Questions in modding.

[NewAgeOfPower]

So, I ran through the Xenolith Tutorial, and got a basic test mod working.

My question is, is it possible and if so, how would one make, say, some missile launchers consume drone parts in addition to missiles? What about fuel consumption for Artillery Beam or another weapon?

On a related note:

This might be a solution for balancing the Singularity Projector in Obsidian Mod; the author felt using missiles broke the Energy Weapon feel, but if it used FTL fuel to create singularities it might make sense!

[alextfish]

So, I ran through the Xenolith Tutorial, and got a basic test mod working.

My question is, is it possible and if so, how would one make, say, some missile launchers consume drone parts in addition to missiles? What about fuel consumption for Artillery Beam or another weapon?

On a related note:

This might be a solution for balancing the Singularity Projector in Obsidian Mod; the author felt using missiles broke the Energy Weapon feel, but if it used FTL fuel to create singularities it might make sense!

Hmm. I haven't tried either, but I suspect it's not possible to make weapons consume fuel or drone parts. I suspect you could make the Artillery Beam or any beam weapon use missiles when it fired, but again, not fuel or drone parts.

Which is a pity, because I agree the flavour could be great in some cases.

There may be a quirk you could exploit to make a weapon use drone parts. If you replaced one of the attack drones with a drone that had a very large image, so large that it encircled the whole enemy ship, then I believe any weapon fire by the enemy would destroy that drone. So you could create a drone that's kinda "temporary", and so could have a higher power level. But it still wouldn't be targetable on specific systems, and if the enemy's weapons go down, then it'd get to shoot for rather longer than it was intended to. It'd feel more like a vulnerable drone than a weapon that happens to use odd ammo.

[NewAgeOfPower]

Some more questions;

I assume maximum crew size can't be modified, right? Is starting crew size capped at 4? Maximum weapons can't exceed 4?

Thanks,
NAoP

[thashepherd]

Some more questions;

I assume maximum crew size can't be modified, right? Is starting crew size capped at 4? Maximum weapons can't exceed 4?

Thanks,
NAoP

The max for weapons is 4, although I haven't really tried pushing it above that to see what happens - Kieve may no. Starting crew size can go up to 8. IIRC I've gotten more than 8 crew members to show up in the final boss, but I think that's a hard limit for a player ship.

[NewAgeOfPower]

Thanks, shepherd.

Got a New Ideal while reading alex's comment- so would it be possible to create 'shield' drone? One that would soak up incoming hits?

Kind of like a regenerating Zoltan shield that the Rebel Flagship supposedly has, although I've never seen it regenerate.

[thashepherd]

Got a New Ideal while reading alex's comment- so would it be possible to create 'shield' drone? One that would soak up incoming hits?

That's actually a really interesting idea - I've gotten feelers from FTL players asking for an anti-drone weapon, which is actually related.

Drones actually WILL stop weapons that hit them - and that destroys the drone. I suspect there are ways to make this work if you, say, create a drone which has a huge width or something. They orbit, and anything that hits this "Breakout"-style drone will be stopped (and destroy the drone).

What I'm saying is that it's possible, but it will take a lot of creativity and some research. I wish you luck!

[NewAgeOfPower]

Got a New Ideal while reading alex's comment- so would it be possible to create 'shield' drone? One that would soak up incoming hits?

That's actually a really interesting idea - I've gotten feelers from FTL players asking for an anti-drone weapon, which is actually related.

Drones actually WILL stop weapons that hit them - and that destroys the drone. I suspect there are ways to make this work if you, say, create a drone which has a huge width or something. They orbit, and anything that hits this "Breakout"-style drone will be stopped (and destroy the drone).

What I'm saying is that it's possible, but it will take a lot of creativity and some research. I wish you luck!

Can your own drones orbiting your own ship get hit and stop fire? If so, I'd imagine making a giant drone 'shield' would be feasible, although there is that dodge chance in blueprints.xml...

[Kieve]

Can your own drones orbiting your own ship get hit and stop fire? If so, I'd imagine making a giant drone 'shield' would be feasible, although there is that dodge chance in blueprints.xml...

Yes, it's possible to shoot your own drones through horrible timing.

The shield-drone idea is fascinating, and would certainly work. The only flaw in this plan is, defensive drones orbit following the ellipse radius on your ship. You could make a drone purely to absorb hits, but it would be centered on that elliptical path and continue to orbit your ship, which would make things a little awkward.

[thashepherd]

Yes, it's possible to shoot your own drones through horrible timing.

The shield-drone idea is fascinating, and would certainly work. The only flaw in this plan is, defensive drones orbit following the ellipse radius on your ship. You could make a drone purely to absorb hits, but it would be centered on that elliptical path and continue to orbit your ship, which would make things a little awkward.

Heads up - I've actually heard that it's not possible to shoot down your own drones. I don't recall where, so research is still necessary.

That idea definitely shows promise, though: shades of space-breakout. And you can alter their path if you change the shield ellipse (that's what they follow - although I guess you're giving up the protection of your shield....).

[NewAgeOfPower]

Drones taking hits is based on image size?

Giant transparent image may solve problems, as it will cover your ship no matter where it is flying, unless we find defensive drones don't get hit by incoming fire.

My problem is then drones have no cooldowns... as soon as one gets hit, you could simply spend another drone part to instantly 'regenerate' your shields.

I have another ideal, going through blueprints.xml before I open my mouth again though.

EDIT:

Nope. Doesn't look like there is a Duration variable in blueprints.xml, or anything at all that looks like it for the Repair Drone- guess I can't make a timed shield system.

What does the Dodge variable do? Would that completely negate the point of a shield drone?