Category:The Battle Manual

From PlanetsWiki

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Switches 2.1 Ship Settings 2.1.1 Combat Initiation 2.1.2 Entering Combat 2.1.3 Weapon Specific 2.1.4 Movement And Combat Behavior 2.2 Target Notes 2.2.1 Target Preferences 2.2.2 Target Exclusions 2.2.3 Escort / Fleet 2.3 Wing Settings 2.3.1 General 2.3.2 Entering Combat 2.3.3 Movement and Combat Behavior 2.3.4 Target Preferences 2.3.5 Target Exclusions 2.3.6 Escort 2.3.7 Carrier 2.4 Base Settings 3 Targeting 4 Movement 4.1 Auto Stand Off Mode 5 Firing 6 Weapon Charging

[edit] Introduction

A quick glance at all those blinking lights

So there you sit in your brand new combat command center. It's likely that you will recognise some of the well-worn, lit-up buttons... but there's a whole new stack of new blinking gizmos to choose from now as well! To stop you from going insane in your command chair, we have thoughtfully provided this thing that we - in our high-handedness (actually it is just me:) - call THE Battle Manual. Of course all the new buttons need to be tried as quickly as possible. We know this and because of this there's a quick overview first-up covering the functions that underlie all those brightly lit, colored buttons. For most of our readers this will provide everything that you need, so we recommend that you proceed directly from here to the next section.

For the rest of you (i.e. the details-obsessed nerds) we have also written down all those chewy details that you're looking for. Really it's a brand new experience - even a brand new life (depending on your nerd-level!) - that will open up before you with the new combat system. Thus - like life - we'll start by describing how to move and what the new commands do in detail. Then, having (hopefully!) achieved that, we'll teach you the details about how the fight with the new combat system as well. Below are some details on how fighting works and some more details on how targeting works. Both are presented together because fighting without having a target is as pointless as targeting without having something to launch at your enemies.

What comes after that - well we're not sure yet... it's where no-one has gone before...

[edit] Switches

There are four different types of combat switches for ships:

• Targeting
• Movement and Combat Behavior
• Weapon Preferences - on/off switches for specialised weapons
• Fleet and Escort

There are four different types of combat switches for wings:

• Targeting
• Movement and Combat Behavior
• Escort
• Carrier

Targeting and movement are now independent. Whereas in old times most ships had only one officer to keep an eye on the enemy, now they have two - and a computer. Thus even here in this very short introduction we have to distinguish between movement and targeting/shooting.

It is important to note that if you don't set a specific movement or targeting switch then the computer takes over and will control your movement and assign targets for you. This may result in your ship not doing what you actually wanted it to do. You are advised therefore to always set at least one each of the movement and target switches.

First of course we need a description of what the switches do...

[edit] Ship Settings

Most of the following settings can be found on the Ship Command - Attack screen. The buttons should (hopefully) reflect the default values of the switches.

[edit] Combat Initiation

Button		Effect
	Aggressive	The ship will attack enemies (and will leave cloak for that) and actively triggers space combat on its own. When in space combat it immediately opens fire and move with respect to the enemies. If this switch is set to "Defensive" then the unit will not trigger space combat on its own. When in space combat the unit will wait with firing until someone else has opened fire. When combined with "Retreat" the ship immediately tries to stay away from potential aggressors.

[edit] Entering Combat

Button		Effect
Attack Vector		The attack vector is the general direction the ship will attempt to enter battle from. You can choose one of 8 vectors or have the ship enter from a random direction. By default this is set to "0" (random).
	Delay Ship (Second Wave)	The object enters when all own or allied 1st wave units are lost or disabled but not later than combat phase 300. If there are no own or allied 1st wave units in the same combat then this is ignored and the object enters at combat phase 0.

[edit] Weapon Specific

Button		Effect
	Ion Cannon: Fire on Shields	Choose whether Ion Cannons will fire at ships with shield
	Sand Casters: Fire on Ships	Choose whether Sand Casters will fire at ships
	Sand Casters: Fire on Fighters	Choose whether Sand Casters will fire at wings
	Super Weapon	Choose whether the Super Weapon will fire during combat
	Allow Power Boost Mode	Power boost Mode for all large weapons except Blaster Cannons and Plasma Bolt Cannons
	Blaster Cannon / Plasma Bolt Cannon Boost	Power boost only for Blaster Cannons and Plasma Bolt Cannons

[edit] Movement And Combat Behavior

Movement Prefrences - note if none of these four switches are enabled your computer will be in charge of movement (and will use an 'Auto Stand Off' mode, see below for more).

