Few things I noticed tonight

[carlosjuero]

So I jumped into a newish game (the one I bugged the Resistance Fighters on) and played for a bit tonight, during my play I noticed a few things:

1) Cleanup and Repair drones are counting as Engineers as of 3.015 (steam hasn't updated me to 3.016 yet) in planetary overviews:

The actual Breakdown is 4 Engineers / 2 Cleanup Drones / 1 Repair Drone on the planet highlighted
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ofLMY2UMKLB-Crl6qTZXZQ?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/oawndgJ7TeV3hCXO7ktKEg?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jjTcioKTjX75L2xlrnTbgA?feat=directlink
Those 3 links go to screenshots of a highlight of each 'type' showing in the overview. Not sure if this is the way it is supposed to work or not, just thought I would mention it.

2) Enemies have Missile Silos? Do they ever use Missiles?


3) Kind of unsure what could be causing this, haven't seen it before personally - but AI Worlds over 1 hop away from a world I have conquered/settled are on alert to me, even if only scouts have entered the system. The way it goes is a the world 1 hop away from me is on Alert, then each world one hop away from _that_ world is also on alert. In the screenshot above (system map) I have conquered Tolucau and I expect Oppode to be on alert.. but all 3 of Oppode's connecting worlds are also on alert [Toliloui, Voldul, and Ijlse](the screenshot doesn't show the updated scouting information, I scouted them out about 5 minutes after taking that screenshot). I don't have the expansion so I shouldn't see alarm posts (even if I had it or they are in the base game, I have found no alarm posts on these planets).

My Threat level is going up constantly thanks to the bungling resistance fighters - which brings me to something else: Resistance Fighters seem hell bent on going... somewhere. They tear through systems attacking enemy ships that get in their way, but thats it - they don't fight back when they are on their way to wormhole really. I found a few stopped and fighting up in Jacatic (not scouted in the screenie above) but in most systems they just seem to be rushing for wormholes as if they were late for a party.

[x4000]

For #1, that is correct -- cleanup drones and repair drones are considered as part of the engineer superclass.  Same as space docks, silos, starship constructors, and mobile builders are all just part of the constructor superclass.

For #2, those are just for you to capture -- enemies never do use them.  The reason I made those a capturable thing (way back in July-ish of 2009) was so that new players would actually stumble onto missile silos on occasion and then see that they could use them.  Same as the AI does not use its starship constructors, advanced factories, etc, those are all just capturables.

For #3, most likely that is caused by some sort of minor faction -- devourers, dyson spheres, etc, can trigger the on alert -- on alert, now that we have minor factions, doesn't necessarily mean that the AI is alerted to you.   The Trade ships, which are allied to everyone, don't trigger the AI alert.

Also, regarding the threat going up consistently because of the resistance fighters, the 3.017 update should resolve that.  But, please do let us know if not.

[carlosjuero]

Thanks for the information X - as to #3, I have scouted all surrounding systems now and have seen no sign of any other factions (other than disbursed Resistance Fighters that spawned pre-3.015 fix, and they are not on the worlds that I am refering to). I've attached a save so you can see what I mean.

If I am missing something than by all means point out my ignorance - I miss little details all of the time in games (especially when I am trying to bolster my forces for another raid).

[x4000]

No worries at all, carlos -- I appreciate the thoroughness.  In the save you provide, in 3.017 of the game, I don't see that issue with Toliloui, Voldul, and Ijlse -- they are all not on alert.  So either that was some bug that was fixed already, or something changed in the gamestate.  I'm guessing the former.  Thanks for making sure!

[carlosjuero]

No worries at all, carlos -- I appreciate the thoroughness.  In the save you provide, in 3.017 of the game, I don't see that issue with Toliloui, Voldul, and Ijlse -- they are all not on alert.  So either that was some bug that was fixed already, or something changed in the gamestate.  I'm guessing the former.  Thanks for making sure!

Ah ok - if it isn't present in 3.017 then I won't worry about it. Might be one of those lovely phantom bugs that fixes itself without any [direct] code fix being applied.

[x4000]

Yeah, something unrelated that we fixed, I guess.

[carlosjuero]

Minor question in regards to something I remembered about last night:

When a Wave comes in (i.e. you get a notice of X # of ships hitting Y Planet in Z time) are they supposed to travel through the planet the attack is noted to be coming from? (As in physically travel through it). The reason I ask is that in the game above I had destroyed the command station & warp gate and then gotten a Wave warning (14 AI Frigates) - the wormhole detector was blinking the wormhole for the system I had just conquered, so I kept my forces there ready for action... but the AI just appeared at the wormhole entrance in my system.

I probably have the whole Wave thing wrong in my head, but could have sworn that the enemy ships actually came from the system that the wormhole indicator shows rather than nowhere.

[Revenantus]

Warp gate initiated waves don't travel through the planet that initiates the wave - they simply appear out of the wormhole on the planet that they're attacking. The rationale is that the ships are coming from outside the galaxy.

In contrast, ships that participate in cross planet attacks are drawn from the AI's existing guarding ships, so those have to actually travel through the wormhole network in order to reach your planets.

[carlosjuero]

Warp gate initiated waves don't travel through the planet that initiates the wave - they simply appear out of the wormhole on the planet that they're attacking. The rationale is that the ships are coming from outside the galaxy.

In contrast, ships that participate in cross planet attacks are drawn from the AI's existing guarding ships, so those have to actually travel through the wormhole network in order to reach your planets.

Ah - just been getting the 2 mixed up I guess. Thanks

[Echo35]

For #3, most likely that is caused by some sort of minor faction -- devourers, dyson spheres, etc, can trigger the on alert -- on alert, now that we have minor factions, doesn't necessarily mean that the AI is alerted to you.   The Trade ships, which are allied to everyone, don't trigger the AI alert.

Would it be possible to have teh game tell you weather or not the AI is alerted to you or a minor faction? Or is that design intentional?

[x4000]

What does it matter?  The result is absolutely the same, and often it is alerted to both you and the minor faction at the same time.  The only relevant information is if the AI is on alert or not, insofar as for predicting what might happen in the future.

[carlosjuero]

What does it matter?  The result is absolutely the same, and often it is alerted to both you and the minor faction at the same time.  The only relevant information is if the AI is on alert or not, insofar as for predicting what might happen in the future.

Agreed.

Side note: with steam being so Wonky I decided to clean house and reinstall it - no more AI War quibbles on my steam version any longer, I think some main steam files were causing some of the wonkiness[tm] I encountered.