Fun with Thargoid Carrier OXP

[Rimbaud]

Hello

DISCLAIMER: this is the first time I have tweaked anything in Oolite!

I have been very sad that the Thargoids constantly get their asses whipped in Witchspace 1.71.x, and have been having a look at why that is.

The main thing is that the Thargoids all attack each other, so I applied this fix:

https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.ph ... =thargoids

The next thing is that too many Behemoths and Frigates appear in Witch Space and as they are amazingly powerful, I reduced the likelihood of them appearing by half.

I then turned my attention to the infamous Thargoid Carrier OXP to try and make it less useless. As it stands, it wobbles around uselessly, occasionally spitting out a Thargoid and not firing back, so in shipdata.plist...

* I doubled the energy_recharge_rate as it is HUGE and hey it's 2000CR!

* Halved the max_flight_pitch and max_flight_roll so it wobbled less badly. Big ships look very bad close up if they wobble too much.

* Boosted max_defense_ships to 20 (the thing is massive after all). I had to add loads and loads of extra launchDefenseShip events in tcarrierAI.plist to get it to spit them out a bit more often, rather than just run away slowly and do nothing.

* Added 30 missiles of type thargon! These had the following:
<key>missile_launch_position</key>
<string>800.0 -800 -1080.0</string>

When it's attacked it spits out quite a few Thargoids and up to 30 Thargons, which is quite cool.

Problems:

* I had to choose an arbitrary massive distance away from the Carrier to launch the missiles as it is so big and also it seems to take up MUCH more space than it appears to. Even now, Thargons blow up when they are nowhere near the Carrier. Presumably this is to do with the modelling. Therefore they appear in the middle of nowhere, which usually looks OK.

* The Thargons get launched in a big lump rather than an attractive stream.

* The Carrier sometimes launches Navy ships like Vipers and Gunboats?! These sometimes blow up immediately, sometimes go inactive and sometimes start fighting the Thargoids.

* A recurrence of the problem I had with Behemoths, where the Carrier is indestructible and every hit gives a kill and full bounty.

Anyway, lots of fun, but someone PLEASE puts some turrets on it. The Thargoids still get battered often!

[Selezen]

I then turned my attention to the infamous Thargoid Carrier OXP to try and make it less useless. As it stands, it wobbles around uselessly, occasionally spitting out a Thargoid and not firing back

Well, thanks for your constructive criticism there. I'll endeavour to make my future OXPs less useless for you.

Wow, I feel motivated now! I was in the middle of trying to improve the carrier's model and AI and make a new custom ship for it to launch, but now I really can't be bothered. Tell you what, send me your email address and I'll email you the wings data and source and you can do it yourself.

I can't see how the modelling would affect ships out of the range of the ship's hull, to be honest. The Oolite code maps the hull pretty closely from what I understand. The launch location may be wrong on the model though, and that may cause a problem. Again, this was my first and only attempt at a dockable/launchable carrier, so there may be a fair few bugs, but as stated I was looking at sorting it out. Not any more though.

More proof that scripting ain't my thing.

Code: Select all

state=pram-rattle

[Commander McLane]

Hey, Sel, don't take it so personally!

I love the Thargoid Carrier; it has earned me so much money in bounties! , and it is a slick, mean ship! It is stunning to see a pair of Thargoid Carriers slowly, menacingly make their way from the witchpoint to the planet, and terrifiedly imagining what kind of devastation they will cause there. True, as it is now, the reality is less terrifying than the prospect, but isn't that something worth working on? You bet it is! I am really looking forward to an improved model.

So here's my proposal: I have a look over the Config- and AI-folders, and you continue working on the model (that's something I couldn't do for the life of me).

Deal?

PS: Is the version 1.2 I have the most recent one?

[LittleBear]

Now we have "launchShipWithRole", I think an AI change (plus maybe a few of Heretics Plasma Forks stuck on) would be enough to toughen the Carrier up. The AI for the Space Bar in Random Hits uses this comamnd to get "birds in the air" when enemies are around. It launches 3 hunters about 5 seconds apart, then waits 10 seconds. If enemy targets are about it then switches back to Attack Mode and launches another 3. Extra ships get launched if the Bar itself is attacked.

[Lestradae]

I was in the middle of trying to improve the carrier's model and AI and make a new custom ship for it to launch, but now I really can't be bothered.

