Topic: Trying to get shuttles to lay mines in SFC3

[James Formo]

Been working on this with no success. It looks straight forward as mines are listed in shuttles as 0:0:0:  I tried giving them 4. NO luck. There are other things to consider, such as the mass of the minelayer which is 150. I changed it to 5 and increased weapon mass for shuttle to 500. No luck. Spent a few hours on this and well it would appear that the AI for shuttles is hard coded and won't lay mines regardless of what is in the spec files.

If anyone finds a way-let me know, I'd appreciate it.

[James Formo]

nevermind. I figured out how to do this. This should help make the battlefield  more chaotic.

[James Formo]

Quote:
Well share the info James, It sounds like a cool idea to me.  

I am still play balancing the shuttles. Only got the Fed done so far. The rest should be quicker. This will be included in the mod I am doing.  


 

[grave]

please james let us know how to do it..... I really like this idea alot. will add a new bit of chalange to the game thanks in advance for letting use know.  

[James Formo]

I'm glad you like the idea.  I do'nt mean to be a jerk or anything. But I am now trying to see if there is a way to target the mines like you could missles in SFC2. I doubt it. If there were I would give them more damage and they would add a whole new aspect to the game.  I might have a beta version of the SFC3 mod out in a few days. This version would not include ships or scenery but just be the spec files.

Then if you just wanted the shuttles that lay mines you could just cut them from the loadout.gf and paste em in your loadout file. Its almost easier that way, as I have spent hours on little stuff. If any item is off by 1 space, sometimes tractors won't work.

Just give me a couple days. Then I'd like to get feedback on the mod to see if it needs any tweaking before I add models to it.

[grave]

cool james thanks for the info . hope to see the mine laying shuttles soon...  

[Lieutenant_Q]

jeez i hope not, I think that Taldren needs to make a new item, called a minesweeper.  Cause no matter what i do, i just cant seem to avoid them.  Id glady drop a heavy torp to get my hands on that item, as much damage as i wind up taking from mines in a battle.  It would be nice, if the mines wouldnt go off like they did in SFC1/EAW/OP going below a certain speed and the mine doesnt even notice your there.  But in 3 they go off even if you arent moving at all.

Annyway, minefields are supposed to be useless in space, so i really dont know why its in SFC3 at all.  The only thing its good for is protecting a certaim part of space, like the wormhole.  Why the Romluans put so much effort in trying to mine a planet...it would have been cheaper just to colonize it or build a base instead.  

[James Formo]

Quote:
jeez i hope not, I think that Taldren needs to make a new item, called a minesweeper.  Cause no matter what i do, i just cant seem to avoid them.  Id glady drop a heavy torp to get my hands on that item, as much damage as i wind up taking from mines in a battle.  It would be nice, if the mines wouldnt go off like they did in SFC1/EAW/OP going below a certain speed and the mine doesnt even notice your there.  But in 3 they go off even if you arent moving at all.

Anyway, minefields are supposed to be useless in space, so i really dont know why its in SFC3 at all.  The only thing its good for is protecting a certaim part of space, like the wormhole.  Why the Romluans put so much effort in trying to mine a planet...it would have been cheaper just to colonize it or build a base instead.  

Interesting viewpoint. I could see mines being very effective. Especially cloaked mines that are rigged to gravitate towards an energy source, such as a warp core field. Thats kinda what the mines in Homeworld do. In fact I believe the minelayer was the single most effective ship in that game. Of course it is just that, a game.

Yup you won't like this mod at all    This mod introduces freindly fire. I have already had  my own shuttle lay a mine in front of the enemy ship which I was tractoring. It put the mine directly under my ship and sped away, so the mine detonated under my ship.  Makes things interesting.  After playing awhile with it though, you know what situations to avoid and how to use the mines the shuttles drop to your advantage. It is possible to kinda pin an oppentent in by laying your own mines opposite the ones the shuttles drop.

I am giving the shuttles 8 mines to start.  You can easily edit this to whatever you want.  Sometimes they drop  just a couple.  I have only tested it with a destroyer with 3 shuttles.

In a short while there were 8 active mines layed. 2 or so by me that the AI ship avoided, a couple by the AI that I avoided, and perhaps 4 by my shuttles. I was going against a Marauder which never seems to launch shuttles. So if the AI had shuttles or another player, there would be a bit of manevering involved to avoid em.  

I have gotten alot more done and may be releasing the beta mod tommorrow. If all goes well. You must have the Beta patch to play it.

I gotta figure out WINRAR so I can put the files in there proper folders for easy install.

[James Formo]

OK there be whales here- er I mean mine laying shuttles

Here is my lame a** yahoo club host site for the Assimilation mod. The file is just under 800kb.

                         Hope you like. Install instructions are in the readme. I will send this over to SFU and see if they will host it.

                         For now you can get it here, but you gotta join the club. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sfcmodels/

                         Its the assimilation.rar in the files section.  

