Making Carriers and Fighters more usefull.

[Aiken]

Yef said:
Last weeek I put in the build file to "build at least 100", but I don't know yet if it's working. The other entries says "Build per planet", I think, but I don't know how that works exactly (20 means 2 per planet?)
Help here please.

If AI has 10 planets under control and Planet Per Item := 50 used in construction file then it will build 2 ship/unit. With 20 planets it will build 4 ship/unit. In short: ships_to_build = total_planets/(PPI/10).

Imo, Planet Per Item entry is not very comfortable for mass unit construction, because even with 100 planets and PPI := 1 AI can build 1000 units max, which is quite small amount for such a developed empire. Gradually increasing amounts in Must Have At Least entries is better for this purpose.

[Patroklos]

I am not really sure what you guys are talking about, I find fighters to be an unbalancing element in the game. Even in the latter stages they can more than deal with conventional vessels. The problem is you have to micromanage your economy to build, transport, and load fighters to your carriers as they are destroyed. Most players just don't excersise the control to keep it rolling.

Conventional ships are build and forget.

[Fyron]

Add 4 PDC cannons to each larger warship. Fighters fall in droves...

[Patroklos]

Which of course the AI does almost universally, and I can still own them everytime. Sure I lose alot of fighters, but they don't take up maintenence, so there is really no upper limit to me swarming any size fleet.

And that isn't to say conventional warships are worthless, and I use them in conjuction. However, I can always win with fighters.

But you have to be willing to manage the constuction queues of a hundred planets, manage a transport fleet to get them to the battle fleet, and keep that system safe. I am anal enough to do so, most aren't.

[Fyron]

I could beat the stock AIs with DUCs and Destroyers... the AI is not all that great. Try human opponents. http://www.pbw.cc

[Patroklos]

Now that is something that I definetly don't have the patience for...

The bane of all such games is the time MP consumes.

[Atrocities]

What we are trying to do is get the mod to focus more on the use of fighters and carriers than on bigger badder ships.

We have removed the PDC from use with ships, replaced it with anti - fighter missiles. (if they work), and given the PDC to the fighters. (If that will work).

CNC wanted to keep the mod basic, no major design changes that would require extensive modding of the AI. I agree, why whip a dead horse. I am sure as time goes on and the mod becomes more of reality than it currently is, QNP and other concepts will be adopted. But with QNP and seperation of engine abilities comes the daunting task of AI editing and modding. And I really don't have to mention how much of a PITA this is.

Right now we have a basic mod working. Its playable and not that much differant from stock say for some new racial triats and technologies.

Cloaking technology is now a racial trait as is gravitational technology.

I wish CNC would not have posted here about the carrier fighter issue until we had more time to work on the ideas. But what is done is done. Now we have to sift through the Posts for things that we can use.

I do ask myself this daily, why bother? I mean anything we do now is kinda pointless given the fact that in a very short time the focus will change toward SEV.

[Fyron]

Patroklos said:
Now that is something that I definetly don't have the patience for...

The bane of all such games is the time MP consumes.

With most games you just play one turn a day, or every other day. It does not take much time at all...

[Grandpa Kim]

Imperator Fyron said:
Add 4 PDC cannons to each larger warship. Fighters fall in droves...

Patroclus was much to gentlemanly. I say "Balls!"

It's all a matter of how you use them and how many.

[Fyron]

Grandpa Kim said:
It's all a matter of how you use them and how many.

Of course. The point was that they are not the most powerful thing in the game...