Campaign Rules: Against the Bot Thread #4

[Maelwys]

So I tried out AtB and went on my first mission, which was a Chase mission. I hit start, it opened up MegaMek, I started the scenario..and immediately won because I assume my opponent didn't actually have anything.

So what'd I do wrong?

Not that I mind the free cash...

[dgorsman]

Assuming you're the chase-ee, you get a couple of turns lead time to make for the far edge before the chase-ers deploy.

[Schugger]

Apologies if this has been covered somewhere, but how exactly does picking the skill level for AtB in Campaign options work? I know you get less enemies on average when you pick a lower skill level, but what's the ratio?

Number of enemies is determined by two factors in AtB to my understanding:

• The wight class of your lance (i.e. light, medium, heavy or assault)
• If you checked the box "double the number of enemy vehicles"

[Maelwys]

Assuming you're the chase-ee, you get a couple of turns lead time to make for the far edge before the chase-ers deploy.

Sure, but that didn't happen. I rolled for initiative, and never even deployed before winning.

[Shin Ji]

Maybe the weather killed your opponents? an F5 Tornado kills everything but Mechs, I think.

[yukamichi]

Sometimes I have seen MekHQ hiccup and not load one of the unit lists when it boots up MegaMek. Were both your and the Bot-controlled units present in the lobby before you launched the battle?

If so, then perhaps there's an issue with your victory condition settings where one of them would have been fulfilled from the very start. I've never seen the game not take into consideration as-yet-undeployed units when checking for victory, but there's a first time for everything.

[Maelwys]

I'll have to make sure the victory conditions are right, and it loads everything right next time. Thanks!

[Maelwys]

So I loaded my save, hit advance a few more times, got another 2 scenarios on the contract, but both of their BVs was listed as 0 in the preview (hadn't started or anything). Is that normal?

[Schugger]

Where any AI units shown in the MM lobby?

[Maelwys]

Hadn't even gotten that far, it was just the briefing screen. Or do we not get told the BV until the drop?

[yukamichi]

If MekHQ isn't even generating units as part of mission generation then it could be an issue with the RATs (Random Assignment Tables).

Did you change any of the RAT settings in the Campaign Options (they're at the top right of the Against the Bot tab)? Are there units listed in the Unit Market? If you open the GM Tools Dialog (under Manage Campaign) and use the RAT roller, does it give you a proper result?

Regardless, this is all just me guessing, since I've never encountered this problem before. Reinstalling MekHQ might just magically fix it with no one being the wiser, though if it's a legit bug it would be neat to pinpoint the source.

[Windchild]

Hey Maelwys,

First, what version of MekHQ are you playing?

Second, what do you see on the Briefing Room tab, below the Start Game/Join Game/Load Saved Game buttons? After status, you should see any of your forces (which won't list BV), then any enemy forces (which will be in format Name alignment Start: direction BV: Battle Value.

If that says 0, please got to your logs file, and if you wouldn't mind let me know if there is an error or exception there (this will require you to generate some new scenarios in MekHQ first provided you've reloaded MekHQ, as the log clears on reload)

[Maelwys]

Its 46.1.

I see the mission name "Chase (Attacker), the Status is Pending, my command lance is listed, the the REgular Fiefs unit (allied start S, BV 988)

then "Oriente Protectorate Enemy Start S BV: 0" then the scenario data, like weather etc.

Assuming your mean "Mekhqlog" then there's alot of loading from files (though it seems to be loading from the cache only I guess), there some invalid quirk mentions for the Shen Long, more reading unit files, quirk failures for the Umbra, Corax C, Sytha XR and Starfire. Then some issues with units not being able to be found in various RATs, then

"Security framework of Xstream not initialized, XS stream is probably vulnerable" then some loading atlas, then

Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.NullPointerException
   at mekhq.campaign.mission.atb.scenario.ChaseBuiltInScenario.setExtraMissionForces(ChaseBuiltInScenario.java:112)

then more loading atlas.

