[script] Improved Races (r14 RC2 Available)

[7ate9tin11s]

deca...

Hmmm, I knew I forgot something in the blacklist

I guess the only way to take the first proper Terran mission would be do do it in an M3 or below or would that trigger a response too?

Short answer, yes I would suggest an M3. Long answer...

The responses are actually based on a point system...which is quite complex and depends upon your rep too, but the basics are:

Code: Select all

118   |if $object -> is of class M3
119   ||inc $priority =
120   |else if $object -> is of class M6
121   ||$priority = $priority + 3 
122   |else if $object -> is of class M7
123   ||$priority = $priority + 6 
124   |else if $object -> is of class M8
125   ||inc $priority =
126   |else if $object -> is of class M0
127   ||$priority = $priority + 50 
128   |else if $object -> is of class M1
129   ||$priority = $priority + 15 
130   |else if $object -> is of class M2
131   ||$priority = $priority + 20 
132   |else if $object -> is of class TL
133   ||$priority = $priority + 4 
134   |else if $object -> is of class TM
135   ||$priority = $priority + 5 
136   |end

$priority ends up being the number of fighters a fighter response base will send to clear a sector (minimum is 5 I believe). Also if $priority is >= 20 a capital ship response can be called in as your Boreas found out.

However, due to you being almost a friend anything lighter than an M3 generates no priority. The trick is that if something else generates enough priority to cause a response, you will be cleaned up as a...bonus

[Gazz]

I bet it hurts the ego being a mere target of opportunity. =)

[Chris0132]

Recon Drones
Incursion responses are now triggered by recon drones which wander around the galaxy. The careful pirate can get in and out before being spotted...the unlucky will have to deal with one of the following...

Fighter Incursion Response
Military bases and Pirate anarchy ports will keep a small fleet of M3 fighters which will jump in and attempt to resolve issues in sectors. Over time they will recover their stocks of fighters.

Keeping in my vein of 'I want better defences' would it be possible to give these to players? Like assign an EQD or a trading station as a defence post and have it buy in new fighters from shipyards, tell them to equip themselves, and then deploy them based on standing orders (like, 'kill paranid, don't kill argon') as well as using recon drones to scout their assigned areas? Basically as a less expensive/more effective form of sector patrol, or as something to give your sector patrols a bit of a hand, so players can lock down their sectors as well as the other races being able to do it?

I mainly want this because I played an RTS game called rise and fall, civilisations at war, and it has buildings in it which spawn soldiers to beat up any enemies which come near, and it adds a nice sort of ambient combat feel and it's also a really quite cool way to defend an area other than the standard 'tower which shoots arrows at enemies'.

[7ate9tin11s]

Keeping in my vein of 'I want better defences' would it be possible to give these to players? Like assign an EQD or a trading station as a defence post and have it buy in new fighters from shipyards, tell them to equip themselves, and then deploy them based on standing orders (like, 'kill paranid, don't kill argon') as well as using recon drones to scout their assigned areas? Basically as a less expensive/more effective form of sector patrol, or as something to give your sector patrols a bit of a hand, so players can lock down their sectors as well as the other races being able to do it?

I am suprised none of those type of scripts have made it to x3tc, this was the closest thing I could find.

It is not impossible, but would be too much scripting to do it correctly at this point. The moment I start putting that together the player will want a plethora of options like choosing ratios of ship types, special ship equipment setups, where drones check, resupply, collecting droped wares, recovering ships pilots ejected from, etc.

What I could do fairly easily is make a station command that will let you choose a ship type, a number of ships, number of drones, and jump area to guard in. Several things, like acquiring jumpdrives, would happen by magic, but you would still pay for them. The drones and ships would just follow the friend/foe relations of the station.

If someone else wants to build on the IR foundation to make this feel free.

/Anyways the Hikari LTA is already player buildable and quite deadly
//


I enabled incursion response forces for the Xenon...those 3 shipyards are a big problem now

8 Ps launching missiles
4 Qs blockading
2 Ks destroying
1 J...in a pear tree?

[Chris0132]

What I could do fairly easily is make a station command that will let you choose a ship type, a number of ships, number of drones, and jump area to guard in. Several things, like acquiring jumpdrives, would happen by magic, but you would still pay for them. The drones and ships would just follow the friend/foe relations of the station.

That would be fine, personally I don't really care if the ships do everything realistically, 'by magic' usually means 'without hassle' which is kind of what I want more of in X3. At the moment everything has to be done by hand and it's a pain in the ass. I like being able to set things up to be automated, even if it takes a while, as long as it stays doing what I told it to after I tell it to do that.

If it's any easier you could even just have it so you can basically put a big payment into a station and it creates a sort of private security company which runs the normal NPC response system from that station, you don't own the ships and can't order them around, but they will protect territory in the jump radius. That would mean you don't have to code in things like precise ship equipment and stuff and you don't have to wonder about where the ships come from.

