[MOD] Logain Industries Strategic Sector Defence Network (SSDN) - v5 (11/08/2010)

[Logain Abler]

Logain Industries Strategic Sector Defence Network (SSDN) v5 19/04/2010

Introduction:
Logain Industries in conjunction with the Terran military have been adapting the existing PTP-FDL-T technologies for military application.

The military required a solution to release needed resources from sector security operations to help stabilise borders and react to increasing enemy fleet incursions. Using FLT-P2P-T ( Faster Then Light Point to Point Transference) technology Logain Industries created a Strategic Sector Defence Network solution codenamed “Guardian”, a supplement to sector defences with an automated un-manned response. A SSDN Command Control Centre (SSDN - C&CC) integrates with the existing Advance Satellites network to identify, track and engage enemy targets within its sphere of influence.

SSDN Command & Control Centre
[ external image ]

SSDN also incorporates Carrier based Drone Operation (was LSDC), when active and loaded with Drones the Carrier will teleport Drones to engage any enemy ship and recover remaining drones to its cargo bay.

The Drone operations command is available to all Carrier class ships with the following software installed:
Fight Command II Software
Carrier Command Software
Supply Support Software
Patrol Command Software

Current Version:
v5
v5 for LI_MODv7

Required Mod files
LI_MODv5 - Contains the FDN Node model and the Production Complex models. It also contains the references for SSDN (approx 8.5MB)

or

LI_MODv7 to use with FDNv7, PMv7 & LI_Modv7

If you do not intend to use LI_Modv7 you will need to remove the following any script file starting “plugin.LI.Dock.xxxx”.
This is a precaution only if you are using other mods that contain FDN dock references


Download Links:
SSDN v5 for LI_Modv7 Hosted by StormMagi
SSDN v5 Hosted by StormMagi

Hosted by Apricotslice
via Google Code

LI_MODv7


Technical Info:
Command Slot - COMMAND_TYPE_FIGHT_41. This is the same command as used by LSDC. SSDN now incorporates Carriers as a core feature; LSDC is still available as a standalone script.
Script uses file 9911-L044 for text strings.
Script uses file 09911 for Log File
Script used page 17 ID’s 300033 to 300034 for the SSDN C&CC description, the values are also used in the script to ensure the mod has loaded correctly.
Changes to TDock .txt and HQ.xml are contained in the combined LI_MOD .cat file.

This is a mod to the existing game files. Please ensure that all save games are backed-up prior to use.

Thank you:
Many thanks to all who have contributed with comments & suggestions on this post.
Big thanks to StormMagi for providing ftp access and hosting for my mods
Many thanks to Apricotslice for hosting the files on his site.


Logain Abler

[Logain Abler]

deleted

[Logain Abler]

Install SSDN:

Install of Mod files:
The SSDN.cat and .dat file can be placed in the mods folder or renamed to follow the game .cat and .dat files.
Great guide by Apritocslice: Link

Install of script files:
Use Plugin Manager by Cycrow Link to install the script .spk file
Or:
Manually install files from the script.zip. This link contains a guide for installing script files manually.
Great guide by Cycrow: Link

Turn on AL Plugin:
SSDN uses the AL Plug-in timer event for some actions.
Great guide by LV shows how to turn on an AL Plug-in: Link


SSDN Guide:

Main Menu
[ external image ]

The main menu shows a summary of you deployed SSDN control centres displaying the following:

Sorted by sector.
SSDN Control Centres with the number of Drones in local storage by type
On/Off

Sector list – This is a list of all sectors within range (distance of 5 Jumps) of the Control Centre and with an Advance Satellite
Each sector shows the number of Advance Satellite:
[x] Green = linked to Control Centre
[x] Blue = linked to another Control Centre
[x] Red = Not linked
The number of Enemy contacts within range of the Advance Satellites
The number deployed Drones by type

Command Options:
Select the Control Centre will open its details menu
Selecting a sector will open the Advance Satellite Management menu for that sector


Advance Satellite
[ external image ]

This menu shows the available Advance Satellites in the sector.
To link to a SSDN Control Centre within range simply toggle through the list, to remove the Satellite from the SSDN network select ‘None’


SSDN Menu:
[ external image ]
[ external image ]

This menu is used to configure the Control Centres configuration, such as its active state, how it reacts to enemy contacts (Rule of Engagement) and it salvages captured ships. The menu is the same for Control Centres or Carriers with the listed exceptions.

