SFTC

President_Elect_Shang · #1 January 6th, 2007, 04:08 PM

@SoD: Yes it is possible to create a component just like you are describing. I believe they did just that in the SE4 B5 Mod. Sounds to me like you thinking up your own mod. You may need to put together a team to help you.

I could script an event like that; however, it wouldn't close at the end of the turn. It would have to be one event to open and one event to close. And then it might not close the one that was opened. It could close any wp anywhere. The path problem isn't just the AI. Next time you play a game watch the quadrant map. When you see that two system (system A & C)that you have entered are connected by a third system (System B) you haven't explored tell a ship in system A to go to System C. Even though you don't know where the wp are chances are good your ship will path to the hidden wp cross the system to the other hidden wp and pop out in system C. So you see the problem is all around, not just with the AI. AI and players use the same path finding code when giving their ships orders.

@Derek: I understand, my wife is a CPT in the Army and I am ex-Army so I know how that goes. Those errors are perfect. If you can send me the names of the ones in question I will proof read them again. Wonderful I am expecting more of those type of errors than any others. For the "Gun" weapon line that is right. In combat they look like direct fire weapons because I wrote them that way. However the effects they have are those of missile weapons. All a Sprint missile is in SF is a missile which is traveling to fast for any form of PD to stop. It is still a Nuclear weapon and against a target with no working engines has the effects all nuclear weapons do. Basically just what Kana said!

Suicide Junkie · #2 January 6th, 2007, 04:53 PM

If it is going too fast for PD to stop... then it dosen't need a warhead at all.

Relativity means that a nuke won't add a significant amount of energy to the resulting blast...

Phoenix-D · #3 January 6th, 2007, 04:57 PM

Not exactly SJ. Starfire drives act a bit weirdly- once the drive goes down, all the velocity it brings with it goes away.

Combine that with the fact that you don't have to get to near-light speed, just fast enough to get by the PD.

President_Elect_Shang · #4 January 6th, 2007, 05:05 PM

Uh? What does that have to do with SF and the sprint mode missile line?

President_Elect_Shang · #5 January 6th, 2007, 05:22 PM

Ok, drive field class 101.

There are two lines of missiles. (1) Standard Mode are very long ranged and travel slow enough for P-D to get a targeting solution and/or saturate the area to hit the offending missile. (2) Sprint Mode fire and go like bats out of hell. They are moving so fast that interception is not possible. With Standard Mode they have much greater range over Sprint (double at starting level) because they track there own target. So they share guidance with warhead with drives. Sprint Mode are short ranged but can't be stopped with P-D; however, they carry no self guidance so they miss. They share warhead space with a massive drive to move much faster than Standard mode missiles can.

Now the Drive Field and why it is important. Think of the drive field like the surface of a pond. Solid objects hit the surface and pass through but the faster the object is moving the harder the impact. Both missile types are moving so fast that when they hit the drive field it would render them useless. To get around this they are dueled fused. The first fuse is proximity. The missile sees the drive field and detonates. The second is delayed impact. If there is no drive field the missile cruises on till it hits something then goes boom. After a hart beat or two that is. In terms of the hard mod numbers the difference is a working engine reduces "Missile" type damage by -90%.

Spectarofdeath · #6 January 6th, 2007, 05:34 PM

Ahhh ok, damn that sucks. I belive a couple of people have said that MM might make a expansion, lets hope and pray he adds that the ability to have one way wps if he does. I hadn't thought of that, now I know what you mean, once you enter a system you see on the quadrant map all the sectors that it's connected to even if you haven't explored them so you would know there is a hidden wp. I didn't think about that because mainly I haven't played SEV at all. Stock just leaves so much to be desired. Going from SEIV with mods to stock SEV is like going from steak to hotdogs.

Edit: So are we able to make a wp that will only allow a certain size ship through yet?

Spectarofdeath · #7 January 6th, 2007, 05:43 PM

I seem to recall in the bug novel (been about 5 yrs since I read it so can't remember which one it was) the resistance on the planets had kinetic rocket launchers and it stated that the weapon was so fast that it didn't need any kind of warhead. Granted, this was for surface combat and I know that obviously the two types of combat are different. Plus I remember a little about the drive fields.

Derek · #8 January 6th, 2007, 06:04 PM

Ok, sounds good for the sprint modes. I had thought in one of the novels they did come up with a way for PD to work, or at least something similiar to PD, but I could be wrong. Either way, it works well.

When I get home, I will try and get a list of the typos I have found so far.

President_Elect_Shang · #9 January 6th, 2007, 09:41 PM

@SoD: That was in Crusade (can you tell I'm a fanatic) and that worked on planets yes. Then again drive fields don't work on planets so there you go. There was a branch off to 3rd Edition SF called Alkelda Dawn which came out around 94'. They used kinetic weapons which caused a lot of problems in game mechanics with drive fields. And Alkelda Dawn engines did not use drive fields so there were game balance problems when confronted with the SF nukes. In a nut shell without a drive field to detonate nukes prematurely Alkelda Dawn ships got creamed by direct hit after direct hit. As for Kinetic weapons did you read my surface of a pond analogy? Well water will eventually give way to the object that is hitting it but drive fields don't; they just keep bending. So imagine what happens when an object traveling at near c hits a drive field...

@Derek: Sorry but no; to the very best of my knowledge I have never heard of a P-D system that could stop Sprint Mode missiles. Looking forward to the list, you can PM me here if that is easier. I am expecting MANY of those type of mistakes.

Randallw · #10 January 6th, 2007, 10:42 PM

In the bug novels they have shaped-antimatter (yes I know, the book spends some time explaining). When they have to finally invade a planet, rather than just nuke it into hell, the Star Union comes up with an idea no one thought of. Kinetic missiles with drive fields used for ground assault. Imagine a solid piece of whatever impacting the ground at the speed of light.