AI War Beta 5.077-5.079 "Cap Tectonics" Released!

[TechSY730]

I noticed something strange. There are groups of enemy ships that move very slowly and stuttery.

Old issue is old.
2686: Some event attack units barely moving
3351: AI unit movement jumpy
9204: AI Units moving in mini-hops despite speed of 105

There is also one where AI ships just stop moving at all:
2577: AI wave ships attacked and now they won't move
3825: Enemy ships stop moving
9243: Threat is just... stopped

[Shrugging Khan]

I can't wait for updated Turret caps.

Considering how much I've been playing with the Champion while leaving the Homeworld on Auto-Defend, it might just about complete change my game.

...it's time I get back to Blitzkrieging.

[KDR_11k]

I think they where.

I'm now doing some sort of lord of the colony ships mission lets see how that goe ... ow look colony ships. Hi! ... WTF

I didn't like that mission, it felt like I had nearly no way to interact with it. Attacks arrive too fast to move the champion to intercept them, enemy stations are as always practically untouchable for your champion. I went in with maxed railguns and a fighter drone spawner (which provided decoys) and won but it didn't feel like I had much influence on it, if anything charged my champion it usually died right away and anything that got distracted by the fighter drones was nice too but if the enemies didn't decide to move past me there was nothing I could do about that.

[Mánagarmr]

Once you level up a bit, you can pretty much solo stations with clever usage of the Shadow Shield.

[Toranth]

Noticed something strange in the Wave strength calculations - A Champion provides a + 20% increase in AI waves strength calculations; the MultiplierFromHumanHomePlanetAndChampionCount variable = 1.2.

However, on multiple homeworld games, the value of MultiplierFromHumanHomePlanetAndChampionCount is (HW_Count/2) + .2 * Champion_count, AND double waves.
This results in the Champion strength modifier being added in twice on multi-HW games (Multi-player/HW, too, I think).
I think that multiplier is also applied in the Reinforcement and Exowave calculations.

[Diazo]

'Auto-Target Carriers'?

Err, I vaguely remember something about that.

It's at default right now, I'll play with that.

D.

Okay, I enable Auto-Target Carriers in the Controls and they take AOE damage as I expect, it actually makes this CPA much simpler.

D.

[KDR_11k]

I just misread the title as Carp Tectonics.

[Soyweiser]

Regarding this:
Previously on Diff 9+ if you were part of the way from one AI-tech-level to the next, each wave would have a proportionate percentage of its ships "promoted" to the next tech level to make the transition in difficulty feel smoother. Now this happens on difficulty 5+

I think this is currently implemented for both waves and reinforcements but not for special forces. Having 216 AIP I only see mark 1 special forces. As intended?

[Draco18s]

I just misread the title as Carp Tectonics.

Remember, Carp are hardcore fish.
*Sage nod*

[keith.lamothe]

Regarding this:
Previously on Diff 9+ if you were part of the way from one AI-tech-level to the next, each wave would have a proportionate percentage of its ships "promoted" to the next tech level to make the transition in difficulty feel smoother. Now this happens on difficulty 5+

I think this is currently implemented for both waves and reinforcements but not for special forces. Having 216 AIP I only see mark 1 special forces. As intended?

That rule's only ever been for waves, sorry for not making that clear

[Soyweiser]

That rule's only ever been for waves, sorry for not making that clear

Reading it again it is actually pretty clear. Why are there so many mark 2 ships everywhere then?

[Diazo]

That rule's only ever been for waves, sorry for not making that clear

Reading it again it is actually pretty clear. Why are there so many mark 2 ships everywhere then?

Can you check the command station?

Mk II AI systems do not get the little mark level indicators that Mk III and Mk IV worlds do so they look the same on the galaxy map.

You might in fact be looking at a Mk II, not a Mk I AI world.

On a different note, wave sizes.

