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 used for spawning "scout" units, which are mainly spawned outside of UFO, and just hanging around (their AI have quite different route priorities). If there is no free spawn points found - unit marked as "dead" instead of spawning.
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 ranks, not only by those you assigned to.
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
--Volutar 03:21, 26 September 2011 (EDT)
little note: "scout" is also a civilian spawn node, they also only spawn at 0 --Daiky 15:30, 30 December 2011 (EST)
Node link offset 2 (travel unit type)
This is a bitfield with values as mask for kind of units.
bit0 (1) = this node is only for units in fly mode (mobility bit). bit1 (2) = this node is only for small units. bit2 (4) = this node is only for flying units (movement type). *bit3 (8) = this link was already processed for path estimation (runtime bit).
so
0= any units 1= units of any size in fly mode 2= small units flying or not 3= small units in fly mode 4= any size of flyers 5= any size of flyers in fly mode 6= small flyers 7= small flying flyers
Actually I dont know why there are TWO bits (0 and 2) which stand for flying... AFAIR every flying alien unit unable to walk, so they always have movement type "Fly" and mobility bit "fly mode" (like floaters, who are unable to use steps). Probably some of walking alien units was planned to have flying abilities, but abandoned for some reason. --Volutar 01:51, 27 September 2011 (EDT)
Offsets 0x15 (21) & 0x16 (22)
They seems to be used for AI patrol route distortion for BaseDefence mission type. Before (and including) 30th turn of battle Aliens seems to be attracted by route nodes having one of these (or both) flags set (as boolean field). It's more like a target points, and they seems to be not interested in others at all. But after 30th turn of battle Aliens seems to be wandering all over the place without paying attention on these flags.
It can be confirmed by clearing all these flags from XCOM base module maps, and setting them only for "lift" module nodes. Apparently they will be swarming around lift area, without trying to get somwehere else. But after 30 turn they must scatter. --Volutar 00:05, 28 September 2011 (EDT) Yes, this was confirmed. Though if Alien spots your unit, it will pursue (in Snipe mode), no matter what routes and flags are --Volutar 00:51, 28 September 2011 (EDT)