[PvK]

Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:

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Originally posted by PvK:

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Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
More importantly, does it work? I've not been able to get the AI to respect 'desired speed' when engines ae given more than one standard movement and I don't know of anyone else who has either.

Yes, it does work. All or almost all of the AI's designs, for all AI's, even Neutrals, now build with correct numbers of engines, and even mix high-output engines with efficient engines to achieve different tradeoffs in speed versus range and cost.

The bad news is it is essentially all done by hand-tweaking, and required multiple entries for different sizes of the same design type. This is one of the main reasons why it has taken so much work to create decent AI's for Proportions.

The technique is to use the Max Speed line to specify the desired number of normal engines - the AI obeys.

PvK

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Looking at the design files, all I see is '500' as the desired speed for every single design. If the limit is 255, how does this work?

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Sorry, I mis-remembered. I think the "Desired Speed" value is semi-obsolete. I only ever set it to 254. If you see 500, it's probably one of John's or Oleg's. However I don't think that one does anything as long as it's high. The "Minimum Speed" is the important one. For example:

Minimum Speed := 8
Desired Speed := 254

This gets the AI to put 8 engines of the type it considers best on a ship design.

Have you tried assiging a 'Majority Component ability' of Standard Ship Movement?

No I haven't. I bet it would work ok, but I don't see why it would be better than using the Abilities section below, and since the Maj Component section is the only one that works for main weapons, and you only get that and the 2ndary one to specify those, I just use the Misc Abilities for other engine specs. For example, in Proportions specifying Misc abilities of "Warp Point - Turbulence" will get the AI to add some efficient engines, and "Extra Movement Generation" will get Gravitic Drives. You do need to reduce the "Minimum Speed" by the same amount, or the AI will cheat by violating the limits of a hull's specified design.

PvK