View source for Modding weapon ranges and accuracy

Editing the range and accuracy of weapons is one of the more obscure things to do, since the official modding documentation is a bit vague about that. This article is trying to explain how to modify these properties to achieve the result you're going for.

==Ranges in the game==
The game differentiates between five ranges, that two ships can be in:
{| style="border:1px solid #4285B1; border-collapse:collapse; width: 60%;" cellpadding="4" border="1"
|- style="background-color: #4285CC; color: white;"
! style="width:15%" |Range ID
! style="width:30%" |Name
! style="width:55%" |Distance
|-
|1||Contact||0 meters
|-
|2||Combat||1 to 5000 meters
|-
|3||Artillery||5001 to 10000 meters
|-
|4||Bomber||10001 to 20000 meters
|-
|5||Out of (range)||20001-25000 meters (and above?)
|}
These ranges are actually being defined by entries in the file ''tacticsbase.ini'' located in the following folder:<br />
''/universe/tactics/tacticsbase.ini/''

They can be changed, though that may create problems further down the road with certain AI scripts. The syntax is as follows:
{| style="border:1px solid #4285B1; border-collapse:collapse; width: 60%;" cellpadding="4" border="1"
|+
| colspan="3" style="background-color: #16203A; text-align: center;" | Range <id> <distance> <unknown1> <unknown2> <name>
|- style="background-color: #4285CC; color: white;"
! style="width:30%" |Parameter name
! style="width:35%" |Function
! style="width:35%  |Possible value
|-
| <id> || the range identifier || 1-5
|-
| <distance> || the maximum distance of this range || any number greater than the distance of the earlier ranges
|-
| <unknown1> || ''not currently known'' || ''not currently known'' (- / F)
|-
| <unknown2> || ''not currently known'' || ''not currently known'' (F1-F5)
|-
| <name> || name of the range || any string, enclosed by double quotation marks ('''"''','''"''')
|}

==Accuracy==
Every weapon entry in the ''tacticstypes.ini'' has a ''HitChanceCat''-property, which links it to a certain '''BASEHITCHANCE'''-block in the same file. These blocks determine both accuracy and maximum range of a given weapon against any given target, but we'll just look at accuracy for now:

Every row in the '''BASEHITCHANCE'''-block follows the same syntax:
{| style="border:1px solid #4285B1; border-collapse:collapse; width: 100%;" cellpadding="4" border="1"
|+
| colspan="3" style="background-color: #16203A; text-align: center;" | <TargetType> <RangeID> <HitChance>
|- style="background-color: #4285CC; color: white;"
! style="width:15%" |Parameter name
! style="width:50%" |Function
! style="width:35%  |Possible value
|-
| <TargetType> 
| refers to the ''TargetType''-property off '''SHIPCLASS'''-entries<br />
more specifically: it is the ''TargetType'' of the object the weapon aims at
| any ''TargetType''-value
|-
| <RangeID || the ID of the ''Range'' the targetted object is in; usually only ''Ranges'' 2 to 4 are being used here, because ''Range'' 0 wouldn't make sense and ''Range'' 5 is being used up to infinity || any of the [[#Ranges in the game|Range IDs]]
|-
| <HitChance> || accuracy at this ''Range'' against the given ''TargetType'', in percent, without [[ECM]]- or [[ECCM]]-systems in mind || percentile value; can be greater than 100 percent to counter [[ECM]]-/[[ECCM]]-effects
|}

So, for example, the default ''energy shell'' weapon has a ''HitChanceCat'' of 4 and we assume, it now fires at a ''Gorg Battleship'', which is a ''TargetType'' of 5. When determining the chance to hit the target, the game will look at the '''BASEHITCHANCE'''-block with the number 4. It looks for any rows starting with the ''TargetType''-value of 5 and since the battleship is roughly 6000 meters away, it'll use the following row for ''Range 3'':

:<code>5 3 95</code>

Obviously your chance to hit and therefore your accuracy at this range is 95 percent. It'll still apply [[ECM]]- and [[ECCM]]-effects to this percentage, so your actual accuracy may be lower than this value.

===Having 0 accuracy===
If your hitchance for a given ''TargetType'' and ''Range'' is 0, the weapon will not even fire at the target, since it is impossible to hit at this range. This actually serves to limit the maximum range of weapons, which we'll discuss next.

==Range of weapons==
As we've seen, a weapon having a hitchance of 0 at a certain range, will not fire at the target. This actually represents your maximum range of this weapon as well. If you want to modify your weapons to fire at greater distances, you'll be wanting to raise the hit percentages of this weapon for the larger ''Ranges'' (3 and 4 respectively). Of course this also means you're going to stick to the predefined ''Ranges'' (5000m, 10000m and 20000m per default) and you won't be able to create a weapon with a non-default firing range.

Actually this isn't quite true for all weapons. Laser-type weapons have their range also limited by their ''Travel''-property:
{| style="border:1px solid #4285B1; border-collapse:collapse; width: 60%;" cellpadding="4" border="1"
|+
| colspan="3" style="background-color: #16203A; text-align: center;" | Travel <type> <param> <effectID> <effectScaling>
|- style="background-color: #4285CC; color: white;"
! style="width:30%" |Parameter name
! style="width:35%" |Function
! style="width:35%  |Possible value
|-
| <type> || the type of the shot, that is being fired 
| Numerical value:<br />
#radius from the firing to the target (laser weapons)
#travelling shot (projectile shot)
#shot has a shipclass (missiles, fighters)
#shot aims a breaching point and it doesn't have a shipclass (commandos?)
|-
| <param> || additional parameter, depending on the type of the shot
|numerical value<br/>
*<type>=1: <param>=maximum length of the radius (firing distance of the laser)
*<type>=2: <param>=speed of the shot
*else <param>=0
|-
| <effectID> || the effect being used for the shot || effect ID from ''efx.ini'' or ''mod_efx.ini'' or a '''SHIPCLASS'''-id, if <type>=3
|-
| <effectScaling> || how to scale the effect || any numerical value; 1 means original size, <1 is smaller, >1 is bigger
|}

So you can give laser weapons their maximum range using the <param>-parameter of the ''Travel''-property. This works in combination with the hitchances, so if your accuracy against some target at a certain range is 0, the weapon will still not fire, even if your <param>-parameter is greater than this distance. However, if your <param>-parameter is smaller than the distance, where you would still have a chance to hit, then the weapon will only fire, when the target is not farther away than what was specified in your <param>-parameter.

===Infinite range===
Typically there is no row in any '''BASEHITCHANCE'''-block being specified for a ''Range'' of 5, so the accuracy for that range defaults to 0. If you manually add a row for a ''Range'' of 5 for a certain ''TargetType'' (or all of them) and set accuracy to some value greater than 0, then your weapon will fire at infinite range (unless being a laser weapon of course, see above). No matter, how far away your target is, you'll be able to shoot at it with the accuracy specified at that row.