Hard Light Productions Forums
Hosted Projects - Standalone => Diaspora 3rd Party Missions, Mods & Campaigns => Diaspora => FRED Academy (Diaspora) => Topic started by: karajorma on October 08, 2012, 12:35:29 pm
-
Not my work. Thank/curse at Battuta for this one. :p
Wargames: Limited Response to Regional Insurrection
SP/MP campaign
Colonial Fleet doctrine refers to the militarized elements of the Sagittaron insurrection under the blanket term 'Anti-Colonial Forces' (ACF). In this simulated exercise, Colonial pilots, warship crew, and theater commanders must coordinate to suppress an organized ACF takeover of civilian shipping. Expected ACF tactics in the theater include hostage-taking, counterforce operations using covertly or overtly repurposed spaceborne infrastructure, psychological posturing, navigational denial, and direct attack by means of captured or subverted military equipment and personnel.
BLUE FORCE assets include Colonial battlestars, support ships, and their embarked combat air wings. RED FORCE assets include hijacked civilian shipping, improvised conventional and CAPTOR mines, engineered debris and asteroid impactors, and small number of Colonial military spacecraft and weapons.
RED FORCE intends to threaten or inflict damage to civilian assets and citizens in Sagittaron space in order to force concessions or retaliation from the Colonial government. RED FORCE will presumably act in conjunction with ground-side attacks.
BLUE FORCE objectives focus on limiting the effect of RED FORCE actions, carrying out pre-emptive defensive and offensive operations as dictated by BLUE FORCE imaging and intelligence assets, and sanctioning key RED FORCE assets when collateral damage is judged acceptable.
Mission 1: Violence of Action - scan, order dockings, and coordinate
ACF cells on Sagittaron announce that they have physically seized or placed bombs aboard civilian shipping at the Aeolus orbital transfer point. They will hold these vessels hostage until their demands are met. Sagittaron's shipping authorities have ordered a halt to all shipping in the area, but with more than 20 ships on-scene, communications in shambles, and the exact identity of the captured or sabotaged ships unknown, the Colonial Fleet must act decisively.
You will lead a squadron of Raptors carrying marine CQB specialists and EOD teams. Enter the Aeolus flotilla and use your Raptor's hull-penetrating radar to identify the ships with hostage-takers or bombs aboard. Order the appropriate teams to make covert entry to these vessels and then signal a coordinated strike. In the event of a hijacked civilian vessel attempting to jump away, you are authorized to use lethal force.
A second Raptor unit will provide ESM for this mission and jam all transmissions between ships in the flotilla.
Mission 2A - Force Projection - warhead intercept + subsystem destruction
The successful resolution of the Aeolus transfer point crisis without loss of life has allowed BLUE FORCE information correction teams to insulate the Sagittaron population from ACF propaganda. But you permitted a civilian vessel to escape the Aeolus rally point. With more than 1200 passengers aboard and at least eighteen heavily armed hijackers in control, this jump-capable spacecraft represents both a significant political risk and a potential military asset for the Sagittaron ACF.
Colonial imaging assets have detected the target vessel in a debris field near Sagittaron's trailing Lagrange point. We believe the ship may be attempting to rendezvous with other ACF vessels. Some BLUE FORCE intelligence analysts believe that the ACF has planted missile or torpedo emplacements in the debris field in hopes of luring a Colonial warship into a trap. As a result of integrated human and imaging intelligence, BLUE FORCE HIGHER has declared a NUCLEAR ALERT.
You will lead a Viper squadron deployed from a Sobek-class battlestar in a sweep of the debris field. Clear the area of navigational hazards or ACF interdiction assets while the battlestar hold station. A negotiator aboard the battlestar will maintain constant contact with the hijackers in an attempt to prevent any loss of human life while you operate. Once you have cleared a path, Raptor ESM assets will blind the target vessel's sensors.
