---

encounter = capitalships_Bretonia, 19, 0.0100000 <----- I think it's the frequency of spawns
faction = br_n_grp, 0.010000 <----- what is this one?

---

capitalships_Bretonia, 19, 0.0100000 <--Is the chances of how often the encounter will spawn within the zone(its best to keep them fairly low as overlapping zones can lead to a crash if the chances are too high
faction = br_n_grp, 0.010000 <--Is the chances of each faction within that encounter. If you only have 1 group it should just be 1.000000.
You should really have faction_weight as all of the original game zones have them. I've not tried using them without.

Thanks much for the quick response.

From the capitalships_Nomads.ini file in the XTS Battleship Encounters mod

[EncounterFormation
ship_by_class = 1, 1, sc_battleships
pilot_job = assault_leader_job
make_class = wanderer
ship_by_class = 6, 6, sc_gunboats
pilot_job = assault_job
make_class = wanderer
ship_by_class = 3, 3, fighters <----- What would I change this to in order to increase the number of escort fighters from 3 to more, say 8?
pilot_job = assault_job
make_class = wanderer
formation_by_class = battleships
behavior = wander
arrival = cruise
allow_simultaneous_creation = yes
zone_creation_distance = 0
times_to_create = infinite

[Creation
permutation = 0, 3

Edited by - robocop on 8/29/2006 6:10:15 PM

Edited by - robocop on 8/29/2006 6:10:36 PM

You could just try 8,8 but you might need to add a custom formation in order for it to spawn ok.

This is the [FactionProps

<data file="data\missions\faction_prop.ini" method="sectionappend">
<section>
[FactionProps
affiliation = fc_n_grp
</section>
<source>
npc_ship = Nomad_Gunboat
npc_ship = Nomad_Battleship
formation = gunboats, gunboat_wall
formation = battleships, battleship_wall
</source>
</data>


And these are the formations:

<data file="data\missions\formations.ini" method="append">
<source>
[Formation
nickname = battleship_wall <----- custom formation for mod
pos = 0, 0, 0 <----- I assume this is the battleship don't know what the rest are.
pos = 400, 0, 0 <----- I assume this is a Gunboat
pos = -400, 0, 0 <----- I assume this is a Gunboat
pos = 0, 200, 0 <----- I assume this is a Gunboat
pos = 400, 200, 0 <----- I assume this is a Gunboat
pos = -400, 200, 0 <----- I assume this is a Gunboat
pos = 400, 0, 0
pos = 400, 200, 0
pos = 0, -200, 0
pos = 400, -200, 0
pos = -400, -200, 0
pos = 400, -200, 0
pl_pos = 0, 100, 500

Formation looks more or less like this:

GB GB GB
GB BS GB
Fi Fi Fi

[Formation
nickname = gunboat_wall <----- part of the game
pos = 0, 0, 0
pos = 150, 0, 0
pos = -150, 0, 0
pos = 0, 150, 0
pos = 150, 150, 0
pos = -150, 150, 0
pos = 300, 0, 0
pos = 300, 150, 0
pos = 0, -150, 0
pos = 150, -150, 0
pos = -150, -150, 0
pos = 300, -150, 0
pl_pos = 0, 0, 400

But, I could be way off.

Do you have anything I can use?

Thanks in advance

To explain a bit more of what is going on:


encounter = capitalships_Bretonia, 19, 0.0100000

- captialships_Bretonia refers to an encounter, as specified at the top of the solar system's .ini file (it will reference an .ini file with the specifics of the encounter).
- 19 is the level of ships that is given to that encounter; the game will match the level given to the encounter with the level of ships that the faction in question flies, as specified in faction_prop.ini and npcships.ini.
- 0.01 is the relative weight of that encounter appearing, as compared to all the other encounters in the zone. For example, if there is one other encounter with relative weight of 0.02 in the zone, then the capship encounter will occur 1/3 of the time. Typically the numbers all sum to 1.0, but this is just for ease of understanding.

faction = br_n_grp, 0.010000

- br_n_grp is the faction that will use the encounter
- 0.01 is the relative weight of that faction using the encounter; relative weight here works just like it does for encounters.

faction_weight appears to only matter for missions. A faction_weight for a faction in a zone will allow you to take missions against that faction in that region; there must also be a vignette zone there, and the edge of the vignette zone must come within... um... I think it's 20k of the base offering the mission (it's been a while).