Button		Effect
	Stay At Stand Off Range	Ship tries to hold the standoff range (value set using Stand Off Range slider) with respect to the movement & weapon targets with a priority to the top movement target.
	Retreat From Enemy Ships	The ship tries to flee from the enemy. It will shoot first if combined with "Agressive". If combined with "Defensive" is will only retreat from the enemies and waits with own fire until the enemy opens the fire (mutually exclusive with "Hold The Line At Any Cost").
	Strike Through	Fire a full salvo, peel off, wait until all weapons are charged again. Then repeat the procedure. In host213m you can use the CC "SQx" where "x" is any char to syncronize the attack run of a strike through group of ships and/or wings which then form a "squadron". Units with the same "x" then start within a small time window there attack run.
	Ram!	Move with high speed towards other ships and try to ram, peel off and try again. Won't work against wings. WARNING This attack mode makes your ship blind to wing and base targets.

Other Combat Preferences

Button		Effect
	Stand Off Range (KM)	Goal for the distance to hostile units. Only relevant if Stay At Stand Off Range switch is on.
	Hold The Line At Any Cost	The ship will obey the given orders until the end even if badly damaged (mutually exclusive with "Retreat From Enemy Ships").
	Guard Ground Base	Ships group around own and friendly bases if bases are under fire and leave guarding position if bases are no longer under fire (mutually exclusive with "Avoid bases").

[edit] Target Notes

• If everything shall be destroyed uncheck "Ignore diabled" and "Avoid base".
• If all ships shall be destroyed but no base then check "Avoid base" and uncheck "Ignore diabled".
• If disabled ships shall be ignored but a base shall be destroyed then check "Ignore disabled" and choose the base as kill target.

[edit] Target Preferences

Button		Effect
	Kill target	Primary target number one! Overrides other target preferences and exclusions. (Actually this is not on the attack screen, but can be set using Ship Command - Overview, Ship Command - Nav or the menu bar at the top of the client.) WARNING This may make your ship ignore other enemy units until the kill target is dead.
	Target Soft	The ship will try to fire at small ships, bases and wings first.
	Target Dangerous	The ship will try to fire at big ships, bases and wings first.
	Target Closest	The ship will prefer targets that are near.
	Anti-fighter Mode	Wings will be preferred as targets.
	Prefer Base Targets	Bases will be preferred as targets. If combined with stand off then the stand off range with respect to bases is ignored. The ship will come close to point blank to bases (if there are no hostile base guards anymore for which the stand off range is not ignored). WARNING This 'preference' may make your ship ignore enemy ships until the base is dead (or reduced to 'unarmed' status if you also have Ignore Disabled Bases on).

[edit] Target Exclusions

Button		Effect
	Ignore disabled Ships	Will not fire at disabled ships.
	Ignore disabled Bases	Will not fire at base without Ion Cannons (Building defense).
	Target Harmless Pods	The ship will consider (non assault) pods when looking for an appropriate target.
	Avoid Ground Base	If turned on, the ship will not shoot at enemy bases at all. If a direct course would bring the ship in distance to ICs then the ship will fly around the center. You can overwrite this by setting the base as kill target.

[edit] Escort / Fleet

Ships can now form fleets in space combat. The following switches can be found at the Ship Command - Fleet screen.

Button		Effect
	Escort Target	Source for sharing movement and/or weapon target. Possible fleet leader. (Actually this is not on the fleet screen, but can be set using Ship Command - Overview, Ship Command - Nav or the Menubar at the top of the screen.)
	Fleet Leader	Indicates that this object is also a leader of a fleet in a space combat
	Fleet Member	Indicates that the object is also a part of a fleet in a space combat
	Combat Firing Targets	Use the weapon targets of the escort target
	Combat Movement Targets	Use the movement targets of the escort target (mutually exclusive with the next switch).
	Firing Targets as Movement Targets	Use the escort target's firing targets as movement targets (mutually exclusive with the previous switch).

[edit] Wing Settings

Most of the following settings can be found on the Wing Command - Attack screen.

[edit] General

Button		Effect
	Attack Enemies	The wing will initiate a space combat. In space comat it immediately opens fire at enemies. If not active then it turtles around and wait with fire until the enemy opens fire.

