[MOD] Miscellaneous IZ Combat Tweaks

[w.evans]

7.September 2015 - Miscellaneous IZ Combat Tweaks updated to v0.46.1

Text localized for Deutsch and русского языка.

Thank you very much to UniTrader, alexalsp, and DaveDee for your excellent work!

[DaveDee]

7.September 2015 - Miscellaneous IZ Combat Tweaks updated to v0.46.1

Text localized for Deutsch and ру́сский язы́к.

Thank you very much to UniTrader, alexalsp, and DaveDee for your excellent work!

Lol =D

[start of useless information]
We are not using accent in russian, only in disputable situations. Also wrong case, we have 6 different ones, even Deutsch has only 4 =_=
The correct option - ...and русского языка.
[end of useless information]

In addition, my work is not considered, cause someone was a bit faster

[w.evans]

7.September 2015 - Miscellaneous IZ Combat Tweaks updated to v0.46.1

Text localized for Deutsch and ру́сский язы́к.

Thank you very much to UniTrader, alexalsp, and DaveDee for your excellent work!

Lol =D

[start of useless information]
We are not using accent in russian, only in disputable situations. Also wrong case, we have 6 different ones, even Deutsch has only 4 =_=
The correct option - ...and русского языка.
[end of useless information]

In addition, my work is not considered, cause someone was a bit faster

That knowledge is most certainly not useless. Thanks! (Sorry, I always sucked at cases.) Corrected both the OP and the post 2 spots above.

And while your work didn't make it into release, you still put in work, so you get credit.

[Scoob]

Hi w.evans,

Actually having a little time to play again, it's been a few days.

Anyway, I use the CWIR mod as you know, and my Scaldis Battle Stars - despite having a pair of HIV/MA long-range turrets - still micro-jump up close and personal pretty much all the time. They don't appear to be standing off at or near their maximum firing range.

As an example, my fleet just moved to engage a Xenon I - my first Scaldis Battle Stars jumped to within half a ship length of the Xenon I and got chewed up in seconds. If it'd sat at a distance, it would have been fine. The fleet also has a Fulmekron (leader) that jumped in fairly close, that's fine. My three Arawns still seem to be pondering their next move and haven't jumped close yet.

Any thoughts on why my Scaldis Battle Stars might be trying to get in exceedingly close?

Cheers,

Scoob.

[w.evans]

Hey Scoob,

yeah, haven't had time to do much playing nor modding myself lately.

Were your Battle Stars attacking the Xenon I, or were they still following the Fulmekron? Squadron capship subordinates won't acquire targets until they come to within radar range.

[Scoob]

Hey Scoob,

yeah, haven't had time to do much playing nor modding myself lately.

Were your Battle Stars attacking the Xenon I, or were they still following the Fulmekron? Squadron capship subordinates won't acquire targets until they come to within radar range.

The sequence of events was as followed:

- Xenon I spawns (jumps in)
- Fulmekron micro-jumps to attack
- Scaldis BS micro-jumps to attack but get in very close

The Xenon did spawn fairly close by, well within all ships Radar range I'd imagine.

Edit: Sorry, one other thing I'm noticing - though this may be a MOCT issue - is that quite often several member of my Fulmekrons fleet simply give up boosting between Zones. I.e. they start to boost to the destination Zone, but revert to normal engines long before they arrive. Fairly random how this happens, so I'm just keeping an eye on things currently.

Scoob.

[UniTrader]

Edit: Sorry, one other thing I'm noticing - though this may be a MOCT issue - is that quite often several member of my Fulmekrons fleet simply give up boosting between Zones. I.e. they start to boost to the destination Zone, but revert to normal engines long before they arrive. Fairly random how this happens, so I'm just keeping an eye on things currently.

could be overheated boosters - when reaching their limit they will disengage automatically, but in the vanilla navigation script there is nothing to restart them after cooldown - they will snail-move until the next time they are regulary starting their boosters. (wont happen with my Movement Scripts because i assumed this Case for experimental inter-Sector-Boosting and they will re-try boosting after a minute snail movement)

[Scoob]

could be overheated boosters - when reaching their limit they will disengage automatically, but in the vanilla navigation script there is nothing to restart them after cooldown - they will snail-move until the next time they are regulary starting their boosters. (wont happen with my Movement Scripts because i assumed this Case for experimental inter-Sector-Boosting and they will re-try boosting after a minute snail movement)

Didn't even know that overheated boosters were a thing!

