Strategic combat has more bugs than my backyard!

[tesco samoa]

And what a pain it is to add units to a simulator. Try testing a new designed weapons platform.

Here is what you have to do.

1. design it
2. Built it on a planet.
3. Add that planet to the simulation.


What happens if you want to test say 10 or 20 weapons platforms?

Hope you have a good 10 to 40 turns to waste before you can try them out.

Yes I agree with you 100% The combat aspect of the game has to be cleaned up before it makes us stop playing the game.

Puts a damper on the game

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L? GdX $ Fr C++ SdT T+ Sf* Tcp+ A M++ MpTM ROTS Pw+ Fq+ Nd Rp++ G+

[CW]

Actually you can test WPs without building them. What's stopping you from choosing them in the "change cargo" screen? It works for me.


[This message has been edited by CW (edited 28 August 2001).]

[CW]

Another thing needs fixing: I have noticed that you can only add planets from one of your home systems in the simulator, and you can't even fill it all the way up with population. In the beginning of my first PBW game my only planet in that particular system (one of my 3 homeworlds) was wiped out in the first few turns, and I was stucked without a planet to test things on in the SIMULATOR! How ironic!

[tesco samoa]

try that when you have not built any weapons platforms.

I will retry it. 1.41 Version.

I will start a new game and that will be the first thing i will do.

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L? GdX $ Fr C++ SdT T+ Sf* Tcp+ A M++ MpTM ROTS Pw+ Fq+ Nd Rp++ G+

[golf_prez]

other related frustrating notes...

(hoping someone can confirm this please!)
a formation is made up of ships numbered (within the formation) 1,2,3 etc...
how does fleet assign ships to the ship number within formation???
I thought it might be what order the ships are assigned to a fleet, but the ships don't add sequentially to the fleet !!! [i.e. add ships one, it is top of the list, add ship two, it is second in the list, add ship three becomes FIRST in list!!!! ] someone once mentioned it is based on WHEN the ship was built !!!!

[igoblin]

Yes I agree that more work still needs to be done for strategic combat but It has come a long way since Version 1.02.

I recently tested ship capture and planet capture and the AI works better than I expected. It will hold back the troop transports when capturing a planet until the escorts have been wiped out or all the planetary defenses have been eliminated. Also satellites are now placed next to the planet so they actually help in defense. (before if I remember correctly the satellites would be placed on the map in the corner where they wouldn't help at all.

The change fleets button in the simulator is a newly added feature and as far as I can tell it's not fully implemented yet. I haven't had the experience of ships acting differently in strategic vs. tactical combat other than the random factor involved with to-hit chances.

A couple more possible bugs I would to add (though I may just not have my ship strategies set up correctly for what I want them to do):
Multiplex tracking doesn't seem to work, at least not on a starbase. I had the largest starbase armed with ten Heavy mounted AntiProton Beams attacked by ten Cruiser with Anti-Proton Beams and Shield Depleters. The starbase would only fire three of its APBs a turn, usually enough to destroy one cruiser and then not fire any of its remaining shots even though it had Multi-plex tracking 5. Has anyone else noticed this?

Also when I pitted a boarding ship against a starbase, the boarding ship ran to the corner and didn't attack the starbase. I had shield depleters on the boarding ship so I would assume it would follow the secondary strategy of Optimal Firing Range when the base still had shields up but it seemed to use Don't Get Hurt instead. Is it possible the AI knows that the shield depleters would never get through the shields fast enough?

[Puke]

I think the simulator has more bugs than actual strategic combat does. I have not had problems with fleets obeying orders in strategic combat, its just that fleet orders always override individual ship orders. heck, the simulator cant even model orbital defenses, it sticks them on the other side of the map.

If you are trying to mount a complex planetary assault, sometimes it is best to bring the fleets in with orders to sit outside range and only fire on fighters or ships with weapons. then once you are in orbit, break up the fleet so that ships that need specific orders can do their own thing (ie: your ships with nothing but armor and PD can charge the planet and soak up fire, missile ships can sit at max range and unload, capital weapon ships can be ordered to target defense bases first, then fire on the planet if it has any weapons left, and your troop transport can lumber in for the big landing)

what would be *nice* (like not-gonna-happen nice, but maybe in se5) is if the simulator let you simulate an entire system. you could place defenses (including mines) at a planet, and actually simulate a few turns in that system, giving orders to both sides. that would let you model acceptable losses for your fleet plowing through a minefield, and destroying a smaller colony on the way to the main objective. you could simulate your ships ariving on the scene having already sustained the damage that you would reasonably expect them to have taken.

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"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)