[MOD] Miscellaneous IZ Combat Tweaks

[xrook]

i know they are best as a trade vessel but shouldnt they have the same AI regardless??

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

If Titurels are carrying cargo for me, I would rather they carry on with trying to fly to a station, where the station will try and kill the Xenon. Whereas if I am using Titurels as combat ships, I can have them in my Squad for a easy combat orders, or set them up with Patrol Orders with a DO set to Attack.

I wasn't commenting on the precise example, where ships don't seem to attack the way you hope, as I couldn't watch the video at that time. I am just saying that making a ship like the Titurel (e.g. those designated as TRADE) auto-attack things when attacked probably isn't universally a good idea. Theoretically, they should already be doing that when DOs are set to Attack and they receive Patrol or Attack orders anyway.

Having checked the video on my phone, it looks like the Titurel is too far away to shoot and getting bumped by the Olmekron a few times so maybe that prevents it moving into range. Keep in mind that apparently, the Titurel can't actually travel at 70 m/s when fully repaired. See the following page for details:
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=381819

[xrook]

why are you creating situations to a ship i captured and made it into my personal capital ship

he made himself like that... "MICT maneuvering to attack xenon ship"
and i have faster ships mod which boosted him to 120m/s

i cant record all of whats going on because i dont record all of my gameplay and only do so when i realize and see the opportunity

[w.evans]

From: w.evans
Clerk, Advisory Council
MICTCorp
a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away

To: xrook
Chief Enforcer
xrook Security Unlimited

Cc: Sparky SparkyCorp
CEO
SparkyCorp

17.8.2015

RE: FUNNY BUSINESS WITH TITUREL ESCORTING PLAYER SHIP

Greetings!

While MICTCorp operators have noticed that ships escorting the Skunk actively target and attack hostile targets close to the Skunk, these commands have not been explicitly written in the revised Rules of Engagement (MICT_supp2 00026 series of 2015). Psychological analysis of MICT Captains and Pilots found to be doing such suggests that their behavior is either due to considering the Albion Skunk to be a civilian vessel, thus leading them to actively search for and engage all hostile targets that might be a danger to said Skunk; or to excessive fervor for their employer who is known to bribe MICT Captains and Pilots with pancakes slathered in strawberry syrup. MICT Captains and Pilots will exhibit said behavior as long as they are given an escort order, regardless of whether or not their ships are suited to combat. Client discretion in organizing the plan of battle is advised.

However, upon closer examination of the report of Chief Enforcer xrook, while cited Titurel has orders to attack, the Battle Display does not display any intentions on the part of the brave if somewhat deranged captain of said Titurel. This suggests that the client, xrook, is either:

running an obsolete version of MICT,
has removed the ability of MICT Ships to jump and/or boost,
has removed the ability of MICT Captains and Pilots to send reports,
or the crew of said Titurel is not, in fact, running MICT.

While the first case is acceptable, please be advised that this effectively voids the client's warranty since the automated troubleshooting routines are automatically updated with each revision of MICT.

In the second case, this would effectively remove all reports to the Battle Display since the latest revision of MICT includes measures to reduce unnecessary reports and gossip by restricting said reports to movement decisions that concern Boost or Jump.

In the third case, all reports displayed in the Battle Display are, of course, removed due to client preference.

While the second and third cases are both acceptable, both will effectively make any attempts at diagnosing and treating the behavior of MICT Captains and Pilots via recorded holo impossible due to not knowing if they are acting according to MICT Doctrine at all. If diagnosis is nevertheless desired, an Encapsulated Time Package to just before said incident occurred is requested. Instructions as to how the depicted situation was reached would be very helpful, and will be rewarded with virtual sugar-frosted synthi-BoFu pancakes.

On the fourth case. Client will surely point out that MICTCorp is claiming this to be a feature of MICT, then potentially backtracking by mentioning the possibility that said Titurel might not, after all, be operating according to MICT. MICTCorp would like to refer the client to the first paragraph of this letter, point out that this is not behavior that has been explicitly written in MICT Doctrine, and express the possibility that this is a feature available to all pilots and captains in the X Universe.

We hope that this missive is to your satisfaction, and that continuing usage of MICT will make your daily life better. If it does not, that makes everyone at MICT sad, and we will all wear the sad face that is about to be exhibited in this letter for precisely 20 Terran minutes.



Have a nice day!

