[AL Plugin] Litcube's Phanon Corporation V1.21

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Litcube
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[AL Plugin] Litcube's Phanon Corporation V1.21

Post by Litcube » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 19:24

Litcube's Phanon Corporation V1.21
An aggressive competing corporation

Download:
http://xdownloads.co.uk/index.php/compo ... orporation

Updates & versions at bottom of this post!

Installation & Tech details

- There are two folders, "scripts" & "t". Unpack the contents into your directory. Once completed, turn on the plugin in your AL Plugins configuration.
- T file: 8384, pageid 8384.
- English, German (Thanks to Urschleim!)
- This plugin uses the Race 1 race. So if you're using a script or plugin that creates ships, ask your author if it uses Race 1. If it does, this may not be compatible with that script or mod.
- As per S&M rules: These scripts/models are free to be reused in your scripts/mods.

What is it?

This plugin creates a new enemy faction, The Phanon Corporation, that is far more aggressive in its monopolization efforts than any existing known company (NNMC, Duke's, etc.)

The Phanon Corporation

- Everything The Phanon Corporation buys, it pays for
- It will not purchase anything if it doesn't have the funds required
- Buys stations, traders, headquarters, fighters, capital ships
- Maintains a proper fleet ratio (i.e. X number of m5s to m2s)
- Corporation tasks include:
... Trading
... Search/Kill operations for enemy companies
... Station importers / Exporters
... Sector guardians
- The Phanon Corporation earns money by trading
- The more it earns, the more it buys
- 8 consecutive subsidiaries, increasing with buying power each generation (8 "levels", if you will)
- You will have an impact on their earning potential - kill a TS, and they have to buy a new one, and you decreased their trading income. They're just like you.
- They will respond to their stations attacks, if they have the military available
- Southern, Western most Unknown sector used in this script (see notes below to change)
- This script uses Race 1, so might be incompatible with those scripts using Race 1.
- Race 1 is set to neutral for all races. So shooting them will not effect your notoriety with anyone else. Also, Kha'ak, Pirates, and Xenon will leave them alone (The Phanon have some mysterious allies :))



My goal in creating this plugin was to create some life in the Universe that carried on with out you, reacting to the game state. I also have a passion for performance, and paid close attention to the impact that this script might have on other factors in the Universe. I can avoid loop checks by storing pertinent information in arrays, and save script cycles by using priority sequence step timing (non-important tasks only checked once every 5 mins, etc.). Many months of testing went into this so far, and it's stable, but that's only on my PC. To me, it's not beta, but a release candidate; but you know what happens with new releases.

This AL Plugin can represent a challenge, especially in later levels, as The Phanon Coporation will steal trade opportunities, and actively hunt and destroy your ships and factories with M6 / M7 led fleets. As they gain more money, they will purchase capital ships to guard their HQ. Especially in later generations, the HQ can be difficult to destroy, as the sector will be well fortified.

If you want quick action, this script isn't for you. It was intended to be started at roughly the same time as a player as a means to incite the player to get moving on creating his empire. Because if you don't, The Phanon Corporation will. And eventually, they will take over; but at a non-cheating pace. It can take just as much time for The Phanon Corporation's subsidiaries to build an empire as a player in the early generations. However, disturb them (kill their corvettes, cap their traders), and this progress will obviously slow.

More Details

[ external image ]


How to defeat a Phanon Corporation subsidiary:

- There are 8 all together, the first being TandiTech
- They are consecutive, not simultaneous
- Each consecutive subsidiary, is hereby referred to as "generation"
- You can defeat a subsidiary by destroying their HQ.
- Once an HQ is destroyed, you will receive a mysterious message, with possible reward
- The Phanon Corporation will require roughly 18 hours to rebuild a new subsidiary, at which time you will be notified as per galactic trade law.
- Each generation muscles a larger bonus from its trading transactions, starting at a x2 bonus for the first generation, TandiTech
- The Phanon Corporation offers a salary bonus on a regular basis to its subsidiaries, and the higher the generation, the higher the bonus.
- Each generation starts with an M1 class vessel donated by The Phanon Corporation. Successor generations start with more
- HQ has larger shielding depending on the generation
- If you turn off the plugin, everything is reset within a minute. You should hear a sound played (sounds like swooshing). Once this is done, you can turn it back on and start from scratch.