No, please don`t give it up!

A thargoid carrier that has loads of turrets and grills 20 things around itself, throws out 15 Thargoid Warships fast and perhaps fires some kind of Thargoid missile en masse would be great! And I assume it can be done by just adjusting the existing model a bit.

Let me reciprocate : Don`t let yourself get taken down by ... a bit too creative ... criticism!

Right on Commander! (looking forward to that Tharg Carrier 2.0)

L

[Selezen]

Bah humbug.

I think half my trouble is that I've gone off programming. Drawing and modelling ships gets my juices flowing, but having a job as a programmer puts me off wanting to do programming in my spare time too.

That's probably why the scripting is below par in things like Thargoid Carriers and the TOGY. So my apologies.

McLane, I'll be happy to take up your offer. You script and I'll draw.

[Captain Hesperus]

It is stunning to see a pair of Thargoid Carriers slowly, menacingly make their way from the witchpoint to the planet, and terrifiedly imagining what kind of devastation they will cause there.

Now THAT would be a great picture to put on the Screenshots page, a pair of Tharg Carriers with attendant cruisers looking manacing and closing in on a distant 'Earth-like' planet.

Captain Hesperus

[Eric Walch]

McLane, I'll be happy to take up your offer. You script and I'll draw.

When you want an AI file for the carrier, I can put one in that I made half a year ago when working on the behemoth. (I just adapted the new Behemoth carrier code for thargoid use)

[Lestradae]

When you want an AI file for the carrier, I can put one in that I made half a year ago when working on the behemoth. (I just adapted the new Behemoth carrier code for thargoid use)

I would be VERY interested in an AI for carriers for RS 3.02, which would stop them from doing things like landing at stations (if they launch, no problem, they manage that).

If I could also use this when it`s out?



L

[Commander McLane]

???

They should never land on anything with their existing AI.

@Eric: Can you PM or mail it to me? Thanks!

[Frame]

@Rimbaud, supposedly oolite 1.7.1.2 should fix the collision problem... (if ahruman implemented the fix before it was released..

This has nothing todo with the model... large models, like the generation ship or thargorn carrier will have abnormal collision behavior.

therefore its not Selezens Models that are to blame..

This has Todo with the way Oolite detects collision... imagine invisible boxes being drawn around the model... along the outline of the model

The larger the model, the smaller the boxes...

however in pre-1.7.1.2(if implemented), the smallest boxes where still to large to hug closely enough the the outline of the ship model, when the model was a large ship.

Therefore at certain curved areas of the model, the boxes would stick outside the ships model.. even boxy ships can have this error, since theire diemensions might be sort of "incompatible" with the box system.. it would work, but badly, the generation ship will showcase the problem..

if the boxes covers 1024 meters of area, and the model is 1025 meter then an extra box is is added somewhere. and depending on the ships model, that determines the box size.. lets imagine the box is 128 meters in in width, height and length... then there would 127 meters sticking out over the models outline, so ships will seem to collide i presume 127 meters in the direction where the box is sticking out.

look here

https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.ph ... &start=255

to get more technical information

[JensAyton]

@Rimbaud, supposedly oolite 1.7.1.2 should fix the collision problem... (if ahruman implemented the fix before it was released..

The changes to collision octrees were rolled back because the exacerbated certain collision-related problems.

[Rimbaud]

Hello

Just a quick note to say sorry about the very rude way I phrased the first post in this thread. I just wanted the Thargoid Carrier to be more kick-ass, especially as it is a very pretty design. I should never write posts when knackered after work.

Keep up the good work OXP writers.

[nijineko]

selezen, i like your oxp! and it looks like there is enough people willing to help on the scripting side that you can continue to produce awesome models and textures! pleeeeeaaaaase, don't give it up. i enjoy your oxp a lot. =D i have a lot of programmer friends, and have seen the 'i already program for work, i don't want to do it at home too!' syndrome. you are not alone. and don't feel bad for feeling that way. do what makes you happy, and i assure you that we, the beneficiaries of your efforts will rejoice and praise you! ^^

[Selezen]

Ah, thanks guys.

Don't worry, I'll still churn out the odd ship OXP. Dream Team a go-go (if I can get McLane to stop whining about his Aquila!)