Sandcaster anti fighter spread fire.

[GFM GToeroe]

Hi!

Without changing the current sandcaster mechanics totally I want to
circumvent the current issue that the mean number of killed fighters
by a SC shot favours small wings.

If you send a 100er wing of one type and it get a critical hit then
amost 30 fighters are killed:

15 * (30/100) + 30 * (1-30/100) = 25.5

If you split the 100er wing to 10 wings á ten then the mean number of
killed fighters ~ 5.

So I started to write code which let the SC fire at all wings which
are currently in the weapon target list (btw: each object can have up
tp 10 targets in its weapon target list).

The number of killed fighters per type per spread shot is limited to
30. So if the first wings was hit and 10 fighters are killed then the
max number of killed fighter for the next wing is only 20 and so on.
If a ship was hit the it is assumed that the SC particle cloud is
spreaded so that no wing can be hit anymore.

GFM GToeroe

[Amaranthine]

Excellent idea.

If the second target on the list is a ship, does that prevent any
other fighters from getting hit, or does this only check the primary
target (ie target #1 is ship, no fighters lost; target #1 is wing,
then it takes its losses and any leftover are applied to the next wing
in the list, and then the next)? The wings probably should be
required to be within range to take any losses.

Will the cap of 30 be moved prior to the Sand Shield code? This
change will mean that except for a case with a few number of small
fighters, the maximum lost will always be 30, regardless of Sand
Shield activation.

Post by GFM GToeroe
The number of killed fighters per type per spread shot is limited to
30. So if the first wings was hit and 10 fighters are killed then the
max number of killed fighter for the next wing is only 20 and so on.
If a ship was hit the it is assumed that the SC particle cloud is
spreaded so that no wing can be hit anymore.

[Gabor Törö]

"Amaranthine" <***@gmail.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:7b315e39-ca4f-4f98-92fe-***@59g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
Excellent idea.

Post by Amaranthine
If the second target on the list is a ship, does that prevent any
other fighters from getting hit, or does this only check the primary
target (ie target #1 is ship, no fighters lost; target #1 is wing,
then it takes its losses and any leftover are applied to the next wing
in the list, and then the next)? The wings probably should be
required to be within range to take any losses.

Yes. A ship is regarded to disperse the SC cloud in a way that it is no
longer a thread for other objects.
But if you want to be sure just set anti fighter. Your other long range LWs
will fire on ships as Sebastian made is so that there will always objects of
any type in the target lists.

And apart from this if someone manages to get ships and wings at the same
time into SC range then he deserves the ship dispersion effect.

Post by Amaranthine
Will the cap of 30 be moved prior to the Sand Shield code? This
change will mean that except for a case with a few number of small
fighters, the maximum lost will always be 30, regardless of Sand
Shield activation.

I remember we discussed this recently. This would make the mentioned code
for spread fire more complicated. Hm, let's see:

The kills for N fighters is without sand shield Min(N*RND;30) and with sand
shield Min(N*RND*RND;30)

The mean killz per SC shot if one neglects the new "+1" in the formula
and all racial specials is (N=fighter count)

without sand shields
...if N <= 30: N / 2
...if N > 30 : 30 - 450 / N
with sand shields
...if N <= 30: N / 4
...if N > 30 : 30 - 675 / N - 450 * LN(N/30) / N

If have placed a chart in the WIKI under the sandcaster part in the Battle
Manual which displays this formulas. At N=200 one has still a significantly
protection rate.
Just regard it as rule and live with it. This is a protection tool
especially effective to small and smallest wings. It counters SC spread
fire. I can live with it.

Gabor

Post by Amaranthine
The number of killed fighters per type per spread shot is limited to
30. So if the first wings was hit and 10 fighters are killed then the
max number of killed fighter for the next wing is only 20 and so on.
If a ship was hit the it is assumed that the SC particle cloud is
spreaded so that no wing can be hit anymore.