1.13.0 Function #664 ?

[dsedrez (OP)]

I'm playing with some DB mods, that I've been playtesting for a while, and I've met my fellow NPR, which grew hostile almost immediately (I'm being very pushy so it's understandable from their POV), but their warships are so far limited to their home system. I'm staying away from them for the moment, they have *lots* of missile ships parked at the JP. They do have some survey and JP stabilisation ships roaming around, which I'm not attacking.

Then all of a sudden this popup "1.13.0 Function #664 Object reference not set (...)" appeared three times, after a tick when I've done nothing at all other than click go ahead (lots of ships moving around create lots of interrupts). From there on, every time the same three pop-ups appear, and it's getting irritating. I do have a DB saved from just before this began.

Can anyone help me with what this function does or what this error might refer to, before I deep-dive into the humongous DB to try to search for what is missing and why?

[EDIT] Apparently the problem is related to three NPR missile warships jumping into another system (where my race hasn't reached) and trying to "Join Operational Group" which they can't find. Strange that there are also three beam stations moving there with the same task, at 1km/s speed. It'll take them forever to just reach the JP.
Investigating the DB it seems the Operational Group might be a "Reinforcement Group" but I can't find any other info about that.

[Droll]

Do any of your DB mods touch the NPRs in any way?

[dsedrez (OP)]

Do any of your DB mods touch the NPRs in any way?

In a way, yes, since I've enabled some of the "advanced" techs, changed some stats of components and planetary installations. But they shouldn't impact the NPR default behavior, unless it's an unintended consequence (it happens).

I've edited a copy of the saved DB to take over the NPR just to give alternate orders to the 6 fleets (3 beam bases and 3 missile destroyers) with orders to "Join Operational Group" that would apparently be a "Reinforcement Group". Saving the DB without incrementing time, changing the race back to NPR, and running it again, the error pop-ups didn't appear, so I believe I've identified what the error meant.

I believe this "Reinforcement Group" is a bug. It isn't present in any of the tables that describe NPR operational groups. Maybe it's a leftover from a previous version that was discontinued, or something that isn't fully implemented yet. The vessels were built after the start, and probably received this NPR-only standing order, but it's apparently not functional.

Maybe it can be reproduced on a non-edited DB, starting the game with just one starting NPR (settings are no spawning new NPRs by the NPR), leaving the player race isolated in its system, doing nothing for a *long* time (for me it took 15 years), letting the NPR expand. They'll build more vessels and we can then examine the DB to check if there are fleets with this standing order (48, with NPR operational group 11).

I do note that this NPR has been very successful and built lots of ships, though only these six had a problem. I recovered an old save from just after the time these 3 ships were built, and they already had this order, but apparently they did nothing for a long time, just stayed quiet and alone in their own individual fleets. I don't know what made them try to execute the order so long after they were built (~10 game years earlier), maybe it was meeting my exploration ship in their home system and turning hostile. But if they were created with this order it was already an error waiting to happen, and a mostly useless ship for the NPR who apparently don't know what to do with them.

[dsedrez (OP)]

I've found a version 1.12 game save, one of my earlier attempts to make DB edits, with only a few component edits, and after 23 game years there were two ships built with the same orders (Join Operational Group with Reinforcement Group as target), so this was present in that version of Aurora. I don't remember the error popup being triggered, so the conditions for the error may be rare, but the same thing was happening: ships built and sitting unused by the NPR without being incorporated into fleets.

Unfortunately I don't have a save from an unmodded game that ran for long enough with a starting NPR.

[Steve Walmsley]

#664 is the JoinOperationalGroup function.

NPR operational groups are based on core ships and optional ships. When a new NPR ship is built it will be added to an existing operational group that needs that ship type. If no existing group has slots, then either a new partial operational group of a specific type will be created (if the new ship is a core ship) or it will be created as a 'Reinforcement Group', in which case it will look for operational groups to join in the future. This will sometimes be to replace ships lost in combat, or perhaps because a new group was created when a core ship type was built. Its a little more complex than that because ships are not always built near the operational group that needs them, but its the same principle.

It sounds like whatever you did is affecting the NPR ability to achieve the above. If this was a problem with the function it would be happening all the time in every game.

I've already fixed the issue you spotted with the orbital stations for v2.0

[dsedrez (OP)]

Thanks Steve! Your AI is really smart. And I seriously misunderstood what was happening, I'm sorry! BTW this NPR is giving me trouble even though mine has a tech edge. Or maybe I'm not as good a player as I thought 

I have *no* idea what I might have done to impact this behavior, though. On the edits I've done, I tried to keep a detailed record of everything I changed, and why. Some were meant to try to anticipate changes that are slated to v.2.0, and also to implement some rules I'm trying from a role-playing perspective. Such as allowing building conventional industry, with rules that leave very few cases they might be converted into something else outside of a conventional start (to give something my smaller mineral-less colonies can do). The stats and restrictions I chose, though, forced all colonies to dedicate significant BPs to build CIs almost all the time, just to keep up with pop growth, and impacting gameplay. For my RP purposes it's interesting but it's certainly not something I'd recommend in general. I'm having lots of fun with this game, but I'm really anxiously waiting for v.2.0 

I've already fixed the issue you spotted with the orbital stations for v2.0

The terraforming stations? Thanks!!! It sometimes works and sometimes doesn't and I haven't tested yet to check what are the conditions for that (RL issues so I forgot it, sorry).

[Migi]

In a way, yes, since I've enabled some of the "advanced" techs, changed some stats of components and planetary installations. But they shouldn't impact the NPR default behavior, unless it's an unintended consequence (it happens).

My wild ass-guess is that changing or enabling ship components caused problems with the ship classification/assignment function, which fed something unexpected into the JoinOperationalGroup, hence causing the error message.