Bugs in Gold v1.78?

[Hotfoot]

Okay, setting it up so that it only takes one more click to show the problem is rather impossible, but I did set it up so that it only takes one use of the "Launch Units" function to show the bug. After some further testing, it does seem to have limits, and not be infinite as I previously had thought.

For those who wish to try and recreate the bug, here are the steps I took to replicate it:

Build a drone carrier that can carry more drones than it should be able to launch in a combat turn (use small drones, for the sake of simplicity). I used a 16,900 kt baseship with 5 drone launchers (that's 169 small drones, 5 per combat turn, 20 per game turn). Then I mass-produced drones until it was full up.

After that, go to launch units. Select the "All" option, and launch the drones. On the first click, 20 drones are launched. However, the counter goes to 19/20 instead of 0/20 as it should. You can launch another 380 drones (if you have the space and they are all of the same type, of course).

In combat (you can use the simulator for this directly after you have made the designs), it will launch 25 drones per combat turn. Again, using the "launch all" feature launches 5 drones per launch, and you get 5 launches per turn.

End result: Drone Launchers drop (n*4)^2 drones per game turn, and n^2 drones per combat turn, where n is the number of drone launchers you have fitted on your ship. Thus, to help make checking numbers easier:

code:

---

Number of Drone Launchers : Launches Per Game Turn: Launches Per Combat Turn



1:16:1

2:64:4

3:144:9

4:256:16

5:400:25

6:576:36

7:784:49

8:1024:64

9:1296:81

10:1600:100



And for planets...



1000:16,000,000:1,000,000

---

If you get anything like these numbers when launching drones, please let me know. I have tried this in modded games and in a fresh install/update to 1.78 patch games, and gotten the same results repeatedly.

Oh, and if someone feels bored enough, how about making a test to try out the maximum planetary drone launch in the game and combat turns. I'm thinking a Sphere World + Advanced Storage Techniques + Highest Level Cargo Facilities for the entire planet might do the trick.

+++Edit+++
For those who want to see what I see, here is a link to a zipped savegame file which can be easily tested for the said problems using the above method. It is a fresh install of SEIV Gold, v 1.78, no mods whatsoever.

Here is the file
+++End Edit+++

+++slightly off end bit+++
Additionally, Drones can't fleet, which I find to be quite annoying myself, but I can't really say that's a bug, really. It can be modified without a hardcode change, correct?

[ November 07, 2002, 20:45: Message edited by: Hotfoot ]

[geoschmo]

You actually don't have to go through all this. You can duplicate the problem in the simulator, so all you have to do is start a game on high tech and make a couple designs.

I haven't tested it yet on the latest beta patch, but I shuld be able to tonight. Since I have replicated it in the sim on 1.78, I will just do the same thing with 1.82 and see if it's still happening.

Geoschmo

[Hotfoot]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
You actually don't have to go through all this. You can duplicate the problem in the simulator, so all you have to do is start a game on high tech and make a couple designs.

Well, you do if you want to test how many it launches per game turn, as simulator is combat turn only. I did want to be absolutely certain, after all.

In any event, with that saved game file, all of the work's been done already, so it's a moot point.

I haven't tested it yet on the latest beta patch, but I shuld be able to tonight. Since I have replicated it in the sim on 1.78, I will just do the same thing with 1.82 and see if it's still happening.

Excellent. I sent an email to Aaron as well, so hopefully this will all be resolved soon.

Still, it would be kind of cool to launch 16 million drones from a sphereworld.

[capnq]

Additionally, Drones can't fleet, which I find to be quite annoying myself, but I can't really say that's a bug, really. It can be modified without a hardcode change, correct?

No. There's only a setting for whether bases can join fleets.

If you need to give a group of drones orders, you just shift-click them.

[Hotfoot]

Originally posted by capnq:
No. There's only a setting for whether bases can join fleets.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but at one point couldn't satellites and fighters join fleets, or am I just totally out of it?