[someone else]

If it's any easier you could even just have it so you can basically put a big payment into a station and it creates a sort of private security company which runs the normal NPC response system from that station, you don't own the ships and can't order them around, but they will protect territory in the jump radius. That would mean you don't have to code in things like precise ship equipment and stuff and you don't have to wonder about where the ships come from.

I agree with that. I'd love to have that.

[7ate9tin11s]

Now that would be very easy to do

So that means we need names for the security companies...hmmm...

Chris' 132nd Mercenary Security
Someone Elses Solutions
Gazz's Targets of Opportunity
Scoob & Co.
11th Hour Troubleshooters
These Harsh Fighters, LLC
Wintermist Defenders
StealthElement Scouting
Who's Secure, Co.

and of course my own

Legitimate Enterprises, Inc.

The companies would change over time randomly for fun...fly by night operations?

Activation
Just a station special command. You can link up as many stations as you want or unlink them if you want. The drone(s) will just jump or move between station sectors, whichever is most convienient. Each activated station will also get a few guardians on standby when there is no response happening (and you have less than 100 stations activated...).

Costing scheme...hmmm...
Your responsible for 60% of the cost of lost ship replacement since they have insurance , 100% of consumables cost (missiles, e-cells), and are charged 0.05% per sector defended of each fighters net worth every hour.

So that would be around 2 to 6 million each time a fighter is lost since these will only be M3 or M3+. Negligable amounts for consumables. The per hour charge with an M3+ at 6 mil plus 4 mil in equipment would be somewhere around 2,500 and hour while the cheaper M3 at a total of 4 mil would only be 1,000.

For each station you add to the defense network more fighters are added to the pool, with diminishing returns. Sooo... 100 - ( 20 - s ) * ( 20 - s ) / 4 should work.

Code: Select all

Stations   Fighters  M3/h   M3+/h   
    1         10      20k     25k
    2         19      76k    190k
    3         27     162k    405k
  ...        ...      ...     ...
   19         99    3762k   9405k
   20        100    4000k  10000k
   21        100    4200k  10500k

That looks good, a fighter would have to live for 40 hours with 20 stations for the player to have a loss vs buying the fighter outright. At 1 station the fighter has to live for 800 hours for a loss . Ah look, I invented bureaucracy the larger it is the more inefficient it is

Sounds like a plan.

[Gazz]

Ah look, I invented bureaucracy the larger it is the more inefficient it is :lol:

You know you're going to hell for this invention!

[7ate9tin11s]

You know you're going to hell for this invention!

It is currently summer in Japan...I would welcome the cooler climate...

/Grew up in a desert
//Humidity melts me
///meeeeeeltiiiiiing....



Oh, everyone let me know if you do not want to be a company...

/not if you want to be a company though, that is up to the whims of the 7ate
//most likely this will be released as a stand alone script outside of ir.

[KaZTek]

soo... can I finally jump onto IR and leave RRF? Sorry, tried to read all the pages all at once half-asleep and ended up more confused than I was when I started.

I'd drink coffee... but at 10pm...

[lettuceman44]

I must say......this is epic.

Just one thing. Could you make it so players can take over sectors?(or is there a script for that?).
It would be great to join the intergalactic war!

[Gazz]

Sooo... 100 - ( 20 - s ) * ( 20 - s ) / 4 should work.

Or something like Nr.Fighters = SQR(Stations) * 2 + 2

SQR is pretty useful in soft capping a potentially huge station count in a complex.
(Yes, a complex hub shouldn't count as 1 station =)

Another variation: The station size (energy cell storage / 5000) and/or the average price of the product could play a role so valuable assets like a PPC forge would be more expensive to defend than a single BoFu M fab.


You could also offer like 3 different contract levels with increasing fighter numbers / quality.
This means nothing more than altering the 2 constants in the above formula. The cost will automatically be higher simply because there are more/better ships.
Cheap feature. =)


Something else to consider: different security contractors could have different flags / attributes.
- snob: being all snobby and elite, using one type of M3+ only. Also demand a race notoriety of x.
- racist: using only ships of a certain race and might rarely attack enemies of that race
- Raider: use nothing below a speed of x m/s.
- Irregulars: use any colourful combination of ships - not always in 100% repaired condition or fully armed/shielded
- Jameson's Golden Eagles only use Argon ELITEs. =)
But they are always Elite pilots (30 fight skill). They may use a Cobra, too.
- Artillery: use some (or most?) M8 with a small spattering of light escorts. Now there's an ammo bill waiting to happen!
- Heavy Cavalry: M6/M7 mostly (obviously that's my kinda corporation =)
- Salvage: they charge less than some other outfits but they bring at least one TS along that has some sort of cargo collection script running. They also claim abandoned ships.
- Pirate: occasionally they ah... accidentially... destroy a random freighter and scoop up the cargo. But you get a share of the cut. Never mess with the employer. Too much. This may still have consequences, though. =)
- prefer particular weapons or weapon types. Heavy, light, area effect...
- missile lover: decent missile supply and high missile launch %

I'm sure there are more possibilities. That's just off the top of my head.

Most of that can be done with giving every merc outfit a ship array to choose from. Only a few items would require "real" flags and coding, such as Salvage.

