Topic: Weird shiplist bug found in Squadron Commander shiplist (Read 1946 times)

GDA-S'Cipio · « **on:** August 03, 2004, 01:20:06 pm »

Bottom Line: Having only a single phaser 1 on a ship may cause problems.

I am currnelty building the shiplist I hope to use in a server that lets you captain a PF flotilla, of up to five, rather than a starship. (The list includes over 100 PF's so far, including many variations for every race.) In testing it out, I came across a rather odd bug.

The Romulan Centurians were giving me fits for the last several days. Often their phasers simply would not fire. Sometimes they would start the game able to fire, but before long they would stop working.

At first I thought maybe there was a typo in my list. Or, perhaps, something about converting a FTR over to a FF was causing some weird interaction bug. So I started with a WE (which works dependably) and began stripping it down to a PF, entry by entry, trying to figure out just what broke the works. Nothing ever seemed to be the "key" thing.

Finally, I hit upon the idea that maybe it was the fact that the ship had only a single phaser. I'm sure we've all see how the UI does a lot of rounding; drawing only 1.5 units of power when 1.6 are required, for example. A phaser bank won't fire until it is fully charge, and maybe somewhere in the floating point calculations that 1.0 in the capacitor was getting rounded to 0.9999999999(ad infinitum).

The only solution I could find to this was to give the ship more phasers. So, I added a RX phas-3. I dont know if I have found the true source of the problem, but my solution *seems* to be working. I tested all Centurian variants for several hours last night and all their phasers see to fire reliably.

This does present a problem: I have strayed from gospel. Hopefully, however, the addition of a single phas-3 to the undergunned and drone-defenseless CEN wont' irk too many people too much. It doesn't seem any better at what it used to be good at, and doesn't seem to suck much less at what it was bad at.

This bug might be something for other list makers to look out for. And if you find a better solution then please let me know!

-S'Cipio the Herr Burt

Lepton · « **Reply #1 on:** August 03, 2004, 02:35:50 pm »

Blasphemy!!! Burn him alive!!!!

Good catch, Scipio. Keep up the good work.

Vaul · « **Reply #2 on:** August 03, 2004, 04:15:31 pm »

Heretic! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn!

At the risk of compounding the heresy, have you tried just using a single ph-3 or ph-2 and seeing what happens?

GDA-S'Cipio · « **Reply #3 on:** August 03, 2004, 04:35:45 pm »

Quote from: Vaul on August 03, 2004, 04:15:31 pm

At the risk of compounding the heresy, have you tried just using a single ph-3 or ph-2 and seeing what happens?

No, I haven't. But I probably should. I am most curious what would happen with a single phaser 2, since it also has a charge cost of 1.

-S'Cipio

Hexx · « **Reply #4 on:** August 03, 2004, 05:50:19 pm »

....
but... but... I was going to do a PF server..

Now I'll just be forced to play on one without having to have had to do any of the work!

DAMN YOU SCIPIO!!!!

(so when will this be ready?)

Green · « **Reply #5 on:** August 03, 2004, 08:58:53 pm »

Scip, I thought the F-FDX only had a single Ph 1? That ship works fine. I might be confused on the nomenclature, but there is a fed "yacht" in the OP+ 3.3 list that has only a single Ph1 and works no problem.

GDA-S'Cipio · « **Reply #6 on:** August 04, 2004, 02:43:52 pm »

Quote from: Hexx on August 03, 2004, 05:50:19 pm

....
but... but... I was going to do a PF server..

Now I'll just be forced to play on one without having to have had to do any of the work!

DAMN YOU SCIPIO!!!!

(so when will this be ready?)

I had hoped to have it ready this weekend, so that people could screw around on it for fun before GW3 starts on the 21. Real Life has been a Real Pain these last coupld of weeks, however, so I'm no longer certain. In any event, I'll be sure to give several days notice so those interested won't be caught by surprise.

Green: Good thought. I'll have to test the FDX as well, to see if it's phaser ever stops working. I wonder if it usually just dies in our 3v3 matches so quickly that people never noticed it was broken, or if I need to look for a new solution to my Centurian problem.

-S'Cipio

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