Wolfen/A attack vessel

A place to discuss mods in development and concepts for new mods.
Post Reply
gunship256
Militia Commander
Militia Commander
Posts: 451
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:41 pm
Location: repairing armor

WOLFEN/A ATTACK VESSEL

This is a modified Wolfen that has a linked-fire weapon slot, better thrust, and more cargo space. Tradeoffs: It has a 6-ton armor limit, a 5-ton weapon limit, and a lower top speed of 0.22c.

Hopefully, this makes the Wolfen better at close-quarters fighting and missile bombardment than the vanilla Wolfen. It will be a lot worse at running away from fights.

Play it and let me know how it can be improved!



QUESTIONS

* Is the ship balanced relative to the Sapphire, given the Wolfen/A's abilities and limitations? What could be changed to make the ship more balanced? What could be changed to make it more fun?


0.13 alpha:
Wolfen/A download link


[EDIT 2016 May 22: Updated the download link the description text.]
Last edited by gunship256 on Sun May 22, 2016 6:35 pm, edited 6 times in total.
gunship256
Militia Commander
Militia Commander
Posts: 451
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:41 pm
Location: repairing armor

WEAPON MASSES
(Transcendence 1.7 alpha 1)

dual Fusionfire: 12 tons
APA: 10 tons
dual Mark III: 10 tons
dual TeV 9: 9 tons
mark VII: 8 tons
side-mounted Fusionfire: 7 tons
side-mounted mark V: 7 tons
Fusionfire: 6 tons
Ares lightning turret: 6 tons
omni thermo cannon: 6 tons
omni tritium cannon: 6 tons
repeating mark V: 6 tons
mark V: 6 tons
dual Flenser: 6 tons
Lamplighter: 5.5 tons

5-TON CUTOFF POINT

Iocrym fracture cannon: 5 tons
Ares micronuke cannon: 5 tons
thermo cannon: 5 tons
omni ion blaster: 5 tons
omni TeV 9: 5 tons
mark III: 5 tons
heavy ion blaster: 4.5 tons
Xenophobe ion lancer: 4.5 tons
mark I: 4.5 tons
dual muon cannon: 4.5 tons
omni muon cannon: 4.5 tons
ion blaster: 4 tons
Moskva repeater: 4 tons
dual Moskva: 4 tons
side-mounted ion blaster: 3.5 tons
Thorin repeater: 3.5 tons
dual particle beam weapon: 3.5 tons
Ares lightning cannon: 3 tons
light ion blaster: 3 tons
lancer cannon: 3 tons
dual turbolaser: 3 tons
omni x-ray: 2.5 tons
positron lancer: 2.5 tons
Quianlong: 2.5 tons
EI plasma cannon: 2 tons
Nandao bolt cannon: 2 tons
omni particle cannon: 2 tons
Ares positron cannon: 1.5 tons
laser cannon: 1 ton
gunship256
Militia Commander
Militia Commander
Posts: 451
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:41 pm
Location: repairing armor

Here's a new version with some bug fixes:

0.11 alpha
d064_WolfenA 0.11 alpha.zip
(5.58 KiB) Downloaded 241 times
CHANGES

Lowered max cargo space from 150 to 120 and raised the Wolfen's thrust ratio from 18 to 21 as a compromise. (For some reason, raising the thrust ratio to 21 in the code causes the thrust ratio to register as 20.10 in the ship selection screen.) Since the Wolfen probably won't install an engine, the value of a cargo expansion with the extra mass involved is dubious except if the hold is for smuggling. The Sapphire should feel more like a trader than the Wolfen.

Former bug: In Transcendence 1.7 alpha 1, if the primary weapon is made linked-fire AND there are no weapons to switch to because they're all disabled, the game freezes when 'W' is pressed, and the game has to be forced to quit from Windows. This is ruining permadeath playthroughs. I noticed the same problem in PSD6 running Transcendence 1.6, so it's not a new bug. Fixed this by causing the linked-fire enhancer to enable all weapons before choosing one to be made linked-fire.

Removed the powerUse attribute from the linked-fire enhancer so that it would not show up in the list of items to enable/disable.

