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Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: Grimloq on December 06, 2004, 09:53:47 pm

Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Grimloq on December 06, 2004, 09:53:47 pm
...in fighters, you could model a peice of debris like an ejected cockpit. its implied in FS2 (and a lot of MODs) that the pilots eject, or somehow miraculously survive, so this would look kinda cool, as well as be a neat effect for making pilots lives be more beleive able. we can say they get rescued by support ships or something later.

similarly, you could model 'lifeboats' as debris in capships. tiny little 3- or 4-man things that can save a small amount of the crew. though hermes escape pods would be the optimal choice for escaping, i always thought they were more like shuttles.

besides, we DO have 64 peices of debris, maximum ;)

i think its a good idea, and unless theres unforseen problems with it, ill prolly make that a part of my own ships :)

so, whaddya think? suggestions, (flames to a minimum), thoughts, complaints, etc...
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Bobboau on December 06, 2004, 10:23:35 pm
"its implied in FS2 that the pilots eject, or somehow miraculously survive"

it is? :wtf:
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: WeatherOp on December 06, 2004, 10:26:45 pm
Seems like a cool idea, so the guys in fighters will have an escape instead of just knowing that they will blow up. Get it working Master Grim.
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Grimloq on December 06, 2004, 10:31:28 pm
cobra: play the BWO demo. you will notice that, even if your wingmen die, they come back in the next mission.
Spoiler:
except, in the last mission, Jack (alpha 4) dies, but they do make it a big deal and its all scripted and all.

its not a HUGE spoiler, but still a surprise. read at yer own risk. :p

its implied because: think about how many pilots the GTVA goes through >.< :p a LOT.

also, having these 'life pods' would explain why theres no 'life support' system on fighters, and why pilots dont get physical injuries ;) its super sheilded!
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Knight Templar on December 06, 2004, 10:33:41 pm
:wtf:

Uh, BWO had it's wingmen come back because it would be a total ***** FRED-wise to have them die permanently or not (story wise too.) And nowhere in FS2 (or 1 for that matter) does it say that pilots m ust live because so many die. :wtf:
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Grimloq on December 06, 2004, 10:36:13 pm
i said it was implied. i realy doubt any terran organization (official or... otherwise) would let so many of its pilots die.

actually, its prolly since :V: didnt put in a very good AI code, so they die alot, that helps it be implied >.< :p


anyway, its just a thought. i think it would be cool.
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Bobboau on December 06, 2004, 11:03:33 pm
implyed means that there is something that sugests it, like "...the GTD Olympus recovered sevral surviveing pilots form the incedent..."

in FS there is no imlication of that, in fact the opposite is true.

mods are non-cannon, you can do what ever the hell you want in a mod.
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Grimloq on December 06, 2004, 11:07:39 pm
i meant HTLed models as well.

anyway, so i used a wrong word for it but you know what i mean. it would just make 'sense'.anyway, i just always thought they would eject. besdies being practical, it creates an explanation why there seem to be so many pilots in a single squadron (which is 4 wings, right?).

besides, little lifeboats in fighters/capships would look kinda cool anyhow :)
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Carl on December 06, 2004, 11:08:04 pm
well, your wingmen look and sound the same in all the missions, even if their fighter is destroyed in the last one. all your wingmen seem to have very distinctive voices (the best example of this is the woman) so unless the GTVA uses cloning on their pilots, i'd have to say that they are recovered some how.
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Swamp_Thing on December 07, 2004, 03:56:46 am
In Starlancer, when you die your ship jettisons an escape pod. Then a cutscene kicks in of an enemy ship comming about and blow you to kingdom come while saying something like "Diiiie, you Alliance filth!!" Or "Alliance pig"!
:D
Then another cutscene kicks in, where they have a burial ceremony in space and jettison your coffin into space.

There is however, another possibility: If you see that your ship is going to blow, you can activate the escape pod yourself (F12).
Then you have a 50/50 chance: either that obnoxious enemy pilot comes in and blows you away, OR you get lucky and are picked up by a friendly "nanny" ship, where you are taken to your mothership and stuffed in another fighter. But you loose the mission anyway, so...
:nervous:

Starlancer had some really kool features, i´ll give them that.
:)
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: NGTM-1R on December 07, 2004, 04:02:38 am
That's Wing Commander's schtick. Only the Kilrathi don't say anything, except possibly a roar.
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: KARMA on December 07, 2004, 09:23:41 am
weill in the intro of fs2, with the pilot outside the relict of the fighter on the planet surface...I doubt you could survive an emergency landing on a planet with a space fighter out of control, so it could be because of he ejected before the crash
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: aldo_14 on December 07, 2004, 09:36:08 am
Quote
Originally posted by KARMA
weill in the intro of fs2, with the pilot outside the relict of the fighter on the planet surface...I doubt you could survive an emergency landing on a planet with a space fighter out of control, so it could be because of he ejected before the crash


I dunno, the thing should have shields at the least.... plus it's not in that bad a nick. ... IIRC there is a long trail behind where it's skidded along, implying some degree of control to the landing.

