Tired of not having room on those escorts? =)

[Tampa_Gamer]

Sounds like a mount I had earlier, but scratched b/c the AI was having problems with it (unfortunately, there are no priority or flags in the AI design file to tell the AI which mounts to use in what hull classes) but that was in Version 1.02. Do you have any observations as to how the new AI (1.19) is using this mount?

[This message has been edited by Tampa_Gamer (edited 21 December 2000).]

[Puke]

i have not tested this, so pardon me for talking out of my behind:

the computer seems to prioatize things by what order they are in (when not given a roman numeral or something) so weapons fire from left to right, and it always uses the heaviest mount it can. heavy mounts are at the bottom of the list, and at the end of the file. put your light mount at the top of the list, and it should use it all the time for any ship not large enough for a heavier mount. that may be lame if frigates and LCs all use the light mounts when they can truck bigger "standard" guns though (which there is probably no way around).

or, if anyone has actually TESTED this.. please put me in my place.

[Puke]

someone may have covered this, but would it not be cool to have engine mount sizes as well? make those 2 engines on a base ship 2 really big engines and double its movement. you would have to make them obnoxious to be ballanced, like 5x tonnage for 2x move, otherwise what is the point of limiting engines on a large hull. im not sure if there is a point to putting smaller engines on an escort: just use less, right?

im not sure there is a way to do this in a mod either. probably just a pipe dream.

[Baron Munchausen]

Worgaus:

As others have suggested, I have actually seen in fact, the AI will use any mount it can on any weapon/ship it can. So, you won't see this in just escorts but everything up until the next mount size becomes available. The primary annoyance of it is that the AI will still fill the same amount of SPACE in its designs with weapons because that's what the script tells it to do, and this doubles the amount of time spent watching weapons fire in combat. It can get really tedious.

I wish there was a way to control the percentage of ship space used by various components rather than the "spaces per one" method. You could then get more efficient AI designs for the extreme small/large ship sizes.

Puke:

Think carefully. Do the math on this idea. How many movement points will a cruiser get with "doubled" engine power? Twelve? Eighteen? Yikes! Remember, the design restrictions allow controlling the NUMBER of engines but not the tonnage used by engines. So, the mount effectively bypasses a major design control in the game. The increased movement grows greater with larger ships if you've increased the "engines per move" and added engine capacity. It can get ridiculous very quickly. I was planning on creating a special tech field that have engines with a standard movement of 2, and after looking at how it would work out dropped the idea...

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 21 December 2000).]

[Worgaus]

While engine mounts might cause some balance issues, I *would* like to see shield mounts, as some other players have brought up. Light shield mounts on up to heavy.

If these Light Weapon Mounts become a problem with the AI, and you'd really rather use them then normal mounts on your lighter craft anyway, you might be able set the Normal Mount value limit at 300 or so. The only drawback to this is you won't be able to use normal mounts for direct fire weapons under whatever tonnage you put there. I can't test if this 'fix' will work though, since the game is at home and I'm at work. Its a quick solution and may not be the best. Feel free to give it a shot and let me know =)




[This message has been edited by Worgaus (edited 22 December 2000).]

[Worgaus]

Ok, I checked the comp enhancement file and there isn't a slot for normal mounts, so I made one This should clear up any AI issues, though I don't think light mounts on destroyers would have been that big a problem.

Long Name := Light Ship Mount
Short Name := Light Mount
Description := Smaller sized weapon mount which decreases damage from the weapon by 1/2 times. Requires a vehicle size of at least 150kT. Can only be used on Direct Fire weapons.
Code := S
Cost Percent := 50
Tonnage Percent := 50
Tonnage Structure Percent := 50
Damage Percent := 50
Supply Percent := 50
Range Modifier := 0
Weapon To Hit Modifier := 0
Vehicle Size Minimum := 150
Weapon Type Requirement := Direct Fire
Vehicle Type := Ship

Long Name := Standard Ship Mount
Short Name := Standard Mount
Description := Standard sized weapon mount which does normal damage. Requires a vehicle size of at least 300kT. Can only be used on Direct Fire weapons.
Code := N
Cost Percent := 100
Tonnage Percent := 100
Tonnage Structure Percent := 100
Damage Percent := 100
Supply Percent := 100
Range Modifier := 0
Weapon To Hit Modifier := 0
Vehicle Size Minimum := 300
Weapon Type Requirement := Direct Fire
Vehicle Type := Ship

There ya go folks, if you don't want the AI's destroyers running around with light mounts, this should clear up that issue =)Have fun.

[DirectorTsaarx]

Just an observation - the (damage mult) to (mass mult) ratio is greater than 1 for all the other mounts. In other words, the damage multiplier is always more than the increased mass.

In keeping with that thought, you might want to make the damage multiplier something like 60% or 75% rather than 50%.

Of course, maybe making the mount lighter reduces damage even further, and the multiplier should be more like 40%. But that would lead to VERY weak weapons.

How's this been working in playtesting?

[This message has been edited by DirectorTsaarx (edited 22 December 2000).]