Post by syraith on Sept 10, 2016 16:45:15 GMT
So you want to push people around... GOOD!
Your command center is the most vital tool on your ship, but due to its simplicity, it is often overlooked, misused or just plain confuses everyone who touches it. With this "quick" breakdown, I hope to put you on the path to victory! At least, the first step.
ALL of these command lines are designed to be added on and adjusted, this is just the basics.
My first recommendation after reading through this, visit www. squid.boards.net
As Zensi has mentioned, the Squid alliance was one of the best performing alliances in the game. The largest alliances use specific commands/tactics that they keep secret to only their members, however, they decided to disband! They didn't give out their best secrets but the tactics they did list are amazingly helpful. A lot of what I wrote below is the cliffnotes version of their forum just to give you a quick breakdown if you are having issues. The rest is on there, up to you to try yourself or hopefully us to develop!
Let's begin!
AI Basics
The AI commands you enter follow the order they are listed. The next command will not take effect until the previous is met. Try to remember not to overload your crew with too much work and to keep it direct. A lot of problems come from your crew having multiple like commands and trying to do everything at once. Keep it simple, but focused. You will understand the more you try it out.
Lets look at your defense...
AI DEFENSE
Remember, a room MUST be accessible for your crew to be able to use it. They cannot walk through walls or ceilings/floors so as you grow, remember to plan your routes and adjust accordingly.
As soon as you can get a command center, your ship will still be small. You will not have a lot of crew but they won't have a lot to repair either. The most basic command you can give to any crew member is...
This is great if you only have a couple weapons and reactors because this command covers it all without needing a laundry list of tasks to repair any potential room. Early on this is a great way to start a good defense. But as soon as you start adding on, your crew will be way overworked and not really get anything done. So when you need to delegate, this is where to start.
Most errors come from giving too direct of a command that ends up just being vague.
Your under attack and one of your reactors is down. What does your crew do? He runs to the closest reactor that is undamaged and does nothing! There is a simple fix.
When you have multiple rooms of one type (Laser, Reactor, Missile, etc.) you need to simplify with the "Target Condition Room" command. This does exactly that. My reactor is <100, so I will target that room that is less than 100! This is effective for all of the multi room types.
Multiply this command and you can turn a previously useless crew into a productive member of your team!
Now, again, you need to be specific with your desires. It is great that your crew member is repairing your room, but he is also dumb enough to sit there while he gets the tar shot out of him. Your crew is only useful alive, so a simple added command is just as below.
With this your crew will attempt to repair the room, but should he be under attack will walk away briefly. This is a good dodge technique.
**UPDATE**
Untargetable rooms have not been working (like the bridge listed in pic), I suggest using either a secondary targeted room like if your primary repair is the reactor room, set them to go to the engine room or shield room for example. The trick is that with this second command he will repair the room to full. If he is damaged he will walk away but if the room is attacked again, he will return and leave. Note, he will not walk away until the room is at 100% (or whatever is set as the condition) but this usually causes them to avoid the hit that's causes the initial damage. Another option is to just use a "No condition" command and send them to a different room. This forces the crew member to report to that room no matter what their hp is. WARNING! Do NOT set this anywhere but at the end of your command list. Any no condition command is an end of the line and pretty much everything below it is ignored. Try them out and see what works best for your situation.
Any of your crew may end up dying but with this basic string you can at least keep them productive before they go!
BOARDING PARTY AI
There are two MAIN tactics when it comes to your boarding party. You either board and hold, or board and wander. There are advanced tactics that go way deeper but I will go over these two main concepts and some ways to work with them.
BOARD AND HOLD
Remember when you were trying to repair that reactor and your crew just sat in the corner in a fully functioning one? Well, that is actually a GREAT tactic when attacking someone's ship.
The hold is a slightly tricky, slightly advanced ai setup. There is a LARGE range of tactics using it. It's basic frame is to use "My (or enemy) Shield Full - Target Enemy ... Room"
With this command line your boarding crew does the exact same thing. He teleports to the ship, and sits. Why is this good? Because if he is a strong crew member, he can take out the room and sit and wait for anyone to come in to repair it!
BOARD AND WANDER
Just like your multi-room repair tactic by doing this...
your boarding party will now board your enemy and start attacking every room of that type and return if one is repaired.
A LITTLE ADVANCED
Now, there are a few tactics that will go beyond the basics I want to mention as I have had success with them.
SAVE YOURSELF!
Just like repairing, your boarding party is more than likely going to take a few hits. It is always a safe idea to add something like...
because this way, if you want, your crew will cut loose from battle if he is almost dead and return to the ship where he may be a more productive member as even at 25% health, they can sure repair with the best of them right! This is an area where your own personal tactics comes in though as a crew member can also do a lot if not just enough damage with that last 25% health rather than return to a room that he will potentially walk in and just get shot.
