You can't do anything with the AI. The only way to get an NPC to attack (with a laser anyway) is to issue performAttack (or groupAttackTarget for ship groups) and then the trunk code handles the rest. Other than initiating things and perhaps stopping them, there's nothing you can actually do to influence when a ship does or doesn't fire.
Fortunately, when not using a laser...an NPC ship can be made to attack via their AI.plist almost on demand. Thargoid, was it you that made the NPCs even fire specific missiles on demand?
Commander McLane wrote:
CommonSenseOTB wrote:
Also if they flee they travel 25600 and stop. They should travel at least 30001(if not more) to be out of the range of the military laser.
Obviously the priority for them is to get out of scanner range, not out of laser range. The chance of actually getting hit from a range of 25601-30001 meters is pretty minuscule, I'd say, if you don't fly a Behemoth, which usual pirates don't.
If they get hit again, they flee again. But they should at least go to about 26000-27000 just so they're more likely to be off scanner by the time the reach that distance instead of becoming a sitting duck for a few seconds at the end of their run.
Maybe I am wrong about the range of npc military lasers. Generally I do hard random hits missions and except for the target's ship I haven't noticed the hostiles opening fire on me from ranges greater than I mentioned, the target's ship will rarely do so. But then, I have always injected my ship towards the target's ship to close the distance as soon as possible. I tend to dogfight because it feels like too much of an exploit in the native npcs' programming to fire from more than 15km away when they are restricted to beam lasers.
You can't do anything with the AI. The only way to get an NPC to attack (with a laser anyway) is to issue performAttack (or groupAttackTarget for ship groups) and then the trunk code handles the rest. Other than initiating things and perhaps stopping them, there's nothing you can actually do to influence when a ship does or doesn't fire.
Fortunately, when not using a laser...an NPC ship can be made to attack via their AI.plist almost on demand. Thargoid, was it you that made the NPCs even fire specific missiles on demand?
It can be done with missiles yes (there is a specific fireMissile command in both AI and JS, and you can use a script to select the missile fired). What there isn't is a matching fireLaser command to make an NPC fire that. All you can do is say when it begins performing attack (as opposed to travelling somewhere for example) and when it ceases to do so.
Could we have system specific AIs? What I mean is that an npc trader in a corporate state system will probably be more relaxed than an npc trader in an anarchic system. So could we add the ability to have oxp AIs which have slight behavioral variations based on the system's government or on other factors?
I'd expect at anarchy systems that traders would form groups for self-defense.
4+ freighters with their escorts would probably make it through most pirate encounters.
I got caught out in the original Elite by some Thargoids in the middle of nowhere, won the fight and then had no way to get back anywhere.
Was kind of waiting for it to happen in Oolite and it finally did. I don't see how that adds to the player experience, especially not for new players. The average casual player should always have a way to get out of any situation that they themselves don't willfully and in full ignorance of the danger get themselves into.
Yes, I know there are OXPs that fix this issue. My point is that it shouldn't exist to begin with. Sure it might be fun for some old die-hards to commiserate about the bad old days when these types of things were common in games. Nowadays we know that it's not healthy for a game to deliberately put the player in situations where they simply can't win, no matter their skill or gear.
I propose we put the different ways and OXPs of dealing with this issue up for a vote and ticket the item accordingly. All in favour say "Aye".
Aye, have to agree with that, and it's one reason why I always carry a Gal drive. There are many oxp solutions to the problem, but they are just that; oxp solutions. There really should be something in the core game so that a (darned lucky) Jameson right out of Lave could reach civilisation again after (somehow) surviving a 4.7+LY misjump. Pieces of equipment that you have to buy don't really fit for this because there's always the chance you haven't bought them (or just couldn't afford them).
The cleanest solutions as far as I'm concerned are either:
1) The amount of fuel used is equal to the distance travelled or
2) Accidental misjumps can only happen if you have a galactic hyperdrive or are jumping 4.6 LY or less.
3) Your wormhole reopens when all the thargoids are dead (I know there's a oxp that does this, but it's a bit to convoluted for my tastes personally, introducing jammers and such)
My personal favourite would be number one, with a nice obvious message warning against using injectors.
I got caught out in the original Elite by some Thargoids in the middle of nowhere, won the fight and then had no way to get back anywhere.
Was kind of waiting for it to happen in Oolite and it finally did. I don't see how that adds to the player experience, especially not for new players. The average casual player should always have a way to get out of any situation that they themselves don't willfully and in full ignorance of the danger get themselves into.
Yes, I know there are OXPs that fix this issue. My point is that it shouldn't exist to begin with. Sure it might be fun for some old die-hards to commiserate about the bad old days when these types of things were common in games. Nowadays we know that it's not healthy for a game to deliberately put the player in situations where they simply can't win, no matter their skill or gear.