[edit] Entering Combat

Button		Effect
	Do Not Launch	Choose whether the wing will fight in combat or not, if it is docked.
	Delay Wing (Second Wave)	Enter at combat tick 300. When only intact objects of an player/alliance are left, all 2nd wave objects of that player/alliance enter immediately.

[edit] Movement and Combat Behavior

Button		Effect
	Quick Strike and Run	Fire a full salvo, peel off, wait until all weapons are charged again. Then repeat the procedure. In host213m you can use the CC "SQx" where "x" is any char to syncronize the attack run of a strike through group of ships and/or wings which then form a "squadron". Units with the same "x" then start within a small time window there attack run.
	Close To Point Blank	Wing will try to hold zero distance to the top movement targets and fires whenever there is enough energy. If neither "Quick Strike and Run" nor "Close To Point Blank" is active then the wing goes into an automatically stand off behavior with respect to its weapon ranges.
	Guard Ground Base	Wings group around own and friendly bases if bases are under fire and leave guarding position if bases are no longer under fire anymore.

[edit] Target Preferences

Button		Effect
	Kill Target	Primary target number one!
	Target Deadly	The wing will try to fire at big ships, bases and wings first.
	Target Soft	The wing will try to fire at small ships, bases and wings first.
	Target Closest	The wing will prefer targets that are near.
	Anti Fighter (and intercept Wings)	Wings will be preferred as targets.
	Ground Strike	Bases will be preferred as targets.

[edit] Target Exclusions

Button		Effect
	Do Not Fire on Disabled	Ignore disabled objects. Works for bases too.
	Target/Intercept all Pods	The wing will consider (non assault) pods when looking for an appropriate target.
	Avoid Ground Base	If turned on, the wing will not shoot at enemy bases at all. If a direct course would bring the wing in distance to AA Guns then the wing will fly around the center. You can overwrite this by setting the base as kill target.

[edit] Escort

Button		Effect
	Escort Target	Source for sharing movement and/or weapon target.
	Group Together with Escort Target	Wing tries to stay close to the Escort Target.
	Fire at Escort's Targets	Use the weapon targets of the Escort Target.
	Move towards Escort's M Targets	Use the movement targets of the Escort Target (mutually exclusive with the next switch).
	Move towards Escort's F Targets	Use the Escort Target's weapon targets as movement targets (mutually exclusive with the previous switch).

[edit] Carrier

Button		Effect
	Dock Target	Possible target for re-charging and rearming. Wings run out of ord faster with the new code, but can return to their carrier to pick up more ord. If the wings' missiles are poor, you may prefer to just rely on their beams.
	Return Home	Choose whether the wing will return to its carrier/home base for replenishing batteries and loading new ammo. Will no work for missiles-less wings.

[edit] Base Settings

Button		Effect
	Do Not Fire Ion Cannons at Disabled Ships	The base will ignore disabled objects when looking for targets for its Ion Cannons.

[edit] Targeting

Targeting as the act of choosing whom to kill is not an easy task. It can be influenced by the client switches described above. But even without doing anything, each commander has to choose a good target. So what is a good target?

• Hardness: You would confirm that an easy target is something that breaks into parts with the first knock.
• Threat: You will probably also agree on the statement that any object that poses a dangerous threat to you, needs to be removed from the sky before it can harm you.

Normally there are many objects around from which you have to choose your target. Each different and each more or less dangerous and more or less fragile. For choosing an target an object which is a great danger but is also very fragile should be preferred before an object that is a great danger but is hard to kill by yourself. Why? If the dangerous object is gone, it cannot fire any more and you can concentrate on what is left. Thus the quotient "Threat Level"/"Hardness-to-Kill" is used as a measure of whom to kill first (from now on called "Weight"). A dangerous object which is easy to kill gets a high weight according to the formula and a harmless object which is hard to kill a low weight. Regardless of any combat orders that you give, the targeting list will always be based on the weight.

The weights of all objects are calculated every few ticks and the object with the biggest weight will be stored in a target list. This list consists of ten targets with a max of 7 targets of each type (ship, wing, base, pod) and at least one spot for each type (this prevents that you captains could be blinded for example by too many pods).

There are two of such top ten target lists: one for the weapon fire (TTFL) and one for the movement (TTML).

