[SCR] MARS Fire Control (v3.05 - 06.10.09)

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Locksley
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Post by Locksley » Thu, 22. May 08, 10:35

Gazz wrote:The "difficulty" of every target is determined by only one formula.
There is no lookup table with different conditions for carriers, M6, fighters... like in some other turret scripts.
This difficulty is the colour coded number you see in the enemy ship's name when Debug is enabled.
Hmm yeah; I've got to do some adjustment to mrcanns turret suite eventually since I am modding the laser and bullet files. Haven't wraped my head around it yet - seems straight forward if the array's are processed sequentially.

But if you do it with look up tables it would be nice if they were easy to change. But since you got such a nice way of scripting (lots of comments :) ) it will probably be quite easy to change to reflect a weapon rebalance mod anyways. EDIT - oh, and an easy way to add new weapons if a mod does that. Could just be free slots or something, there isn't that many weapons one can add, what is it, four? End EDIT

I've just spent hours hunting for a "plonking" sound that appeared in my game, had to revert to an earlier save cause I couldn't for my life figure out what was causing it :shock:

Keep up the good work!
Cheers.

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Gazz
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Post by Gazz » Fri, 23. May 08, 17:42

Locksley wrote:But if you do it with look up tables it would be nice if they were easy to change. But since you got such a nice way of scripting (lots of comments :) ) it will probably be quite easy to change to reflect a weapon rebalance mod anyways. EDIT - oh, and an easy way to add new weapons if a mod does that. Could just be free slots or something, there isn't that many weapons one can add, what is it, four?
MARS doesn't contain a single fixed table.

The laser data that it needs are read from a text file.
If you mod and include a laser... put the data in there on the proper index. That's it.

Lookup tables are despicable creatures that just end up spawning exceptions, more exceptions, and special cases where other exceptions are replaced by more exceptions.
They always end up as a jungle until the next scripter rewrites the whole thing from the ground up. =)



Aaaand... version 1.00 released.

Debug mode is off.

There may be some more fine tuning but the framework is pretty solid now.
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IronDuke
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Post by IronDuke » Sat, 24. May 08, 17:02

I got a weee bit question just how does this script work? I mean when ever i enter near a group of enemy ships the script empties all and yes i mean all of my weapon banks except for my forward guns.

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Gazz
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Post by Gazz » Sat, 24. May 08, 22:08

Okay. so it unloads every laser from every turret?
It should not do that, even on standby.
Are you sure it unloads every laser?

Version 1.07 released.

Automatic Firepower Management
MARS continuously adapts the rate of fire of every laser to your current FPS to achieve the maximum firepower in every situation.
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Lancefighter
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Post by Lancefighter » Sat, 24. May 08, 22:47

so that means it doesnt matter what fps you have when you first install it?

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Gazz
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Post by Gazz » Sat, 24. May 08, 22:50

That "feature" is history.
It never worked anywhere close to the accuracy I wanted.
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Lancefighter
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Post by Lancefighter » Sat, 24. May 08, 22:52

lol makes sence i suppose.

Now, to confirm (like to know as much as possible about a script before installing it), it works on /anything/ with a turret, correct? m3, m6, m7, anything?

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Locksley
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Post by Locksley » Sun, 25. May 08, 00:40

Cool, a release version :D
I've been playing Age of Conan now but one bug is kinda annoying, I keep loosing levels - ha, no wonder I ain't getting anywhere :lol:

Anyhow, now I am off to play some X3 with your new script, will be very interesting how you solved modded weapons and stuff.

Maybe the ware is a bit on the cheap side; considering on how many ships one kill and how many of your own that don't get killed. Maybe pull some extra dough when you install it - or make it optional for those who don't want to pay he he. Maybe I'll do it myself, just add a few lines when it installs into a new ship to pull some more credits from the player account - but since I hardly can code myself out of a box I might skip the fail safes and checks that the player really got the funds.... then again I could copy an other script that has this function.

Oh, and by the way I did disable the debug on complex cleaner so thanks for that information - now of course I have installed you latest so it's not really an issue any longer.

Thank you for your hard work it is much appreciated.

Cheers!

IronDuke
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Post by IronDuke » Sun, 25. May 08, 08:16

Yup it did just that every turret got unloaded im a gonna try the newer version and see how that works.

