CPW Spawn Point

[Elestan]

Why does the presence of a scout keep CPWs from spawning in a system?  This behavior lets me easily manipulate the AI's attacks just by positioning my pickets.

Besides, I think it would be cool if, upon an AI launching a CPW, the scout in that system sent a panicked message..."Uh, sir?  We've got about 2000 AI bombers and 12 flagships that just warped in to the Hasjobu system...".

[Kahuna]

Sounds strange. Have any proof of this behavior? Save file maybe?

Besides, I think it would be cool if, upon an AI launching a CPW, the scout in that system sent a panicked message..."Uh, sir?  We've got about 2000 AI bombers and 12 flagships that just warped in to the Hasjobu system...".

You can see the threat count skyrocket.

[chemical_art]

Sounds strange. Have any proof of this behavior? Save file maybe?

Besides, I think it would be cool if, upon an AI launching a CPW, the scout in that system sent a panicked message..."Uh, sir?  We've got about 2000 AI bombers and 12 flagships that just warped in to the Hasjobu system...".

You can see the threat count skyrocket.

That does remind it that an alert about if the total threat count increased quickly in a short time would be useful. I know know it blinks red if it is so high but that eventually becomes meaningless. What matters to me more then the total threat is rather when those spikes happen.

[Elestan]

Why does the presence of a scout keep CPWs from spawning in a system?  This behavior lets me easily manipulate the AI's attacks just by positioning my pickets.

Sounds strange. Have any proof of this behavior? Save file maybe?

From the Wiki:
 You have turned on "Cross Planet Waves" in the game lobby; waves spawn at one of the AI homeworlds out of detection range and work their way to your systems.

I think "homeworld" here is imprecise...I'm pretty sure they can spawn in places other than the actual AI Homeworld (or else they reach my border impossibly fast); it just has to be an AI command station, and, apparently, it has to be one that the player can't see.  I just don't see a good reason for the latter requirement.

Besides, I think it would be cool if, upon an AI launching a CPW, the scout in that system sent a panicked message..."Uh, sir?  We've got about 2000 AI bombers and 12 flagships that just warped in to the Hasjobu system...".

You can see the threat count skyrocket.

Sure, but the scout report is more entertaining.

[Elestan]

That does remind it that an alert about if the total threat count increased quickly in a short time would be useful. I know know it blinks red if it is so high but that eventually becomes meaningless. What matters to me more then the total threat is rather when those spikes happen.

What I would advocate is rating the danger of an attack by comparing its strength (not ship count) with the strength of my nearest system.  If it's close to an even fight, then it's a serious threat, and the alert should be more intrusive.

[keith.lamothe]

That bit about detection range notwithstanding, I don't think the presence of a scout prevents a CPW spawn.

[Imago]

The lesson here is to not take wiki text written in 2010 by some random person as gospel.

[Elestan]

That bit about detection range notwithstanding, I don't think the presence of a scout prevents a CPW spawn.

Thanks Keith.  My own experience at least seems to back up the wiki; as my picket perimeter expanded in my current game (With CPW on), the waves always seemed to come in from beyond my outermost scouts.  Might you be willing to share an outline of the "SelectSystemForCPW" algorithm?