[SHIP][AE] Lanius Frigates V2.2

[FederationScumX1999]

Drones are tied to the Shield Ellipse surrounding your ship. This applies to both friendly and hostile drones.
If you have no ellipse, enemy Drones can't dart around and shoot things, but your defense Drones can still open fire.

Fun fact: Zoltan Shields still work. They won't block any shots but it will prevent Hacking, Mind Control and boarding operations (outside of events).

Sounds rather overpowered, though it also sounds pretty glitchy according to R4V3.

[stylesrj]

But you also have no shields to protect you from the beams and lasers of misfortune.

And beams are pretty common, like missiles are.

[FederationScumX1999]

At the moment I am making a B layout known as the Lanius Energy Frigate which features subtle edits to its design that I've also passed onto the Lanius Drone Frigate. I'm also going to try replacing the Defense Drone Mark 3 with a Scatter Defense Drone (upgraded to shoot lasers and such, though I'll need to look into the code to do that). Hopefully I'll have these ships done and ready to go tomorrow. Then I can work on a C layout.

[FederationScumX1999]

Alrighty, finally finished this update after working on it all day and night. I redid the hull, gibs, and mounting for the Omni to be consistent in style with the Regen. She also has new weapons to make battles less of a chore, though feel free to state whether or not its too much. Wanted to try a Scatter Defense Drone in place of the Defense 3, but I couldn't get it work properly and I don't know how to change its code so that it would target any projectile instead of just missiles, mines, or asteroids. As such, it still has the Effector/Defense 3 combo and will likely keep it.

The Regen is a minor experiment that is functionally similar to the Stealth C, with a difference being the encouraged use of a Hull Repair Drone to survive particularly gruesome battles. Between that and the Shield Overcharger+, upgraded doors, and oxygen system (remember that this is still a Lanius vessel after all), the Regen thus has no shields starting out. With Ion Charge and Small Beam though, battles won't be too bad as I hear some people quite like the Ion Charge (and I like the Small Beam quite a bit). The addition of a Zoltan crewmember is also a first in these projects and I'm hoping he'll fit in well enough.

I would appreciate any feedback any of you may have regarding any bugs or imbalances! Otherwise, enjoy.

[stylesrj]

Well I did an experimental run on Easy with the Regen.

Sector 1, I sold the Drones and replaced the ion guns with a Flak I. Bought shields
Sector 2, bought a Defense Drone and another Flak I. Mini Beam is gone. Shields level 2.

Breezed through all the sectors, found a BL III, BL II, Pre-igniter and two reloaders. Got a teleporter, cloak and made mince-meat of the Flagship.
Phase 3 was a bit of problem as my 4-zoltan crew kept shooting each other and my 4-lanius crew were doing the same thing.

Oh and I found the Defense Drone III in a store. Intentional? Because it helped with the Flagship fight alot.

Might make a video in Captain's Edition and see if RNGesus favours me

Alrighty, finally finished this update after working on it all day and night. I redid the hull, gibs, and mounting for the Omni to be consistent in style with the Regen. She also has new weapons to make battles less of a chore, though feel free to state whether or not its too much. Wanted to try a Scatter Defense Drone in place of the Defense 3, but I couldn't get it work properly and I don't know how to change its code so that it would target any projectile instead of just missiles, mines, or asteroids. As such, it still has the Effector/Defense 3 combo and will likely keep it.

I think you need to add a

Code: Select all

<target>LASERS</target>

In the blueprint.

See if this works:

Code: Select all

<droneBlueprint name="DE_DRONE_DEFENSE_SCATTER">
	<type>DEFENSE</type>
	<tip>tip_defense</tip>
	<target>LASERS</target>
	<level>1</level>
	<title>Burst Scatter Defense Drone</title>
	<short>Sc. Defense</short>
	<desc>Quick firing drone that shoots down incoming missiles, mines, and asteroids with medium-velocity scatter salvos. Reloads in 0.3 second.</desc>
	<power>4</power>
	<cooldown>300</cooldown>
	<dodge>1</dodge>
	<speed>10</speed>
	<cost>100</cost>
	<bp>2</bp>
	<droneImage>de_drone_defense_scatter</droneImage>
	<weaponBlueprint>DE_DRONE_LASER_SCATTER_DEFENSE</weaponBlueprint>
	<rarity>2</rarity>
</droneBlueprint>

[FederationScumX1999]

Well I did an experimental run on Easy with the Regen.

Sector 1, I sold the Drones and replaced the ion guns with a Flak I. Bought shields
Sector 2, bought a Defense Drone and another Flak I. Mini Beam is gone. Shields level 2.

Breezed through all the sectors, found a BL III, BL II, Pre-igniter and two reloaders. Got a teleporter, cloak and made mince-meat of the Flagship.
Phase 3 was a bit of problem as my 4-zoltan crew kept shooting each other and my 4-lanius crew were doing the same thing.

Oh and I found the Defense Drone III in a store. Intentional? Because it helped with the Flagship fight alot.

