[WIP] Gil-Galad ship OXP

[HAL]

This is my first OXP, which doesn't seem to do anything on my computer. It doesn't say anything about it in the log, apart from the fact that it's loaded, so I thought I'd upload it as a work in progress to see if it works for anyone else. It's currently hosted here. Any feedback would be much appreciated - thanks to everyone who has helped so far.

[Smivs]

You have the roles set as pirate and hunter, so it will only be spawned when the game calls for these roles, and even then it is in a pool with the other pirates and hunters so will only be called as often as any other pirate or hunter, and of course it will be spawned anywhere where they are spawned, so it's not surprising you haven't seen one yet.
It does work - I gave it a custom role and spawned one on launching and it was there when I launched.
Also I don't think your custom AI is doing enything. For starters because you have autoAI set to 'yes' it will automatically be given the appropriate AI for the role it was spawned with, so if it was spawned as a pirate it will use the pirate AI. Also, looking at the AI you have written it seems a bit short on targeting details. It goes straight into an ATTACK_SHIP state but it does not target anything to attack.
My guess is that you want it to attack pretty much anything it finds. If so, take a look at the scorpaxAI.plist in my new Aliens OXP. This alien is a sport hunter and will attack anything on sight, so might be what you are looking for. You are welcome to use it as is or adapted to your requirements.

[HAL]

Well, it's good to know it appears I thought it was going to be in the shipyard though, after setting

Code: Select all

..."gilgalad21213-player" =     {
        chance = "0.99";
...

So my only check was to look in the shipyard, and see if it's there. Do you know how I can get it into the shipyard?

I think the main reason for the AI errors is that I basically copied the Adder's AI, and changed a couple of FLEE responses into ATTACK_SHIP... probably not the best idea?

If so, take a look at the scorpaxAI.plist in my new Aliens OXP. This alien is a sport hunter and will attack anything on sight, so might be what you are looking for. You are welcome to use it as is or adapted to your requirements.

Thanks, I'll probably use that one instead. I think I'll tackle AI when I have at least a little experience. The idea is that they are owned by a bloodthirsty group of pirates and outcast assassins, who know a thing or two about matter-condensing cargo bays (hence the insane amount of loot). And of course the final version will cost a lot more than 65cr, and be quite rare.

[Smivs]

Re the shipyard, to maximise its appearance you'll need to set chance to 1 and TL to 0 (zero). This means they will show up quite a lot, but of course is only really helpful for testing. In a 'release' OXP that would be really annoying!
Also be aware that the chance also determines what optional equipment comes with the ship, so with the above settings they will all get everything pretty much!

For your AI, I'd take the standard pirate AI and tweak it a bit. As you look through it you'll see areas where their aggression can be increased a bit - the scorpaxAI drew heavily on the pirate AI (and others).
Also if you want them to be particularly deadly, remember in 1.77 we can now add an 'accuracy' key to the shipdata.plist which can be used to improve the deadliness of NCPs.

[HAL]

Thanks, I've changed that now and did my first test drive! Except I was in a TL 4 system, and doing "thargoid plans", so died quite soon with a pulse laser (It didn't have any lasers to start with). Strange, since I set it to have a default military laser, or so I thought!

Thanks for the tip on AI, think I'll try that out next weekend when I have the player version sorted.

[Commander McLane]

Strange, since I set it to have a default military laser, or so I thought!

The shipdata.plist is wrong.

Code: Select all

        "forward_weapon_type" = "EQ_WEAPON_MILITARY_LASER";

must be

Code: Select all

        "forward_weapon_type" = "WEAPON_MILITARY_LASER";

(just like in the NPC version).

[HAL]

Thanks, just changed that

Now I have a problem with the weapon facings I fixed the weapon facings!! I was just about to ask about why I only have a port laser when I specified "weapon_facings"=4, but I had a final guess that it's some kind of additive binary style code. Or maybe just a code. Anyway, so far, I have 1=front, 3=front + aft, 4=port, 15=all four.
From that, I'm guessing that 2=aft, 5=starboard, and 6-14 explore the various different combinations.

So far, version 0_0_2 will have:
4 laser mountings
An actual AI that does something (namely, obliterate anything in its path)
Maybe, just maybe, an amazing new model!

[Svengali]

It's a bitmask (see [wiki]Shipyard.plist[/wiki]).
1 - Forward
2 - Aft
4 - Port
8 - Starboard
Just take the sum of the values (1+2+4+8 = 15 for all).

[HAL]

Thought it was something like that. And those values would be because to have all 4 lasers is 1111 in binary? I may not be the best at programming, but I have wanted to be

p.s. I forgot to save my game on a separate file before that test drive. Now I'm tens of thousands of credits out of pocket in an incomplete (but fast) ship trying to land in a system that has anything other than Gil-Galad ships for sale, and equipment more sophisticated than a pulse laser! Did I mention I'm doing thargoid plans mission, and I now don't even have witchdrive injectors?

[Smivs]

p.s. I forgot to save my game on a separate file before that test drive. Now I'm tens of thousands of credits out of pocket in an incomplete (but fast) ship trying to land in a system that has anything other than Gil-Galad ships for sale, and equipment more sophisticated than a pulse laser! Did I mention I'm doing thargoid plans mission, and I now don't even have witchdrive injectors?

I shouldn't laugh...

[Cody]

p.s. I forgot to save my game on a separate file before that test drive. Now I'm tens of thousands of credits out of pocket in an incomplete (but fast) ship trying to land in a system that has anything other than Gil-Galad ships for sale, and equipment more sophisticated than a pulse laser! :oops: Did I mention I'm doing thargoid plans mission, and I now don't even have witchdrive injectors?

I shouldn't laugh...

I will! Been there, done that, used the t-shirt as an oily rag! Cost me over 100k - I didn't make the same mistake again.