Your ship, your plan.
NO WALL CAN STOP ME!
By far one of the BEST most effective wander techniques. The first time I used this command after reading about it I was laughing so hard I cried.
With this advanced command line, obviously not everyone uses lifts or has rooms nearby. What this does is with the condition of your target room (in this case the reactors) are online, they are being targeted. The crew member will wander and seek them out as usual. However, if there is still an active reactor and you do not have access (on a different deck, armor in the way, etc.), well, your crew knows to teleport back to YOUR teleport room. And what does he do? Return to command 1 and he returns to the ship in a new active reactor room.
Now, one thing I have not pinned down yet is the frequency of this. Sometimes my crew will just teleport back and forth, other times they will walk from one to the next if they are accessible, sometimes a combination. But when you are watching your crew hop scotching around the enemy ship as you take out their rooms and frantically try to catch up, it is hilarious!
Keep in mind! With this tactic, the SECOND the room's HP is zero, they are gone! They don't sit and wait for the enemy and fight, they just go.
CREW ABILITIES
Some of your abilities benefit your ship, some benefit hurting the enemy. I have not found a good way to time abilities, so the easiest and more successful method is just throw it in off the top.
With this line, my Evil General uses his Ultimate Dismantle as soon as he reaches the first target on the ship. Any ideas on this and I will be happy to update.
This is all I have for my first installment of Basic techniques for our up and coming Alliance. Keep in mind, these are VERY basic and there are a lot more ideas out there to be found. If I went into everything I have read I would just be plagiarizing the crap out of some pretty amazing folks. I encourage you to look at the Squid's forum and just look online, there is a LOT more you can do with AI commands, but this will at least help you survive while you look.
As we come up with our own styles and tactics unique to our Alliance, we will share them. Just keep trying! If you need cannon fodder just use the Pillaging trick that Zensi has posted. Not to find a jackpot, but while cycling through targets, eventually you fill come across ships that not just obviously have fewer trophies, but smaller as well, and I do mean SMALLER ships. I am lvl 8 currently and it was matching me with lvl 4 and 3 ships eventually. Just use these to try new stuff in obviously one sided battles.
You don't win anything, but can see how your command line works without potentially loosing anything either.
Your command center is the most vital tool on your ship, but due to its simplicity, it is often overlooked, misused or just plain confuses everyone who touches it. With this "quick" breakdown, I hope to put you on the path to victory! At least, the first step.
ALL of these command lines are designed to be added on and adjusted, this is just the basics.
My first recommendation after reading through this, visit www. squid.boards.net
As Zensi has mentioned, the Squid alliance was one of the best performing alliances in the game. The largest alliances use specific commands/tactics that they keep secret to only their members, however, they decided to disband! They didn't give out their best secrets but the tactics they did list are amazingly helpful. A lot of what I wrote below is the cliffnotes version of their forum just to give you a quick breakdown if you are having issues. The rest is on there, up to you to try yourself or hopefully us to develop!
Let's begin!
AI Basics
The AI commands you enter follow the order they are listed. The next command will not take effect until the previous is met. Try to remember not to overload your crew with too much work and to keep it direct. A lot of problems come from your crew having multiple like commands and trying to do everything at once. Keep it simple, but focused. You will understand the more you try it out.
Lets look at your defense...
AI DEFENSE
Remember, a room MUST be accessible for your crew to be able to use it. They cannot walk through walls or ceilings/floors so as you grow, remember to plan your routes and adjust accordingly.
As soon as you can get a command center, your ship will still be small. You will not have a lot of crew but they won't have a lot to repair either. The most basic command you can give to any crew member is...
This is great if you only have a couple weapons and reactors because this command covers it all without needing a laundry list of tasks to repair any potential room. Early on this is a great way to start a good defense. But as soon as you start adding on, your crew will be way overworked and not really get anything done. So when you need to delegate, this is where to start.
Most errors come from giving too direct of a command that ends up just being vague.
Your under attack and one of your reactors is down. What does your crew do? He runs to the closest reactor that is undamaged and does nothing! There is a simple fix.
When you have multiple rooms of one type (Laser, Reactor, Missile, etc.) you need to simplify with the "Target Condition Room" command. This does exactly that. My reactor is <100, so I will target that room that is less than 100! This is effective for all of the multi room types.
Multiply this command and you can turn a previously useless crew into a productive member of your team!
Now, again, you need to be specific with your desires. It is great that your crew member is repairing your room, but he is also dumb enough to sit there while he gets the tar shot out of him. Your crew is only useful alive, so a simple added command is just as below.
