Oolite Bulletins

I do like the idea of wrecked ships and stations - one thing I wondered though is how to produce sparks and smoke, etc without relying on the AI being in a low energy state. Is there a script action or something that would do this?

On the subject of all things destructive, I was watching some cold war stuff the other week and I ended up making a quick model of a Blue Steel nuclear stand-off missile, used by the RAF in the 1950s. I was thinking of using this as an alternative model for Wyvern's nuclear torpedo but then I had a thought: how about a quick mission where a station comes under attack from a fleet of bombers, and it's your job to try to intercept the enemy before they can release their load? Giving the missiles cascade warheads would help to raise the stakes a little.

It should also be possible to reverse the roles and have the player take part in an all-out strike against a neighbouring system - dodging the blasts from previous attack waves.

This wouldn't be part of the normal course of events, but it could be an interesting climax to a mission series.

Ramirez wrote:

I do like the idea of wrecked ships and stations

So do I, perhaps drifting silently through witchspace, dockable, and filled with................................................................(Cue Phsyco shower music)

Ramirez wrote:

It should also be possible to reverse the roles and have the player take part in an all-out strike against a neighbouring system - dodging the blasts from previous attack waves.

It is, or certainly something similar in Assassins.

TGHC wrote:

Ramirez wrote:

I do like the idea of wrecked ships and stations

So do I, perhaps drifting silently through witchspace, dockable, and filled with................................................................(Cue Phsyco shower music)

Guys who dress up like their mothers?

Captain Hesperus
"I never got the idea of horror movies. One look at the cheapest repair quote for the 'Dubious Profit' is enough to terrify even the hardest movie watcher."

@Cap'n H - I love the new Avatar! It's so you....

DaddyHoggy wrote:

@Cap'n H - I love the new Avatar! It's so you....

You know it!
It's a reduction of a shot I found.


Alas the text wouldn't reduce so I went with the captionless option.

Captain Hesperus
"A kitten with my friends, a tiger with a sniper rifle for spammers."

Ramirez wrote:

...I ended up making a quick model of a Blue Steel nuclear stand-off missile...

OK, so the model's not totally accurate but generally I don't think it looks too bad. Just for fun I gave it a cascade warhead and slung it under a Bellatrix cruiser to see how it would look. Imagine twenty of these heading rapidly towards a space station...





I see there's already been lots of discussion on alternative missile types, so I'll see if I can think of something new and unusual for this model.

Looks nice!

Perhaps in a mission, where you have to destroy a station taken over by Thargoids (or somthing)?

Very nice, and it made me think............. what does a quirium mine look like?

I guess the first thing to do is to get an NPC to use the missile in action. I might be able to rely on the AI identifying a target and attacking as normal; if this doesn't quite work I may need to look into the carrier/launcher option so as to get the weapon to release at just the right moment.

After a bit of testing I now have a rather cool missile strike AI up and running. Bascially a bomber is set to head towards a planet, scanning for a specific ship role as it goes (for the moment I've targeted the navigation buoy). Once the target enters scanner range it sets an intercept course and then at a set range it releases the missile, which is classed as a defence ship. At launch, the missile homes in on the bomber's designated target, the bomber itself turns away at full speed and all things going well, the buoy is destroyed.

One slight problem I need to sort out is that if the bomber gets attacked during its final approach, it sometimes switches the target (even without the setTargetToPrimaryAggressor function), with the result that the missile ends up being wasted on another ship, potentially the player. I think I need to set up a procedure for the bomber to reacquire the designated strike target before launching the weapon.

I was also looking at the current missile AI to see if it could be made smarter. At the moment it is slaved to the bomber's targetting system but it could be given some target acqusition functions of its own.

Pretty sure that idea would work. In order to make the Asteroids in Asteroid storm crash into the station, I gave them a tweaked missileAI that had a scanforShipWithRole: station. They keep going at the station even if they are attacked.

"In order to make the Asteroids in Asteroid storm crash into the station, I gave them a tweaked missileAI "

i just had an image of homing asteroids there! be pretty fun to see a Cobra speeding on its way w/ a gaggle of mega rocks chasing it

Like large versions of the magnetic mines at the end of "Galaxy Quest"!

I'm really getting into this weapons development business now. I've got a cluster/shrapnel missile working, though I'm having to test it quite a bit to get the detonation parameters just right. At the moment it releases 20 or so bomblets which spread out and detonate at a set radius. Not too helpful against fast-moving targets but quite effective against large groups of ships. I also have a mine version, which will be a little cheaper. Will try and get some screenshots.

I know people have discussed missiles with multiple warheads that separate out and find their own targets. This should be easy enough, and I already have a set of models in mind.

I'd like to develop a more agile variation of the current missile - this would have a smaller warhead and so would probably not be lethal, but it could be used to knock down an enemy's energy level before the player moves in for the kill.

Some of these may end up being a little too exotic but as with the cascade missile they might be useful as extras in missions and such. I'm mindful of course that what's good for the player is good for the NPCs - in a recent dogfight a police viper had the audacity to launch one of my missiles at me!

suggestion: I'd like it to be possible for ship AI's to be able to scanfor and target subentites on other ships & stations, and for subentites to be able to be picked by role as well as shipname.