Fractal Softworks Forum

Starsector => General Discussion => Topic started by: GruntyThrst on July 09, 2012, 05:32:53 PM

Title: Autofire Target Selection Mechanics?
Post by: GruntyThrst on July 09, 2012, 05:32:53 PM
Here's something I haven't figured out yet. I spent several hours drawing this very detailed technical schematic to assist with my inquiry:

(http://i.imgur.com/qDZvr.jpg)

Let's say I'm captaining the ISS Slightly Lopsided Isosceles Triangle here. I've got 3 weapons. A and B are plain old regular shooty guns, whereas C is a PD-type weapon. Let's also assume that all weapons are part of a single group, which is set to autofire.

Suppose only Enemy Box Ship 1 is present (I.E. ignore 2 and 3). I know that Enemy Box Ship 1 is in the firing arc for both A and B, so both will target it. But what if, instead, Enemy Box Ships 2 and 3 are attacking and 1 is not there. Each ship is in a firing arc, but they are in different arcs. Will each weapon fire on the ship in it's arc, or will both weapons try to train onto one ship at a time (and thus only one will be able to fire?). And in both cases, will PD weapon C fire on incoming missiles in another arc?

Given that we only have 5 weapon groups to deal with, how to best assign weapons to groups depends a lot on how the autofire mechanics work. An admittedly cursory search through the forums and manual didn't turn up an answer, so I figured might as well ask.
Title: Re: Autofire Target Selection Mechanics?
Post by: Alex on July 09, 2012, 05:40:00 PM
Hi there, welcome to the forum!

Let's say I'm captaining the ISS Slightly Lopsided Isosceles Triangle here.

Nicely done, sir.


To answer your question: auto-firing weapons will pick their targets individually. PD weapons will go after missiles and then fighters, and then other targets. Non-PD weapons will go after your target first - if it's in their arc. Failing that (if you don't have a ship targeted with 'r', or if it's out of their arc) they'll pick the target that it'd take the least amount of turning to shoot at.

So, in your scenario, A might fire on 1 or 2, while B might fire on 3 or 1. PD weapon C will fire at the missiles. If 1 goes away, A will fire at 2 and B will fire at 3.
Title: Re: Autofire Target Selection Mechanics?
Post by: legion on July 09, 2012, 05:43:06 PM
From what I have seen, the turret AI picks targets based on priority, proximity and wether or not they are in the turret arc. Weapons in the same group but with non-overlapping arcs (like turret \c in your example) will auto target for whatever has the highest priority (in your case the missiles). A  good ship to test this with is an Odyssey.


And ninja'd.
Title: Re: Autofire Target Selection Mechanics?
Post by: GruntyThrst on July 09, 2012, 05:56:25 PM
Hi there, welcome to the forum!

Let's say I'm captaining the ISS Slightly Lopsided Isosceles Triangle here.

Nicely done, sir.


To answer your question: auto-firing weapons will pick their targets individually. PD weapons will go after missiles and then fighters, and then other targets. Non-PD weapons will go after your target first - if it's in their arc. Failing that (if you don't have a ship targeted with 'r', or if it's out of their arc) they'll pick the target that it'd take the least amount of turning to shoot at.

So, in your scenario, A might fire on 1 or 2, while B might fire on 3 or 1. PD weapon C will fire at the missiles. If 1 goes away, A will fire at 2 and B will fire at 3.

Fantastic, thanks! Now I don't have to be as anal with my weapon grouping.
Title: Re: Autofire Target Selection Mechanics?
Post by: frag971 on July 09, 2012, 06:52:35 PM
Let's say I'm captaining the ISS Slightly Lopsided Isosceles Triangle here.
That is my signature from now on.