[Hammer]

Its 46.1.
Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.NullPointerException
   at mekhq.campaign.mission.atb.scenario.ChaseBuiltInScenario.setExtraMissionForces(ChaseBuiltInScenario.java:112)

then more loading atlas.

That would be a bug. We would need to get a bug report (logs etc).  Links in my sig.

[Maelwys]

Updated to 47.3, problem persisted and posted to the tracker.

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

Well, we are required to manually set the scenario for the missions, right? Or is the scenarios are automatically set depend on the mission?

[Windchild]

For AtB? If you are in a contract, and have forces deployed, then scenarios will be generated automatically.

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

Is that so? When I get the contract, the mission is generated but there is no scenario. Without a scenario I cannot deploy anything either.

[GM] Generate Scenarios won't work either. Is there anything I have missed?

Well, if I make a new scenario manually and deploy the forces, MekHQ puts the random enemy for the scenario, though.

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

Ah, it seems that I was missed something. It seems that the scenario does not generates as soon as I am reach to the planet, and it generates randomly after I am reach to the planet. :( Is it correct?

[Bludlust]

Yes sir, you are correct. Combat scenarios are generated only after you have landed on the planet and started your contract. Then they will be generated randomly on a daily basis, sometimes no scenario, and I have had it go as high as 3 in one day. you have to advance the day to get the scenarios generated.

[Stormforge]

Ah, it seems that I was missed something. It seems that the scenario does not generates as soon as I am reach to the planet, and it generates randomly after I am reach to the planet. :( Is it correct?

You may have missed that after you assign units to lances in the TO&E tab, you need to go to the Briefing Room tab, and assign roles to each lance, e.g. Scout/Defend/Fight/Training. Bottom middle of the Briefing Room tab. Some contracts may not generate scenarios every week, especially garrison contracts.

[Rince Wind]

They also don't generate on random days but on mondays. You will get zero or more missions for the next week, with a maximum of one per deployed lance.

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

Thanks. I can understand how it's going.

An another question: what's the Contract Score? Is it same as Reputation Factor in Campaign Operations?

And I can get various scenarios even if I get the pinpoint attack mission such as Extraction Raid and all scenarios counts? Isn't the type of mission determines which scenarios I will get?

[Hammer]

Thanks. I can understand how it's going.

An another question: what's the Contract Score? Is it same as Reputation Factor in Campaign Operations?

And I can get various scenarios even if I get the pinpoint attack mission such as Extraction Raid and all scenarios counts? Isn't the type of mission determines which scenarios I will get?

Have you reviewed the AtB documents in the Docs folder?

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

I wasn't. I was tried OP's link before but it was broken, so I wonder where is the rules, though. Thanks for point out this. I should check it again before ask something.

[Hammer]

I wasn't. I was tried OP's link before but it was broken, so I wonder where is the rules, though. Thanks for point out this. I should check it again before ask something.

No problem, AtB is complex and while implemented it's not 100% following the docs. But they are a good start for things.

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

Well, it is very hard to implement RPG-like methods to the program. I wonder that how you did it.

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

An another question... How to makes bots think faster on the move phase? Even if I only have around 10 to 15 units on my force, bots are tend to think too much before made an actual move, especially for its last unit. Perhaps it stays longer for the units with fast movement?

[Hammer]

An another question... How to makes bots think faster on the move phase? Even if I only have around 10 to 15 units on my force, bots are tend to think too much before made an actual move, especially for its last unit. Perhaps it stays longer for the units with fast movement?

Princess takes longer to calculate all the options the faster the units are.  So things that might improve Bot performance. Increase memory allocated to Megamek. Use more bots so each one is controlling less units.  Remove super fast units like VTOLs and Speedy hovers.

[Kovax]

You could also use individual initiative.  That means, instead of the bot checking every unit's potential moves, then deciding on the best, it will only do it for one unit.  Of course, that means you won't be able to choose to move your own unit A instead of B when B's turn comes up, etc.