Combat Tricks: Increasing Combat Challenge (OBS Mod and Guide)

nap_rz · Post by **nap_rz** » Sun, 16. Jun 13, 08:52

does this compatible with XRM?

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 16. Jun 13, 10:08

nap_rz wrote:is this compatible with XRM?

I do not know (but probably it is).

Please let us know when you try it.

(Now please punch yourself for asking.)

(Sorry... I don't make the rules. )

nap_rz · Post by **nap_rz** » Tue, 18. Jun 13, 04:57

hi, thanks for the mod, I think it's working in xrm, escort missions are truly hard even on veteran combat rank

however I have one annoying problem: hoe to stop the constant message popups telling me something about obs level?

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Tue, 18. Jun 13, 10:19

Thank you for your report, nap_rz!

Bug Fix

Combat Tricks

History
v2 (2013-06-18 )
- Bug fix: Removed debug message. (nap_rz)

nap_rz · Post by **nap_rz** » Tue, 18. Jun 13, 18:58

hi, so I've been using XRM, IR 2.0 + advanced xenon and this OBS...

I always encountered combat mission involving xenon... and they were using teladi viper instead of xenon r.... the label said xenon viper....

now I'm not sure whether this is OBS or IR or XRM fault, however I'm sure XRM is the last suspect here...

I thought IR could be involved, however seeing that they are using xenon r in the universe that leave me to OBS since it's the one responsible for generic missions...

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Tue, 18. Jun 13, 19:19

No fault, nap_rz. It's a feature, not a bug!

Xenon and Kha'ak do not have M8's, so I gave them Vipers. Hence Xenon Viper.

Don't look at them in close-up view and be happy.

If you really hate them, then delete the SRST.xml in addon\director. The only changes that I made to SRST were adding M8's and M7M's for races that did not have them.

nap_rz · Post by **nap_rz** » Wed, 19. Jun 13, 02:31

DrBullwinkle wrote:No fault, nap_rz. It's a feature, not a bug!

Xenon and Kha'ak do not have M8's, so I gave them Vipers. Hence Xenon Viper.

Don't look at them in close-up view and be happy.

If you really hate them, then delete the SRST.xml in addon\director. The only changes that I made to SRST were adding M8's and M7M's for races that did not have them.

yes but as I said, XRM do have xenon m8, named xenon R also they have m7m named xenon G, I don't know yet if the khaak have them though, I could easily check them

so how can I change this myself?

thanks for the help[/b]

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Wed, 19. Jun 13, 02:33

nap_rz wrote:how can I change this myself?

Edit SRST.xml.

nap_rz · Post by **nap_rz** » Wed, 19. Jun 13, 04:03

DrBullwinkle wrote:
nap_rz wrote:how can I change this myself?
Edit SRST.xml.

and what to do? sorry I'm far from my pc now

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Wed, 19. Jun 13, 04:06

nap_rz wrote:
DrBullwinkle wrote:Edit SRST.xml.
and what to do? sorry I'm far from my pc now

Oh. Well, in that case:

1) Go to your pc.

2) Edit SRST.

nap_rz · Post by **nap_rz** » Wed, 19. Jun 13, 07:27

DrBullwinkle wrote:
nap_rz wrote:
DrBullwinkle wrote:Edit SRST.xml.
and what to do? sorry I'm far from my pc now
Oh. Well, in that case:

1) Go to your pc.

2) Edit SRST.

and how do I change that, what parameter to look, change to what, from which file...

nap_rz · Post by **nap_rz** » Wed, 3. Jul 13, 20:12

talking about extreme combat missions...

a very hard patrol mission resulting in at peak almost 800 ships in a sector... well that's including many, many bailed ships and astronauts from bail addon and A LOT of RRF ships from IR2... but you got the idea...

http://i.imgur.com/j1R9ozw.jpg

slideshow redefined

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Wed, 3. Jul 13, 21:28

Yeah, by changing the settings you can do just about anything with the modified OBS.

However, for lurkers, you will not get 800 enemies with the default settings. Not in a normal game, anyway.

nap_rz · Post by **nap_rz** » Sun, 7. Jul 13, 16:19

how to decrease OBS for high combat rank? which value in the parameters actually matter?

and to uninstall, simply delete the files, isn't it?

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 7. Jul 13, 16:31

nap_rz wrote:how to decrease OBS for high combat rank?

To reduce the maximum OBS "improvement" then lower the MaxMultiplier.

To reduce OBS improvements at all levels, then increase the FightRankDivisor.

Yes, to uninstall simply delete the OBS.xml from your Director folder.

nap_rz · Post by **nap_rz** » Sun, 7. Jul 13, 16:41

DrBullwinkle wrote:
nap_rz wrote:how to decrease OBS for high combat rank?
To reduce the maximum OBS "improvement" then lower the MaxMultiplier.

To reduce OBS improvements at all levels, then increase the FightRankDivisor.

Yes, to uninstall simply delete the OBS.xml from your Director folder.

