[script] Improved Xenon v0.95: Updated June 17, 2008

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7ate9tin11s
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[script] Improved Xenon v0.95: Updated June 17, 2008

Post by 7ate9tin11s » Mon, 14. Apr 08, 04:26

Improved Xenon 0.95

No updates, just re-uploaded for those looking to download it...but there may be updates in the future.

Overheard at Argon Military
Persistent. That is what they are, persistent. Those Xenon just send wave after wave at our forces until they win by attrition. It is terrible, you know. For them it is just the loss of a easily replicated piece of code and some easily strip-mined resources. For us it is a human life that will take years to replace. I've heard rumors that the high command is getting worried, especially with the new Xenon vessels...
It's been a bad time to be a Xenon, between the improved vessels of the core races and the dangerously improved Kha'ak they keep losing battle after battle. Time for an old terraformer program to learn a few new tricks...

Download
:!: Version 0.95
ZIP (Includes SPK)
mediafire.com: Link

Xdownloads:
[ external image ]

Overview
  • Active Invasion - Each Xenon station in the universe will begin acting as an invasion coordinator. They will build waves of increasing numbers of ships and attempt to destroy everything in their target sector. Eventually they will give up and target a different sector though...eventually :twisted:
  • Optional: Sector Takeover - So what do the Xenon do when they have wiped out a sector? They make their own station and begin invading the next sector. With each sector taken over more invasion forces are put into play, keep the Xenon in check or be overwhelmed!
  • Optional: Extra Stations - Many existing Xenon sectors do not have stations to produce invasion fleets, this option will place a single station in any existing Xenon sectors without them. Xenon 101 will quickly become a problem as it takes over the easily conquered pirate sectors!
  • Optional: Tuned Ships - They are computers, experts at mass production. Each and every Xenon invasion ship will have full rudder and engine tunings straight out of the factory with this option.
  • Optional: Extra Missiles - Xenon ships will come pre-equipped with an assortment of missiles when built, they will also use them more often. However, once they run out they are out.
  • Optional: Surprises - Recent probes have determined that the Xenon are experimenting with equivalents of Lasertowers, Squash Mines, and Fighter Drones. While they seem to self-destruct after a time it is a worrisome advance.
Difficulty Setting Effects

Code: Select all

                       Easy     Normal    Hard    Insane
Station build time*      25         20      15        10
Token min                25         40      75       200
Token increase rate      25         40      75       200
Token max               100        160     300       400
Build timer (seconds)    45         30      20        10 
Small Ship Weighting      3          2       1         1 

*In minutes
Note that Xenon ships with the more missile and the cargo drops options enabled will get more missiles/drops at harder difficulty levels. It is not constant and depends on ship size and other factors so it cannot be easily represented in a chart. ;)

Tokens and Times
When building an invasion force each wave is given a certain number of tokens which increase until the 'Token max' is reached. Once the max is reached the invasion has 'failed' and a sector will be randomly chosen for a new invasion starting at the 'Token min'. Each wave of the invasion has increasingly more tokens available to spend on ships with token costs and build times varying according to the chart here:

Code: Select all

        M1  M2  M3  M4  M5  M6  M7  Unknown
Tokens  60  55   8   4   1  14  35      1-8
Time*   40  40   6   2   1  12  20      1-8

*+1 for each docked ship (randomly chosen) 
What this means is that in normal mode difficulty a unit of Time is 30 seconds and the first invasion wave is 40 tokens. This means the first wave could consist of 40 N's built in 40 minutes, 10 M's built in 20 minutes, 5 L's built in 30 minutes, or some combination of ships that spend the 40 tokens (Usually it is a combination). As you can see at higher difficulty not only are their more ships per invasion wave, they are also built faster. In general each difficulty level attempts to be twice as hard as the previous one. :twisted:

Bugs
1. Your bug here! Please post any bugs you find in this thread!

Future Plans
1. Station building - Currently station just appear after they hold a sector for a period of time. It would be better to ship in the station in a carrier or Argon TL.
2. BBS News - Information about what sectors are currently under assault or in danger of being taken over

Version History
0.8
1. First stable release.

