You have a weapon that has a maximum range of 500 and a weapon that has a maximum range of 400. You set your ship’s maximum range to be 400; does the ship fire the 500 range weapon when it is close enough and then the 400 range weapon when it gets to that point, or does the 500 range weapon wait to fire until you are at a range of 400 from the target? I have had this problem and I am sure someone knows the answer, thanks.
The ship will usually fire it’s weapons whenever possible, meaning the 500 range weapon will start firing at 500 regardless of the order range. The range setting sets the pilot behavior.
If you delete an order (like attack fighters) then the weapon will not fire at that type of unit until the other types have been cleared from the map.
Thanks, and also I thought of something else; is that ship with the maximum range of 400 going to try and stay within 400 units of its target or not get any closer than 400? I don’t know if its a maximum range to or from the target.
Within 400 meters.
Although, ships will start to retreat once they reach the halfway point of that set range. In this case, 200 meters.
So, as a breakdown (as far as I know):
A ship will select an enemy ship as a driving target. If the target is greater than 400 meters away, your ship will move closer. If it is closer than 200, it will try to move away. Note that this is from the originally selected ship, so your ship will not adjust it’s movement based on the position of other enemy ships, even though it may still fire on them.
This behavior currently will continue until the enemy ship dies and a new target is selected, or if your ship breaks off with a ‘cautious’ repair order.
A ship will also go into an evasive movement pattern inside that deadspace between maximum and half range if you have ‘keep moving’ orders, rather than sit still.
Yurch is dead right.
Keep answering the question Cliffski, please! Its great to have a peek at the engine, rather then just feeling it up…er… out…
I’ve witnessed ships with the Vulture order changing their firing targets. Do they also change their driving targets?
The evaluation process for FIRING (not for selecting where to go and who to move towards)
This is done per weapon.
First Pass:
For Each Enemy Ship…
Check Its Assigned To Attack This Class
Check It’s within range
Make less likely target if already swamped by attackers ( > 10)
Make less likely target if our last 3 recent shots at that target were ineffective
If its a fighter in a tractor beam, make more likely target
If its a shield disruptor weapon vs no shields, reject target
evaluate vulture order
evaluate rescuer order
evaluate retaliate order
If we are a missile launcher and the target is painted, boost priority
If we don’t have a vulture order and all enemy weapons are destroyed, make less likely
Adjust for hit chance (speed vs tracking)
Adjust for priority of engagement order
Pick highest priority of all these
if First pass yields no target, then re-run it, this time ignoring class restrictions
Are you sure about this?
Because if you remove the “attack fighters” order, and the enemy cruisers are out of range while fighters are in range and:
According to this, your weapons should aim fighters in a second pass because the first one yelds no result.
But currently that only happens where there are no more cruisers or frigates left in the battle (or tractor beams that always give priority to fighters regardless of the orders).
Sometimes this behaviour is what you desire (after all there is little point on multi-warhead missiles trying to hit fighters) but sometimes you want that (cruiser laser that has no cruisers/frigates in range).
this is for firing, not moving
THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT!
Ships without attack fighters will NEVER shoot / fire at fighters unless there are no cruisers or frigates on the map.
Easy there cowboy – no need to shout.
Anyway, I think cliffski stated it accurately.
cliffski said “First Pass: For EACH enemy ship” (capitals for emphasis, not shouting)
Scenario 1:If there was no ‘attack fighters’ order, and the craft was facing 2 fighters and 2 cruisers, the first pass would be:
Fighter 1: Can’t attack
Fighter 2: Can’t attack
Cruiser 1: CAN Attack
Cruiser 2: CAN Attack
No need for a second pass.
AI then picks best cruiser to attack due to other considerations
Scenario 2: If there was no ‘attack fighters’ order, and the craft was facing 2 fighters and nothing else, the first pass would be:
Fighter 1: Can’t attack
Fighter 2: Can’t attack
Second pass:
Fighter 1: CAN attack because class restriction no longer in effect
Fighter 2: CAN attack because class restriction no longer in effect
AI then picks best fighter to attack due to other considerations
So your statement “Ships without attack fighters will NEVER shoot / fire at fighters unless there are no cruisers or frigates on the map” works perfectly according to cliffski’s explanation.
Thanks.
No, It does NOT. And ignoring the scenario when there is the problem doesn’t make it work.
because there is also in consideration:
this requires that a valid target for SHOOTING (and not moving) has to be in range of the weapon.
According to this, the scenario is this one:
with no attack fighters
Fighter 1: In Range + no attack fighter = Can NOT attack
Fighter 2: In Range + no attack fighter = Can NOT attack
Cruiser 1: NOT in range + attack cruiser = can NOT Attack
Cruiser 2: NOT in range + attack cruiser= can NOT Attack
This yields no targets. A second run ignoring attack orders results in this
Fighter 1: In Range + ignore attack order = Can attack
Fighter 2: In Range + ignore attack order = Can attack
Cruiser 1: NOT in range + ignore attack order= can NOT Attack
Cruiser 2: NOT in range + ignore attack order= can NOT Attack
This results in targeting one of the fighters on the second run.
And this is NOT what happens in the game.