Status:
On/Off

(Carrier Only)
Carriers can deploy drone by three options
Carrier Deploy – Drones are launched from the carrier by traditional means (slowest)
Combat Launch - Drones will be deployed by FTL-P2P-T in local space close to the carrier. The Drones will then make their own way to their target.
Target Deploy – Drones will be deployed by FTL-P2P-T in local space close to their intended target (quickest)

After the engagement the Drones will be recovered to their home base using FTL-P2P-T.

Rules of Engagement:
This defines how the Control Centre responds to enemy contacts by their class:
Class – Type of ship
Action:
Report – Logs the contact details & tracking info of the contact
Report/Engage – As above but the Control Centre will engage the contact
Drone – Type of Drone uses, if not available, or in sufficient numbers SSDN will select the next available Drone depending on class of target
Number – Number of Drones deployed to engage the target

Cycle ROE [All] is used to cycle the action on all classes
Set as Global default used the current settings as default for any future Control Centres

Salvage:
The Control Centre can use the deployed Advance Satellite network to claim bailed ships and can be configured to process the acquired ship.

Salvage Scan:
On/Off
Salvage Action:
Recover – The acquired ship will be recovered as defined below.
Strip – The ship will be stripped of all equipment and recovered as defined below
Recovery options:
Move to – Move to a set position and await further action. This is good at moving the ships to a safe location for repair by ships equipped with repair lasers.
Dock at Station – The ship will dock at selected station. This is used for docking ships at your own stations or other access Shipyards for repair or sale.
Dock at Carrier – The ship will dock at the selected carrier.
Storage Location – This can be set to any player dock within range of the Control Centre. For Carriers this is not an option as equipment (except upgrades) will be stored in its own cargo bay

The default ‘dock at’ setting will be the SSDN or Carrier.

Global Menu opens the Global Settings menu


Clobal Settings:
[ external image ]

Global Settings is used to set network wide options

Prefix active Advance Satellites will prefix the satellites with SSDN to visually identify SSDN Advance Satellites

Friend and Foe settings:
This is used to set the actions SSDN takes with the major races receive Friendly Fire from deployed Drones

SSDN will attempt to repair the relationship of the friendly Fire victim to its previous setting

Reporting:
Warn if scan shows # new enemy contacts (where # = 10/20/30/40 or 50) displays a message on screen when the number of new contacts is detected in a single sweep
Warn if scan shows a large enemy ship On/Off displays a message on screen if a large enemy ship is detected
Log all alerts and contacts, logs all alerts and contacts to the players logbook
Show alerts on screen displays an on screen message for all alerts and contacts

There are two types of global debug Enemy & Salvage scans:
Enemy logs the processes and actions used for enemy contacts
Salvage logs the processes and actions used for the salvage function


LA

[Tasolth]

Woot, go LA. wish you the best of luck getting this project off the ground. I look forward to some drone swarms.

And first !

[Logain Abler]

Woot, go LA. wish you the best of luck getting this project off the ground.

Cheers Tasolth, I have the basics test scripts up and running

Still lots to do but the basics are sound.
I'm using brute force at the moment, deploying 120 drones against M2s

LA

[apricotslice]

Monitoring for now.

Hopefully I will be able to start playing again in about a week, so will be able to test for you when you ready.

[Logain Abler]

Hi,

Thinks are moving along nicely.

I have the SSDN CCC (Command Control Centre) up and running (using the FDN XL Node until I get around to using something else). Once deployed it integrates with all Adv Sat’s within a 4 jump radius, unless they are already under the control of another CCC.

Each Sat runs a task with searches for and reports any enemy contact within its range to its CCC.

The CCC then assesses the threat and response appropriately with MkII, Keris or normal Fighter Drones (no custom Drones as yet), depending what’s in stock.

The target is monitored until killed, when the target is killed the Drones are recovered to their home CCC; if a Drone is destroyed it is replaced by another two (if in stock) to try and overwhelm the target.

As a test (and for fun) I deployed a CCC in Argon Prime, stocked it with 10k of each Drone and set Argons as Enemies. It decimated Argon space , the only ship that survived was Argon One…….. Never seen a race relations drop so fast!