Let's take an example to explain why there are two lists: There are several enemy ships with big weights outside your weapon range at the other end of the map and several minor weight ships inside your weapon range. The ship can now fly towards the ships with big weights while firing at the best target in weapon range. If there would be just one target list, it could happen that either the distant targets are in the list (leading to moving and not firing) or just the targets in range (leading firing only at the near targets and ignoring the targets with high weights).

Long Version of Targeting

[edit] Movement

[edit] Auto Stand Off Mode

If neither a Stand Off Range is given nor Strike Through, Ram! or Retreat from Enemy Ships is enabled, the ship goes into an auto-standoff mode:

• The attack setting will then be the same as setting the stand off range to 90% of the minimal range of the outfitted Large Weapons or Small Weapons.

Long Version of Movement

If a wing is neither set to "Close to Point Blank" nor to "Strike Through" then it goes in a auto stand off, too where it switches periodically between the longest and smallest range of the wing weapons which are able to fire (if there is an ammo shortage then the corresponding missiles ranges are ommited). It starts with the longest range.

The strike through behavior is controlled by the charge state of the weapons. If they are full and the minimum time of 50 (+- some random ticks) has gone by then the object starts an attack run and fire a full salvo at the top movement target. For ships super weapons are not considered for this.

New: Algorithm for the charge check for wings (host 213o)

Most of the code was there since host213m but now it is fully scaled with the corresponding hconfig parameters.

The main idea is to calculate the desired number of shots which the wing should be able to fire in one series without a break so that the needed time is 50 ticks for an average generator value of 10. 50 ticks is almost the time which a non squadron strike thru unit has to stay in peel off mode before the next attack run can be made.

• Abbreviations

fDiv = Firing fighter divisor
mOrd = Fighter missile vcr ord usage
bDrain = Fighter beam drain
mDrain = Fighter missile drain
cDiv = Wing Charge divisor
fBatt = Fighter battery
fG = Fighter generator
bDrain = Beam drain
mDrain = Missile drain
fE = Current fighter energy
maxE = fBatt * fCount = maximum energy the batteries can hold 
nE = needed (desired) energy for being considered as charged
fAmmo = fighter vcr ord
fCount = fighter count of the currently considered type
msC = Desired missle salvo count which should be able to be shot to consider the missiles as charged
bsC = Desired beam salvo count which should be able to be shot to consider the beams as charged 
MeanShotLimit = Number of shots wgich this wing is allowed to fire per tick
uE = energy which the remaining missiles can use
MaxMissiles = The number of missiles the type can fire if it would be fully charged and loaded
Ret = TRUE/FALSE depending on the change state (the returned result of the algorithm)
CanFireBeams = TRUE/FALSE depending on the fact if the wing if charged can fire a beam at all
CanFireMissiles = TRUE/FALSE depending on the fact if the wing if charged and loaded can fire a
missile at all

The last two should reflect that the type could be badly designed or that beam drain is increased too much or if the vcr ord load capacity of the current fighter count in the type does not allow even one missile or there aren't beams or missiles at all.

OC(x,y) is the odds competition function which is defined as

OC(x,y) :=
* 0 if x<=0 and y>=0
* 1 if x>0 and y=0
* 1 - 0.5 * y/x if x>=y
* 0.5 * x/y if x<=y

With this function RND * x > RND * y is equivalent to RND < OC(x,y). This function shall simulate the competition of the two "odds" x and y. If both are equal (expect both are zero) then there is a 50% the x "wins". The greater x becomes the more likely is it that x wings. The chance for this then tends to 100%. But there is always the rest chance for y for a lucky win. The smaller x becomes (while y is constant) the more seldom x wins. THe motivation for OC is to have a meaning for x and y even if there are greater than 100 to avoid a cut off of the inflcuence once x or y are greater than 100 which was often the case in the code.

