Compiled Questions/Bug List/Wish List

[Emperor Zodd]

Tampa_Gamer,your list is excellent!
If you are not a beta tester you should be!

[Tampa_Gamer]

quote:

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Originally posted by HreDaak:
[b] [quote]


AI seems to call ship designing subroutine as soon as it researches a new component that has a higher roman numeral than any of the previous components in it's family. It redesigns all the designs that have this 'new' component. When deciding what components to include in its designs it compares their tech levels. Higher tech level seems to indicate a better component (within family). Also if there are 2 or more AI players using same design name file they share this file. There cant be ships using same design names even if these ships are possessed by two different AI/players.

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I agree, thats how it is supposed to work. But I tested this theory in tech level 3 start (no research) and they were still re-designing their ships in no particular organized manner!!?

[Daynarr]

The AI should check if the new design is the same as the previous one. It already has that 'check the same design' routine in the game for retrofitting ships. It should be EASY to implement that change and it would solve (or reduce) 2 problems:

1) Great amount of designs made by AI that are useless and take memory.

2) It would solve the problem of AI using up all the names for its designs that make AI stop designing ships. (Noticed by Mephisto)

[This message has been edited by Daynarr (edited 24 January 2001).]

[Tampa_Gamer]

Daynarr - good point. Did you forward that suggestion to Aaron? If not, please do.

[HreDaak]

Huh.. that sure is strange .

Are you sure they were not just designing completely new hull types?. In the Settings.txt file each race has limits on what kind of hull types it can use untill certain amount of turns has passed. If i recall correctly these limits were max 510kt before turn 20 and max 610kt before turn 40. Could this be the reason?

[Tampa_Gamer]

Could be for the other races, but I took out the limits for the Darlok. The game was still re-designing certain designs every turn even though they were based on the "Base Ship" hull. Maybe it is somehow looking at the race preceeding a particular race's turn? I don't know. . .

[Mithra]

Something I noticed (maybe it is old news) is that when I retrofit a ship to eg. a new engine type and in the same turn retrofit it again eg. a cargocontainer, all changes from the first retrofit are automaticaly repaired. (in this case all enginechanges).

[HreDaak]

quote:

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(3) [AI Construction Queues] Even if the AI has ample resources available, it does not fill up its construction queues for either planet facilities or vehicle construction - this results in considerable inefficiency. I often use the "Players" options to verify my modified AI files are functioning and for all empires this is true - most of the time they are completely empty. Perhaps when the AI construct files, it only executes a set number of entries at a time for its empire?

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I have seen this too happen in my games. This does not concern all the AI players at the same time but from time to time some of them tend to go into this 'hibernation mode'. They seem to recover from it as soon as some other AI/player starts to destroy their remaining ships/planets. They do research and intelligence projects normally. Maybe this has something to do with different AI states, maybe some of them are not working correctly or something... dunno.
I had this game where Xi'Chung was not doing anything for about 30-40 game turns. It was not building anything (all of its planets were full of buildings).
It had about 30 planets and 5 ships!?!. I checked and rechecked all the text files that should have effect on the Xi'Chung AI but found no errors there. I also checked that it had more than enough resources to build ships/facilities. Upkeep was someting like 5k/1k/1k and it was producing 50k/10k/20k. All the resource storages were also full 170k/90k/90k. Then suddenly when the Sergetti had wiped out couple of its colonies the Xi'Chung AI seemed to recover mysteriously (maybe it's AI state was changed?). It started to crank out ships and has been operating normally after this.

[quote]

(14) [AI Design] The AI appears to make a new design for Attack Ships, Satellites, Defense Ships and Weapon Platforms just about every turn (for some races - I have not isolated why yet). [quote]

AI seems to call ship designing subroutine as soon as it researches a new component that has a higher roman numeral than any of the previous components in it's family. It redesigns all the designs that have this 'new' component. When deciding what components to include in its designs it compares their tech levels. Higher tech level seems to indicate a better component (within family). Also if there are 2 or more AI players using same design name file they share this file. There cant be ships using same design names even if these ships are possessed by two different AI/players.

[Tampa_Gamer]

As always, here is my latest compilation as sent to MM. While part III (wishlist) is generally the same, I have revamped part I (bugs) and part II (AI-related problems).

SE4 VERSION 1.27b
LIST UPDATED 03/02/01

BUGS (NON-AI RELATED)

(1) [Tactical] Upon launch of seeker, no corresponding sounds is playing (capital ship missile, seeking parasite, etc.)

(2) [Game Setup] If a change my mind about the victory condition and choose another one, the old victory condition is not "greyed-out"

(3) [Game] When a ship is auto-laying mines on the left side of your screen and runs out of mines, the graphics in the upper left portion of the screen are corrupted and will not refresh until you minimize/maximize again (I have a 19inch monitor with resolution at 1078).

(4) [Game] When a ship is auto-laying mines and the unit max per sector is reached, the game requires between 8-10 clicks on the message before then warning message disappears.

(5) [Game] Had a game where minelayers destroyed by blackhole were still counted as active units in the design statistics screen.

