Modding Questions (especially need help for AI)

[Rollo]

ah, I see now. my suspicions were confirmed .

these lines causes the design minister to makes illegal designs:

Misc Ability 12 Name := Standard Ship Movement
Misc Ability 12 Spaces Per One := 45

That will cause to 'fill' the design with engines. I assume you got that from a mod with quasi-newtonian-propulsion (QNP) like Proportions or P&N Mod.

I suggest deleting these lines from all designs. Does your mod have QNP also? In that case I would raise the 'Desired speed' to 255. If I recall correctly that will make the designs as fast as possible without making them illegal or causing errors.

Hope that helps,
Rollo

PS: a sidenote... IIRC, 'Minimum Speed' is better understood as 'Minimum number of engines' that are placed in a design. whereas 'Desired Speed' takes into account the standard movement points of the engines used. In the unmodded files all engines provide one standard movement, so speed and number of engines are the same. In some mods engines produce more movement points. For example, desired speed of 40 might give you 8 engines with 5 standard movement.

Hope all is clear now... if not, ask again

[LostCommander]

Ah HA! Much better! Thanks Rollo. Yes I think I probably did get that one from P&N mod.

[LostCommander]

Also, does anyone know under which circumstances the .emp files need to be remade? Settings change, racial trait change, and data file change...?

Also Also, why do the component family numbers matter (other than for upgrades and component specific mounts)? What is the effect of multiple components with the same family number and roman numeral? What determines where in the component selection screen (when making new designs) a component is placed? If components are moved around in the .txt file, will that affect the AI's ability to utilize them?

[edit: + second paragraph of questions]

[ December 30, 2002, 20:02: Message edited by: LostCommander ]

[Captain Kwok]

Empire files generally need to be remade after changing racialtraits.txt, cultures.txt, or settings.txt if you've changed the thresholds for different attributes.

[LostCommander]

Captain Kwok, thanks for .emp file note! This modding stuff is quite complicated, but lots of fun!

[Fyron]

Originally posted by LostCommander:
BTW to anyone, can combat to-hit / to-be-hit modifiers be set to more than 99% / less than -99%?

All modifiers are added up, and the number can be more than 99 or less than -99. The 99 to hit chance is applied after all non-Talisman modifiers are added. You can easily have 140 or more bonus to hit. Talismans make it 100% to hit after all modifiers.

[capnq]

Not sure about your questions about family numbers, but

What determines where in the component selection screen (when making new designs) a component is placed? If components are moved around in the .txt file, will that affect the AI's ability to utilize them?

Components appear on the design screen in the order they're listed in Components.txt . I don't think moving different families around has any effect, but the order of components within the same family may effect which one the AI thinks is the "best" available component.

[ December 30, 2002, 22:14: Message edited by: capnq ]