images/SpawnShips.png
Much of the flexibility of the sandbox is in this section. This section also reflects different philosophical approaches to providing challenges to the players through the creation of enemy ships.

First, be aware of the built in GM screen ability to spawn enemy ships via the Create... button. All the stock ships can be created this way. The +Spawn a ship button is designed to be used in a similar fashion, listing the ships custom made for the Sandbox. The +Spawn Fleet button is set up to provide a variety of groups of ships for the players with random elements combined with various configurable parameters.

+Spawn Fleet

Generally, a fleet is multiple ships. However, the random nature combined with the configurable parameters can easily make a fleet consist of one ship. Right now, the fleets are largely randomly generated with this section controlling the parameters around what gets generated. I have not set up predefined sets of fleets. I may go back and do that, but I like the variability of randomly created fleets.

+Exuari

This button set the faction of the fleet. It is also used to set the faction of the ship spawned under the +Spawn a ship button. You can also spawn friendly fleets by setting the faction appropriately here. The text of the button indicates the faction selected. Some factions that are not part of the basic EE game were added as part of a mirror universe session.

• List of buttons: one for each faction, asterisk indicates selected faction.

+1 player strength: 19*

The text on this button has the following meaning: 1 = the current strength ratio, 19 = the calculated relative fleet value (total player ship strength multiplied by the strength ratio). Basing the strength of the enemy fleet on the strength of the deployed player ships simplifies the task of presenting a balanced challenge for the players.

Additional relative strength examples: If 3 were the ratio value selected, the calculated strength value would be 57 (3 * 19 = 57 in this example). If the total player strength were 40 and the ratio selected was 1/2, then the calculated strength value would be 20 (1/2 * 40 = 20).

• 1/4
• 1/2
• 1*
• 2
• 3
• 5
• 8

Clicking this button allows you to choose between relative strength, fixed strength and prebuilt formation flying fleets. The buttons under these choices change to reflect the options available. When you first click this button, you see the option to switch to fixed strength fleet, switch to prebuilt formation fleet then three buttons that allow you to change the relative strength ratio. The ratio buttons have an asterisk showing the current selected ratio. The default starting ratio is 1.

+Set Fixed Strength

This button lets the GM determine the numerical strength of the enemy fleet rather than using a relative strength. If this option has been selected, the numerical value will appear as part of the button text along with an asterisk. Clicking this button allows to switch to relative strength, switch to prebuilt formation fleets or lets you raise or lower the fixed strength by 50.

• 250 - 50 = 200
  The text on this button has the following meaning: 250 = the current fixed strength value, "-" = minus, 50 = the decrement value, "=" = "after clicking and applying the math, the fixed strength value will be the following value" and 200 is the value after the click.
• 250 (current) + 50 (increment) = 300 (result after click) The text on this button has the following meaning: 250 = the current fixed strength value, "+" = plus, 50 = the increment value, "=" = "after clicking and applying the math, the fixed strength value will be the following value" and 300 is the value after the click.

+Random-U

This button is available for relative and fixed strength options. It brings you to the grouping, filtering and strength biasing options. The text on the button has the following meaning: Random = the selected group of enemy vessel types (random meaning all types) and "U" = the Unusual filter exclusion is in place. There is currently no indication of bias in the button label text, but that may be added soon (F = Full, L = Light, H = Heavy)

+Group Random

This button lets you determine the selection group for the fleet. The second word in the button text identifies the group currently selected. There is overlap between the groups. In the table below, Str. is the relative strength, SRS = Short Range Sensor range, unusual ships are not included. If you want more information, see the ship_template table in the sandbox. The strength values are subjective. There's no calculation made to determine the player strength or the strength of the ship template vessel.

