[Script][AP] Advanced Patrol [v1.1.2 01/09/2012]

rusky · Post by **rusky** » Sat, 1. Sep 12, 15:39

1.0.0 has some bugs that I fixed in 1.1.0 though

(in particular the fact that the ZoE Range selector did nothing

and a few game freeze and weird patrol behaviour situations).

I guess i'll just add that as a disclaimer until I maybe get around to making a TC version that doesn't use OOS data (I hope that's the only AP only command I used actually though).

Alkeena · Post by **Alkeena** » Sat, 1. Sep 12, 15:44

rusky wrote:1.0.0 has some bugs that I fixed in 1.1.0 though (in particular the fact that the ZoE Range selector did nothing and a few game freeze and weird patrol behaviour situations).

I guess i'll just add that as a disclaimer until I maybe get around to making a TC version that doesn't use OOS data (I hope that's the only AP only command I used actually though).

FYI: I'm virtually certain the OOS damage in TC is just the IS damage of the weapons (i.e. in XRM ~10x higher than it is in AP...)

rusky · Post by **rusky** » Sat, 1. Sep 12, 15:51

So I seem to have missed a debug log entry, good thing I noticed that in my own game before people got spammed

Advanced Patrol v1.1.1 - 01/09/2012

Fixes:

- Fixed debug log showing up when TTK is calculated. (sorry for the spam if you got v1.1.0!)

Another thing I noticed right after I resumed my regular game.

A 2 M3 escort I had was destroyed by a khaak cluster. They did try to retreat after it broke up but it was too late.
Hopefully I can find a way to calculate the power of a cluster while it is still together.

Alkeena · Post by **Alkeena** » Sat, 1. Sep 12, 16:01

rusky wrote:So I seem to have missed a debug log entry, good thing I noticed that in my own game before people got spammed

Advanced Patrol v1.1.1 - 01/09/2012

Fixes:

- Fixed debug log showing up when TTK is calculated. (sorry for the spam if you got v1.1.0!)

Another thing I noticed right after I resumed my regular game.

A 2 M3 escort I had was destroyed by a khaak cluster. They did try to retreat after it broke up but it was too late.
Hopefully I can find a way to calculate the power of a cluster while it is still together.

Yeah, I ran into this problem when messing around with AP fleets. I ended up just writing a special case that treated a cluster like 2 M3 (which the AP fleet then responds to with 6 M3, which seems to be enough to eliminate them without losses). Maybe consider doing something similar?

Since you are counting the kill times find something roughly proportional, similar to my suggestion for mass drivers--maybe for every khak cluster just replace it with 3 or 4 khak M3s (more than the 2 that I used in my example above because in that I was already accounting for the AP fleet systems disproportionate response)?

Also, to my knowledge, there are 3 different types of clusters, each with a different number of scouts in it.

It's a PITA to deal with all the special cases, I know. I hope you don't get frustrated though, because this is honestly one of the scripts that I could forsee most changing my game in a positive way, since I wouldn't be forced to use unimaginable force in every patrol just to account for the random battlegroup (XRM) spawn...

Thank-you again for your work.

rusky · Post by **rusky** » Sat, 1. Sep 12, 16:04

And here's another one for the release machine gun

Advanced Patrol v1.1.2 - 01/09/2012

Fixes:

- Fixed another debug log issue >.>

It's a PITA to deal with all the special cases, I know. I hope you don't get frustrated though, because this is honestly one of the scripts that I could forsee most changing my game in a positive way, since I wouldn't be forced to use unimaginable force in every patrol just to account for the random battlegroup (XRM) spawn...

Oh, I wouldn't worry about getting frustrated. I code crap for annoying people for a living, doing this for myself and others for fun is not bad at all

And yeah, that's why I wanted this too, was upset that the only way I could be fairly sure I wouldn't lose ships to random spawns while patrolling was to have all my patrols be Valhallas

Also, sorry about the update frenzy, I keep missing those damn debug log entries. Need more sleep !

rusky · Post by **rusky** » Sun, 2. Sep 12, 15:03

Found an issue with my TTK formula, where ships that had no firepower (recon drones) would cause a division by 0 which caused the patrols to consider them horrible death star level threats.

For next week's release I'm looking into the auto-repair functionality I've been talking about, though I don't know if I can actually have the ships repair themselves / add themselves to the HQ repair queue via script. I will at least have them go there, inform you and have one of the escort ships take over patrol temporarily.

