[IronBeer]

Esarai's Horizon is in the same style as his Amaterasu, but I don't think he's released it. (If he has, link pl0x)

This Horizon? http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=68449.0

It isn't exactly working yet, at last check.

[Iss Mneur]

*appears from out of nowhere*

Any numbers for both of those limits? I have quite a bit of crazy swarming stuff flying around

Corkscrew max seems to 200 instances.
Swarm max seems to 100 instances.

Edit: Added this to the wiki: http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Engine_Limitations

[Wanderer]

Swarm iirc refers to the number of swarms which may consist of several missiles. Corkscrew number refers to the actual number of missiles

[Iss Mneur]

Swarm iirc refers to the number of swarms which may consist of several missiles. Corkscrew number refers to the actual number of missiles

That could be.  All I did was search the code for max defines for each weapon type.

But I did just look at create_weapon() and it seems to use both exactly the same way, one swarm or corkscrew info structure per missile. So it seems that the numbers I previously posted are correct?

[StargateSpankyHam]

When I add "$Shield Regeneration Rate: 0.7" to the end of the SD Lucifer's table entry, it does not work. It generates  the following error on startup:

ships.tbl(line 9028:
Error: Required token = [#End], [$Subsystem:], [$Name], or [$Template], found [$Shield Regeneration Rate: 0.15].

<no module>! KiFastSystemCallRet
<no module>! WaitForSingleObject + 18 bytes
<no module>! <no symbol>
<no module>! <no symbol>
<no module>! TF_CreateCicLoadMutex + 3856 bytes

This is greek to me, aside from 'required token'. Is there something special that needs to be done to make it accept a $Shield Regeneration Rate entry? Or is there some specific place it needs to go? Is there some other entry that is interfering with it?

[The E]

Look closely at this page: http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Ships.tbl

Note that the order of tbl entries is NOT optional. While you may leave some out, the basic order must ALWAYS be the same.

[Wanderer]

Hmmm... need to check it

Swarm iirc refers to the number of swarms which may consist of several missiles. Corkscrew number refers to the actual number of missiles

That could be.  All I did was search the code for max defines for each weapon type.

But I did just look at create_weapon() and it seems to use both exactly the same way, one swarm or corkscrew info structure per missile. So it seems that the numbers I previously posted are correct?

Hmmm... indeed normal swarms and corkscrews are handled pretty much identically... It might have been the turret swarms then.

[Scourge of Ages]

Regarding corkscrews: What would you use if you wanted to fire a single warhead and have it rotate but travel in a straight line?

[StargateSpankyHam]

Yay! I now have the Lucifer working as planned. It's almost exclusively a capship-killer, since putting a pair of BReds on its front. I made the "Shivan Megafunk Turret" really rock against warships, though it cannot fire on fighters at all. With the megafunks, it can destroy a default Orion in about two minutes. The shield is easy to take out - the quadrants drop quickly and the ship takes some damage whenever a beam cannon or bomb hits, but the ultra-high regeneration rate allows it to recharge to full within a matter of seconds. As the megafunk turrets are now warship-only, the Lucifer's only defense against a wing of bombers is its fighter payload.

This way, the Lucifer was not -technically- indestructable (plot-wise) in FS1. Just nobody had enough firepower to get through the shield before it recharged.

I'll begin shielding the other warships as well, making them incredibly resilient to small-arms fire, and allowing them to better resist attacks from similar-sized GTVA warships.

By the way, who made this mod?

http://www.filefront.com/15333581/shivanmod.rar/

[StargateSpankyHam]

Cranking up the turning speed on the bombs and setting them to swarm did work exceptionally well. They fly along an unpredictable course and reach their target very quickly. Flak Cannons rarely have more than three or four seconds to neutralize such an incoming bomb. On the other hand, I tried gunning a few down with a Maxim, and it worked fairly well.

Also, I was surprised at how well high-shield-damage bombs worked against even the mighty Lucifer. A single shot with two of the modified cyclops torpedoes will punch through the shield and destroy whatever turret you are aiming for. In order to minimize getting caught in the (now devestating) anti-shield blast, the inner and outer radii for bombs are smaller, and the speed (and consequently, range) have been upped, so you can shoot from a bit further away.

Heck, if shielded warships are this vulnerable to bombers, I might keep them at 100% unmodified armor HP.

Generally, I like where this mod is headed. I'll have a demo video out sometime in the very near future.

[ReeNoiP]

The shield is easy to take out - the quadrants drop quickly and the ship takes some damage whenever a beam cannon or bomb hits, but the ultra-high regeneration rate allows it to recharge to full within a matter of seconds.

