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VoidExpanse => Mods => Topic started by: Hammish on June 27, 2014, 10:11:17 AM

Title: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on June 27, 2014, 10:11:17 AM
Splitting this thread into two parts for my own sanity.  Can leave discussion here since I really, really like having people checking it out and dropping ideas, ect, but setting up another less-cluttered thread with just version-related stuff and the download link.  If this is okay with the AT guys. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on June 27, 2014, 10:13:32 AM
Now, hopefully that DropBox link works okay!

Here are some pictures, as well:

(http://i.imgur.com/uiXfY5J.jpg)
A showcase of the new icons/weapons.

(http://i.imgur.com/hffHCwH.jpg)
The new Fusion Ray weapons at full focus.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Lurler on June 27, 2014, 08:39:02 PM
Sounds very interesting! And I especially like the new graphics for items, might be even better than vanilla :)

But a Question... why do you need to modify the core file?

Why not make it into a normal ".mpk" file? I really see no reason why it can't be done with .mpk

Or am I missing something?

Here is an explanation on how to add new content without modifying the core file: http://wiki.atomictorch.com/VoidExpanse/modding you can modify any files this way, and not just xml, etc. You can even modify scripts as well. You can also replace existing files in core (if you have the same file in MPK it will replace the one in base game).

And here is an article on how to install mods: http://wiki.atomictorch.com/VoidExpanse/installing_mods but the simplest way of course is to use the launcher.

UPD: If you can make it into a proper .mpk file I would like to promote the mod on our website :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on June 27, 2014, 10:07:45 PM
I actually hadn't looked at that page, I shall read up on it in a short while here.   All I had originally done was just extracted the core.cpk and worked with the files from there, then repackaged it.  New to modding of this type in general, I just tend to be okay with graphics and numbers. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on July 15, 2014, 05:14:53 AM
Not going to be released BTC 0.11 until after the coming VE patch, but I figured I'd give some teasers here on what to expect. :)

First, Joe is much nicer to you now; upon finishing his intro quest he'll offer you a choice as to what ship you want to suit the role you want to play in the game: fighter, interceptor or industrial. :)

Gauss cannon finished, added and tested.
Kinetic missiles finished, added and tested.

New engine, power, shield and RCS options added!

Engines follow the general path of speed or maneuverability being stressed.  RCS units are the same, with a military RCS for better maneuver or thruster rerouting systems to channel the RCS system into better speed.

Power plants come in three varieties:
-Fusion, good power output
-Fission, good fuel efficiency
-Tritium, excellent max capacitor

Shields come in four varieties:
-Standard
-Barriers that have a high capacity but recharge slowly
-Integrity fields that never go down but have a very low deflection rating (think of them as a secondary armor that is percentage-based)
-Adaptive shields that have a low capacity but can regenerate in combat (they reset almost instantly but with no reestablishment value, giving them a slow trickle of recharge)

Hulls renamed to stick with some new theming and adjusted!  They also have four ranks: Civilian, Mk I, Mk I, Experimental.
The Athena replaces the Banshee as the standard fighter archetype.  Still an energy/ballistic user.
The Apollo replaces the Avalanche as the standard interceptor type, reworked for full missile use.
The Hephaestus replaces the mining vessel, reworked for additional bonuses to miner-y stuff.
The Ares replaces the Orca, multirole mid-sized ship.
The Artemis replaces the Fang as a bomber, same basic concept of being a glass cannon missile sled.  The experimental version upgrades two of the launchers.
The Poseidon replaces the Crab, reworked slightly into a brawler with an outstanding ability to take and deal with damage.  The experimental version, even moreso.
The Hades will use the new Deathbringer hull as a heavy cruiser.  Decent hull but no innate armor, fair maneuver, lots of damage from those large mounts.  The experimental version trades the large energy along the centerline along with some agility for linked large missiles, turning the craft into a siege machine.
The Zeus replaces the Hammer, reworked into a battlecruiser.  Larger, slower-turning guns, also exceptionally durable.  The experimental version upgrades the bore on the ballistic mounts.