(6) [Game] The game is not tracking "tonnage destroyed" statistics when a Seeker weapon is used for the "kill" by a unit (WP or Sat).

(7) [Game Setup] Possible bug where first folder in "Races" directory never added (I have never seen the Abbidon (the first folder) selected as a random race.

(8) [Game] When playing long games in one sitting (i.e. without restarting the game) I get "out of memory" errors after 300-400 consecutive turns.


AI RELATED PROBLEMS WITH SOME SUGGESTED FIXES

(1) [AI Construction Queues] When the unit limit is reached, the AI effectively freezes until the production can be filled (i.e. units are destroyed) even if the AI has other projects in the second and third slots which can be worked on.

(2) [AI Intel Projects] The AI is not optimizing its intel. While eventually a file similar to research file would nice to dictate what types of intel projects the race will conduct depending on AI state, for now here are two quick fixes: (A) limit the AI to 6 active projects. This should be enough to have some counter-intel, but also prevent the current problem of the AI having too many projects with 100+ years to complete; and (B) delete the following intel projects (for the AI) that it will never use even if successful (i.e. steal designs, pop. centers, ship construction and fleet location, etc.).

(3) [AI Design] The AI appears to make a new design for Attack Ships, Satellites, Defense Ships and Weapon Platforms just about every turn (for some races - I have not isolated why yet). This in turn leads them to run out of design names very quickly (as well as taking up processing time). Also, the AI needs to loop the design files more than 5-6 times because when design names run out, they stop making designs (perhaps change to Mk xx system then you could loop it up to 99 times).

(4) [AI Game] The AI does not know to "uncloak" its ships with unit launching ability and thus generates errors and effectively freezes when trying to do so.

(4.5) [AI Strategies] This file still does not appear to be used when placed in a race's subfolder.

(5) [AI Game] Tech Lv 3 starts for all the AI pose the following problems: (i) there is no limit to the amount spent on upgrading facilities, thus most AI players spend their first 50 turns upgrading facilities and quickly run out of resources leaving them very vulnerable (suggest putting a cap on % resources spent per turn on facilities), (ii) regardless of what there individual research file says, this type of start gives them all techs even when there designs don't call for them - this throws off the design files b/c they don't think that race is going to get any weapons other than those they research (suggest letting tech 3 start all the way through a particular race's file to establish what techs they start with).

(6) [AI Pathfinding] When the AI encounters a blacked path (e.g. non-combat ship entering warp pint with enemy sats) it will use all remaining points going back-and-forth between two points next to it.

(7) [AI Retrofit] If designs are the same and the "Retrofit Minister" is ordered to upgrade, the ship is caught in a loop until there actually is a "real" design change. I do not think the AI is using this ship while it is under the control of the "Retrofit Minister"

(8) [AI Planet Types] The current file appears to only allow resource values in excess of 101. Is it possible to allow values of less than 101 (say 75)?

(9) [AI Design Files] Bug when using the "Standard Movement" ability where the AI will design a ship with more than max number of engines.

(10) [AI Diplomacy] Add a short distinct .wav file that plays when the button is pressed on the log file for a message from a particular race. I think this would be fairly easy to implement, but will go a long way to developing distinct personalities among races. You can put a placebo empty .wav file there for now until you have time to expand the music (the modders will fill in the music in no time for you!).

(11) [AI Diplomacy] Should be a penalty for asking for a treaty every turn. I know the xenophobic races have this built in, but even the Eee should be pissed-off if you ask for a treaty every turn for 20 turns!

(12) [AI Diplomacy] Players should be penalized for ignoring any message (even if it is a general message, players should have to send a general message back). This would make diplomacy better.

(13) [AI Diplomacy] If I accept to break a treaty or declare war, have it automatically happen.

(14) [AI Diplomacy] If I promise to support in war, the AI should at least take a look and see if I have had a battle with the target race in xx # turns.

(15) [AI Fleets] Non-direct combatant mine-sweepers, transports, colonizers, boarding ships, troop transports, etc. do not appear to be joining fleets for protection. Could there be a toggle or flag field in the design file to indicate whether a design type should seek a fleet?

(16) [AI Fleets/Design] Since the design types for the AI are rather strict, we need one additional - call it "Support Ship" this class would always be assigned to a fleet (perhaps limit # in the fleet) and would contain supplies, solar collectors, repair facilities, quantum reactor, etc. - More in line with what human players do or even better - allow calls in the Construct_Vehicles file based on "Design Name" instead of "Design Type."

(17) [AI Design] Fighter designs seem to always put two of the primary weapon slot on the design (if they fit after engines) regardless of the values placed in the XX to one slot. This makes it very difficult to modify the designs further by adding secondary weapons in small and medium fighters. Is this a bug or lack of knowledge on my part?

(18) [AI Design] There is no "defense ship" design in the AI even though there are calls for it in the construction ques. I made a design nonetheless (AA and repair), so its not a big deal to me personally.

(19) [AI Design] If the AI places larger mounts in a design and still has enough space for normal mounts, it will not "flip" back to normal mounts to fill the extra space.