Changed DeviceSlot code so that the launcher is no longer made to fire from the left side of the ship. (Changed "w" to "w~l")

Changed apiVersion from 27 to 29
relanat
Militia Captain
Militia Captain
Posts: 941
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:56 am

I like it too. Only had a quick look but it looks great. I always loved the way the BM Manticores pumped out MAG's or missiles (or whatever it was) from both 'arms'.

0.10 gave this. It doesn't like something in the Ship screen. Unknown code: A

Image
Stupid code. Do what I want, not what I typed in!
User avatar
Xephyr
Militia Captain
Militia Captain
Posts: 857
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:52 am
Location: Orion Arm, Milky Way
Contact:

relanat wrote:0.10 gave this. It doesn't like something in the Ship screen. Unknown code: A
This is a because of the slash in the name. The new dockscreen interface doesn't agree with it.
Project Renegade (Beta) : "The Poor Man's Corporate Command!"
Real programmers count from 0. And sometimes I do, too.
gunship256
Militia Commander
Militia Commander
Posts: 451
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:41 pm
Location: repairing armor

Thanks for the catch and for pointing out the solution! Here's a new version.

0.12 alpha
d064_WolfenA 0.12 alpha.zip
(5.74 KiB) Downloaded 259 times
CHANGES

Changed the default reactor to 15 MW. It looks like api version 29 has built-in engines use a lot of power if they have a lot of thrust. The ship's reactor was overloading at 10 MW, disabling the ship's shield.

Got rid of the slash in the ship's name so the main dockscreen would display engine thrust data instead of an error.
relanat
Militia Captain
Militia Captain
Posts: 941
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:56 am

You want bugs, you got it! :D

Start out with the two laser cannons as standard.

Make linked fire the second one.

Image

Disable (using 'B', '2') the first laser cannon.

The weapon display at bottom left of screen shows the laser cannon as disabled (the writing goes red)

Press 'W' to select weapons.

You get a message on the screen saying "Disabled laser cannon selected", the weapon display stays red, and the still-enabled second laser can fire.

Image

====================================
Or try installing a Centauri recoilless or any dual weapon. It looks a little odd.

Image

But the dual dual laser looks cool.

Image
=====================================
Also, later as weapons use more power, unlinking weapons could save a lot of power use in low threat areas. Having the option to 'U'nlink Weapon would be good.
And I think it's possible to grey out the "Make it linked-fire" (and other) commands on the right of the dockscreen (but I don't know how to do it). This would look good if it happened when you have the cursor on the already linked-fire weapon.
Edit: TransGeek's UsingScrAddAction topic in Modding Reference has the 'greying out' code for use in dockscreens (or so it says in the second post).
Stupid code. Do what I want, not what I typed in!
gunship256
Militia Commander
Militia Commander
Posts: 451
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:41 pm
Location: repairing armor

You get a message on the screen saying "Disabled laser cannon selected", the weapon display stays red, and the still-enabled second laser can fire.
Yeah, that's a weird UI deal that I haven't figured out how to deal with yet. I normally use the 'B' key to enable and disable only the weapons I want to save power. This works great if I want to only use an omni weapon on low-threat areas, but if the omni weapon is the linked-fire weapon, it looks weird that it's firing even though it's not selected.
Or try installing a Centauri recoilless or any dual weapon. It looks a little odd.
But the dual dual laser looks cool.
Yep - that's somewhat purposeful on my part. It's partly because single-barrel weapons look better firing from that part of the ship, but I haven't done any fixing for dual weapons because the wall of four misaligned shots is a really effective screen against missiles. Having two dual turbolasers installed is pretty similar to using Shrike's quad turbolaser.
Also, later as weapons use more power, unlinking weapons could save a lot of power use in low threat areas. Having the option to 'U'nlink Weapon would be good.
And I think it's possible to grey out the "Make it linked-fire" (and other) commands on the right of the dockscreen (but I don't know how to do it). This would look good if it happened when you have the cursor on the already linked-fire weapon.
Edit: TransGeek's UsingScrAddAction topic in Modding Reference has the 'greying out' code for use in dockscreens (or so it says in the second post).
Yes! That's a great idea. I'll work on that for the next version of the mod.

