[WIP] [Steampunk] Lighter than air

[rannl]

This mod seems like a very interesting idea. If you need any help, I'll be happy to lend a hand.

Any help would be useful! If there's anything you feel like doing, it would be very appreciated!

I'm sure there is a lot I can do, the only question is what is there that still needs doing ?
Other then the actual modding, as a programmer I can build tools which can assist modding in general.
Besides, working on images for CE gave me some experience with image editing, so that's something else I can do.
How about creating some new sound effects? That can be kind of fun to play around with.....

Ion weapons, what if instead you used a tar gun that would Stick up the gears of a system. The system would have to be cleaned up before it could be reused? That way it actually makes sense in a way.

I think I might have an alternative solution for the ion concept in a steampunk theme.
Ionization can be replaced with cooling weapons - weapons spray the steam systems with ice cold water.
This causes the steam to condense, thus reducing the system effectiveness until more hot steam overcomes the cooling effect. This will also work with shield hits - the steam shielding system is cooled down when the shield it maintains is hit by the cold.

[Gencool]

Ooooh, I like the cooling thing. Works with the colours too!
Thinking about it; we could easily add a nice long sprite to Ion explosions, timed to match ion duration, that looks like fog (or ice or tar).
It wouldn't work on shield hits, but then shields will be rare (and if we only use Zolt shields then it's not even an issue)


Also, if you're good with coding, I had a thought earlier; is there an 'event maker'?
In my head it's a cross between notepad++ and a flow-chart editor; you could visually see flow of each event with event names, enemy ships, rewards, etc, and open the boxes up to add text/dialogue.
Maybe even a semi preview where you can view the text/ships on an approximation of the game's UI...

It'd be a massively useful tool /anyway/, but with total comversions it'd be invaluable.

[a Sir]

I'm sure there is a lot I can do, the only question is what is there that still needs doing ?
Other then the actual modding, as a programmer I can build tools which can assist modding in general.
Besides, working on images for CE gave me some experience with image editing, so that's something else I can do.
How about creating some new sound effects? That can be kind of fun to play around with.....

New sound effects could be interesting... I didn't think about the musical aspect of the mod. If you want to, there's also the UI that needs to be made. I guess you could help out with making weapons/drones/ships/sprites. A bit more ahead, but making events is also going to be a big point. Thanks for wanting to help us out!

I think I might have an alternative solution for the ion concept in a steampunk theme.
Ionization can be replaced with cooling weapons - weapons spray the steam systems with ice cold water.
This causes the steam to condense, thus reducing the system effectiveness until more hot steam overcomes the cooling effect. This will also work with shield hits - the steam shielding system is cooled down when the shield it maintains is hit by the cold.

Ooooh, I like the cooling thing. Works with the colours too!
Thinking about it; we could easily add a nice long sprite to Ion explosions, timed to match ion duration, that looks like fog (or ice or tar).
It wouldn't work on shield hits, but then shields will be rare (and if we only use Zolt shields then it's not even an issue)

That sounds plausible! I think this is the best replacement for ionization for now. Since shields are practically non-existent, everything would work.

Also, if you're good with coding, I had a thought earlier; is there an 'event maker'?
In my head it's a cross between notepad++ and a flow-chart editor; you could visually see flow of each event with event names, enemy ships, rewards, etc, and open the boxes up to add text/dialogue.
Maybe even a semi preview where you can view the text/ships on an approximation of the game's UI...
It'd be a massively useful tool /anyway/, but with total comversions it'd be invaluable.

That sounds like it could speed up the making of any mod by a enormous amount. Not only we would thank you massively if this was made, but possibly the whole modding community. If you aren't that busy and don't bother, rannl, I'd love to have a program like this!


Anyways, I created a new, more deadly Rebel ship... possibly equivalent to the Elite fighter. The last one would've been equivalent to an Auto-Scout. I'm not sure how the flagship will be able to fit in the targeting window...



Another small problem I found was that there wasn't a lot of space on many of the ships to put weapons. I'll try to edit them to have more space.

EDIT: I also changed the colors on Federation vessels for more difference between them and the rebel.

