I am adapting my SFC3 mod Terra Prime to Orion Pirates so that campaign mod can be utilized. I have replaced race names as replaced all of the model references in the ShipList files (both). Now I am attempting to customize each ship so that the battle style feels more like the SFC3 version of Terra Prime. I have experimented with the ShipList files in many ways and I am not able to get the results that I want.
Desired results:
Ships need to be set up to encourage broad side battle techniques. I want to shoot primary weapons on a very thin arc out of either side of the ships and fire the heavy weapons our of the bow and some times the stern, again, on very thin arcs.
What I have tried:
I have tried using shipedit to edit the arcs on ESG Lance and Gatling phasers, however it seems that they can fire in any direction. When I do change the arcs in shipedit, I can no longer see the arcs in the UI during game play. When I click the view weapon arc button they many times do not show the arc icon on the weapon.
Some questions:
How much of a shiplist entry can I change and the ship can still be used in the campaign mode? I notice that when I put only my custom ships in and the erase others, the game will crash.
Do the scripts in the campaigns look for BVP, ship class, ship name, power?
What do I have to keep the same, what do I have to make sure retains the stock configurations for the scripts to still run?
I notice that when I change the UI (I think that is what it is called) for a ship from say a FBB to a IFF, I no longer can see all of my weapons in the user interface in game, I think they still work, but I can't even see them to select them to repair them, is there a fix for that?
Is there a source for fine tuning ship specs and making sure you have enough power to supply all of your weapon?
Does anyone have an algorithm for balancing these things?
Are there strange quarks where one weapon will not work with one particular ship, or arc?
Your help and suggestions are much appreciated.