Moral issue on "Missle Dance"

[DirectorTsaarx]

Gen. Hawkwing:

Check the thread titled "AI late game Ship Designing problems (turns 100+)" for more insight on the dreadnoughts with Ion Engine III's...

[General Hawkwing]

DirectorTsaarx:
I realize why they have the design, my point is that they should not have it. Ship construction should not be level 7 while propulsion is level 3. No human player would be that unbalanced in research (at least I hope not) .

[This message has been edited by General Hawkwing (edited 12 January 2001).]

[Nyx]

Talenn, It's a great name for it. The first time I saw it used I knew right away what it was a reference to even though there was no definition in the thread, just an off-hand comment.

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Compete in the Space Empires IV World Championship at www.twingalaxies.com.

[Sinapus]

quote:

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Originally posted by Nyx:
Talenn, It's a great name for it. The first time I saw it used I knew right away what it was a reference to even though there was no definition in the thread, just an off-hand comment.

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Ah, I tend to think more along the lines of "Macross Missile Massacre" which refers to an anime series called Macross which featured huge swarms of missile bLasting the crud out of targets.

Either that or something like what appears in some David Weber novels.

Hm... THAT's what we need. Towed missile pods and dreadnoughts equipped with cargo bays to rapidly deploy and launch them.



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--
"What do -you- want?" "I'd like to live -just- long enough
to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a
pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors
come with too high a price. I would look up into your lifeless
eyes and wave like this..." *waggle* "...can you and your
associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?"

[DirectorTsaarx]

General Hawkwing: My understanding of the thread I mentioned is that the design flaw has NOTHING to do with the research priorities; it has to do with a BUG in how the AI decides which engine is "better"; it looks at the "Roman Numeral" field, not the tech level. Therefore, the AI thinks that the Ion Engine III is "better" than the Contra-terrene Engine I and II; and just as good as the Contra-terrene Engine III, so doesn't bother redesigning for that level either. In other words, researching engine levels does NOT trigger a redesign. So the AI could have level 7 in engines and still use the wimpy little Ion Engine III.

There's also a rumor that this same bug is preventing the appropriate use of quantum reactors...

[Jubala]

Even with increase in speed of missiles I think they are too slow. As stated earlier in this thread a sternchase with missiles just isn't worth it since the missiles will never reach their targets. I think missiles should be way faster then they are, like maybe twice as fast. Try and outrun that!

[Barnacle Bill]

Until a patch fixes this bug concerning the engines, it could be corrected via a mod. Basically, the only difference in I, II & III levels of a given engine is how much they cost. So, remove all the current engine components in favor of a new series just called "Engine", with level 1 providing no bonus points and each level II+ providing one more bonus movement point than the previous. Multiply the research cost of each level of Propulsion by 3, and eliminate the unused levels at the top. The AI should then handle increases in propulsion technology correctly, and it should work pretty close to the same as now for human players.

[Jubala]

Bill, there's an even easier way to fix it. For some reason the AI looks at the Roman Numeral value, not tech level so no engines look better to it than Ion Engine III. So just give all other engines Roman Numeral IV and up and the AI will use them correctly. Or so I've been told.