[SHIP] Stealth Federation Cruiser, The Phantom

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Phorx
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[SHIP] Stealth Federation Cruiser, The Phantom

Postby Phorx » Mon May 05, 2014 7:04 pm

What's up guys, this is my first post on the forums, although I do visit the forums from time to time.

I was in class a few days ago and started drawing an idea for a new ship on a piece of loose paper. After wondering what it might actually look like in-game, I started drawing it in GIMP. So, over the past few days I've been creating a new ship inspired by both the Kestrel and the Federation Cruiser, and after some issues with actually putting it into mod form, it's in a good working state!

The Phantom replaces the Kestrel Cruiser (TYPE A)

NOTE: Because this ship was made using an editor not yet updated to AE, you cannot add systems introduced in AE. The game won't crash if you try to buy them, you'll just waste scrap.

Feel free to give feedback (especially balancing feedback) on the ship.

Massive thanks to RAD-82 for helping me a lot (pointing me in the direction of great ship building software, showing the code for the artillery system (the name of which I couldn't find elsewhere), putting a lot of effort trying to put the ship into mod form himself (which you can see down below in the list of replies, he can put the mod up for download if he wishes), and basically I probably wouldn't have been able to do it without him. At least, not this quickly). He also created his own layout (see below)

This is the ship:
Image

Click here to see it in the Hangar (the 1x1 rooms at the front have been removed due to a visual bug, the doors there were moved)

Click here to see RAD-82's version in the Hangar

Here is the brief description I gave it (for the in-game description):
"This experimental Federation cruiser was built using Engi technology, nearly stolen by the rebels. (yes, that is a reference to the quest that unlocks the stealth cruiser.) This ship has built-in cloaking capabilities and powerful engines."

Issues I was having, now resolved:
Phorx wrote:I followed this tutorial by alextfish, using FTLEdit to create the ship. After creating the ship in FTLEdit (to repleace the Kestrel), I added the ship's image files to the .zip and changed it to a .ftl file. After patching it into the game, I found that the game would either immediately close upon finishing loading or freeze when I clicked 'New Game'.
Could anyone give me advice on what to do? I can add screenshots if requested. [Resolved]


DOWNLOAD:
Mediafire link

RAD-82's layout:
Mediafire link

To do:
- Gibs
- Improve 'miniship' (It's currently just resized)

Thanks for reading,
Phorx
Last edited by Phorx on Fri May 09, 2014 6:11 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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RAD-82
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Re: [SHIP] Experimental Federation Stealth Cruiser, The Phan

Postby RAD-82 » Mon May 05, 2014 7:28 pm

Phorx wrote:Also, does the cloak image have to be 20 pixels larger (both x and y) than the base image?

No, since the Advanced Edition came out, the cloak image does not have to be 20 pixels larger than the base image.

Phorx wrote:I've been creating a new ship inspired by both the Kestrel and the Federation Cruiser...

I found that the game would either immediately close upon finishing loading or freeze when I clicked 'New Game'.

I assume you gave it an artillery system, since you mentioned the Federation Cruiser. Advanced Edition has changed the way the artillery system works, and you won't find any ship editor updated for it, yet.

To manually fix this, you have to open your blueprints.xml.append file in a text editing program, find the artillery in the system list, and add a weapon to it.

Example from the Osprey (this can also have an img="{filename}"):

Code: Select all

      <artillery power="1" room="6" weapon="ARTILLERY_FED"/>


I suspect your ship would be missing a few other AE features, such as new systems and proper slots for the doors and sensors. I won't bother with that, since it isn't vital to making the mod not crash.

Without seeing your .ftl file, it is hard to know what is wrong.
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Junkyard has FTL mods, mostly ships and a few other things.
Phorx
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Re: [SHIP] Experimental Federation Stealth Cruiser, The Phan

Postby Phorx » Mon May 05, 2014 7:48 pm

RAD-82 wrote:I assume you gave it an artillery system, since you mentioned the Federation Cruiser. Advanced Edition has changed the way the artillery system works, and you won't find any ship editor updated for it, yet.


I mentioned the Federation Cruiser because the ship was partly inspired by its aesthetics. I didn't add an artillery system to the ship, but I might try if I do get the ship to work ;)

RAD-82 wrote:Without seeing your .ftl file, it is hard to know what is wrong.