That sounds like an interresting mixup for the usual anti cap/bomber missions. I look forward to see what impact this will have on mission design and general tactics. Maybe anti shield weapons will actually be useful now.

[x3110]

Regarding corkscrews: What would you use if you wanted to fire a single warhead and have it rotate but travel in a straight line?

Set a very small(or null) corkscrew radius.

[StargateSpankyHam]

Alright, the Shivan ship edits are largely complete. They use the newer, rapid-fire weapons on their fighters and bombers, shields on their warships, and fast-recharging beam cannons (although they do less damage now). All in all, it is coming together very nicely.

I have begun building my first complete, polished mission with the new mods, and I have run into a minor gameplay snag. A wing of four Basilisks and a Gorgon, when ordered to attack and destroy a cruiser through FRED, will fly to it and begin firing their weapons. Unfortunately, when I (or anyone else) shoots them, they merely stand still and keep firing at the cruiser. They're ridiculously easy to destroy.

Is there a way to make the AI less target-fixated and suicidally stupid?

[General Battuta]

Turn up the AI class. Disable 'no dynamic orders' if you have it on. Use Fury AI.

[StargateSpankyHam]

Where exactly is the Fury AI in the blue planet mod? I can't seem to find it in any of their VP's.

Also, another issue, particularly with the new, custom shivan primaries I have designed - on startup, after the intro cutscene, it says that it has generated eleven errors. Generally, whenever I try and make my own weapons, this happens. Is it like the individual entries into the .tbl file, and they have to be arranged in some way?

Pasted below is the present section of code pasted into the weapons.tbl file. I copied the Prometheus R and modified it both by copy-pasting from previous, working weapons, and by manually editing. This is the first of many weapons I will add.

;-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
; NEW SHIVAN WEAPONS START
;-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

$Name: Plas. Pulse
+Title: XSTR("Shivan Pulse Cannon", 3270)
+Description:
XSTR(
"Medium Energy Usage
Level 4 Hull Damage
Level 3 Shield Damage", 3271)
$end_multi_text
+Tech Title: XSTR("Shivan Pulse Cannon", 3272)
+Tech Anim: Tech_GTW-5a_Prometheus_R
+Tech Description:
XSTR(
"This Shivan weapon appears to launch a fairly weak, low-energy plasma burst. Although not particularly powerful at first glance, the weapon has an incredibly rapid cyclic rate.", 3273)
$end_multi_text
$Model File: none
@Laser Bitmap: Alouqua_AniBitmap
@Laser Glow: Alouqua_Glow
@Laser Color: 180, 0, 100
@Laser Color2: 80, 10, 30
@Laser Length: 3.0
@Laser Head Radius: 1.9
@Laser Tail Radius: 1.9
$Mass: 0.2
$Velocity: 950.0 ;; speed of the weapon (initially) -- may or may not change
$Fire Wait: 0.3 ;; in seconds
$Damage: 6
$Armor Factor: 1.1
$Shield Factor: 1.0
$Subsystem Factor: 0.35
$Lifetime: 2.0
$Energy Consumed: 0.20 ;; Energy used when fired
$Cargo Size: 0.0 ;; Amount of space taken up in weapon cargo
$Homing: NO
$LaunchSnd: l_alien1.wav ;; The sound it makes when fired
$ImpactSnd: 85 ;; The sound it makes when it hits something
$Flags: ( "player allowed" "cycle" )
$Icon: iconPromR
$Anim: PromR
$Impact Explosion: none

;-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
; NEW SHIVAN WEAPONS END
;-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, later on, I will delete some superfluous, unused weapons. Is there anything that needs to be done outside of highlighting the weapons in the .tbl file and hitting backspace?

[The E]

Use a debug build. Generate a debug log. That will tell us what the errors are.

Also, note that when using XSTR entries, the number HAS to be -1, unless you're planning on distributing a tstrings.tbl with translated entries.

[StargateSpankyHam]

Very wierd...I ran the debug, generated a crapton of errors that way, deleted two of the superfluous weapons further down the list, ran the non-debug build...and it works flawlessly!

 

Is that supposed to happen?

Anyway, if all I have to do is delete the presently superfluous weapons to get mine to work, then I should have no issues whatsoever. There are about THIRTY unused weapons in my present .tbl file.

At this point, I'll probably make a new post specifically about weapons, since they are going to be my primary focus for the next few days.

[General Battuta]

The errors probably have to do with problematic formatting.

[The E]

Also, while you're building your mod, it's always a good idea to use debug builds exclusively.

[TopAce]

Unless you're using the MediaVPs; there are a couple bug-riddled models in them.