-Spawningt-
-By Lance Botelle-




 

I have learned something about Spawning Monsters (in relation to Security Computer Consoles & Security Cameras) and thought I would share it with you. Hope it helps...
After playing around with the Spawn "Supply" figure in DirectMonsterGen>Spawn (at the bottom), I found out that this figure must relate to the strength of an encounter. (NOT THE DIRECT NUMBER OF CREATURES.)
This may sound obvious, but I will explain further. I noticed that if I put in a figure of a multiple of four (or part of), I would spawn one OG-Pipe per four points per Spawn Marker that the DirectMonsterGen was linked to.
I only used the OG-Pipe monster in my "experiments", but guess that other monsters may have a higher figure (than 4) to equate to less encounters of that type (when randomly determined with more than one creature) for the same "Supply" figure. But, I have also noticed (with help from G'len's info), that "Alert Min" and "Alert Max" within Ecology>Ecology may take priority over the maximum supply figure calculated in the spawn "Supply" figure above. (DOWNWARDS ONLY! You could not get more monsters than that calculated from the "Supply" figure in DirectMonsterGen - unless the "Supply" figure is 0 (zero), which I think means unlimited.)
Because, when these figures are lower than the highest numbers of OG-Pipe that are potentially available (remember it may be different for different creatures and may alter this example altogether!), then these lower figures take priority. An example may clarify this: I have worked out that OG-Pipe monster equates to 4 points. Therefore, if I put a figure of 16 in the "Supply" figure in DirectMonsterGen>Spawn, I will get (potentially) 16/4= 4 OG-Pipes PER MARKER that the DirectMonsterGen is linked to.
So, if I had this linked to two SpawnMarkers, then a potential 4x2 = 8 OG-Pipes could be spawned. (Four from each Marker.) (NB: It may be that tougher monsters - with higher "points" would spawn less??? - If someone does experiment with this and works out the figures for other creatures, then please let us all know. 8>) ) However, continuing with the above example, if I had the "Alert Min" as 1 and the "Alert Max" as 2 (within Ecology>Ecology), then I would get a random figure of 2 - 4 monsters ... 1 or 2 monsters from each Marker. (NB: I tried making the Min & Max numbers the same to force a certain number, but it did not seem to work ... but then again, I may have forgotten to Portalise between each change ... which does appear to make a difference ... so do not foget to Portalise between each change!) So there you have it. Hours of fiddling around to hopefully give us some sort of clue to help with the type of Monster Spawning available. I have just a couple of questions of my own, related to the same thing...
1) The flags in Spawn (just above the "Supply" figure) - Any ideas? (When I removed the PopLimit tick - I think it was that one - all the monsters appeared to Generate in one go at one Marker!!!! In other words, when I had the test supply figure at 20, I got 5 OG-Pipe monsters appear at the Marker instantly the alarm went off. I have not experimented further with this yet. Let me know if any of you do...
2) "Period" in Ecology>Ecology - Any ideas? In my example above, I kept this to 1.00. I have yet to test it any other way.
3)Does anyone really know if EcoType or EcoState relate to anything in particular? I have stuck an EcoType:1 in Ecology>Script, but I reckon it would probably not change much if I took it out ... something to try later perhaps.
One last thing, which may help to work out what is going on with all these variables (and work out what is going on) and that is to hit Alt-E and return to the editor after playing your level a bit and then examine the objects properties before reloading the level to work on again! I found out quite a few interesting things by doing this.
One thing, which may need looking into by someone who has better knowledge, is EcoState added itself to either DirectMonsterGen or Ecology (I cannot remember which) as Ecostate:2. It may be related to the alarm going off, as I hit Alt-E and returned to the editor when the alarm was still sounding. As you can see there is plenty of areas to look into if anyone has got more time.
I have made a start and now offer this onformation for what its worth, to those who may wish to add to what I have just gone through.

 

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