Edit: Ok it still doesnt work... what it does now is when ever i enter within firing distance any turret facing the enemy is now emptied while the others arent i only watched the thing for a few mins so I cant be sure. Any how ill list down the scripts i have running could you see if any of this is causing a conflict?

Bail Signal Extension
BBS Advertisement
BBS Extras
BBS Race Reparation
Capitol Ship Crews
Community Extended Mod Pack
Crystal Free SPP
Deathmatch Arena Redux
Explorer Software
Heavy Assault Technology
Khaak Capture Plugin
Mass-Driver Ammo Generator
Overtune BBS
Point Defence
Race Response Fleet Final
Ring of Fire
Salvage Insurance Contract
Salvage Network
Ship Jamming Device
Taxisoftware MK1
Universe Explorers
x0ne Turret Control System

siath70
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Post by siath70 » Sun, 25. May 08, 09:25

Lancefighter wrote:lol makes sence i suppose.

Now, to confirm (like to know as much as possible about a script before installing it), it works on /anything/ with a turret, correct? m3, m6, m7, anything?
-- M6 or above is what it says on the first page where it explains in detail what this script does.

Iron Duke-
Even though it is a self contained script...
Well, I would say two (three if point def is a turrent script) is bad thing to have. Xone turrent and this turrent script, while they might actually work together, might be causing a conflict somewhere.

I have XTM installed and it unloads the turrents. But, when it is ready to fire it loads the weapons back and starts firing.

From what I see it unloads them all in preperation to fire and then when something gets with in range of a weapon it loads the weapon it wants into the turrent.

It sounds as though the turrents are waiting to catch a firing solution and choose a weapon. You're just not in range of a weapon it thinks it can hit with.

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Post by IronDuke » Sun, 25. May 08, 09:42

Hmm ok ill remove the point defence script and see what that does. As for the weapon not being in range all I have on my M7 are AHEPT and BHEPT and when im in close quarters combat close is up to 100 meters so distance shouldnt be an issue.

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Gazz
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Post by Gazz » Sun, 25. May 08, 13:31

IronDuke wrote:Hmm ok ill remove the point defence script and see what that does. As for the weapon not being in range all I have on my M7 are AHEPT and BHEPT and when im in close quarters combat close is up to 100 meters so distance shouldnt be an issue.
While I don't use any of those scripts, I'd rather suspect the capital ship crews or the Xone script.
These do more "stuff" beyond just firing lasers and you can't have more than 1 script trying to switch weapons on the same ship. =)
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Lancefighter
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Post by Lancefighter » Sun, 25. May 08, 17:24

wow i um fail :oops:

If the restriction were to be changed to m3 ships, would the m3 pilot see an improvement in his turret effectiveness?

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Gazz
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Post by Gazz » Sun, 25. May 08, 19:47

Lancefighter wrote:If the restriction were to be changed to m3 ships, would the m3 pilot see an improvement in his turret effectiveness?
I doubt that. Those turrets aren't a major part of the ship's firepower.
Try i if you like. The allowed ship class for the command is in the setup file. =)
IronDuke wrote:Yup it did just that every turret got unloaded im a gonna try the newer version and see how that works.
MARS now unloads all lasers from all turrets when on standby.
Now it should work the same way for everyone and everyone can be equally unhappy about it.
This makes it a lot easier to load the front guns you want on an M6 without the turret scripts stealing the lasers away. I always hated that.


Version 1.13 released.

Laser choice rewritten for the second time...
Looks a lot better to me now. =)

Capture Mode
We brake for... ships! Not for long mind you - MARS is a bloodthirsty god.
(Settings editable in t\xx7047.xml)

Maximum laser range around neutral stations is a no fire zone.
(Settings editable in t\xx7047.xml)
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Locksley
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Post by Locksley » Sun, 25. May 08, 20:53

Impressive...

I really like how much effort you put into it to make it easy to mod.

