Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: morris13 on July 03, 2001, 11:26:00 pm
-
So how exactly do these work? If you have a three-barrelled flak gun does it fire three rounds a time, effectively tripling the turret's effectiveness, or does it work like a secondary bank, just rotating through the turret firing points every shot?
-
Rotates through firing points.
-
yah, thats kind of what I thought. Too bad.
-
Ok, here's a question about 'em: They turn to face their targets. So usually the barrel is in line with the target, and the shot comes out along the normal (I think that's the right term...). Anyway, say that the turret's elevational axis is limited to -5 degrees below the plane of the face that the turret is situated on. Say that's an AAA turret, and that there's a fighter, within range as far as distance is concerned, at -10 degrees below. Will the turret be able to hit the fighter, since the AAA beams usually have a wide angle of fire from the normal of the turret?
Or in other words, does the movement and aiming of the turret change the direction of the normal, or does the turret simply rotate throughout the firing arc of the weapon that is mounted upon it?
------------------
"He who laughs last thinks slowest."
"Just becase you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
"To err is human; to really screw up you need a computer."
Creator of the Sandvich Bar ("http://michael.randelman.com"), the CapShip Turret Upgrade, the Complete FS2 Ship List and the System Backgrounds List (all available from the site)
-
I always thought that the normal was always facing one way, and the turrets can only move in the arc of the fov, like if the turret is right side up, and it has a normal of y=1, and a fov of 90, it'll fire 45 degrees in any direction around it. Am I right?
-
yes, thats how it works
------------------
Bobboau, bringing you products that work.............. in theory
-
Ok, so an AAA beam on a triple turret will ALWAYS shoot out along the same line as it's originating barrel, right? And, for example, if I loaded up a triple turret with a Mjolnir beam (not the #home), the turret will not elevate the barrels because the Mjolnir Beam has no FOV, correct?
------------------
"He who laughs last thinks slowest."
"Just becase you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
"To err is human; to really screw up you need a computer."
Creator of the Sandvich Bar ("http://michael.randelman.com"), the CapShip Turret Upgrade, the Complete FS2 Ship List and the System Backgrounds List (all available from the site)
-
no the turret will point at what its firing at but the beam will move faster than the turret, but it will only fire at things within the FOV around the normal.
------------------
Bobboau, bringing you products that work.............. in theory
-
Okay, so here's another question. I notice that many ships have turrets with two different weapons listed ie:
$Subsystem: turret04, 2, 1.0
$Default PBanks: ( "Subach HL-7" "Terran Turret Weak")
OR
$Subsystem: turret01, 2, 1.0
$Default PBanks (http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~freespace/ubb/noncgi/frown.gif) "Terran Turret Weak" "Terran Turret Weak" )
My first impression would be that whenever the gun fires it has a choice between the two different gun types. Why then have the entries that list the same type twice? It might make sense for a multibarrel turret if you had a different weapon assigned to each barrel and they just rotated every time the gun fired, but these turrets are from the charybdis and they're not multi-barreled. Most of the non-combatant ships like the Faustus and the Zephyrous do the same thing - multiple guns for a single gunpoint.
The big three-barrelled turrets on the Orion do both:
$Subsystem:Turret01a, 1.875, 3.0
$Default PBanks (http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~freespace/ubb/noncgi/frown.gif) "BGreen" )
$Subsystem:Turret02a, 1.875, 3.0
$Default PBanks (http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~freespace/ubb/noncgi/frown.gif) "Terran Huge Turret" "Terran Huge Turret" "Terran Huge Turret" )
despite the fact that both of these are identical three barrelled turrets. Why have the THT listed three times? if you replaced the THT with different weapons, would it fire a different weapon each time, or would it decide which one it wanted like AI fighters use their secondaries? The Hecate also has multi-barrel turrets, but none of its turrets have more than one primary listed. Likewise ALL of the guns on an Aeolus are mutibarreled, but only have one listing per turret.
So far the following ships do this: Orion and Colossus (multi-barrel turrets only), Zephryus, Ankh, Faustus, Charybdis, and Setekh. I'm doing some experimentation on this myself, but if anyone knows exactly why this is like this i'd appreciate some feedback =)
-
That is all very true... and I understand 0% how it is done. lol
-
well, I've been playing with it and it only seems to ever use the first primary on the list.
