parameter descriptions:
Select primary missile: this is the missile that will be doing all the damage. The script calculates how many missiles it needs to kill the enemy off of this missile. It now also calculates how much the enemy shields will recharge from now till the targets death and fire enough missiles to cover the regained shield hit points. The range of the missile is also used to see if you can even reach the target. If you can't then the script picks something else to shoot at. Also, if you havn't seen it you can't shoot at it reguardless of the missiles range.
Select secondary missile: This missile will be used for primary missile screening. This missile will be fired for every turret it finds on the enemy ship. The range is also checked independantly from the primary missile so you don't waste precious missiles. You can now also select fighter drones for this command. The drones will be launched with orders to attack the current target in the enemy list.
Note: while any missiles can be used, keep in mind the script does not check which direction your faceing, as such, dumbfire missiles have limited use in this script.
(added 8/30/2007) Primary missiles per turret: This is how many primary missiles that will be fired PER TURRET found on the enemy ship. if you would not like to fire any extra missiles you may enter a zero here. Because even the most efficiant missile screening in universe will eventually have a primary missile shot down due to turrets. This is your chance to cover those losses so that you still get that kill your looking for.
Secondary missiles per turret: This is how many secondary missiles that will be fired PER TURRET found on the enemy ship. if you would not like to fire any you may enter a zero here. But instead I recommend selecting the primary missile for the secondary missile so the damage is increased a bit for heaver ships equipped with turrets.
(removed for simplicity sake 8/30/2007) Secondary missile launch pattern: Ok, this one needs some explaining...
primary missiles that come out of a ship designated for a certain target do so in a single stream. This stream or Salvo if you prefer will be inturupted this many times to fire secondary missiles. As a rule, if the number greater than one there will be at least one secondary missile fired before the salvo and one fired after the salvo is finished. So here are some examples. P = primary missile, S = secondary missile the number is the number entered for this parameter. and 6 primary and secondary missiles have been calculated to be needed to kill the target:
1
SSSSSSPPPPPP
2
SSSPPPPPPSSS
3
SSPPPSSPPPSS
4
SSPPSSPPSSPPSS (6 / 4 = 1.5 this gets rounded up to 2 makeing 8 Secondary missiles launched in this case)
5
SPPSPPSPPSPPS (6 / 5 = 1.2 This gets rounded down and only 5 Secondary missiles but for the primary missile grouping is always one less than the number entered so it's 6 / 4 again which gets rounded to 2 So extra primary missiles get sent)
6
SPSPSPSPSPS (Primary is 6 / 5 which gets rounded to 1 so one less than needed gets sent out)
7
SPSPSPSPSPS (it's the same as 6 because you need fewer missiles than the pattern demands. the script simply reduces the pattern number for this particular salvo)
8
SPSPSPSPSPS
9
SPSPSPSPSPS
etc...
It's all in your preference of what to enter here. I usually use 3 myself.
Missiles per 10 sec (10-20): This defines the rate of which missiles are launched in a single salvo. Yes this command has changed quite a bit. it was necissary for the new shield prediction alograthim. Unfortunately there is now a min of 1 and a max of 10000. I'm terribly sorry for this but there really was no other way. also take note that the rate of fire is defined per every 10 seconds, and not 1 second.
Salvo fire rate 5-9: This is the rate at which individual salvos are fired. Again, These Numbers are merely starting point suggestions. you may enter ANY number you desire as per the voteing that was held. This command is now defined to be in seconds, and no longer milliseconds as before.
All targets attacked 20-70: Once all ships have been scanned and fired upon it waits this long till it scans for survivors and new targets again. And yes, these numbers are merely starting point suggestions. you may enter ANY number you desire as per the voteing that was held. This command is now defined to be in seconds, and no longer milliseconds as before.
This script now includes my utility script which makes use of the following hardware if installed on the ship:
mineral scanner: any identified buildable astroids within 10km will be scanned.
frieght scanner: any ship passing within 4km will be scanned. This will only occur if you have the police liscence for the owner of the sector the ship is in. (you might be surprised with the amount of pirates your missing out on wasteing without this simple feature)
video enhancement goggles: These will enhance your ships standard, duplex, and triplex scanners to identify squash mines.
Note: squash mines are considered to be ships according to the game engine. This means any turret with orders to attack all enemys, or ships with orders to kill all enemys will fire upon the identified mines if they are enemies. (missile boats too folks!) this is both good and bad. Good, in that yes the threat of the mine will be gone, but bad in that it could destroy what the mines were protecting... Faster ships with orders to kill all enemys will often blow themselfs up makeing a straffing run on the mine field as well. So do take care with what ships you upgrade with goggles...
docking computer: Any time the ship has orders to dock and it's within 5km of the docking ship/station it will "warp" into the docking bay just as if you activated the docking computer yourself.
Note: this causes a host of problems if your flying the ship and it does this. as such this feature is disabled when your flying the ship. Also the ships orders are cleared when this activates. I'm sorry but dispite all my efforts (like 1-2 days of testing) the built in scripts by egosoft have a oversight/bug that doesn't allow this to work properly. This is mainly provided for carrier/fighter combos than automated traders. and dispite this problem it's extremely handy for those types of ships.
Transporter Device: will allow the ship to warp fighter drones with no orders, or orders to follow a ship. (NOT protect a ship) into the cargobay. this costs 2 energy cells per drone. (one to warp it from open space, another to charge it back up)
So there you have it.
Things I might add:
variable fire rate depending on your ships health.
Countering shield recharge rates: finished! And highly accurate I might add...
individual ship class handleing. So you don't fire hornets at m5's, or mosquitoes at m1's.
Notes and observations on the 8/30/2007 release:
I spent many hours trying to find high accuracy with all the target types shields. the shield prediction is more complex than I would of liked but it is very accurate. down to the last missile with fighters and in my tests only around 10 extra silkworms per capital ship will be launched. that sounds like a lot but keep in mind it takes hundreds of silkworms to kill a capital ship. The fighter drone addition makes for some additional stratagy... Do you go for the drones reuseability, or an missiles extra damage potential. Keep in mind that the utility script will make recovering even 1000's of drones hassle free as long as you have the Energy Cells to do it. But drones are also slower than missiles meaning they will get taken out faster as well.
The script is now MUCH easier and faster to set up. So much so, you can do it in the middle of combat and live to tell about it.
I also made the script a bit more responsive by reduceing the amount of ships it scans, this means it's more responsive in busy sectors.
Overall I think you will greatly enjoy the results of this new version.
The vote that was held:
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=186940
download:
http://www.geocities.com/ouch67/missileboat.zip
you will also need the floating point library made by Euclid:
http://forum3.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=159598
I've tested the script pretty heavily, (oh, all those poor xenon...
) but let me know if you find any bugs.oh, and this script uses ship command slot 63:
<t id="1263">COMMAND_TYPE_SHIP_63</t>
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