Topic: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...(now includes piracy and privateering)  (Read 51775 times)

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Offline NuclearWessels

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Re: (early) Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #40 on: October 25, 2006, 09:57:28 am »
...I clicked the fleet control panel while still at green alert, and I went to warp.

Ahhhhhh!  I was trying to figure out how you were triggering the code without repeatedly hitting the green alert key.

Thanks, will look into it.

Quote
Its just too painful early in these mission to go to Red Alert, especially in a Frigate.

As a temporary work-around, if it's power concerns you can turn off any energy-sucking weapons and shields, even while at red alert.

thanks,
dave


Offline NuclearWessels

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Re: (early) Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #41 on: October 25, 2006, 10:05:40 am »
I have been trying to play these new missions but so far I cannot get them to show up anywhere in a game.  Either I am doing something wrong, or putting things in the wrong place, or just not seeing what it is I am supposed to be able to see within the game so that I may try these missions.  I have looked in multiplayer and singleplayer to find any script of anywhere near the names you have posted.  So far, not seen them, and any I try to play, suchas your Warp one from before, they work, but are not this new stuff you mention.
HELP.

When you double-click the EDWarpPatrols.exe installer, if your main OP directory is something like "C:\Program Files\Taldren Software Inc\Starfleet Command Orion Pirates" then the destination folder you want to select would be "C:\Program Files\Taldren Software Inc\Starfleet Command Orion Pirates\Assets\Scripts"  (I think that's the default I had set up).

Within that folder, the three files installed should be
Met_EDDisengageEnemy.scr
Met_EDDisengagePlayer.scr
Met_EDPlayerPatrol.scr

and in the Campaigns subfolder you should have a bunch of new .mct files, e.g. WarpTest-Klingon.mct, WarpTest-Federation.mct, etc.

Then when you fire up single player and choose to start a new campaign you should see the warp campaigns listed somewhere near the bottom of the list.

hope that works for ya!
dave


Offline NuclearWessels

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Re: (early) Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #42 on: October 25, 2006, 03:02:28 pm »

OK, a few range and detection time tweaks, a bit more variety thrown into the opposition behaviour in some of the scenarios, a mine-sweeping scenario added, and pseudo-minefields thrown into the mix in a couple of places.

http://www3.telus.net/NuclearWessels/sfc/downloads/EDWarpPatrols.exe

dave

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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #43 on: October 25, 2006, 06:38:45 pm »
 ;D

D/l now. I'll report anything I encounter.

Thanks.

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Offline Lieutenant_Q

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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #44 on: October 26, 2006, 11:03:09 am »
Any chance you can make the Warp speed button the 'O' - Toggle Schematic button?  Does anyone still use that? (an old hold over from when people played SFC1 at 640 x 480)

Edit: The 'O' button is unmapped by default, but Toggle Schematic is still in the game, just currently unmapped.
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Offline NuclearWessels

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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #45 on: October 26, 2006, 11:08:36 am »
Any chance you can make the Warp speed button the 'O' - Toggle Schematic button?  Does anyone still use that? (an old hold over from when people played SFC1 at 640 x 480)

No, unfortunately we're limited by what the API can detect during missions, which isn't much.  The only reason we can get away with using the alerts is that there's a special event that gets passed to the script when a ship alters its alert status.

dave

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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #46 on: October 26, 2006, 04:21:53 pm »
When compiling code, don't forget to include this important header file:  #include <beer.h> ;D


Offline NuclearWessels

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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #47 on: October 26, 2006, 05:31:34 pm »

<saves the piccie for future use> ;D

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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #48 on: October 27, 2006, 10:40:01 am »
Alrighty, here's the updated plan:
(I'm keeping it up to date here so I actually remember what's still in the ttd list ;)
 I'll cross 'em off as I get them done.)

Lt Q - I'm updating it so just the yellow alert key is the one used to jump to high speeds,[/s] (done) so players can continue to switch back and forth between red/green alert as needed.

