Talk:ROUTES.DAT
Regarding offset 23, Zombie, were you attempting to "clarify" or "correct" it?
Previously it stated that 0-value nodes CAN spawn units, but only if all other nodes are taken...
- Bomb Bloke 21:07, 26 August 2008 (PDT)
"Correct" it. In any case, 0-value "spawn" nodes can never have units placed there period. They are only used for alien pathfinding. If all the spawn points with values of 1 or greater get filled and there are still alien units waiting to be placed on the map yet, they don't. This follows the same basic premise as an auto-win base defense mission. --Zombie 22:11, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
Some wild guesses about the "flags" byte on non-base missions: Aliens patrol around using the spawn points, but sometimes they "guard" a certain point. A theory is that the chance the next state is just guarding this spawnpoint is higher when the "flags" byte is higher. So they save TUs, thus making a strong defense(reaction shots). When the flags is zero, they will not stand still on the point and continue patrolling. You will notice that inside UFO's the values are higher, this makes that aliens inside UFOs have a higher defensive advantage. So this byte can actually be called the "offensive (x-com base)/defensive (others)" decision score. --Daiky 07:26, 21 July 2011 (EDT)
Offset 19 (0x13)
According my observation this is a bit field
bit0 (1) = this node is only for flying units (mobility bit, used for spawning). bit1 (2) = this node is only for small units (used for spawning). bit2 (4) = this node is only for flying units (movement type). bit3 (8) = this node was used for NPC placement (runtime bit). bit4 (16) = this node is only for civilians (runtime bit, cleared when aliens nowhere else to go). bit5 (32) = cannot be used as patrol point.
so
0 = Any (small walk, large walk, small flying, large flying) 1 = Flying (small flying, large fly) 2 = Small (small flying, small walk) 3 = Flying Small (flying small)
--Volutar 05:29, 23 September 2011 (EDT)
Offset 20
Actually it's not a "rank", it's more abstract version of "rank" which is used by many ranks (if there's no other appropriate spawnpoints left). At the end of priority list are points with value 0. Same value 0 us used for spawning "scout" units, which are spawned outside of UFO, and hanging around.
Scout 0 Commander 4 > 3 > 5 > 8 > 7 > 2 > 0 Leader 4 > 3 > 5 > 8 > 7 > 2 > 0 Engineer 5 > 4 > 3 > 2 > 7 > 8 > 0 Medic 7 > 6 > 2 > 8 > 3 > 4 > 0 Navigator 3 > 4 > 5 > 2 > 7 > 8 > 0 Soldier 2 > 5 > 3 > 4 > 6 > 8 > 0 Terrorist 2 > 5 > 3 > 4 > 6 > 8 > 0 XCom 1 > 0 > 2
So, 1st priority spawn points confirmed to be as they listed on main page. But almost any of these spawn point can be used by number of alien rank, not only those you assigned for.
0 = Scout/Any rank 1 = X-Com 2 = Soldier/Terrorist, Medic, Engineer/Navigator, Commander/Leader 3 = Navigator, Commander/Leader, Engineer/Soldier/Terrorist, Medic 4 = Commander/Leader, Engineer/Navigator, Soldier/Terrorist, Medic 5 = Engineer, Commander/Leader/Navigator 6 = ..., Medic, Soldier/Terrorist 7 = Medic, Commander/Leader/Engineer/Navigator 8 = ..., Commander/Leader/Medic, Engineer/Navigator/Soldier/Terrorist