On the horizon:
Mine weapons.  I'll totally get around to adding my version of them.  One of them will obviously have to be the B.U.T.T. (Backward Utilized Tracking Torpedo), to score points with anyone who has played any of the Star Control games.  Spathi FTW.

NewTech (tm) versions of the rest of the gear, including radars, grapplers, modules and boosters.  Boosters in particular will have a lot of variations given the sheer number of new adjustable variables coming with the next patch.

The Dionysus hull, a refit of the Artemis.  Still testing out this concept but it plays like a very high-skill-required dogfighter.  It sports ballistic weapons instead of missiles, exceptionally limited tracking arcs with all four firing into the front arc, but gains maneuver bonuses (especially to strafe).  The key skill for this ship is to be able to strafe around targets and keep them to your nose while dodging fire, specially designed to help counter some of the heavier vessels.

The Cronus hull, brand new design (assuming my friend with actual modelling skills comes through for me. :)  The first true battleship concept, I'm looking to introduce the Cronus titan as the first 'boss encounter' or unique quest mob put out.  Large amounts of structure and armor as well as four large weapon mounts will make him a monster, but a monster with weaknesses (and a unique playstyle, as a playable ship, if ever.)  The basic gist will be two weapons that fire with a fairly wide (about 210 degrees) but slow-tracking arc into the front (one above the hull, one below) with a duplicated style in the back facing to the aft.  It gives the hull some teeth in any direction but makes it uniquely suited to broadside attacks where it can bring all four weapon mounts to bear.  Really looking forward to this one.

Mysterious Tech!  (Oooh, so mysterious!)  This will just be a stopgap measure until full crafting is put into the game, at which point I will revise it.  Starting at level 50, the NPCs that spawn have a chance of dropping Mysterious Tech that you can snatch up and collect.  (It will also drop more frequently from quest-related NPCs such as bounty quests.)  'But Hammish', you might ask, 'What does it do, other than being mysterious?'  Well, each faction will have a named NPC who desires to have these mysterious bits (don't ask, they have -REASONS-).  These NPCs will also have question options corresponding to each of the Experimental Gear bits in the game... and one of the requirements will be bringing them X pieces of Mysterious Tech in addition to a base item and plenty of cash.  TL;DR, if you want the highest-tier stuff you'll have to do some work as they'll no longer be shop-purchasable but only available via these quests if you have the tech fragments.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 09, 2014, 11:27:50 PM
Updated link to BTC 0.9.0, updated the description of the mod.  Most gear icons upgraded to my new fancy look.  Five hull types now in and (semi-) finished, basic engines/shields/power in as well.  All basic and hybrid weapons added but need additional balance testing and possible sound/graphic tweaking.

When testing out the current build make sure you choose Adventurer as your class (or, if you just want to fiddle and have fun, choose the Cheater class I use for testing and start with a good hull and 300k credits!).  All classes will be reworked once the ability to add new skills and the like is working better.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Lurler on August 10, 2014, 01:18:10 AM
Great update.

Though, what is wrong with skills? You can add your own effects and new skills - no problem. At least I am not aware of any problems in this particular area.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 10, 2014, 05:44:01 AM
With regards to skills, I think I actually mentioned it in another thread.   Forget which one.

If I try to add in an entirely new skill the .XMLs and everything load fine, game/server come up no issues, even universe creation seems fine... but after I make my character and attempt to log in, the usual VoidExpanse logo starts to come up before the application locks up.  (I'd say the logo is about 50% transparent still when it hangs.)  To the best of my knowledge I'm setting everything up correctly; the one I was trying to add was very simple, just an addition to the qualifications XML for hybrid weapons and then a matching skill with no prerequisites.  The addition to the qualification is even still in the current patch I just tossed up, I believe, and it loads fine; seems to be the attempt to add in the skill itself that is causing issues for me.