0.9
1. Fixed waves using more tokens than they should.
2. Added delay between invasion waves
3. Xenon stations will not invade sectors more than 2 jumps away now. The Xenon should creep across the universe instead of being an exponential flood now. :roll:
4. A multitude of other little bug fixes

0.95
1. Built ships are more randomized now. Yes, that means capships :p
2. Sanity limits are placed on station building to balance against scripts like RRF which make gates in the middle of nowhere
3. Invasions will begin a bit faster now, there was a bug in the startup code that made the invasions building routine wait for several minutes before beginning the first time.


Edit: removed outdated link, and added alternative links provided by Moonrat and CloneSargaent on page 7. X2-Illuminatus
Last edited by 7ate9tin11s on Wed, 20. May 09, 18:19, edited 6 times in total.

nolon
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Post by nolon » Mon, 14. Apr 08, 06:20

Oh dear me, this would be the answer to my prayers. I have so badly wanted the Xenon to kick my butt like they did in X:BTF. They seemed to lose their threat recently and I can't wait for this to be released. Thanks.
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Post by Legionnaire » Mon, 14. Apr 08, 11:22

WooHoo just started Yet Another Plot Game so will be watching for this shortly as in my opinion Xenon and Khaak should be the biggest threats in the x-universe not Pirates...

Legionnaire

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Trickmov
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Post by Trickmov » Mon, 14. Apr 08, 11:52

I´m sorry, but there is already a script mainly doing, what you are suggesting (at least the invasions and the sector-takeover)

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=203803

There will be a new version of this with jumping-in Xenons, soon. It´s tested at the moment in the Mod BSG.

EDIT: One suggestion to the increasing number of invasion ships:
This may cause extreme lags, because in my tests with my script, it wasn´t possible to allow more than 4 Capital-Ships fighting against 3 Defender Capital Ships. If using more ships, the lags were so extreme, that it wasn´t possible to take part in the fights yourself. Similar to the endfight in the plot :wink: .

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Post by somalezulus » Mon, 14. Apr 08, 12:58

7ate9tin11s: PLEASE, DO IT! It doesn't matter if somebody else will or has released something similar. You, modders and scripters are not competing. More variants of the same script are better for us than 1 script.
And I will surely like more your script CREATING ships that invade then their script REDISTRIBUTING ships in invaded sectors. Btw: Why would some robots halt war production for 24h if they loose 1 shipyard?

Please, 7ate9tin11s, do release your Xennon script! Or at least send it to me if you can!
Ender of the Xennons, loosing fleet after fleet against the Khaak.

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Trickmov
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Post by Trickmov » Mon, 14. Apr 08, 13:12

somalezulus wrote:Btw: Why would some robots halt war production for 24h if they loose 1 shipyard?
Ok, that´s because the player shall have the possibility to pause the invasions for a certain time and so the Xenons have only one Shipyard. And you will get a reward if you destroy it.

In my next version the times between the invasions are smaller (8 hours) and 16 for the shipyard. It´s more an balancing problem than a scripting problem. If you make too fast invasions, too many sectors are lost too fast(especially at the start of a new game), if you make it to slow, it´s boring.
In my script i got not much response about the times, so i don´t know exactly what most players would like.

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Tenlar Scarflame
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Post by Tenlar Scarflame » Mon, 14. Apr 08, 17:02

I'd go for 7ate's Xenon script first, as I feel it would coordinate better with his Improved Khaak...

not to dis Trickmov at all, of course. We are all obviously looking to revamp the Xenon, Trick just got to it first :D
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Trickmov
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Post by Trickmov » Mon, 14. Apr 08, 17:14

Tenlar Scarflame wrote:I'd go for 7ate's Xenon script first, as I feel it would coordinate better with his Improved Khaak...

not to dis Trickmov at all, of course. We are all obviously looking to revamp the Xenon, Trick just got to it first :D
Of course, his script will correspond better with his improved Khaak-Script (i didn´t know it existed), but my script will correspond better with my STO takeover-Script.

