Prerelease 1.010E (Fix to "tug bug")

[x4000]

The latest prerelease of AI War is now out:  http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar1010E.zip

That version is an upgrade from version 1.009, so you have to already have 1.009 (or greater) installed. Just unzip it into your game folder (usually C:\Program Files\Arcen Games\AI War\ unless you specified something else). Please make sure that your unzip process keeps the folder structure from the zip file, rather than just unpacking all of the files into the base target directory.

What's new since 1.010D:
(Cumulative release notes since 1.009 are attached at the bottom)

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-There was previously a bug wherein the space tugs would go off in the wrong directions instead of going to their repair stations.  This was because they were still "chasing" the target ship, trying to get closer but pushing it away with their tractor beams.  Fixed.

-Ships held in tractor beams are now "reeled in" slightly if they are out of the base range of the tractor beam that is holding them.  Thus if a ship slides out of range before it is fully grappled, it gets pulled back appropriately.

[Pandemic]

Thank you... this issue was really starting to get annoying .

As an idea to throw out there, is there any reason why the tugs don't put the units back where they got them from? I find it really annoying when there's a bunch of them, they all grab my cruisers at a crucial moment, then my cruisers have to *slowly* move back to where they're needed.

Do you have any reason why this isn't what they do?


-Pandemic

[x4000]

Thank you... this issue was really starting to get annoying .

I bet!  Glad I could help.

As an idea to throw out there, is there any reason why the tugs don't put the units back where they got them from? I find it really annoying when there's a bunch of them, they all grab my cruisers at a crucial moment, then my cruisers have to *slowly* move back to where they're needed.

Do you have any reason why this isn't what they do?

Mainly because then it frees up the Tug to immediately start helping someone else.  But also I figure this is the most "fair" way to handle this, since tugs are so much more effective than engineers.  There ought to at least be a bit of a penalty to having your ships yanked out of battle and fully repaired (for free, I might add -- unlike a lot of other games, repairing doesn't require resources).  So this time-to-return aspect is one consideration when you choose how close to the front to put your repair station, etc.

I made the tugs super fast to make them able to get out there and yank ships quickly (to minimize the likelihood of their dying), but that was my thinking on the tugs not putting the other ships back in place.  The original designs actually called for the tugs to just leave the ships around the repair station for you to manually send back into battle at your discretion, but I thought that was too annoying.

[Revenantus]

Liking the Munitions Booster changes - the Space Snake is no more but the game is better for it.

As a slightly humourous (in a somewhat geeky way) issue - an Etherjet Tractor was dragging away one of my carelessly positioned Colony Ships. In order to to save it, I quickly fired on the AI's Command Station and then ordered the Colony Ship to begin construction of my own Command Station. Obviously this is an incredibly rare situation, still, it seems a bit underhanded.

[Revenantus]

Please make Mobile Repair Stations immune to tractor beams.

During an assault on an AI World an enemy Etherjet Tractor started towing my Mobile Repair Station away. That's unfortunate you might think - they're fairly expensive. Well, it gets worse;

Space Tugs apparently think that it's hilarious to tug ships along behind the Mobile Repair Station, thereby dragging a sizable number of ships kicking and screaming to their dooms.

This also brought to my attention the fact that Space Tugs will continue dragging ships to the location that a Mobile Repair Station was destroyed at, if they started moving the ship before the Repair Station was destroyed. This is usually pointless and often dangerous.

There is now a new exploit involving Munitions Boosters. Munitions Boosters will provide allied ships with bonuses if they are trapped by a tractor beam (Friendly Space Tug or AI Etherjet). By towing Munitions Boosters along with the fleet using Space Tugs it is again possible to form the Space Snake. Albeit it is much more difficult to do so.

[x4000]

Liking the Munitions Booster changes - the Space Snake is no more but the game is better for it.

Awesome.

As a slightly humourous (in a somewhat geeky way) issue - an Etherjet Tractor was dragging away one of my carelessly positioned Colony Ships. In order to to save it, I quickly fired on the AI's Command Station and then ordered the Colony Ship to begin construction of my own Command Station. Obviously this is an incredibly rare situation, still, it seems a bit underhanded.

That's pretty hilarious.  Definitely underhanded, but I think that's allowable in this case.

[x4000]

Please make Mobile Repair Stations immune to tractor beams.

