Artificial Intellegence

[Dre]

I know this is probably intended to be played multiplayer however as someone who frequently practices with ai skirmish i have a few things to say.  First of all, i like how the game has been accelerated everything from combat to resource collection takes a fraction of the time, but if it is possible can we change base upgrades from sitting in the ship build queue? When you are sitting on resources you could be using to build ships nothing is more frustrating than waiting for your base to upgrade, hell if its an odd team map  1 imp vs 2 rebel you can get obliterated waiting for your base to finish, 2 increase the range of the repair module not by much but enough so that you don't have to have units huddling around the station, also give them the ability to repair ruined hard points so that they actually have a use? also Give the main base the ability to repair as well and have the rate grow as the base gains levels? i mean its a star base if anything they should have damage control crews, last but not least the space AI... its horrendous 2 hard AI's and I steamrolled them in 10 mins. I know the rebellion is not the most powerful of factions but i expected a better fight than that. I will be editing this post as go along stay tuned.

[Slornie]

I definitely agree with your first point about Star Base upgrades!  It is frustrating.

As for your other points, i don't tend to play Skirmish that much so can't comment on them.

[General ONeill]

I know this is probably intended to be played multiplayer however as someone who frequently practices with ai skirmish i have a few things to say.  First of all, i like how the game has been accelerated everything from combat to resource collection takes a fraction of the time, but if it is possible can we change base upgrades from sitting in the ship build queue? When you are sitting on resources you could be using to build ships nothing is more frustrating than waiting for your base to upgrade, hell if its an odd team map  1 imp vs 2 rebel you can get obliterated waiting for your base to finish, 2 increase the range of the repair module not by much but enough so that you don't have to have units huddling around the station, also give them the ability to repair ruined hard points so that they actually have a use? also Give the main base the ability to repair as well and have the rate grow as the base gains levels? i mean its a star base if anything they should have damage control crews, last but not least the space AI... its horrendous 2 hard AI's and I steamrolled them in 10 mins. I know the rebellion is not the most powerful of factions but i expected a better fight than that. I will be editing this post as go along stay tuned.

As someone who almost always plays skirmish, I agree. The base upgrade is very frustrating. But I remember playing a mod in which starbase upgrades were moved to Upgrade Queue. I think it has something to do with these. But I'm not sure.
<Tactical_Production_Queue>Tactical_Units</Tactical_Production_Queue>
<Tactical_Production_Queue>Tactical_Upgrades</Tactical_Production_Queue>

It might do it if we add the <Tactical_Production_Queue>Tactical_Upgrades</Tactical_Production_Queue> to the starbases xml (preferably in the <!-- Base upgrade sequence --> ) but I'm not sure.

For the repair, in the Star Trek: Federation at War all units have a self repair ability. If starbases have damage control, so do starships. Maybe we should give Capital Ships the ability to repair themselves.

[Dr. Knickers]

Don't worry ONeill, it's possible to make the starbase upgrades go in the upgrades queue. I also agree with Dre on this. It's very annoying to halt all ship production just to upgrade.

[Corey]

I made the station upgrades go into the upgrades queue several months ago...

In any case, Dre, where did you get Imperial Civil War? I know you have the Fall of the Republic minimod V2 as I made sure you got it yesterday, however I'm 100% sure that no version of Imperial Civil War is even uploaded, or has been for months.

As I said:
FotR Minimod V2: Unit addon. Only adds those 15ish units, changes infantry squad sizes, and graphical effects.

Imperial Civil War: The actual mod. Has all of our gameplay changes, including redone factions, removal of Rebellion and Empire for New Republic and Remnant, different tech advancements in GC, pop cap, redone weapon systems, scaling, squadron size, AI improvements and the like.

[Slornie]

Considering that I made the station upgrades go into the upgrades queue several months ago...

In any case, Dre, where did you get Imperial Civil War? I know you have the Fall of the Republic minimod V2 as I made sure you got it yesterday, however I'm 100% sure that no version of Imperial Civil War is even uploaded, or has been for months.

Where did he mention ICW?  From what he said, he could just as easily be referring to FotR v2 (in which Star Base upgrades are still on the ship build queue).

