StarFire Mod v-Beta 2

[Growltigger]

This is the Starfire mod discussion, and therefor should be a borg free zone.

Anyone holding discussions about borg will be assimilated, bugger, I mean thrown off the thread

PES, what'cha gonna do with (i) overload dampeners, (ii) shear planes and (iii) tractor beams (they need to be more useful than they are in SEIVG, at least I have never used them)

[gregebowman]

Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
Cloaking planets can be done- see the Devnull Space Monsters for an example. In the next patch it'll be easier, too.

Are you talking about a Devnul mod patch? I'd like to see that, especially since I still haven't gotten around to playing it and I'd like to get the patch before I start.

[President_Elect_Shang]

I just had a new idea that I need some input on from you beta testers.

If I create all missile types as drones I can create the launchers with them to more closely mimic the SF setting.

The good: You will need to build ammunition, do ammunition load outs, use supply trains to transfer fresh ammunition to ships, and I will be able to more closely mimic the warhead types. I.E. (AM), (AAM), (SCW#), etc. multi-shot missile launchers (two shots per turn) will be possible.

The bad: Sprint type missiles will still try to ram a ship after the missile has fired, and I can not predict the effect this will have on game play. All cargo, including troops, populations etc, will need to be moved around in Mg. I could still create a cargo component however the AI would choose the larger cargo capacity for their ships. In other words it would not only be redundant but also give the AI and Non-Cannon players an unfair advantage. If I make the cargo component smaller than the Mg the fact still holds true.

This is merely a small “hiccup” that I could live with if you agree that it is worth the trade off. One another note this will set me back as I will need to create these components again.

Finally I will need experienced input as to this, if a ship is loaded with two or more types of drones I am not sure if the game will allow you to choose which ones you want to launch, and even if it does drones in tactical combat have no range limit that I am aware of.

Thoughts?

[tesco samoa]

P.S. my post

Steve Walmsley is he from Ireland...

If so I am related to him...

Find out.... for me

was directed at the Prez....

[DemoMonkey]

Shang

Suggestions

Missiles: Design 4 types of Missile Launchers. All should have the same cost, size, and damage resistance and are learned at the same tech level.

Missile launcher: Fires standard missiles (per SEIV)
AFHAWK Launcher : Fires every turn, the missiles have fighters/seekers as their target type.
Sprint Launcher: Direct Fire weapon with the same damage as a comparable missile but 1/2 range.
Capital Missile Launcher: Reload time increased by 1 or 2, damage increased by 50 to 100 percent, 3x the damage resistance to simulate it's toughness vs PD.

Since multi-function weapons can't be done, this allows you to simulate a ships varied missile load out by designing it with more, or fewer, of these components. The components are identical in size, cost and weight so that you can do a quick refit with a mobile space yard without having to redesign your ship, simulating changing your "ammo". You might want to up the component repair value on Space Yards and Repair Bays to facilitate this.

Your drone idea is excellent, but if I may, I think it's actually the perfect way to simulate Strategic Bombardment Missiles and SBMHAWKS, rather than "standard" missile types.


Hidden Warp Points: Umm, why not just use an empty space" bitmap for them?


I just finished the 4 Weber\White books, so I'm very keen to play this mod when it's done.

[President_Elect_Shang]

I have a few minutes between classes, let me see if I can bang out an answer, I am not use to this school computer so forgive any type-o's

The 4 launchers:
As I have it now there are two launchers, Sprint and Non-Sprint. So that part is covered.
The Weber books are great but they do not go into deapth on what the technologies are. The AFHAWK is actually two systems. The AF is a missile type and the HAWK is a guidence system that can not be simulated in SE4G. The AF (Anti-Fighter Missile) has already been added to the Mod. The Capital Missile Launcher can not be designed as you suggest because it would diverge from cannon too much. The actual Capital Missile can be fired from a Capital Missile Launcher but one is developed before the other and when the Launcher is developed it would over ride the early Missile Launchers since by cannon it is really just a larger Non-Sprint Launcher that can also do Sprint function in some cases (depends on the missile fired). Once more the drone option appears to be best.

Hidden WP will not work as Fyron pointed out, all the player has to do is click on the map untill they find the WP.

Edited in: As a Last thought the technologies you mention above all come about at diffrent levels, are reflected in cannon by diffrent sizes and costs, and I would like to stay as close to cannon as possible.

[ January 29, 2004, 18:09: Message edited by: President Elect Shang ]

[President_Elect_Shang]

tesco: Got word back from Steve, North-West England.

[DemoMonkey]

Shang

I don't know enough about how drones work to dispute that; I never use 'em. Personally I'd rather build fighters and ships than overpriced submunitions.

I still think all the missile launchers should be the same cost and size for ease of swapout. You may be right about them being at different tech levels, but they should all be the same tech branch at least.

As an aside, you could do XO racks by having parallel Versions of the normal racks, slightly cheaper and smaller, with the "Destroyed first" limitation of armour. (Mounts would be better, but I'm not sure you can give that limitation to mounts as opposed to components, and it really is the key limiter.)

And finally, a "canon" question: Capital Ship launchers ONLY fire Capital missiles, correct? So they don't supplant normal launchers so much as supply a different set of options. I think that's right, it's been a long time since I actually moved little cardboard counters across a hex map.

Thank you for responding to my suggestions. As I said, I look forward to this eagerly.

[Phoenix-D]

Originally posted by gregebowman:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
Cloaking planets can be done- see the Devnull Space Monsters for an example. In the next patch it'll be easier, too.

Are you talking about a Devnul mod patch? I'd like to see that, especially since I still haven't gotten around to playing it and I'd like to get the patch before I start.

---

No, I'm refering to the next SE4G patch.

As for the mod: drones always have unlimited range, you can't choose which type is fired, and you can't lower the rate of fire to less than 1/turn. In addition if you do drones all launchers will be able to fire all types of ammo.

[Geckomlis]

Originally posted by DemoMonkey:
And finally, a "canon" question: Capital Ship launchers ONLY fire Capital missiles, correct? So they don't supplant normal launchers so much as supply a different set of options. I think that's right, it's been a long time since I actually moved little cardboard counters across a hex map.

Capital Missile Launchers (Rc) fire Capital Missiles (CM). Technically, the can also fire a Basic Missile (BM) or a Standard Missile (SM).

This leads to the question: What to do about Gun/Missile Launchers (W and WA)? They fire two different munitions.