(20) [AI Strategies] I think I fixed the problem with the AI not using "Boarding Ships" properly - if you reverse the current order of the movement strategies to first "Optimal Firing Range" then "Capture Enemy Ships" they will not avoid the ship until their shields are down, but instead seek to knock those shields down.


WISHLIST

(1) [Game Setting] Ability to "purchase" via points certain techs for starting. This would simplify creating races with say Intel or Stealthiness to start (like the Darloks) instead of creating "modified components" around it. B/T/W - I did make a "Stealthy" racial trait with earlier cloaking technology if you want to include it.

(2) [Game Setting] In the "Settings.txt" file - add a line item for how many organics per population/per turn to deduct from storage or production. This would end a long debate and allow players to actually think about building organic extraction facilities again.

(3) [Game Setting] In the "Settings.txt" file - add a separate user-defined maintenance % for each of the following (similar to what we now have for ships): fighters, troops, sats, weapons and facilities. By letting everyone tweak their own maintenance % - it would end the long debate on this subject.

(4) [Game Setting] Option to limit effect of weapons fire to maximum of one weapon/one kill.

(5) [Game Sounds] Separate volume controls for music and sounds (many players like their sounds high, but music low in background)

(6) [Abilities] Need abilities added similar to "Combat Modifier - System", but limited to Sector or Fleet (this would allow a lot more facilities/components variety - say command ships)

(7) [Abilities] Please let Weapon Platforms have the same range modifications as Bases (this will help the AI and negate some of the "missile dancing" by human players.

(8) [Abilities] Please put a subroutine in so components can use the point generation abilities (i.e. research and intelligence).

(9) [Abilities] Repulsor beams should react automatically similar to PD weapons (to push away boarding ships, fighters, seekers, etc.) this would make it a more viable weapon.

(10) [Game] Provide a way to toggle a planet so that it would not show-up in the "Planet" list of production queues (this would be helpful for small planets which get maxed-out early and really are not touched for the rest of the game except for auto-upgrades)

(11) [Tactical Combat] Combat results should list out units deployed/destroyed in combat.

(12) [Tactical Combat] Add a .wav file for when (A) a shield takes a hit and (B) a ship moves in tactical combat. You can put placebo empty .wav files there for now until you have time to expand the sounds (the modders will fill in the sounds in no time for you!)

(13) [Tactical Combat] Chance to discover tech when taking a planet over by troops (or alternatively, by scrapping unknown facilities on such planet)

(14) [Tactical Combat] I have been working on a solution to what I think is a major hurdle for sats and WPs - their inability to fire first when ships come into weapons range. To solve this I added the "Point - Defense" ability to a DUC II while leaving the "Target Type" the same to expirement. Theoretically, the automatic response turrets (as I call them) should fire when ships move into weapons range. They do for fighters (as they are supposed to), they cannot fire at seekers (as they are supposed to) and if unfired in a turn, they can still be manually fired (as they are supposed to) but unfortunately they do not automatically fire at ships. My theory is that the ships movement subroutine does not have the same "check" for response fire that seeker and fighter movement has. Would it be possible to add a line of code to the ship movement subroutine similar to the one already there for seeker and fighter movement (if my theory is correct). This would then provide the capability of making sats/wps (or ships) that automatically fire when a ship or fighter moves into weapons range (similar to MOO2).

(15) [Intel Ops] Ability to target intel ops on specific Groups of facilities (already have Groups based on group names in facility.txt file)

(16) [SE5 Game Graphics] Add 3-5 additional pics for each hull size - similar to in MOO2 where you could go sideways for different graphics of same hull size and up/down for different hull size (you can put placebos in for now all based on same pic, but for those that want more variety can modify their own). This would allow for more variety between support/attack ships of the same size

(17) [SE5 Ground Combat] Expand ground combat so that it is similar to space (each unit would be a battalion/division) - I forwarded an extensive e-mail earlier and there are several other earlier Posts about this on the Shrapnel Board - I have also heard many beta testers discuss this)

(18) [SE5 Tactical Combat] Allow different ship sizes (currently all are 1x1 square) similar to Armies of Armageddon where there could be 1x2, 2x2, 3x1 and 3x2 units (planets would still be larger than ships). This would allow the budding artists to take advantage of the larger canvas area and those if us with 19" monitors won't have to squint as much - and also provide some disparity between and escort and a baseship.

(19) [SE5 Tactical Combat] Initiative-based dependent on hull size, engines and experience and possible special components (similar to MOO2).

[Tenryu]

Nice list, Tampa.

I might add these to the Wish List:

1) In VehicleSize.txt, please get more of the "Requirement x Type:" things working. I/we could really use the Must Have 'specific component, and the Must Have Exactly, but all look very useful.

2) In Components.txt, add to Target Types; Troops, Mines, Ftr/Sat/Seekers/Mines.

3) In Components.txt, add to Weapon Damage Type; Randon Facility Only.

4) Allow Troops to initiate Boarding Attacks and defend against them. Change the Boarding Parties component to Troop Quarters, count as cargo space, and allow it to hold one Troop unit and launch one for boarding. Normal cargo space can hold troops, just not launch.

1.27b is a real big improvement to what was before! The game's getting better all the time! Thanks MM.