[Russian Rockman]

That sounds plausible! I think this is the best replacement for ionization for now. Since shields are practically non-existent, everything would work.

I APPROVE!!!

Also, if you're good with coding, I had a thought earlier; is there an 'event maker'?
In my head it's a cross between notepad++ and a flow-chart editor; you could visually see flow of each event with event names, enemy ships, rewards, etc, and open the boxes up to add text/dialogue.
Maybe even a semi preview where you can view the text/ships on an approximation of the game's UI...
It'd be a massively useful tool /anyway/, but with total comversions it'd be invaluable.

That sounds like it could speed up the making of any mod by a enormous amount. Not only we would thank you massively if this was made, but possibly the whole modding community. If you aren't that busy and don't bother, rannl, I'd love to have a program like this!

HOLY SCRAP!!! If you could make something like this rannl, I and the entire FTL community would love you till the end of time! And long after you use interest in this game, the new FTL players will still be telling tales of stories of legends about the mighty "rannl"!

I'm not sure how the flagship will be able to fit in the targeting window...

The flagship targeting window is slightly bigger than the normal ones. I'd say maybe 1.5 times bigger at least. So I think that might solve some of your problems. But that brings up a whole new issue... How will you get around the flagship's power surge?

This will require testing, but I think you can fit in the drone phase by just replacing the models of the combat and beam drones, and you may be able to get around the lasers by changing them into cannon balls or whatever... Something to think about.

Pretty much every aspect of the Boss can be changed. Including it's artillery which is really good! Events can also affect the Boss just like any other ship.

WHEN YOU GET TO THAT POINT... Then I will be able to help. I'd like to think I'm one of the people with most knowledge about the workings of the final boss. Also, there is a mod that allows you to increase the size of the targeting window by a wee bit. 20 or so pixels in each direction. Captain's Edition encourages the use of that mod since it has some big ships. Once you get the rest of the UI figured out maybe I can help with the targeting window.

Another small problem I found was that there wasn't a lot of space on many of the ships to put weapons. I'll try to edit them to have more space.

I thought I would also point out that all weapons will fly directly horizontal from their weapon mounts like lasers. They won't "curve" or anything like that. So when you place the weapons you should just be able to place them on the top of the ship somewhere and it should be fine.

[Gencool]

Projectiles can be animated, right? 'Cause making half a parabolic arc which eases into the centre of the frame before it gets near the target would be easy enough. Players/npcs would need separate weapons because iirc, npcs fire straight up, but it's doable for players *shrug*

(If it came to it, you could offset the firing position of npc weps by like, 300 pxls to the left, then animate the cannonball traveling from the right of the frame to the left over a few frames and keep it at the sprite's center until it hit)

[Russian Rockman]

Projectiles can be animated, right? 'Cause making half a parabolic arc which eases into the centre of the frame before it gets near the target would be easy enough. Players/npcs would need separate weapons because iirc, npcs fire straight up, but it's doable for players *shrug*

(If it came to it, you could offset the firing position of npc weps by like, 300 pxls to the left, then animate the cannonball traveling from the right of the frame to the left over a few frames and keep it at the sprite's center until it hit)

Only lasers can be animated I believe, but I suppose that might work since you were going to make the lasers cannonballs anyway... You'd have to make the weapon animation sheet show the cannonball moving straight up and then down because it will automatically move to the side. Boom parabola.

Enemy ships don't "have" to fire straight up. They can fire to the side also. You just have to make the mounts on the enemy ship face the right direction? I think? I know you can change the weapon mounts at least...

[Gencool]

Even so, the if they fire left then the arc would be upside down

I'd say just make the cannonball go up. No down. The reason for this being that whilst they always go left-to-right from your ship, they can come from any direction on theres, which would lead to some funky curves. You can blame velocity for the lack of arc on hit but I'm not sure many would notice

How I described it in my bracketed edit is prolly the easiest fix; the position of the middle of the sprite only matters on contact, not when fired

[rannl]

Also, if you're good with coding, I had a thought earlier; is there an 'event maker'?
In my head it's a cross between notepad++ and a flow-chart editor; you could visually see flow of each event with event names, enemy ships, rewards, etc, and open the boxes up to add text/dialogue.
Maybe even a semi preview where you can view the text/ships on an approximation of the game's UI...
It'd be a massively useful tool /anyway/, but with total comversions it'd be invaluable.