If the battlestar comes under guided missile attack, you will neutralize the launchers. Keep an eye on your radiological alarms. The ACF may have acquired nuclear warheads. Marines are standing by to storm the target once you allow the Raptors room to work.
Mission 2B - Hearts Are Minds - warhead intercept + disable or destroy
The destruction of a hijacked civilian vessel at the Aeolus transfer point has drawn significant attention, and the ACF have vowed to retaliate. BLUE FORCE intelligence believes that a physical attack on fleet oilers and container ships convoyed in high Saggitaron orbit is likely. Unfortunately, the events at Aeolus have led to widespread unrest among privately owned Sagittaron shippers, and we are unable to obtain compliance from many of the vessels under threat. We must contain the situation by preventing further loss of life.
After a launch-and-leave deployment from your battlestar, you will coordinate with a group of three frigates to corral convoyed shipping. Separate ships carrying volatiles from the rest of the group. Ships may break from their groups unless you approach and fire warning shots.
Some BLUE FORCE analysts believe that the real target of this operation may be Colonial Fleet assets. ACF may launch suicide attacks on our frigates using tankers or kamikaze ships. It will be up to you to disable - or, if necessary, destroy - these vessels. You may also come under fire from ship-launched anti-fighter missiles.
In the event that the destruction of civilian shipping becomes a military necessity, Raptor ESM units will jam outbound transmissions in order to contain rippling instability.
Mission 3 - Collateral Damage - light dogfight + raptor escort
Intelligence gathered from interrogation of captured hijackers points to an imminent NUCLEAR THREAT. ACF plan to detonate a weapon in Sagittaron's atmosphere, generating an electromagnetic pulse as cover for a wide-scale planetary insurrection. We believe that this weapon will be delivered from space.
The attack methodology is closer to a full-scale military operation than a characteristic insurgent strike. Using reprogrammed CYLOTRON drones from Sagittaron's Fleet training facilities, ACF forces will escort the warhead to its release point aboard an armored civilian vessel. As additional insurance, the ACF has placed thousands of hostages aboard and announced that this vessel is carrying political dissidents they intend to move to safety. We cannot unilaterally destroy the vessel without major political consequences.
You will lead a Viper squadron in an attack on the nuclear transport's escorts. These drones are not responding to shutdown codes and may be armed with live ammunition. You will interdict the drones, including any additional units which launch from the transport, and provide security as Marines close in and board the target.
We expect casualties among hostages and marines.
If the marine strike fails, destroy the target spacecraft. Disabling the vessel will only cause the ACF aboard to detonate the warhead.
Mission 4 - Decapitation - engage vipers and bolithos
Over the past eight hours, BLUE FORCE intelligence has tracked ACF's nuclear arsenal to a Fleet cache embedded in an asteroid at Sagittaron's leading Trojan point. We believe that the ACF has compromised and seized this installation, and that significant portions of their leadership may even now be aboard.
You will lead a full-on attack against the asteroid's defenses. Live ammunition and combat spacecraft were stored aboard, and two frigates slated for decommissioning were also moored nearby. Working in cooperation with your battlestar, you will conduct a fighter sweep and SEAD mission, targeting all ACF combat assets in the area for destruction. You are authorized to unilaterally destroy any civilian vessel attempting to leave the engagement zone.
In the event of an ACF NUCLEAR RELEASE you will provide close escort for your battlestar. We consider the live capture of these leadership elements critical to successful resolution of the insurgency.
Mission 5 -
I'd like to have a thematic followup that indicates the difficulty of suppressing a distributed insurgency by military force, but I don't have anything yet.
-
Okay guys, I don't feel like assigning missions so your first job as a dev team is to decide who wants which mission? :D
-
This outline is a little sketchy and it's my fault!
I think it's obvious that M1 branches at the end when a civilian ship under hijacker control attempts to escape. You're forced to decide whether to blow it up or let it jump away.
Get to know and love the weapon-create SEXP! It can make any ship shoot missiles!
