AI Campaign => For a Challenging AI opponent

[JLS]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:

JLS, not quite. The chances for events in Settings.txt are not chances for a system, they are instead simply the chance that an event will occur on any given turn.

As I POSTED

“Correct, the Settings Data File will have the overall BASE numbers (not fixed) at these proposed percentages for all System in the Quad.”

“Therefore, the base is now 30% Chance that an event will be called from the se4 hardcode protocols.”
- - - -
-

A random event is not called for in any particular system; it is generated separately, and then a target is chosen after the event is generated. Once the event occurs, then a random system, planet, ship, etc. is selected as its target.

Agreed

Without any modifiers, all systems have exactly identical chances of being hit.

This is where the CBEC modifies this chance of the event to actually occur in that system.

Those numbers are indeed fixed for the entire game (unless you change the file mid-game, of course). No facilities can have any possible affect on them. All that the facilities do is fiddle with which system gets hit, not with the chances that an event will occur.

I was explaining that the Setting Data file Numbers are a base, and that the sum will be Modified by CBEC.

An absolute SUM cannot be absolutely fixed, if it still can be further modified, or our are we just splitting hairs here, Fyron



[ October 01, 2003, 20:51: Message edited by: JLS ]

[Fyron]

You missed the point.

“Correct, the Settings Data File will have the overall BASE numbers (not fixed) at these proposed percentages for all System in the Quad.”

I was explaining that the Setting Data file Numbers are a base, and that will be Modified.

This is wrong, as is much of the rest of the post, based off of this sort of thing. The numbers are absolutely fixed. Nothing you can do or change in the game (short of modding the data files) can affect these numbers in any way. It does not matter how many fate shrines you have or what racial traits you have; the chance of an event occuring on any turn is fixed (as the event is generated BEFORE a target is selected; they are totally independant processes). Additionally, from the rest of the post, it seems that you are saying that each system has a X percent chance of events, based on the settings. But, this is not true at all. The chance of an event hitting a system is just based on how many systems there are, regardless of the event chance settings. This is not splitting hairs, it is clarifying what those settings actually do and how they actually work.

There is nowhere near a (for example) 10% chance each turn that a system will be hit by an event. With 100 systems, it is more like a 0.1% chance each turn that a particular system will be hit (and that is of course totally inaccurate due to randomness ).

[ October 01, 2003, 20:56: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[JLS]

Completeted Reference:
ABILITIES DATA FILE
Change Bad Event Chance - System
Value1 = Percentage change in chance for bad event for entire system (+/- percentage).
Value2 =

= = = =
Version History for Space Empires IV
Version 1.66:
8. Fixed - "Lucky" racial trait was not always working.
9. Fixed - Abilities "Change Bad Event Chance - System" and "Change Bad Intelligence
Chance - System" were not always working.

= = = = =

================================================== =====================================
GAME SETTINGS DATA FILE ~ AIC ~ 4.00
================================================== =====================================

================================================== =====================================
*BEGIN*
================================================== =====================================

Allow CD Music := FALSE
Use Old Log Political Message Display := FALSE
"~"
"~"
Event Percent Chance Low := 10
Event Percent Chance Medium := 30
Event Percent Chance High := 55
"~"
"~"

[Fyron]

Not sure what the point of copying those lines from the data files was. So, I will await your next response.

[ October 01, 2003, 21:07: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[JLS]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
You missed the point.

quote:

---

“Correct, the Settings Data File will have the overall BASE numbers (not fixed) at these proposed percentages for all System in the Quad.”

I was explaining that the Setting Data file Numbers are a base, and that will be Modified.

This is wrong, as is much of the rest of the post, based off of this sort of thing. The numbers are absolutely fixed. Nothing you can do or change in the game (short of modding the data files) can affect these numbers in any way. It does not matter how many fate shrines you have or what racial traits you have; the chance of an event occuring on any turn is fixed (as the event is generated BEFORE a target is selected; they are totally independant processes). Additionally, from the rest of the post, it seems that you are saying that each system has a X percent chance of events, based on the settings. But, this is not true at all. The chance of an event hitting a system is just based on how many systems there are, regardless of the event chance settings. This is not splitting hairs, it is clarifying what those settings actually do and how they actually work.

There is nowhere near a (for example) 10% chance each turn that a system will be hit by an event. With 100 systems, it is more like a 0.1% chance each turn that a particular system will be hit (and that is of course totally inaccurate due to randomness ).

---

If I understand you correctly and with this new example…
That if a ship has a to hit of “0” with out a Combat Sensor installed.
Then installed a Combat Sensor on that ship, what I understant you to say; is sinuous that the +10 To Hit modifier one gets with a combat sensor will not change that base line sum; and that Ship will always hit at "FIXED" zero in the above example.

