delete the files, isn't it?

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Post by DrBullwinkle » Sun, 7. Jul 13, 16:31

nap_rz wrote:how to decrease OBS for high combat rank?
To reduce the maximum OBS "improvement" then lower the MaxMultiplier.

To reduce OBS improvements at all levels, then increase the FightRankDivisor.

Yes, to uninstall simply delete the OBS.xml from your Director folder.

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Post by nap_rz » Sun, 7. Jul 13, 16:41

DrBullwinkle wrote:
nap_rz wrote:how to decrease OBS for high combat rank?
To reduce the maximum OBS "improvement" then lower the MaxMultiplier.

To reduce OBS improvements at all levels, then increase the FightRankDivisor.

Yes, to uninstall simply delete the OBS.xml from your Director folder.

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<language id="89">

  <page id="8563" title="Messages" descr="CombatTricks">
    <!-- Formula is LowMultiplier + (player.fightrank.rank / FightRankDivisor) -->
    <!-- Total Multiplier is never greater than MaxMultiplier -->
    <!-- At very lowest fight rank, the MinMultiplier is used instead of LowMultiplier -->
    <!-- Default values result in a range from 3 to 15x vanilla values. -->
    <t id="1">Combat Tricks</t>
    <t id="101">3(MinMultiplier. Default=3)</t>
    <t id="102">4(LowMultiplier. Default=4)</t>
    <t id="103">15(MaxMultiplier. Default=12)</t>
    <t id="104">3(FightRankDivisor. Default=3)</t>
    <t id="105">7(BigShipsOnlyThreshold. Default=7)</t>
  </page>

</language>
that one? am I correct? only inside the 8563-L089 xml file?

and can I know the number threshold? and what exactly a single increment/decrement will do to the whatever it's called in the game? I mean let's say I increase the fightrankdivisor to 4 or lowering the maxmultiplier to 14, what kind of difference will I see? :?:

and what does it mean by that default number, is that vanilla number?

and I hope it's 100% savegame compatible right? just not going to change on going mission, isn't it?

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Post by DrBullwinkle » Sun, 7. Jul 13, 17:09

nap_rz wrote:only inside the 8563-L089 xml file?
No, the -L089 file is only documentation. You must change the language file for the language in which you play the game. For English, that is -L044. See Language Files: How to modify for your language for more info about language files.


what exactly a single increment/decrement will do to the whatever it's called in the game?
The OBS mod adds a final multiplier to the "score" that OBS generates based on several factors. Higher score means more enemies generated. So changing the values in the formula will increase or decrease the enemies generated by any mission that uses OBS. That includes most generic missions and some plot missions.

My OBS mod will also reduce the number of small enemy ships when the calculated multiplier is greater than BigShipsOnlyThreshold. You will then get more capital ships and fewer fighters, which reduces lag while increasing combat challenge.


what does it mean by that default number, is that vanilla number?


The defaults are just my idea of what would be "good" for players interested in a modified OBS. The numbers are based on AP without major mods. TC players might want to increase MaxMultiplier as high as 30-ish.

If you want only the reduced lag behavior, and otherwise vanilla multiplier (1x), then change the values to:
  • MinMultiplier = 1
    LowMultiplier = 0
    MaxMultiplier = 1
    FightRankDivisor = 1
    BigShipsOnlyThreshold = 0

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Post by nap_rz » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 03:58

did you mean to change things, I only need to modify the 8563 L044 file?

and another question, can you tell me, in your own game, with your own OBS v2 as you provided in this thread, what sort of enemies do you see in a VERY HARD sector patrol mission at CRUSADER combat rank? let's assume the enemies are either xenon or pirates, what kind of fleet came to such a mission in your game?

how many J/Galleon, K/Brigantine, m8, m6, little fighters?

thanks.

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Post by DrBullwinkle » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 04:06

If you play the game in English then, yes, modify the -L044 file (8563-L044.xml).

I do not know exactly how many ships respond; it depends on the mission (and possibly other factors) as well. However, a large-ish enemy force would be a dozen M1/M2's, another dozen M6/M7, and maybe a dozen or two fighters. With vanilla OBS, you could have a hundred fighters with that many capital ships -- that is where the modified OBS makes a big difference.

