I would like to understand zones a little better

rsabatino wrote:
what is sort?

Has to do with how the zone is displayed on the navmap, maybe also other things, don’t really know.

rsabatino wrote:
now this whats density?

When under this limit more ships can be created in this zone

rsabatino wrote:
faction_weight = fc_n_grp, 10 do you need this?

This line(s) define which factions can take part in encounters below, about the number I don’t know, maybe for npc behavior

rsabatino wrote:
encounter = area_nomads, 19, 0.250000 i know 19 stands for the toughness but numbers after that?

For the probability that this encounter is used.

rsabatino wrote:
faction = fc_n_grp, 1.000000 also this what does that mean?

Defines which factions use the encounter specified above, with the number being the probability for this faction (1 in total for all factions for one encounter)

rsabatino wrote:
one zone i have at least 5 factions how do i make it that one faction does not over power the other i want a nice fair battle about 4 ships each thank you.

You have to play with lines like this:

…
faction_weight = lan_or_grp, 1
faction_weight = lan_n_grp, 1
density_restriction = 3, armored1
density_restriction = 4, transport1

…

In this case only 3 ships of hte class armored1 and 4 of the class transport1 can be present in the zone at one time. These shipclasses have to be defined in the encounter file.

…
ship_by_class = 0, 4, sc_fighters
make_class = wanderer
make_class = transport1
…

Remember though that this is checked before the encounter is executed, so you can still get some ships more. E.g. you have three of four transport1 in the zone, so the game thinks it can still run an encounter containing these, even if it creates more than one in one encounter.

create 2 encounters, 4 ships each. Allow simultaneous creation = no
in each encounter, add them to your zone and you’ll have 4 vs. 4 battle.

the only real way to control ratio of encounters is editing encounter files, npcships.ini and shipclasses.ini

For 5 factions make 5 encounters 4 ships each with allow simultaneous creation = no.

Quarks wrote:

rsabatino wrote:
what is sort?

Has to do with how the zone is displayed on the navmap, maybe also other things, don’t really know.

I think I remember sort having an effect on whether or not a zone shows up on the navmap as mineable. According to the TCM starter pack however (Credits go to DwnUndr and Br0x for these):

1-49 These are used for anything not listed below (don’t duplicate numbers) These HAVE populations. None of these are in any particular order by type.

50, 51, 52, 53 used for ‘ambient’ population zones only

74 paths (trade_path) In Hi01 and Bw01 at least

76 paths (attack_patrol, lane_patrol) In Hi01 and Bw01 at least

96, 97, 98 paths (trade_path, mining_path) (These HAVE populations)

Some systems use 99 and 99.500000 interchangeably

99 paths (attack_patrol, lane_patrol), atmo burn, docking ring

99.500000 (NONE of these have populations):

rsabatino wrote:
pop_type = Background do you need this?

I’m aware of pop_type Background, Wormhole and I think some others for bases. I think it’s related to the density of NPC spawn. Background works just fine though, not sure if FL can survive without it or not.

Xalrok wrote:
Some systems use 99 and 99.500000 interchangeably

99 paths (attack_patrol, lane_patrol), atmo burn, docking ring

99.500000 (NONE of these have populations):

What are these patrol for then if they don’t generate npcs? Or what du you mean with ‘populations’?