There's a they-fired-first tweak I need to add (done) (if the opposition opens fire then of course you should be free to return fire without penalty).

I've got to add the planets/bases of appropriate size (done) when you're in those hexes.

I want to balance the frequency of the patrol duty and combat patrol scripts (done) so they come out roughly equally, then switch both back to just showing the generic Patrol name (done) for the mission offering.

I've got a couple of additional scenarios I want to add, and with those in the mix I think the breakdown of the script behaviour will be roughly as follows:
  • 1/3 of the time you'll be fighting something that shoots back (whether it's a warship, pirate, civillian, monster, or minefield)
  • 1/5 of the time you'll be shooting at something that doesn't shoot back (e.g. a fleeing opponent, or a derelict to be destroyed, a planet you're terraforming, etc)
  • 1/5 of the time you'll be stuck with harmless but time-consuming duty (towing somebody, delivering something, waiting for an away team do do something, etc)
  • 1/4 of the time you'll be stuck with something harmless and quick (scan and release, or scan and do a single quick transport)
(Those numbers aren't exact, but they're pretty darn close.)

The new planned additions are:
 - prison break: there's a riot in progress at the maximum security prison on a nearby asteroid base, and you have to regain control of the installation (hopefully before the inmates get the base weaponry working)
 - weapons calibration: your crew has just done a major overhaul on the weapon systems, you need to find and hit a fast-moving asteroid then give your techs a chance to calibrate the new systems (calibration time depends on how much lab space and related gear you've got)
 - automatically switch over to a base construction mission if the player is packing a base (done)
 - shore patrol: there's a planetside disturbance, and you have to beam marines down to quell it.  The more marines you can put in place the faster the scenario will be completed
 - arbitrator: there is a pair of battling civillian ships, you need to break it up
 - terraforming: you need to beam a survey team down onto a moon or asteroid, let them do their work, beam them back up, then blast out the appropriate chunks using the ship's weapons
 - cleanup duty: there are a handful of derelict ships that you need to dump into a local black hole to keep others from finding/investigating them
 - escort duty: you encounter a ship carrying a government official, and get stuck escorting them to a nearby base/planet
 - courier: you encounter a lifepod from a destroyed vessel, and the occupant is carrying critical material that must be delivered to a nearby base/planet/ship
 - base busting: deal with a pirate base

Then I'm going to treat the script as ready (aside from the expected bug reports) and move on  to producing an enemy space version.  For that, your emphasis is of course going to be a bit different, since you're actually encouraging anything that makes life more difficult for the enemy, as long as it doesn't interfere with your own troop movements.

If folks have got other scenario ideas feel free to toss them in!

thanks,
dave

http://www3.telus.net/NuclearWessels/sfc/downloads/EDWarpPatrols.exe
« Last Edit: October 27, 2006, 01:23:10 pm by NuclearWessels »

Offline Klingon Fanatic

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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #49 on: October 27, 2006, 11:38:57 am »
 ;D

Thanks NW!

I can't wait to try out this version tonight.

Qapla!

KF
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Offline NuclearWessels

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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #50 on: October 27, 2006, 01:25:47 pm »

Doh!   I forgot to upload the new version before I left for work this morning - it'll either be late tonight or sometime tomorrow before I can get it posted

dave

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Re: A more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #51 on: October 28, 2006, 09:25:57 am »
Got another one for you.  In a missiion where I was protecting a Starbase from three attackers, 2 Commandor ships and a cruiser.  After the first ship was destroyed it spontaneously set me to yellow alert and forced me to withdraw.  Got a mission failed after that one.

This happened to me once too. I ended up hiding behing the base and becominig its augmented anti-missile support and won the mission that way. Not exactly how I wanted to finish the mission.

The switch to Yellow alert also happened to me more than once when I was fighting pirates (4 vs me and an AI ally) and at least twice on two seperate missions while fighting against a trio of  Klingon warships.

