Strategy Modding

[Niltrias]

Is it possible to mod strategies? My main point is the "Maximal Weapons Range" strategy. I want my long range ships to fire and then run away until they reload, as opposed to the standard "Fire at maximum range and then charge into death with unloaded weapons" (Maximal weapon range/Point Blank.)

The trouble is that nothing I do OUT of the game seems to change the strategy. I have tried creating a race specific file (e.g. terrain_AI_strategy), modifying the default AI file (in the AI directory) and changing the default strategy file, (in the Data directory) but nothing is working. So....

1) is it possible, and if so, how?

2) What use is the defaultstrategy file in the Data directory?

By the way, if it makes a difference, these changes have been applied to my mod folder, which is a subfolder of my SEIV folder.

[Kana]

Have you changed both entries to Max and Max? Instead of Max/PB?

Kana

[Fyron]

You have to modify the strategies in-game if you are loading up an existing game. Only a new game can get your empire to have the changes to strategies made in the data files.

2) What use is the defaultstrategy file in the Data directory? <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">These are the strategies that human empires have when the game is started. This is when you do not select "use minster styles from race".

Check out Ultimate Strategies Mod (http://usm.spaceempires.net/) for lots of custom strategies (as well as formations).

[ May 20, 2004, 17:37: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[Niltrias]

Hmm. I thought I had tested it with new games, but just to be sure I went back and started a new game just before this reply...I added two empires to a new game, (both cuecappa for no real reason) set one to "using style from race" and left the other on the default. Both empires still had MW/PB as their Maximum Weapon Range strategies, but I have every single data file with strategies that I can find set to MW/DGH. Is it possible that the game is looking at the default SEIV directory instead of my mod's directory?

[Niltrias]

oh, and while I'm on the forum, could someone tell me exactly how Structure points/Tonnage Space relate to the chance of a particular component being damaged? I have a vauge idea, but haven't been able to come up with anything specific.

Thanks

[Suicide Junkie]

http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/MM/SE4/Tools/

Grab the SE4damagesim program.
It'll show you what % of the damage each type of component can be expected to absorb, and what fraction of the time they're hit and stuff.

[Fyron]

Originally posted by Niltrias:
oh, and while I'm on the forum, could someone tell me exactly how Structure points/Tonnage Space relate to the chance of a particular component being damaged? I have a vauge idea, but haven't been able to come up with anything specific.

Thanks <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Tonnage Space has nothing to do with the chance of a comp being damaged. Structure is everything. Components have a percent chance to be selected to be hit, based on the percent of total tonnage of all comps on the ship which that component owns. For non-armor components, components with more hit points are biased to be picked more often by the algorithms that determine what gets hit. For armor components, those with fewer hit points are biased to be hit more often.

[Niltrias]

Aha!
Thanks for the armor info. That was a lot easier than running simulations in SEIV, then editing the component file, then running more simulations, then...ad nauseum.

I'm still trying to figure out why the strategies won't change, though.

[Fyron]

Are you creating new empires, or loading old ones? Strategies are saved in the empire files.