New autobattle

[ShipIt]

Right now I know two such maps. With bug And the same error with "craft_crash_fighter".

what nokim said. for example in console

Code: [Select]

2012/06/04 23:10:25 ********************
2012/06/04 23:10:25 ERROR: Could not find tile: '+craft_crash_fighter' in assembly 'alienlandingnature' (maps/frozen.ump)
2012/06/04 23:10:25 ********************
2012/06/04 23:10:30 Shutdown server: Server crashed.
2012/06/04 23:10:30 Unload the game library
2012/06/04 23:10:30 Music: geoscape track changed from Crystan-Geosphere02 to Crystan-Geosphere02.

Not sure if serious, guys. If you are playing 2.5-dev you should not complain about one or two (out of 90) maps not loading. This is the bleeding edge of development - you should expect such things to happen much more frequently than they actually do.

Also, it is not a problem of the map(s) itself. And the map(s) are not new by any means.

[kurja]

Didn't mean to complain, just pointed out where such problem lies.

On the other hand, the dev version is what is recommended here (which I find a little odd, usually latest stable is the "recommended" version but not in case of ufoai).

[TrashMan]

I say that my proposal is still by far the simplest and most accurate....

[Telok]

If you are playing 2.5-dev you should not complain about one or two (out of 90) maps not loading.

I was trying to play 2.5-dev and it was closer to 1 in 5 maps not loading. Of course that's because I had one of my two main bases at the South Pole and shot down alien craft religiously. Seriously, it's something like two out of the four Arctic theme maps that have the bug.

Also of note in 2.5-dev is that base attacks spawn your soldiers equally between ALL of your living quarters and your Command Center. A base with 7 labs in it will scatter your troops over five tiles worth of spawns. Base defence is a total nuisance now.

[Jon_dArc]

Not sure if serious, guys.

I'm totally serious.

If you are playing 2.5-dev you should not complain about one or two (out of 90) maps not loading. This is the bleeding edge of development - you should expect such things to happen much more frequently than they actually do.

Yep. Which is why a way to work around the issue is so valuable—especially since the implementation work is already done.

(You may notice that the issue was brought up in the context of "what roles does Automission serve", not "the maps are broken, you incompetent jerks!" )

~J

[kurja]

Also of note in 2.5-dev is that base attacks spawn your soldiers equally between ALL of your living quarters and your Command Center.

They also spawn in hospital.

[ShipIt]

I'm totally serious.
Yep. Which is why a way to work around the issue is so valuable ...

I think the bug should be fixed.

[Jon_dArc]

But again, it's not "the bug". A week or so before, a different mission was failing to load for a different reason (sadly I was remiss in saving the log, but IIRC it got fixed). You yourself just said that it wasn't reasonable to expect these things to not happen. Or is there a specific overhaul of map/mission-related resources causing these bugs that's done or mostly done and thus we should no longer expect new mission-loading issues?

~J

[ShipIt]

But again, it's not "the bug". A week or so before, a different mission was failing to load for a different reason (sadly I was remiss in saving the log, but IIRC it got fixed). You yourself just said that it wasn't reasonable to expect these things to not happen. Or is there a specific overhaul of map/mission-related resources causing these bugs that's done or mostly done and thus we should no longer expect new mission-loading issues?

~J

Afaik the "Could not find tile: ..."  is one bug that affects two maps. The maps that were reported having this problem are +frozen and +mansion. You can load and play each assembly (version) of those maps in Skirmish mode without problems. Thats why it is not a problem of the maps but a problem of the map/assembly selection. Unfortunately +frozen is one of only a few maps we have for 'cold' environment, so it is choosen quite often, resulting in an annoying amount of broken missions if one, as Telok does, shoots down UFOs there regulary.

I am quite sure we could do an easy workaround. On the other hand, why not just fix the bug? It will take some time, but remember, this is a spare time project.

