[http://sourceforge.net/p/ufoai/feature-requests/521 Item 521] imported from sourceforge.net tracker on 2013-01-28 20:22:06

Currently if baseattack mission is spawned it attacks a random base with command center. It's not the best way to do. With base connectivity feature it is possible that the player doesn't build command center for a while (he doesn't want it to be too close to the entrance).

My suggestion is having a stealth value for the PHALANX bases as alien bases do. If a UFO flies over (or near) the base it get decreased, if you build a radar, it decrease, if you launch aircraft from it (and a UFO is near?) it also decreases. UFOs will attack the bases they know (stealth is below a threshold).

-geever
===== Comments Ported from Sourceforge =====

====== btaxis (2011-01-16 10:08:51) ======

There are two things to make a decision on here: firstly, how do you calculate the stealth value? Secondly, how do you use the stealth value when spawning alien base attacks?

For the first question, you could do something like this.
- A base has a floor visibility value of 0 (meaning, totally invisible)
- Each operational (i.e. finished construction) facility in the base increases the visibility value by a certain amount. For many facilities, this will be 0.
- Facilities that increase the vilibility by a non-0 amount could be: command center, radar, hangar, anti-UFO weaponry, research labs, workshops.
- Any operational base should have visibilty higher than 0.

For the second issue, there are a number of possible approaches. Here is one example:
- Base attack missions are spawned as usual, with the current campaign framework system.
- When a base mission is spawned, there is a probability that the mission won't be spawned, equal to 1 minus the sum of all base's current visibility (max 1). That means that if the player has a small number of barely visible bases, the aliens won't attack as much, while they will attack a lot more often if the total visibility of all bases equals or exceeds 1.
- If a base attack mission does get spawned, select a base at random, weighted by their visibility (a base with 0 visibility will never be selected).