-
Thank/curse at Battuta for this one. :p
Definitely not what I would have expected. Love it though.
As for the who gets what, I'm a bit partial to M1, since that would be all new for me. What about everyone else?
-
That's fine with me Suongadon. I'm fine with just taking them in order. I'll do 2A. Do you guys have a general time frame in mind to do each mission?
-
Get to know and love the weapon-create SEXP! It can make any ship shoot missiles!
+1
or make long range cruise missile appear in the mission area
or ... damn I just had a ton of ideas I have to write down until I can test them.
-
Do you guys have a general time frame in mind to do each mission?
As in how long you should take to write the missions? No specific time frame, just don't sit around for ages doing nothing. And if you lose interest, please tell us that you won't be able to complete your mission.
-
Wow, that's a far cry from what I started my last mission with! :eek:
Taking them in order sounds good to me, which gives me 2B. I suppose I can no longer put off learning tube launches! As for a timeline, my first mission took about a week or so, so I figure somewhere in that ballpark before I have something playable. Maybe we could commit to update here every Monday or so? What do you guys think of using DropBox to sync our files?
-
Since all of the missions appear to be in the proximity of Sagittaron we need to agree on which skybox to use. Mission 2A calls for placement in the planets trailing Lagrange point so that limits the choices. Unless I'm mistaken that would be the dark side of the planet and only SkyBox_Blue_01.pof seems to be sufficient. Let me know if you guys disagree.
On a side note. I need to create a debris field which I thought I could easily create by placing some ships and setting them to explode before the mission starts. However, regardless of how early I set the timer you still see a bit of the explosion. Anyone know how to suppress that? I tried the vaporize check box.
-
I can definitely post progress each week but I'm not sure I can have a completed mission each week. I'll do my best to keep up with the group. I was thinking a week to get a good outline/playable mission. Probably a few more weeks for testing/polishing and incorporating any feedback. I thought it would be nice to help voice each others missions too. Even if we're not great voice actors I think it will beat having messages missed in combat.
Dropbox is fine with me. I haven't used it before but I assume it's straight forward.
-
I don't think it's a great idea to insist on updating the missions themselves on a certain day. But having a day to post updates in terms of what you've done isn't a bad one. :)
-
For the debris field in my mission, I used the Asteroid Field editor: check "enabled" "passive" and "ship" and you can select up to three groups of debris to populate the field with. Then you just enter the X,Y,Z values that you want to bound the field in and the number of pieces you want in the field. You can only set up one field this way, but the result is unique every time and looks pretty good.
I don't think it's a great idea to insist on updating the missions themselves on a certain day. But having a day to post updates in terms of what you've done isn't a bad one. :)
That's what I meant, but it's a pretty important clarification! *nightmares about cranking out unfinished missions*
-
Since all of the missions appear to be in the proximity of Sagittaron we need to agree on which skybox to use. Mission 2A calls for placement in the planets trailing Lagrange point so that limits the choices. Unless I'm mistaken that would be the dark side of the planet and only SkyBox_Blue_01.pof seems to be sufficient. Let me know if you guys disagree.
On a side note. I need to create a debris field which I thought I could easily create by placing some ships and setting them to explode before the mission starts. However, regardless of how early I set the timer you still see a bit of the explosion. Anyone know how to suppress that? I tried the vaporize check box.
Actually, the trailing Lagrange point is L5, the dark-side Lagrange point is L2. http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/mission/observatory_l2.html For the debris, I think it would be a lot easier to use the asteroid field tab and make it that way, rather than blowing up a bunch of ships.
Wow, that's a far cry from what I started my last mission with! :eek:
Taking them in order sounds good to me, which gives me 2B. I suppose I can no longer put off learning tube launches! As for a timeline, my first mission took about a week or so, so I figure somewhere in that ballpark before I have something playable. Maybe we could commit to update here every Monday or so? What do you guys think of using DropBox to sync our files?
