Alien technology - a new weapon?

[TGHC]

I've seen that circling effect with ordinary missiles several times.

[Arexack_Heretic]

Or the mad-puppy-dance: zipping up and down at a frequency of approximately 2Hz.

IIRC the Thargon has only a normal forward laser, not a Thargoid-prism-laser.
That, coupled with an inert ship for a target, could explain the phenomenon.

[LittleBear]

Suspect the AI is not really agressive enough. Will have a further tweak of this!

[LittleBear]

Suspect the AI is not really agressive enough. Will have a further tweak of this! I've had them fire, but just not that often.

[JensAyton]

while we're talking witchspace etc, if i can just digress a bit : has something changed in r1.68?? after re-aligning my hud graphic i was out playing and thought i'd go bug-stomping. forced a misjump, and there were DOZENS of yellows as well as a couple Thargs and police. but.....as i was nailing a mothership one of the yellows went red...then another...and another...until ALL were after me and blew me to sht. i hadn't shot anyone, i was Clean, so what sparked that? it's happened every time, and it's spoiling the whole witchspace aspect of the game >:-\

Do you have Black Monks installed?

[LittleBear]

Black Monks does add "debtors" (classic elite ships with a modded traderAI) and Gunships shooting at them occasionally near the Station / the witchspace beacon, but it shouldn't be adding them to witchspace. You'll know if its a Black Monk's debtor as it sends hails like "Help us! The Black Monks are skewering our aft for want of a Credit!" etc.

Assassins adds Navy BattleBots, Control Drones and extra Thargoids to witchspace but only if the two missions relating to the BattleBots have been completed. The Navy Bots and Drones show as blue on the scanner.

[JensAyton]

So the monasteries I kept seeing while testing witchspace misjumps earlier today were hallucinations? :-)

I don’t think I’ve been in a position to break the relevant scripting code recently.

[LittleBear]

Oopse! They definatley shoudn't be in witchspace (PN -1 isnt it). The script is meant to be adding them to any tech 10+ system. Will fire up a commander and test this, but this is what I've got in script:-

Code: Select all

			{ 
					conditions = (  
						"systemTechLevel_number greaterthan 9", 
						"status_string equal STATUS_EXITING_WITCHSPACE" 
					); 
					do = ( "checkForShips: monkbranch", 
						{ conditions = ( "shipsFound_number equal 0" ); 
						do = ( "addSystemShips: monkbranch 1 0.33",
						       "addSystemShips: minesweeper 10 0.33" ); 
						}, 
					); 
				},
				{ 
					conditions = (  
						"systemTechLevel_number greaterthan 9", 
						"status_string equal STATUS_LAUNCHING" 
					); 
					do = ( "checkForShips: monkbranch", 
						{ conditions = ( "shipsFound_number equal 0" ); 
						do = ( "addSystemShips: monkbranch 1 0.33",
						       "addSystemShips: minesweeper 10 0.33" ); 
						}, 
					); 
				},

Shouldn't that put a Monkbranch + sweepers in normal space?

[Uncle Reno]

My guess would be that getting caught in witchspace counts as STATUS_EXITING_WITCHSPACE and Oolite looks at the destination or departure planet for the tech level. Could be wrong though!

[LittleBear]

Tested it on 1.65 and no Monks in witchspace!

But if EXITING_WITCHSPACE puts monks in whichspace the I'd guess all the commie stations, boyracers ets would also be there. The Monkbase has Station Scan Class (Green). So if yellow ships are attacking you, can't see how this would be down to Black Monks!

[Dr. Nil]

But if EXITING_WITCHSPACE puts monks in whichspace the I'd guess all the commie stations, boyracers ets would also be there. The Monkbase has Station Scan Class (Green). So if yellow ships are attacking you, can't see how this would be down to Black Monks!

Before version 1.5 of the Commies OXP, the stations did actually appear in witchspace. Changing conditions = ( "status_string equal STATUS_EXITING_WITCHSPACE" to conditions = ( "status_string equal STATUS_EXITING_WITCHSPACE", "planet_number greaterthan -1" ) in the script fixed this problem, since planet_number is set to -1 when the player is in interstellar space.

[Uncle Reno]

OK, just forced a misjump on 1.68 and ended up in witchspace with 2 Generation ships, 2 Super Cobras, 1 Mosquito Trader, a Viper Escort, a couple of Navy Vipers and 2 Thargoid ships. Next try, almost identical result. Third try, big Navy and Thargoid battle but with the addition of a flight of 3 fugitive Super Cobras. Had no Monks on any misjump, should all the civilian ships be generated everytime?