• START Algorithm

• • Ret = TRUE ' assume the wing is charged
  • DO for all three fighter types
    • IF fCount > 0 THEN
      • IF fCount > 10000 THEN fCount = 10000 ' The number of firing
      • MeanShotLimit = fCount / fDiv + 0.25 * OC(fG - 10, 10)
      • msC = MeanShotLimit * 500 * (fDiv / cDiv) / mDrain: IF msC < 1 THEN msC = 1 ' Intended missile salvos
      • bsC = MeanShotLimit * 500 * (fDiv / cDiv) / bDrain: IF bsC < 1 THEN bsC = 1 ' Intended beam salvos
      • IF maxE >= bDrain THEN ' if the type fire at least one beam when fully charged
        • IF fighterBeam > 0 THEN ' if the type has beams
          • CanFireBeams = TRUE ' the type can fire beams at all
          • nE = bsC * bDrain ' needed energy
          • IF nE > maxE THEN nE = maxE ' if the battery is the limiting factor
          • IF fE < nE THEN ' if type's energy is smaller than needed energy
            • Ret = FALSE: EXIT DO
        • IF fighterMissile > 0 THEN ' IF the type has missiles
        • IF MaxMissiles >= 1 THEN ' If the type is able to fire missiles (with full ord load)
          • IF maxE >= mDrain THEN ' if the type can fire one missile when fully charged
            • CanFireMissiles = TRUE ' the type is able to fire missiles at all
            • IF fAmmo >= mOrd THEN ' if there is ammo for at least one shot
              • nE = msC * mDrain: uE = mDrain * Int(fAmmo / mOrd)
              • IF nE > uE THEN nE = uE ' if ammo is the limiting factor
              • IF nE > maxE THEN nE = maxE ' if the battery is the limiting factor
              • IF fE < nE THEN ' if type's energy is smaller than needed energy
                • Ret = FALSE: EXIT DO
  • If all types in the wing are not able to fire a weapon even if fully loaded and charged then the TRUE signal has to be reset:
  • IF Ret = TRUE THEN
    • IF CanFireBeams = FALSE And CanFireMissiles = FALSE THEN Ret = FALSE
  • WeaponsAreCharged = Ret
• END Algorithm

[edit] Firing

• New: Sandcaster spread fire. A sandcaster tries to fire at all targets in the internal weapon target with one shot. It will not kill more than 30 fighters per type (like it was before) even if it hits several wings. The spread fire sequence stops if a ship was hit.
• New: The exotic tech "Sand Shields" and the "native" sand shield of EE and Bot wings now work for fighter counts of all sizes. It now gives more effective protection for bigger wings.
• New: Large weapons can be set to a special power boost state using energy from the power bank, which enables them to fire at extremely high rate, but also poses a danger that the ship may be damaged severely.
• New: Gatling Phasors can now fire at wings.
• New: There is a new system which allows how many fighters (ShotLimit) in a type can fire per tick:
  • There is a hconfig parameter "FiringFighterDivisor"
  • IF type's count < FiringFighterDivisor THEN
    • IF RND < type's count / FiringFighterDivisor THEN ShotLimit = 1 ELSE = 0
  • IF FiringFighterDivisor <=type's count < 10000 THEN
    • ShotLimit = Round(type's count / FiringFighterDivisor)
  • IF type's count >= 10000 THEN ShotLimit = Round(10000 / FiringFighterDivisor)
  • IF RND < OC(fighterGen - 10, 10) THEN shotLimit = ShotLimit + 2
  • New: There is a 50/50 chance which fighter weapon (beam or missile) will start the fire if both missiles and beams are present, ready to fire and able to hit something.

OC(p,q) is the OddsCompetition function, which is describe in the sandcaster section of the battle manual.

The additional allowed 2 shots per tick for wings will lead to a bonus for generator values over 10.

Here is a table for the additional bonus per tick in the mean depending onthe generator value:

fighterGen bonus (mean)
1          0
4          0
5          0
10         0
11         0.1
15         0.5
20         1
25         1.33
30         1.5
110        1.9

IMPORTANT: The distance, fighter weapon type and exotic tech depending older fire rate is removed.

Long Version of Firing

[edit] Weapon Charging

• New: All objects start with empty systems but charge immediately when entering vcr.
• New: Even if an object "is there" but not visible it charges. I.e. re-docked wings and 2nd wave objects charge all the time even if they are waiting for (re-)entering combat.
• New: Except for the old power boost of the cloakers and the super weapons the power bank also starts empty and has to be charged by surplus energy which was left after normal charging.
• "PowerBoost Cloak" will take place at tick 0. (host 213o)
• The old power boost of the super weapons will take place at tick 175 (host 213o) and tick 4000.
• New: Charging takes now place any single tick. There isn't a difference before or after tick 300 like it was till host212.
• Note: Normal charging, power boost and power boost cloak will charge even objects which are in 2nd wave

Long Version of Weapon Charging