If it'd help, though, I can upload a copy of the mod with the exact addition I'm trying to make as well as my client logs.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: BeLugh on August 10, 2014, 06:58:20 AM
for me adding skills worked fine. For me void expanse somethimes crashes when loading during loadign screen before main menu and simetiems when loading a game, but those crashes are not related to the mod itself (for me at least) when somethign is wrogn with the mod it does not show up the saves and you cant create a new game as it says unable to create local game server. or you get into the game and a function stops working after start /like all shop prices are shown as 0, mining laser does not show up etc
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 10, 2014, 08:20:11 AM
Yeah, it honestly kinda confuses me too.  As I mentioned, it doesn't -seem- like an issue with the XML data, because the server is loading it fine; it's just the main game client that is crashing when I try to do a game with any sort of skill additions.  I do know the issue started cropping up for me with 0.9, because I had 3-5 new skills added in the previous version and it worked okay.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hecter94 on August 11, 2014, 05:53:15 AM
Wow, this is really fun. I love the new types of weapons, especially the fusion ones.
I especially like the new hulls too....some of my favorite ship types have been reworked into new versions and it makes the game feel so fresh. :D

Keep up the good work.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 11, 2014, 12:06:34 PM
Thanks!

Though I can't decide if the fusion rays are a bit -too- strong right now, given the good DPS and that they are hitscan. :)  They're kinda designed as a good weapon for an agile ship, but if you try to fight an Avalanche/Apollo with one... you'll get pretty screwed up given the short range.  Then again, they're also hybrid weapons (anything with a orange color is) and thus will eventually require a lot of tech and work to unlock, much like the experimental hulls.

If you keep trying it out, let me know what you objectively think about balance, if anything is too strong or too weak.  Trying to get more and more checking it out and trying different paths, though I know that might be a little rough until I get skills and classes done.  (Some of the stuff seems pretty useless for combat ships, like the efficiency-style engines that will save money in the long run but lack the throughput to really fuel energy weapons (which take a lot more to recharge in this version).
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 11, 2014, 10:04:41 PM
Here's the log trail, so to speak... though I couldn't find anything amiss.  Just tried adding one new skill tonight, basic_gunnery, and it zoinked out again as I described previously.  I should note as well that I did this with a fresh install of VE.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1a9iv7zcyc8qtuy/Log_VoidExpanse_Client_2014-08-11_23-57.log
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nwkknpjvl1kcup2/Log_VoidExpanse_Server_2014-08-11_23-57.log

And here's the direct XML file for the skill:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k5ywn5w6bg98epe/basic_gunnery.xml
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: BeLugh on August 11, 2014, 10:20:31 PM
I would like to help out, but i can't access dropbox from here (im not at home) :) can you send me the content(text) of the xml as pm please?
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 13, 2014, 05:16:52 AM
Trying to debug a bit more, I tried a few more iterations of this.  Created a new skill that is a direct child of light_direct_weapons instead of a 'base' skill.

Same result on trying to game: game loads, server loads, can create a new universe and get to character creation, the instant I accept my character it locks just barely after the VoidExpanse screen starts to come up.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 17, 2014, 08:15:25 AM
Tossing up a link to BTC 0.9.1.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vejqnrbpfc4cg2e/btc091.zip

Experimental build, runs on VE 0.9.6.  New trail effects (about half-done now, I'm having fun with these.  The rapid-fire weapons and the gauss rifle in particular look kinda cool IMO), new weapon behavior (LRMs now take time to arm and accelerate, some balance tweaking done), and a bit of a showing of the new skill trees!  (Just the combat tree is in for now, the piloting, engineering and social trees will be coming soon.)  I'll be tinkering with the costs and such over the next week or so as well, but at least folk can see the graphics and general gist right now. 