Don't know anything about dropbox, but I could commit to update mondays/weekly at least. Probably will be doing most of a first draft of M1 tomorrow evening though.
and tube launches aren't all that necessary I think, but if you do want them, set the vipers docked and use jettison-cargo-delay rather than say, place them manually in the tubes.... like I did.
-
I'll see if I can get the launch tube tutorial up within the next few days.
-
Thanks guys for the tip on the debris field. Are you sure L5 is the trailing point? It's referred to as one of the Trojan points on the wiki page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point
I want tackle a tube launch too, but I'll probably do that last :) I looked at M1 from the campaign and there was a lot of fredding involved.
-
Tube launches aren't that bad if you go off an existing mission and know how to use the docking trick.
-
Thanks guys for the tip on the debris field. Are you sure L5 is the trailing point? It's referred to as one of the Trojan points on the wiki page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point
Both L4 and L5 are Trojan points, L4 is ahead of the planet's orbital path, and L5 follows after it.
-
Thanks for the clarification Suongadon. That opens the choices up a bit. We still need agree on one for consistency, so just let me know what you guys think.
-
I don't have any problem with that skybox, but I think we should avoid using the same one for each mission. From looking at "Resources.html", it looks like the dev's skyboxes each have four versions and SkyBox_Blue_01, Skybox_Blue_02, and Skybox_Desert_02 might pass as the same planet, which would give us a pool of 12 boxes. Since the L4 and L5 points are so far from the planet you wouldn't really see it, so maybe a more generic skybox would be best for M2A and M4? M3 should be closest to the atmosphere, so any of the "very low orbit" or rotated ones should be good for that (_##.pof or _##c.pof). M2B specifically says it's in high orbit (_##b.pof). I don't know where the "transfer point" should be, but I would guess that normal orbit may be good for M1 (_##a.pof). It's late: this may or may not make sense.
There is a bitmap of the planet Desert_2, which would be useful in building a skybox for M4/M2A since you can make those pretty small. I have a starfield that I've been putting together to be semi-realistic (based on wikipedia data) in terms of colors and intensity. I actually think using that starfield and the bitmap planets would give a much nicer result. I'll include that in the dropbox when I set it up.
Oh, I got the tube launch to work!!! It turns out that the Jettison_Cargo_Delay SEXP tries to force an acceleration toward the bow and dorsal of the battlestar.
-
Okay, I haven't actually completed a mission yet as karajoma asked us to do before hand, but I've had a few ideas and would like to give M3 a go.
Quick question, the outline mentions "In this simulated exercise..." How is everyone tackling this? Are you doing the (de)briefings/dialogue "in-character" so to say, or as if everyone knows they're in a simulation.
-
I think it'd be more fun to keep everything in character.
The exercise framing story might not even be necessary. You could ditch it entirely and play this as an actual historical event.
-
Oh, I got the tube launch to work!!! It turns out that the Jettison_Cargo_Delay SEXP tries to force an acceleration toward the bow and dorsal of the battlestar.
Huh. Didn't notice that at all. I wonder if calling that operator before force-glide & set-mobile would keep any of that movement from being seen?
Quick question, the outline mentions "In this simulated exercise..." How is everyone tackling this? Are you doing the (de)briefings/dialogue "in-character" so to say, or as if everyone knows they're in a simulation.
I was figuring 'in character' would be best for the briefs and missions. Blowing up a simulated ship full of simulated civilians because someone on a radio told you to doesn't really work for me, at least.
-
I've set up the Dropbox folder, so here's the public link (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4z0q2o3e29o6o2r/a2c7SnpmPp).
If you've never used Dropbox before, it uploads everything from your "Dropbox" folder (you can choose where to put this folder) if you install it, or you can just use the web interface. There are two caveats to using Dropbox, first is that anything you do to the private folder affects everyone (i.e. deleting something from a dropbox folder deletes it from the server). Second is that we'll need to know each other's email addresses to share the private folder (which gives you guys write-access), since that's what it uses as your username when you sign up. If that's OK with everyone, you can either PM or email it ([email protected]) to me.