[Corey]

True, however we never made any claim to have changed, or to have intended to change the game play in the FotR minimod. It seems like he was under the impression this was the actual full version of the mod going by some of his comments and expectations (esp. regarding AI). The things he's mentioned would be things for ICW and FotR's final, full versions. Not a unit addon.

(Not that this is an attack on you, Dre. Just saying.)

As for the repair modules, they can't be made to repair hardpoints. We will put the ability to repair things on the station though (this will also not be able to repair ships with target able hardpoints, though).

You'll get to play the actual full mod later this week most likely, Dre.

[Dre]

actually i was talking about FOTR mini i had just finished playing it like 5 mins beforehand and just posted my thoughts, again im a space skirmish guy dont really care for land battles? Also another thought? can we take battleships out of play via hyperspace? I mean it is a game however im also pretty sure that if a ISD Victory class takes a beating they would run if they had the chance, make it a skill attached to the engines so that if the engines are shot they cant run...i don't know if it is possible but it would add tactical options to battle other than destroy shield generators then beat the hell out of it...

[Corey]

As I said, there have been no gameplay changes to the game in the Fall of the Republic Minimod, save for infantry being individually selected. There have been no changes to the AI, no changes to armaments, no changes to how the game plays at all. The intent for the minimod was just to add some units. These things are only addressed in the full versions of the mod, not a minimod. We don't have the time or resources to do the full version of Fall of the Republic alongside the full version of Imperial Civil War.

but if it is possible can we change base upgrades from sitting in the ship build queue?

This has been done in the full version of the mod.

2 increase the range of the repair module not by much but enough so that you don't have to have units huddling around the station,

The idea behind a repair station would be that the ships would have to be docked with the repair station to receive repairs. They're not shooting healing beams, after all. Close proximity is best in this case.

also give them the ability to repair ruined hard points so that they actually have a use?

They can't repair hardpoints at all, much less destroyed ones. It just doesn't work in the game, unless it's just a bug in my version of FoC. In any case, if something is completely blown up on a capital ship, it wouldn't make sense to be able to completely rebuild it inside a battle with the kind of resources a capital ship would have on-board. For stations it makes sense, but not capital ships.
*I'm being told by everyone that I'm wrong here. Apparently it does fix hardpoints, it just doesn't like me.

Give the main base the ability to repair as well and have the rate grow as the base gains levels?

This will be done, but can only be done to the extent that the repair satellite already has the repair ability. It it limited by the same things.

AI... its horrendous 2 hard AI's and I steamrolled them in 10 mins. I know the rebellion is not the most powerful of factions

The AI has been addressed in the full mod. Again, no changes have been made to it in the mini mod. Also, there isn't a Rebellion faction in either of the full mods, so their inherent flaws aren't going to be an issue.

For the repair, in the Star Trek: Federation at War all units have a self repair ability. If starbases have damage control, so do starships. Maybe we should give Capital Ships the ability to repair themselves.

This is something we probably will do, but only on larger ships (ie no Lancers).

can we take battleships out of play via hyperspace? I mean it is a game however im also pretty sure that if a ISD Victory class takes a beating they would run if they had the chance, make it a skill attached to the engines so that if the engines are shot they cant run...i don't know if it is possible but it would add tactical options to battle other than destroy shield generators then beat the hell out of it...

This is possible (I know of someone who did it) but they did it with LUA, and I don't know LUA (neither does anyone else on the team).

Note: I base all of this on the fact that none of us and nobody left in the community that I know of knows LUA. Some of it may be possible with LUA work, but not by us, and not by anyone I know.

[Slornie]

save for infantry being individually selected.

That bemused me.  I mean, who sends a lone Clone Trooper off on a mission?  Its not Battlefront after all

[Corey]

I'm trying to keep things somewhat proportional. A regular full squad of clone troopers would decimate a battle droid squad. If people prefer the old method, I'll change it back.

[Slornie]

Hm, fair point.

Perhaps you could go somewhere in the middle?  Have several squads with 3/5 clones for each unit?

[Dre]

I know you already addressed this but if you look they use drones for repairs just give them an extended range but change it so that the farther the unit is from the station the slower the rate of repair.

[Popemaster]

Yeh the AI is pretty easy but i think the GC Ai needs to be upgraded too though becase i can complete a 55 map GC in under 2 hours sometimes, and i agree with the station upgrades in skirmish as well it is pretty annoying.