I'm wondering, does the FS1 briefing have a 'wounded' total from Operation Thresher?  Because offhand, that would be the only thing that would even imply ejector pods; and even then it's just as likely to be from disabled vessels or those that managed to limp home (ala how we have the dead co-pilot in Ash' apollo-cum-bomber thing).
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Goober5000 on December 07, 2004, 10:26:24 am
"Terran Command estimates Terran losses at 504 pilots dead, 14 missing and presumed dead."

No mention of wounded.
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Blaise Russel on December 07, 2004, 10:29:06 am
Tsk. Stupid Terran Command and its obsession with Battle of Endor missions...
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: aldo_14 on December 07, 2004, 10:30:00 am
Quote
Originally posted by Goober5000
"Terran Command estimates Terran losses at 504 pilots dead, 14 missing and presumed dead."

No mention of wounded.


That'd make a fun mission..........
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Zarax on December 07, 2004, 10:32:50 am
Swap terran with shivan and you'll get a pretty standard debriefing ;)
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Goober5000 on December 07, 2004, 10:40:06 am
Quote
Originally posted by aldo_14
That'd make a fun mission..........
Well, that's over the course of an entire operation.  It would probably take place over several missions at least.
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: aldo_14 on December 07, 2004, 10:41:43 am
Are you suggesting being part of a big wing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Wing) wouldn't kick arse? :D
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Goober5000 on December 07, 2004, 10:54:37 am
It probably would.  I haven't heard of that sort of thing before. :)
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Deepblue on December 07, 2004, 12:31:23 pm
Think about 2 objects one docked to the other, the pilotable one is the lifepod section, the rest is ther rest of the ship. It could work if SCP enabled removal of the "breakaway" when you move to quickly when docked.
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Starman01 on December 07, 2004, 01:00:50 pm
Would be hard to build. The creation of a long-living debris, or even one that has some hitpoints (but must be invulnerable while the fighter explode, otherwise the explosion-damage would destroy it too) is maybe more easier.

When the Escape-pod is docked, you would probably run into the problem, that you shoot away the cockpit, while the fighters continues fighting (it should be disabled once the cockpit is gone). :)
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Deepblue on December 07, 2004, 01:03:53 pm
You could just make a flag that tells FS to blow up everything when the EP is destroyed while still attached. (It would be harder to hit, so this should not affect gameplay too much)
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Carl on December 07, 2004, 01:10:45 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Deepblue
You could just make a flag that tells FS to blow up everything


now that would be a cool mission.
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Grimloq on December 07, 2004, 02:39:43 pm
i dont think thats a good idea. if you just model it into the debris, itll look cool, be 'there' as an 'explanation', and wont affect gameplay even in the slightest. im talking debris here, i REALLY dont think we should try to get manual escape pods. thats just dumb... you dont 'fly' an escape pod! ;)
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: NGTM-1R on December 07, 2004, 04:45:32 pm
If you compare the size of FS fighters to that of their pilots, the pilots are probably too small to show up well on the targeting gear. Also they're probably using some kind of low-observable technology so nobody decides to kill the pilot while he's floating around helpless. So I'll stick with the simple ejection seat and sealable flightsuit.
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Grimloq on December 07, 2004, 05:53:56 pm
yeah, i would too.

i mean, the urse (for example) is what, 48m long? thats pretty big, if you think about it.

the PERSEUS is 20m long, and its a 'small' fighter. (not to mention overdetailed :nervous: )
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: FireCrack on December 07, 2004, 07:07:07 pm
Quote
Originally posted by ngtm1r
Also they're probably using some kind of low-observable technology so nobody decides to kill the pilot while he's floating around helpless.


Pilots floating in space are probably protected by BETAC
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Grimloq on December 07, 2004, 07:31:45 pm
>.< NTF dont care... :p
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: NGTM-1R on December 08, 2004, 12:58:14 am
Nor do the Shivans. And even so, people still get shot at I imagine. The FS fighters can move slow enough to get a good shot at the pilot, and you're pumped up on adrenaline, probably pretty mad at the guy for trying to kill you...
Title: heres a thought....
Post by: Grimloq on December 08, 2004, 01:20:48 am
then again, if theres 50 fighters and a corvette bearing down on you... sometimes you just feel that this isnt the time to take out a grudge :D