That sounds like it could speed up the making of any mod by a enormous amount. Not only we would thank you massively if this was made, but possibly the whole modding community. If you aren't that busy and don't bother, rannl, I'd love to have a program like this!

HOLY SCRAP!!! If you could make something like this rannl, I and the entire FTL community would love you till the end of time! And long after you use interest in this game, the new FTL players will still be telling tales of stories of legends about the mighty "rannl"!

Well, I've thought of doing something like this in the past, but I wasn't sure therwould be a lot of demend for such a tool.
Clearly this would help out. So I'll start working on something, and try to get a simple prototype ASAP so this could become a living WIP with feedback from users.
Besides, RR can be very convincing when he wants to

[a Sir]

The flagship targeting window is slightly bigger than the normal ones. I'd say maybe 1.5 times bigger at least. So I think that might solve some of your problems. But that brings up a whole new issue... How will you get around the flagship's power surge?

This will require testing, but I think you can fit in the drone phase by just replacing the models of the combat and beam drones, and you may be able to get around the lasers by changing them into cannon balls or whatever... Something to think about.

Pretty much every aspect of the Boss can be changed. Including it's artillery which is really good! Events can also affect the Boss just like any other ship.

The Zoltan shield power surge can also be turned into the "tesla magnetic field". When I come to think about it, the drones might be extremely deadly without shields... There might be some balancing issues there.

WHEN YOU GET TO THAT POINT... Then I will be able to help. I'd like to think I'm one of the people with most knowledge about the workings of the final boss. Also, there is a mod that allows you to increase the size of the targeting window by a wee bit. 20 or so pixels in each direction. Captain's Edition encourages the use of that mod since it has some big ships. Once you get the rest of the UI figured out maybe I can help with the targeting window.

I'll make sure to ask you for help when we get there

I thought I would also point out that all weapons will fly directly horizontal from their weapon mounts like lasers. They won't "curve" or anything like that. So when you place the weapons you should just be able to place them on the top of the ship somewhere and it should be fine.

Projectiles can be animated, right? 'Cause making half a parabolic arc which eases into the centre of the frame before it gets near the target would be easy enough. Players/npcs would need separate weapons because iirc, npcs fire straight up, but it's doable for players *shrug*

(If it came to it, you could offset the firing position of npc weps by like, 300 pxls to the left, then animate the cannonball traveling from the right of the frame to the left over a few frames and keep it at the sprite's center until it hit)

Even so, the if they fire left then the arc would be upside down

I'd say just make the cannonball go up. No down. The reason for this being that whilst they always go left-to-right from your ship, they can come from any direction on theres, which would lead to some funky curves. You can blame velocity for the lack of arc on hit but I'm not sure many would notice

How I described it in my bracketed edit is prolly the easiest fix; the position of the middle of the sprite only matters on contact, not when fired

Animating the cannonballs like that is extremely clever... It sounds like it could look great in the mod.

Well, I've thought of doing something like this in the past, but I wasn't sure therwould be a lot of demend for such a tool.
Clearly this would help out. So I'll start working on something, and try to get a simple prototype ASAP so this could become a living WIP with feedback from users.
Besides, RR can be very convincing when he wants to

That's great! I can't wait to see what you can come up with! (added you to the "team")

[Russian Rockman]

Well, I've thought of doing something like this in the past, but I wasn't sure therwould be a lot of demend for such a tool.
Clearly this would help out. So I'll start working on something, and try to get a simple prototype ASAP so this could become a living WIP with feedback from users.
Besides, RR can be very convincing when he wants to

I hope it's not too much work for you, but you seem to know what you're doing if you made Endless Loot possible. Event modding is one of the hardest things to get a grip on for new people and right now it has to be edited manually, meaning even experienced people can make mistakes. So a tool like this will be very useful!!!

Hah, when I'm "convincing" I hope I'm also not pestering people...