Navigation computer/Auto Pilot - brainstorm/thoughts.

[Wraithwynd]

I have been playing using the Mining Mule mod. I go with it moving slowly observing its agile movements in space, sort of a dance, one that my human reflexes and key pounding can't match.

Actually the Mining Mule is a Godsend, it has saved me many hours of pain and frustration attempting to mind, dock, bring on board, loot, esc esc. (To many buttons to press in the dock screen I think) then tap the arrow keys to point in the right direction, tapping the forward key quickly to move at a crawl, then holding down the space key as the laser shoots repeatedly hoping to hit an asteroid once or twice as I slowly pass by it.

I watch as cargo ships with escorts ply the lanes, those escorts follow in perfect formation. I have a difficult time matching the velocity of a cargo vessel, let alone matching the zig-zag course they take to other stations/gates. I often 'lose' the target vessel I'm supposed to be escorting as my vessel hurries in one direction, thus I am mashing keys attempting to turn, slow down and get back to the vessel, suddenly finding that I have to hit T and hold down the space and possibly the enter key to take out incoming enemy.

And the auto-pilot really isn't auto. All it does is go in a straight line and if you happen to be pointing at the right point on the map you will continue to go, even passing your destination. You still have to constantly open the map to see where you are, and each time you close the map you have to hit A again, often having to make minor course corrections in order to reach the station you are aiming for.

It would be nice if I had a 'mining program' one that steers my vessel through the asteroids, guiding my laser. All I need to do is keep an eye out for enemies and either hit 'T' to target them or hit 'W' to change weapons and my vessel stops mining and I can go into battle.

It would also be nice if I could escort other vessels, again breaking from escort mode when I target or turn or something simple like that to go after incoming enemy.

It would be really nice to be able to tell my ship to go to a found station on the map and kick back and sip a cup of Ares Tea while my vessel does those course corrections and heads straight for my destination stopping of its own accord at my destination maybe even docking. Again breaking the program if I hit an arrow key to turn maybe not so much T since I could target bases I see on my way to add them to the map.

As it stands I'm constantly hitting M to bring up the large map and adjusting my course. The "auto" sleep pilot seems to get me into more trouble than anything else as by the time I 'see' and react to incoming enemy they are already whooping on my ***. I don't even use it until I have defense Autons or wingmen to watch my back.

So how difficult would it be to make a 'programmable' NavCom?

Someone made an ore finder that uses "U" to call up the device and then you get an interface to program it with, a few options are there and then you are off. Can't something like that be used for a NavCom?

[Bobby]

currently there is no way to control the player's ship, but it could be accelerated through code according to a flight plan, and then disengage upon a velocity change (thrust or nebula, there's no way to tell the difference). there is no control whatsoever of turning the ship.

when ship changing becomes available an ai could be put in control, the player transferred to an invisible ship that is kept right on top of it, and transferred back when the main ship is hit or reaches the destination.

[Prophet]

Putting an event handler on the playership could work. It would need an invokable dockscreen to choose what Autopilot program to perform and quite a bit of coding for each program.
Forcing the player to escort a freighter would be rather easy. Choosing a known station and flying there would also be easy. A program to have the playership auto-mine asteroids would be very difficult and firing the ships weapon would have to be simulated in code.
It would be a massive project and there may be additional unforseen roadblocks.

[Xephyr]

A program to have the playership auto-mine asteroids would be very difficult and firing the ships weapon would have to be simulated in code.

How about a targeting program that targets asteroids, paired with an omni mining tool?

[Prophet]

I was thinking about a device, similar to an ICX but mounts a turreted mining laser. I felt it would be OPed, especially if it would auto load the ore as well...

but it is possible.

[Jeoshua]

This suggestion brings up a big point that I have been struggling with in some of my modding ideas. There is no way to affect the player's ship's velocity. Sure, you could fake it with explosions or something I suppose... but that affects everyone.

What would be nice, to solve both problems, is the ability to script velocity changes. This would, of course, be accompanied by an "escort" option. It would be basically version 2 of the autopilot and/or targeting rom. When activated, the ship would be set to follow the targeted ship just like an auton does. Moving the ship in any way would return control to the player.

Imagine when doing the Korolov base-strike scenario, where you wipe out the Charon base in the system... and when the strike team leader says "form up on my wing"... you can actually do it.

[alterecco]

For working with the players velocity there are three scripting functions

Code: Select all

(objSetVel obj velVector)
(objGetVel obj) -> velVector
(objIncVel obj velVector) -> velVector

You can generate velocity vectors using

Code: Select all

(sysVectorPolarVelocity angle speed) -> velVector

What you can _not_ do, is change the facing of the ship. So, it would be possible to make a script that piloted the ship perfectly, but it would not look good, since the ship would appear to be moving in the wrong direction, and change speeds without having the right facing.

A minor issue, perhaps, but enough that I never bothered making any of these "autopilots"

[Wraithwynd]

I do not know how the game works internally as a program. I'm sorry if this can not be done.

[Jeoshua]

It could certainly be done, it's just a wee bit tricky, see?

[PKodon]

I was thinking about a device, similar to an ICX but mounts a turreted mining laser. I felt it would be OPed, especially if it would auto load the ore as well...

but it is possible.

Okay, I don't know what an ICX is, but I made a turreted dual-mining laser (with lots of help from you and Taben, and probably some others). It had to use onFireWeapon, and then leading moving targets were a problem. I'm still not sure if the new sysGetFiringSolution remedies that problem. I think you got a copy of it, if not, I'll drop it in the dropbox.

The other problem is making a turreted version of the Plasma Lance, as it appears that WMD isn't supported by onFireWeapon weapons (unless something has been changed).

I know, I should probably write up a ticket suggesting that whatever functions were needed to be able to make real turreted versions of these (and probably other) weapons with the ability to modify parameters from the originals.

PK