-
I seriously think you guys should consider dropping the war exercises frame story. It could have real immediacy as an actual event.
-
^ Done.
So I'm launching from a Sobek Battlestar, what should I call it? I'm presuming we'd all want to be on the same one?
Edit: Just the Theseus maybe? The ship's been around for a while so it would make sense to be set "between the wars" sort of thing, and some of the built-in/pre-made messages use Theseus so it's easier to use.
While I'm here:
(http://i.imgur.com/3lEbJ.jpg)
In other words, Tube Launches are harder than they look. (I set you to freaking immobile Theseus, why are you moving around me, why can't I move afterwards?! What the frak is the difference between my code and Diaspora's?! Sun bitmaps? Event names? GRAAR!)
-
I was thinking "in character" as well. So let's drop the "exercise" as GB suggest. I'd say for now just stick with Sobek and when we get to polishing maybe we can change the name and do a nameplate. TSM, I was probably overly specific in my call for a common skybox. What I should have said is we should use the same series but I like your idea. If you have a skybox we can use and just use the same planet bitmap at various sizes and locations that would be cool. It would help make the campaign unique.
On a side note, I will put my mission up for sharing each Monday but I'm not making as much progress as I had hoped. I am experimenting a lot, and I could see making major changes as I progress to get the best mission. Since we're likely just doing one each we should really be able to polish them up for the best play experience.
I haven't messed with tube launch yet, but are you guys saying it's as straight forward as starting docked, and then using jettison? The diaspora campaign had a lot of fredding dedicated to it's tube launch.
Oh and welcome aboard Killer Whale. I kind of surprised Dukayn has not signed up as he appears to be actively fredding.
-
I haven't messed with tube launch yet, but are you guys saying it's as straight forward as starting docked, and then using jettison?
No.
-
It looks like we're all on the same page with regards to dropping the wargame from the plot. I've put my starfield into the dropbox, so you should be able to grab it and let me know if it needs any work. There aren't any nebulae yet though, as those require much more effort to look good. I also put up my working tube launch, if you want to look at how I did it. Essentially, I'm using the every_time SEXP as a while loop to declare the position and velocity of the viper while it's in the tube, otherwise you run into what I mentioned before. To be honest I'd prefer if we did our own battlestar for this, but I'm not opposed to using stuff from R1 either. :D
-
In other words, Tube Launches are harder than they look. (I set you to freaking immobile Theseus, why are you moving around me, why can't I move afterwards?! What the frak is the difference between my code and Diaspora's?! Sun bitmaps? Event names? GRAAR!)
You have to set the Sobek's initial speed to 0 in the ship's editor-> initial status. And the same for any fighters, ect that are docked to the ship, otherwise they will pull the giant ship with their super powered thrusters. (or if they are raiders on a basestar, they make it spin around until it shoots off into the distance and the game crashes)
Why you can't move could be because you don't have 'set-mobile' in the event after key-pressed \
Baring any of that being useful help you could post the events in [ code] [ /code] brackets or attach/upload the mission somewhere.
I haven't messed with tube launch yet, but are you guys saying it's as straight forward as starting docked, and then using jettison? The diaspora campaign had a lot of fredding dedicated to it's tube launch.
It can be half-assed in like ten to fifteen other operators in addition to that, (with no sounds, no proper acceleration, bizarre targeting bugs because the player ship was launched in the same event as their ai wingmen). Or it could be done right (the campaign and tutorial way: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=82523.0 (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=82523.0))
-
^ Yeah I did all those things. Currently seeing if I can just copy-paste ThePseudoMonkey's code. Didn't even know that tutorial had come out yet, I don't check one bit of the forums and it comes back to bite me (well, I don't check a lot of the forums, but they don't bite me).
