Carrier Battles Mod

Suicide Junkie · #1 February 22nd, 2006, 06:11 PM

We have a couple of open slots in various games.

First come first served. There are two empires in great position just waiting for you.

Suicide Junkie · #2 March 2nd, 2006, 12:56 AM

In an amazing feat, Rollo has written up some AIs for Carrier Battles Mod!

Will · #3 March 2nd, 2006, 01:43 AM

Sweet, finally get to test it out!

I'll try out a game later tonight and post the results. Hopefully I can offer some suggestions, but from what Rollo has been saying, the AI is already scary good.

Suicide Junkie · #4 March 2nd, 2006, 02:29 AM

Updated, with improved troop usage by Rollo.

Captain Kwok · #5 March 2nd, 2006, 02:40 AM

Since your mod has its own pictures/game/dialogs folder, you'll need to add a startmenu.bmp file (736x536, but can be narrower).

Rollo · #6 March 2nd, 2006, 07:31 PM

Thank you for your kindness, but 'amazing feat' and 'scary good'? Let's just hold our horses for now =).
This is just a 4-day hack to get the ball rolling. I am sure there are many ways to improvement. I have only just recently (last week) found out about CB mod, so I am a total noob to the mechanics and since there was no AI for target practice, I decided to whip up something real quick. So credit goes to all, who advised me what to build =).

This is still step 1 of making the CB mod AI and is a work in progress. So if you have any suggestions for improvement, kindly post them here. We are looking for odd behavior concerning strategies, flaws in designs, and general good old bugginess.

Here are a few hints to playing with/testing the AI:
I'd recommend a low tech, one planet start, with no or low AI bonus, and low or medium random AIs + (optional) Neutrals. The AI script does not include the full tech tree and all design sizes, yet, but should be good for about 150 turns or so. .emp files don't exsist, so you have your races added randomly. The Phong.emps that are in the /empires folder are leftover from development and should _not_ be used, since they contain a faulty strategy.

That's all I can think off for now. I am going to be away for 10 days, leaving tomorrow, and looking forward to your suggestions, bug reports, and after action reports. So can implement them when I get back and continue to improve the AI. Top of the list is getting research and designs done for the full tech tree, of course. Have fun! =)

Suicide Junkie · #7 March 5th, 2006, 12:38 AM

Well, here's the first report:
- Medium tech start. No bonus.
- about 25 turns in.

Ukra Tal Heavy Fighter
Design:

Cockpit with extension
Speed 3 engine
Level 2 Shield
Level 3 Supply Pod x5
Level 3 Maser (20mm) x3
Level 6 Light Kinetic Missile (external mount)

This fighter appears to be on point defense duty, as its missile would imply it should be.
However, the three 20mm lasers are bad design. One laser is all that is needed to kill light missiles, since the fighters stack up their shots. The lasers also drive the radioactives cost way way up, which is bad for build rate.
Supply amount is good; ~16 missile shots.

Fighter never gets close enough to use its lasers, and instead, retreats to maximum range of its missiles (since they have a reload rate of 1).

Reccommended;
1) Replace two lasers with one 20mm torpedo (or a 40mm DUC).
2) Set movement optimal or short.

Combat notes:
Ukra tal planet was recently colonized, and I sent a whole carrier against it. They didn't stand a chance, but their 4 laser attack fighters killed 1 of my 30 fighters, and I landed a couple troops.