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<language id="89">

  <page id="8563" title="Messages" descr="CombatTricks">
    <!-- Formula is LowMultiplier + (player.fightrank.rank / FightRankDivisor) -->
    <!-- Total Multiplier is never greater than MaxMultiplier -->
    <!-- At very lowest fight rank, the MinMultiplier is used instead of LowMultiplier -->
    <!-- Default values result in a range from 3 to 15x vanilla values. -->
    <t id="1">Combat Tricks</t>
    <t id="101">3(MinMultiplier. Default=3)</t>
    <t id="102">4(LowMultiplier. Default=4)</t>
    <t id="103">15(MaxMultiplier. Default=12)</t>
    <t id="104">3(FightRankDivisor. Default=3)</t>
    <t id="105">7(BigShipsOnlyThreshold. Default=7)</t>
  </page>

</language>

that one? am I correct? only inside the 8563-L089 xml file?

and can I know the number threshold? and what exactly a single increment/decrement will do to the whatever it's called in the game? I mean let's say I increase the fightrankdivisor to 4 or lowering the maxmultiplier to 14, what kind of difference will I see?

and what does it mean by that default number, is that vanilla number?

and I hope it's 100% savegame compatible right? just not going to change on going mission, isn't it?

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 7. Jul 13, 17:09

nap_rz wrote:only inside the 8563-L089 xml file?

No, the -L089 file is only documentation. You must change the language file for the language in which you play the game. For English, that is -L044. See Language Files: How to modify for your language for more info about language files.

what exactly a single increment/decrement will do to the whatever it's called in the game?

The OBS mod adds a final multiplier to the "score" that OBS generates based on several factors. Higher score means more enemies generated. So changing the values in the formula will increase or decrease the enemies generated by any mission that uses OBS. That includes most generic missions and some plot missions.

My OBS mod will also reduce the number of small enemy ships when the calculated multiplier is greater than BigShipsOnlyThreshold. You will then get more capital ships and fewer fighters, which reduces lag while increasing combat challenge.

what does it mean by that default number, is that vanilla number?

The defaults are just my idea of what would be "good" for players interested in a modified OBS. The numbers are based on AP without major mods. TC players might want to increase MaxMultiplier as high as 30-ish.

If you want only the reduced lag behavior, and otherwise vanilla multiplier (1x), then change the values to:

MinMultiplier = 1
LowMultiplier = 0
MaxMultiplier = 1
FightRankDivisor = 1
BigShipsOnlyThreshold = 0

nap_rz · Post by **nap_rz** » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 03:58

did you mean to change things, I only need to modify the 8563 L044 file?

and another question, can you tell me, in your own game, with your own OBS v2 as you provided in this thread, what sort of enemies do you see in a VERY HARD sector patrol mission at CRUSADER combat rank? let's assume the enemies are either xenon or pirates, what kind of fleet came to such a mission in your game?

how many J/Galleon, K/Brigantine, m8, m6, little fighters?

thanks.

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 04:06

If you play the game in English then, yes, modify the -L044 file (8563-L044.xml).

I do not know exactly how many ships respond; it depends on the mission (and possibly other factors) as well. However, a large-ish enemy force would be a dozen M1/M2's, another dozen M6/M7, and maybe a dozen or two fighters. With vanilla OBS, you could have a hundred fighters with that many capital ships -- that is where the modified OBS makes a big difference.

A very large enemy force would be 50-ish M6 and above, with possibly that many fighters. I have not personally seen forces that large in AP, but I suppose it might be possible.

At Rank 24 (Crusader) you are getting the maximum multiplier (12x by default). If the enemies are too tough, they try reducing MaxMultiplier.

nap_rz · Post by **nap_rz** » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 04:25

DrBullwinkle wrote:If you play the game in English then, yes, modify the -L044 file.

I do not know exactly how many ships respond; it depends on the mission (and possibly other factors) as well. However, a large-ish enemy force would be a dozen M1/M2's, another dozen M6/M7, and maybe a dozen or two fighters. With vanilla OBS, you could have a hundred fighters with that many capital ships -- that is where the modified OBS makes a big difference.

A very large enemy force would be 50-ish M6 and above, with possibly that many fighters. I have not personally seen forces that large in AP, but I suppose it might be possible.

At Rank 24 (Crusader) you are getting the maximum multiplier (12x by default). If the enemies are too tough, they try reducing MaxMultiplier.

I see, it's not really a matter of toughness but lag problem

I've tried to reduce the max multi to 12 (you put it on 15), increase the fightrank divisor to 5 (you gave it 3) and lowering the bigship threshold to 6 (from 7)... I loaded a save and accepted a very hard patrol mission

about 8 galleon came, as long with 4 brigantines, but just 3 or so m6 with 2 or so m8 with many fighters.... the thing is, when some of the capitals destroyed, usually another dozen of capitals with their fighters came... but my feeling say that the quantity already reduced from the default config you put into the 1st page, but still, the lag is getting unbearable lol.

and also, does that mean that it already maxed out? or things will get even uglier at higher rank?

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Combat Tricks: Increasing Combat Challenge (OBS Mod and Guide)