Also, if you make a character using the Cheater profile, you can try out the Dionysus gunship far more easily now.  It's a bit OP for a new character but it might be fun to test and I think the look came out nicely for now.  (Soon the model will be updated to take the missile racks off)  Also also, pay no attention to the capital-class weaponry skill, that's... top secret clearance.  (Fourth weapon class coming soon, suitable for the largest hulls or specific refits, always a spinal mount)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Lurler on August 17, 2014, 07:35:41 PM
Can you post some screenshots? :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 18, 2014, 03:08:34 AM
(http://i.imgur.com/5aAL48p.jpg)
Here's the Dionysus Gunship with the under-wing guns.

(http://i.imgur.com/fhRhC0X.jpg)
New tech tree for Combat, slowly evolving.  The icons are currently boring, the spice for them is forthcoming (I just wanted to push the release, call me impatient.) :)

(http://i.imgur.com/usdVlHw.jpg)
New Gauss shot with trail.  I'd like to add more of a distortion effect but it feels right for now.  Very solid, like a heavy sniper shot in space.

(http://i.imgur.com/Aw5OfBf.jpg)
Energy torpedo.  It pulses, man, LIKE A LIVING THING.  Or just a cheap rip-off of a photon torp. :D

Also, BTC0.92 should be uploaded later today, a nasty bug preventing conversations from starting was pointed out to me almost instantly and I needed to track down the cause.  All fixed now in new version, should be backward-compatible with BTC0.91.  To make up for my gross oversight it I'll toss in the work I've been doing on the Artemis (Fang) and Poseidon (Crab).  :D
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Lurler on August 18, 2014, 04:06:31 AM
Wow, that's some massive changes! I also really like the way you've done ship equipment. Do you mind if we steal the idea? :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 18, 2014, 04:22:36 AM
By all means. :D  I'd even offer up my layered base graphic files, but I did mine in a lower resolution from the default icons to maintain text look, if you mean the inventory icons.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 18, 2014, 05:59:03 AM
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wi0fqygguhhnpnn/btc092.zip

Link for BTC 0.92, will also update the front page.  Should be fully stable now that VE updated to a stable build as well.  Anyone who tries it, feel free to leave feedback on whatcha think (within the limited scope of what I'm trying to show off, heh.)  And above all else... enjoy being a space hobo. :D
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hecter94 on August 18, 2014, 09:37:29 AM
Those "Spinal Mount" superweapons are scaring me a little, they seem terrifying.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 18, 2014, 09:58:29 AM
They'll have definite drawbacks, though.  Spinal mount means it has no twist arc, so you have to align the hull, and most of the ships (all but one) able to mount it will be by nature quite slow.  I also plan to have them with a long windup and very long cooldown, at least 60 seconds minus skills, and they will have severe ammo limitations.

The one exception to this will be the Capital refit version of the Fang hull; it's fairly slow for a ship of it's size/frailty but it will have the ability to mount a single spinal mount weapon that looks like it's built into the hull.  No backup weapons, either, so bring friends to protect you.

In short, as the name suggests, they won't be menacing smaller stuff but designed for siege warfare.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hecter94 on August 18, 2014, 11:38:13 AM
Quote from: Hammish on August 18, 2014, 09:58:29 AM
They'll have definite drawbacks, though.  Spinal mount means it has no twist arc, so you have to align the hull, and most of the ships (all but one) able to mount it will be by nature quite slow.  I also plan to have them with a long windup and very long cooldown, at least 60 seconds minus skills, and they will have severe ammo limitations.

The one exception to this will be the Capital refit version of the Fang hull; it's fairly slow for a ship of it's size/frailty but it will have the ability to mount a single spinal mount weapon that looks like it's built into the hull.  No backup weapons, either, so bring friends to protect you.

In short, as the name suggests, they won't be menacing smaller stuff but designed for siege warfare.
I know you wouldn't make them OP, but they still seem somewhat menacing. I imagine getting hit with one would be pretty painful.
What purpose do you seem them as serving by the way? Since most ships in the game should be fast enough to dodge them, are they primarily for use against structures?

