[SCRIPT][AP][TC] Advanced Fight Scripts - v. 3.1, 19.01.2014

[joelR]

Been having fun with this script so far with my wing of M3's. About the only thing that doesn't seem to matter is vrs beam weapons, but thats to be expected I'd guess.

The only issue and it might not be an issue with this script is that the Kha'ak clusters are not separating or attacking, they just fly and I blow them up as a cluster. (XRM mod). The problem is that I'm not sure if they were working BEFORE setting up the mod, so it could be something else breaking it.

Ive noticed the same

[Cronos988]

I do think the Khaak Cluster problem is a more general issue. I had at least One separated Cluster in my latest game, though I didn't see it separate.
Khaak clusters Do not call my scripts, I did nit change that part of !fight.attack.object. But I will take a look at what the Clusters actually do and see if there might be an issue. Perhaps they run my pick script and get null returns at some critical point.

I guess I could always try spawning a few and see what happens.

[Phier]

I do think the Khaak Cluster problem is a more general issue. I had at least One separated Cluster in my latest game, though I didn't see it separate.
Khaak clusters Do not call my scripts, I did nit change that part of !fight.attack.object. But I will take a look at what the Clusters actually do and see if there might be an issue. Perhaps they run my pick script and get null returns at some critical point.

I guess I could always try spawning a few and see what happens.

BTW if you are ever in the Chicago Burbs I'll buy you a beer or three, I've been waiting since 2009 for someone with the skill to do this script of yours.

[Cronos988]

BTW if you are ever in the Chicago Burbs I'll buy you a beer or three, I've been waiting since 2009 for someone with the skill to do this script of yours.

Thanks for the offer
Might get difficult though, since I live in Germany .

A quick update on the clusters: They separate just fine for me, at least in my testing environment. I added some failsafes nevertheless.

[Phier]

BTW if you are ever in the Chicago Burbs I'll buy you a beer or three, I've been waiting since 2009 for someone with the skill to do this script of yours.

Thanks for the offer
Might get difficult though, since I live in Germany .

A quick update on the clusters: They separate just fine for me, at least in my testing environment. I added some failsafes nevertheless.

And my inlaws are in Germany right now, its a small world, you never know

[YorkRoss]

Hi,
For some reason when i use the !Fight.targeting.pck in this mod most of my scripts like Cheat package, ADAMS, Smart turrets, Battlestar Galactica mod, etc. disappear but yet when i restore it to the original 3.1 AP file it works(I know it's the original 3.1 file because the file date is the date on which i reinstalled AP due to having this problem before on a previous installation and i did not start installing mods until several hours after the download completed).

It seems that most of the scripts that disappears center around this file for some reason but there is no log that those scripts are receiving an error and don't load, they simply don't load at all, possibly meaning that the game is skipping over these scripts or don't recognize that they are scripts any more because of this one file.

All the other scripts in the mod, however, seem to not have this problem.

I'm using the all ships version with Cap Ship AI OFF(Vanilla Cap ship AI)

[ghostpilot]

Just found and tested this mod in my game and it works great with no issues so far. THANK YOU for this awesome piece of work!

Running TC with XRM and Improved Races and battles are now very diferent. First kill was a xenon L that after some shots it ran like hell from my M6 Nexus chased him for 5 mins it was funny. Even if you have only basic AI for capital ships it actually makes them far more "intelligent".A xenon Q and C chased me around untill my Boreas and its Cerberus escort jumped to help, then the Q and C stopped the chase and didnt dare to get close to my Boreas while I was hiding behind it

This is really making the diference. Keep more coming please!

[Cronos988]

Hi,
For some reason when i use the !Fight.targeting.pck in this mod most of my scripts like Cheat package, ADAMS, Smart turrets, Battlestar Galactica mod, etc. disappear but yet when i restore it to the original 3.1 AP file it works(I know it's the original 3.1 file because the file date is the date on which i reinstalled AP due to having this problem before on a previous installation and i did not start installing mods until several hours after the download completed).

Well first of all, !fight.targeting is not critical to the function of this mod, so you can leave it disabled if it is causing you problems.

However, what you describe cannot be caused by a simple change of a script file. Certainly not modded content (which would be tied to a cat/dat file) disappearing. What you might see is scripts that stop working, because they try to use some function of fight.targeting that is no longer present. I made some changes to that file, so it's possible that function will be restored with the next update.

[Phier]

I'm wondering how does this affect the AI in terms of target selection?

I'm flying around in an corvette type ship with 1g of shield (XRM) and it seems nothing short of another M6 or greater wants to fight me unless I attack them first.

Now obviously an M3 and M4 and scouts (typical pirate group) aren't going to do well against a 1G setup so it makes sense, but I'm just wondering if its your scripts causing this or just coincidence.

[Cronos988]

I'm wondering how does this affect the AI in terms of target selection?

I'm flying around in an corvette type ship with 1g of shield (XRM) and it seems nothing short of another M6 or greater wants to fight me unless I attack them first.

Now obviously an M3 and M4 and scouts (typical pirate group) aren't going to do well against a 1G setup so it makes sense, but I'm just wondering if its your scripts causing this or just coincidence.

That depends. The script does not generally tell ships what to attack, i.e. if an M5 gets an attack command for a single M2, it will go ahead and attack it.

My "pick best enemy" script only comes into effect when ships get a more vague command like "kill all ships" or "protect ship". Then the ships will look through the available targets/attackers and pick one that best suits them.

So it really might be coincidence, especially with pirates. But if they have targets to choose from, it might very well be that they ignore you and go for something weaker instead.

[ghostpilot]

On Installing I noticed theres a file "plugin.gz.mars.turret" . It has a size of 41 Kb and the same file already on my scripts folder has 673 Kb. I replaced it but Im not sure wich one should I use.

