**Tutorial** - Capital Ship Encounters

Tue Oct 21, 2003 4:38 am by ImmortalZ

I found out some stuff that may help people.

Example 1:

Consider this from a [Zone entry:
encounter = Fight1_A, 4, 1.00000
faction = br_p_grp, 1.000000
faction = fc_x_grp, 0.300000
encounter = Fight1_B, 3, 1.00000
faction = br_n_grp, 0.500000
faction = fc_x_grp, 0.300000

I found out that the number in the encounter lines right after the name indicate the number of ships that are in the fray the moment the encounter is executed. Setting it to 1 will tell FL to spawn as many as it wants. Other ships will join the fray governed by the wing parameters specified in the encounter ini files (like reinforcements) and the return fraction.

Example 2:
Consider this piece from the area_assault.ini:

[EncounterFormation
ship_by_class = 1, 1, sc_fighters
pilot_job = assault_leader_job
make_class = wanderer
ship_by_class = 2, 3, sc_fighters, -1
pilot_job = assault_job
make_class = wanderer
formation_by_class = fighters
behavior = wander
arrival = all, -object_jump_gate, -tradelane
allow_simultaneous_creation = yes
zone_creation_distance = 0
times_to_create = infinite

[Creation
permutation = 0, 3

Now, that 2,3,.... numbers in the ship class line specifies that the number of ships spawned can be any numbers between 2 and 3. You can set it at 2, 10 so that either you get a scouting party or a full fledged assault wing. You may also notice that the assault_leader part has a setting of 1,1 meaning it will always spawn 1 and only 1 assault leader. I haven't experimented on this and I wont be surprised if the game crashes because of 2 leaders

I really dont know what the permutation lines specify. If someone can explain to me, I would be grateful. Now what does all this mean?

When you enter the zone above, there will always be atleast 4 police ships around because the starting wing size is 4 and encounter fraction is set at 1.000000 (it will always execute) and the return parameter is also 1.000000 (reinforcements are sure to come). There is some chance some Xenos will spawn and there will be a battle. But since the police will have reinforcements, the Xenos will be surely beaten. The reinforcements will come in packs as defined in the encounter ini (see the second example). Now in the second encounter, there is better chance that Navy ships will be around than Xenos. Still the Navy may not spawn and you and the police may have a good fight on your hands

Thanks for the good tutorial Neph. Keep it up

Now where can I find a tutorial with info on creating patrol paths?

Sat Nov 15, 2003 5:07 am by laughing plasma

Very cool stuff Nephilim, most appreciated. I now have capital ships popping up all over the place! They certainly add atmosphere to the game, and challenge too for when you play on the wrong side of the law.

Could you please tell me if it is possible to generate capital ships belonging to a faction other than the House Navies? If so, how would I do it? If I wanted to add battleships to the Blood Dragons, would I just do something like:

encounter = capitalships_Kusari, 19, 1.000000
faction = fn_bd_grp, 1.000000

"Corona surfing - fun, but foolish."

Sat Nov 15, 2003 2:34 pm by Nephilim

Almost right.

What you'd do, telegram-style:

1) open faction_prop.ini
2) look up the Blood Dragons (affiliation = fn_bd_grp)
3) copy over these lines:

npc_ship = Kusari_Battleship
formation = battleships, battleship_wall

4) open a system .ini
5) chuck in an <EncounterParameters> for house Kusari (BD capships are still Kusari-built, after all. They just fly under a different flag.)
6) you already know this step

Edited by - Nephilim on 15-11-2003 14:43:27

Sat Nov 15, 2003 5:25 pm by laughing plasma

Cool, ta very much!

"Corona surfing - fun, but foolish."

Thu Nov 20, 2003 8:26 am by BlazeME

1st Question: Do you need the 'fraction_weight = ' for the fraction if you add them in?

2nd Question: How can I add a Battleship encounter in the zone-21 hole that is always hostile with you?

Dazzel me please.

::: Serious Sirius Help Email :::

Sun Nov 23, 2003 8:10 pm by BlazeME

I said please!

Mon Nov 24, 2003 6:02 pm by Nephilim

What, a 'body can't take a day or two off now?

Strictly speaking you don't need to include a faction_weight for any faction, BUT, and this I cannot stress enough what with FL being the overly sensitive and crash-happy program that it is (especially re: faulty encounter parameters...), it's better to err on the side of caution and chuck one in anyway. Makes crashes less of a pain to track down, too.

The Zone-21 "hole" you're refering to is actually a spherical exclusion zone inside the minefield (the tubular passage through the field is a seperate entity), so adding encounters to it shouldn't be very dazzLIng.

As for permanenty hostile ships, you gotta be more specific - do you mean the entire faction, or just the local patrols?

Edited by - Nephilim on 24-11-2003 18:03:05

Tue Nov 25, 2003 8:07 am by BlazeME

I was hoping to have the Liberty nomads (that are always hostile) to be in the Zone21 hole so it would be harder to get in.

Wed Nov 26, 2003 8:35 am by BlazeME

Liberty Nomad Fation = fc_ln_grp

Please!

Wed Nov 26, 2003 6:29 pm by Nephilim

Yes, and since the Liberty Nomad Defenders are already present in npcships.ini AND the faction has been conveniently provided for you in faction_prop.ini, you should be able to put two and two together, no?

Wed Nov 26, 2003 9:22 pm by BlazeME

The zone21 hole is an excusion zone. Will that not allow me to have encounters in it?

Wed Nov 26, 2003 11:36 pm by Nephilim

I don't see why it wouldn't (given that there are dozens of such zones in most border- and edgeworld systems), but you can always place a second, roughly overlapping zone *inside* the exclusion field if you want to be absolutely sure. This will work so long as both zones' positions are unique - ie., if the exclusion zone has coordinates (x, y, z), then your new zone should at least be positioned at (x-1, y-1, z-1) or (x+1, y+1, z+1).

Wed Apr 07, 2004 11:34 am by bobthedog

Yah, exclusion zones only exclude the nebulae and asteroid fields that explicitly state they can exclude them.

P/-/3@R D@ D@\/\/G F00lZ

Fri Apr 09, 2004 5:43 am by wrathofachilles

quick question, how do I make random missions from bars include battleship targets?

Fri Apr 09, 2004 10:54 am by Nephilim

By fooling Freelancer into thinking that capital ships are actually fighters. For every ship in the game there's a line in shiparch.ini that defines its type (fighter, freighter, etc). Change that line to read type = FIGHTER for capships and they'll pop up in random missions, provided of course you've also declared them in npcships.ini and whatnot.

Edited by - Nephilim on 4/9/2004 3:03:45 PM

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