| Attractiveness for mixed weapon designs |
Wed, 24 November 2004 16:28  |
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The attractiveness formula for targeting in the battle engine is available on starsfaq.com but it is based, amongst other things, on the weapon type.
Does anyone know what happens if a design has mixed weapon types ? For example, one of those awful starting ships with an alpha torp and a blue laser - how would that pick it's target ?
More to the point, can anyone think of a realistic scenario in which this might be an issue ?
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| Re: Attractiveness for mixed weapon designs |
Wed, 24 November 2004 17:45  |
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| mlaub wrote on Wed, 24 November 2004 22:08 |
| Staz wrote on Wed, 24 November 2004 15:28 |
More to the point, can anyone think of a realistic scenario in which this might be an issue ?
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People put Gat guns or Sappers on missile/torp BB's. The game makes these ships try to get in beam range with normal orders. I believe "minimize damage to self" keeps them at sniper range.
I am near certain that the beam weaps will shoot at different targets, according to attractiveness. Is that what you mean?
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It's not the "shoot at" target I am concerned about here, it's the "move towards" target. The shoot-at target is simple because each weapon is handled individually. Also, I'm not talking about the tactics setting which determine the best range. It is how a token decides which other token it is going to move towards (or away from).
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Also, are you working towards having the sim handle multiple stacks and races? where we can input player # to indicate starting position, and friend status? Or will this be a multiple stack, 1 vs 1? Eitherway, it would be fantastic... 
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Yes, it handles more than 2 stacks. It doesn't work on "friends" or "enemies" as such. Each stack (token) has a "side" which is just a number, and will attack any token that isn't on the same side. This is independant of the "owner" of the token which is used to determine starting position.
So, theoretically, you can have 3 races in a 2 on 1 battle, each with missile BBs, beamers, chaff, etc.
Quite how accurate it is has yet to be determined though 
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| Re: Attractiveness for mixed weapon designs |
Thu, 23 December 2004 13:43 |
|
 Downsider |
 | Crewman 1st Class |
Messages: 35
Registered: June 2003
Location: Derbyshire, England | |
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NOTE: Like all true theorists, experimentation is not my strong point . All the below is speculation based on experience and deduction.
Choice of stack to target has 2 componants; battle targets (not tactics), and attractiveness
Battle targets tells the stack what targets it can ignore (if no targets remain then it reverts to secondary targets).
Attractiveness then ranks the remaining targets and the most attractive (easiest and most valuble to kill) target is selected. For mixed weapon type designs, the weapon with the highest attractiveness is used to decide (not at all sure of this. initiative and range may play a part too).
Movement is determined by assigning weights to the 8 surrounding squares and the square the stack already occupies and there are 2 scenarios which have to be taken into account.
1. When the stacks weapons would be in range of a viable target (e.g. one defined by the battle targets) or the enemies weapons would be in range of the stack, battle tactics tell the stack what to take into account when assigning a weight to a square:
max-damage (damage caused by me)
max-damage ratio (damaged caused by me / damage caused by enemy on me)
max net damage (damage caused by me - damage caused by enemy on me)
minimize damage (damage caused by enemy on me)
disengage (minimize damage and exit after 7 moves)
disengage if challenged - I've never used this tactic myself but I assume it changes battle tactic to disengage if the ship is shot at
2. When no weapons are in range, the weighting of each square is the distance to the target.
During all of this, where values are equal and a choice has to be made between them, 1 is chosen randomly.
Like I said, I'm not sure how accurate my understanding is, but most of it agrees with what I've seen in real stars games. Unfortunately, I don't have the time or the patience to test my theory, but hopefully this can provide the starting point for someone else to.
Feel free to pick holes if you can find them
"Violence is the last resort of the incompetent" - Salvor Hardin Report message to a moderator
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