Wow! The AI matching seems pretty cool. I've been averaging 3-4 enemy AI against my single ship (FCXB). I have been thinking about having another ship to see if the AI matching adds more enemies or just tougher ones.

I can't wait for the next patrol mission update.

Thanks again NW!

KF
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Offline NuclearWessels

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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #52 on: October 28, 2006, 09:47:40 am »
Whoops - I stuck in code so that once in awhile the AI would chicken out and try to disengage when one of its allies died ... I'm guessing I didn't include enough safeguards to keep this from happening to players!

will fix ;D

EDIT: updates/fixes posted

dave
« Last Edit: October 31, 2006, 12:57:43 pm by NuclearWessels »

Offline NuclearWessels

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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #53 on: November 01, 2006, 01:03:01 pm »
OK, the next draft of the enemy-space scenarios is now in place, and both friendly and hostile space versions have been modified so that cartel players will get a more pirate and profit-oriented set of scenarios.

I've updated the scenario list at the top of this thread - I think right now there are 34 scenarios when patrolling friendly space, and about 25 when patrolling enemy space.  The balancing between the scenario patrol scripts and the combat patrol scripts seems to be getting there - we'll have to see how it turns out with different shiplists and alliances.

Now it's just testing and bug fixes  ;D

http://www3.telus.net/NuclearWessels/sfc/downloads/EDWarpPatrols.exe

holler if ya run into any problems!
dave


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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #54 on: November 01, 2006, 06:11:46 pm »
 ;D

One of my favorite missions so far NW was the explore the rogue ship with an engineering team before destroying it mission:

BTW: I'm routinely facing 3-4 enemy ships w/ 1-2 allies and sometimes with none. The challenge factor is MUCH better now.

Thanks again NW!

KF
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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #55 on: November 02, 2006, 03:47:45 am »
Just checking in to thank everyone working on this project, and especially Dave once again.


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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #56 on: November 02, 2006, 08:23:29 am »
Just checking in to thank everyone working on this project, and especially Dave once again.

Hey man, a lot of the ideas came from work you and Corbo did back in the DIP - I'm still referring to those mission threads on a regular basis!   Geez - don't suppose anyone still hears from Corbo do they???

thanks!
dave

Offline Lieutenant_Q

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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #57 on: November 02, 2006, 12:47:11 pm »
Any chance someone could set up a quick and dirty D2 to test these scripts in MP?  (Yes I'm bored and looking for a Dynaverse to fly  ;D)
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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #58 on: November 04, 2006, 01:00:55 pm »
Any chance someone could set up a quick and dirty D2 to test these scripts in MP?  (Yes I'm bored and looking for a Dynaverse to fly  ;D)


OK, I've thrown up a really basic one, using the Forge shiplist/ftrlist and these test patrols (with a partial implementation of the pirate/black market scenarios)  It doesn't replace any of the scripts currently in use on the Forge, so if the Forge comes back up you won't have to undo anything.

http://www3.telus.net/NuclearWessels/sfc/downloads/EDWarpPatrols.exe

My machine is old and slow, and I only spent about 15 minutes on the server setup, so don't expect miracles ;D

EDIT: Heh, whoops!  Apparently I was a little too quick and dirty with the settings - it wasn't offering any missions ;)
Anyway, she seems functional now, though movement and mission offerings are slllloooooowwwwwwww.

Any feedback will be much appreciated!  Since there are 30+ scenarios, many of which can take different directions, I'm expecting some issues - holler when ya find 'em!

thanks!
dave
« Last Edit: November 04, 2006, 02:40:19 pm by NuclearWessels »

Offline Alphageek

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Re: Beta version: a more patrol-like patrol...
« Reply #59 on: November 04, 2006, 04:29:18 pm »
If I download those scripts will it mess with other servers, etc?  Is there an uninstall?

Technically challenged,

The Dread Pirate Geek.