A very large enemy force would be 50-ish M6 and above, with possibly that many fighters. I have not personally seen forces that large in AP, but I suppose it might be possible.

At Rank 24 (Crusader) you are getting the maximum multiplier (12x by default). If the enemies are too tough, they try reducing MaxMultiplier.

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Post by nap_rz » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 04:25

DrBullwinkle wrote:If you play the game in English then, yes, modify the -L044 file.

I do not know exactly how many ships respond; it depends on the mission (and possibly other factors) as well. However, a large-ish enemy force would be a dozen M1/M2's, another dozen M6/M7, and maybe a dozen or two fighters. With vanilla OBS, you could have a hundred fighters with that many capital ships -- that is where the modified OBS makes a big difference.

A very large enemy force would be 50-ish M6 and above, with possibly that many fighters. I have not personally seen forces that large in AP, but I suppose it might be possible.

At Rank 24 (Crusader) you are getting the maximum multiplier (12x by default). If the enemies are too tough, they try reducing MaxMultiplier.
I see, it's not really a matter of toughness but lag problem :mrgreen:

I've tried to reduce the max multi to 12 (you put it on 15), increase the fightrank divisor to 5 (you gave it 3) and lowering the bigship threshold to 6 (from 7)... I loaded a save and accepted a very hard patrol mission

about 8 galleon came, as long with 4 brigantines, but just 3 or so m6 with 2 or so m8 with many fighters.... the thing is, when some of the capitals destroyed, usually another dozen of capitals with their fighters came... but my feeling say that the quantity already reduced from the default config you put into the 1st page, but still, the lag is getting unbearable lol.

and also, does that mean that it already maxed out? or things will get even uglier at higher rank? :lol:

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Post by DrBullwinkle » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 04:34

nap_rz wrote:it's not really a matter of toughness but lag problem
What is a lag problem?

You're right that I have MaxMultiplier set at 15, which is very high. That is unintentional. I intended to set it at 12, although 10 might be even better for many players.

Try reducing MaxMultiplier to 10 (or less).

As for multiple waves of enemies, that depends on the mission.
  • (Please do not quote entire messages. It adds nothing to the conversation and only makes a confusing mess out of the thread.)

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Post by nap_rz » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 05:20

lag problem probably not your mod fault, I'm using many mods and scripts which resulted in hundreds of ships/floating objects in a sector when such missions happening, those 800 objects I've shown before? that was the most extreme so far.

bigshipthreshold, am I right to assume that the lower number = less fighters in higher combat rank missions?

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Post by DrBullwinkle » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 05:26

Yes, having many objects in a sector can create lag.

I do not know why you had 800 enemies on a mission, but that is not normal OBS behavior, not even with my modified OBS.


nap_rz wrote:bigshipthreshold, am I right to assume that the lower number = less fighters in higher combat rank missions?
No, it is just a threshold. If the total multiplier is above the threshold then there will be fewer fighters. You can safely set the BigShipThreshold to 0. (Probably).

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Post by nap_rz » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 05:57

DrBullwinkle wrote:Yes, having many objects in a sector can create lag.

I do not know why you had 800 enemies on a mission, but that is not normal OBS behavior, not even with my modified OBS.


nap_rz wrote:bigshipthreshold, am I right to assume that the lower number = less fighters in higher combat rank missions?
No, it is just a threshold. If the total multiplier is above the threshold then there will be fewer fighters. You can safely set the BigShipThreshold to 0. (Probably).
haha no, you misunderstood, there wasn't 800 enemies there but the total combined objects in space at that time that came from : well duh the spawned enemies, bailed out ships and astronauts due to npc bail addon, IR2 RRF forces, XRM RRF. XRM war ships etc

and what if I increase the bigshipthreshold?

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Post by DrBullwinkle » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 05:59

nap_rz wrote:what if I increase the bigshipthreshold?
Then the threshold will be higher.

Please do not quote entire messages. It adds nothing to the conversation and only makes a confusing mess of the thread.

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