[JensAyton]

Had no Monks on any misjump, should all the civilian ships be generated everytime?

No. Bother.

[Captain Hesperus]

OK, just forced a misjump on 1.68 and ended up in witchspace with 2 Generation ships, 2 Super Cobras, 1 Mosquito Trader, a Viper Escort, a couple of Navy Vipers and 2 Thargoid ships. Next try, almost identical result. Third try, big Navy and Thargoid battle but with the addition of a flight of 3 fugitive Super Cobras. Had no Monks on any misjump, should all the civilian ships be generated everytime?

Geez, that's what I call congested!

Captain Hesperus

[Commander McLane]

OK, just forced a misjump on 1.68 and ended up in witchspace with 2 Generation ships, 2 Super Cobras, 1 Mosquito Trader, a Viper Escort, a couple of Navy Vipers and 2 Thargoid ships. Next try, almost identical result. Third try, big Navy and Thargoid battle but with the addition of a flight of 3 fugitive Super Cobras. Had no Monks on any misjump, should all the civilian ships be generated everytime?

No. Bother.

Perhaps not all of them, but at least for the SuperCobras I definitely can answer: yes. There are three of them created everytime on EXITING_WICHSPACE, whether you are in a system or had a misjump doesn't matter.

I also have experienced (already in 1.65) that in many cases two Generation Ships appear. In fact I have uninstalled the OXP because it became just too much and too frequent. Of course I just could have reduced the chances of them appearing.

Oopse! They definatley shoudn't be in witchspace (PN -1 isnt it). The script is meant to be adding them to any tech 10+ system. Will fire up a commander and test this, but this is what I've got in script:-

Code: Select all

         { 
               conditions = (  
                  "systemTechLevel_number greaterthan 9", 
                  "status_string equal STATUS_EXITING_WITCHSPACE" 
               ); 
               do = ( "checkForShips: monkbranch", 
                  { conditions = ( "shipsFound_number equal 0" ); 
                  do = ( "addSystemShips: monkbranch 1 0.33", 
                         "addSystemShips: minesweeper 10 0.33" ); 
                  }, 
               ); 
            }, 
            { 
               conditions = (  
                  "systemTechLevel_number greaterthan 9", 
                  "status_string equal STATUS_LAUNCHING" 
               ); 
               do = ( "checkForShips: monkbranch", 
                  { conditions = ( "shipsFound_number equal 0" ); 
                  do = ( "addSystemShips: monkbranch 1 0.33", 
                         "addSystemShips: minesweeper 10 0.33" ); 
                  }, 
               ); 
            },

Probably Uncle Reno is right with his guess that Oolite for some reason queries the TL of the system you're heading at. Anyway, Dr. Nil's suggestion to add a condition "planet_number greaterthan -1" should fix it.

Two more remarks/suggestions: 1) As I already posted in the BlackMonks-thread long time ago the queried TL isn't correct. If you want the BlackMonks in systems with TL 10+ the condition has to be "systemTechLevel_number greaterthan 8". As it is in your code, the monasteries will only be added in systems with TL 11+. That's because internally all counters start with 0, not 1. So what appears to be a techlevel 10 on your screen, internally is a techLevel_number of 9. If you want to address it in a "greaterthan"-comparison you obviously have to use "greaterthan 8", because 9 is not "greaterthan 9".

2) The "checkForShips"-method isn't needed within the "status_string equal STATUS_EXITING_WITCHSPACE"-condition. If you're entering a system that just has been populated by the engine there can't be any monastery, the outcome of checkForShips will always be 0. A condition which by definition is always (or never) fulfilled doesn't need to be queried (lean programming!). So that part of the code should just be (with the not-in-interstellar-space-condition added):

Code: Select all

         { 
               conditions = (  
                  "systemTechLevel_number greaterthan 8", 
                  "status_string equal STATUS_EXITING_WITCHSPACE",
                  "planet_number greaterthan -1"
               ); 
               do = (
                  "addSystemShips: monkbranch 1 0.33", 
                  "addSystemShips: minesweeper 10 0.33" ); 
            },

The part with "status_string equal STATUS_LAUNCHING" however does need the "checkForShips", because there are two possible cases: (a) You could be launching in a system into which you have jumped right before. The monastery is already there, you don't need or want a second one. (b) You could be launching right after starting the program and loading a savegame. The monastery is not there, because the system has only be populated with the normal features by the engine.

Still you should add the "planet_number greaterthan -1"-condition, because you could as well be launching from another ship in interstellar space, and change the TL to 8.