Another thing I thought about is the common concern that your patrol ships sometimes chase after some crazy fast target (like a single M5

) and possibly ignore more beefy, and more importantly, more reachable, targets.

A quick fix I considered was adding an option to the patrol menu that allows you to select whether your patrol ships should engage enemies that are faster than themselves. (with perhaps a few more things being considered such as current distance to target).
Of course that option would suck for any big slow ships since they'd not bother engaging almost anything.
Still thinking of other alternatives here, if anyone has any, feel free to share

Cronos988 · Post by **Cronos988** » Wed, 5. Sep 12, 22:49

What exactly "Formation" Patrol ships need to be in? Should I assign them to a wing or just to protect each other?

My freighters need some protection against those pesky Pirate groups, and I want to try a couple of M3+.

And I have a request: Would it be possible to use your existing damage formula and enemy checking to create a lightweight carrier/group battle Software? Something that allows Fighter groups to be effective without large management requirements.

rusky · Post by **rusky** » Thu, 6. Sep 12, 13:28

Ships flying in "formation" with another ship are any ships that are following or protecting that ship (I think "attack target of.." commands work too).

I have considered adding more support for carrier/fighter groups, and may do so in the future.

greypanther · Post by **greypanther** » Thu, 6. Sep 12, 14:18

Thank you this looks great, I will download this evening!

Sorry but I will ask the inevitable question now, just to get it out of the way... will it be ok with XRM?

I would suggest you put the answer in the OP, otherwise you will get asked it over and over again; cos I can see this being a very popular mod!

Well done you Rusky!

rusky · Post by **rusky** » Thu, 6. Sep 12, 14:40

It should be compatible with any mod really, I have not used any hardcoded vanilla data.
I play XRM myself, it's part of the reason I needed this, because normal patrol scripts just got my ships killed.

I'll add a note in the OP when I get home about mod compatibility.

greypanther · Post by **greypanther** » Thu, 6. Sep 12, 15:26

A suggestion: would there be a way to tie the patrols in with a reinforcement group? I.E. Rather than just runaway if things get too hot, could you, assuming one was available, get the patrol to automatically call in back up?

Cronos988 · Post by **Cronos988** » Wed, 12. Sep 12, 11:14

I have a possible script freeze when a patrol leader gets killed.

I have a patrol engaged with a Terran battle group and am suddenly getting script freezes.

It could be one of my own scripts, but it seems to coincide with the patrol leader getiing killed.

greypanther · Post by **greypanther** » Tue, 18. Sep 12, 19:24

Are you still supporting this mod of your rusky or not?

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Tue, 18. Sep 12, 19:26

greypanther wrote:Are you still supporting this mod of your rusky or not?

It is less than a month old!

greypanther · Post by **greypanther** » Thu, 20. Sep 12, 22:03

I know, I am expecting too much perhaps, just that I am eager to try it out, but only if it is supported as I have No modding ability whatsoever.

I really must make time to learn. < sighs >

Cronos988 · Post by **Cronos988** » Fri, 21. Sep 12, 11:33

A function I would like to see is the formation leader wating for it's follower ships after passing a gate. I currently use a Cutlass leader with Scimitar followers, and even though the scimitars are faster, they still lag behind a fair bit, which endangers the leader.

raiman · Post by **raiman** » Tue, 27. Nov 12, 21:26

hello,
is our mod playeronly or does it effect AI behavior too? I'm just curios because I have spend quiet some time(around 2 1/2 h) in the great trench(boron system) and as it was invaded by a xenon J escorted by an c and an p plus fighters, the boron light destroyer(playing xrm) which was patrolling those systems with an M7 didn't not attack the xenon fleet although it came as closes as 10 km to the carrier. for testing i turned the mod of and the destroyer and the m7 attacked and were killed rather quick. it might be that this was just a coincidence but i wanted to ask you this question anyway. thanks in advance.

greetings,
raiman

captainbinary · Post by **captainbinary** » Sat, 16. Mar 13, 22:17

I don't mean to bring alive a dead topic, however i am wondering if this mod is being worked on currently? It has great potential and already is a good mod.

rmazurek · Post by **rmazurek** » Wed, 18. Jun 14, 16:47

Actually for carriers and repairs there is good script already: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=246767

I think both could be easly combined.