-
Odd indeed... I realized that if a ship has beam turrets, but they are not freed, they shoot subachs, it seems... lol
-
What happens if I create something like: "AAAf" "AAAf" "Shivan Super Laser" for a turret point which only has one, like for the Fenris-Class Cruiser? Will two beams and the superlaser shot come out of the single point, or will it shoot: AAAf, AAAf, Shivan Super Laser?
-
That's what we're trying to figure out
-
It'll shoot AAAf.
-
Then why have 3 banks?
-
well, thats exactly the question we're trying to answer. I've tested this on the Aeolus and wether its a single, double, or triple barrelled turret it only ever uses the first weapon on the list. Although... the comment about beams is interesting. It might be the case that if the first weapon in the list doesn't have a valid target it'll switch to the next one? This certainly isn't the pattern that the weapons like this in the .tbl file follow though... it might just be some kind of wierd oversight or leftover from a discarded engine element. Who knows. It doesn't seem like there's a practical use for this though, unfortunately.
-
Well... I could see having ( "Bgreen" "UD-8 Kayser" ) so if the turret has no real target, it gets one.. but I don't know.
-
This whole thread is a big (http://mars.fxphell.com/forum/images/icons/icon29.gif)
It really doesn't make sense... probably a defunct engine feature... but sometimes I could swear I was being shot at by more than one weapon from those turrets... I just can't tell...
-
Well, I kinda thought so too, So I put an Aeolus in a mission where it had both capships and fighters to shoot at and put different weapons on every turret so I could tell if it switched, but it never did. Defunct engine feature is my guess too. Its a rather odd collection of ships that use it though.
-
Well, I've actually seen three beams fire out of the same turret.
The ships.tbl says (after I edited it): "AAAf" "AAAf" "Shivan Super Laser". This is what happens.
http://www.geocities.com/tachnyrus/multiplebeams.JPG ("http://www.geocities.com/tachnyrus/multiplebeams.JPG")
http://www.geocities.com/tachnyrus/multiplebeams2.JPG ("http://www.geocities.com/tachnyrus/multiplebeams2.JPG")
------------------
Ahh... candy...
[whack!whack!]
Ahh... blood...
-
Yeah, but what sexp did you use to get that?
I did beam-free-all, then chained fire-beam with a repeat factor of 99, and a chain delay of 1, and I had many many beams shooting out of one turret...
-
Nope, I didn't use any sexps. I just beam-free-all'ed and put a few hostile fighters in. Watch the fireworks!
-
Thats interesting, but you'll notice that its not firing the SSL at all, just the AAA beams. That is odd though... from the way you describe it you didn't do anything at all that would be making the turrets fire multiple beams... if you take the extra weapon entries out of the .tbl and run the mission again does it do the same thing?
[This message has been edited by morris13 (edited 07-10-2001).]
-
Actually, they're suped up super-anti-fighter/anti-capship hybrids. (so sue me, I'm just starting to edit .tbls!)
They're really a copied version of the AAAf with a new name. They also have the "huge" tag on them. I took that out, and it still shoots three an once (making that ship a ***** to attack... over 60 guns each firing 3 AAAs each... ouch!).
Why don't you try this yourself; go to the ships.tbl, copy a ship, give it a new name, and add "AAAf" "AAAf" "Shivan Super Laser" for each for the turrets. See what happens.
I'll have to try reducing the number of weapons on a turret to one later.
-
Originally posted by morris13:
Okay, so here's another question. I notice that many ships have turrets with two different weapons listed ie:
$Subsystem: turret04, 2, 1.0
$Default PBanks: ( "Subach HL-7" "Terran Turret Weak")
OR
$Subsystem: turret01, 2, 1.0
$Default PBanks (http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~freespace/ubb/noncgi/frown.gif) "Terran Turret Weak" "Terran Turret Weak" )
My first impression would be that whenever the gun fires it has a choice between the two different gun types. Why then have the entries that list the same type twice? It might make sense for a multibarrel turret if you had a different weapon assigned to each barrel and they just rotated every time the gun fired, but these turrets are from the charybdis and they're not multi-barreled. Most of the non-combatant ships like the Faustus and the Zephyrous do the same thing - multiple guns for a single gunpoint.
