[Unknown Target]

Anyone consider multiple target locks, semi-realistic slewing, etc? I'd really like to pull all sorts of moves, like skid to the left and fire off shots at the enemy. A good control scheme for this would most likely be a joystick, and the keyboard. The left arrow key and a movement of the joystick to the right would make you go straight up, the right key and left movement of the joystick would go down, etc.

Also, would it be possible to put in a code to allow the throttle to be mapped to a slider?


More later, I just can't think very well right now

[Galemp]

Sliding is done. You just have to specify it in the tables and controls.

[Nico]

the multitarget lock would be a bliss, but I think I asked that after the source code was released, and people said it was too complicated

[J3Vr6]

Originally posted by GalacticEmperor
Sliding is done. You just have to specify it in the tables and controls.

When you said sliding was done, were you answering his question in regards to adding thruster to a slider or were you answering that ships could (to use Unknown Target's term) "skid" left or right to strafe targets?

I know thrust could be mapped to a throttle on joysticks in-game if your joystick has it, but I don't know about the other one (strafing).

[Terorist]

Sliding, strafing, skidding, whatever you want to call it, is already done. Just assign controls for them and you can slide to your heart's content if the ship you fly has the ability (defined in the tables).

[J3Vr6]

I see, thanks for helping.  Would I assume that, if the SCP people haven't done it (which I'm sure they've been too busy with making improvements), the regular/standard ships don't have their tables modified to do that?  I don't know a thing about tables or whatever, so excuse the ignorance.

[Terorist]

I don't think SCP people bothered to mod the tables for default ships, and I haven't checked if there are ready-made tables somewhere. Also, to get AI pilots to use sliding too requires AI programming, currently (only?) done for TBP_open by Bobboau. (That does have them ready for use, just map the buttons and you're set. Also featuring nice cycling neutron beams for Nial!)

[Nico]

Originally posted by J3Vr6
I see, thanks for helping.  Would I assume that, if the SCP people haven't done it (which I'm sure they've been too busy with making improvements), the regular/standard ships don't have their tables modified to do that?  

I sure hope they don't. sliding has always been in the game ( num pad "0" "." "enter" and "+" whle in cockpit iirc ), they've just allowed those keys to be remaped. and the hability of sliding is a thing a ship has or don't have. I don't want all ships to have that, the scorpion and ( I think ) the mara have that, and that's what makes them different from the other ships.

[Terorist]

...and now there's an up/down sliding too.

[Nico]

Originally posted by Terorist
...and now there's an up/down sliding too.

it's always been there, enter and plus of the numpad.

anyway, what about the multitarget lock?

[Terorist]

Originally posted by venom2506
it's always been there, enter and plus of the numpad.

Ooops. It wasn't really utilized on any fighters, though, was it? And the AI utilization was done on SCP, wasn't it? Anyway, that's probably all clear now... On to other things.

How would multiple target lock work? Something that might be nice is two different targeting systems, one for keeping a target indicator on one vessels (friendly or hostile) to aid in navigation, like keeping an eye on whereabouts of wingmen or escorted ships, and the normal for getting missile locks. Maybe even an automatic targeting for wingmen calling for assistance, so you'd know where to rush next without pressing a couple of keys simultaneously while already evading incoming fire.

[RangerKarl]

I thought the little dot was for freelook?

Added: And is that transformation project ever going to be implemented?

[Nico]

Originally posted by Terorist

Ooops. It wasn't really utilized on any fighters, though, was it? And the AI utilization was done on SCP, wasn't it?

nope, the scorpion always had that for exemple*, neve noticed it moved kindda strangel?
all the other ships, I think, have their X and Y speed set to 0 tho, so it won't work, of course.

for the multitarget, my idea was, mmhh... an exemple:
take a swarmer, you have to aquire a lock and it will fire a siad number of missiles to the target. the idea was to target as many ships you can see and are in target range, and the swarmer will shoot a missile at each ship rather than all the missiles at one ship. of course, if you have more missiles than there's visible targets, it would dispatch the missiles accordingly, for exemple, if you have 4 missiles and two targets, it'll shoot two missiles at each ship.
a very cool alternative would be for subsystems, imagine an anti turret swarmer, that will destroy multiple turrets at the same time

[StratComm]

This has been said repeatedly, but not very concisely.  I think that you can actually strafe in the Terran Mara if you feel so inclined, and with a very simple table mod enable sliding on all fighters.  Just give the other two speed fields a low number (maybe half speed, maybe less, whateverfeels right) and you are good to go.  No AI tinkering is needed, as it is a feature of the original game.  Also, you can map thrust to a slider very easily; it's under ship controls, and you just have to move the slider when binding a key to that control.  I would recommend using the absolute throttle if you have a throttle slider, but both absolute and relative are available if you want to use them.  Using the throttle (commonly joystick z-axis) has its own issues; starting speed and speed when breaking from matching speed or other keyboard speed changes does not default to the throttle position so you move the throttle to re-bind the speed to it.

Originally posted by venom2506
for the multitarget, my idea was, mmhh... an exemple:
take a swarmer, you have to aquire a lock and it will fire a siad number of missiles to the target. the idea was to target as many ships you can see and are in target range, and the swarmer will shoot a missile at each ship rather than all the missiles at one ship. of course, if you have more missiles than there's visible targets, it would dispatch the missiles accordingly, for exemple, if you have 4 missiles and two targets, it'll shoot two missiles at each ship.
a very cool alternative would be for subsystems, imagine an anti turret swarmer, that will destroy multiple turrets at the same time

Wow does that open a can of worms though.  How would the lock-on process work?  Would enough lock-on triangles (whatever they are called) appear for every ship on screen?  Or for every turret?  Or would another one appear as soon as you lock on?  If so, how would the existing lock be processed?  And if one goes out of your field of vision, what happens? Do all the locks reset, or just the ones made after that one, or (hardest to code) just the one that left range?  There are so many issues that come up when dealing with multiple locks that it really becomes a pain.  When I fly, I know that I can halve or better the time it takes to aquire lock by forcing the triangle over my target before it can move to the center of the screen.  With multiple locks, I would never get the chance to make use of it, and when I might (fighting capships) I usually want to focus my fire on the turret or subsystem that I am targeting anyway.  In short, this is asking to open a can of worms when it really doesn't add very much to the game.

[Unknown Target]

Sorry to bump this old topic, but I forgot about it.

Yes, I know that it was already in the tables. I was the one who found it
Anyways, I guess the controls were already implemented. Any ideas about the other stuff I suggested?

[Galemp]

Suppose you forgoe aspect lock altogether, and just have a bunch of heat-seeking missiles go after anything they can see?

[StratComm]

Does this not already happen when you aren't targeting anything?  Or with a cluster weapon?  If not, this should be a MUCH easier task to program than multiple aspect locking.  The coders of course have the final say on that, but from a logistics perspective that makes a lot more sense.  This could be controlled through a weapon flag I would assume.

[Unknown Target]

Actually, I think it works. I tested it for the RT mod awhile ago, and I seem to remember it working.

[RangerKarl]

*patiently waits for the Macross mod.....(too bad my art skills are nonexistant)*

[Nico]

Originally posted by RangerKarl
*patiently waits for the Macross mod.....(too bad my art skills are nonexistant)*

well, I don't know about any macross mod for FS2, and the robotech one is dead, so...