That seems like a pretty narrow avenue of usefulness.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 19, 2014, 04:17:42 AM
Like any size upgrade in the mod, (medium to large, for example), they offer a higher alpha strike in exchange for overall usability.  I can be something of a history buff and to me it's like comparing WW2 stuff, with a German 88mm HV against a Russian 122mm, or an American 105mm as the 'middle of the road'; the 88 in general made a smaller hole but it could be reloaded more quickly, had a very high muzzle velocity and was very accurate.  The 122 was wildly inaccurate at longer ranges but very, very scary if the enemy knew it had a round ready.

In actual VE terms, yes, the major use would be against structures (which are starting to appear more now in the base game) and possibly against some of the larger cruiser hulls.  The Hammer, as an example, isn't exactly known for being able to get out of the way of things quickly. ;)  By the same token, you really have to bring out the big guns with the high alpha to deal with the larger ships, because of the way armor functions in the game as a flat damage reduction; even in VE vanilla a Hammer hull can reach around 32 armor with just skills, if I remember the math right.  A MG would never be able to hurt them, and even rotary-20 would be reduced to 8 damage a shot.  (You could load 4x rotary-20s and literally empty the entire clip for each into a Hammer... and you wouldn't have the ammunition to kill it if you landed every single shot, heh.)

That said, ships like the Fang capital version won't really have a use outside of multiplayer, where you could have a buddy watching over you.  They really will be that narrowly-defined and specialized.  Which is probably why they aren't a super-high priority for me. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hecter94 on August 19, 2014, 05:34:08 AM
I suppose once the game gets a bit more fleshed out and we start seeing the multiplayer aspect being used more often, the usefulness of them would continue to rise.

As far as the history buff goes, I'd compare it more to the Sherman, which could either mount a 76mm main gun.
Fairly good reload, accurate and decent damage....or the 105mm Howitzer, which was inaccurate, slow to reload or massively powerful.
Or the Hetzer, which could either mount an 88 or a 155, same deal.

Buuuuut since VE doesn't really have many targets that can really stand up to the level of damage the base lvl3 guns can dish out, I was simply curious what exactly were it's targets.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 19, 2014, 06:45:41 AM
Ah, that's part of the equation I forgot to mention as well, I suppose.  Survivability is a bit higher in BTC as well; ships have a bit more hull and a bit more innate armor at higher marks on ships, and the DPS increase from gun size is substantially less.

For example, the base Hammer (as the beefy ship) in vanilla is 6000 hull at 15 armor; in BTC with my 'planned out' spreadsheet it starts at 8000/16 and if you upgrade it to experimental it becomes 12000/32.  For weapons in vanilla, the general math seemed to be 100%/200%/300% DPS.  In BTC the current guideline I'm using is 100%/150%/225% on overall DPS, but the larger guns tend to have a lot more damage in exchange for a lot slower reloads.

Example of my burst rifle thingy:
Small: 3x shots at 48 damage each, 0.8s reload, 180 DPS
Medium: 6x shots at 72 each, 1.6s reload, 270 DPS
Large: 9x shots at 144 each, 3.2s reload, 337.50 DPS

By comparison, the Rotary AC in mine keeps a 0.1s reload at all tiers, but the damage just goes from 20 to 30 to 45.  It's 450 DPS at large size, but at the same time utterly useless against anything with thick armor.

And yes, standard AP-loading guns versus HE howis is another exceptional metaphor.   Though, you know, now I kinda want to make a Crocodile... if I could figure out how to explain away Space Flamethrowers. :P
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hecter94 on August 19, 2014, 10:16:38 AM
Quote from: Hammish on August 19, 2014, 06:45:41 AM
Ah, that's part of the equation I forgot to mention as well, I suppose.  Survivability is a bit higher in BTC as well; ships have a bit more hull and a bit more innate armor at higher marks on ships, and the DPS increase from gun size is substantially less.

For example, the base Hammer (as the beefy ship) in vanilla is 6000 hull at 15 armor; in BTC with my 'planned out' spreadsheet it starts at 8000/16 and if you upgrade it to experimental it becomes 12000/32.  For weapons in vanilla, the general math seemed to be 100%/200%/300% DPS.  In BTC the current guideline I'm using is 100%/150%/225% on overall DPS, but the larger guns tend to have a lot more damage in exchange for a lot slower reloads.

