Hey, does anyone know how to make just one battleship instead of tons appear, or two cruisers, or something. I want Manhatten to have a clear and present defense, but a fleet as huge as the one in this code dominate the desnity so that there isn't much trading traffic.

The Monkeys are coming. Beware!

Let me jump in to help out here a second . Firstly - when adding encounters, make sure that you don't over add - ie that you don't overload the area with percentage chance of encounters as you will crash . ie

encounter = area_defend, 1, 0.070000 ;these here - DON'T ADD UP TO 1
faction = li_p_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_bh_defend, 1, 0.030000
That means ALL OF THEM!
Number two:
If you ahve something like this:

encounter = area_trade_freighter, 1, 0.090000
faction = co_hsp_grp, 0.260000
faction = co_me_grp, 0.260000
faction = co_ss_grp, 0.260000
faction = co_vr_grp, 0.210000 Then all the factions MUST NOT EQUAL MORE THAN 1 EITHER!!! You cannot go over 100% here.

As a side note, many of the areas DON'T have the chances adding to more than about 30% (ie the encounter = area_trade_freighter, 1, 0.090000 then 0.09 is 9% out of 100% of encounters chances, most don't IN TOTAL add up to 100% , only 30%). Now that should fix crashes. Oh - i forgot - to remove others encounters - don't delete them, just comment them out in the systems.ini file - that means that:
encounter = area_trade_freighter, 1, 0.090000
faction = co_hsp_grp, 0.260000
faction = co_me_grp, 0.260000
faction = co_ss_grp, 0.260000

Will become:

encounter = area_trade_freighter, 1, 0.090000
faction = co_hsp_grp, 0.260000
;faction = co_me_grp, 0.260000
;faction = co_ss_grp, 0.260000

Now the ss and me groups WON'T appear here anymore in freighters - but you won't have permanently deleted them - just removed them for a short while. easy to put em back in - a very handy method of sorting stuff out!! LOL

Also - the higher the chances / faction weight, the more likely they are to appear, so faction wieght = 10 means they live there, 1 means they stop by for a cuppa every now and then. Okay - now when you increase the zones density and toughness, you can hold more and more ships in the zone, so you can cram that place full of ships if you like (fleet wars anyone?) However, it might overload your comp if you have about 50 ships all there - good value is 20 or so!

Next - to decrease the amount of ships that appear? That lies in the formations file you chose - here is the example:

This isactually one of mine from my comp - so it might not look like the ones you got okay!

[EncounterFormation
ship_by_class = 1, 1, sc_battleships
pilot_job = assault_leader_job
make_class = wanderer
ship_by_class = 4, 4, sc_cruisers
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

You can change this to what you would like okay - as ypu can see i have 4 cruisers turning up with the battleship here, but that can be changed easy enough. Just decrease the numbers - have only 1 cruiser accompany it - or none! In that case it would look like this!
![EncounterFormation
ship_by_class = 1, 1, sc_battleships
pilot_job = assault_leader_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
Notice i now have a lone battleship turning up? Aslo - change the likely hood of them spawning to keep them low on appearing, otherwise, the larger the populatino your zone can handle, and frequent population zpawn (ie above 0.1 for the encounters parameter) means that you will have these guys popping up everywhere. Make em down at 0.005 or something for less frequency. That should sort you out.
Chips

BY the way, when removing stuff - using BiniQ - when you resave after deleting the stuff, it doesn't save the file correctly UNLESS you delete the file and resave. I say this as people experience crashes due to stuff they took out NOT being acutally removed either!


Edited by - chips on 26-09-2003 09:10:14

Heh. You have no idea how many months I spent trying to figure out the nuts and bolts of the percentage modifiers. I really wish I'd known what I know now back in april... it would have saved me from a LOT of frustration and angry customers.

Incidentally, there's another way of introducing a measure of randomness to your encounters:

[EncounterFormation
ship_by_class = 1, 1, sc_battleships
pilot_job = assault_leader_job
make_class = wanderer
ship_by_class = 0, 2, sc_cruisers
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

This will spawn a formation consisting of one battleship and between 0 and 2 cruiser escorts...

[EncounterFormation
ship_by_class = 1, 1, sc_battleships
pilot_job = assault_leader_job
make_class = wanderer
ship_by_class = 0, 4, sc_cruisers
pilot_job = assault_job
make_class = wanderer
ship_by_class = 0, 8, sc_destroyers
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

...whereas that might be just a lone battleship or a full-fledged taskforce coming to ruin your day.

Edited by - Nephilim on 27-09-2003 09:55:34

Hey, thanks.

The Monkeys are coming. Beware!

Hey, if someone answers this I'll probably shut up. I can't seem to spawn two opposing fleets (Bretonia and Nomads) around Malta for a three way battle. Why?

