Problem with Strategy, Target Type |
The test environment:
- SEV v1.71 Stock (All Tech Game)
- one frigate without engines, armed with one point defense blaster
- one fighter, armed with one small anti-matter torpedo
- the fighter circles around the frigate, firing each 4s
The strategy:
I want the frigate to shoot on seekers first, then on fighters. So I modified a strategy by setting all engage distances to "do not engage" - except for seekers and fighters - and aligned them in the right way (seekers before fighters). I even set the target priority order to "target type" and the rest to "nearest (absolute)". After that I set the strategy in the design window.
The problem:
The frigate starts firing at the fighter (O.K., there is no seeker) but keeps shooting at it even if a seeker is approaching. As the frigate has a higher firing rate (1s), the seeker crosses the distance between fighter and frigate in about 1s and they are firing asynchronously the frigate is able to hit the seeker. But it does not even target it. As soon as I set the engage distance for fighters to "do not engage", too, all seekers get hit.
The questions:
- Is the theory correct, or am I doing anything wrong?
- Is this a bug?
Re: Problem with Strategy, Target Type
It could be a problem with the time it takes to retarget from fighter to seeker, the retargeting could be delayed so the seeker get's there.
I think your theory should work, but I can't see why it doesn't.
Try the same with a drone, a seeker and a long range PD. This might provide the time to change the targeting.
Re: Problem with Strategy, Target Type
I think it's a bug, I had something like it before, can't remember exactly what the scenario was
Re: Problem with Strategy, Target Type
Blubel is correct, I believe. My own attempts at setting point defense strategies have convinced me that ships only retarget their weapons when the existing target is either destroyed or sufficiently damaged to satisfy the 'damage amount' criteria.
In general this is not a problem, but when there are fighters or satellites present in range as well as seekers, the seekers almost always get through the PD screen. The only (partial) solution that I've found is to have a class of PD ships that do not target fighters or satellites, and keep them present in all fleets when seekers are anticipated. Since I manually fight all of my battles, I'm able to keep my ships bunched up around the anti-seeker ship(s) for good coverage, but for someone auto-calcing a battle... well, good luck.
The best solution would be for point defense weapons to re-assess their targetting solutions every second or half-second. For that matter, there is no reason why every weapon shouldn't do so. Of course, I don't know what this would do to the required processing power demanded of the CPU.
Re: Problem with Strategy, Target Type
Actually, what I'd like to see is (on autotargeting) all weapons clearing their target right after they fire and start to reload. That way the ship/seeker/whatever is untargeted, and other weapons can target it.
Also, I'd like possibility to set PD targeting separately from main weapon targeting.
Re: Problem with Strategy, Target Type
I think the game only searches for new targets, if the old one is damaged enough to hit the damage amount of the strategy (no weapons left,....). Therefore it only will "see" the seaker and choose it as new target, after the fighter is down.
You probably should try this with a few fighters and one or two fully better armed and armoured frigates, so you can see what happens after the first fighter is down. Also, you could set the damage amount to 50%, so your ship starts fireing on a second target, if it has enough weapons.