[Droid803]

Well, I've been lurking for a while...and I haven't seen this asked, so:

1. Is there a way to make a direct-fire beam miss using SEXPs? (something like fire-beam, preferably without having to add a horridly inaccurate beam table entry.)
2. Is there a way to tell if a beam hit or miss its target?

Thanks.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

First part is easy if the battle is scripted.  If the mod you are working on has some type of target you can use it.  Asteroids also work if they are in the mission.  If it doesn't just put a small ship at the max range of the beam on the firing line you want. Have it arrive right before the beam fires with no warp, fire the beam at it, and have it jump out with no warp or possibly ship vanish.  Also make it invisible to sensors.  It shouldn't be noticeable if you time it right.  Haven't tried it since retail so I don't know if there is a better way now or not.

[haloboy100]

I think there should be a SEXP that makes a beam fire at a specific coordinates

and...

enjoy your stay!

[blowfish]

To make a beam miss, use an object that is non-collidable, like a navbouy or an asteroid.  If you have FS2_Open (which you SHOULD), then you can replace its texture with invisible and make it stealth, and no one will see it.  If you decide to use a navbouy you should probably deactivate glowpoints just for future-proofedness.

The best way I can think of to tell if a beam has hit is to see how much hull the target has left after the beam fires (possibly comparing it to how much it had before).  If you just want the beam to hit, I find that fire-beam with a specific subsystem is much less likely to miss its target.

[Droid803]

Beam missing works like a charm.
However, the only problem is that my mission is in subspace, and setting the texture to be invisible (or any invalid texture), causes it to appear as black (like seeing through even the skybox). While that definitely would not be a problem under normal circumstances...the asteroid shows up quite well in the swirly-blue-white clouds of subspace

EDIT: although, setting a nav bouy, sending it VERY far away...its so small that noone will ever see it. That works wonders Since the whole exchange is scripted anyway, it should be easy to time when a beam is supposed to hit...and I guess that works 99% of the time. Good enough.

[Roanoke]

That's a point. I wonder if there was any cannon info regarding cap-ship battles in subspace (other than the Lucifer) ? I thought there was but it was B5 I was thinking of.

[Mobius]

To make a beam miss, use an object that is non-collidable, like a navbouy or an asteroid.  If you have FS2_Open (which you SHOULD), then you can replace its texture with invisible and make it stealth, and no one will see it.  If you decide to use a navbouy you should probably deactivate glowpoints just for future-proofedness.

I think sensor blips should have the same effect. In addition, you don't have to replace textures and deactivate glowmaps.

[asyikarea51]

This sets me thinking, was this the same thing used in Derelict?

Spoiler:

That mission with the destroyed AWACS, the Orion and the enemy AWACS camping extremely far away with all the Erinyes fighters guarding it?

[haloboy100]

yeah,

Spoiler:

Like when the orion snipes the AWACS from 10 kilometers away?

[asyikarea51]

Yeah, that.

It was an

Spoiler:

Orion? Sniping the friendly AWACS? I thought it was something smaller that did the sniping.

Oh well, haven't played it in a long while now. Usually I play campaigns once and never come back to them... if I do, then it's a rare occurence...

[haloboy100]

Ditto. But i actually remember the good moments

[Flipside]

Can you fire a beam at a Waypoint?

[Droid803]

Doesn't show up in the "replace data" area in FRED.
I haven't tried "forcing" it to do so, though.

[Mustang19]

In Derelict you had the Morgan Tech Orion snipe an AWACs because it "missed" the transport you're supposed to escort. Sync does this as well, with a Sobek "missing" it's target and hitting a Terran corvette... which supposedly triggered a second Terran-Vasudan war all on it's own. So it has happened before in user-made campaigns, although I've never seen someone make a beam deliberately miss and hit "nothing". Artifice IIRC actually had a table entry for an invisible beam target object, but I never saw it used.

Can you fire a beam at a Waypoint?

It'll probably crash the game, but try text editing and see what happens.

Beam missing works like a charm.
However, the only problem is that my mission is in subspace, and setting the texture to be invisible (or any invalid texture), causes it to appear as black (like seeing through even the skybox).

Odd. Invisible textures should be see-through. Look at the planet bitmaps; the planets are surrounded by a shade of puke green. That shade of green is the game's see-through color. Works fine for me.

[Polpolion]

the planets are surrounded by a shade of puke green

I really hope your puke doesn't look like that.

[haloboy100]

He means the alpha channel

[Droid803]

Ya, I think I may try that.

[blowfish]

the planets are surrounded by a shade of puke green

I really hope your puke doesn't look like that.

Its radioactive vomit!

[Goober5000]

although I've never seen someone make a beam deliberately miss and hit "nothing".

Derelict did that, in the mission where the Auriga was chasing the three civilian ships.

[haloboy100]

How?