Friendly fire

[Karmasaur]

When I fire a salvo of Excal at the last baddy, the first three missiles pop the enemy, while the next five proceed to pop allied ships in the area. Not just neutrals, but greens! Is there a secret to this, that I have yet to uncover? Or is it just bad luck for them?
-K

[Waltorious]

Karmasaur,

The Excalibur Rack will automatically find new targets after the initial target is destroyed... it will go for reds first, but if there aren't any more, it will go for friendlies. This is an inherent risk to using Excalibur missiles. They're great for a bunch of enemies, but if there is only one enemy and a bunch of allies, it's probably not a good idea to fire them. I think this design decision was made so that the Excalibur Rack wouldn't be the obvious "best" choice for missiles; it has drawbacks as well as advantages.

Anyway, if you have an Excalibur Rack mounted and there's only one baddie left and there are allies around, it's best to take the baddie out with guns, unless you're sure that the friendlies are far enough away that the remaining missiles won't hit them.

[BraveHart]

Hi Karmasaur.....when you have left over Excals missiles just switch between friendly targets till they all explode in space away from the allied ships...However if you only have one allied ship near you it becomes the target. Best to use Excals on 2 or more targets, if you only have one take it on one on one.

[Karmasaur]

In the age of space ships, something like an IFF should be very old tech. Mr. Vice sir, is this by design? I would like to add it to my list of ideas for game development (which I cant find).

[verbosity]

Originally posted by Karmasaur
In the age of space ships, something like an IFF should be very old tech. Mr. Vice sir, is this by design? I would like to add it to my list of ideas for game development (which I cant find).

IFF works in a military setting, not in a civilian one where any ship an be a legitimate target, depending on what you are currently doing ( being a pirate for instance). part of the reason the excalibre pack works in that way is to balance it out a little ( its near enough a super-weapon against AI as it is).

with a little practice you'll find the 'excal dance' quite an easy manoeuvre ( just hit the t button to change target any time the missiles get near a ship you don't want to hit). as you progress through the game you'll find that if you have only one target you'll either simply evade or want to practice your gun skills

[warsign]

As Verbosity says, Excal must be some limitations for balance.
You just discovered one of them.

[tha_rami]

I'd just claim Excalibur does not have an onboard IFF system - indeed due to it being civilian tech used to attack civilian ships.

Come to think of it, the IFF in the game is pretty unrealistic as it is. (And I love it)

[Edited on 14-7-2009 by tha_rami]

[verbosity]

Originally posted by tha_rami
I'd just claim Excalibur does not have an onboard IFF system - indeed due to it being civilian tech used to attack civilian ships.

Come to think of it, the IFF in the game is pretty unrealistic as it is. (And I love it)

[Edited on 14-7-2009 by tha_rami]

Actually this raises an interesting question, currently we have 4 rep levels for each ship, this makes sense for 'faction' ships, but shouldn't some ships be 'unmarked' , this would give firstly an added element of risk generally ( giving you potential targets that may be friendly or vice-versa) but also to certain roles in-game ( being a pirate is cool, but what if you 'jack a ship that would've otherwise been friendly - currently you can just pirate red ships with no real risk to your rep ).

[tha_rami]

Actually, I like that idea. I mean, the IFF currently tracks the pilots intentions towards you - which, honestly, is a bit weird. Dynamic threat-levels, or indeed, unmarked ships would be cool.

Although Vice might get tonnes of hatemail for green ships suddenly turning red nearby .

[verbosity]

Originally posted by tha_rami
Although Vice might get tonnes of hatemail for green ships suddenly turning red nearby .

LoL! well thats kind of the idea, how about a 'white' marking, meaning that this ship is essentially another merc and could react in an unpredictable way, I Like the idea that you attacking a white should cause nearby greens to turn red, but it should be rare.

Also maybe 'faction' ships could be 'dedicated' types, you could then jump into a (for example) guild ship and try to pass as one, this would give a quick ( if temporary) way to change your rep, in essence a kind of rep-stealth, at least untill you behave in the wrong weay, of get 'queried' by another guild ship ( this would have the effect of you returning to your default rep -possibly with an additional hit for being a spy )

[Karmasaur]

Originally posted by verbosity
IFF works in a military setting, not in a civilian one where any ship an be a legitimate target, depending on what you are currently doing ( being a pirate for instance).

Ahh. That makes sense. Thank you.

[Edited on 7-14-2009 by Karmasaur]

[Vice]

Mr. Vice sir, is this by design?

Yes, to repost a past discussion on the design of the weapon to elaborate:

Forced target tracking was part of the design for the Excalibur for an added measure of risk. To avoid collateral damage, it's best used in a situation with multiple hostile nearby. If you could drop the target or destroy the missiles, this compromise is eliminated. From a discussion a few years ago:

Restraint is part of the equation with the Excalibur. To avoid it becoming a kind of super weapon, the trade off was it would continually track the next target until all missiles had been used. This limited its scope so that the player had to plan carefully before using it.

It will focus on only hostile ships if there are enough hostile ships around (it's safe to fire with friendlies around in the right situation). This means it is most effective and safest when two or more hostiles are in range. Otherwise, you risk friendly fire if you try to fire it with just a hostile and friendlies around. The Excalibur isn't intended to be an entirely precise weapon, without a risk of collateral damage it would be an effortlessly successful weapon at almost any time.

If only one hostile is around, it's generally best to use guns only if you're carrying an excalibur for a secondary weapon.

[Marvin]

To add: Red-coded naval ships don't seem to attack unless provoked ... especially in a sector where your reputation is Moderate. Consequently, I prefer to use guns against other hostile ships if there's a chance I'll inadvertently hit a naval ship with remaining excals.

On another note: Aren't yellow-coded targets considered to be unknowns? If so, why the need to add another color?

[MMaggio]

Good point!

[warsign]

Yes it is.

[Maarschalk]

Originally posted by Marvin
To add: Red-coded naval ships don't seem to attack unless provoked ... especially in a sector where your reputation is Moderate. Consequently, I prefer to use guns against other hostile ships if there's a chance I'll inadvertently hit a naval ship with remaining excals.

On another note: Aren't yellow-coded targets considered to be unknowns? If so, why the need to add another color?

I thought color code = threat level
Red= Hostile
Yellow= Moderate
Green= Friendly

;);)

[Marvin]

Originally posted by Maarschalk:
I thought color code = threat level
Red= Hostile
Yellow= Moderate
Green= Friendly

How would a computer determine a "moderate" threat? (I guess the answer would be that it first identifies the target then uses the local network to determine the target's reputation and color code it accordingly. But then, that would make the coding system a reflection of a ship's reputation in the system ... and not an IFF.)

[Maarschalk]

I might be wrong but that is excactly how I think it works at the moment!;)

[Marvin]

In that case, every ship is a known entity. (No fair having an AI with an unknown reputation if the same can't be said for a player!)