- [UPDATE-11.08] Sector-Security + Mercenary AddOn -

[dPM_HeMan]

Das ganze auf Deutsch gibt es HIER

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Sector-Security Script by [dPM]HeMan
inspired by Mr.Gee's Mercenary Script (included)

download:
SeS + Mercenary AddON V21, (50Kb) for info about the Merc AddOn look on page 2 or klick here
Text-bug fix + specials, (1MB) more infos klick here
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Due to constant attacks by Khaak forces a new special force has been created.
Consisting of either Argon-Boron or Split-Paranid-Teladi ships the Sector-Security (SeS)
can be contacted in every "safe" sector with a Trade Dock.

A "safe" sector is every sector that is controlled by one of the 5 main races, a Trade Dock
is needed because SeS-ships will be started and/or controlled from there (call it the main base).

To contact SeS you must have a Triplex Scanner, because only with this scanner you can transmit
on SeS frequencies. SeS will only work for you if you have a police license of the contacted race though.

Because of the high risc SeS won't work for free. Default price to call SeS goes from 22500-425000 Credits and every enemy
that has been killed by SeS will cost you extra.

What do you get for your money:

- SeS will send you a total of 5 to 8 ships depending on the enemy numbers in the sector:

1.) default ships: 5 to 6 x M3-Class (Nova-Barracuda or Mamba-Falcon-Perseus) Nova and Falcon are special SeS modified versions, quiet faster than normal. Ships will be randomly and start from trade dock.

2.) advanced ships: 4 x M3 + 2 x M6 (Centaur or Nemesis). M6 will join battlefield from one of the sector's warp gates, m3 start from trade dock.

3.) maximum ships: 4 x M3 + 2 x M6 + 1x M2 + 1 x M1 (Boron Shark / Argon Titan or Split Raptor / Paranid Odysseus). M1, M2 and M6 will join battlefield from one of the sector's warp gates, m3 start from m1-carrier.

- look into your log after you orderd SeS to get all information about the arrived ships.
- these ship will stay until every enemy is killed, your money gets short or ships are dead.
- after work is done ships will jump out of the sector, now its pay-time for you.

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Version-History:

Version 1:

- script is completed, it's time to search bugs now.

Version 1.2:

- introducing a new price system, depending on enemy strength affecting default cost and extra cost for enemys
- ships get attackted now (achieved by setting race from "neutral" to "Race1")
- script will not longer hang-up when ships got killed, new message has been added
- "scector owner" problem fixed
- ships will now use jumpdrive to get out of the sector after work
- new code allows two additional ships, making a total of 7, though they are not used yet.
- many small tweakes in code making further extensions easier to realize (e.g. Pirate Mercenarys )

Version 1.3:

- further price adjusting
- enemys are now evaluated by their strength not their number, if enemy has only one ship, but this ship is a M2 he will be considered a threat now.
- introducing a new fleet composition: small = 5 to 6 M3, extended= 2 M6 + 4 M3, big= 1 M1 + 1 M2 + 2 M6 + 4 M3.
- splited the SEK.ships.init.xml into three files, one for every fleet to achive better survey.
- total lost ships are now counted, due to code every lost ship is counted as 1, no class specific counting yet.
- introduced the new debug-mode for modders, meaning that the normal user won't see the unnecessary log entrys anymore (to activate set the variable "debug" to "TRUE" in scripts "SEK.prices","SEK.start" and "SEK.fight")
- further small improvements in code

Version 2Beta:
- no documentation yet, look at readme for now

known problems:

- total cost prediction is in most cases much higher than real cost, this happens, when many enemys in sector are killed by gun-turrents, crashes or other ships and not counted as "killed by SeS" i think.
- some in game texts are still in german , this is in work.
- Merc AddOn has some known bugs


for modders:

- Script uses "COMMAND_TYPE_CUSTOM_28""COMMAND_TYPE_CUSTOM_27""COMMAND_TYPE_CUSTOM_26"
- new ware readtext-5793
- because i use the same file for my other script, there is a new ware-entry in 440244.xml using ""page id=17" "t id="5843"
- there is also a german text file in the t-folder: 490244.xml, english: 440244.xml



Installation:

- simply extract to your X2-folder, the files in the scrips-folder go in the scripts-folder (you guessed it)
if you are using english version you only need to copy the 440244.xml of the t-folder in your t-folder.

- you can use the "SEK.test.it.xml" and "SEK.spawn.to.test.xml" in the game to give you all the things you need to test the
Script (spawn enemys, give police license and money ...)

- to call SeS go to command-menue and choose "Communication/Foreign" -> "call Sector-Security..."


Have fun !

[Kailric]

sounds sweet willl have to check it out

[Moraelin]

Just to nitpick, 10,000 credits per enemy killed? Ooer. At the rate the khaak are spawning, that could very quickly add up to the point where you could just as well buy your own Ospreys to do the job.

