Linked fire?

[Ghengis]

I haven't seen this suggestion before, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been made. I just wanted to ask George if it's at all likely he'll ever add a key for linked fire, e.g. simultaneously shooting all installed (non-launcher) weapons. Right now, you can do this by holding CTRL and W at the same time, and it's how the computer-controlled ships can be so devistating in some cases. Unfortunately, when you're using the above key combination, pressing another key (such as left or right, when you need to aim...) seems to cancel the effect. I think this is probably a limitation of the way keyboards work.

I wouldn't be asking if I didn't think of it as a feature, not a bug. I mean, honestly, what ship designer would intentionally make the weapon pods unable to fire at the same time? At any rate, my contention is that since the computer can do it, player ships should have the same advantage.

As for which key to use, well, obviously George is "the man" here. Maybe one of the control buttons could fire a single weapon, while the other fires all of them? This is another good argument for user-definable keymaps, or better yet gamepad support (with user-definable keymaps) .

[george moromisato]

Good question. To be honest, linked-firing is not on my list for 1.0. It is possible that I will address it after 1.0, but I haven't thought about it yet.

If implemented, it would need some limitations--otherwise the player would be able to do double damage just by installing a second weapon. On the other hand, the power consumption for having multiple weapons might already be enough of a penalty.

I need to think about it more.

[BlackPheonix]

or you could at least let us (i don't know if we can ) make like ICX weapons/automated turret weapons to fire at enemys...a more preffereable method myself.. please.....i have been waiting and hoping for it..

[Ghengis]

Not to sound snide, but if the enemy can install two (or in some cases, 5 -- you know who I mean) of the same weapon to wail on us, why can't Humanity's Last and Greatest Hope do the same? The power drain is certainly a factor, and I think it would add more strategy to the game. Do I install two low-drain weapons that fire linked, or one high-drain beam weapon and one ammo-using canon, or just single-fire my uber ion canon, or... get my drift? It seems it shouldn't be hard to implement -- I could probably do it myself with a macro tool made for EQ or some such -- but then I always seem to say that when I make a suggestion

Regardless, I think it's a little feature that could make a big difference, and almost certainly in a positive way.

[BlackPheonix]

i just want to make an icx like weapon to automatically shoot at enemies within range...then we could see playable frigate an up class vessels..PLEASE!!! with sugar an cherries and strawberries and any anything else you could possibly want on top

[palmiche]

Shooting at enemies might distract the ICX from destroying incoming micronukes. Can be fatal.

[BlackPheonix]

i said AN ICX not THE ICX, i (if a version that targets ships is made) plan on making my own version...

[Ghengis]

He wants a "smart" turret. I think the best thing for it would be to have something like an "AutoFire=true" tag available for modders, that lets a weapon shoot automatically if it's got a vaild target.

There's a number of issues with the implementation, not least of which is what you do if your target is hiding behind a friendly station

The other consideration is, what do you do if the weapon is autoFire, but isn't currently selected? Can it still shoot? I say, implement my idea (OP) first! Then, you wouldn't *need* auto-firing turrets, since you could just link-fire all your weapons (including, say, an Akan) with one buttonpress.

[palmiche]

I don wan't automated turrets nor anything "automated" because ICXs can already cause a lot of trouble if you are "near" a station a somebody fires an Akan or similar . If and ONLY if "automated" weapons are reprogrammed to hold fire if a station is in the line of if you are atop a friendly station or planet I would use such weapons. 8) 8) 8)

[Clear Air Turbulence]

For balance, you could make it so that linked weapons cost an extra 10% per extra weapon linked in energy, i.e. if you had two weapons linked that cost 5MW each to fire, it would cost 11MW to fire both linked ( (5+5)*1.1). If you had three, it would cost 18 ( (5+5+5)*1.2).

[Ghengis]

Is there any good reason to penalize the player for doing what the AI enemy can do already?

[Fossaman]

It might unbalance the early game a bit...I'm finding that anything before St. K is already fairly simple, and being able to wail on corsairs with a dual laser, a flenser, and missiles at the same time might be a bit much.

[Clear Air Turbulence]

Is there any good reason to penalize the player for doing what the AI enemy can do already?

Definitely. Balance and fun. Games aren't supposed to be a fair competition between the player and the computer, they're supposed to be fun. Humans already have a huge advantage over any AI opponent - we're smarter. I can already take out ships which, stats-wise, are doubtlessly far more powerful than my ship, because I can outsmart them.

I have no problem with the AI playing by different rules than the player, and if the designer decides that it makes the game more balanced to add some penalties to doing something the AI can do, he should do it. For all we know, no-penalty linked fire may not make the game too easy, but then again, it might. If people come up with an idea that could make the game easier, the developer should consider how this idea effects the difficulty of the game, and make whatever changes are necessary to maintain the challenge level he wants the player to experience.

[sysgod]

Make it a fighter-only thing, and when linked fire is enabled, reduce the field of fire on omni weapons to 45 degrees or something.

[SparcMan]

If such a thing were implemented, the best way to ballance it would be to reduce the rate-of-fire for all linked weapons to some degree (or perhaps all weapons have the same ROF as the slowest linked weapon).