[Nokim]

Afaik the "Could not find tile: ..."  is one bug that affects two maps. The maps that were reported having this problem are +frozen and +mansion.

You should add to list some map from Japan. I don't know exact name, may be literally "japan"? It lacks tile for UFO Fighter.

Yes, fixing a bug is the best solution, however i would prefer combo: if game encounter such situation it uses any other usable map/data and log(send?) detailed report on issue. Just crashing is too frustrating for regular user and you can't guarantee absence of bugs or quick fixing of them in "a spare time project", so why not use such workarounds when terminating a game is not really required?

[ShipIt]

If one can provide a .log or a savegame about the +japan map I will add it to the tracker.

[ShipIt]

Yes, fixing a bug is the best solution, however i would prefer combo: if game encounter such situation it uses any other usable map/data and log(send?) detailed report on issue. Just crashing is too frustrating for regular user and you can't guarantee absence of bugs or quick fixing of them in "a spare time project", so why not use such workarounds when terminating a game is not really required?

It is not only a spare time project, but also Open Source. So nobody will stop you if you start to hack this into the code.

[Nokim]

It is not only a spare time project, but also Open Source. So nobody will stop you if you start to hack this into the code.

I've tried once... And perhaps i will again because game crashes and hangs on exit every time (ticket in bugtracker 3529383). As far as i can say it's related to memory allocation and video driver, game reads memory outside allocated block.

[RealSpirit]

Reasons for Autobattle
For me Auto-Battle should be a tool when standards happen too often.

in an attempt to cover all earth quite early i observed that in that early stage the number of ufos rose with the number of bases. while i had 1 ufo per 3 days earlier, later on i had 2-3 daily

suggestions
global
- autobattle should only be possible when there is nothing new to the player: map has been played, all races are known (autopsy), all used weapons and armor are known, ufo type is known
- there should be a slight increase in performance if within the last 5 battles on that maptype at least 3 were played, and there should be a slight decay in performance if anything is auto-battled, not much but a slight bit
- that increase and decay should also be bases of the points gained by the soldiers
- generally points gained should be about half of those of a real battle max
- points gained should depend on equipment (weapon type), map type (more or less physical training on small/large maps, precision enforced or not), and other equipment (ie. intelligence <-> medikit and so on

per combat
- map types (close combat, open map, lots of hidings, lack of it) should favor one or the other weapon type. counts for both sides
- armor and race stats should have an impact (bigger one)
- numbers should have an impact
- weapons used should have a big impact
- skills of combatants should have quite an impact
- rank (=strategic knowledge) should have at least a small impact

most important of all:
runs should vary in result, but slightly. please don't create completely random fights. if there are 20 good equipped enemies that kill you completely in 1 run, it shouldn't be possible to kill them lossless in the next. use ranges to handle it a bit.

random fights should cover the easier battles, not the rare hard ones

[geever]

i observed that in that early stage the number of ufos rose with the number of bases

You're wrong. The number of missions spawned doesn't depend on number of bases you've built. It must have been a coincidence.

- autobattle should only be possible when there is nothing new to the player: map has been played, all races

Wrong: If auto-fight is available, player would know "ah... it has nothing new, interesting stuff for me", and will suggest using autofight. We don't want it.

- there should be a slight increase in performance if within the last 5 battles on that maptype at least 3 were played, and there should be a slight decay in performance if anything is auto-battled, not much but a slight bit

Again, no. The fact the same maps repeat too much is only that we don't have enough of them. You can find instructions on wiki about map making!

In my opinion, - and this will be the last time I write it down -, autofight should only depend on the soldiers/aliens incorporated in the fight and their equipment and some luck, yes. This includes the soldier's stats which improves by doing missions.

runs should vary in result, but slightly. please don't create completely random fights.

The current implementation is not yet complete, as equipment scoring is missing and stat scoring is maybe half-done. Noone wanna make them completely random, it's just the system needs fine tuning and some additions.

-geever