Edit: Lol, flew away to the other end of the universe in seconds and collided with myself. Still, it's errors which I kind of understand.
Edit2: Tried Ace's tutorial, still getting pretty much the same thing, just now I get some speed up... sideways.
Edit3: Got it!
-
Whoever's doing Mission 1 should be able to make killer use of query-orders. Bear in mind there's a dock command you can give to friendly transports - though it's just occurred to me that Raptors probably can't accept it.
If you're willing to go an extra mile I can walk you through how to use query-orders to convert 'protect my target' into 'dock with my target'.
-
Whoever's doing Mission 1 should be able to make killer use of query-orders. Bear in mind there's a dock command you can give to friendly transports - though it's just occurred to me that Raptors probably can't accept it.
If you're willing to go an extra mile I can walk you through how to use query-orders to convert 'protect my target' into 'dock with my target'.
First time I read this: :mad: :mad:
3 cigarettes later: So you're saying there is an easier way and I can delete all of the awful key-pressed, flag-jitsu cluster****ery that probably doesn't work right anyway.
At least I won't have to use the sea shells.
-
God yes, spare yourself from key-pressed. Here, let me post an example SEXP:
$Formula: ( when-argument
( any-of
"Falcata 4"
"Falcata 2"
"Falcata 3"
"Falcata"
"<all fighters>"
)
( query-orders
"<argument>"
"Protect my target"
1
"Serenity"
)
( clear-goals
"<argument>"
"Falcata 2"
"Falcata 3"
"Falcata 4"
"Falcata"
)
( when-argument
( every-of
"Falcata 2"
"Falcata 3"
"Falcata 4"
)
( true )
( add-goal
"<argument>"
( ai-chase "Borealis" 87 )
)
)
( when-argument
( every-of
"Falcata 2"
"Falcata 3"
"Falcata 4"
)
( true )
( add-goal
"<argument>"
( ai-chase "Aquila" 89 )
)
)
( when-argument
( every-of
"Falcata 2"
"Falcata 3"
"Falcata 4"
)
( true )
( add-goal
"<argument>"
( ai-chase "Cancer" 75 )
)
)
)
+Name: interpret guard orders on ser
+Repeat Count: 1
+Trigger Count: 99999999
+Interval: 0
This SEXP will 'catch' any order to protect the Serenity given to Falcata wing, or a member of Falcata wing, and translate it into an order to attack hostile wings.
Does that make sense?
Query-orders is under training.
-
God yes, spare yourself from key-pressed. Here, let me post an example SEXP:
This SEXP will 'catch' any order to protect the Serenity given to Falcata wing, or a member of Falcata wing, and translate it into an order to attack hostile wings.
Does that make sense?
Query-orders is under training.
Makes sense, yeah. Thank you.
Now if I could just figure out why that wing name you used is tickling the old brain meat. :confused:
-
GB, does that mean there is no way to change the HUD text of an order (e.g. change "Destroy my Target" to "Move to my Target" for cargo ships)? Or maybe add "form on my wing" to the possible orders accepted for cargo ships? Otherwise, I'm not really sure of a good way is to let the player herd ships from the convoy. :confused:
-
...herd ships from the convoy..
Picturing Alpha 1 burning around trying to get wings of transports into the sobek's flight pod with keep-safe-distance orders. "Why do they all follow that one shuttle which goes the wrong way?! RAGE!!!"
-
GB, does that mean there is no way to change the HUD text of an order (e.g. change "Destroy my Target" to "Move to my Target" for cargo ships)? Or maybe add "form on my wing" to the possible orders accepted for cargo ships? Otherwise, I'm not really sure of a good way is to let the player herd ships from the convoy. :confused:
My first approach would be to have ships try to meander off on their own, then set up an event that checks whether the player is within a certain distance, is facing the wandering ship in a generous cone, and has maybe fired a few warning shots while facing in that cone. Then have the ship be like 'oh damn okay' and go back.