If you need to give a group of drones orders, you just shift-click them.

Well, my idea was to use drones as flying fuel tanks, actually. But since we're on the subject, wouldn't that have the same problem as ships using shift-select as far as combat goes, meaning that they'll all arrive one right after the other, rather than as one group?

[ November 08, 2002, 00:19: Message edited by: Hotfoot ]

[Baron Grazic]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but at one point couldn't satellites and fighters join fleets, or am I just totally out of it? [Confused]

You are correct, In non-Gold (SE IV 1.49) Sats & Fighters can join a fleet.

Read the Topic: POLL->things we'd really like in Next Patch (Platinum II) - In Geo's testing, it looks like they do fight together.

[Hotfoot]

Originally posted by Baron Grazic:
You are correct, In non-Gold (SE IV 1.49) Sats & Fighters can join a fleet.

Hmm...so then it's been a hard code change since then?

Read the Topic: POLL->things we'd really like in Next Patch (Platinum II) - In Geo's testing, it looks like they do fight together.

Ah, very well. Still, it is rather annoying not being able to fleet them, and not having their design names displayed in the game map.

[geoschmo]

Hotfoot, in the latest beta patch the drone launching bug is fixed. The ships are limited by strategy to launching a maximum of 20 drones per enemy ship, however with a ship with less than 20 drone launchers I get one launched per launcher per combat turn until the 20 are launched and then no more. This is how it is designed and it is working correctly.

I noticed something else kind of interesting. It might explain why this bug wasn't noticed earlier. In 1.78 it doesn't really launch all the drones in cargo, but it is launching more than it should. The rate doesn't seem to be linear. With one launcher I get one drone per combat turn, which is correct. With 5 launchers I get 15 per turn, which is 3 per turn per launcher. With 25 it's launching all the drones in cargo, but I think that with 25 launchers it's just that the launchers can launch more than the ship can hold.

Of course none of that will matter when the next patch goes public cause it will be working correctly then.

Geoschmo

[Unknown_Enemy]

Good enought,
but when does the path goes public ?
I would prefer start my PBW game whis this patch on, mostly for the TimeBurst bug.

[Hotfoot]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
Hotfoot, in the latest beta patch the drone launching bug is fixed. The ships are limited by strategy to launching a maximum of 20 drones per enemy ship, however with a ship with less than 20 drone launchers I get one launched per launcher per combat turn until the 20 are launched and then no more. This is how it is designed and it is working correctly.

Okay, so it doesn't launch an obscene number right off the bat, but rather launches the proper number? Does it behave as it should outside of combat as well? (so we don't have the 16 million drone planets)

I noticed something else kind of interesting. It might explain why this bug wasn't noticed earlier. In 1.78 it doesn't really launch all the drones in cargo, but it is launching more than it should. The rate doesn't seem to be linear. With one launcher I get one drone per combat turn, which is correct. With 5 launchers I get 15 per turn, which is 3 per turn per launcher. With 25 it's launching all the drones in cargo, but I think that with 25 launchers it's just that the launchers can launch more than the ship can hold.

Actually, with 5 launchers, it seemed to be launching 25, so long as they were all of the same drone type. I made a small correction in a previous post. Note the progression is exponential.

With 25 launchers, you can launch 625 drones per combat turn, and 10,000 per game turn in Version 1.78.

+++Edit+++
Ah-ha! Wait, I got it now. I was losing track of the numbers past the first launch because of the way it showed it to me. It's actually n+(n-1), where n is the number of launchers on board. That's where the number was being decrimented. So at first, it's 5 drones, then 4 more, then 3 more, then 2 more, then 1 more, then 0 more until the next turn.

5+4+3+2+1=16

For some reason, I was thinking that 5 out the first time translated into 5 out every time. Okay, problem solved.
+++End Edit+++

Of course none of that will matter when the next patch goes public cause it will be working correctly then.

Good, glad to hear it.

[ November 08, 2002, 01:32: Message edited by: Hotfoot ]