Highliner Mod - 1.04b - PBW Observations & Patch

[General Woundwort]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
Allegience Subverters will work on units if you change the targeting type to be able to target units.

Already did that.

Not all planets and asteroids have things of value to mine.

Granting that, I still found that mining even the richest asteroid fields with a remote-miner equipped Freighter was not worth the effort. Besides, I like the idea of cheap exploitation of resources.

How exactly did you go about this? You can launch everything in cargo at once from a planet, so you can easily get 1000 fighter/drone stacks.

Isn't that what the "Combat Fighter Group Amount" lines in the Settings and Strageiges files does?

Yes, but ISTR some issues with cloaking units, though I do not recall the specifics. Maybe. Yes.

We finds out, yes we does, my preciousssss...

Units can not participate in any boarding activities, period. Only ships and bases can do so.

Well, I'm going to put in a really big post in the SEV request forum after this is done, I can tell you...

[Phoenix-D]

Units can cloak. The problem, as of the Last time I tested it, is they STAY cloaked, and won't uncloak.

[General Woundwort]

Weeeellll, shoot! Just going over the thread from front to back , here's everything that won't work in units...

Colony Components - This is a pain, but an increase in the components' size requirements and staying with Highliners fits in the Mod's general theme anyways, so no big deal.

Cargo - A major pain. No troop transport Riders, no Mine/Satellite/etc Layers, etc.; but given the logical [program-code wise] problems of a unit 'in cargo' carrying cargo, understandable.

Boarding Party Component - This sucks big time. And given the consistent idea of Boarding Pods in SciFi - the ones in B5 come to mind immediately - almost inconceivable. This goes to the SEV Request thread at once.

Well, as a great Air Force pilot has said, we haven't come this far to just drop this thing in the drink! So, the (albeit imperfect) interim solution I have in mind is this - a "workhorse" Highliner that has the docking bay requirement dropped to 25%. It will only come in the smallest size (1000ktons) and be intended for the sorts of things I wanted specialized Riders to do, but am barred from doing so by the program code.

So drop the percentages for the data files back a few points while I rework these latest glitches, and keep your fingers crossed...

EDIT - and now Phoenix comes with the bad news that cloaking is buggy too.
Well, in that case, I may just totally drop that tech line and simply beef up the ECM/ECCM limb of the tech tree.

[ June 14, 2003, 02:21: Message edited by: General Woundwort ]

[General Woundwort]

(climbs back out of the datafile salt mines, wipes brow)

OK, here's how it stands.

Cargo, cloak, boarding parties, and colony tech have been ruled "right out" for units. So, here is what I have my Riders ("fighters") able to carry at this moment...

- Scanner Jammer (in armor)
- Medical Bays
- Mine Sweepers
- Remote Miners
- Armor, Shields, & Weapons of all sorts not Banned above
- ECM
- ECCM
- Ship Control
- Life Support
- Crew Quarters

The Last batch of changes, plus the results of some research I did in other threads re: AI design, has put me back a bit in my status report...

CURRENT STATUS

Data files - 99% completed (pending proofread)

AI/race files - 0% (basically starting from scratch)

Image files - 100% (This at least seems foolproof )

Mod Readme - updated on a few points, most importantly with an acknowledgement of the aid and advice given on this thread.

(wipes hands, trudges back into the saltmines)

EDIT - link to old Version of Mod Readme removed, go upthread for latest Version

[ June 21, 2003, 02:55: Message edited by: General Woundwort ]

[General Woundwort]

The AI changes are coming along faster than anticipated, but there's still a ways to go...

CURRENT STATUS

Data files - 99% completed (pending proofread)

AI/race files - 15% (default AI in work - then conVersion of all 20 races )

Image files - 100%

EDIT - Also, this marks my official promotion as Sergeant. I actually passed it this morning, but I still had to sew my third stripe on.

[ June 15, 2003, 21:45: Message edited by: General Woundwort ]

[Fyron]

Isn't that what the "Combat Fighter Group Amount" lines in the Settings and Strageiges files does?

No. That has to do with how many get launched in a group in combat, not with how many can be in a stack. Also, it gets overridden by the strategy that ships are using, so it is a useless feature (except maybe for planets, but I think there are settings in the AI files so that AIs do not use the line from Settings.txt either...).

- Scanner Jammer (in armor)

Scanner Jammers only work outside of combat, and I don't think you can even click on an individual enemy fighter on the strategic map when they are in a group.

- Auxiliary Control

Units do not take damage to components, it is all dead or all alive. So, things like Aux Control are meaningless. They can not lose their "bridge" unless the fighter is destroyed.

[ June 15, 2003, 23:27: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[General Woundwort]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
["Combat Fighter Group Amount"] has to do with how many get launched in a group in combat, not with how many can be in a stack. Also, it gets overridden by the strategy that ships are using, so it is a useless feature (except maybe for planets, but I think there are settings in the AI files so that AIs do not use the line from Settings.txt either...).

Well, combat is gonna be interesting then...

Scanner Jammers only work outside of combat, and I don't think you can even click on an individual enemy fighter on the strategic map when they are in a group.

Auxiliary Control -Units do not take damage to components, it is all dead or all alive. So, things like Aux Control are meaningless. They can not lose their "bridge" unless the fighter is destroyed.

More minor points, but it will allow me to trim some stuff from the Components file.

Thanks for the input. I know I'm plowing ground that has been plowed before, and I appreciate the insights from the more experienced.