[James Formo]

Been working on this with no success. It looks straight forward as mines are listed in shuttles as 0:0:0:  I tried giving them 4. NO luck. There are other things to consider, such as the mass of the minelayer which is 150. I changed it to 5 and increased weapon mass for shuttle to 500. No luck. Spent a few hours on this and well it would appear that the AI for shuttles is hard coded and won't lay mines regardless of what is in the spec files.

If anyone finds a way-let me know, I'd appreciate it.

[James Formo]

nevermind. I figured out how to do this. This should help make the battlefield  more chaotic.

[James Formo]

Quote:
Well share the info James, It sounds like a cool idea to me.  

I am still play balancing the shuttles. Only got the Fed done so far. The rest should be quicker. This will be included in the mod I am doing.  


 

[grave]

please james let us know how to do it..... I really like this idea alot. will add a new bit of chalange to the game thanks in advance for letting use know.  

[James Formo]

I'm glad you like the idea.  I do'nt mean to be a jerk or anything. But I am now trying to see if there is a way to target the mines like you could missles in SFC2. I doubt it. If there were I would give them more damage and they would add a whole new aspect to the game.  I might have a beta version of the SFC3 mod out in a few days. This version would not include ships or scenery but just be the spec files.

Then if you just wanted the shuttles that lay mines you could just cut them from the loadout.gf and paste em in your loadout file. Its almost easier that way, as I have spent hours on little stuff. If any item is off by 1 space, sometimes tractors won't work.

Just give me a couple days. Then I'd like to get feedback on the mod to see if it needs any tweaking before I add models to it.

[grave]

cool james thanks for the info . hope to see the mine laying shuttles soon...  

[Lieutenant_Q]

jeez i hope not, I think that Taldren needs to make a new item, called a minesweeper.  Cause no matter what i do, i just cant seem to avoid them.  Id glady drop a heavy torp to get my hands on that item, as much damage as i wind up taking from mines in a battle.  It would be nice, if the mines wouldnt go off like they did in SFC1/EAW/OP going below a certain speed and the mine doesnt even notice your there.  But in 3 they go off even if you arent moving at all.

Annyway, minefields are supposed to be useless in space, so i really dont know why its in SFC3 at all.  The only thing its good for is protecting a certaim part of space, like the wormhole.  Why the Romluans put so much effort in trying to mine a planet...it would have been cheaper just to colonize it or build a base instead.  

[James Formo]

Quote:
jeez i hope not, I think that Taldren needs to make a new item, called a minesweeper.  Cause no matter what i do, i just cant seem to avoid them.  Id glady drop a heavy torp to get my hands on that item, as much damage as i wind up taking from mines in a battle.  It would be nice, if the mines wouldnt go off like they did in SFC1/EAW/OP going below a certain speed and the mine doesnt even notice your there.  But in 3 they go off even if you arent moving at all.

Anyway, minefields are supposed to be useless in space, so i really dont know why its in SFC3 at all.  The only thing its good for is protecting a certaim part of space, like the wormhole.  Why the Romluans put so much effort in trying to mine a planet...it would have been cheaper just to colonize it or build a base instead.  

Interesting viewpoint. I could see mines being very effective. Especially cloaked mines that are rigged to gravitate towards an energy source, such as a warp core field. Thats kinda what the mines in Homeworld do. In fact I believe the minelayer was the single most effective ship in that game. Of course it is just that, a game.

Yup you won't like this mod at all    This mod introduces freindly fire. I have already had  my own shuttle lay a mine in front of the enemy ship which I was tractoring. It put the mine directly under my ship and sped away, so the mine detonated under my ship.  Makes things interesting.  After playing awhile with it though, you know what situations to avoid and how to use the mines the shuttles drop to your advantage. It is possible to kinda pin an oppentent in by laying your own mines opposite the ones the shuttles drop.

I am giving the shuttles 8 mines to start.  You can easily edit this to whatever you want.  Sometimes they drop  just a couple.  I have only tested it with a destroyer with 3 shuttles.

In a short while there were 8 active mines layed. 2 or so by me that the AI ship avoided, a couple by the AI that I avoided, and perhaps 4 by my shuttles. I was going against a Marauder which never seems to launch shuttles. So if the AI had shuttles or another player, there would be a bit of manevering involved to avoid em.  

I have gotten alot more done and may be releasing the beta mod tommorrow. If all goes well. You must have the Beta patch to play it.

I gotta figure out WINRAR so I can put the files in there proper folders for easy install.

[James Formo]

OK there be whales here- er I mean mine laying shuttles

Here is my lame a** yahoo club host site for the Assimilation mod. The file is just under 800kb.

                         Hope you like. Install instructions are in the readme. I will send this over to SFU and see if they will host it.

                         For now you can get it here, but you gotta join the club. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sfcmodels/

                         Its the assimilation.rar in the files section.