Hi all! I'm about done making a set of player versions of ships with 2 forward firing lasers. So far have a mining and military cobra3, bushmaster miner, cat, iguana and the wolfs. Have a gun camera hud switching system for the forward guns that will let you use most other huds for the main views. It's very basic and derived from the standard oolite hud. I'm finding some deficiancies in these oxp ships however. I'm using shipdata-overrides to correct the frangibility issue with the cat, iguana and wolf as the npcs get the guns blown off and aren't a challenge and the player versions will have maintenance overhaul issues and be impractical so overriding with frangibility=no solves this. Pa groove's redone version of oldships doesn't have subents or subent weapons so I can't use that set. Also there are ships in there that don't even have a weapon at all. This should probably be looked at. I like these textures but can't use these ships without subents for the npc's to balance out the player version so will leave them be for now. Oldships and wolfs oxps will be dependancies as this will provide some multi-lasered ships to fight if you you have a ship with multi-lasers and that is fair, I think.
I've had a little playtest time with the cat and it is really cool, balanced and requires strategy. As you fight, switching between the 2 weapons gun cameras, one on each wing, you have to remember which side you are shooting from at all times in order that you can have the main body of the ship away from the direction that an attacking ship is, almost like bullfighting with a laser. There is some critical strategy in this as being on the wrong side could result in collision or taking some heavy damage from laser fire. I've only just touched on this but can already see a general type of dogfighting technique emerging for ships with the forward lasers at the sides of the ship.
This concept will have you switching views often specifically for whether you are in combat or not. It can be kind of interesting to scoop cargo pods while using either gun camera as it requires that you have the situational awareness of exactly how to line up for scooping. Really cool. This kind of ship will be the pervue of master pilots that can juggle all of this effectively.Hehe!
Sorry but I'm really starting to have fun with this 2 forward weapon workaround I've discovered.
That's just a little taste of where I'm at with this.
As for all the comments I've read since my post, please be assured that this concept has balance and can't be abused and enhanced beyond 2 weapons in one direction or more than the 4 hardcoded number of player weapon positions. It is a completely off the wall hair brained workaround and the immersion of how it is viewed by the player is not perfect but it is enjoyable, especially with a little hud slight of hand and that is what will make this concept rock. Balance with fun and be assured also that there is no real extra firepower than the player already has but actually less if the ship designer so desires to rationally penalize the player. Read: 2 forward guns max on a twin military laser cobra mk3, makes sense and is how I'm doing it but even an uber ship cheater cannot have more than the normal number of guns(4) period and only 2 of those on the front.
This shouldn't break any gameplay as it is only a little easier than alternating between front and aft lasers, which is what most people do now. What this will do is promote dogfighting, going in gungho with weapons blazing and using injectors to get out if needed while the weapons cool. What it will also do is leave you defenseless when you make that retreat and way off centre guns will make sniping much harder. Too top it off, the juggling of forward view with the gun cams and always strategizing which side of the current gun the main part of the ship is for effective dogfighting and scooping, well, there is your balance.
The oxp is finished but still testing and will make it available soon. And it is nothing like Okti's workaround. Cheers!
