Ship combat experience

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by Loser:
Does the quality of the AI affect how the Ministers handle things?

Sigh, well there is one BIG problem, IIRC. Even if all ships in the fleet (and the fleet itself) that I want to control have the ministers off -- if the resupply minister is on -- he still starts taking control of ship movement when the fleet is at the half supply level.

And the standard AI is a little too dedicated to drone research. But hey, that's what the government wants, who am I to argue?

[ October 16, 2003, 18:02: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

[Loser]

Originally posted by Arkcon:
Sigh, well there is one BIG problem, IIRC. Even if all ships in the fleet (and the fleet itself) that I want to control have the ministers off -- if the resupply minister is on -- he still starts taking control of ship movement when the fleet is at the half supply level.

And the standard AI is a little too dedicated to drone research. But hey, that's what the government wants, who am I to argue?

I think I'd use the TDM AI which, if the Ministers follow the AI, should end up with a more sensible Research path. But still, I'll follow the government's orders even, I guess, when they tell me to pull my fleet back for refueling.

[mottlee]

Originally posted by SpaceBadger:

quote:

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Originally posted by Karibu:
IIRC ships gain experience only in strategic combat, not tactical.

Argh. Well, that explains it - I almost always use tactical combat in single-player. I will have to check in the game that I have going with my son to see if my ships there have been getting experience (simultaneous turns, all combat is strategic).

Oh well, I have been thinking that I ought to use strategic combat more, just to get used to it for playing PBW, etc.

Thanks for the info.

SpaceBadger

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That is the only way I do combat and I gain for the ship, have not paid that much att to fleets

[Mephisto]

I'm quite sure the fleet will get XPs too but it needs many more destroyed ships to get one point. In a recent battle between 376 enemy ships with round about 10.000 fighters and my 230 ships with round about 5.000 fighters my fleet jumped from 20% to 46%. No enemy survived, I had about 80 ships remaining. Go figure the XP per kill yourself.

[PvK]

Getting the killing shot with a direct-fire weapon generally gives +1 experience to a ship. This works in all modes of play.

Destroying drones and fighters, and I think even using seekers can give some experience too, but it's much less. The game does track experience at a finer grain than full visible percentage points, but for practical purposes, ship experience is just +1 per killing direct-fire shot.

Fleet experience is also tracked on partial percentage points. A good battle often gives up to about +1, but any battle gives some - it may take a few before you get a +1. I think battles with fewer opponents, and/or battles where you outnumber the opponents, may give less. Battles which involve planet capture seem to give a lot less too (or maybe it's just battles without enemy ships). I think fleet experience is also divided between all the friendly fleets in the battle.

And playing as a "captain" or "fleet commander" is pretty much my favorite way to play SE4 single-player. It's a lot of fun (and very challenging, unless your AI is best) to try to tip the scales as a single commander. However, the Resupply Minister IS a big pain in the aft thrusters! My best solution to that is to commandeer a supply ship. You might also want to disable mines in the game... or else be really careful about scouting ahead to avoid dying to mines - I was having a great game of Proportions as a captain when I led an expedition through a warp point and we were all wiped out by an AI minefield.

Oh, you may want to rename a fleet to "Captain X" (your character's name), and then use it to represent your character in the game, so you can track experience and transfer from ship to ship.

You also might want to run enough turns until the ships and situations involved are interesting.

I recommend using as slow a research rate as possible, though, since the pace of operations as a commander means your ship will tend to be out-of-date after every cruise or two, otherwise.

PvK

[Saber Cherry]

If you add more ships to that fleet, now, will the fleet XP stay the same, decrease proportionately to the (number of ships you add)/(number already there), or will the fleet bonus disappear instantly because the fleet changed?

[Loser]

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
If you add more ships to that fleet, now, will the fleet XP stay the same, decrease proportionately to the (number of ships you add)/(number already there), or will the fleet bonus disappear instantly because the fleet changed?

You can completely change the ships in the fleet and the bonus will stay the same. It sticks-good to he fleet itself, like it's the commander of the fleet, and does not count on any ship.

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by PvK:
Fleet experience is also tracked on partial percentage points. A good battle often gives up to about +1, but any battle gives some - it may take a few before you get a +1.

That would explain why I didn't see any improvment. In my test I only ran 4 or 5 combats and the enemy only had one ship each time.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

It sticks-good to he fleet itself, like it's the commander of the fleet, and does not count on any ship.

that makes sense. nice to have a good explanation - even if training to fight together is a big part of multiple-units combat.

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by PvK:
However, the Resupply Minister IS a big pain in the aft thrusters!

snip

I recommend using as slow a research rate as possible, though, since the pace of operations as a commander means your ship will tend to be out-of-date after every cruise or two, otherwise.

As long as you keep your ship fueled up it doesn't override your orders, correct? You just can't stray too far from the resupply depots? Also, might be good to have your ship fitted with an emergency resupply comp when it's avaialable.

As far as your ship being out of date, stop at the nearest space yard and order a retrofit. That goes down as a ship order so should be his perogative, yes?

This does sounds like a very cool way to play, although it might be a bit akward for a multiplayer game on PBW.