Minefield Limit Loophole - Page 2

Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz · #11 May 30th, 2001, 09:05 PM

quote:
Originally posted by zenbudo:
In a related question, how many thousands of units/ships do y'all set before it actually -slows down- your computer/turn processing?

I haven't got that far with 1.35 yet but during my Last game with the previous patch (255 systems, 20 races, 2000 units in space limit) turns took forever and combat was painfully slow. I was running on a P3 750 and strategic combats involving large fleets with carriers would take 30 mins to resolve. Shortly after this I abandoned the game due to a "fatal exception" error.

My race had already hit the 2000 units in space limit some time before this. I suspect there is/was a bug whereby the game would check the number of units in space before launching/moving each fighter in combat.

Another possibilty is that because I tend to use stacks of special purpose fleets, the game was having trouble reconciling the formation requirements of the fleets with those of fighter units?

The AIs' turns took a very long time too - implying that the problem was more to do with the first possibility than the second.

I've left the units in space limit at the default for my current game and am avoiding carriers.

[This message has been edited by Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz (edited 30 May 2001).]

geoschmo · #12 May 30th, 2001, 10:03 PM

quote:
I suspect there is/was a bug whereby the game would check the number of units in space before launching/moving each fighter in combat.

It's not supposed to do this. My understanding is that the unit in space limit does not apply to units launched and recovered during combat.

But that's the thing about bugs. You never know.

Geo

dogscoff · #13 May 31st, 2001, 01:06 AM

Ditto. I vote we chalk this up as a "feature" rather than a bug.

------------------
"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"Uh, I think so, Brain, but balancing a family and a career ... oooh, it's all too much for me. "

Baron Munchausen · #14 May 31st, 2001, 01:27 AM

This "variation" on the mines per sector limit may add a little uncertainty to the game, but it's a poor substitute for uncertainty of how many mines will actually HIT. Until mines are given a real chance to hit or miss I will just play without them.

Beck · #15 May 31st, 2001, 02:19 AM

rdouglas: The 32 mine limit was the ship's design as it had 16 minelayer III's which can launch two a turn. I don't know how far over the limit one could get it. The baseship someone mentioned could quite possibly get it quite far over, but not unreasonably so. BTW, I too, look at this as a feature more than a bug. Once you set the minefield at whatever number over 100 it is, it is set til such time as it drops under 100.

jimbob55 · #16 May 31st, 2001, 02:39 AM

A baseship dedicating 1300Kt to mine layers could launch 86 mines in one strat turn.
This means that with careful management, you could pump a minefiled up to 185 mines per sector.

Has anyone tested to see if a fleet of minelayers can lay more?

newbie33 · #17 May 31st, 2001, 02:46 AM

I can assure everyone that a large group of fighters will die quickly when opposed by a fleet equipped with the religious talisman. Damage streams onto every fighter in the group.
I am currently in a PBEM game using v 1.35, and my opponent is so equipped. I have sent more than 1500 fighters into battle, and lost half. So even with the stacking bug, there is a counter.

Aristoi · #18 May 31st, 2001, 08:02 AM

I've found that fighters are very powerful vs the un-modded computer AI. In one instant, I played until I became the MegaEvil Empire and everyone delcared war on me. I then switched to the Last place AI player (who had about 1/8 of my old empire's score).

I was so far behind in tech that I had LCs when I was seeing DNs coming at me. Despire the huge tech difference, when I build a fleet of carriers (7 light carriers with 60 small fighers each) there was nothing that could stop me. I'd blow through stacks of 10-15 DNs. The loss of fighters were never so prohibitive. I might lose 1/3 in a huge battle, but even that was rare.

As a note, I don't like limits on minefield size, makes them too useless in the later games.

Beck · #19 June 1st, 2001, 01:18 AM

Jimbo55: I ran a test using a fleet of 10 baseships each with the ability to launch 80 mines a turn. The game processes fleet orders like this one ship at a time even though given as a fleet order and not individually, so the first ship was able to add his 80 mines to the 99 sized minefield in place to boost it to 179, but the second and all ships after received the error message about the 100 mine limit. Thus the minefield limit would appear to be 99 + (maximum launch capability of a single ship). In numbers this means the largest field which could be encountered (without modded ship sizes) is 265 (the original minefield of 99 + 166 mines launched from 83 minelayers, the max that can fit on a battlestation). Planets though create a different situation altogether. Planets can basically create minefields of big enough to bump against the game's unit in space limit. A Huge world with 16K in cargo completely full of mines could launch 5000 mines (the max unit limit in space)if done all at one time. Better bring ALOT of minesweepers against a minefield anywhere near that size.

geoschmo · #20 June 1st, 2001, 01:48 AM

quote:
A Huge world with 16K in cargo completely full of mines could launch 5000 mines (the max unit limit in space)if done all at one time.

Actually, it's bad, but not that bad. A planet has a limit of 1000 units launched per turn. So your limit there would be 1099 in a planetary minefield.

Geo