Capship Encounters - level 19 only?

Adding capship encounters can be considered an old and familiar subject, yet it’s still giving me some puzzles…

I managed to do this some years ago, in my previous modding life, but I can remember that back then, I had to make all the capships level 19!

And level 19 they also are in this tutorial.

Of course I don’t just want level 19 capships - I want them on every level! So, I worked from the tutorial but made a bunch of NPC-ships stretching from 1-19 (and of course made all the accompanying stuff: loadouts etc.), like:

npc_ship = Liberty_Cruiser_d1-3
npc_ship = Liberty_Cruiser_d4-6
npc_ship = Liberty_Cruiser_d7-9
npc_ship = Liberty_Cruiser_d10-12
npc_ship = Liberty_Cruiser_d13-15
npc_ship = Liberty_Cruiser_d16-18
npc_ship = Liberty_Cruiser_d19
npc_ship = Liberty_Battleship_d1-3
npc_ship = Liberty_Battleship_d4-6
npc_ship = Liberty_Battleship_d7-9
npc_ship = Liberty_Battleship_d10-12
npc_ship = Liberty_Battleship_d13-15
npc_ship = Liberty_Battleship_d16-18
npc_ship = Liberty_Battleship_d19

I’m not getting errors - but they just won’t spawn.

[zone]
nickname = Zone_Li07_pop_Bismarck
pos = -63000, 100, -90000
shape = SPHERE
size = 8000
property_flags = 131072
visit = 128
sort = 8
toughness = 3
density = 20
repop_time = 20
max_battle_size = 4
pop_type = extend_law
relief_time = 30
faction_weight = li_n_grp, 25
encounter = area_scout, 3, 0.025000
faction = li_n_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_defend, 3, 0.025000
faction = li_n_grp, 1.000000
encounter = capitalships_Liberty, 3, 1.000000
faction = li_n_grp, 1.000000
encounter = capitalships_Escorts, 3, 1.000000
faction = li_n_grp, 1.000000
```The only encounters I'm having is with the scouts and/or defenders :(

Is there a reason why capships should only be level 19? Or am I just overseeing something here?

@ Timmy51m: thanx for the feedback! It didn’t help though

I used to take good care of this number, but I can remember I read something here on the forum (a post by Adoxa or some other sage who can look into the game engine) that it doesn’t really matter if the total exceeds 1, as the occurance of a given encounter is calculated from the totail. So, you can have 0.5, 0.5, 0.5 and 0.75, and the last one will occur 1.5 times more than the other ones. At least, this is what was suggested, and it kinda ‘desensitized’ me to this parameter.

Anyway, it didn’t help, but it’s good to stick to safe parameters when debugging, so thanx nonetheless!

What I haven’t done, but should have before opening this thread, is try to ‘summon’ the lvl 19 encounter from the files as I modified them. If the capships show up, then there must indeed be some lvl-19-only mechanism at work, but if they don’t, I simply screwed up something.

The level 19 version does actually work! So, I guess my file setup is correct.

Would this mean there’s indeed some in-game mechanism preventing lower-than-level-19 capships from spawning??

EDIT: no, lower levels work too.

I guess Timmy51m’s feedback might have been conclusive anyway - I just might have forgotten to close down and restart FLMM (all my files are XML, and FLMM seems to read them all on startup, so just deactivating a mod, then editing the file, then activating the mod again will not make the edit visible - as the new version of the file is not in FLMM’s memory. Otherwise, I’m at a loss)

@ Chips & Timmy51m: Issue solved, thx!

@ Goulash: good stuff!! Not for right now, but Im sure I will find this on my way.