With this your crew will attempt to repair the room, but should he be under attack will walk away briefly. This is a good dodge technique.
**UPDATE**
Untargetable rooms have not been working (like the bridge listed in pic), I suggest using either a secondary targeted room like if your primary repair is the reactor room, set them to go to the engine room or shield room for example. The trick is that with this second command he will repair the room to full. If he is damaged he will walk away but if the room is attacked again, he will return and leave. Note, he will not walk away until the room is at 100% (or whatever is set as the condition) but this usually causes them to avoid the hit that's causes the initial damage. Another option is to just use a "No condition" command and send them to a different room. This forces the crew member to report to that room no matter what their hp is. WARNING! Do NOT set this anywhere but at the end of your command list. Any no condition command is an end of the line and pretty much everything below it is ignored. Try them out and see what works best for your situation.
Any of your crew may end up dying but with this basic string you can at least keep them productive before they go!
BOARDING PARTY AI
There are two MAIN tactics when it comes to your boarding party. You either board and hold, or board and wander. There are advanced tactics that go way deeper but I will go over these two main concepts and some ways to work with them.
BOARD AND HOLD
Remember when you were trying to repair that reactor and your crew just sat in the corner in a fully functioning one? Well, that is actually a GREAT tactic when attacking someone's ship.
The hold is a slightly tricky, slightly advanced ai setup. There is a LARGE range of tactics using it. It's basic frame is to use "My (or enemy) Shield Full - Target Enemy ... Room"
With this command line your boarding crew does the exact same thing. He teleports to the ship, and sits. Why is this good? Because if he is a strong crew member, he can take out the room and sit and wait for anyone to come in to repair it!
BOARD AND WANDER
Just like your multi-room repair tactic by doing this...
your boarding party will now board your enemy and start attacking every room of that type and return if one is repaired.
A LITTLE ADVANCED
Now, there are a few tactics that will go beyond the basics I want to mention as I have had success with them.
SAVE YOURSELF!
Just like repairing, your boarding party is more than likely going to take a few hits. It is always a safe idea to add something like...
because this way, if you want, your crew will cut loose from battle if he is almost dead and return to the ship where he may be a more productive member as even at 25% health, they can sure repair with the best of them right! This is an area where your own personal tactics comes in though as a crew member can also do a lot if not just enough damage with that last 25% health rather than return to a room that he will potentially walk in and just get shot.
Your ship, your plan.
NO WALL CAN STOP ME!
By far one of the BEST most effective wander techniques. The first time I used this command after reading about it I was laughing so hard I cried.
With this advanced command line, obviously not everyone uses lifts or has rooms nearby. What this does is with the condition of your target room (in this case the reactors) are online, they are being targeted. The crew member will wander and seek them out as usual. However, if there is still an active reactor and you do not have access (on a different deck, armor in the way, etc.), well, your crew knows to teleport back to YOUR teleport room. And what does he do? Return to command 1 and he returns to the ship in a new active reactor room.
Now, one thing I have not pinned down yet is the frequency of this. Sometimes my crew will just teleport back and forth, other times they will walk from one to the next if they are accessible, sometimes a combination. But when you are watching your crew hop scotching around the enemy ship as you take out their rooms and frantically try to catch up, it is hilarious!
Keep in mind! With this tactic, the SECOND the room's HP is zero, they are gone! They don't sit and wait for the enemy and fight, they just go.
CREW ABILITIES
Some of your abilities benefit your ship, some benefit hurting the enemy. I have not found a good way to time abilities, so the easiest and more successful method is just throw it in off the top.
With this line, my Evil General uses his Ultimate Dismantle as soon as he reaches the first target on the ship. Any ideas on this and I will be happy to update.
This is all I have for my first installment of Basic techniques for our up and coming Alliance. Keep in mind, these are VERY basic and there are a lot more ideas out there to be found. If I went into everything I have read I would just be plagiarizing the crap out of some pretty amazing folks. I encourage you to look at the Squid's forum and just look online, there is a LOT more you can do with AI commands, but this will at least help you survive while you look.
As we come up with our own styles and tactics unique to our Alliance, we will share them. Just keep trying! If you need cannon fodder just use the Pillaging trick that Zensi has posted. Not to find a jackpot, but while cycling through targets, eventually you fill come across ships that not just obviously have fewer trophies, but smaller as well, and I do mean SMALLER ships. I am lvl 8 currently and it was matching me with lvl 4 and 3 ships eventually. Just use these to try new stuff in obviously one sided battles.
You don't win anything, but can see how your command line works without potentially loosing anything either.