The big three-barrelled turrets on the Orion do both:
$Subsystem:Turret01a, 1.875, 3.0
$Default PBanks (http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~freespace/ubb/noncgi/frown.gif) "BGreen" )
$Subsystem:Turret02a, 1.875, 3.0
$Default PBanks (http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~freespace/ubb/noncgi/frown.gif) "Terran Huge Turret" "Terran Huge Turret" "Terran Huge Turret" )
despite the fact that both of these are identical three barrelled turrets. Why have the THT listed three times? if you replaced the THT with different weapons, would it fire a different weapon each time, or would it decide which one it wanted like AI fighters use their secondaries? The Hecate also has multi-barrel turrets, but none of its turrets have more than one primary listed. Likewise ALL of the guns on an Aeolus are mutibarreled, but only have one listing per turret.
So far the following ships do this: Orion and Colossus (multi-barrel turrets only), Zephryus, Ankh, Faustus, Charybdis, and Setekh. I'm doing some experimentation on this myself, but if anyone knows exactly why this is like this i'd appreciate some feedback =)
*sigh*... you don't know this???
If its a multi-part turret it takes the default banks from that subsystem...for example I think the Orion has the primary turret in 3 turrets(ok that didn't make sense).
When it says Default P Banks... that means when you create the object in FRED2 thats the default weapon it has when you place it. When they put 3 in a row... that means its a 3 part turret... the first part uses the first weapon, the second part uses the second weapon, and the third part uses the third weapon... its easy.
------------------
-Director of the staff of Hidden Terror. ("http://www.hiddenterror.f2s.com")
-Fleet Admiral of The Ancients Armada ("http://ancientsarmada.cjb.net/")
The fear always controls our attitude, let us fear no more!
-
About the Aeolus and Hecate... it LOOKS like it has multiple turrets... but open it up and FRED and nope it doesn't.
------------------
-Director of the staff of Hidden Terror. ("http://www.hiddenterror.f2s.com")
-Fleet Admiral of The Ancients Armada ("http://ancientsarmada.cjb.net/")
The fear always controls our attitude, let us fear no more!
-
Umm... DragonClaw? If I add more entries to that subsystem in the ship.tbl, I can make the Aeolus have 3 guns per turret in FRED2.
-
Yea... so? Does it shoot every one?
------------------
-Director of the staff of Hidden Terror. ("http://www.hiddenterror.f2s.com")
-Fleet Admiral of The Ancients Armada ("http://ancientsarmada.cjb.net/")
The fear always controls our attitude, let us fear no more!
-
Beats me. Read above, and you'll see all I know about multiple guns on a single turret...
-
Originally posted by morris13:
Thats interesting, but you'll notice that its not firing the SSL at all, just the AAA beams. That is odd though... from the way you describe it you didn't do anything at all that would be making the turrets fire multiple beams... if you take the extra weapon entries out of the .tbl and run the mission again does it do the same thing?
[This message has been edited by morris13 (edited 07-10-2001).]
Possibly because it rotated through the firing points faster than the laser could shoot, so it had all 3 points firing.
-
Originally posted by RKIF-DragonClaw:
*sigh*... you don't know this???
If its a multi-part turret it takes the default banks from that subsystem...for example I think the Orion has the primary turret in 3 turrets(ok that didn't make sense).
When it says Default P Banks... that means when you create the object in FRED2 thats the default weapon it has when you place it. When they put 3 in a row... that means its a 3 part turret... the first part uses the first weapon, the second part uses the second weapon, and the third part uses the third weapon... its easy.
"sigh" have you actually TESTED this? because I have and when I've included multiple entries exactly like that the ships involved do NOT fire all three weapons in rotation, but only the first one over and over again. So until you can back that up with some screenshots, I think you're talking out your *** .
-
Isn't he always?
-
They cycle through gunpoints sometimes if they are the same weapon.... for example, the twin-barrel turrets on the aeolus will cycle the flak shots, but the broadside guns do not rotate points. It looks like an unfinished/delete part of the code.