Template	Str.	Adder	Missiler	Beamer	Frigate	Chaser	Fighter	Drone	SRS
Gnat	2	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	4500
Lite Drone	3	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	5000
Jacket Drone	4	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	5000
Ktlitan Drone	4	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	5000
Heavy Drone	5	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	5500
Adder MK3	5	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
MT52 Hornet	5	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5000
MU52 Hornet	5	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5000
Dagger	6	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5000
MV52 Hornet	6	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5000
MT55 Hornet	6	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5000
Adder MK4	6	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Fighter	6	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5000
Ktlitan Fighter	6	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5000
MU55 Hornet	7	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5500
Blade	7	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5000
Gunner	7	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5000
K2 Fighter	7	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5000
Adder MK5	7	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
WX-Lindworm	7	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5500
K3 Fighter	8	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5000
Shooter	8	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5000
Jagger	8	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5000
Adder MK6	8	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Ktlitan Scout	8	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	7000
WZ-Lindworm	9	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	5500
Adder MK7	9	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Adder MK8	10	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5500
Adder MK9	11	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Nirvana R3	12	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Phobos R2	13	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Missile Cruiser	14	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	7000
Waddle 5	15	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Jade 5	15	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Phobos T3	15	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Guard	15	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Piranha F8	15	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Piranha F12	15	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Piranha F12.M	16	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Phobos M3	16	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5500
Farco 3	16	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	8000
Farco 5	16	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	8000
Karnack	17	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Gunship	17	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Phobos T4	18	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Cruiser	18	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Nirvana R5	19	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Farco 8	19	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	8000
Nirvana R5A	20	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Adv. Gunship	20	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	7000
Ktlitan Worker	20	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Piranha F10	21	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Farco 11	21	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	8000
Storm	22	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Warden	22	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Racer	22	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Stalker R5	22	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Stalker Q5	22	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Strike	23	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	5500
Dash	23	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	5500
Farco 13	24	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Sentinel	24	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Ranus U	25	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Flash	25	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Ranger	25	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Buster	25	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Stalker Q7	25	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Stalker R7	25	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Whirlwind	26	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Hunter	26	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	5500
Adv. Striker	27	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Elara P2	28	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	8000
Tempest	30	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Strikeship	30	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Munemi	32	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Fiend G3	33	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	6500
Maniapak	34	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Fiend G4	35	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	6500
Cucaracha	36	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Fiend G5	37	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	6500
Fiend G6	39	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	6500
Ryder	41	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	8000
Predator	42	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	7500
Predator V2	43	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	8500
Diva	44	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	9000
Ktlitan Breaker	45	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Hurricane	46	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	6000
Ktlitan Feeder	48	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Atlantis X23	50	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	10000
K2 Breaker	55	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5000
Ktlitan Destroyer	50	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	9000
Atlantis Y42	60	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	10000
Blockade Runner	65	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	5500
Starhammer II	70	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	10000
Enforcer	75	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	9000
Gulper	77	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	12000
Dreadnought	80	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	9000
Enforcer V2	83	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	9500
Starhammer III	85	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	12000
Starhammer V	90	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	15000
Battlestation	100	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	9000
Fortress	130	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	9000
Tyr	150	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	9500
Odin	250	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	20000
Loki	260	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	20000

• Random*
• Fighters
• Chasers
• Frigates
• Beamers
• Missilers
• Adders
• Non-DB
• Drones

+Exclude-U

This button lets you specify exclusions to your group. You can shoot yourself in the foot if you're not careful. For example, if you select the Chasers group then exclude Warp and Jump, you might get caught in an infinite loop. The letter at the end of the text of the button indicates the exclusion(s) selected: N = Nuke, W = Warp, J = Jump, U = Unusual. An asterisk on the end of the buttons below indicate that the exclusion is in place

• Nuke
  Use this button to exclude any ship loaded with nuclear weapons. Click it again to undo the exclusion.
• Warp
  Use this button to exclude any ship equipped with a warp drive. Click it again to undo the exclusion.
• Jump
  Use this button to exclude any ship equipped with a jump drive. Click it again to undo the exclusion.
• Unusual*
  Use this button to exclude any unusual ships. These include ships that have been modified to serve as different flavors of defense platforms, specialized freighters and ships designed for specific mission scenarios. If you want any of these, it's better to control their deployment through the +Spawn a ship button than it is to have them randomly appear in a generated fleet.

selectivity:full

This button cycles through three selectivity states: full, less/heavy and more/light. After spawning fleets for a while, I noticed that as the strength number got higher and higher, the composition of the fleet would vary greatly in size since the odds were spread evenly across the possible enemy vessel selection. The selection algorithm picks a ship and compares it with the amount of enemy fleet strength remaining. If the ship selected is higher, pick again until you get something lower than the remaining strength. I wanted to bias the selection towards heavier but fewer ships, so I added some selection pool parameters. The selection pool would consist of X heavy ships at heavy end of the possible ships for the fleet strength. The pool size (X) can be modified. In other circumstances, I wanted to bias the selection towards the light end of the selection pool. In this case, the resulting fleet would consist of lighter but more ships than average. For the biased options, there are buttons provided to change the size of the selection pool:

• Increase Pool: 5
  Use this button to increase the size of the pool by 1. The number on the button represents the size of the selection pool.
• Decrease Pool: 5
  Use this button to decrease the size of the pool by 1. The number on the button represents the size of the selection pool.

