Any player preferences?

So after experimenting with the EVN engine I've discovered that the game can comfortably handle a crew size of about 5000. A ship can have a crew up to the size of 32767, but anything larger than about 5000 and the ship capture percentages start to go awry. Specifically, a ship with a crew of 6,602 trying to capture a shuttle with a lone pilot has a 75% of success, while a ship with a crew of 10,000 trying to do the same has a 1% of success. This is because, I've been told, the formula that calculates the capture percentage returns a value so high the byte can't store it correctly and it 'overflows'.

Even though 6,602 works, I've decided on a crew maximum of 5,000 to facilitate outfit upgrades such as additional marine platoons. The problem is, a crew of 5,000 is actually pretty small. Even a moden CVN aircraft carrier has a crew larger than this. If I changed the crew units from actual people, to a different standard, say a platoon of marines equaling about 50 people, then a crew of 5,000 would actually represent 250,000 marines. But then any ship with 50 or less crew aboard would have a crew of 1.

Bottom line: Do you think a patch that listed crew in the format of 'platoons of marines' or something like that, would be irritating, especially when you know your fighter or shuttle only has one or two guys aboard?

SeattleLightning, on Jan 12 2005, 11:04 AM, said:

The problem is, a crew of 5,000 is actually pretty small. Even a moden CVN aircraft carrier has a crew larger than this.
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Yes, but not all of those 5,000 crew members leave the ship to go storm another, do they?

I guess in some cases you might want more than 5,000, but unless you're dealing with very very large troopships built for the intent of capturing installations and, well, maybe carriers, chances are you won't carry that many marines (as opposed to crew members) aboard a starship.

You could probably get by with your 6,000 limit and just say something about any ships that have more...maybe just say it carries extra marines aboard or something. Though maybe someone has a better idea than my idea that really isn't an idea at all.

Um, yeah...sorry if that's not a very satisfying answer.

Yes, but it is considered the ship capture formula (with its 10-to-1 home advantage) already takes into account the fact not everyone attacks. If we were to follow your logic, then indeed the only thing I can think about that would carry more than 5000 troopers would be... an Imperial Class Star Destroyer. Which brings us back to subject.