design pb : boarding ships and multiple fighters

[trooper]

I've looked at several designCreation files, but I still can't understand what makes a good boarding ship. I don't even manage to put boarding parties on it !

Can anyone explain me what must be in the design.txt file ?

[ March 22, 2003, 08:05: Message edited by: trooper ]

[Master Belisarius]

The magic words for the component are "Boarding Attack".
My advice is that you take a look to AIs that use it... think is the best way to learn, and after it, doing test and trial.
An AI that use Boarding Parties is the Space Vikings.

[Fyron]

Generally, you have to include components by their ability, not by name, in the design files.

[trooper]

Yeah, the design works.

But my AI doesn't seem to like boarding ships...
It's a height for a pirate race !

I put entries like this in the vehicleconstruction.txt file in every AI state :

Entry 49 Type := Boarding Ship
Entry 49 Planet Per Item := 30
Entry 49 Must Have At Least := 3

But the AI prefers building attack ships, carriers, mine and satellite layers...

Any idea ?

[Rexxx]

Originally posted by trooper:
Yeah, the design works.

But my AI doesn't seem to like boarding ships...
It's a height for a pirate race !

I put entries like this in the vehicleconstruction.txt file in every AI state :

Entry 49 Type := Boarding Ship
Entry 49 Planet Per Item := 30
Entry 49 Must Have At Least := 3

But the AI prefers building attack ships, carriers, mine and satellite layers...

Any idea ?

49 entries are a lot. Maybe the AI is not able to reach it, completely busy with fulfilling the first 48 or not having enough space yards and/or resources.
I would propose a simple test, move this entry up in the construction-file. I'm pretty sure that the AI will build them.

[oleg]

1) AI does not reach the entry for boarding ship - it is still trying to fulfill requests for earlier vehicle_creation.txt calls
2} some typo in ship name/class. Check design_creation file again.
3) Are you making AI from scratch or modernizing some other race AI ? Several TDM races uses "boarding ship" for other ship types.

[trooper]

I try to move the lines dealing with boarding ships at the top of AI states list. I'll see if it works.

Another question, which is about fighters.

I have two fighter designs in designcreation.txt file, as folows :

Name := Missile Interceptor
Design Type := Fighter
Vehicle Type := Fighter
Default Strategy := Fighter Attack
Size Minimum Tonnage := 10
Size Maximum Tonnage := 5000
Num Must Have At Least 1 Ability := 1
Must Have Ability 1 := Weapon
Minimum Speed := 2
Desired Speed := 6
Majority Weapon Family Pick 1 := 108
Majority Weapon Family Pick 2 := 0
Majority Weapon Family Pick 3 := 0
Majority Weapon Family Pick 4 := 0
Majority Weapon Family Pick 5 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 1 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 2 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 3 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 4 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 5 := 0
Shields Spaces Per One := 12
Armor Spaces Per One := 0
Majority Comp Spaces Per One := 10
Majority Comp Ability := Weapon
Secondary Comp Spaces Per One := 0
Secondary Comp Ability :=
Num Misc Abilities := 3
Misc Ability 1 Name := Standard Ship Movement
Misc Ability 1 Spaces Per One := 20
Misc Ability 2 Name := Combat To Hit Defense Plus
Misc Ability 2 Spaces Per One := 10000
Misc Ability 3 Name := Combat To Hit Offense Plus
Misc Ability 3 Spaces Per One := 10000

Name := DUC Interceptor
Design Type := Fighter
Vehicle Type := Fighter
Default Strategy := Fighter Attack
Size Minimum Tonnage := 10
Size Maximum Tonnage := 5000
Num Must Have At Least 1 Ability := 0
Minimum Speed := 6
Desired Speed := 6
Majority Weapon Family Pick 1 := 101
Majority Weapon Family Pick 2 := 0
Majority Weapon Family Pick 3 := 0
Majority Weapon Family Pick 4 := 0
Majority Weapon Family Pick 5 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 1 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 2 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 3 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 4 := 0
Secondary Weapon Family Pick 5 := 0
Shields Spaces Per One := 12
Armor Spaces Per One := 0
Majority Comp Spaces Per One := 10
Majority Comp Ability := Weapon
Secondary Comp Spaces Per One := 0
Secondary Comp Ability :=
Num Misc Abilities := 3
Misc Ability 1 Name := Standard Ship Movement
Misc Ability 1 Spaces Per One := 20
Misc Ability 2 Name := Combat To Hit Defense Plus
Misc Ability 2 Spaces Per One := 10000
Misc Ability 3 Name := Combat To Hit Offense Plus
Misc Ability 3 Spaces Per One := 10000

It seems that the AI only built one design (the Last one). Is there a way to prevent that ? (duplicate fighter line in construction_units.txt ?)

[ March 19, 2003, 13:12: Message edited by: trooper ]

[Krsqk]

You could call for both designs by name in the file. You could also put them in the UnitConstruction (or whatever the name is) file, but they won't be built until the queue in VehicleConstruction is completed.

Are the designs in your DesignCreation.txt file in that order? I thought the AI always built the first design it found which it had sufficient tech to build. I have been wrong before, though.

[Rexxx]

Originally posted by trooper:
It seems that the AI only built one design (the Last one). Is there a way to prevent that ? (duplicate fighter line in construction_units.txt ?)

Did the AI design both types?
If not (I'm just guessing) have you researched smaller weapons as well? Small rocket pods need this additional tech, small DUCs don't.

[ March 19, 2003, 14:43: Message edited by: Rexxx ]

[oleg]

Yes, AI build only the first design listed in design_creation file. I'm too very curios why trooper reports the otherwise. To make AI build both fighters, use design names in construction.txt file. Just one catch: SE tracks the cummulative number for design types, not separate numbers for design names !
As an example, if you want 10 duc fighters and 10 missile fighters, do this:

Entry 1 Type := DUC Interceptor
Entry 1 Planet Per Item := 30
Entry 1 Must Have At Least := 10

Entry 2 Type := Missile Interceptor
Entry 2 Planet Per Item := 20
Entry 2 Must Have At Least := 20

(planet per item might be different in real file, but they should also reflect the way SE works)