+unmodified

This button allows the GM to randomly modify the capabilities of the enemy vessels. This makes the enemy a bit more organic by simulating the results of maintenance, lack of maintenance, enhancements, etc. on the enemy vessels over time. This allows the four choices shown below. Anything other than Unmodified will present additional buttons: Change Chance: 20, Set to 10, Set to 30.

• Unmodified*
  Enemy vessel(s) has no modifications.
• Improved
  Enemy vessel(s) may have improved capabilities compared to normal capabilities.
• Degraded Enemy vessel(s) may have degraded capabilities compared to normal capabilities.
• Tinkered
  Enemy vessel(s) may have improved or degraded capabilities compared to normal capabilities.
• Change Chance: 20
  The number in the text of this button indicates the percentage chance that an enemy vessel will have a changed capability of some kind. The various possible chance settings are 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100.
• Set to 10 Set the chance of change to 10.
• Set to 30
  Set the chance of change to 30.

+Stand Ground

This button applies to relative and fixed strength fleets. It lets you set the default orders for the spawned fleet. Allow me to remind you of the capabilities built in to the GM screen for giving orders. First, select the ship or ships you wish to order around. Then you can use the buttons to order them to be idle, go roaming, stand their ground or defend their current location. There are a number of mouse click orders also available:
Right click empty space = fly towards that point, attacking any enemies discovered along the way, defend the point upon arrival.
Right click friendly station = dock with station.
Right click friendly vessel = defend that vessel.
Right click enemy vessel or station = attack enemy vessel or station.
Shift right click empty space = fly to that point, ignore enemies, defend the point upon arrival (useful for retreat from combat).
Shift right click friendly station = defend that station.

• Roaming
  Go hunting for enemies to shoot.
• Idle
  Do nothing.
• Stand Ground*
  Shoot any enemy that approaches, but stay immobile.

+At Click

This button is available for the relative and fixed strength options. It lets you, the GM, choose how to determine the spawn location of the fleet. When the sandbox was first written, there was no way to access a click point in Lua. Consequently, there were several creative ways added to the sandbox to allow you to specify the spawn point for the fleet. Once the onGMClick() function was added, these creative methods became largely superfluous. I have not removed them yet, but they are candidates for removal (except maybe for Ambush).

• At Selection
  Selecting this spawn location method will spawn the fleet at the point where you the GM have selected something. Useful to simulate defensive fleets around stations.
• Sensor Edge
  Selecting this spawn location method will take the currently selected player, determine the edge of their long range radar sensors and spawn the fleet there. The point around that circle of sensor range is determined by the direction button that appears below the Sensor Edge and Beyond Sensors button.
• Beyond Sensors
  Selecting this spawn location method puts the center of the fleet at ten units beyond the edge of the selected player's long range sensor range. The point around that circle of sensor range plus ten is determined by the direction button that appears below the Sensor Edge and Beyond Sensors button.
• +Random Direction
  This button determines the place around the circle where the fleet appears; the circle being either the sensor range ot the sensor range plus 10 units. The text of the button indicates the direction chosen.
  • Random Direction*
  • 0
  • 45
  • 90
  • 135
  • 180
  • 225
  • 270
  • 315
• +Away
  Use this if you don't want to base the distance of the spawning on the sensor range of the player. Use the angle and the distance buttons to determine the spawn location of the enemy fleet based on the selected object. Once you have made your selections, the text of the +Away button will change to reflect your selections.
  • +90 Degrees
    This button determines the angle from the selected object. The text of the button indicates the selected direction.
    • Random
    • 0
    • 45
    • 90*
    • 135
    • 180
    • 225
    • 270
    • 315
  • +60U
    This button determines the distance from the selected object. The text of the button indicates the selected distance.
    • 5U
    • 10U
    • 20U
    • 30U
    • 40U
    • 50U
    • 60U*
• +Ambush 5
  This button lets you set the fleet in a circle around the player ship. The number indicates distance away from the player ship in units.
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5*
  • 6
  • 7
• At Click*
  This is the recommended default, now that we can access the click in the sandbox.

Spawn

This button is part of the relative and fixed strength options. It's the last step in spawning your fleet. If you have configured the spawn position method to be at the next click, then when you click the Spawn button, it will change to >Spawn< indicating you are in the GM click mode and the next place you click will be where the fleet spawns. Don't forget to exit this mode by clicking the button again or you may accidentally end up with an extra fleet.

