Matrix Games Forums

frankycl wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 7:46 am Yes, you can do this, but the game will only use types that are defined in the ShipHullList.xsd:

Code: Select all

  <xs:simpleType name="ComponentBayType">
    <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
      <xs:enumeration value="Undefined" />
      <xs:enumeration value="General" />
      <xs:enumeration value="Engine" />
      <xs:enumeration value="Weapon" />
      <xs:enumeration value="Defense" />
      <xs:enumeration value="Sensor" />

So, I guess that for your wanted "Ion Protection" you'd need to change/add the ComponentBayType "Defense" and then add the regarding components by their IDs.

zgrssd wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 8:20 am That is good news. So it would be as simple as:
1. Add the Custom Bay type
2. Change the 5 Components (2 armors, 2 fighter armors, 1 component) to use that bay type
3. Give every ship it the game a bay. One Size 10 for Civil ones. One Size 10 plus Size 20 for military ones.

frankycl wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 11:34 am

zgrssd wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 8:20 am That is good news. So it would be as simple as:
1. Add the Custom Bay type
2. Change the 5 Components (2 armors, 2 fighter armors, 1 component) to use that bay type
3. Give every ship it the game a bay. One Size 10 for Civil ones. One Size 10 plus Size 20 for military ones.

No, it's not "simple as..."

1. There's no "Custom Bay type" you can use - only the ones from above, and for armor/shields this would be "Defense".
(maybe you could also use "Undefined", but I'm not sure what the AI would do with this if it should be upgraded/retrofitted )

2. You can change/add as much component-bays (with the same Type) as you want, but you'd need to define what components are used for these component-bays in the design-templates (with the regarding component-IDs*).

3. You can define the sizes of those component-bays yourself, yes, but I don't know which sizes will work for what components - you'll have to test/figure out this by yourself.

...and last but not least, it would be needed to tell the AI what components should be upgraded/retrofitted and when - which might be the biggest problem of you project (and I sadly don't know yet how to do this outside of the game - sorry )

* EDIT: with the regarding component-types; - you don't need the IDs.

zgrssd wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 1:28 pm 1. Oh, I misunderstood. I read it that I can add new types by adding to that file. But I am guessing that just lists the bay types the game will look for?

zgrssd wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 1:28 pm About Upgrades:
(...)
Currently the game just always prefers Ion Armor over Regular.

AKicebear wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 8:50 pm I think his suggestion is that every ship design template would have a slot specifically for ion protection, for reactive armor, etc in addition to (or replacing?) generic defense slots. This would make the AI optimization easier, as it's choosing the best ion protection for a single slot, best reactive armor for a single slot, etc, rather than ambiguously juggling what to put in generalized slots. This would be a shift in the direction of Stellaris, where all slots are component type specific, and in principle make the upgrading more trivial to optimize.

I see some advantages to the approach. But it does sound like a massive project.

tofudog wrote: Mon Oct 23, 2023 1:49 pm Would it be feasible to change the way things work instead?
Make ion protection a bonus you get if you have researched it and you don't get if you haven't, while doing away with the dedicated component altogether?
Which way would be preferrable to you and why?