I have TC with XRM and latest Mars.

[Cronos988]

Update: V. 2.2
Added:
- Support for SMART turret scripts (TC and AP)
- Support for MARS AP (also updated the TC version)

Changes:
- Fighter drones no longer use the advanced fight scripts
- Ships now take current laser energy into account
- Ships stay out of range when below 25% shield

Bugfixes:
- Fixed major bug with target speed calculation
- Fixed targeting starting fight scripts on tasks other than 0
- Added failsafe for Khaak Clusters

Also update your Missile Safety compatibility patch!

On Installing I noticed theres a file "plugin.gz.mars.turret" . It has a size of 41 Kb and the same file already on my scripts folder has 673 Kb. I replaced it but Im not sure wich one should I use.

I have TC with XRM and latest Mars.

Yes, you should overwrite the MARS pluging.gz.mars.turret file with the one from my archive. Please dowload the latest version, which is updated for the newest version of MARS.

[RoverTX]

Update: V. 2.2
Changes:
- Fighter drones no longer use the advanced fight scripts
- Ships now take current laser energy into account
- Ships stay out of range when below 25% shield

Bravo! Really looking forward to checking this out when I get a chance.

[Phier]

I had one Khaack cluster that separated prior to me entering the sector work fine and another that just flew in a straight line. With all the modding done though its probably something else unless everyone is having this issue.

[Phier]

I've been playing around with this all night, couple of observations.

One thing that was obvious was that enemy fighters were parking outside my elephants range and hammering it. This was a good thing and made me use missiles quite a bit to get them off.

One issue with the cap ships is that due to the slow speed of anti-cap weapons, they would take less hits if moving in some situations, thats not that big I deal I suppose.

The other issue was I would watch as an M6 would park itself shooting a capital ship and another capital would target it and just wail on it with anti-cap weapons that normally wouldn't hit.

[Cronos988]

One issue with the cap ships is that due to the slow speed of anti-cap weapons, they would take less hits if moving in some situations, thats not that big I deal I suppose.

That is true. But on the other hand, Cap ships generally have their most powerful weapons front and side, and can fire all of those at once when facing the enemy. So it's a tradeoff of firepower vs. defense. Optimally, Capital ships would strafe around, but unfortunately the AI can't do that.

The other issue was I would watch as an M6 would park itself shooting a capital ship and another capital would target it and just wail on it with anti-cap weapons that normally wouldn't hit.

Well, was there any other target around for that capital ship? If not, using the wrong weapon for the task is an issue of the turret scripts. Maybe the Capital just didn't have any other weapons for the task? It should at least have tried to get closer to the M6 though - eventually the M6 would be forced to evade.

[Kadatherion]

Well, was there any other target around for that capital ship? If not, using the wrong weapon for the task is an issue of the turret scripts. Maybe the Capital just didn't have any other weapons for the task? It should at least have tried to get closer to the M6 though - eventually the M6 would be forced to evade.

The issue is the opposite, and I've seen it myself a couple of times. A vanilla moving M6 can be a nightmare for capital ships not equipped with fast weapons: they'll never hit it. In this case the M6 stands still: as such it's an easy target even for PPC/PSP, even when the firing ship (as in the example reported) is far away from it.

[Cronos988]

The issue is the opposite, and I've seen it myself a couple of times. A vanilla moving M6 can be a nightmare for capital ships not equipped with fast weapons: they'll never hit it. In this case the M6 stands still: as such it's an easy target even for PPC/PSP, even when the firing ship (as in the example reported) is far away from it.

Ah, ok. This might be an issue with the M6 being treated as a big ship, and thereby having a much slower reaction. I'll lower the values for M6s a bit, making them evade quicker. I am currently working on an XRM modification anyways, especially M6 ships are way to weak with the improved fighters.

[d_ka]

@cronos:
So, do i get it right that while CODEA led ships won´t use your scripts, any other ships would? So i could use CODEA fighters in a manner they are ment to be used, while dock additional fighters and let them be guided by your script?

Also, concerning that "interrupt" signal ( whatever it actually is ) of CODEA:
Will it be sent by a pilot of Liutenant rank ( or higher? ) ?
Do only fighters use it, or other fleet ships like M6 up, too?
What happens if it would be disabled? Would the piloting performance of the higher ranking officers stay at the level of a, what, Recruit, Petty Officer, Ensign?

Thanks in advance.

P.S: I haven´t tested your scripts yet, mainly because i do use CODEA, and also since i´m waiting for, how to say it, a rather final version.

[Cronos988]

@cronos:
So, do i get it right that while CODEA led ships won´t use your scripts, any other ships would? So i could use CODEA fighters in a manner they are ment to be used, while dock additional fighters and let them be guided by your script?

Yes, that should work.

Also, concerning that "interrupt" signal ( whatever it actually is ) of CODEA:
Will it be sent by a pilot of Liutenant rank ( or higher? ) ?
Do only fighters use it, or other fleet ships like M6 up, too?
What happens if it would be disabled? Would the piloting performance of the higher ranking officers stay at the level of a, what, Recruit, Petty Officer, Ensign?

Thanks in advance.

I am not sure what the minimum level of pilots is to send the interrupt signal. I am fairly sure it's only used against enemy fighters, and only by CODEA fighters, not by bigger ships. As for the fighting performance, I am not sure. CODEA is a huge and rather complicated system, and I haven't made any tests.

P.S: I haven´t tested your scripts yet, mainly because i do use CODEA, and also since i´m waiting for, how to say it, a rather final version.

I have no idea whether there will ever be a "final" version, but I guess there is at least one more version incoming.