Regards,
w.evans
Clerk, Advisory Council
MICTCorp

[w.evans]

Perhaps that could be consolidated to something like:

Balor 3 jumping to Attack Target (Xen K).
Distance to Target: 32208
Preferred engagement: 12000 - 24000

I like this. It's shorter, but appears complete. Optimal distance range shouldn't be removed, I think, because that tells you why your ship wants to move. Problem with the first line, though. Some ship names can be very long, and the ship names of attacker and defender won't always fit on a single line. Considering something like:

SCorp Balor 3
jumping to attack PMC Warden Taranis

Distance to Target: 32208 meters

Optimal distance: 12000 - 24000 meters

.......
Thoughts?

Should I take out shield status altogether? Incorporate the UniBar from MOCT? (Hull status isn't taken into consideration in MICT because once your hull starts dinging, you're in trouble.)

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

Look's good to me, and changing preferred to optimal sound's better.

Regarding taking out shield status, I didn't notice that written in an IZ attack notification so not sure. I guess it is written in a different kind of IZ notification? Unibar does sound better then,yeah.

[xrook]

running an obsolete version of MICT,
has removed the ability of MICT Ships to jump and/or boost,
has removed the ability of MICT Captains and Pilots to send reports,
or the crew of said Titurel is not, in fact, running MICT.

ive installed the latest MICT and MOCT after you said MOCT no longer does that annoying warning, so doubt its that

the ship did boost and the captain did send me a report 3 times (although not seen in the video because i thought its working properly)

i never touched your mods as well, i tried to edit is the autolooter (never bothered with it anymore afterwards), the only success i have is the player weapons

im going to uninstall the Captain AI overhaul, i only added that because your OP said its compatible

[w.evans]

running an obsolete version of MICT,
has removed the ability of MICT Ships to jump and/or boost,
has removed the ability of MICT Captains and Pilots to send reports,
or the crew of said Titurel is not, in fact, running MICT.

ive installed the latest MICT and MOCT after you said MOCT no longer does that annoying warning, so doubt its that

the ship did boost and the captain did send me a report 3 times (although not seen in the video because i thought its working properly)

i never touched your mods as well, i tried to edit is the autolooter (never bothered with it anymore afterwards), the only success i have is the player weapons

im going to uninstall the Captain AI overhaul, i only added that because your OP said its compatible

Best guesses because didn't send a report in the video, so I couldn't tell what the captain thought he/she was doing. I could take a closer look if you want, if you send me a save.

The way this mod is implemented makes it compatible with cicero111's Captain AI Overhaul, even with the older CDOAIO. However, I don't know if they still work properly. For that, you'll have to check the respective mods' threads. In such a mod environment:

MICT ships will run MICT (and will NOT run those two mods' movement stuff),
and non-MICT ships will run CAIO or CDOAIO movement..

[w.evans]

Added this to compatibility notes in the OP:

The main mod only adds a single node to aiscripts\fight.attack.object to load the rest of the script. The actual movement script is completely self-contained. Should be compatible with anything that doesn't alter fight.attack.object including other movement scripts such as cicero111's excellent Captain AI Overhaul.

However, please do not take this as a guarantee that mods such as Captain AI Overhaul or the Captain and Defence Officer AI Overhaul will still work properly with the latest versions of the game. For that, please consult the mod threads of the respective mods, or ask the mod authors themselves.

Sorry if my saying that this will work with the Captain AI Overhaul seemed like me saying that the Captain AI Overhaul is still current. No idea if it is, since I uninstalled it a while back. If it is, or if someone writes a movement mod in the future that works by modifying the combat movement script, then this mod will be compatible with that.

[w.evans]

17.August 2015 - Miscellaneous IZ Combat Tweaks updated to v0.29

Battle Display reports more concise, display duration longer, and are less frequent.

- Cut the steps reported from 19 to 7,
- Made reports from different steps more consistent,
- Cut lines from a maximum of 10 to a consistent 7 (could increase for long ship names),
- Incorporated the UniBar from MOCT. (Thanks, UniTrader!)

If the reports are still too intrusive, please do let me know.

