Proposals/Obsolete Proposals/Improved Autoresolve

Improved Autoresolve

Author: BTAxis (talk, contrib)

This page describes a new algorithm for auto-resolving missions. It is intended to replace the algorithm in use at the time of writing (as seen in version 2.2.1).

Note: All calculations and values given in this proposal can (and probably will) be revised.

Algorithm

Balance of power index

The balance of power index is a floating point value between 0 and 1 that indicates how strong PHALANX is compared to the aliens on this mission. The balance of power is a function of the following factors:

• PHALANX and Alien numbers
• PHALANX and Alien equipment
• Difficulty setting

These factors can be determined as follows:

numbers = #(soldiers on mission) / #(aliens in mission)

Note: wounded soldiers only count for (currentHP / maxHP), so two soldiers with 50% HP equal 1 soldier at full HP for the purpose of this calculation. UGVs and 2x2 aliens count for 1.5 (or another value between 1 and 2, as required).

equipment = (total equipment score PHALANX) / (total equipment score aliens)

Note: equipment score is not defined in the script files at present. This score should be defined for each item separately and be the same as the "purchase cost" in Point-based Multiplayer. Typically, the aliens should always have a score per soldier equal to or higher than PHALANX, as alien equipment should have the highest cost/scores.

difficulty = 1 for normal difficulty, <1 for higher difficulties, >1 for lower difficulties.

The index could then be calculated as follows (for example):

BoPindex = min(1.0, numbers * equipment * difficulty).

The balance of power index shouldn't easily reach 1, as the aliens would often outnumber PHALANX and out-gear them too. 1 could be reached on missions where few aliens are present (such as scout missions).

The balance of power is a direct indication of whether or not a mission is successful. If a mission is successful, all aliens are considered killed or captured (more on this later), and a portion of their equipment is recovered (ammo and one-time items such as grenades should be reduced). If the mission is a failure, no equipment is recovered.

Injuries and casualties

Each PHALANX soldier has a chance of being killed in action and a chance of being wounded. The chance for injury is

injuryChance = (1 - BoPindex)

The chance for death is

deathChance = 0.5 * (1 - BoPindex)

Each soldier first "rolls" for injury. If successful, the soldier loses a random amount of health varying between 25% and 75% of his/her max health. If this reduction reduces the soldier's health to 0 (if the soldier was wounded to begin with), the soldier dies. If the injury roll is not successful there is a roll for death. If successful, the soldier dies. Otherwise, the soldier survives the mission unhurt.

Each civilian has a chance of being killed by aliens:

civilianDeathChance = (1 - BoPindex) ^ 0.5

If the mission is successful, a check is made for each non-robot alien that determines whether or not that alien is captured alive. The chance for this occurrence is

liveCaptureChance = 0.1

All other aliens are considered killed.

If the mission is not successful, alien casualties are treated like PHALANX casualties, with chance

alienKilledChance = BoPindex

Experience

Soldiers must gain experience even when autoresolving. There is no need to model this in detail. Soldiers are expected to gain max experience when participating actively on any mission. However, to prevent a 12-man squad from leveling up on a 3-alien mission, experience should be scaled to the numbers factor. For each stat the soldier will use on this mission (strength, speed, (accuracy), HP and the skill corresponding to whichever weapon the soldier has equipped), increase experience by

increase = min(1.0, 1 / numbers) * maxExperience

Scoring

A Score must still be generated for autoresolve missions. Several of the sub-scores can be obtained from the calculations given in this article. Those that cannot should be random or a function of those that can, for simplicity. For example, aliens killed by PHALANX can be a small, fixed chance and civilians infected can be a portion of civilians killed, depending on the alien mission type.

The effect on nation happiness is then calculated from this score, as (will eventually be) normal.