My word, this OXP is taking a long time to do!
So, I've now scripted about 3/4 of the complex mid-section of the mission. I've done all the missiontext for the last quarter and the scripting shouldn't be too tricky, but I've got a bit more in-space action to do for that. My advice for mission makers: if you want to keep things simple, don't start out by giving the player four choices all the time!
You remember the defence cannon I created but never used for the Feudal States:
Well this now plays a rather important part in a set-piece. Originally I set the cannon up as a normal ship with lots of pitch n' roll but zero speed, however it didn't seem to be able to track the player very well. What I've done instead is make the whole thing one massive ball turret, with the actual ship being a block hidden in the middle of the model. That way the cannon tracks the player much better, and I can also modify the weapon energy of the plasma fire to make it more deadly. There'll be a whole string of these cannons surrounding the planet Maenes.
I've then gone back and have done a bit of modelling for the scripted threads. At some point I need a fuel reprocessing station - this is an unmanned facility where people dump their spent fuel so it can be cleaned up and repackaged. Ideally I'd like to do an impressive space station with loads of solar panels, struts, etc, but for the moment I've just done a box with a big funnel at the front for collecting the fuel pods. I've added a couple of imperial tankers for scale.
Also the plot called for a luxury apartment block and so I was going to do a custom space station, vaguely like the Bespin cloud cities. After starting the model I realised that this is a bit similar in concept to the Nuit space station but I'll probably crack on with it anyway.
At some point I'll need to put some ships together for the Sirius Defence Force. I've already used my Saleza stuff in other missions so either I'll try repainting some vipers or I might cast some other OXP ships in the role. If anyone has ideas for candidates let me know.
Despite trying to make things a bit more linear than last time I haven't been able to stop myself adding the odd branch here or there. I've been a bit more diligent when it comes to planning this time around though, so I've actually got a firm structure to work around:
I'll be able to start going through these diagrams and tick off the bits I've done - for comparion here's what my highly-advanced Trident Down Progress Plan looked like once I'd finished translating it to javascript - what a relief it was to finally see all those ticks!