Well anyway can you please explain how you sum up this ability to the Base line setting sum of 30% Event Frequency that is in the Settng Datafile with: -40% CBEC

. ABILITIES DATA FILE
Change Bad Event Chance - System
Value1 = Percentage change in chance for bad event for entire system (+/- percentage).
Value2 =



[ October 01, 2003, 21:26: Message edited by: JLS ]

[JLS]

[ October 01, 2003, 21:08: Message edited by: JLS ]

[JLS]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
Not sure what the point of copying those lines from the data files was. So, I will await your next response.

Sorry Fyron, my cat sat on the ENTER key and added a double reply before I was finished... I fixed the Last Posts

[Fyron]

The facilities and traits affect the random selection process that determines which system gets hit by a generated event. The settings.txt stuff affects the chance of an event being generated in a turn.

The facilities and traits have no affect on whether an event is generated or not. They only come into play when the game selects a random target for the event. This is because the game first randomly determines if an event is to occur on a given turn, based on the Settings.txt lines. Then, it picks the type of event randomly based on severity settings and what is in the Events.txt file. Finally, it selects a target for the event. This is where the facilities and traits come into play: they can make it more or less likely that an object in a given system will be chosen for the event to hit it. But, the event has already been generated, and will hit something regardless of the facility/trait modifiers (if they add up to 100% event reduction and are in all systems, the event will still occur anyways). Unless, of course, there is no valid target for the event, such as a ship bomb when there are 0 ships in the game. I do not know what happens then; the game either cans the event for that turn or it picks a new event type.

The combat sensor is not handled in the same way at all, because vastly different functions are at work for it. Basically, the (for example) "base chance" of 30% of an event hitting a system is wrong. It is just a 30% chance that an event will be selected to occur on a given turn. The "base chance" of an event hitting any particular system is 1 / total number of systems (x 100% if you want a percent value instead of a decimal ).

[JLS]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
This is where the facilities and traits come into play: they can make it more or less likely that an object in a given system will be chosen for the event to hit it. But, the event has already been generated, and will hit something regardless of the facility/trait modifiers (if they add up to 100% event reduction and are in all systems, the event will still occur anyways).

Let narrow this down to this paragraph, if we could please.

You are telling us here that the event will hit anyway, even as you say there is a 99% or better reduction in an event to occur in that system, and that a Colonized planet will get hit in that system no matter what?

The facilities and traits affect the random selection process that determines which system gets hit by a generated event. The settings.txt stuff affects the chance of an event being generated in a turn.

The facilities and traits have no affect on whether an event is generated or not. They only come into play when the game selects a random target for the event. This is because the game first randomly determines if an event is to occur on a given turn, based on the Settings.txt lines. Then, it picks the type of event randomly based on severity settings and what is in the Events.txt file. Finally, it selects a target for the event

This portion you agree on what I already posted for the most part

Unless, of course, there is no valid target for the event, such as a ship bomb when there are 0 ships in the game. I do not know what happens then; the game either cans the event for that turn or it picks a new event type.

The Event, I believe is caned, because there are less events overall occouring with -40% CBEC

[ October 01, 2003, 21:44: Message edited by: JLS ]

[Alneyan]

Originally posted by JLS:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
This is where the facilities and traits come into play: they can make it more or less likely that an object in a given system will be chosen for the event to hit it. But, the event has already been generated, and will hit something regardless of the facility/trait modifiers (if they add up to 100% event reduction and are in all systems, the event will still occur anyways).

Let narrow this down to this paragraph, if we could please.

You are telling us here that the event will hit anyway, even as you say there is a 99% or better reduction in an event to occur in that system, and that a Colonized planet will get hit in that system no matter what?

---

Fyron means that, when an event has been generated (say, there is a 50% chance in settings.txt, an event should be generated every two turns), it *will* happen no matter what. Let's say there are only two systems in the system. In the first one, -99% chances to have an event, in the second one, no special facilities.

The event will almost always hit the second system with such an event, but if there were a facility giving -99% chances for an event in this system as well, then the odds would be roughly equal. However, what happens if an event cannot occur in a given system is still unknown. (If it is a Star Destroyed event where there are no stars in thsi system for instance)

Either the system is chosen before the event type (and then, when the event isn't comptabible, the program chooses another event or cancel the event) , or the event type is chosen before the targeted system, meaning a system without ships cannot suffer from a "Ship Moved" event. The second would seem the most likely and the easier to use, but who knows?