I did deploy 12 over the map and then set everything to enemies, bit over the top I know, and it did kind of slow things down.

Currently there is only one menu which lists the CCC and their linked sectors; from there the sectors can be set to on/off.

Things to do:
Add levels of response for each sector, thinking of the below, settable for each ship class.
- No Actions
- Report Only
- Engage

Link the CCC to local Drones factories to stock/maintain drone levels.

Build all the menus.

LA

[Logain Abler]

This is a summary of the Drone Deployment logic, the preferred Drone is based on the target ships class:

M0, M1, M2, M7 & TL
Mk II
Keris
Fighter Drone

M6, M8, M3, TS, Laser Towers & Drones
Keris
Mk II
Fighter Drone

M4, M5 & Satellites
Fighter Drone
Keris
Fighter Drone

If the preferred drone is not available it goes to the next one, and so on.

The number of Drones deployed against a target is also based on the ships class:
M0 = 100
M1 = 70
M2 = 80
M7 = 40
M6 = 20
TL = 40
M3 = 5
M4 = 5
M5 = 5
TS = 15
Sat = 1
Laser Tower = 10
Drones = 4

The number of drones deployed is just a rough number at the moment.

LA

[Logain Abler]

This is one of the menus/reports I'm working on. This tracks the Drones and engagements.

Clicking on the blue header refreshes the report so you don't have to leave it for it to update.

The drone rows will open up a list of lost drones, where and who killed then & a list kills for that drone type.

[ external image ]

Edit:
[ external image ]

The FDN Node XL is just a place holder I'm using for testing.

LA

[apricotslice]

How can you have destroyed and killed when none were deployed ?

[ScRaT_GER]

Wow, that's one neatly aligned menu! =)

@apricotslice

Maybe this means, that there are no drones deployed at the moment?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this.
How does this work IS. I never tried soo many drones IS - are they still as effective?

Greets,
ScRaT

[Logain Abler]

How can you have destroyed and killed when none were deployed ?

It's a record of all the kills & losses so far, it racks up over time. I'll be adding a reset to clear all the counters.

LA

[Logain Abler]

Wow, that's one neatly aligned menu! =)

@apricotslice

Maybe this means, that there are no drones deployed at the moment?

Spot on.

As for in sector it looks to work fine, but I think the loss rate of the drones will be higher, especially against capital ships. I'll be adding an engage by class filter so you could engage fighters with drones and hit capital ships with your own fleet.

LA

[Logain Abler]

I have the SSDN Command Control Centre menu mostly done with all the elements linked in.

It has 4 main parts:
- Drone Summary
- List of Kills & Losses by Drone type
- Engagement level for each class of ship
- Link to any local Drone producing factories

Thinks to do before initial release:
- I'm still working on the main summary page which will list each SSDNCCC deployed and what Sectors they cover.
- I have to think about a station model for the CCC
- Ensure that all the Drone factories are available to buy

Future release:
- Add custom Drones
- Add factories for the custom Drones


Another couple of menu shots:
[ external image ]
[ external image ]

LA

[Logain Abler]

I have the SSDN CCC (Command & Control Centre) in game and available from shipyards

[ external image ]

It's just the standard Military Outpost at the moment but I think it fits the role

LA

[Hieronymos]

Have you tweaked the fighter drone's stats?

[Logain Abler]

Have you tweaked the fighter drone's stats?

No not as yet, the initial release will just use the normal Drones. I will be adding at least another three custom Drones at a later date.

As it stands it works well with just the normal Drones.

LA

[Logain Abler]

Unconfirmed surveillance footage has been released of SSDN in action.

According to sources a prototype SSDN C&CC has been deployed and used in a Pirate suppression operation called Overwatch. Sources close to the military development arm of Logain Industries stated that the Pirate elements were taken by complete surprise and sustained heavy losses prior to retreat.

Logain Industries have not confirmed any involvement in the recent operation, or an operational date for SSDN.

YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ_4Zv43Q70

Download:
http://rapidshare.com/files/238254192/SSDN_02.zip

LA

[Tasolth]

Pretty cool imo. One thing... that music makes me want to play Homeworld all over again >.<

[Logain Abler]

Pretty cool imo. One thing... that music makes me want to play Homeworld all over again >.<

Cheers

Still one of the greatest RTS ever imo, love that piece of music, so space opera

LA