Point Defense is Broken |
Point defense appears to be broken. I just finished some tests in the simulator. The missile ship was a frigate with 3 level 5 CSMs. I tested this against 3 different Frigates one each with 4 lvl 5 PDC, 4 Flak Cannon, and 3 Bomblet Missiles. Each also had one DUC and a lvl 7 combat sensor.
In all cases the ships with point defense were only able to shoot down 1 incoming missile per volley.
I then tried 6 PDCs and this configuration was able to stop all 3 missiles at regular and slow speeds. When the time scale was increased the 6 PDCs hit only one missile.
Needless to say this needs to be fixed.
This doesn't apply to PDCs
This doesn't apply to PDCs but be aware that bomblet missiles are missiles that can and will be shot down by other PD weapons. Thus, despite their great range and seeking capabilities, they're often very ineffective.
No PD on fighters
Fighters cannot have PD weapons, but they do aid troops in ground combat.
Fighter weapons can target
Fighter weapons can target everything (reading the list specified in componants.txt). But i'm not sure manual targetting is possible in tactical combat, and the AI surely wont bother.
A simple mod would solve that however.
Your lord and master (below Foamy) LordHavoc
Another possible issue with
Another possible issue with point defence - if you turn off autotargetting, it doesn't appear to fire at all. At least, not for me.
Gunpacks?
Like the gunpacks from the Starfire game?
Why not?
Why not? That's what they're for, isn't it?
StarFire
Loved StarFire, happens to be why I started playing Space Empires IV when I heard about it. XO racks were my friend.
PD test
I did a simulation with a load of fighter attacking a base. The PD worked fine for the fighters, it was better than fine. It evenly distributed the PD fire amongst the fighters (not all firing at the same one) so it could kill lots at once.
I've not tried it against seekers yet however, thats on my to-do list.
Your lord and master (below Foamy) LordHavoc
PD does fire at missiles,
PD does fire at missiles, but in some cases the pd fire can't get to the missiles before they impact shields. Also I don't think the PD fire is evenly distributed against seekers. In other words they all fire at the first seeker in range.
Your lord and master (below Foamy) LordHavoc
Starfire
Anyone know if 'real' XO ordinance is going to be possible for SE:V modders to make? I remember that it was kinda-sorta managed in SE:IV, but that it didn't quite match up...
Weapon's Fire Scale
Yeah, thats one of the issues with the scale of weapons fire -- all too often you only get one shot. One of the first things I intend to poke around at modding is some way to increase the relative time it takes stuff to happen -- ships close way to fast, leaving missiles useless unless you keep your ship headed away from incoming vessels. What I'd really like to do is increase all weapon's ranges by 10X accross the board (and have PD weapons / missiles "pre-fire") so that you really get a feel that longer ranged weapons are worth something more than the first shot.
There are 10 types of people in the world:
Those that understand binary, and those that don't.
Re: Weapons fire
Another approach might be to up the missile speed, so that they reach their target in a shorter time, and engage with the fleet still far away. And it could be fun if levelling up could make faster weapons. Something like this:
Weapon Seeker Speed Formula := 0.05 + (([%Level%] * 0.01) / 5)
But since modding the demo isn't allowed, I'll have to try it out later.
Thats a great idea, I see no
*edit*It posted my reply twice for some odd reason.*edit*
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Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum
Sometimes I get this urge to conquer large parts of Europe.
Thats a great idea, I see no
Thats a great idea, I see no reason why it wouldn't work but I am no modder.
If it does work I'd definitely use it.
*edit*this was in reply to RE: Weapons Fire, posted above it for some reason*edit*
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Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum
Sometimes I get this urge to conquer large parts of Europe.
Might be due to time skipping
I think it may be a factor of time being skipped in the high speed modes. I'll forward this on to MM.
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