Firing order - which empire goes first?

[dogscoff]

why does the Xiati shipset always win?

Because that's Askan Nightbringer's preferred shipset.

[Ed Kolis]

Askan Nightbringer? Never heard of him

Oh, and is it the case that whichever side goes first, all their ships get to shoot before the other side even gets one shot off? That's the way it seems, since all the battles in DimensionX 2 are rather lopsided! I guess so, since that's the way it is in tactical combat what a ripoff

[Cirvol]

ya, this is really bullsh*t imho...

for simul games, it really should be fastest speed ships first, IN ORDER, regardless of which side they are on...

that really is the only 'fair' way

and with wp's and bases going before anything, since they are stationary and meant to be defensive... IE to reflect better / bigger ground based sensors, computers and all that jazz

anyone have any idea of how hard it would be get truly mixed ship combat in simul games?

using ship speed as the only factor in initiative?

[Cirvol]

actually i'm gonna bump this cuz its the single biggest issue with large fleet engagements and balance

as it stands now... people with the xiati shipset (maybe cuz its reverse order alphabetical?, no idea really) or people who are 'lucky' go first

having your WHOLE fleet go first is a HUGE unbalancing problem... (it wouldn't be if you forced fleets to start on opposite sides of the combat arena, but they OFTEN start together and close)

which means that first shot wins, even if you have better ships, and better shields and better guns... which of course is BS

who can we ask about making initiative solely based on ship speed? do any se4 programmer read these threads?

[Ragnarok]

"do any se4 programmer read these threads?"

As far as I know there is only One programmer for SE4. Aaron himself. I could be mistaken but I'm pretty sure he is the only one.

I don't know how often he checks the forums; probably not very much though. As he is busy with patchs and his new project that is in the Alpha stages currently, he has been working on.

As I said I could be mistaken. If one of the Beta testers or someone else who knows for sure could say that'd help out alot.

[tbontob]

Hmmmmm

I would think that Aaron will at some point "fix" the unbalanced battle of one side being able to have all its ships fire before the other.
If and when Aaron does "fix" the movement/firing order of individual ships, the following factors could be taken into consideration:

1) The designated defender.
2) The Speed of the ship
3) The Experience of the ship.

They could be weighted equally in determining the movement/order or taken in order to break a deadlock between ships.

[Cirvol]

good idea tbon

[capnq]

Askan Nightbringer? Never heard of him

Ultimate winner of the first SE IV "Survivor" tournament on Play-by-Web.

I can't recall the Last time I saw him post here.

[Fyron]

The firing in combat will not be changed in se4. It is way too late for that to happen. Maybe for se5 though.

[dogscoff]

people with the xiati shipset (maybe cuz its reverse order alphabetical?, no idea really)
or people who are 'lucky' go first

Uhhh... no. Firing order is determined by who attacked who (ie who was in the sector already and who moved into it.)

The trouble with your suggestion of determining fire order based on ships speed is that in many, or even most confrontations, the two sides will all have ships of the same speed.

Finally, Aaron's latest project is reportedly some kind of advanced space combat engine, which may well make it into SE5. Hopefully that will solve all your problems.