In my current game (so diff 10/10) I just got hit with a 1,700 unit fighter wave at AIP 56, then the next wave was 5,200 infiltrators at AIP 77.

Does that sound about right for what you intend, I'm not sure I can increase my defences enough to handle a jump that big for only a single system capture.

AIThread

Code: [Select]

9/6/2012 10:03:15 AM (5.078)
-----------------------------------
Starting CreateHomogenousWaveToPlanet at Game Time: 13:31:02 ; Player.AIType: Special_Forces_Captain ; Player.AIDifficulty: 10 ; AIProgressionLevel: 56 ; AITechLevel: 2
WaveSize = MultiplierFromWaveInterval * MultiplierFromHumanHomePlanetAndChampionCount: 3 * 1.2 = 3.6
aiTypeBasedAIPIncrement : 0
since difficulty >= 8, effectiveAIP = floor( ( AIProgressionLevel * 0.8 ) ^ 1.1 ) : 65
workingShips = ( effectiveAIP * player.AIDifficulty ) / ( 13 - player.AIDifficulty ) : 216.67
workingShips *= FInt.FromParts( 0, AILoop.Instance.AIRandom.Next( 800, 1100 ) ) : 205.13
workingShips = Max(workingShips,34 * handicap_multiplier) :205.13
Inside AdjustNumberShipsFromAIType, multiplier: 1
after AdjustNumberShipsFromAIType call, workingShips :205.13
numberShips = workingShips.IntValue :205
numberTech123 = numberShips - numberExplosive - numberCore :205

MainThread

Code: [Select]

9/6/2012 10:31:01 AM (5.078)
-----------------------------------
Performing first CheckWave with size factor of 3.21 on wave at Game Time: 13:50:55

CheckWave: populating count of InfiltratorII with base magnitude of 248
numberUnits = kv.Value * this.WaveSize : 795.95
after applying the ship-type-specific cap multiplier (which includes the unit-cap-scale multiplier), numberUnits : 1127.66
after applying UsefulnessInAIWaveMultiplier if any, numberUnits : 1127.66
after applying Mark-based multiplier if any, numberUnits : 1014.78
after applying at-least-one rule, numberUnits : 1014.78
after applying difficulty-based multiplier (if <= 3 then 1, <= 4 : 1.5, <= 5 : 1.75, <= 6 : 2, <= 7 : 2.25, <= 9 : 2.5, <= 9.3 : 2.75, <= 9.6 : 3, <= 9.8 : 3.8, 10 : 4.5), numberUnits : 4566.52
numberUnitsInt = numberUnits.IntValue : 4566

CheckWave: populating count of ZenithStarshipII with base magnitude of 1
numberUnits = kv.Value * this.WaveSize : 3.21
after applying the ship-type-specific cap multiplier (which includes the unit-cap-scale multiplier), numberUnits : 0.07
after applying UsefulnessInAIWaveMultiplier if any, numberUnits : 0.07
after applying Mark-based multiplier if any, numberUnits : 0.06
after applying at-least-one rule, numberUnits : 1
after applying difficulty-based multiplier (if <= 3 then 1, <= 4 : 1.5, <= 5 : 1.75, <= 6 : 2, <= 7 : 2.25, <= 9 : 2.5, <= 9.3 : 2.75, <= 9.6 : 3, <= 9.8 : 3.8, 10 : 4.5), numberUnits : 4.5
numberUnitsInt = numberUnits.IntValue : 4
it's a starship so only adding one rule : 1 (had you going there, didn't we)