I propose we put the different ways and OXPs of dealing with this issue up for a vote and ticket the item accordingly. All in favour say "Aye".
Aye.
Kobayashi Maru?
I'd say you just failed that test of character.
Maybe you should cheat like some others do if you don't like the taste of failure.
Or ...you could just learn from that failure instead.
Take an idea from one person and twist or modify it in a different way as a return suggestion so another person can see a part of it that can apply to the oxp they are working on.
It's hardly a test of character, it's just a mechanism to reset some game parameters. Press tab to remove the Thargoids, press G to move on to level 2 - that's it. If you haven't bought an energy bomb and gal-drive yet, then you didn't successfully complete level 1, so no level 2.
I don't like the Thargoids for that very reason - they're a throwback to level-based arcade games. I'd much rather the map reset was done quietly, so you could just jump off the right side of chart 1 onto the left edge of chart 2 (and back in the other direction!), without any fuss.
It's hardly a test of character, it's just a mechanism to reset some game parameters. Press tab to remove the Thargoids, press G to move on to level 2 - that's it. If you haven't bought an energy bomb and gal-drive yet, then you didn't successfully complete level 1, so no level 2.
I don't like the Thargoids for that very reason - they're a throwback to level-based arcade games. I'd much rather the map reset was done quietly, so you could just jump off the right side of chart 1 onto the left edge of chart 2 (and back in the other direction!), without any fuss.
Et tu Wildeblood?
Take an idea from one person and twist or modify it in a different way as a return suggestion so another person can see a part of it that can apply to the oxp they are working on.
It's hardly a test of character, it's just a mechanism to reset some game parameters. Press tab to remove the Thargoids, press G to move on to level 2 - that's it. If you haven't bought an energy bomb and gal-drive yet, then you didn't successfully complete level 1, so no level 2.
I don't like the Thargoids for that very reason - they're a throwback to level-based arcade games. I'd much rather the map reset was done quietly, so you could just jump off the right side of chart 1 onto the left edge of chart 2 (and back in the other direction!), without any fuss.
Except that there is no such thing as 'levels' or 'completing' in Elite/Oolite. You may complete a mission, but not a level; and the galaxies are distinctly not levels.
I also fail to see what the Thargoids have to do with galactic hyperjumps. You can use your galactic hyperdrive anytime, in a system as well as in interstellar space. In fact, the first time you are required to use it (during the Constrictor mission) you'll be in a system and just have launched from a station when you press 'G'.
The cleanest solutions as far as I'm concerned are either:
1) The amount of fuel used is equal to the distance travelled or
2) Accidental misjumps can only happen if you have a galactic hyperdrive or are jumping 4.6 LY or less.
3) Your wormhole reopens when all the thargoids are dead (I know there's a oxp that does this, but it's a bit to convoluted for my tastes personally, introducing jammers and such)
My personal favourite would be number one, with a nice obvious message warning against using injectors.
I've been banging this particular drum for a while now ... to the extent that Commander McLane wrote the Wormhole Restoration OXP to shut me up.
As far as I'm concerned, the witchjump malfunction as it currently exists (i.e. as per the original Elite) is a bad piece of game design:
Sudden influx of unexpected peril: good
Player flung into a life-or-death fight against powerful odds: good
Player triumphs against those odds and is potentially dead anyway, because they can't get out the trap: really, really terrible
Of Eldon's three options, I'd vote for number 3. Option 2 (accidental misjumps can only happen if you have a galactic hyperdrive or are jumping 4.6 LY or less) is too much of a built-in dodge, I think, and option 1 would potentially let players escape without fighting. 3 (or another similar option) pitches the player into peril but lets them fight their way out of it, if they can.
Leave the occasional accidental misjump in, but remove induced/scripted misjumps altogether. (Induced misjumps could stay in the developer's version for playtesting.)
For the occasional accidental misjump create a way out. For instance each scooped Thargon could come with a small amount of fuel. Or there could be one fuelpod reliably floating among the debris after all Thargoids are killed or have fled.
Last edited by Commander McLane on Wed Jul 13, 2011 9:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
The cleanest solutions as far as I'm concerned are either:
1) The amount of fuel used is equal to the distance travelled or
2) Accidental misjumps can only happen if you have a galactic hyperdrive or are jumping 4.6 LY or less.
3) Your wormhole reopens when all the thargoids are dead (I know there's a oxp that does this, but it's a bit to convoluted for my tastes personally, introducing jammers and such)
My personal favourite would be number one, with a nice obvious message warning against using injectors.
I've been banging this particular drum for a while now ... to the extent that Commander McLane wrote the Wormhole Restoration OXP to shut me up.
But never would I want to shut you up! I am merely trying to please you by enhancing your game experience.
.