---------------
ship_by_class = 1, 1, sc_battleships

- x, y = between x and y of the given ship type will spawn, in this case 1 and 1 (so exactly one will always spawn)
- sc_battleships is a reference to a ship class definition (in shipclasses.ini); ships in npcships.ini have one or more ship classes in addition to a range of levels. You can arbitrarily make ship classes and use them for your npc ships.
- You may also specify a level offset, like so:
ship_by_class = 1, 1, sc_battleships, -5
which is added to the level specified in the encounter

pilot_job = assault_leader_job

- assault_leader_job is a reference to a job block in pilots_population.ini

make_class = wanderer

- I still haven't figured out what this does; I have made encounters with and without make_class and it seems to not matter.

formation_by_class = battleships

- If you look in faction_prop.ini, each faction has formations specified for each formation class that it will have to deal with. You may also use formation rather than formation_by_class here, in which case you will directly reference a formation in formations.ini

behavior = wander

- There are only a few behaviors you can set: wander, patrol_path and trade (maybe another that I don't recall).

arrival = cruise

- This is how the encounter arrives in the area; valid values are all, cruise, tradelane, object_station, object_jump_gate, object_docking_ring, and object_all, plus maybe some that I don't recall. You may also put a - in front of the arrival style to specify that you don't want that style to happen, like so:
arrival = all, -cruise

allow_simultaneous_creation = yes

- Whether more than one instances of this encounter can be created at once (yes or no)

zone_creation_distance = 0

- How far outside the encounter zone the encounter will spawn, though as usual you must first be inside the encounter zone for any encounters to happen.

times_to_create = infinite

- Set this to either infinite or some number. For example:
times_to_create = 3
Will cause the encounter to only spawn three times total; I have not experimented with this one extensively so I don't know when and if the count resets.

permutation = 0, 3

- If there are multiple [EncounterFormation blocks in the encounter file, the permutation lines specify the relative weights of them. The first number is the index of the encounterformation (so 0, 1, 2, etc.) and the second number is the relative weight.

-----------------------
nickname = battleship_wall

- battleship_wall will be referenced from either faction_prop.ini or directly from the encounter's .ini file, as explained above

pos = 0, 0, 0

- 0, 0, 0 is the x,y,z offset from the center of the encounter. Each pos = x, y, z relates to one ships; ships are allotted to the positions in the order they are specified in the encounter's .ini file. So, in your example the battleship would take the first slot, gunboats would take the next six, and fighters would be in the next three. There may be more positions allowed than there are ships in the encounter; however, if there are more ships in the encounter than the formation has space for, I believe the extra ships won't appear (or else something else strange happens, I don't remember). Also, in multiplayer only (at least for 1.0) the game will crash if you have more than 17 ships in a single formation.

pl_pos = 0, 100, 500

- If you try to join formation with this group of ships, this is where your ship will go; however, sometimes you can't form with groups, for reasons that I never really bothered to figure out.

I hope that helps you do whatever it is that you're trying to do.

Its good to refresh useful info from time to time, I found this one helpful again today. So - NO apologies for grave-digging or bumping!

Currently I need to spawn a specific number of ships in a specific zone - it's proven difficult to do, instead of the 6 I'm expecting, irrespective of the density = 6 and max_battle_size = 6, I get 8 or more NPCs! ??

I can add one very small thing - the usual reason you sometimes can't join a formation of NPCs is that there is no room in the specific formation for your ship. In formations where there is a pl_pos = line, that position is always reserved for your ship.

One more query - although I set my repop time and relief time to 5 (seconds?) in the zone, it seems to be very much longer between waves. Sometimes the first wave doesnt spawn until I F1 & reselect my character - anyone have a reason or fix please?

Edited by - StarTrader on 9/14/2007 10:31:46 AM

StarTrader, it would seem that max_battle_size judges the maximum level for ships to have in that zone.

On the other hand, maybe its the difficulty of ships spawning in the area. Have you modified any file that is stored in exe folders with hex editors, if you have done something that is directed by Dev in Limit breaking 101 then that could be the mystery behind it.

If you have hex values stating in Freelancer.exe that ships are to spawn at a range that is farther than your ship's scanner to reach, then your ship can't see it because it's too far but it's actually spawning there.

Also your encounter file maybe causing the spawning of 2 extra ships I think, I am not sure about that yet, I am not an expert in encounters but I try my best to do this stuff, especially patrol_paths going up and down! For a 3D system. A lot of maths to do!!!