Might make a video in Captain's Edition and see if RNGesus favours me

Looks like I got my work cut out for me for Regen. Also, the Defense Drone 3 isn't supposed to be in stores. Must've overwritten the original blueprint I had at some point which changed the rarity back to its default setting. -w-;

One idea I had about the Hull Repair drone is that it could last longer or for an entire battle, but heal very slowly, but the problems with that become obvious when you realize that enemies that can't touch you = free full repairs. So, if possible, the best I could do is make it simply last longer so that every drone part spent using one is worth it (rather than a gamble) while decreasing the price immensely. Not sure what determines its lifespan though.

Also, it doesn't seem cooldown works on the Shield Overcharger as it still takes exactly 10 seconds to create a shield bubble no matter what. Must be hardcoded.

I think you need to add a

Code: Select all

<target>LASERS</target>

In the blueprint.

See if this works:

Code: Select all

<droneBlueprint name="DE_DRONE_DEFENSE_SCATTER">
	<type>DEFENSE</type>
	<tip>tip_defense</tip>
	<target>LASERS</target>
	<level>1</level>
	<title>Burst Scatter Defense Drone</title>
	<short>Sc. Defense</short>
	<desc>Quick firing drone that shoots down incoming missiles, mines, and asteroids with medium-velocity scatter salvos. Reloads in 0.3 second.</desc>
	<power>4</power>
	<cooldown>300</cooldown>
	<dodge>1</dodge>
	<speed>10</speed>
	<cost>100</cost>
	<bp>2</bp>
	<droneImage>de_drone_defense_scatter</droneImage>
	<weaponBlueprint>DE_DRONE_LASER_SCATTER_DEFENSE</weaponBlueprint>
	<rarity>2</rarity>
</droneBlueprint>

I'll give this a shot and see what happens.

[stylesrj]

One idea I had about the Hull Repair drone is that it could last longer or for an entire battle, but heal very slowly, but the problems with that become obvious when you realize that enemies that can't touch you = free full repairs. So, if possible, the best I could do is make it simply last longer so that every drone part spent using one is worth it (rather than a gamble) while decreasing the price immensely. Not sure what determines its lifespan though.

I think it's hardcoded to destroy itself after a random number of repairs.
When used by the enemy though, it seems to last forever.

[FederationScumX1999]

Another update for the existing Lanius Frigates. Aside from layout changes, I went ahead and changed the starting equipment and therefore the strategies for these ships.

Omni's DD3 has been replaced with an upgraded Scatter Drone that can shoot all projectiles with increased velocity. As such, it has 4 power requirement and I decided to do the foolish (or brave) notion of having it challenge level 2 shields for your first 50 scrap as added defense. It reliably shoots most projectiles with lasers being 50/50 (nothing much I can do about it). The artemis has been switched out for the player variant for both its blessing and curse in your battle for better defenses.

Regen's changes were more specific. I tossed out the Hull Repair Drone and replaced it with level 2 cloaking in order to emphasize the Shield Overcharger+. Its strategy is to essentially avoid damage while building up shield barriers and weapon charge. This pays homage to Stealth C as it is a brutally effective defensive strategy late-game which, combined with even one Defense Drone, can make you nigh untouchable by missiles of any kind. Other than that, doors have been downgraded and the clone bay has been replaced with a med bay.

One unfortunate aspect to note - I cannot, for the life of me no matter what I try, get the projectiles for the Scatter Drone to appear. As such, the drone fires invisible lasers at projectiles and is visually jarring. A similar case could be made for the Effector Drone. I've delved into the animation and weapon blueprints, the images containing the sprites needed, and sounds to try and bring it all together...and the only things that work are the drone's animations and the scatter laser sounds. Any input on that would be greatly appreciated.

Overall, hope this update makes these ships more of a challenge this time around.

[FederationScumX1999]

It is indeed another update. I finally introduce the C variant, the Lanius Crystal Frigate, which gets a fun toy in the form of a Crystal Lockdown Drone. This drone triggers virtually endless lockdowns and breaches assuming the enemy ship's shields are weak enough. This creates absolute chaos for the enemy crew who will find themselves cut off, locked in, or dealing with hull breaches abound that would make any Lanius squeal in delight. The ship also offers the incredibly rare prospect of the Lanius-Crystal boarding party should you decide to buy the teleporter. So, have fun!

Also, I decided, after designing the look for the Anaelsik, that the Regen should have some touches done to set itself apart more from the Omni. A bit sloppy, but nonetheless I hope people will appreciate the subtle differences between each of the frigates.

Thanks to ResidentEvil063 for helping me get the animations to work properly for the Scatter Drone and Effector Drone(and by extension the Crystal Lockdown Drone since I now knew how to do it properly by then). I'm glad that iffiness is out of the way finally.

All thats left is to restore a station glow on the Omni (one of the images got mixed and overridden) and redo the cloak images (I haven't made one specifically for the Anaelisk yet). I'll get around to that. Until then, hope you all enjoy these ships. Feedback is most appreciated!

[stylesrj]

Crystal Lanius Cruiser. Dammit, you're giving me so many choices
Although chances are I'd just have the Crystal flying the ship while I use the two Lanius on boarding operations. I have weird priorities when it comes to boarding -

2 Mantises < 1 Mantis, 1 Crystal < 2 Lanius < 2 Crystals

The same goes for 4-crew teleports. Lanius always beats everything unless I get an army of Crystals (Crystals lock an area in and allow more damage. Lanius eventually make a room unsafe for the enemy to enter but takes longer)

The Lockdown Drone sounds interesting though.