But i don´t want to discuss the advantages or disadvantages of this or my script. Fact is, there are two scripts going to be existent, that are doing nearly the same work, with a few differences. So the player can decide him/herself what he/she likes more.

P.S. the new version of my script is now online.

Deathwalker1701
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Post by Deathwalker1701 » Mon, 14. Apr 08, 21:33

Will this work with Race Response Fleets and XTD mod

7ate9tin11s
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Post by 7ate9tin11s » Tue, 15. Apr 08, 04:17

@Trickmov
Mine looks like it will work quite differently than yours in that I am not replacing the normal invasions. I am merely producing a few more Xenon ships that attack surrounding sectors in waves. As for the amounts that can be tuned with the difficulty settings and there should not be an overwhelming number of capital ships unless multiple Xenon sectors are working together. Also, the only production delays in mine are when an invasion is in progress...otherwise they are preparing for the next invasion :D . Oh, my Xenon don't use jumpdrives either since I figured computers don't get bored, why do they need to hurry? :roll:

@Deathwalker1701
Of course it will work with RRF and XTM, I make sure all my scripts do since those are two of the most used scripts :D . (I am assuming you mean XTM for XTD, if not try it and tell me if it works with XTD when released ;) )

@Everyone
ETA is still late this week or early next week depending on how testing is going. I decided to migrate the current beta to the improved kha'ak difficulty framework for more user control.

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Post by Deathwalker1701 » Tue, 15. Apr 08, 08:54

7ate9tin11s wrote:@Trickmov
Mine looks like it will work quite differently than yours in that I am not replacing the normal invasions. I am merely producing a few more Xenon ships that attack surrounding sectors in waves. As for the amounts that can be tuned with the difficulty settings and there should not be an overwhelming number of capital ships unless multiple Xenon sectors are working together. Also, the only production delays in mine are when an invasion is in progress...otherwise they are preparing for the next invasion :D . Oh, my Xenon don't use jumpdrives either since I figured computers don't get bored, why do they need to hurry? :roll:

@Deathwalker1701
Of course it will work with RRF and XTM, I make sure all my scripts do since those are two of the most used scripts :D . (I am assuming you mean XTM for XTD, if not try it and tell me if it works with XTD when released ;) )

@Everyone
ETA is still late this week or early next week depending on how testing is going. I decided to migrate the current beta to the improved kha'ak difficulty framework for more user control.
Yes you are right it is XTM mod.
And i real install :)
Like the idea of no jump drives

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Trickmov
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Post by Trickmov » Tue, 15. Apr 08, 10:56

As for the amounts that can be tuned with the difficulty settings and there should not be an overwhelming number of capital ships unless multiple Xenon sectors are working together.
I still have a question about RFF, the number of Xenon Capital Ships isn´t the problem with the lags, but (in my script) when you use RFF, which sends defender-ships depending on fleet-size of the attacker to the sector, you have too many fighting ships in the sector to play without lags.

And another problem i have, is that when you use RFF there wouldn´t be a chance for the Xenon to conquer a sector, because RFF is defending with increasing number of ships.

Finally i can say, that my script could work together with RFF, but it shouldn´t.

Is this really different from your script? I can´t see, why your script shouldn´t have the same lags, when using RFF. Or at least you can say, when using RFF, the Xenon can´t overtake sectors...

Ok, maybe the idea of great space battle looks cool, but in reality the performance of X3 isn´t so big, that it would allow this.

About the differences of the two scripts: Yes, you are right, there are significant differences. Eventually it´s possible to let the two scripts work together, because when you create additional ships and give them the right commands (invade oder move_to_sec), i see no greater problem.


EDIT: Still another question about sector takeover in both of your scripts. When the Xenon or Khaak have conquered a sector, is there a possibility for the original owner to get it back?

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Post by 7ate9tin11s » Tue, 15. Apr 08, 11:27

Thinking about it, I think your still confusing my script with the 'paid' BBS event Xenon Invasions. This has nothing to do with them at all. This script is much more vicious than that :twisted: .

