Anyone have a good understanding of enemy leveling?

[Twinge]

Mantis are more likely to have teleports, so have less power leftover for weapons. Riggers typically have drones, or a lot of drones. Stuff like that.

This stuff is in autoBlueprints.xml and most of it is straightforward. The power caps are probably handled internally by the engine.

There's actually a <maxPower> setting in the autoBlueprints file as well, which serves as the power cap. It (and hull amount) both go up as a ship levels up in later Sectors as well.

This also means that a ship doesn't strictly have less available power for weapons if it has a Teleporter or Cloaking or whatever - AFAIK it just depends on the maxPower setting.

rarity 0 means the item is unavailable for sale (NO idea if it can be given by events, or how that is controlled).

I believe rarity affects random event drops the same way it does appearance in stores. You can, of course, still directly give out rarity 0 stuff through events if desired (e.g. Engi Medibots).

Seeing doors level 99 would not stop me from boarding it, IF i had a quick enough teleporter. Raising system and upgrade costs may be the best way of balancing boarding. Even then, it would have to be extremly expensive not to be considered an ideal choice. A higher likelihood of an upgraded medbay (and to a certain extent, presence of repair drones that can repair even as they are meleed to pieces) AND security drones, coupled with decent offense are the ways to make me think twice.

It's meant to be part of an overall package to nerf boarding a bit from all sides. In itself more upgraded doors isn't a big deal, but I feel it's another important piece of the puzzle. You mention not being afraid of doors if you had an upgraded teleporter - that's another scrap expense and another reason to spend it. (I personally rarely upgrade my Teleporter because with how easy kiting is - because of no Doors 2 - Level 1 does the job just as well in most cases.)

Raising system cost unfortunately is only a nerf to ships that don't start with a Teleporter installed. I originally planned on raising the cost further, but dropped it back down to 80 because of this fact. Additional level upgrades aren't terribly strong (Level 1 gets the job done quite well in most cases), but with higher chance of improved doors maybe it'll be more worth considering. I'll go ahead and up the Level 2 upgrade by 5 scrap (leaving the Level 3 reduction of 5 scrap).

I went ahead and increased the occurrence of Doors 2 on all Zoltan ships for version 6.2 (Engi Bomber had already been increased previously); I'll probably increase occurrence to a lesser extent for Mantis, Slug, and Engi Scout ships. I hadn't actually considered more Anti-Personnel Drones - I'll definitely add those to the Engi Drone list (though it'll still favor Defense Drones).

I'll still add some increased Medbay occurrence in some fashion, but it's a more significant buff so I want to tread more carefully. I'll also note that I've already also decreased the average scrap reward for boarding a little bit, so your direct income gains from it aren't quite as drastic compared to destruction. Finally I also want to add 1-2 more events where the enemy ship is fleeing right away - this is a very minor boarding nerf and a minor FTL Jammer buff.


Also, small note for anyone looking at this stuff internally - sector counts start at 0, not at 1. So if you don't want a ship to appear in Sector 1, you should have it set to "<minSector>1</minSector>" which means the minimum sector it can show up in is Sector 2.

[UltraMantis]

Mantis are more likely to have teleports, so have less power leftover for weapons. Riggers typically have drones, or a lot of drones. Stuff like that.

This stuff is in autoBlueprints.xml and most of it is straightforward. The power caps are probably handled internally by the engine.

There's actually a <maxPower> setting in the autoBlueprints file as well, which serves as the power cap. It (and hull amount) both go up as a ship levels up in later Sectors as well.

This also means that a ship doesn't strictly have less available power for weapons if it has a Teleporter or Cloaking or whatever - AFAIK it just depends on the maxPower setting.

I stand corrected then. I assumed that a teleporter or other system would automatically reduce the "power pool", instead of the ship being defined more strictly in the blueprints.

rarity 0 means the item is unavailable for sale (NO idea if it can be given by events, or how that is controlled).

I believe rarity affects random event drops the same way it does appearance in stores. You can, of course, still directly give out rarity 0 stuff through events if desired (e.g. Engi Medibots).

I think you're right. I've never been gifted any of my custom made weapons and they were allways set to 0 due to the nature of the mod.

Seeing doors level 99 would not stop me from boarding it, IF i had a quick enough teleporter. Raising system and upgrade costs may be the best way of balancing boarding. Even then, it would have to be extremly expensive not to be considered an ideal choice. A higher likelihood of an upgraded medbay (and to a certain extent, presence of repair drones that can repair even as they are meleed to pieces) AND security drones, coupled with decent offense are the ways to make me think twice.

It's meant to be part of an overall package to nerf boarding a bit from all sides. In itself more upgraded doors isn't a big deal, but I feel it's another important piece of the puzzle. You mention not being afraid of doors if you had an upgraded teleporter - that's another scrap expense and another reason to spend it. (I personally rarely upgrade my Teleporter because with how easy kiting is - because of no Doors 2 - Level 1 does the job just as well in most cases.)

I'm a beliver in upgrades, they are allways valuable even if it does depend on your ship and overall strategy. The question is when to fork over the scrap. Regarding teleporters only, a lvl1 tele is too slow to recharge and the likelyhood of losing unskilled attackers is high enough to warrant a lvl2 upgrade. That upgrade is a must anyway if you wish to attack AI ships. A lvl3 tele is an upgrade to take if you are dedicated to boarding, and either wish to move your guys back n' forth (works wonders with a lvl3 MedBay) or want to send more boarders over to overwhelm the enemy crew. This isn't set in stone or anything, but usually when i'm buying a tele, i feel it won't be used effectively without at least a lvl2 upgrade.

