Question to the other Mod Makers out there...

Talenn · #1 December 14th, 2000, 11:15 PM

Have any of you succeeded in having an AI race build multiple classes of Fighters? I have seen (and done) an AI build script where it builds differing classes of SHIPS (ie Attack Ship vs Defense Ship vs Support Ship or whatever). I can even get the AI to DESIGN an 'Attack Fighter' but I cant get it to build them. When I insert 'Attack Fighter' into the Construction Queue I get an error message of 'Unknown Value'.

I have remembered to go into the 'Default_Designs' file and define 'Attack Fighter' as a value there. I dont what else I am missing or is it just not possible to have the AI produce multiple concurrent models of Fighters (or maybe even UNITS in general)?

Anyone else have any luck? Would any of you mind giving it a shot and letting me know if/how you succeed?

Thanx,
Talenn

Tampa_Gamer · #2 December 15th, 2000, 12:17 AM

Great. . .based on our discussions this morning I have been jotting notes down while I was here at work so that when I got home tonight I could finish some of the designs I had started which included several fighter types (CAP, Interceptor, Bombers, etc.) This is not good, I made the same assumptions you did about what needed to be done to add a new class of ship. Hmmm... Any feedback from beta testers?? Sorry, I am not any help - I will still test the theory tonight when I get home to make sure its not a fluke, but this does not look good. . .

[This message has been edited by Tampa_Gamer (edited 14 December 2000).]

Mephisto · #3 December 15th, 2000, 12:45 AM

I haven't tried it yet. I doubt the AI can use them very good as it will not have any understanding of the difference between the fighter designs.

Tampa_Gamer · #4 December 15th, 2000, 12:51 AM

My goal was to establish additional strategies for those types of fighters. My ver 1.00 Mod created a new AI "defense strategy" for the Defense Ship design that actually worked quite well in my tests. I found the strategy file fairly straightforward to work on (especially the priority types for targeting - which will be the key) - but you are correct, it would take more than "Optimal" and "Maximum" range strategies to work. Has anyone else tried adding additional strategies?

Talenn · #5 December 15th, 2000, 01:11 AM

Hmm, well, I deleted the 'Attack Fighter' in the Construction_Queue, but left the design in their Design_File. Playing the game, I noticed that there are indeed 'Attack Fighters' coming out of the Amonkrie. It seems to be build both. I cant say for sure in what ratios or in what rhyme or reason yet though.

Anyone else's experimentation would be great for comparing notes.

Talenn

Tampa_Gamer · #6 December 16th, 2000, 02:38 AM

OK. I experimented with both units and ships Last night. In each case I developed a new design in the "AI_DesignCreation" file and then made a call to it in the "AI_Construction_Vehicles" file. In both cases I would generate the same error that you mentioned upon loading the game. I even tried setting up a new type in the data file "DefaultDesignType" in case this was tripping it up. No luck. I hope the default design names were not hard-coded into the game. While this would still allow tweaking the basic designs, it would severely limit the potential mods I think we had in mind.

That is strange that the AI would build outside of its queu. . .and also does not look good for "tight" AI mods. Did you make a specific "AI_Construction_Vehicles" for the "Races\AmonKrie" folder or did you let it use the default?

[This message has been edited by Tampa_Gamer (edited 15 December 2000).]