View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0020889AI War 2Gameplay IssueFeb 22, 2019 5:02 pm
Reporterwm46 Assigned ToRocketAssistedPuffin  
Status resolvedResolutionreopened 
Product Version0.809 Divide By Human 
Fixed in Version0.814 Of Runaway AIs And Tech Cost Revamps 
Summary0020889: Drone carrier capacity confusion
DescriptionDrone carriers always looked really strong when reading the tooltip, but they never felt too strong in practice. One thing that I and others have noticed is that when you read about the drones they produce, it seems like you're getting an obscene amount of drones per carrier.

MK1 carrier for instance, says that it produces up to a "total strength" of 3. The amount of drones it actually produces is 50 drones, a total strength of 0.6. Even if you add the 0.74 strength from the carrier itself, you're still not even close at 1.3 strength. If total strength of 3 means only the total of the drones, its still off by a factor of 5.

MK2 carrier produces only 24 drones, a total strength of 0.61, even though the tooltip states that 6 strength will be produced. Even though the tooltip is saying the strength capacity has doubled, per ship it still remains at about 0.6 strength of drones.

This makes some amount of sense looking directly at the code (MetalFlowPlanning.cs), where the line of code that controls drone production is:

FInt allowableAdditionalDroneStrength = ( entity.DataForMark.MaxDroneStrengthInCaps * ExternalConstants.Instance.Balance_StrengthPerCap ) / entity.DataForMark.SquadCap;

The drone cap from the XML, MaxDroneStrengthInCaps, is 3 + 3 per mark, which is then divided by the ship cap for the carriers which would explain why the individual strength amount didn't change; 3X / 1 = 6X / 2. The first issue is that in this context Balance_StrengthPerCap is off by a factor of 5 from the strength factor used in the GUI (for stored drones and ship strength on planet). Then the second issue is that in the tooltip for the carriers, there's no mention that the 6 strength of ships is between the ship cap of carriers at that tech level. Even if I went into the XML for the carriers and made the starting ship cap 5, each ship would only produce 0.12 strength of ships at MK1.

TL;DR - The tooltip for any drone producing ship doesn't mention that the total strength is shared equally between the ship cap. If you have only 1 ship out of 2, you can only build half of the stated drone strength in the tooltip, even though the wording implies you could still produce the full strength but at half the rate. The external constant used in the code to limit drone production is 20% of the constant used to show strength in the GUI, leading to drone production to be 20% of what the tooltip states.
TagsNo tags attached.

Activities

wm46

Jan 19, 2019 8:31 pm

reporter   ~0050721

If you do decide to fix only the constant... you might want to tone down the strength produced by carriers. 250 V-Wings and Bombers at MK1 is a bit insane, but as it currently is, 50 V-Wings and Bombers at MK1 is a bit... meh. Maybe 1 strength + 1 strength per mark with the constant change.

RocketAssistedPuffin

Feb 19, 2019 10:15 am

reporter   ~0050820

I'll fiddle with this for a bit I suppose.

RocketAssistedPuffin

Feb 19, 2019 12:58 pm

reporter   ~0050821

I have removed the dividing drone total between the cap, as it was also affecting non-player-controlled Drone producers (such as Carrier Guardians), which made them pretty weak. This also makes Carrier Starships a lot better as well.

Additionally, Balance_StrengthPerCap was changed from 200 to 1000, and all drone cap values on the units, plus AI initial planet defense values, divided by 5. So now they say exactly the strength worth they produce, i.e says it produces 0.6 strength and actually does so, instead of the ridiculous "says it produces strength 3, but really 0.6". The balance, other than the bit mentioned above, is the exact same.

Thanks for the pointer to the C# bit there.

RocketAssistedPuffin

Feb 22, 2019 8:13 am

reporter   ~0050829

Turns out the fix to this breaks bits of the AIs budgeting...ugh.

Reverted it.

RocketAssistedPuffin

Feb 22, 2019 5:02 pm

reporter   ~0050830

Okay this is actually fixed again. Drone producers have rather scary values, but that's in next release.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Jan 19, 2019 3:54 pm wm46 New Issue
Jan 19, 2019 8:31 pm wm46 Note Added: 0050721
Feb 19, 2019 10:15 am RocketAssistedPuffin Assigned To => RocketAssistedPuffin
Feb 19, 2019 10:15 am RocketAssistedPuffin Status new => assigned
Feb 19, 2019 10:15 am RocketAssistedPuffin Note Added: 0050820
Feb 19, 2019 12:58 pm RocketAssistedPuffin Status assigned => resolved
Feb 19, 2019 12:58 pm RocketAssistedPuffin Resolution open => fixed
Feb 19, 2019 12:58 pm RocketAssistedPuffin Fixed in Version => 0.813 Tractor Tentacles
Feb 19, 2019 12:58 pm RocketAssistedPuffin Note Added: 0050821
Feb 22, 2019 8:13 am RocketAssistedPuffin Assigned To RocketAssistedPuffin =>
Feb 22, 2019 8:13 am RocketAssistedPuffin Status resolved => new
Feb 22, 2019 8:13 am RocketAssistedPuffin Resolution fixed => reopened
Feb 22, 2019 8:13 am RocketAssistedPuffin Note Added: 0050829
Feb 22, 2019 5:02 pm RocketAssistedPuffin Assigned To => RocketAssistedPuffin
Feb 22, 2019 5:02 pm RocketAssistedPuffin Status new => resolved
Feb 22, 2019 5:02 pm RocketAssistedPuffin Fixed in Version 0.813 Tractor Tentacles => 0.814 Of Runaway AIs And Tech Cost Revamps
Feb 22, 2019 5:02 pm RocketAssistedPuffin Note Added: 0050830