[dPM_HeMan]

the price for the "mercenarys" is indeed a big problem, there are/were many threads about it. It is a bit complicated to find the right balance, for most of the advanced players the price is rather "cheap", whereas newbies will have their problems to affort the money.

but think about this little example:

lets say your enemy is a default Khaak cluster with about 14 ships, you have no ship available or in range at the moment and your own ship can't handle the cluster alone. You fear that the Khaak ships will attack one of your frighters that is fully loaded with Cristals (lets say 400 cristals * 1700 credits = 680000 credits). What do you do, you hire the SeS for a total of 170000 credits (14 * 10000 + 30000), they' ll kill all Khaak and you saved 510000 !!! credits.

sounds not bad, does it ?

but i'm open for any suggestions !

[EDIT]decided to definitely give ships different prices depending on ship classes in futher versions:

M3 - 20000 credits
M4 - 10000 credits
M5 - 5000 credits

this would reduce the price in the example from 170000 to 115000 Credits.

[dPM_HeMan]

i have added an inquiry about the default price for the mercenarys, without extra cost for every kill.

please post your opinion !

[dPM_HeMan]

decided to definitely give ships different prices depending on ship classes in futher versions:

M3 - 20000 credits
M4 - 10000 credits
M5 - 5000 credits

this would reduce the price in the example from 170000 to 115000 Credits.

decided to further decrease price to 4 times the money you get when you kill an enemy:
that is now:

M3 - 20000 credits
M4 - 4000 credits
M5 - 2000 credits

this would further reduce the price in the example from 115000 Credits to 76000 Credit, sounds fair doesn't it ?

[blackspell]

what do you think of using double the price you get as reward for killing yourself on a per ship basis?
for a typical khaak cluster (m3 + 5-10 m5) this would make about 15000 - 20000.
rather cheap, but it would make your mercenarys a long time alternative to m6's.
compared to the one time fee for a m6 (~10 mill) you could afford about 500 to 600 mercenary calls.

after thinking a minute about it (had to make coffee ;) i'm not sure, if that would not be too cheap.. it's a hard decision

[dPM_HeMan]

compared to the one time fee for a m6 (~10 mill) you could afford about 500 to 600 mercenary calls.

after thinking a minute about it (had to make coffee i'm not sure, if that would not be too cheap.. it's a hard decision

i thought about it for a minute (without a coffe ) and came to the conclusion that it is definitly to cheap, you said it 500 to 600 !... but you are right it is hard decision

[Giant Wasp Face]

Ummm... I have no idea about scripting, so I am unsure as to wether this would be possible but... why not put each mercenary on a daily salery, as opposed to being paid for kills? Just a thought...

[dPM_HeMan]

Ummm... I have no idea about scripting, so I am unsure as to wether this would be possible but... why not put each mercenary on a daily salery, as opposed to being paid for kills? Just a thought...

there were actually plans for that but I decided to keep it for another script where mercenarys stay in a sector for a period of time , though i don't know if or when this will be released

[Moraelin]

Well, either 2000 or 5000 per M5 sounds reasonable to me. Any less and it's making M6s obsolete. On the other hand, 170,000 per khaak cluster would very quickly add up to more than it's worth.

Well, IMHO the problem of balance is also that basically the player in the beginning is very poor, and later in the game is very rich. In the beginning I just couldn't afford even the 50,000 base price, if there had been a SeS in the game. Much later, I already had my own destroyer patrolling President's End, just because I could.

So I'm having another idea: how about raising the price, based on how many SeS ships have died so far? As a "realistic" justification, in the beginning there'd be plenty of volunteers seeing it as a quick easy buck. But as the casualties mount, the "supply" of mercenaries drops and, thanks to the ever increasing Khaak activity, demand increases. So the prices would rise.

[dPM_HeMan]

So I'm having another idea: how about raising the price, based on how many SeS ships have died so far? As a "realistic" justification, in the beginning there'd be plenty of volunteers seeing it as a quick easy buck. But as the casualties mount, the "supply" of mercenaries drops and, thanks to the ever increasing Khaak activity, demand increases. So the prices would rise.

hmm, interesting idea
today i was working on the code to avoid script-endless-loop when ships got killed and on some "default cost calculation", must be very easy to add a global var now that counts faild missions and increases prices. Perhaps i'll introduce 3 steps: cheap, resonable and expensive
due to the fact that i had to rewrite much of the code to extend the script it took a lot of time till the next update was in sightrange but expect to see version 1.2 soon !

Prices at the moment are:
default costs:
- 25000 for the small fleet (only M3)
- 60000 for the extended fleet (M3 and M6)
- 150000 for the large fleet (M1 / M6 / M3)
extra cost:
- M5 = 2000
- M4 = 4000
- M5 = 20000
- M6 = 350000
- M2 = 4000000
- M1 = 6000000
new 3 step idea:
- cheap: multiplies default cost with 0.75 (at the beginning)
- resonable: multiplies default cost with 1 (after 10 lost missions)
- expensive: multiplies default cost with 1.5 (after 30 lost missions)

what do you think ?

