Hi all,
is it possible that the combat rating doesn't increase anymore after reaching this limit? The pilot data stores this rating in 8 digits but stops at:
0000 07CFF(hex) which is 31999(dec). Exactly one quarter, btw.
Why? Any idea Andrew, your Burchness or whoever hacks into pilots?
- Marko
Well, combat ratings are words. 'Mostly Harmless,' or 'Ultimate,' etc.
The rating itself is determined by the number of people you have killed. 32000 (32768, I would think) is Ultimate. You can kill more, but the word rating itself won't change.
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"We shouldn't have pissed off the judge."
-Source inside Microsoft following verdict in the Microsoft antitrust case.
Well, I was talking about a more technical point of view. Someone published a list where all the data is stored in the pilot file. If you are interested, have a look at the thread "pilot data".
The combat rating is stored as a hex-number and the game converts that into a word like "competent". I think "ultimate" is something above 25000.
So I decoded a pilot file and looked at the combat rating which was 31999 (or 7CFF). After killing some more Cruisers this number should increase but it doesn't.
- Marko
Does it make a difference? No. After 'Ultimate,' combat rating is irrevelant. Enough said.
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"We shouldn't have pissed off the judge."
-Source inside Microsoft following verdict in the Microsoft antitrust case.
Quote
Originally posted by ColdFusion:
**Does it make a difference? No. After 'Ultimate,' combat rating is irrevelant. Enough said.
**
Actually, it might. For example, you could have a mission requiring your combat rating to be twice that of Ultimate. Considering that you should be working on (or at least thinking about) Project Nebula, you seem to be in a distinctly wrong direction of thinking.
Oh, and CF... I see you're having another attack of cynicism lately, yes? 
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Brooklyn. Where the weak are killed and eaten.
AIM: obormot345
I'm just feeling depressed because my iMac's in for repair and because it seems I never had a chance to be a moderator. I was also approaching it from the player angle.
Personally, I think combat rating may be one of the most bizarre aspects of EV. Shouldn't it record the number of ships you kill, not the number of people?(Heck, most people who kill over 30,000 of their own kind are generally regarded as mass murderers or heroes.)
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"We shouldn't have pissed off the judge."
-Source inside Microsoft following verdict in the Microsoft antitrust case.
Yet another feature for EV3...
And I agree. I had never thought about it like that before. Besides, what if the ship you destory is running on a bare-bones crew? Like instead of having 300 people, it only has 100. You still get credit for 300 people even though you only killed 100.
Wait, it's just a game. I really should shut up and play.
Quote
Originally posted by ColdFusion:
**Personally, I think combat rating may be one of the most bizarre aspects of EV. Shouldn't it record the number of ships you kill, not the number of people?(Heck, most people who kill over 30,000 of their own kind are generally regarded as mass murderers or heroes.)
**
That occurred to me, too: an 'Ultimate' combat rating is a hell of a social introduction. "Hi, I'm Skip Blastoff, and I've killed 32,000 people. How's by you?"
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PlanetPhil
now welcoming tourists
(This message has been edited by PlanetPhil (edited 06-22-2000).)
Quote
Originally posted by Obormot:
**Actually, it might. For example, you could have a mission requiring your combat rating to be twice that of Ultimate.
**
Actually, you can't. You see, the AvailRating is stored as a word, (aka short, int), which means it's a value contained in two bytes. There are two flavours of words, unsigned and the more common signed word. Unsigned words can hold any value between 0 and 65535, signed words hold values between -32768 and 32767.
The AvailRating field is, at least in the templates, a signed word, which means it can't go higher than 32767. If you try to put a value two times ultimate (25600*2 = 51200) in the AvailRating field then it's overflow and you'll end up with a required combat rating of -14336.
Now, back to the original question. Why won't the combat rating go above 31999? (I haven't confirmed this but I'm assuming that it doesn't)
The combat rating in the pilot file is a long (four bytes), but if it had been a word (two bytes), then once your rating went past 32767 it would overflow and turn negative, meaning that after you kill yet another cruiser you suddenly find yourself with a combat rating around -32000, or "Biggest Wimp In The Galaxy".
Therefore, it would make sense to put an upper limit on the combat rating, to prevent it from turning negative. However, the combat rating is stored as a long, so an upper limit of 31999 is a bit low.
PS: I'm not too good at explaining this, but I hope it made at least some sense.
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Pontus Ilbring
"Fire bad! Fire BAD!"
Once again, Pontus Illbring gives light to those who labor in darkness. 
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PlanetPhil
now welcoming tourists
