Classic -> Gold

[Taera]

Hi all.
Well, i sure have read the How To Convert to gold, but i have some questions.
I dont have gold and its not likely i'll get it any soon, but i want my favorite Taera racestyle to be gold-compatible.

The major question is: what changes, excluding Drones, should i be aware of when converting the AI?

As for the drones, i'll have to base my drone usage on TDM mod. Hope thats okay with all the AI authors.

[oleg]

I think it will work fine. AI will not create and build multiple designs for each ship type (like difeerent Attack_ships) but otherwise perform just as it did before. If you want to include drones, don't forget to insert new entries in construction file along with design file.

[Taera]

Didnt understand your post.
So fine, i do all the changes mentioned by [forgot-his-name], then i work out the drones, and the race is fully compatible and uses all the new features?

[Taera]

hmm... do you mean that the five different attack ships, two different defense ships etc. wont be used in the game??? Any way to change that?

[capnq]

i do all the changes mentioned by [forgot-his-name] <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">How soon they forget... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Wish I could answer the rest of your questions, but the conVersion instructions are the only AI modding I've done so far.

[oleg]

capnag: Sic transit gloria mundi http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Taera: what I mean is that if you have

name = junk 1
type = attack ship

name = junk 2
type = attack ship

types in design.txt, pre-gold SE will keep building only one of these ships (biggest one),
while gold SE will keep track of both ships and build thirst "junk 1" then next turn "junk 2" whenever it encounter "attack ship" entry in construction file.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not confident that I really understand how Gold AI works.

[Taera]

I sure hope you right. Though i still wish i could tell the AI exactly what attack/defense ships to build.

[Atraikius]

Taera - That is sort of what Oleg was saying. In the DesignCreation file, you have both a Design Name, and a Design Type field. You can have two different designs;

Design Name =:Attack Ship 1
Design Type =:Attack Ship

Design Name =:Attack Ship 2
Design Type =:Attack Ship

With SEIV you could only use the Design Type in the ConstructVehicle file, and it would pick the first on the list, pretty much only building Attack Ship 1; but with SEIV Gold, you are able to use both the Design Type, and the Design Name for the 'Type' entry. So you can call for the AI to build x amount of Attack Ship 1, followed by x amount of Attack Ship 2. You can also get around this to some extent in the pre-gold Version by using either kamikaze or boarding ships as the Design type for one of the two. Take a look at the Vikings, Orks, and I think the Aquilians for the Last pre-gold Version for what I mean, I believe all three were using the kamikaze and boarding ships as alternate fleet support vessels, along with a good example of AI's that will capture planets. For an example for the gold Version, look at the ConstructVehicle file for either the Orks or Zorians; I have used both of those together, the Boarding and Kamikaze for alternate styles of warships, and the Design Name to call for specific ship designs (like hybrid warship/carriers), and different types of Weapons Platforms, Satellites, and Fighters.

[ May 17, 2002, 17:59: Message edited by: Atraikius ]

[Taera]

Do you mean the construction file chooses ships by their DESIGN NAMES? oh great!

EDIT: wrong post in wrong place

[ May 18, 2002, 13:33: Message edited by: Taera ]

[oleg]

Yes, this a very, very nice feature of Gold Version.

Some design names are reserved, like Attack ship, Colonizer, etc. If you have design with design name "Attack ship" it can be skipped by construction file entry "Attack ship" in favor of something like
Design name = burn baby, burn
Design type = attack ship

Otherwise, "design type" in construction.txt matches "design name" in design.txt

[Taera]

Now thats great!

[Atraikius]

Just to clearify, in the CunstructVehicle file, the AI will look at design names first, and then design types; so you can use both in the same file.