[ external image ]

Upon initiating this plugin through the AL Plugin's configuration screen, the player will receive a friendly message from a newly launched subsidiary of The Phanon Corporation, starting up in the bottom/west most Unknown Sector (can be changed, see notes below). In reality, The Phanon Corporation has built a military outpost as an HQ, with its first subsidiary, "TandiTech", and has started purchasing ships based in its initial fund injection. It will then seek out trading opportunities to bolster its income, which in turn will allow them to purchase more stations/traders so that they can maximize their military power in equal measure.

[ external image ]

Updates & Versions

Alternate non-friendly Kha'ak & Xenon patch, overwriting the standard file with this one will cause the Phanon to no longer be safe from Xenon or Kha'ak. Requires either a restart, or wait until the next generation is spawned.
[ external image ]


1.21 - No restart req:
- Packing issue from 1.2. Standard version was erroneously setting Kha'ak and Xenon to enemies of the Phanon Corporation.
1.2 - No restart req:
- Removed debug text glitch.
1.1 - No restart req:
- Added T file option to set Phanon's salary multiplier (see NOTES).
- Added T file option to set waiting period for next generation (see NOTES).
1.0 - No restart req:
- Traders even more priority, especially at higher generations
- Traders capped, to allow more financial room for military
- New HQ defence script, hangared fighters will now attack on site
- Increased bomber launch frequency
- Greater range for sector guardians
- Rewards now significantly reduced from beta version, as it was unbalanced.
- No longer beta. Without a single bug complaint, I'll conisder this stable.
0.991b - No restart req:
- Traders have increased priority for purchase
0.99b - No restart req:
- German now included. Thanks to Urschleim for the translation!
- Traders now employ fighter drones
0.98b - No restart req:
- Fixed a signals bug. Signals may not be set properly until your next generation. You might not even notice.
- Task Trader: Further optimized trading.
- Priority for TS ships higher now, the higher the generation.
- Set smaller missile loadout for M8s
0.97b - No restart req:
- Task Guard Sector: load fighter bug fix
- Task Trader: small adjustment.
0.96b - No restart req:
- Page 8384 now used in T file to avoid a noted conflict
- Reward for 1st generation reduced to avoid camping
- Task Trader: Refuel now more efficient
- Task Sector Guardian: Rewrite. More efficient, intelligent.
- New Task Sortie: New task assigned for stations requesting military assistance.
- New Task Bombers: I had to write a new combat script for these guys, as the default ego ones make m8s look like prancing fairies picking angel-bells at the Lilith fair.
- T file now includes 12 possible sectors to choose from at generation start. See notes at bottom.
- Thanks to Yacek, Targ Collective for their input.
0.95b - No restart req:
- TL RealEstate minor tweaks
- TL RealEstate task and Sector Guardian task loading of fighters is now quicker.
0.94b - No restart req:
- Report issued on company assets every 240 mins (can be changed via T file)
- TL Real Estate tasks now return to home sector once deploying station
0.93b - No restart req:
- Commented out a line in a T file that shouldn't have effected many people, but it's cleaned now.
0.92b - No restart req:
- TLs no longer choose Terran sectors for station placement.
- Increased minimum TS on shoplist to 9.
0.91b - No restart req:
- Can now change start sector by editing T file 8383-L004. See bottom notes. Changes take place at the next generation of Phanon Corp.
0.9b:
- First release


NOTES
-------


- To change the start sectors of The Phanon Corporation, edit the file 8384-L004 in your T directory. There, you will see this:

Code: Select all

<!--Edit Phanon Corporation's start sector here-->
    <t id="300">3,15</t>
    <t id="301">3,15</t>
    <t id="302">3,15</t>
  etc...