Raising system cost unfortunately is only a nerf to ships that don't start with a Teleporter installed. I originally planned on raising the cost further, but dropped it back down to 80 because of this fact. Additional level upgrades aren't terribly strong (Level 1 gets the job done quite well in most cases), but with higher chance of improved doors maybe it'll be more worth considering. I'll go ahead and up the Level 2 upgrade by 5 scrap (leaving the Level 3 reduction of 5 scrap).

I went ahead and increased the occurrence of Doors 2 on all Zoltan ships for version 6.2 (Engi Bomber had already been increased previously); I'll probably increase occurrence to a lesser extent for Mantis, Slug, and Engi Scout ships. I hadn't actually considered more Anti-Personnel Drones - I'll definitely add those to the Engi Drone list (though it'll still favor Defense Drones).

You underestimate my love affair with teleporters sir. Raise costs of all three levels by 100 scrap and watch me buy them all. You might find a capable weapon combo as you play, but with a teleporter you are set with a weapon right after you spend scrap on it.

Doors are minor annoyances, but still there. The real obstacle to boarding is a MedBay with Security Drones... those drones tank up huge amounts of damage and seriously interfere with holding a MedBay locked down. The enemy has more chance to repair and use it. Even if it does nothing more than delay the inevitable, boarding takes your eyes off your own ship and lengthy melee battles expose it to more incoming fire.

Of course, i wouldn't suggest that you alter the balance either to my liking or too far away from the original game. Just shootin' some ideas there. Speaking of which... i'm currently finetuning a ship with a 1-slot teleporter. If i can get the balance right it will be the least OP boarding ship you've ever seen. The teleporter cooldown upgrades are definetly in a different class here.

I'll still add some increased Medbay occurrence in some fashion, but it's a more significant buff so I want to tread more carefully. I'll also note that I've already also decreased the average scrap reward for boarding a little bit, so your direct income gains from it aren't quite as drastic compared to destruction. Finally I also want to add 1-2 more events where the enemy ship is fleeing right away - this is a very minor boarding nerf and a minor FTL Jammer buff.

Good call on fleeing. More to consider when deciding how to attack.
I'm fine with reduced scrap rewards. Just having a dependable way of discombobulating the enemy is enough for me. That and chance of finding crew. You can't rely on boarding for every encounter, but much of the time it's an ideal choice. If it isn't possible to nerf it then it's costs should be higher.

[speedoflight]

Well, while some people consider doors a minor obstacle, i dont think that way. An enemy with level 3 doors is very dangerous, because u can get stucked in one room and lose your crew members if fire ignites insidce, or you dont have oxygen or the enemy ship attacks your teleport system, etc. I mean, of course doors are not the major problem here, but obviously is something that is worthy the attention.

[Vhati]

I've no experience making enemy ship mods, but I'm assuming 'max' means the system rooms' initial capacity, and 'power' is initial power bars in use (subject to the AI transferring power around in-game).

Does the 'max' attribute do anything on subsystems (leaving 'power' to determine both capacity and usage)?

In other words, since subsystems are always fully powered, are these two functionally the same?
<doors power="1" max="3" room="1" />
<doors power="3" max="3" room="1" />

Hmmmm, all the vanilla ships in autoBlueprints.xml have power=1 / max=3 for doors...


Edit: Changed the question from being about 'power' to about 'max'. They all have the same max, and I would've remembered ubiquitous blast doors.

[slowriderxcorps]

I've no experience making enemy ship mods, but I'm assuming 'max' means the system rooms' initial capacity, and 'power' is initial power bars in use (subject to the AI transferring power around in-game).

Does the 'power' attribute do anything on subsystems?

In other words, since subsystems are always fully powered, are these two functionally the same?
<doors power="1" max="3" room="1" />
<doors power="3" max="3" room="1" />

Hmm, or would 'max' be ignored, and 'power' determine both usage and capacity?

Hmmmm, all the vanilla ships in autoBlueprints.xml have power=1 / max=3 for doors...

In this situation, the ship would either have guaranteed doors of any strength level (top), or guaranteed Improved Blast Doors (bottom).

[Vhati]

In this situation, the ship would either have guaranteed doors of any strength level (top), or guaranteed Improved Blast Doors (bottom).

So 'max' sets a range for randomly generating a room's 'power' then.
* as in systemBlueprint's maxPower, capping level attainable via upgrades.

And it has nothing to do with creating a partially-powered room when it's greater than 'power'.
* as in shipBlueprint's 'maxPower'.
(the capacity you could fill to, by transfering power from elsewhere into the reactor)


If it's a range, then that'd mean there'd be enemies with doors above level 1 occasionally.
*Searches for screenshots and let's plays*
Edit: Ah, found one.

[Vhati]

I was revising the SavedGame Editor's code to board an enemy ship, and wanted to figure out what stats it'd normally spawn with (previously I used systemBlueprints' startPower, which was wrong). I must've known this at some point, since the sliders in the system editor were written correctly (room 'max' overrides system 'maxPower' to limit how much capacity can grow).

Thanks for the quick answer.