Difference between revisions of "MISSIONS.DAT"
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| − | contains counters and race info on the ongoing acts. At the start of the game (beginner level) research in your home zone and terror in a | + | contains counters and race info on the ongoing acts. At the start of the game (beginner level) research in your home zone and terror in a random zone is initiated. After that each new month you will get two new missions, one of which is a terror mission (beginner level). |
| − | |||
==Structure of a mission entry== | ==Structure of a mission entry== | ||
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immediate 1h 0.5-2.5h | immediate 1h 0.5-2.5h | ||
| + | hard 2.5h 2.5h 2.5h | ||
a day 1d 20h-30h | a day 1d 20h-30h | ||
some days 3d 2d-5d | some days 3d 2d-5d | ||
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two weeks 2w 10d-18d | two weeks 2w 10d-18d | ||
longer 1m e.g.46 days | longer 1m e.g.46 days | ||
| + | |||
| + | Also, shooting down a UFO will immediately increase the time before the next UFO scheduled in the same act/zone. The duration types of these delays have not been properly verified. A casual overview suggests that when a retaliation act is not scheduled in response to the shootdown, the additional delay is of the same order as the original scheduling delay. | ||
| + | |||
| + | If a retaliation act is scheduled in response to the shootdown, the additional delay can be of a higher order than the original scheduling delay. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Battlescape missions do not affect the scheduling of future UFOs. | ||
[<i>Zaimoni</i>: need to revise the following to work on ufo-c/sub-ufo-c pairs where relevant. Remove this comment when completely revised] | [<i>Zaimoni</i>: need to revise the following to work on ufo-c/sub-ufo-c pairs where relevant. Remove this comment when completely revised] | ||
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A undisturbed research mission on beginner level would look like this: | A undisturbed research mission on beginner level would look like this: | ||
| − | ufo-c time-c ufo-type | + | ufo-c time-c ufo-type |
| − | 0/0 | + | 0/0 1d s.Scout <i>(start of game Research mission is 2.5h. This is for later ones)</i> |
| − | + | 1/0 1w m.Scout | |
| − | 1/0 1w m. | + | 2/0 1w l.Scout |
| − | |||
| − | 2/0 1w l.Scout | ||
2/1 3d l.Scout | 2/1 3d l.Scout | ||
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ufo-c time-c ufo-type | ufo-c time-c ufo-type | ||
0/0 ? s.Scout | 0/0 ? s.Scout | ||
| − | 0/1 ? s.Scout | + | 0/1 ? s.Scout <i>(unreliable, criteria for skipping not diagnosed)</i> |
1/0 ? m.Scout | 1/0 ? m.Scout | ||
1/1 ? m.Scout | 1/1 ? m.Scout | ||
| Line 119: | Line 123: | ||
==Using the information== | ==Using the information== | ||
| − | You might find that may small scouts appear at 2:30 on the first of a month. This is due to a often found count of 5 with the first ufo on a new terror | + | You might find that may small scouts appear at 2:30 on the first of a month. This is due to a often found count of 5 with the first ufo on a new terror mission for the month. |
To make use of this knownledge might be difficult. But say, if you see a supply ship at a location without an alien base at the end of the third week of a month, it might be on a base mission. Then you should expect a second supply ship and a battleship somewhere close. If it is on infiltration you might see two battleships. If you see a first havester/abdutor, watch out for a second within three days. With a hyprewave decoder you might have more use from the mission sketches. | To make use of this knownledge might be difficult. But say, if you see a supply ship at a location without an alien base at the end of the third week of a month, it might be on a base mission. Then you should expect a second supply ship and a battleship somewhere close. If it is on infiltration you might see two battleships. If you see a first havester/abdutor, watch out for a second within three days. With a hyprewave decoder you might have more use from the mission sketches. | ||
Revision as of 17:22, 26 September 2006
contains counters and race info on the ongoing acts. At the start of the game (beginner level) research in your home zone and terror in a random zone is initiated. After that each new month you will get two new missions, one of which is a terror mission (beginner level).