These are the co-ordinates of the possible start sectors. The default there is Unknown Sector just east of Mists of Elysium, set for all of them. If you change them, they will be picked at random, equal chance for all 12.

To change the salary, change the t id=351 as stated in the T file. Salary for the Phanon is 4000 + ( multiplier X generation). Default is 500. For those who want a greater challenge, setting this to rediculous numbers (1 million, etc.) would result in an extremely expansive Phanon.

To change the waiting period of the next generation to emerge once the current one is destroyed, change t id=351 for the minimum time to wait, and t id=352 for the maximum time to wait. Time to wait is in minutes. DO NOT set the minimum below 10 mins of wait time.
Last edited by Litcube on Sun, 15. Dec 13, 20:24, edited 38 times in total.

HalcyonSpirit
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Post by HalcyonSpirit » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 20:11

A few questions:

First, how much additional load does this put on the CPU? I know that LV made a similar script for Reunion (AI Competitors), but it had such problems with CPU load that it was abandoned. Does your script have problems along these lines? If not, how are you getting around the problem?

Second, you used "Race 1"; does this mean that anything you do to them does not affect relations with the other races? And if that's true, do they have their own toggle-able Friend/Foe setting?

Third, if you can be friends with the corporation, can they trade with your stations or vice versa?

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Litcube
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Post by Litcube » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 20:21

HalcyonSpirit wrote:A few questions:

First, how much additional load does this put on the CPU?
Very little. Over the past year, I made every effort to minimize the impact this has on script cycles, as I mentioned in my OP. I avoided the problem by using step checks, and minimal loops. I can avoid loop checks by storing pertinent information in arrays. If this has an effect on performance, I would have scrapped it.

Race 1 is set to neutral for all races. So shooting them will not effect your notoriety with anyone else.

There is currently no option to befrend the corporation. I didn't see a lot of point, as there's roughly 4,500 ship in the Universe with job scripts looking to do just that.

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mr.WHO
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Post by mr.WHO » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 20:38

I've been waiting for AL-Competitors like script for X-TC. Thank you for your hard work Lightcube.

However I have a request. I tend to play with Improoved Races script, where Khaak hit Unknown sectors preatty hard. I presume that they would wipe out this corporation if it would have a bad luck.

Does it possible to have another version, where this corporation is spawned in some quiet and low developed commonwealth sector - away from Unknown sectors (Khaak launch invasions from them when they takeover them) and Xenon sectors.

Like President's End, Perpetual Sins or Blue Profit:
http://eng.x3tc.ru/x3_tc_map/


Anyway this script is perfect for my planned next gamestart, where I want to be a rebel fighting (kinga refreshment from current borring game where everybody loves me) against evil corporations. My problem was that Vanilla corporations are pretty static. This script will make thing mush more interesting :)
Last edited by mr.WHO on Tue, 1. Jun 10, 20:43, edited 1 time in total.

Catra
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Post by Catra » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 20:39

so,
does this not play nice with anything?
or am i gonna have to find out for you?
:P

also, any plans to to expand this over to the vanilla companies?

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Litcube
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Post by Litcube » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 20:42

mr.WHO wrote:However I have a request. I tend to play with Improoved Races script, where Khaak hit Unknown sectors preatty hard. I presume that they would wipe out this corporation if it would have a bad luck.
Updated OP:
Litcube wrote: - Race 1 is set to neutral for all races. So shooting them will not effect your notoriety with anyone else. Also, Kha'ak, Pirates, and Xenon will leave them alone (The Phanon have some mysterious allies :))

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mr.WHO
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Post by mr.WHO » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 20:45

Aww....that's neat :)

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Litcube
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Post by Litcube » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 20:45

Catra wrote:so,
does this not play nice with anything?
or am i gonna have to find out for you?
:P

also, any plans to to expand this over to the vanilla companies?
I'm not sure what you mean by play nicely.

