New plug, new bug

hey! i'm kind of new to making plug-ins, and a while ago i started my first EVO complete re-write plug. there's been lots of little bugs that i've worked out, but one that really peeves me is that the AI won't fire 2 of the weapons that i gave them, one is a turret beam with no fuel consumption, and the other is a homing seeker-drone style weapon that fires in slavoes. If you put them on your ship, they work perfectly, but not on AI ships. any sugestions? i'm completley stumped!

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Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. -Isaac Asimov, Foundation
"The loss enemies does not make up for the loss of friends." -Abraham Lincoln
Everybody with telekinetic powers, raise my hand. -me
God’s coming, and boy is she pissed!

It depends. What AIType did you set the computer ships to?
What are the stats on the weapons?
Post those answers here and I can help you along some more.

Anatole.
The Redeemed.

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When you listen late at night, you may feel the words are not quite right. But they are, I just wrote them myself...
- George Harrison, 1943-2001 -

Do the AI ships with the turret beams have other turret weapons on them that they use instead? I had trouble with that when writing an EV plug with David Arthur once (the plug later died under some odd circumstances).For the homing weapons, I don't have mush idea why those wouldn't work, unless all your ships are very maneuverable. The AI won't fire some homing weapons at fast ships.

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- Macavenger | e-mail: (url="http://"mailto:e-gamerguy1@attbi.com")mailto:e-gamerguy1@attbi.com(/url)e-gamerguy1@attbi.com

Possible problems:
Beam Weapon:
- The AI ship may have other turret weapons that it prefers to use.
- The beam weapon may be the only weapon other than the homing weapon; if so, check to make sure that the beam is long enough. If another weapon, like a turreted rocket or another missile can hit, can hit enemies at close-range (i.e. if it has fast turning abilities, like a pursuit missile), then the AI might be prefering to use that.
Homing Weapon:
- The homing weapon's range is shorter than a primary weapon's range that the AI ship has.
- The homing weapon's range is less than that of a similar homing-style weapon with more/unlimited ammo.
- The only ships it targeted so far were much easier to hurt with another long-range weapon, or they manuevered too fast.

Tips: For the beam, turn off all the other weapons, then stay close enough to the ship to see if it will blast you a few times. Make sure the inaccuracy isn't 0 (I don't know if this is a problem anymore), and make sure the beam has a reasonable width. For the homing weapon, turn off everything but it, and stay at a logn range after you've provoked the ship. If you can get him to come at you, he should be firing missiles. If not, then I have no idea what's wrong. 🙂

-Matt

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'I' before 'E', except in "Budweiser".
Disclaimer: All claims made herein are hereby considered null and void. No guarantee of satisfaction is given, either explicitly or implicitly.
(url="http://"http://www.pacificnet.net/~restorer/3d/")3D Model Samples(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by Anatole:
**It depends. What AIType did you set the computer ships to?
What are the stats on the weapons?

**

AI Type: 3 (bully)

Ok, here comes the long part:
Reload: 240
Count:280
mass damage: 188
energy damage:188
guidence:1
speed: i've tried this from 2500 to 750
ammo: -1075 (75 fuel per shot)
graphic: 13 (SAE module)
inacurecy(sp blah): 25
sound: 12 (miranu defence system)
impact: 180
explosion type: 1
proximity raduis: 25
blas radius: 25
misc: spin graphic, 2nd trigger, multiple weapons of same type fire at same time.
seeker: +30 degree/sec turn radius, +60 more degree turn radius, 100% suseptible type IV jammers (none of the ships i tested it against had jammers with type IV jamming) may attack parent ship if jammed

sorry about the length there

o and do ships only ever use one turret, even if they have 2 that are primary weapons? that would expalin the beam problem...

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Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. -Isaac Asimov, Foundation
"The loss enemies does not make up for the loss of friends." -Abraham Lincoln
Everybody with telekinetic powers, raise my hand. -me
God’s coming, and boy is she pissed!

Hmm... I see nothing wrong...
The only way that I see we can help you is if you upload your plug somewhere, but if you don't want to, I understand completely.

-Matt

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'I' before 'E', except in "Budweiser".
Disclaimer: All claims made herein are hereby considered null and void. No guarantee of satisfaction is given, either explicitly or implicitly.
(url="http://"http://www.pacificnet.net/~restorer/3d/")3D Model Samples(/url)

I've done some tests with your data, and I've discovered three things:
1). It is the guidance field that messes with the AI's ability to use it. If I set the guidance to -1 (unguided), 4 (turret), or whatever, the AI fires it fine.
2). The SAE module uses guidance 2, which is listed as unused in the EVO bible. In EV, it was "dumb homing". I assume it is identical to guidance 1. Both guidance 1 and guidance 2 cause the AI not to fire your weapon.
3). A pack of Kraits, when largely left alone, can destroy a Cresent Warship with ease. 🙂

I have no definate conclusion yet; I will conduct more tests and try to figure it out.

-Matt

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'I' before 'E', except in "Budweiser".
Disclaimer: All claims made herein are hereby considered null and void. No guarantee of satisfaction is given, either explicitly or implicitly.
(url="http://"http://www.pacificnet.net/~restorer/3d/")3D Model Samples(/url)

Sorry for the triple post, but I've figured the problem. The trouble is in your shďp resource, not your wëap. With guided weapons that use fuel, the AI needs a specified amount of ammo (since they don't have a set amount of fuel). So give the ship a set amount of ammo (I've noticed that they use one more than you give them). Unfortunately, the ghost ammo shows up in the ship info.
You could make a duplicate of the ship with this modificaton and use it only for düdes, and use the original for the player. The problem comes when the player disables and takes over an AI version. But even then the only side-effect is that it says "..., 2 s, ..." in the personal info.

-Matt

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'I' before 'E', except in "Budweiser".
Disclaimer: All claims made herein are hereby considered null and void. No guarantee of satisfaction is given, either explicitly or implicitly.
(url="http://"http://www.pacificnet.net/~restorer/3d/")3D Model Samples(/url)

I found that the problem might be that both weapons are turrets (in the outfit window). Make sure they are not both turrets there. (or both cannons for that matter.)

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Approving someone else's work is not the same as creating it yourself- Bill Watterson, Author of Calvin and Hobbes
Silence is golden, till is screams- John Prine

Quote

Originally posted by Restorer:
**(everything in his last post)

-Matt
**

Are you sure? The same ship uses a beam that drains fuel as it's primary weapon, and that seems to work fine. oh well, i'll give that a try. thanks a lot for your help everybody!

------------------
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. -Isaac Asimov, Foundation
"The loss enemies does not make up for the loss of friends." -Abraham Lincoln
Everybody with telekinetic powers, raise my hand. -me
God’s coming, and boy is she pissed!

Quote

Originally posted by Archon:
**Are you sure? The same ship uses a beam that drains fuel as it's primary weapon, and that seems to work fine. oh well, i'll give that a try. thanks a lot for your help everybody!

**

Yeah, I've found that only guided missiles that use fuel need this tweek. Kinda strange...

-Matt

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'I' before 'E', except in "Budweiser".
Disclaimer: All claims made herein are hereby considered null and void. No guarantee of satisfaction is given, either explicitly or implicitly.
(url="http://"http://www.pacificnet.net/~restorer/3d/")3D Model Samples(/url)