If you chose some other method to position your fleet, then the fleet will spawn at the location configured when you click the Spawn button.

+Prebuilt

This button appears by itself when selected between the three fleet spawn methods: relative strength, fixed strength and prebuilt fleet flying formations. Click it to see the other two fleet options followed by the options specific to prebuilt fleet formations.
Empty Epsilon has a feature that allows ships to fly in formation. One ship is the leader and one or more ships are given the order to fly in formation. The followers will stay in formation until they detect an enemy at which point they will break formation to attack. This option is called prebuilt because I limit the leaders and the followers based on experimentation. Ships with warp or jump drive make poor leaders because the followers cannot maintain formation. Similarly, lead ships with faster impulse speeds than the followers don't work well either. I put this option in because it simply looks cool to have ships fly in formation.

+Shape

This button lets you select the formation shape. They are described as letters or figures on the page where the ships are flying to the top of the page. You get several general shape categories to choose from. Once a shape is selected, the +Shape button text is modified to show the shape selected as well as the strength value of the fleet. A default lead ship and followers are determined. They can be changed using the +Composition button.

The shapes angle at 60 degrees unless "ac" appears in the name. In that case (acute angle), the shape angles at 30 degrees. Numbers that appear in the shape name indicate the number of followers in the shape.

+V

In this shape category, the leader is at the point of the V and the followers precede the leader along the arms.

• V
  Each arm consists of one ship.
  
• V4
  The V4 shape has 4 ships in the arms, two on each side.
• Vac
  One ship per arm.
• Vac4
  Two ships per arm.
  

+A

In this shape category, the leader is at the point of the A and the followers trail behind along the arms. There are no ships at the cross bar.

• A
  Each arm consists of one ship.
  
• A4
  The A4 shape has 4 ships in the arms, two on each arm.
• Aac
  One ship per arm.
• Aac4
  Two ships per arm.
  

+Line

In this shape category the ships are in a line. It could be two kinds of diagonal, horizontal or vertical. The leader is in the middle. This formation is particularly difficult to maintain, so don't be surprised if the line is bent.

• /
  The right arm leads, the left arm trails. One ship per arm.
• /ac
  Acute angle, one ship per arm.
• -
  Each ship is 90 degrees from the lead. One ship in each arm.
• -4
  Two ships in each arm.
• \
  The left arm leads, the right arm trails. One ship per arm.
• \ac
  Acute angle, one ship per arm.
• |
  One arm at zero degrees, one at 180 degrees.
• |4
  Two ships per arm.

+M

The M shape category roughly resembles the letter M.

• M
  Two followers leading at an angle and two more at 90 degrees on each side.
• M6
  Three followers per arm:
  
• Mac
  Two ships per arm, acute angle.
• Mac6
  Three ships per arm, acute angle:
  

+W

The W shape category roughly resembles the letter W.

• W
  Two followers trail at an angle and two more at 90 degrees on each side.
• W6
  Three followers per arm:
  
• Wac
  Two ships per arm, acute angle.
• Wac6
  Three ships per arm, acute angle:
  

+X

The X shape looks like an X.

• X
  Four arms, one ship per arm:
  
• X8
  Four arms, two ships per arm.
• Xac
  Four arms, acute angle, one ship per arm.
• Xac8
  Four arms, two ships per arm, acute angle:
  

+Curated Formation

These are fleet formations that have been placed in order of strength value. When you click the button, the 5-button list presented puts the fleet that matches the player's strength in the middle with two lower valued ones above it in the list and two higher valued ones above it. The selected fleet has periods surrounding the fleet strength number. The text in the button is: the leader type, the strength value and the follower type. Clicking a lower or higher fleet selects that fleet and puts the selected fleet in the middle with two lower valued fleets above it and two higher valued fleets below it. If you reach the bottom or the top of the curated fleet list, the selected fleet will be at the bottom or the top of the 5-button list with the periods surrounding the selected fleet.

The value used to determine the default curated fleet is the player's relative strength combined with whatever ratio was last set on the relative player strength option.

+Composition

This is where you can select the leader type and follower type of the fleet formation.

+Lead

Select the lead type ship. The ships listed with an asterisk are the ones recommended for the current follower type. The one with two asterisks is the current lead type. If you select a non-asterisked type ship, the follower type will change to one of the recommended follower type ships.

+Follow

Select the follower type ship. The ships listed with an asterisk are the ones recommended for the current lead type. The one with two asterisks is the current follow type. If you select a non-asterisked type ship, the lead type will change to one of the recommended lead type ships.

