Nixprime's auto equalize shields

[z64555]

• [ ] Verify singleplayer operation
• [ ] Check with multiplayer
• [ ] Check localization support and XSTR's
• [ ] Should this be a default enabled or default disabled feature?

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Original Post follows: Salvages PR #111, whose author hasn't updated in some time. PR #310 added needed functionality to enable controls within a .tbl/.tbm that are disabled by default (either through controlsconfigdefaults.tbl or hard-coded).

[z64555]

Some notes, concerns from the PR #111 conversation:

niffiwan: Should auto-equalize be controled by a mod_table setting? Should the default-to-off setting be controled by a mod_table setting?

Yes, it is controlled by controlsconfigdefaults.tbl, and the original commit has the control enabled by default. PR #310 added the functionality needed to enable default-disabled items, so this can be done.

MageKing17: there appears to be no way to interact with auto-equalization via script

He managed to add the control in lua.cpp, but I don't believe there's a way to activate the command yet.

MageKing17: It should just require not enabling the defaults by default and adding "+Enable" capability... is this the sort of thing that should wait for the antipodes merge?

Antipodes doesn't have this capability, as PR #310 was based on master. Going ahead with PR #319 won't affect this PR.

[z64555]

Ok, 2/3 concerns addressed, now all that's left is the scripting support

[z64555]

A new concern that cropped up regards multiplayer. If auto-equalize shields is active, then the server can handle the shield management like it does with AI. I am not sure at the moment how the additions behave, whether the hit player sends a packet with shield info to the server or the server already handles the equalization.

[z64555]

Ok, AI shield management, along with other AI controls, is handled by the host server and checked at a semi-regular frequency. AI adjust their shields by diverting power to the quadrant that was most recently hit. The ai code also suggest they balance their shields if not hit within a second, but I haven't observed them doing so in some past tests.

I'd like to try to use the AI's shield management routine instead of the new auto-equalize routine since it'll be a consistent behavior. Essentially, this would enable a portion of AI that will handle the player's shields for them. Could possibly add a flag to always equalize when hit to achieve this PR's original goals.

[chief1983]

Actually I was under the impression that the AI had a difficulty multiplier for how long they wait to equalize shields, which on Very Easy scales down to 'never', and on very hard can be nearly immediate.

[z64555]

Yes, it actually does have a difficulty multiplier on there. Friendlies in single-player are hardcoded to stay at the "average" difficulty while hostiles vary.

[z64555]

Ok, I might be able to enable the AI shield management routines by turning on the Player_ai and setting it to a new AIM mode that would only activate the shield management. This would require moving things around a bit in ai_frame so as to not trigger things that would interfere with movement, etc.

I'll get that going in a separate PR, and maybe make a pair of test builds for folks to compare the two methods to see which one they like.

[z64555]

Rebased onto current master.

[z64555]

After a discussion with jg18 in the forums, I'm comfortable with my decision to get this merged in before I look for an AI alternative.

I'll need to do a bit of maintenance on it beforehand, however.