I've only been in one battle with 1.07, without changing anything yet, can't say much I was to busy staying alive - I'll get back to ya with more reports later :wink:

As of right now I am using a mod that is mainly based on Unfunf's mod for XTM with some tweaking of my own. He can do quantum physics math so I feel that the mod is at least very nicely calculated :D

What Unfunf's mod and my tweaks does is. Alot more damage per bullet shield wise (but not more damage per second), alot less rounds per minute thus saving lots of CPU power. I lowered the hull damage alot to make battles last longer and making hull count for something. Dumb missiles are alot faster, don't last long though... Anyhow, enough about me - I was going to ask if the command "set.shield.strength" (or what it's called) can set shield above 100% ? As you can imagine OOS combat takes even less time now than before since it does not take rof into considaration. Soooo, I was thinking if one could have a script that noticed when a player ship was targeted and raised the shields for all the ships involved in the furball 500% until the fight is over or they leave the sector (or if one gets IS suddenly). If it's doable one can actually manage OOS combat in a meaningful way. Other fights when the player is not involved could get solved as usual so as not to strain the CPU more than necessary when only the NPC's fights.

Eh... sorry, that was off topic - sort of. Any more thoughts on raising the price when installed first time on ship?

And I absolutely LOVE that they will have a safety distance from stations!!! How many times have one not cursed the turrets trying to get at a target THROUGH a station - stupid gits :gruebel:

Thanks again!

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Gazz
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Post by Gazz » Sun, 25. May 08, 22:19

Locksley wrote:Impressive...
I really like how much effort you put into it to make it easy to mod.
Oh, to be honest - that helps me a lot, too. =)
I tried the "clean" mathematical way but the laser types and targets are so plentiful that they don't fit into one common formula.
Well, not one that could possibly be used in a script that runs often on many targets...
A 5th order polynome maybe? Right. With integer math. Sure.

I spent umm... days... in front of a spreadsheet but it never worked out right.
The latest version lets you set a range of ships to be attacked by every laser and if the computer doesnt use a laser as much as you like - you increase it's damage in the file so it thinks that its a better choice.
But of course, that list isn't set in stone. If you don't give MARS the ideal lasers it starts improvising.

There's some more tweaking to do but at least the script is built for that. =)
Anyhow, enough about me - I was going to ask if the command "set.shield.strength" (or what it's called) can set shield above 100% ? As you can imagine OOS combat takes even less time now than before since it does not take rof into considaration.
No.
The only thing you can do OOS is recharge shields and... pull the trigger.
That what my Ring of Fire LT do. That way I could fix their terrible OOS performance, adjusting them to their proper IS firepower - and range.
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Lancefighter
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Post by Lancefighter » Mon, 26. May 08, 23:17

do you have a spk of it, or just the script/t files?

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Gazz
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Post by Gazz » Tue, 27. May 08, 01:56

So far only the ZIP version.
I'm still working on it a lot so I'm not going to bother with a flashier installation.

And on that note... version 1.15 released.

Mostly tweaking of the laser settings.

My test titan seems to kill a little slower but... loses roughly half the shield strength as with earlier versions!

In the last 3 battles (33 enemies each) it lost only 26, 34, and 28 % shields.
That's pretty nice.
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Lancefighter
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Post by Lancefighter » Tue, 27. May 08, 03:36

o.0 how did you manage that?
(downloading now)


Side note, maybe soon ill actually have a ship worth testing on :D

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Gazz
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Post by Gazz » Tue, 27. May 08, 08:07

Lancefighter wrote:o.0 how did you manage that?
On a longer test (22 battles overnight...) it turned out to be 43 % average shield loss with one unlucky peak of 75 %.
Average duration was 430 sec.

In the comparison test today (regular Titan with all flak/PBE/MD and Kill All Enemies script), in 19 battles the Titan lost 86 % shield strength average.
Average duration was 453 sec.

Quite surprising that the kill speed is almost the same as with the regular script.
The only real difference is that the MARS Titan lost half the shield strength in the same time.
It never "died" like the regular ship did a few times.

Earlier versions of MARS did indeed kill faster but what good is it to finish the battle 30 sec earlier, just so you can wait 10 min longer for your shields to recharge...?

The only reason for this change is a shift of target priorities and some tweaking to the laser selection.
MARS now interrupts more attack runs and if you keep the enemy on the defensive... you win the fight.
Good old split doctrine. =)
My complete script download page. . . . . . I AM THE LAW!
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