I'm hoping that, by the time the next version happens, I'll be using custom ship graphics. I'm also considering raising the mass of the ship a bit, allowing the third weapon slot to be used for non-weapons as well, and lowering the cargo space to 45/95 as compensation for the extra slot flexibility. That would give players who don't want the extra weapon slot a choice (forced choice?) to install a smuggler's hold to get the cargo space that the ship used to offer for free.
gunship256
Militia Commander
Militia Commander
Posts: 451
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:41 pm
Location: repairing armor

relanat wrote:TransGeek's UsingScrAddAction topic in Modding Reference has the 'greying out' code for use in dockscreens (or so it says in the second post).
I did a search of the forums and didn't find that topic. Could you post a direct link? Sorry for the trouble!
relanat
Militia Captain
Militia Captain
Posts: 941
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:56 am

Yup. I should have posted the links, sorry.

Here ya go:

Using scrAddAction.....

https://forums.kronosaur.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5092

and the example mod that's used,
Identify Before Buying or Selling

http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=1106
Stupid code. Do what I want, not what I typed in!
gunship256
Militia Commander
Militia Commander
Posts: 451
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:41 pm
Location: repairing armor

OK - here's an update! As always, let me know if I should fix or change anything.
d064_WolfenA 0.13 alpha.zip
(7.51 KiB) Downloaded 296 times
CHANGES

Broke the code apart into modules for easier editing.

Created Tau Ceti and Kibo (Eternity Port) versions of the ship.

Added drivePowerUse="70" so that the built-in drive uses 7 MW of power.

Raised the ship's mass from 30 tons to 40 tons so it wouldn't get bogged down with cargo so easily; I can make sense of this later when I make custom ship graphics and make the ship larger than the Wolfen. At that point, I may increase the ship's mass even more.

Lowered thrust ratio from 21 to 17 to compensate for the ship's higher mass. Justifcation: The original Wolfen A had a total mass of 46.9 tons: 30 tons (ship) + 11.2 tons (armor) + 1.2 tons (shield) + 2 tons (weapons) + 1 ton (reactor) + 1.5 tons (linked-fire enhancer). If I raise the mass of the ship by 10 tons, the entire setup is 56.9 tons, so the thrust ratio should be 21*(46.9/56.9) = 17.3.

Raised max non-weapon slots from 5 to 6 and lowered cargo from 70/120 to 45/95 as compensation. Now the player has a choice between the fourth weapon slot and a smuggler's hold, though max cargo space will not be as high as it was before.

Updated the description for the playership so it no longer describes the ship as a long-range missile platform. 45 tons of default cargo space is not enough for a missileship!

Added a new option to the dockscreen for the linked-fire enhancer: "Unlink weapons."
relanat
Militia Captain
Militia Captain
Posts: 941
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:56 am

Works great. Balance seems good. No bugs.

Couple of minor semi-related enable/disable things. Having all weapons enable themselves when linking is a pain (I saw the comments in the code). "Enable/disable" is one of the more finicky/less desirable things in the game IMO. No idea how to change it though.

Also maybe you could run the link fire screen in the Weapons screen of Ship's Interior (easy for me to say). That would mean all weapons are visible at once. Using the itempicker list means having to scroll down if you've got more than 4 weapons installed and also doesn't tell you which weapons are disabled.

I'm not really sure of what I'd be looking for as a solution so this isn't much help really, but I find the mod is still a little confusing to use. I'll think about it a little more and get back to you. But it is a great mod. It adds some features and reduces others is a nicely balanced way, Well done.

Oh, and you could grey out the non-usable actions in the link fire screen (and.. err.. it has nothing to do with me wanting more working examples of greying out code) :lol: .

EDIT: Thoughts (in a very scattered, confused manner):

have a set primary weapon. Then link the others. Enable/disable as required

Have the linked fire weapon jump to the top of the list. So it seems like a primary weapon.

Confusing ATM because not sure what's going to link with what.

Have the primary weapon always fire from the LHS. Have linked weapons fire as selected/enabled from the RHS.

OK, its the terminology I think.

Maybe call it a primary weapon and have it jump to the top of the item picker list when its selected as multi-fire

Not sure if that will help but it's what got dredged up from the quagmire of my mind!
Stupid code. Do what I want, not what I typed in!
Post Reply