Interestingly though, these "stalled" ships DID re-engage their boosters after a short while. I wonder if their lead ship changing attack to another target affectively re-issued the "follow me" order?

Scoob.

[w.evans]

The sequence of events was as followed:

- Xenon I spawns (jumps in)
- Fulmekron micro-jumps to attack
- Scaldis BS micro-jumps to attack but get in very close

Reason I asked is because the BS could be keeping up with the Fulmekron in that first jump. Should then jump away after it engages the Xenon I. Did you get anything on the cockpit display? Since the Scaldis jumped after the Fulmekron, a message from the Scaldis should overwrite the initial "jumping to attack" message from the Fulmekron.

Just checked and, unless their max combat range isn't reported correctly, they should try to go to 50-80% of max range. For an HIVI/MA armed ship, that should be 4000-6400 meters.

A good test would be to detach the Scaldis from the squadron, and order it directly to attack a capship. If it still doesn't go to stand-off range, I'll try to find the time to take a look at a save.

Re: not boosting between zones, sounds like a vanilla issue, unless maybe if it's just escorts that're doing it?

[w.evans]

could be overheated boosters - when reaching their limit they will disengage automatically, but in the vanilla navigation script there is nothing to restart them after cooldown - they will snail-move until the next time they are regulary starting their boosters. (wont happen with my Movement Scripts because i assumed this Case for experimental inter-Sector-Boosting and they will re-try boosting after a minute snail movement)

Didn't even know that overheated boosters were a thing!

I didn't know that either! Although Uni did mention that capship boosters drain their shields. Never got around to checking for myself. (Not that I'm doubting Uni. Just a good idea to check for oneself if possible, I think.)

Interestingly though, these "stalled" ships DID re-engage their boosters after a short while. I wonder if their lead ship changing attack to another target affectively re-issued the "follow me" order?

Wait, do you mean that they're doing this in combat? They should have the same conditions and mechanisms as vanilla for pursuit to outside the zone now.

[Scoob]

The ships that quit boosting hadn't even made it to the target Zone, and were in Empty Space. The ships that did arrive engaged in combat as you'd expect, but the "slow" ships did boost in eventually. Note that I was checking their speeds while in Empty Space and they showed normal speeds, not the 1,000+ boost speeds.

I will test the Scaldis BS's further, making not of what exactly they're trying to engage and what they're getting too close to. If they're different ships, then the distance to target may be correct. Equally however, they should position themselves away from other hostiles ideally. Guess that's a wee bit trickier to implement though.

Anyway, signing off for the night...manic weekend ahead so doubt I'll get any more time to play.

Cheers,

Scoob.

[w.evans]

Equally however, they should position themselves away from other hostiles ideally. Guess that's a wee bit trickier to implement though.

Yeah, that's tricky. There's Ego's Withdraw from Combat method, but you know how well that works.

Anyway, signing off for the night...manic weekend ahead so doubt I'll get any more time to play.

Happy manic weekend!

[Scoob]

Equally however, they should position themselves away from other hostiles ideally. Guess that's a wee bit trickier to implement though.

Yeah, that's tricky. There's Ego's Withdraw from Combat method, but you know how well that works.

Anyway, signing off for the night...manic weekend ahead so doubt I'll get any more time to play.

Happy manic weekend!

What? Withdraw from combat works great....

Cheers, ten minutes before I'm away from a PC again...just needed a snack

Scoob.

[w.evans]

13.September 2015 - MICT_supp2 updated to v0.38

A few changes to MICT Squadron movement when moving between zones.