[zone
nickname = zone_hi01_pop_malta
pos = -13917, 0, 10494
shape = SPHERE
size = 4000
sort = 4
toughness = 19
density = 50
repop_time = 10
max_battle_size = 50
pop_type = fc_ou_grp, single_base_unlaw
relief_time = 20
faction_weight = fc_ou_grp, 10
density_restriction = 4, lawfuls
encounter = area_scout, 19, 0.120000
faction = fc_ou_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_defend, 19, 0.220000
faction = fc_ou_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_trade_trader, 19, 0.270000
faction = fc_ou_grp, 1.000000
encounter = capitalships_Bretonia, 19, 0.100000
faction = br_n_grp, 1.000000

[EncounterParameters
nickname = capitalships_Bretonia
filename = missions\encounters\capitalships_Bretonia.ini

encounter = capitalships_Nomads, 19, 0.200000
faction = fc_n_grp, 1.000000

[EncounterParameters
nickname = capitalships_Nomads
filename = missions\encounters\capitalships_Nomads.ini


sorry to bother, but since its your code, I thought I should ask you. Oh, and I left out the escorts on purpose, I now have fighters flying in battleship wall formation with the big ships, looks cool, in my opinion.



The Monkeys are coming. Beware!

encounter and faction statements have to be properly connected to a zone, or they'll be ignored by FL. [EncounterParameters can float anywhere, though.

[zone
nickname = zone_hi01_pop_malta
pos = -13917, 0, 10494
shape = SPHERE
size = 4000
sort = 4
toughness = 19
density = 50
repop_time = 10
max_battle_size = 50
pop_type = fc_ou_grp, single_base_unlaw
relief_time = 20
faction_weight = fc_ou_grp, 10
density_restriction = 4, lawfuls
encounter = area_scout, 19, 0.120000
faction = fc_ou_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_defend, 19, 0.220000
faction = fc_ou_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_trade_trader, 19, 0.270000
faction = fc_ou_grp, 1.000000
encounter = capitalships_Bretonia, 19, 0.100000
faction = br_n_grp, 1.000000
encounter = capitalships_Nomads, 19, 0.200000
faction = fc_n_grp, 1.000000

[EncounterParameters
nickname = capitalships_Bretonia
filename = missions\encounters\capitalships_Bretonia.ini

[EncounterParameters
nickname = capitalships_Nomads
filename = missions\encounters\capitalships_Nomads.ini

That should do the trick.

Edited by - Nephilim on 29-09-2003 00:30:58

Thankyou, my dreams of Liberty Navy assisted crushing of the Nomads by the swelling ranks of the Order can live!

The Monkeys are coming. Beware!

Can you make a Order Encounter? Order vs. Nomads!

It's possible, but you'd be stuck with Anubis fighters - the Osiris is a special, one-of-a-kind (non-NPC) battleship that can't be used for encounters AFAIK.

Anyway, open faction_prop.ini , find the Order (fc_or_grp ) and add:

npc_ship = Order_Fighter

Then open npcships.ini and add:

[NPCShipArch
nickname = Order_Fighter
loadout = Order_Fighter_Loadout
level = d19
ship_archetype = or_elite
pilot = pilot_military_ace
state_graph = FIGHTER
npc_class = lawful, class_fighter, d19

Finally, open loadouts.ini and add:

[Loadout
nickname = Order_Fighter_Loadout
archetype = or_elite
equip = ge_oe_engine_01
equip = npc_shield01_mark07, HpShield01
equip = infinite_power
equip = ge_s_scanner_02
equip = ge_s_tractor_01
equip = ge_s_thruster_01, HpThruster01
equip = fc_or_gun01_mark01, HpWeapon01
equip = fc_or_gun01_mark01, HpWeapon02
equip = fc_or_gun01_mark01, HpWeapon03
equip = fc_or_gun01_mark01, HpWeapon04
equip = missile01_mark05, HpWeapon05
cargo = missile01_mark05_ammo, 20
equip = missile01_mark05, HpWeapon06
cargo = missile01_mark05_ammo, 20
equip = fc_or_turret01_mark01, HpTurret01
equip = mine01_mark05, HpMine01
cargo = mine01_mark05_ammo, 20
equip = ge_s_cm_03, HpCM01
cargo = ge_s_cm_03_ammo, 20
equip = LargeWhiteSpecial, HpHeadlight
equip = SlowSmallYellow, HpRunningLight01
equip = SlowSmallYellow, HpRunningLight02
equip = SlowSmallYellow, HpRunningLight03
equip = SlowSmallYellow, HpRunningLight04
equip = SlowSmallYellow, HpRunningLight05
equip = SlowSmallYellow, HpRunningLight06
equip = contrail01, HpContrail01
equip = contrail01, HpContrail02
equip = contrail01, HpContrail03
equip = DockingLightRedSmall, HpDockLight01
equip = DockingLightRedSmall, HpDockLight02

From here you should be in familiar territory (encounter = area_assault, 19, 0.xxxxxx , faction = fc_or_grp, 1.000000 , etc).

hello chip said to look you up for server side mod for battle ship read all there was you said you would update the settings you had done because you missed something will want to no if you did n all the bugs worked out then ill add to my server changed most off the encounters so ai/npc fight like real players

do you no if dmg n speed of weapons server side????
thank you n have a nice day
[email protected]

To answer your questions as best I can:

1) no, I have not updated the tutorial yet
2) therefore the bugs have not been ironed out yet either
3) weapon damage and -speed (not sure what you mean, refire rate or projectile velocity) are both clientside

will want to no if the dmg from weapons r server side??? n the speed of them r they to for the npc/ai n are there shields done server side so if i was to change them or increase them would they work?????

thank u n have a nice day

-damage from weapons: no
-refire rate: no
projectile speed: no
-NPC shields: yes


Edited by - Nephilim on 15-11-2003 13:09:47

Thanks Nephilim!