[dPM_HeMan]

Hi guys, i just released Version1.2, for more info look at the first post -> version history 1.2

Prices at the moment are:
default costs:
- 25000 for the small fleet (only M3)
- 60000 for the extended fleet (M3 and M6)
- 150000 for the large fleet (M1 / M6 / M3)
extra cost:
- M5 = 2000
- M4 = 4000
- M5 = 20000
- M6 = 350000
- M2 = 4000000
- M1 = 6000000

[Moraelin]

Actually, what I was thinking is: I wasn't thinking of discrete steps, but of a "continuous" function that keeps going up for each SeS ship killed. E.g., a linear function. The idea is that at first it could be very reasonable priced, but the more mercenaries get the idea "ugh, it could be _my_ funeral next", the higher the price gets. To the point where eventually some M6s become a better idea.

How quickly or slowly that happens, well, that can be tuned by changing the slope.

Of course, it's just one of the many possibilities. Your 3 steps could work just as well.

Also wasn't thinking of failed mission, but just how many pilots didn't return. Sorta, even if the mission is a success, but most mercs died, well, people start getting ideas like "whoa, it's risky." But again, it's just one of the many possible ideas.

And, of course, I have no idea how easy or hard it is to implement it. If the failed mission counter is easier, I'd say go for that.

[holo_doctor]

It be pritty easy to implment. just have aglob vareable the could the number of mec ships that get toats.

Make fighters worth say 1 M6 5 and M2 and M1s 20 to 30 then use that to jack up the costs as a multiplyer.

be it per kill/mission or extra fighters.

[dPM_HeMan]

Version 1.3 is here !:

- further price adjusting
- enemys are now evaluated by their strength not their number, if enemy has only one ship, but this ship is a M2 he will be considered a threat now.
- introducing a new fleet composition: small = 5 to 6 M3, extended= 2 M6 + 4 M3, big= 1 M1 + 1 M2 + 2 M6 + 4 M3.
- splited the SEK.ships.init.xml into three files, one for every fleet to achive better survey.
- total lost ships are now counted, due to code every lost ship is counted as 1, no class specific counting yet.
- introduced the new debug-mode for modders, meaning that the normal user won't see the unnecessary log entrys anymore (to activate set the variable "debug" to "TRUE" in scripts "SEK.prices","SEK.start" and "SEK.fight")
- further small improvements in code

Prices at the moment are:
default costs:
- 22500 for the small fleet (only M3)
- 80000 for the extended fleet (M3 and M6)
- 625000 for the large fleet (M1 / M6 / M3)

If the failed mission counter is easier, I'd say go for that.

as you can see above lost ships are counted now (every ship counts 1, not depending on class), there is no funktion included yet but i think i'll go for the 3 step version, i feel i'm loosing survey at the moment anyway

cu guys

[dPM_HeMan]

have fixed a small problem and made some extensions for the pirates, but this is not working yet, you will notice no difference to v1.3 so i'll stay with this version number. Oh and have al look at the new default price for the big fleet (up to 625000 from 425000)

[dPM_HeMan]

had to fix a little problem, i accidetially messed up something that had worked before , please download again

[dPM_HeMan]

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Sector-Security Script by [dPM]HeMan V2 Beta
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This is the Mercenary-AddON for SeS-Script. It is a beta version and has most likely bugs.
It needs careful testing to find them all, so if you find one post it here please.

What does it do:

- Add a new ware: Mercenary License, can be bought at every pirate base.
- Two new commands when you buy the license: "Hire Mercenary" and "Fire Mercenary" in Communication/Foreign-menue
- Hire Mercenary enables you to "buy" a merc. to patrol in one of the sectors and fight enemys.
- Merc. will cost a default price and extra cost for enemys, just like SeS does.
- Merc. will stay until he has been killed or you "fire" him. There is also a max price limit, merc will stop with work when he has killed 15 times the value of his default cost (does't work correct at the moment).

How does it work:

- Select the "hire mercenary" command from your commands-foreign menue
- select the sector where you what to hire your merc (this is to determin merc's race and shiptype)
- select the sector where you whant the merc to patrol
- merc will enter sector through a warpgate
- to get rid of merc choose "fire mercenery" and select the ship

What mercs do exist:

- Argon: merc will use Argon Nova
- Boron: you can hire 1 Boron Ray, if you hired the ray next merc will be barracuda, if you fire the ray or it gets killed you can hire him again.
- Split: merc will use Split Dragon
- Paranid: merc will use Paranid Perseus
- Telati: merc will use M6 (osprey i belive)
- Pirates: merc should use orinoco + 2 bayamon (does't work correct at the moment)

Special about pirate mercs is that the'll attack all your enemys while "normal" mercs will attack Xenon, Khaak, Pirate (e.g. if split are your enemys pirate-mercs will attack them, Argon won't )

What do they cost:

- M3-class: 50000 Credits
- M6-calss: 300000 Credits
- M2-class: 4000000 Credits
- Pirate-combo: 65000 Credits

as already said this is a beta version it is not fully functional till now but playable


cu have fun


dPM_HeMan

[dPM_HeMan]

Made a little Update:

fixed some probs, script is no longer beta version now

cu