Newbie Q5 (suggestion?) "edge of the universe"

derb · #1 February 12th, 2002, 09:40 PM

Is there any way to get rid of the edge of the map in combat? It's really aggravating when a faster ship gets nailed in combat just because it runs into a corner - especially in strategic combat. Failing that, could the AI be programmed to try to stay away from corners when fleeing the enemy?

Val · #2 February 12th, 2002, 09:42 PM

I don't believe there is anyway to get rid of the edge - would be cool if it was free floating or if you could retreat from combat if faster than your opponent once you reached the edge.

PvK · #3 February 12th, 2002, 10:52 PM

Yes Space Empire III allowed disengagement for ships with strategic movement remaining. I liked that but apparently many players of SE3 asked to have that changed. Too bad it isn't an option.

In Gold anyway, I've seen the AI successfully run around and escape with a +1 speed advantage. I'm not sure if it was lucky, or if this is an AI improvement in Gold.

One approach is to change the number of combat turns in space to say, 20 rather than 30, meaning there will be less time to chase down fleeing ships. (See Settings.txt)

PvK

mottlee · #4 February 12th, 2002, 10:56 PM

PvK I too liked the retreat in SEIII if it is not an option then I too would like to see turns to 20 or so...

derb · #5 February 13th, 2002, 12:53 AM

Bizarre - I can't imagine why people didn't want a disengage option! And the least they could have done would be to leave it in the code as an option turned off.

Perhaps (as in some other games) to disengage you should have to stay stationary for a turn - or even have to turn your shields off while doing so? That would be sufficient penalty...

Suicide Junkie · #6 February 13th, 2002, 01:15 AM

quote:
PvK I too liked the retreat in SEIII if it is not an option then I too would like to see turns to 20 or so...

From SE4\data\settings.txt:

quote:
Bizarre - I can't imagine why people didn't want a disengage option! And the least they could have done would be to leave it in the code as an option turned off.

Because you could use it to dodge defense forces way too easily.
I remember having to use 8 cruisers to kill a rogue high-tech colony ship, using seven ships to cut off retreat options and the eigth to attack from the only remaining direction.
I also remember using the super-cheapass technique of "Stay in combat just long enough to fire your WMGs and cripple one ship, then retreat before they can fire back.

PvK · #7 February 13th, 2002, 01:20 AM

I thought it was a bizarre request too, because I thought it worked pretty well in SE III, although sometimes it could be hard to catch an enemy ship, though it seemed to make sense the way it worked. Exiting a map edge moved the ship one sector on the system map, and cost it one movement point. So, if you were chasing a speed 5 transport with a speed 6 ship, it could run 5 sectors away before it would be stopped at the tactical map edge, unless it ran into something else like the edge of the system and/or other hostile-occupied sectors. However, if it had used all its strategic movement on its own turn, then it couldn't retreat in tactical. A little weird in some cases, but basically it seemed to work ok. I don't know about simultaneous movement, though - whatever system should have something to avoid the "infiltration by retreating" problem (e.g. Intellivision Sea Battle), where a ship retreats tactically yet advances strategically - this is why it was good in SE III to move the ships a sector on the system map in the direction they exited. In SE IV, if you do manage to dodge long enough, your ship can then move strategically in any direction... I guess that'd work in SEIII too except it's harder to do because the map is only what? 25 x 25, I think.

In SE III, you can also escape via a warp point in tactical, which is nice.

Mottlee, you can change the turns per space battle easily in settings.txt, if you want to. The "retreating forward" tactic might start to be a problem, though.

PvK