+Spacing 1.0

This allows you to change the spacing in the fleet formation. It starts at 1.0. The samples in the shape section above used a spacing value of 1.6. There are 5 choices in order. The selected value will have an asterisk in the button text. You can space them as closely together as 0.8 and as far apart as 3.0. The buttons reorder themselves when clicked to put the current selection in the middle where possible.

Spawn Fleet

This is the penultimate step. Clicking this button changes the button text to >Spawn Fleet< so you can click where the fleet is supposed to be spawned. Then the button will change to >Set Fleet Target< so that you can click where it is supposed to go. Creation of the fleet with the ships in the proper position requires a fleet travel direction. After you set the fleet target, the button will return to the Spawn Fleet state. If you don't really want the fleet to move yet, select the leader and click the Idle button in the lower right of the GM screen. If you tell the whole fleet to go idle, they won't fly in formation when you activate the leader. Once you're ready for the leader to start leading the fleet, select the leader (and only the leader) and right click the destination point on the map.

+Spawn a Ship

images/SpawnAShip.png
This button lets you spawn a single sandbox custom ship. If you need a stock ship, use the Create... button near the lower left of the GM screen. The faction of the ship spawned is determined under the +Spawn Fleet button. Notice that there is a scroll bar to the right of the buttons. I generally try to avoid the scroll bar if possible for the button groups that appear. In this case, though, it should not be too bad. The unusual ships are at the top of the list, the rest are below. Beyond that grouping, the ship types are sorted alphabetically.

• +At Click
  This button determines how to position the ship you want to spawn. The default of "At Click" is highly recommended. When the sandbox was first written, there was no option to access a screen click, so other methods to determine spawn location were added to the sandbox. Those other methods are still available, but may be removed in the future.
  • At Selection
    Selecting this spawn location method will spawn the fleet at the point where you the GM have selected something.
  • Sensor Edge Selecting this spawn location method will take the currently selected player, determine the edge of their long range radar sensors and spawn the ship there. The point around that circle of sensor range is determined by the direction button that appears below the Sensor Edge and Beyond Sensors button.
  • Beyond Sensors
    Selecting this spawn location method puts the ship at ten units beyond the edge of the selected player's long range sensor range. The point around that circle of sensor range plus ten is determined by the direction button that appears below the Sensor Edge and Beyond Sensors button.
  • +Away Use this if you don't want to base the distance of the spawning on the sensor range of the player. Use the angle and the distance buttons to determine the spawn location of the ship based on the selected object. Once you have made your selections, the text of the +Away button will change to reflect your selections.
    • +90 Degrees This button determines the angle from the selected object. The text of the button indicates the selected direction.
      • Random
      • 0
      • 45
      • 90*
      • 135
      • 180
      • 225
      • 270
      • 315
    • +60U
      This button determines the distance from the selected object. The text of the button indicates the selected distance.
      • 5U
      • 10U
      • 20U
      • 30U
      • 40U
      • 50U
      • 60U*
  • At Click*
    This is the recommended default, now that we can access the click in the sandbox.
• Spawn Gnat This button spawns the selected ship (Gnat in this example). If you chose to spawn your ship at the next click, you'll see this button change to >Spawn Gnat< (or whatever ship type you selected). This indicates that you are in the GM click mode and the next click will spawn the ship. Don't forget to turn off the GM click mode by clicking the button again or you may accidentally end up with another ship out there.
• List of buttons: custom enemy ships, unusual ships first followed by normal ships, alphabetic order; * indicates selection

+Spawn Fighter Wing

This is how you turn any CPU ship into a carrier. This button only appears if you already have a ship selected. So, if you don't see it, select a ship, go back a menu and return to +Spawn Ship(s). Once you click this button, you will see some additional buttons:

The default ship type for a fighter wing is the MT52 Hornet and the default wing size is 3. The bottom button spawns the wing. I recommend you reserve fighter wings for ships that don't warp or jump and ships that are heavier in nature (Atlantis, Starhammer, etc.)

+Type

Set the fighter wing ship type here. The ship types available are primarily light beam type ships. I may add more later. The button with the asterisk shows which type has been selected.

+Count

Set the number of ships in the fighter wing here. You can put between 2 and 9 fighters in your fighter wing. The current selection has an asterisk in the text of the button.

Spawn Wing:Carrier Call Sign

This button spawns the fighter wing. The text after the colon (Carrier Call Sign) tells you what ship the fighter wing will appear from. The wing that is spawned will be given the order to defend the carrier.