As for RRF, it merely delays the inevitable in IK (Improved Kha'ak) and this new IX (Improved Xenon). While powerful, RRF does have limitations and both IK and IX focus on the biggest ones:

1. RRF is a coward :lol:

I know that sounds strange, but the RRF ships will jump out of the sector to recharge their shields allowing the persistent attackers in the sector to wear down and destroy the reduced fleet numbers until, eventually, the RRF fleet is slowly destroyed, gives up, or decides to fight a threat elsewhere. I really like this behavior in RRF since the crew should be more important than the ship for human-like beings (The Kha'ak I take as a hive mind where losing a ship is like cutting a hair, no big deal. The Xenon have everyone on backup *shrug*). IX will be focusing on this method for victory mostly.

2. RRF can be tricked :D

RRF ships are loath to leave a battle and be re-assigned elsewhere. A small skirmish in one sector nearby may keep the forces split long enough to overwhelm another sector. Especially when the targeted small ships play keep-away. This is a good reaction too as it allow us...well...anti-RRF scripters have a chance :D . IK really uses this quite well when there are no large Kha'ak ships in sector. It can tie up RRF vessels for long durations by just ignoring them and moving to kill small ships. IX will do this to a lesser extent by having multiple invasions happening around the universe to keep RRF occupied.

For the processing issues, it is difficult to make an AI script that has no processing fingerprint and, as we all know, RRF has quite the processing cost already. While I try to make my scripts as lightweight as possible there will still be a burden when the capital ships start going at it unless your machine can handle it. Not much I can do unless I get ambitious enough to make a stripped down lightweight alternative to RRF.

Edit for Edit: Yes, just destroy their station :D

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Trickmov
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Post by Trickmov » Tue, 15. Apr 08, 11:42

Thinking about it, I think your still confusing my script with the 'paid' BBS event Xenon Invasions
I´m using a signal (the original signal with an added counter), don´t know whether you change the signal handling in your script.
This is a good reaction too as it allow us...well...anti-RRF scripters have a chance
I like this idea :) , in fact i don´t use RRF at all, but i have read the description, when creating my script and i imagined that there would be problems.

I will try establishing small skirmishes in neighbouring sectors.

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Post by 7ate9tin11s » Wed, 16. Apr 08, 04:13

Nope, no signal usage in the Xenon script at all, just create the ships and let them loose with the custom AI :twisted: . Kha'ak uses SIGNAL_KILLED though.

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Post by Legionnaire » Wed, 16. Apr 08, 11:44

if your using Signal Killed does that mean this wont be compatible with Pilote IA which also uses signal killed?

Legionnaire

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Post by 7ate9tin11s » Thu, 17. Apr 08, 03:45

Improved Xenon does not use signal killed at all, Improved Kha'ak does thouogh. However, if the signal is disabled in IK it will not do too much damage to the script they just will not be as smart and will have to rely on the proactive routine to start swarming.

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Post by 7ate9tin11s » Fri, 18. Apr 08, 06:35

Version 0.8 posted, hope your ready :twisted:

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Post by Phier » Fri, 18. Apr 08, 07:05

I'm starting to love you, but in a good healthy way.

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Post by 7ate9tin11s » Fri, 18. Apr 08, 09:00

:gruebel:

Finished running a test with both IX and IK on insane mode...the Xenon do not have a stations per hour limitation so they had more sectors captured. However, the Kha'ak could take a Xenon sector without breaking a sweat whenever they felt like it. I had RRF off so there was no interference this test :p

I have not yet tried testing this with Xenon Border Skirmishes, but have tested it with Xenon Migration. It works fine with migration, but the extra migration ships are kinda overkill :D .

If anyone is up to it I can always use assistance in tuning the difficulty levels, please let me know if a setting is too easy/hard so I can manipulate it.

Btw, the scariest ship in the Xenon fleet is the J ... not only is it loaded with guns, my script makes sure the 50 fighters it can hold are all present and accounted for :twisted: .

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