CheckWave: populating count of BomberStarship with base magnitude of 1
numberUnits = kv.Value * this.WaveSize : 3.21
after applying the ship-type-specific cap multiplier (which includes the unit-cap-scale multiplier), numberUnits : 0.07
after applying UsefulnessInAIWaveMultiplier if any, numberUnits : 0.07
after applying Mark-based multiplier if any, numberUnits : 0.1
after applying at-least-one rule, numberUnits : 1
after applying difficulty-based multiplier (if <= 3 then 1, <= 4 : 1.5, <= 5 : 1.75, <= 6 : 2, <= 7 : 2.25, <= 9 : 2.5, <= 9.3 : 2.75, <= 9.6 : 3, <= 9.8 : 3.8, 10 : 4.5), numberUnits : 4.5
numberUnitsInt = numberUnits.IntValue : 4
it's a starship so only adding one rule : 1 (had you going there, didn't we)

CheckWave: populating count of DreadnoughtII with base magnitude of 1
numberUnits = kv.Value * this.WaveSize : 3.21
after applying the ship-type-specific cap multiplier (which includes the unit-cap-scale multiplier), numberUnits : 0.07
after applying UsefulnessInAIWaveMultiplier if any, numberUnits : 0.07
after applying Mark-based multiplier if any, numberUnits : 0.06
after applying at-least-one rule, numberUnits : 1
after applying difficulty-based multiplier (if <= 3 then 1, <= 4 : 1.5, <= 5 : 1.75, <= 6 : 2, <= 7 : 2.25, <= 9 : 2.5, <= 9.3 : 2.75, <= 9.6 : 3, <= 9.8 : 3.8, 10 : 4.5), numberUnits : 4.5
numberUnitsInt = numberUnits.IntValue : 4
it's a starship so only adding one rule : 1 (had you going there, didn't we)

CheckWave: populating count of InfiltratorIII with base magnitude of 45
numberUnits = kv.Value * this.WaveSize : 144.43
after applying the ship-type-specific cap multiplier (which includes the unit-cap-scale multiplier), numberUnits : 204.62
after applying UsefulnessInAIWaveMultiplier if any, numberUnits : 204.62
after applying Mark-based multiplier if any, numberUnits : 143.22
after applying at-least-one rule, numberUnits : 143.22
after applying difficulty-based multiplier (if <= 3 then 1, <= 4 : 1.5, <= 5 : 1.75, <= 6 : 2, <= 7 : 2.25, <= 9 : 2.5, <= 9.3 : 2.75, <= 9.6 : 3, <= 9.8 : 3.8, 10 : 4.5), numberUnits : 644.49
numberUnitsInt = numberUnits.IntValue : 644

Wave total ships: 5213
TypesForDirectAdd count by type:
InfiltratorII => 1000
ZenithStarshipII => 1
BomberStarship => 1
DreadnoughtII => 1
TypesForCarrierAdd count by type:
InfiltratorII => 3566
InfiltratorIII => 644

D.

edit: Way back in patch 5.028, the Scout Starship Mk IV supposedly got Counter-Missile coverage. However I don't see this anywhere on it's description in game. Is anyone able to confirm it actually does provide counter missile coverage?

[LordSloth]

Speaking of checking the command station, I can't check right now, but I seem  to remember mark iv worlds have mark 3 command stations, leaving me a little confuse.

[Toranth]

Would it be possible to make Carriers immune to Attrition?  In my current game, I have a almost-full cap of Spirecraft Attritioners on my whipping boy, under lot of FFs.  When two waves, each of about 17K little ships (Space planes, autocannons, etc - the AI was a Shadow Master), arrived I was able to pop, kill, pop, kill, and generally keep the situation under control without too heavy losses.  Then the attrition damage added up, and the last 20-something carriers all popped at once.  That resulted in a dozen Siege Towers, hundreds of guardians, and lots and lots of starships and core fleetships.  What had been a damaging, but winnable fight turned into a crushing loss.
I had "Auto-target Carriers" off.

Also, I've noticed allied AI controlled and Zombie units will attack carriers directly if there are no other valid targets in range.  This has led to a few undesired pops as well.  Could we get zombies to follow the "Auto-target Carriers" setting as well, like normal ships?

[Mánagarmr]

...20 carriers...

that was all I saw in that text.