Structure of a mission entry
Each mission has 4 words. With 7 acts on 12 zones these are 672 bytes. E.g. infiltration(3) in Europe(4) would have the offset 3*8+4*(7*8)=0xF8.
offset meaning 0 ufo-counter on the ufos within the mission (FFFF, the mission is not active) 2 sub-ufo-counter used for some missions 4 time-counter, 30 minutes to next ufo 6 alien race of mission
The races are:
0 Sectoid 1 Snakeman 2 Ethereal (need to check) 3 Muton (need to check) 4 Floater
Timetable of a mission
When a mission starts, the ufo-counter is set to 0 and the time-counter to some act-depending time. The time-count is reduced every 30 minutes. When 0, an ufo will appear, the ufo-counter (or the sub-counter on some mission) will be increased and a new random time-counter for the new ufo will be set.
Note on the timing
The randomization makes it difficult to generalize ufo appearances, but there seem to be some categories:
immediate 1h 0.5-2.5h hard 2.5h 2.5h 2.5h a day 1d 20h-30h some days 3d 2d-5d a week 1w 5.5d-8.5d two weeks 2w 10d-18d longer 1m e.g.46 days
Also, shooting down a UFO will immediately increase the time before the next UFO scheduled in the same act/zone. The duration types of these delays have not been properly verified. A casual overview suggests that when a retaliation act is not scheduled in response to the shootdown, the additional delay is of the same order as the original scheduling delay.
If a retaliation act is scheduled in response to the shootdown, the additional delay can be of a higher order than the original scheduling delay.
Battlescape missions do not affect the scheduling of future UFOs.
[Zaimoni: need to revise the following to work on ufo-c/sub-ufo-c pairs where relevant. Remove this comment when completely revised]
Research
A undisturbed research mission on beginner level would look like this:
ufo-c time-c ufo-type 0/0 1d s.Scout (start of game Research mission is 2.5h. This is for later ones) 1/0 1w m.Scout 2/0 1w l.Scout 2/1 3d l.Scout
Harvest
ufo-c time-c ufo-type 0 3d s.Scout 1 3d s.Scout 2 1w s.Scout 3 3d l.Scout 5 3d l.Scout 5 1w Harvester 6 3d Harvester 7 1d Battleship
Abduction
ufo-c time-c ufo-type 0 1w s.Scout 1 1w m.Scout 2 2w l.Scout 3 3d Abductor 3/1 3d Abductor 4 1h Battleship
Infiltration
ufo-c time-c ufo-type 0 2w s.Scout 1 2w m.Scout 2 2w m.Scout 3 2w l.Scout 4 3d l.Scout 5 1h Terrorship 6 1h Battleship 7 1h Supply 8 1h Battleship
after this, the mission does not end, but starts again with ufo 0 again.
Base
ufo-c time-c ufo-type 0 1w s.Scout 1 1w m.Scout 2 1w l.Scout 3 1h Supply 3/1 1h Supply 4 1h Battleship
if you shoot down the supplys the battleship will not come for several weeks and a retaliation mission is started.
Terror
ufo-c time-c ufo-type 0 2.5h m.Scout 1 1w l.Scout 2 1w Terrorship 3 1w Terrorship
If you shoot the first Terrorship, the second is going to come 2w later. If you shoot the second Terrorship, the terror-site will not happen.
sub-ufo-c is empirically alwayz 0 for Terror acts.
Retaliation
ufo-c time-c ufo-type 0/0 ? s.Scout 0/1 ? s.Scout (unreliable, criteria for skipping not diagnosed) 1/0 ? m.Scout 1/1 ? m.Scout 2/0 ? l.Scout 2/1 ? l.Scout 3/0 ? Battleship 3/1 ? Battleship
Using the information
You might find that may small scouts appear at 2:30 on the first of a month. This is due to a often found count of 5 with the first ufo on a new terror mission for the month.
To make use of this knownledge might be difficult. But say, if you see a supply ship at a location without an alien base at the end of the third week of a month, it might be on a base mission. Then you should expect a second supply ship and a battleship somewhere close. If it is on infiltration you might see two battleships. If you see a first havester/abdutor, watch out for a second within three days. With a hyprewave decoder you might have more use from the mission sketches.