Originally posted by LtNarol
ya, that would be good, im just starting to learn pof conversions, i dont even know what paths are. Turrets mean truespace, and i hate truespace, but i need to learn it sooner or later, now would be a good time. So yes, i want to help, it'll take my mind off of my own terribly floundering campaigns.
ok....I've got to go to a lecture in a few mins, so I'll be brief here.....
turrets are pretty simple... at the mo i just need someone to work on them with the pof editor, but I can explain that to you...
PAths are used for 3 things. 1 - a flightpath to a dockpoint, or 2 - a flightpath to a point where a susbsytem can be attacked, or 3 - a fighterbay exit / entry path. Paths can have 1+ points (1 point, the computer simply flies to there and that's it - more, it flies point to point).
Simple enough. Each point - vertice - in a path has a radius. This is basically how close a ship has to be for it to be 'on' that point. If you look at a model, the path is effectively a 'cone', narrowing towards the last point in it. This is useful, because it gives the AI more freedom, and prevents it having to follow a set of rails to the target.
With docking points, it's simple - the computer follows the path to the last vertice (smallest radius), then docks (moving directly to the dock point). The path is just an approach vctor.
Similar for susbsytems, except (once at the end point) the ai is free to attack and fire away. For subsystems, you need a path if you want the AI to attack it (i.e. engines, turrets, etc). Generally, I ignore turret paths, as most ships have 20+ turrets, and is unlikely to require disarming.... if you want to disarm a ship, all turrets need attack paths for the AI to attack.
Note that a
good path for a susbsytem should take into account the turrets around it. I'm not 100% sure on how the path object boxes work, though.
subsystem for the path is defined by the 'parent' box.
finally - fighterbays. The path here is a simple exit, leading out the fighterbay. I've had 1 or 2 probs with some ships doing loops on the first vertice, admittedly, but it's fairly simple. Main thing is that you need to give specific names - $bay01, etc, and have 6 paths (up to 6 in a wing). Bear in mind that each path needs to give ships room to move, so they don't collide. The
will follow that path, even if it ends up in them colliding with other exiting ships.
(if you only have 1 path, all 4 fighters collide trying to use it simultaneously. amusing, but pretty sloopy).
Tghats the long-winded basics behind paths. Once you start understanding the basics of them, you can start to make 'em.
i'll try and post more info later on.....