I do not plan to expand this to the vanilla companies.

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Litcube
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Post by Litcube » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 20:47

mr.WHO wrote:Aww....that's neat :)

It needs to be in an Unkown sector, Mr.WHO. Once you start facing higher generations, bullets fly around from 10 M2s and 8 M1s, and 100+ fighters, so I didn't want it effecting someone's normal game by thrashing commonwealth stations.

Plus, performance in an empty sector is better, and performance is key to this script pack.

Catra
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Post by Catra » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 20:48

I'm not sure what you mean by play nicely.
does it conflict with anything.
I do not plan to expand this to the vanilla companies.
:( oh well.

HalcyonSpirit
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Post by HalcyonSpirit » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 20:54

Hm... is it possible to set it so that pirates and Xenon do attack them? I mean, the player and all other traders have to deal with losses from them (wandering Qs!), so why not this new corporation? Otherwise, the only way they'd lose ships and such would be from player action, so unless the player wants to duke it out with them, they'll grow completely unchecked. I can deal with the Kha'ak not attacking them; it'd be difficult, what with the spawning in Unknown Sectors. And besides that, the Kha'ak aren't all that prevalent in the universe anyway. But the pirates and Xenon? They need to be enemies.

I mean... how odd would it be to have their stations in Xenon sectors? Especially if you have a script that allows them to claim new sectors. You'd have their defense force AND the Xenon fleets to defend them! It'd be... MADNESS!

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Litcube
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Post by Litcube » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 21:00

HalcyonSpirit wrote:Hm... is it possible to set it so that pirates and Xenon do attack them?
It is possible, but it'd be a pretty short campaign. The Phanon Corporation is not "random-spawning ships". They have to purchase everything via trade money.

Against thousands of Kha'ak, Xenon, and Pirates, they wouldn't survive.

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Idea
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Post by Idea » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 21:07

This is something I have been waiting for a very long time.I am just crazy to see more challenge in trading aspect of the game, more diversity.I would love to someone make banks,stock markets and others economy and financial stuffs and I have been waiting for year and half from when TC got out to see something like that.And here it is.
Competition is the main key of the free market.

Thank you very much for this Litcube :D
Last edited by Idea on Tue, 1. Jun 10, 21:14, edited 1 time in total.

Catra
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Post by Catra » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 21:12

so
um
yea
can you um,
change the sector it spawns in?
the US next to mists of elysium is MY headquarter sector.

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mr.WHO
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Post by mr.WHO » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 23:02

the US next to mists of elysium is MY headquarter sector.
Awww bad for you, very bad (either you will wipe them out before they even start, or they will wipe you out) :)

Targ Collective
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Post by Targ Collective » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 23:18

Question: Do they eat up mineral resources? I'm a miser for asteroids as destroyed mines are gone forever.
Learn to use stickies. Look here for mods for X3TC and here for guides across everything since X2. If you haven't read the Forum Rules do so before we beat you with sticks. Above all have fun.

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Litcube
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Post by Litcube » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 23:20

They do not, nor build mines.

Targ Collective
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Post by Targ Collective » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 23:23

Excellent. What about other stations? Mines are the only bottleneck I'm concerned with. ;)
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Litcube
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Post by Litcube » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 23:26

Yes, as per original post.

Targ Collective
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Post by Targ Collective » Tue, 1. Jun 10, 23:29

I'm sorry Litcube, should have read that more carefully.

Well. This is a definite must-have and Bonus Pack material (optional download) if it passes the attempts of thousands to break it. ;) I tip my... Well I'm not wearing one... I salute you sir!

I tend to move very, very fast. I have a reason to now thanks to you! Another query, is there an option to restart the script once you run out of enemy corporations to hassle?
Learn to use stickies. Look here for mods for X3TC and here for guides across everything since X2. If you haven't read the Forum Rules do so before we beat you with sticks. Above all have fun.

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