-
I've put my starfield into the dropbox, so you should be able to grab it and let me know if it needs any work. There aren't any nebulae yet though, as those require much more effort to look good.
Hmmm... I have no idea how you did what you did and have experience=0 on starboxes, so this is infinitely better than what I could do (#stars->max, wooot!), but to me the stars look a bit... blobby. I like the range of star sizes, but some are either too big, or their "halo" is. Those big supermassive giants don't seem to have enough, attenuation?; despite getting more transparent the further you are from the star itself, there is a definite boundary between the edge of the star's halo and the space around it. Perhaps being in an old region of the universe/galaxy is what you're going for, but there seems to be a bit too much red around, in part because they're so much bigger than the dwarfs.
Got to love the colours though and how you're using stars which are more than just points is awsum.
To anyone now: I am in need of a starbox with a very close terrestrial planet, Sagittaron to be precise. I have no idea what it should look like (I haven't actually watched any BSG and don't know if it's shown) but a fan-made image on a google search gave it clouds and more land than water. Any advice on how to go about getting one?
-
For now i'm just using the built in resource skyboxes from R1. SkyBox_Desert_03a.pof for now which is a little further back. For now i'm just trying to get the major elements in and I'm not worrying to much about the background. I can switch it in the polishing phase.
-
I just tossed up one of the bitmap planets (blue_02) in the background editor for now. I don't know if there even is a canonical version of Sagittaron, though it would be nice to have it if there is. I'm guessing that a lot of that is built-in to FRED, so you might have to put the planet image into a custom skybox anyway. I could do that if I didn't have to do much editing to the texture, assuming we can get permission from the author, but I'm happy enough with just using the bitmaps at the moment.
Thanks for the feedback on the starfield, I'm sure you've noticed that it's quite a WIP! I'll update it soon, but if you guys use SpaceScape then I'll just post the *.xml file it was generated from, since it makes updates easier on me.
-
Everything in Diaspora is released under a CC licence, you can change it as much as you like as long as you credit Diaspora for the original.
-
Ah, I guess I was under the impression that it was something external.
Monday update: I've made my way into the meat and 'taters of M2b. I've settled on making the player escort the cargo ships from the convoy using the Stay_near_ship SEXP, since that felt like the least hand-wavy method while play-testing. This week I'll be fleshing out the behavior of the cargo ships, and toying with my starfield.
-
You guys need an SVN.
-
I know right, that's what I said too ! (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=82098.msg1646096#msg1646096)
-
You guys need an SVN.
Yeah maybe. It took me like twenty seconds to unpack the dropbox zip into a proper mod folder. :p
Updates-wise, M1 is mostly ready to post, just spread over 3 separate mission files. (It really seemed like a good idea at the time :doubt:) Just have to put them together, make sure it actually works and then write briefings/debriefs.
-
Dropbox is awesome, I'd just worry about versioning.
-
M2A is up. Still a WIP but it is playable with the key events in place.
Remaining:
Far from bullet proof.
Need additional in game dialog.
Play test balancing.
Adopting the common background and planet.
Others I'm sure ;)
-
Oh drat, all the cool kids are nearing completion. I going to blame my SEXPS, but why did I not do anything (FS nor RL) yesterday? Me, I'm still working on logic chains which I really shouldn't have decided to do straight up but are slowly working out.
The morning sun is glaring it up on my screen so I can't test you guys just yet, but for when I do could you post seperate threads for this mission, because this one is getting very off-topic from "Plot line". I had some questions I wanted to ask everyone, but I think I'll test out your missions first.
-
I don't think anyone is nearing completion. We're getting to the bit where you get to playtest each other's missions and figure out what's wrong with them. Then I get to playtest and do the same.
Still quite a way to go. :)
-
Yeah definitely no where near 'complete', just getting towards post-able.
and I have a not-so-random question about hotkeys if someone knows: is there any operator to remove a ship from the key group, and what governs their order? I tried clearing them all out and then adding them in the order I wanted but it didn't change anything.