If you'd like, I could add a download link for the .ftl file, or alternatively I could send it via Skype.
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RAD-82
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Re: [SHIP] Experimental Federation Stealth Cruiser, The Phan

Postby RAD-82 » Mon May 05, 2014 8:41 pm

A download link would be good, since that would allow multiple people to look over it and find the problem.
English Narwhal
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Re: [SHIP] Experimental Federation Stealth Cruiser, The Phan

Postby English Narwhal » Mon May 05, 2014 8:47 pm

Stats?
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Phorx
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Re: [SHIP] Experimental Federation Stealth Cruiser, The Phan

Postby Phorx » Mon May 05, 2014 9:37 pm

RAD-82 wrote:A download link would be good, since that would allow multiple people to look over it and find the problem.

Okay, here's the download link to the .ftl file on Mediafire

English Narwhal wrote:Stats?

Since I haven't got any idea of how good/bad it is because I haven't used it, they are of course subject to change.
At this point (first iteration) they are the same as the Kestrel except:
- There are two humans and two Engi as the crew
- The engines have a starting max power of 3
- The weapons have a starting max power of 1, and the ship has one Dual Laser
- The cloaking system is installed, with a max power of 1
- The ship has a Beam Artillery system with a max power of 1
- The total beginning reactor energy count is 10 which is not enough to supply the whole ship
Last edited by Phorx on Tue May 06, 2014 8:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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RAD-82
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Re: [SHIP] Experimental Federation Stealth Cruiser, The Phan

Postby RAD-82 » Mon May 05, 2014 9:59 pm

Wow! That's quite a mess. I don't know anything about the FTLEdit program, but something must've gone horribly wrong. There aren't any doors. Well, actually, there is one door, but it doesn't appear to be attached to any room.

I'd suggest trying a different ship editor, like Superluminal.

There might be other issues, like the blueprints that are still trying to use the Kestrel images rather than the new Phantom images, but they might get fixed if you succeed at using Superluminal.

edit: I took the time to manually reconstruct the ship (I have experience at this) based on the flawed data so you can see what it would look like if the game didn't crash. I used the Phantom hull rather than the Kestrel, even though the blueprint is still trying to use the Kestrel. I didn't place the weapon mounts, since they seem to be using the old Kestrel positions.

Image

Two possible reasons for the crashes:
*That one disconnected door.
*That long engine room has a negative offset.

I also noticed some transparent glow around the hull that didn't get completely erased.
I'm guessing that pilot room is in the wrong place and should've been at the front of the ship?
Advanced Edition also has problems when drawing rooms that are greater than 2 tiles long. I didn't show that in my picture because I don't know how it would've looked.

edit my edit: I may have placed the shield wrong by about 52 or 53 pixels. I don't really know because there are no rooms in the 0, 1, and 2 x-positions. I'm in the process of rebuilding the room layout using traditional room sizes.
Phorx
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Re: [SHIP] Experimental Federation Stealth Cruiser, The Phan

Postby Phorx » Tue May 06, 2014 6:17 am

RAD-82 wrote:Two possible reasons for the crashes:
*That one disconnected door.
*That long engine room has a negative offset.

Okay, I'm sure it'd be no problem just changing up what is the engine room to being six long (instead of eight) into three rooms of two and placing the system in the middle room.

RAD-82 wrote:I also noticed some transparent glow around the hull that didn't get completely erased.
I'm guessing that pilot room is in the wrong place and should've been at the front of the ship?

I'll see if I can remove that transparent glow from the ship, and yes, you assumed correctly that the piloting system was at the front.

Thanks for all your effort! It really helps.
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RAD-82
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Re: [SHIP] Experimental Federation Stealth Cruiser, The Phan

Postby RAD-82 » Tue May 06, 2014 8:17 am

I finished with my version that has traditional room sizes, using vanilla room graphics rather than custom ones, otherwise I would've done things a little differently, such as making the pilot room 2x2. I also removed that extra glow that was present on the hull and cloak images, set new weapon mount positions, and resized the hull into a miniship graphic. That might not be the best way to make the miniship image since it isn't as clear as a vanilla miniship graphic, but I'm not artistic enough to make it look better.

I stayed up too late doing this and my eyes are getting tired. If my sleepiness didn't impair my skills, it should look like this. Teleporter, drones, mind control, backup battery, and hacking not included. :P

Image

I won't upload it unless you really want it. I'm off to bed now.

edit, rather than make a new post:
Phorx wrote:If you wish, I can add your version to the post as an alternate layout

I won't upload my version, even though it can use AE systems. I don't like the front, especially since I didn't make use of the airlocks that are drawn on the hull.
Last edited by RAD-82 on Tue May 06, 2014 8:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Phorx
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Re: [SHIP] Experimental Federation Stealth Cruiser, The Phan

Postby Phorx » Tue May 06, 2014 7:22 pm

RAD-82, I can't thank you enough.

RAD-82 wrote:I won't upload it unless you really want it.

If you wish, I can add your version to the post as an alternate layout (of course, I'd make it clear that you made it).
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