You may not always get offers from your "preferred" mercenaries in a sector, either. Maybe they are overextended, maybe they don't like you or the sector owner, or the neighbours, or your spaceweed production.
Maybe they don't like another merc outfit you are employing.

If all mercenary corps are carbon copies of each other there's not much point in giving them different names.

[someone else]

cooooooool!
Can the Someone Elses Solutions have "Irregular" and "Salvage" features?

can I finally jump onto IR and leave RRF?

read this:

Hot War
There is peace in the galaxy...until you turn up the heat! With hot war enabled the Boron and Split will not be letting each others military ships through their sectors, and neither will the Argon and Paranid. Pirates will be much more vicious in hot war too. Of course, you will need to be careful of your reputation in a hot war as well...

[KaZTek]

Just one thing. Could you make it so players can take over sectors?(or is there a script for that?).

I'd like to have this too if possible

[Yacek]

Will the R10 version of the statistics are displayed correctly?
I have this:
965 Total Xenon Ships In Universe
64 ships in owned sectors
69 ImprovedRace ships in:
Getsu Fune (2) Nopileo's Memorial (3)

And probably should be:
965 Total Xenon Ships In Universe
69 ships in owned sectors
5 ImprovedRace ships in:
Getsu Fune (2) Nopileo's Memorial (3)

[Gazz]

cooooooool! :D
Can the Someone Elses Solutions have "Irregular" and "Salvage" features?

These were just a few random examples for how to give those mercenary outfits some character and weren't meant as a complete list.
I'm sure you can come up with more that may even fit better.
Working with a list of "doable" attributes is probably easier to implement than having 10 totally unique corps with flowery descriptions. Also a lot easier to balance and maintain because only one clearly defined aspect of the whole thing needs to be looked at.

[7ate9tin11s]

soo... can I finally jump onto IR and leave RRF? Sorry, tried to read all the pages all at once half-asleep and ended up more confused than I was when I started.

I'd drink coffee... but at 10pm...

Yes you can if you want. They may still work together, but your universe would be extremely safe...perhaps even boring



Oh my, I did not notice there was a whole new page of posts, I thought it was just the one

Just one thing. Could you make it so players can take over sectors?(or is there a script for that?).

It would not be hard to do, I just need to decide a fair way to do it. How about a 2-stage condition like the Xenon face:

1. No other stations except yours in the sector.
2. No enemy fighters or big ships in the sector (M1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,TL,TM).

Then the sector is yours...and the counterstrikes against you will start

/What? you expected to keep it forever?
//Good luch with that...
///Should you get tax income from owning the sector?
////Perhaps 0.05% of the value of every non-player ship and station in the sector once per hour?

Will the R10 version of the statistics are displayed correctly?

Well it is 'correct' it just does not mean what you think it does...I need to clarify it.

965 Total Xenon Ships In Universe - This includes everything so stock ships, IR ships, even fighter drones and such
64 ships in owned sectors - This is actually the number of IR ships in Xenon sectors so it should really be one line down
69 ImprovedRace ships in: - This is the total number of IR ships in the universe
Getsu Fune (2) Nopileo's Memorial (3) - These are the numbers of ships out doing something in 'enemy' sectors

Good catch, I need to switch those 2 lines around.



For the rest of the posts, I present the Station Security Services work in progress thread

[Troubleshooter11]

Now that would be very easy to do

So that means we need names for the security companies...hmmm...

11th Hour Troubleshooters

*perks up*

I like that one

In my own game, i play a security company called: "Security Patrol Navy" or SecPat Navy for short.

[uberex]

Fighter Incursion Response
Military bases and Pirate anarchy ports will keep a small fleet of M3 fighters which will jump in and attempt to resolve issues in sectors. Over time they will recover their stocks of fighters.

Capital Ship Incursion Response
Shipyards will keep a small fleet on alert that will jump in and will resolve any issues in a sectors. Depending on the whims of the commander they may have a carrier task force or a destroyer squadron. Over time the fleet will be rebuilt and may change between carrier and destroyer types.

Does the Incursion Response fleet include "Military Patrol"-eske ships that wander aimlessly in core sectors? Or can TJobs file be rid of all ships starting with "Military Patrol" for the purpose of this script?

[Chris0132]

Just one thing. Could you make it so players can take over sectors?(or is there a script for that?).

It would not be hard to do, I just need to decide a fair way to do it. How about a 2-stage condition like the Xenon face:

1. No other stations except yours in the sector.
2. No enemy fighters or big ships in the sector (M1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,TL,TM).

Then the sector is yours...and the counterstrikes against you will start

/What? you expected to keep it forever?
//Good luch with that...
///Should you get tax income from owning the sector?
////Perhaps 0.05% of the value of every non-player ship and station in the sector once per hour?

I think there does need to be some sort of major reason to claim ownership of sectors. Considering all the heat it attracts, the difficulty involved, and you have just destroyed a lot of potential customers in order to get hold of it.

Also it would be nice to be able to claim unknown sectors so they don't attract khaak so easily.