Thanks.
-
Oh, okay that's alright then.
Anyway, playtest:
Force projection, pretty cool mission, it taught me how to dodge missiles without spamming countermeasures. I'm finding it pretty fun. Do title your ships, of course your going to but it takes only a few seconds just to rename your objects. The delay for me between "We're not done" and "Boom" was a little too high and those bombs were so obviously cylon bombs due to the nature of asking the player to intercept, and hence target. Um... The debriefing felt a little "listy", and I feel that's a common danger with debriefings as you're trying to merge multiple possibilities into a single block of text. It felt more like: You did this, good job. You didn't do this, bad job. It could feel a little more fluid, a little more feedbacky than repeat to the player what they've done.
Hearts are minds: OH GOD! Okay, 0-520 ms^-1 in 1 second, put's my acceleration at 520ms^-2 or 53 g-force, and... that actually might be survivable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-force#Horizontal_axis_g-force, who knew? But it just feels a tad too fast and not exactly safe compared to stock accelerations of 5x less. Do not let me use my FTL drive. It looks like there's still quite a bit left to do so I'll leave it there. It seems you've named your battlestar, do you want that to be common for the campaign? No-one else seems to mind what we call it thus far.
My question: Persistent wingmen. Should we have a wing of comrades who we (mostly) keep for the duration of the campaign? If so, what sort of characters do you feel would be good?
Edit: Derp, left a bit of by post unfinished and sent it like that.
-
You should really put the comments with each mission rather than in this thread. Each mission should have its own dedicated thread and the missions themselves need to be uploaded rather than being in Dropbox (so that everyone can play them more easily, you want people wandering by and playing the missions).
-
Mine still has a ways to go before I'd like to post it on the boards, but I'll make an extra push to get it there fairly soon.
...is there any operator to remove a ship from the key group, and what governs their order?
Isn't the order alphabetic?
It seems you've named your battlestar, do you want that to be common for the campaign? No-one else seems to mind what we call it thus far...
I could live with that. :) I wasn't sure who wanted what name for it, but I got bored of seeing "Sobek" all the time. I like the idea of persistent wingmen, but I'm not sure how much character they should have. I guess that I always figured them to be all "yes, sir" and such.
-
The point is, though, to try and work as a kind of newbie FRED team. So creating a thread on a mission isn't for you to present your mission to the world, it's for the group and generous testers to give some on the fly feedback. At this point in time where no-one's quite finished yet this feedback isn't exactly easy to give due to the WiP nature of the missions, but there is stuff to discuss such as the issues we inevitably find ourselves in. This topic is far from being a discussion on Campaign 1's plotline and is kind of getting stacked as just a general Diaspora FRED Academy discussion... place. It's hasn't got bad so far, but this will soon will become an absolute jumble and very difficult to find that little line of information you want.
Personally, I'd prefer everyone to just start a thread for their mission even if it only said "I'm working on missionxxyy" so that any advice/comments/discussion/thoughts/feedback/etc. on that mission would be right there with them.
Do you mean hotkeys? Hotkeys can be modified in the ships and wings editor, I don't see any SEXPs to modify them in-mission however.
-
I suppose I should mention that I'll be gone for the rest of the week and some because *fake complaint incoming* I am too busy with real life stuff. And in spite of best intentions to the contrary, I won't be able to look at the other posted missions today.
-
^ I'll be the inverse, real life stuff has been keeping me away, I haven't been able to finish my last mission nor get started with the academy yet, but my schedule should allow it soon. I'll start play testing the posted missions this week though.
-
Posted Monday night updates to my mission.
-
Any update on the plotline for m5? I'm also wondering what the plan is for who FREDs 4 and 5 (maybe tag-team 'em?). I know a lot of us will be pretty busy, but I was curious.