[Sesquipedalian]

I've seen some ideas thrown around about this before, but I just thought of this (probably) easier way to have the player ship able to depart to a hangar, instead of always having to enter subspace to end a mission.

Right now, as I understand it, the player warp-out code goes something like this:

When Key-pressed Alt-J
-AI takes control of player ship, subspace engine sound begins to play.
-Camara moves to external view
-Player ship goes through warpout sequence
-Mission goes to debreifing

My idea is to simply have the option of not having the warp hole open if Alpha's departure target in Fred2 is set to a ship instead of hyperspace.  So in Inquisitor's prescribed pseudo-code, the new warp out sequence would work like this:

When Key-Pressed Alt-J
-If Alpha's departure target is set to hyperspace
--AI takes control of player ship, subspace engine sound begins to play.
--Camara moves to external view
--Player ship goes through warpout sequence
--Mission goes to debreifing

-If Alpha's departure target is set to CapShip1
--AI takes control of player ship, turns ship towards CapShip1
--Camera moves to external view
--Player ship does not go through warpout sequence (i.e. no wormhole opens, we just watch Alpha 1 flying for a few seconds)
--Mission goes to debriefing

We wouldn't actually see Alpha 1 go all the way to the hangar and disappear inside using this method, but I doubt anyone would want to sit through a minute and a half of just watching Alpha 1 fly towards the mothership anyway.  The point is that you went back to the mothership instead jumping out, not actually watching all the painstaking and boring details of docking.

This might not be too hard to code, since it just means adding an evaluation of Alpha's departure target and then deciding whether to play the subspace warp-out sequence or not.  Probably the biggest bit of work would be getting the AI to turn the player ship towards the mothership, but even that shouldn't take much effort.

I like this method because it saves the player from either having to fly manually towards the mothership before he can depart or else having to watch a two minute "return to the mothership" sequence.  I can see either one easily leading to long, boring sequences at the end of missions.  Long and boring is bad.

Btw, this idea owes a lot of insipration to LtNarol's proposed sexp to give the ai control of the player ship in general, so I'll give a nod where it is due.

[vyper]

Is there any way to alter the postion of Alpha 1 spontaneously? 'Cos then ---


-If Alpha's departure target is set to CapShip1
--Ship replaced at 200m from CapShip1, AI takes control
--Camera moves to external view
--Player ship does not go through warpout sequence (i.e. no wormhole opens, we just watch Alpha 1 flying for a few seconds)
--Ship enters bay
--Mission goes to debriefing

[Galemp]

Personally I think you should need to fly to your capship, and have an onscreen message "Press Alt-J to dock" when the distance is less than 200m from the nearest docking bay subsystem. It's not hard to put all the juice to the engines and hit the burners, and you shouldn't be all THAT far from your command ship anyway.

[LtNarol]

I really find the press alt j message unnecesary...and you're not really docking as much as it is landing...I just fail to see why everyone wants all these heavy engine modifications when all you need is one...maybe two sexps that can solve multiple problems.  Personally, I like Sesquipedalian's way more than I like any others present in this thread, the only thing is then you dont really leave, the mission just sorta stops like on a redalert only without an explanation.  On that matter, I'd like to see an option (preferably a checkbox in fred) where if clicked, the mission redalert screen is done by overlaying a text box on top of a screenshot taken at the very last second of the mission before the redalert.  Kinda like its paused with the message (next briefing) displayed.

Probably incredably difficult, but o well...just thought i'd share another of my crazy schemes.

[Megadude]

I think the best way to go is simple and useful without carrying all the extra wait.  I think Sesquipedalian's idea is better than the other options.

[aldo_14]

All you need is a SEXP to end the mission normally without jumping out..... and that seems pretty simple based on what IO've looked at.  Unfortunately, I can;t figure out Borland, so I can't (gah) test it..... you can use a waypoint near the dock and a distance-check to test it.

Obviously a camera thing would be neat, but it'd be a nice simple fix........

[Sesquipedalian]

But that would 1) require putting the sexp into every mission, and 2) take about the same amount of source-coding work, since we are still trying to make it so that when Alt-J is pressed, Alpha 1 does not actually warp out.  

The key thing that I am going for here is to make it so that the player still has full control of when he ends the mission, but now he does not always have to enter subspace to do it.  This just seems a really neat and clean way to do that.

[LtNarol]

it doesnt mean you have to use alt J to leave every mission, as a fredder you should know that .  It can be another key, and since the is-key-pressed sexp already exists, there you are.  Depatures through hangars are enabled as well, it would be much easier to make the one sexp; the sexp itself can be used for other things as well.  As for putting a sexp in everymission, you have to do that with beams, and you wont always leave through a hangar, so there .

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Sesquipedalian
But that would 1) require putting the sexp into every mission, and 2) take about the same amount of source-coding work, since we are still trying to make it so that when Alt-J is pressed, Alpha 1 does not actually warp out.  

The key thing that I am going for here is to make it so that the player still has full control of when he ends the mission, but now he does not always have to enter subspace to do it.  This just seems a really neat and clean way to do that.

I was thinking of something as simple as having to go within ***m of the fighterbay / waypoint once you get clearance to land, actually......

[vadar_1]

Now this might be hard, but it would solve of problems, and look hella cool...

Alpha 1 performs a tactical subspace jump...

So wherever the player is, they enter subspace, then focus on the dockee, have the player emerge from subspace and dock.

Personally I dont see whats wrong with tactical subspace jumping in terms of realism. Command can usually throw their fighters exactly where they need to be, so whats wrong with the destination closer to the warpout point then usual?

[Vasudan Admiral]

how about alpha 1 presses err, somin (alt+d? for dock? ) , and ai takes over and flys into the nearest hanger. the difference is the camera will only watch the flight for a certain number of seconds, then goes to debriefing. or if really close, terminates when alpha 1 enters the bay.

another option is if when alpha 1 is in the fighterbay subsystem radius, he can press alt+d and dock. (going straight to debrief).
the problem with the current fred method of docking is that a ship must be stationary the whole mission so that the waypoint for the distance check is in or near the hanger.

[Bobboau]

I still prefer my colision with invisable texture triger idea