[BONUS Plug-In] Basic Patrol Commands v1.03 [4-1-05]

[KarlHemmings]

I'm not sure what you are saying stella.

The Patrol Leader uses the friend foe setting to target enemies.
The player friend/foe setting can be over-ridden at ship level - for example player "Pirates = Foe"; Ship "Pirates = Friend - then show as enemy if enemy to me = no"
With this the player can be "at war" with the Pirates but the Patrol will ignore them.

However - with the update to the Patrol script - if a Pirate is found by the patrol to be attacking one of your ships / factories it will over-ride the friend foe setting and attack the Pirate. This causes the friend / foe setting to be changed at ship level to foe. Not good if there are "friendly" Pirates in sector.

What Burianek has done is to have the Pirate friend/foe setting change back to friend once the Patrol has taken care of the "baddy" pirate and moved away from the area of attack. Obviously this can not occur too soon - but can not be left too long.

This is not an attack in radius but a control over the length of time the Patrol will remain hostile when it is not needed.

[stella]

I was kidding hence the at the end.

[KarlHemmings]

Oops I did it again - sounds like a good title for a song.

Sorry about that - I'm a bit stressed at the mo.

I'll go and hide in RoT for a while.....

[Burianek]

Thx for the update Karl,
keep me posted.

Stella: yeah, the way the patrols used to work, once they attacked a pirate that was harrassing you, they'd be so angry they'd attack every pirate from that point on. This update lets them switch back to generally friendly terms with them.

(and we keep saying pirates since they're the most common, but it works the same way for every race)

[KarlHemmings]

With the introduction of AGEIS and this script i've started again, currently in a Argon TP with a chap in the rear turret - we have had a chat and decided to get an APSG before picking up any passengers.....

[frymaster]

great minds think alike, my problem is catching up with the bloody supercharged crew transports!

[stella]

just as an aside, I like the gunnery crew script idea, whereby if there's more than one enemy, they don't all go for the same target.

I mean, if you have 5 M3's on patrol, and they see 2 pirate mandalays, wouldn't it make sense to split your forces?

[Burianek]

In sector yes. OOS maybe not. Multiple ships can successfully attack a single target OOS with no penalties since it's purely mathematical and you don't have to worry about your 20 ships performing evasive maneuvers and wasting time to prevent running into eachother . It's much harder for multiple ships to maintain a lock on a single ship In Sector.
Having them all attack the same target kills the target much more quickly OOS. (and most patrol battles will occur OOS)
Gunnery crew battles always occur in sector, hence the optimization. Patrol battles, OOS, hence my optimization.
Just my opinion.
Cheers.

[stella]

It's much harder for multiple ships to maintain a lock on a single ship In Sector

How come?
Because of collision detect?

[Burianek]

yep, they spend all their time avoiding each other and no time firing at the target.
at least, more time proportionally.

[Pirate Hunter]

Does this script work on all Combat Ships or just Capital ships.

Because I cant find the command in the menu

[D_Zorro]

Does this script work on all Combat Ships or just Capital ships.

Because I cant find the command in the menu

To activiate this script you need an M6 or higher, but you can assign lower class ships like M3 to become it's wingmen.



DZorro,

[Greyhawk1]

*sigh* unfortunately this makes your own OOSD miles better than the standard ones that came with the game. Another example of fans outcoding the developers

What I would like to see is this software used on all AI patrols as well - this would make the new patrol script fit in with the X universe.

As it stands, the normal AI patrols are somewhat lacking.

[Pirate Hunter]

As it stands, the normal AI patrols are somewhat lacking.

Id just be happy if the colossus in Ore belt actualy shot at Khaak ships or even just launched novas.

[Burianek]

*sigh* unfortunately this makes your own OOSD miles better than the standard ones that came with the game. Another example of fans outcoding the developers

What I would like to see is this software used on all AI patrols as well - this would make the new patrol script fit in with the X universe.

As it stands, the normal AI patrols are somewhat lacking.

They're government employees. Give them a break.
If it were me designing the game, I actually might be able to justify them not being very attentive to all risks. Can't make the game too easy for you.
Why should a teladi pilot risk his neck to save one of your ships/stations? There's no profit in that.
That being said, we may see patrols reworked in the expansion, anything is possible. Of course, we may see some new threats that the patrols aren't equipped to deal with as well ....
We'll all have to wait and see

[KarlHemmings]

Not just a random bump - just wanted to say
AL patrols are implemented correct as far as I am concerned. Under paid; why should I risk my neck?, chain of command; hello boss what should I do next? Okay I'll wait for instruction etc.
Set up your own equip them and pay them.
(They are under paid as far as I am concerned - and should be allowed to change ship/upgrade equipment using tender supply etc).

Anyway - nice piece of work. Thank you.

[Some Strange Man]

Why should a teladi pilot risk his neck to save one of your ships/stations? There's no profit in that.

Am I the only one thinking.... bribe?

[Odyseus_3]

If I had a carrier as lead patrol with 50 M3's in the hangar with the carrier as homebase would they launch and enter combat if their command was AAEL ?

[Burianek]

No, I thought about that, but ultimately decided against it.
What you can do is launch however many fighters you want to be on patrol with your M1 and assign them as wingmen.
The biggest reason why I didn't allow carriers to launch as part of the patrol script was dealing with the time it takes to launch and re-collect the fighters. There's just way too many opportunities for something to go wrong. (and your M1 will be sitting still and ignoring threats while launching)
You really don't lose anything (except coolness factor) to just keep the fighters on the outside of the ship during the patrol, and you gain all of the valuable time it would take to deploy them before attacking the enemy.
Cheers.

[Nanook]

You really don't lose anything (except coolness factor) to just keep the fighters on the outside of the ship during the patrol, and you gain all of the valuable time it would take to deploy them before attacking the enemy.
Cheers.

I must respectfully disagree with this. One thing you lose, which to me is very important, is to mix and match fighters with carriers. For patrol purposes, the Split Raptor is the best carrier, being the fastest. And the Nova is the best OOSD fighter, able to carry a weapon loadout of 19,000, with twin BHEPTs and a Gamma PAC. But to use these together with your patrol script entirely negates the speed of the Raptor. The whole patrol would only move at the Nova's max speed.

Also, with the fighters constantly outside the carrier, there's a greater chance of collisions, as well as a hit on the frame rate when you're in sector.

So how do your negatives stack up against mine?


What I'd like to see is the carrier fly up to the enemy, and while well out of range, start deploying fighters. Then they'd form up and attack together, with the carrier serving to take the brunt of the attack while the fighters did the majority of the killing. Once the enemy is destroyed, the fighters could then land back on the carrier. Launch times are almost instantaneous OOS, so the only delay would be if you're in the sector at the time. How often does that happen with patrol ships? Not very, in my experience.