During an assault on an AI World an enemy Etherjet Tractor started towing my Mobile Repair Station away. That's unfortunate you might think - they're fairly expensive. Well, it gets worse;

Space Tugs apparently think that it's hilarious to tug ships along behind the Mobile Repair Station, thereby dragging a sizable number of ships kicking and screaming to their dooms.

That's pretty hilarious, but I'll definitely put in that addition.

This also brought to my attention the fact that Space Tugs will continue dragging ships to the location that a Mobile Repair Station was destroyed at, if they started moving the ship before the Repair Station was destroyed. This is usually pointless and often dangerous.

Good point.  I'll change it so that they stop dead when there is no repair station to go to, and they'll also release their held ships.  And not go looking for new ships.

There is now a new exploit involving Munitions Boosters. Munitions Boosters will provide allied ships with bonuses if they are trapped by a tractor beam (Friendly Space Tug or AI Etherjet). By towing Munitions Boosters along with the fleet using Space Tugs it is again possible to form the Space Snake. Albeit it is much more difficult to do so.

Hmm.  That's a good point.  They should count as in-motion if they are being dragged.  I'll put in a fix for that.

[Admiral]

My play session begins soon... Should I update to 1.010E or is there another prerelease coming soon?

[x4000]

My play session begins soon... Should I update to 1.010E or is there another prerelease coming soon?

Probably the next one won't be for a few hours.

[Admiral]

When engineers are just sitting there in a group, without explicit orders, they all seem to get the same idea at the same time on what to repair.

Could you make it so that they don't do that? I'd rather have 7 engineers, in general, slowly repairing 7 different things than all 7 doing one, then moving to the next. Especially when they're badly spread out.

Thanks!

[x4000]

When engineers are just sitting there in a group, without explicit orders, they all seem to get the same idea at the same time on what to repair.

Could you make it so that they don't do that? I'd rather have 7 engineers, in general, slowly repairing 7 different things than all 7 doing one, then moving to the next. Especially when they're badly spread out.

Thanks!

This is a very good point.  Added to my list.  I thought I already had some sort of preference in there for that, but evidently that got superseded by some other sort of preference in more recent releases.

[Admiral]

I have an Engineer II which warped (yay!). It was captured by a tractor beam on the other side. Aren't teleporters immune to tractors (or supposed to be)?

Cheers!

[x4000]

I have an Engineer II which warped (yay!). It was captured by a tractor beam on the other side. Aren't teleporters immune to tractors (or supposed to be)?

Cheers!

It's not inherent to the teleportation... really, that would be on a ship-by-ship basis.  In the case of teleport raiders (like regular raiders), they are immune to tractor beams, but engineers in general are not.

[darke]

When engineers are just sitting there in a group, without explicit orders, they all seem to get the same idea at the same time on what to repair.

Could you make it so that they don't do that? I'd rather have 7 engineers, in general, slowly repairing 7 different things than all 7 doing one, then moving to the next. Especially when they're badly spread out.

Thanks!

This is a very good point.  Added to my list.  I thought I already had some sort of preference in there for that, but evidently that got superseded by some other sort of preference in more recent releases.

The issue is that you want them all to be building the same thing at once though, rather then one thing deciding to help build, say, a command center in a contested system, whilst the others decide that they'd really rather just repair the damaged turrets nearby...

Same thing happens if you're building a bunch of space docks to crank out ships, you'd rather they finish the first, before continuing onwards, so you can get it pumping out ships sooner.

[x4000]

When engineers are just sitting there in a group, without explicit orders, they all seem to get the same idea at the same time on what to repair.

Could you make it so that they don't do that? I'd rather have 7 engineers, in general, slowly repairing 7 different things than all 7 doing one, then moving to the next. Especially when they're badly spread out.

Thanks!

This is a very good point.  Added to my list.  I thought I already had some sort of preference in there for that, but evidently that got superseded by some other sort of preference in more recent releases.

The issue is that you want them all to be building the same thing at once though, rather then one thing deciding to help build, say, a command center in a contested system, whilst the others decide that they'd really rather just repair the damaged turrets nearby...

Same thing happens if you're building a bunch of space docks to crank out ships, you'd rather they finish the first, before continuing onwards, so you can get it pumping out ships sooner.

Well, you can always manually assign them to targets -- they won't leave a target you give them.  They also won't ditch a target they currently have until it dies or is completed.  So if they are all already heading toward those space docks, then they won't go for the turrets until after the first are completed.