IZ, if a MICT Squadron Commander is ordered to boost between zones, the rest of the squadron will get a notification of where the commander is going, and will immediately orient towards the destination and boost there as soon as the commander activates boost engines.*

If a MICT Ship is ordered to follow another MICT Ship, and the lead ship is en route to a different zone, the follower will rendezvous with the commander at the target location rather than going to where the commander presently is.

Ships in a MICT Squadron will now no longer join formation nor try to keep up with their commander if the commander is under boost.

Increased the threshold at which MICT Squadron subordinates will try to jump to keep up with their commander to 10km, from 5km.

Tidied up a bit.

...
* Actually got it so that ships in a squadron immediately plot their respective courses and boost as soon as the commander gets the order to go to a distant zone. Works well with an attack command. However, if the commander is given a "Fly to" command, and subordinates arrive first, squadron subordinates will stupidly wait for the commander when they arrive. Decided that having the commander go first, but reducing the time between the commander starting and the subordinates following is probably a better course of action.

They will STILL not simultaneously boost since subordinates will only plot a course right after the commander engages boost engines. This is to ensure that the commander gets to the destination zone first. Can take a while, particularly when a large, multiply layered squadron is ordered to move since the squadron members individually have to plot courses, orient to the squadron's target zone, and go there.

Squadron Jump will still work as it always has.

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

Another holy grail unlocked

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

Hi there,

In conjunction with CWIR, MICT, MOCT and some other mods outlined in the CWIR thread*, I have been attacking RoC stations to try and find a bug case for BlackRubini.

While doing so, I noticed that ships in the Skunk Squad ordered to attack the station (using the property menu Broadcast, with the main station picked via the map as the target) will occasionally give the "We're all done here" style message and revert to following the player.

Not all the ships have MICT/MOCT crews and I am not sure if the ships making the report are skilled or not. So mainly mentioning in case of interest.

* http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php? ... 10#4552010

Related save with those mods where the ships can be ordered to attach a Wheat Plantation:
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php? ... 17#4552017

Edit: I get the same audio while the Squnk Squad ships are following a Broadcast order to attack a ship before the target ship has been killed so it may be not be a CWIR-style, station-only issue.

[w.evans]

Sounds like the same bug I've been encountering sporadically for several months now where ships ordered to patrol sometimes follow the Skunk instead. Haven't managed to reproduce this reliably. I think it's a vanilla issue, but am not sure.

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

In terms of reproducibility, when my motley crew of ships attack a station, I think I was getting the message at least once after every station component destruction.

Not seen it with patrols yet. Will try and keep an eye out for it.

[w.evans]

at least once after every station component destruction.

Ah, that could be MICT. Added a change a while back where, if a ship is attacking a station, the ship captain will look for station modules and acquire one of those as target. Possible that, if an attack object order is given, a ship will acquire the station, then retarget the module, and after the module is destroyed, will act as if the target were destroyed. (Because the module really was their target.)

I'll take a look but, just thinking about it, I don't think there's a way to fix this while keeping the improved station-destroying behavior. Does this also happen when an individual ship is ordered to attack a station?

For now, suggest starting with Attack All Enemies or Patrol instead unless hit-and-run is desired. With Attack All Enemies and Patrol, they'll be going into the combat script from an active target search script, so after combat is resolved, they should go back to target search and acquisition. With an explicit Attack Object order, they'll destroy the designated target, then go back to default behavior after that one target is done for.

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

I think I had better try and repeat the scenario using MICT-qualified only ships first just in case it only occurs with unqualified ships. I don't want to waste your time with a dodgy test case. It occurs to me that my Parton ships were only MICT/MOCT-qualified for example.

A tricky aspect of the Patrol/Attack All workaround would be that I'd probably get some ships wondering off to attack other stuff (e.g. a ship or a second Wheatley Farm in Fifteen Rays before first is killed). But yeah, if that is not important, it's a good work-around.