[w.evans]

MICT updated to v0.29.1

Spotted a bug right after I uploaded. To the one person who already got v0.29, please get v0.29.1

[w.evans]

Just an update on the feedback I've gotten so far on proposed changes to the MICT Battle Display:

1 vote - timer, show messages only once every x seconds (partly done as of MICT_v0.29.1 since there are less steps reported, but no actual timer yet)
1 vote - make them more concise (already done as of MICT_v0.29.1)
1 vote - take them out, please
1 vote - move it to md into a comprehensive report for all ships every x minutes. (although that was for the MOCT reports, could then unify them. Although, I personally am not in favor.)

Remember, goal is to give you information that is useful. So feedback on:

what is useful,
what isn't,
when,
why

would be useful to me. Also, feedback on timings:

how long the information is displayed,
how often, etc.

would also be useful.

[BlackRain]

w.evans, noticed an issue with capital ships escorting other capital ships that perhaps you can fix (in your escort script).

Seems sometimes, they don't properly boost to follow after the lead ship or perhaps the issue is something else.

I had a capital ship following a lead capital ship which was in my squad. I told the lead ship to take me to another zone in the same sector. Ship boosted and took me to the zone. Following capital ship is following the lead ship but after several minutes it is still in the previous zone and traveling at a snails pace. When looking at the details, it says it is traveling at 3000ms which means it is boosting but it is not actually moving that fast, it looks like it is not at all actually. I am watching It right now on the zone map (I am not in the zone with the ship) and its symbol is not moving.

Perhaps the warp could be put back in if there is no simple way to fix this. (maybe ship is stuck in a boost but not boosting phase heh)

[w.evans]

w.evans, noticed an issue with capital ships escorting other capital ships that perhaps you can fix (in your escort script).

Seems sometimes, they don't properly boost to follow after the lead ship or perhaps the issue is something else.

I had a capital ship following a lead capital ship which was in my squad. I told the lead ship to take me to another zone in the same sector. Ship boosted and took me to the zone. Following capital ship is following the lead ship but after several minutes it is still in the previous zone and traveling at a snails pace. When looking at the details, it says it is traveling at 3000ms which means it is boosting but it is not actually moving that fast, it looks like it is not at all actually. I am watching It right now on the zone map (I am not in the zone with the ship) and its symbol is not moving.

Perhaps the warp could be put back in if there is no simple way to fix this. (maybe ship is stuck in a boost but not boosting phase heh)

Thanks for the report. I think it might be them flying in formations. If so, should be a simple matter of having them leave formation before calling move.generic.

There actually is an emergency warp node in there, but it only works when they are not in formation.

ps. Probably won't be able to get it in tonight, though.

[w.evans]

17.August 2015 - MICT_supp2 updated to v0.27

Bugfix

.......
@BlackRain, can't test thoroughly right now. Let me now if that fixes it.

.......
ps. just realized. this might also sort out the problem that Scoob reported earlier.

[BlackRain]

I will have to check later. As for the reports given from MIcT. I feel like it is too much (not entirely MICT fault though) because CWIR gives messages too on the display and quite a few times it takes forever to see the radar hehe. I like the messages though and can't think of what I would prefer

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

MICT and MOCT fully updated (I was the .1 dude hehe).

My Balor's IZ Unibar is a line of green boxes with diagonal question marks in them. At the end of the line the last character appears to be an underscore, which I guess isn't intended.

I guess I have the default English install.

Edit: Light Sul with 2 escorting Balors just passed by. A glorious formation

[UniTrader]

My Balor's IZ Unibar is a line of green boxes with diagonal question marks in them. At the end of the line the last character appears to be an underscore, which I guess isn't intended

the boxes with question marks are normal - this symbol was the one which got closest to a full box in the characters available in XR. Replacing it with another Symbol/full box should be do-able though, but this makes Text-Mods incompatible if there should be any at some point..
For the Line at the End: this either means there is a rounding/off-by-one error somewhere or it has between 90 and 100% Shield, but not the full 100% (there could be just a single shield/hull point missing)

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

Ah, I see. Thanks for the explanation, I misunderstood the underscore. It was hard to see in case there was some sensible alternative.

[w.evans]

At the end of the line the last character appears to be an underscore, which I guess isn't intended.

What Uni said. If the underscore is red, it means that your ship has less than 90% shielding, and have a little bit of hull damage.

If green boxes all the way, full shields.

If green boxes except for one red box at the end, ~90% shielding, pristine hull.

edit: guess my screen's small. Couldn't make out that they were question marks until I had it print to the logbook. Thought they looked kind of like angular tank-tread-armor-like things.