Example of my burst rifle thingy:
Small: 3x shots at 48 damage each, 0.8s reload, 180 DPS
Medium: 6x shots at 72 each, 1.6s reload, 270 DPS
Large: 9x shots at 144 each, 3.2s reload, 337.50 DPS

By comparison, the Rotary AC in mine keeps a 0.1s reload at all tiers, but the damage just goes from 20 to 30 to 45.  It's 450 DPS at large size, but at the same time utterly useless against anything with thick armor.

Oh, I never noticed that.
Likely because I primarily use missile weapons, which....given their high damage and low fire rate seem to not be affected by armor as much as ballistic weapons.
Of course, I imagine high alpha guns like the spinal mounted ones would be affected even less.

QuoteAnd yes, standard AP-loading guns versus HE howis is another exceptional metaphor.   Though, you know, now I kinda want to make a Crocodile... if I could figure out how to explain away Space Flamethrowers. :P
An illegally modified plasma gun with the magnetic field restrictions removed?
Causing the high density plasma to simply spew out of the front of the ship without being contained in a magnetic field?

"An experimental version of the plasma cannon that has had the safety magnetic field removed, this all but eliminates the lengthy charge time of the plasma cannon and causes the high-density plasma to simply eject from the muzzle of the weapon in a large arc in front of the ship, causing massive damage to anything unfortunate to be caught within it. The downside is the exceptionally low range as the plasma quickly disperses to a non-lethal level. The unique flame effect from the weapon has earned it the nickname "Flamethrower" as it resembles a primitive human weapon of the same name"
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 19, 2014, 12:10:56 PM
... Yeah, okay, I might make a space flamethrower now. :)

And yes, the higher the raw damage of a given shot, the less effective the armor is since it's a flat per-damage reduction.  Or in the case of beam weapons, I -think- it's reduction per second, so a laser that did 60 damage over one second would hit for 40 over a second versus 20 armor.  I like that it provides an interesting trade-off for the multi-shot weapons, though.  Even missile ones, like the MLRS, where you get less damage vs. armor (at least slightly) in exchange for being harder to shoot down/dodge in general.  (You don't have to tag most missile weapons for long with a beam laser, but it's harder to zap 3-9 rockets headed in than one big missile)

But yeah, cracking high armor would be a big use.  The only really effect defense against it would be A) Don't get hit, B) Wait for them to shoot it and warp forward out of the blast, or C) Mount one of the low-absorb insane-strength shields in the mod (integrity field).  They only absorb 20-50% of incoming damage so a lot will get through but they have an almost unbreachable total strength, and so act as almost a percentage-based armor instead of a shield that acts as a buffer before the hull takes full damage.  The actual math that I have in right now has four varieties:  500 max shield but it absorbs 100%, 1000 max shield but it only absorbs 80% (20% blowthrough), 10,000 max shield but only 20% absorb (80% blowthrough) or the Adaptive Shield that has a very low strength, high power draw, but is still 100% absorb and regenerates constantly even while being hit.  (The last one is designed to be an endgame tech and a damned good fighter/frig shield, able to absorb a hit here and there as you dodge fire and maintain strength without requiring full disengagement.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 21, 2014, 06:01:06 AM
Screenshot of the new Piloting tree:

(http://i.imgur.com/Y9cx26Z.jpg)

First tree is the 'engines' tree, focuses on one of three paths: equipment unlocks, maneuvering, or raw/cruise speed and 'specials'.  The second tree is the new hull tree; the weight classes are corvettes (previously the frigates), frigates (mid-size) and cruisers (the slow beasts like before).  Each has a basic, advanced and elite category to them with basic and advanced more or less corresponding to the old 'light/heavy' split.  Ergo, for the variants I did on the Banshee hull:

Athena C - No requirements since it's the civilian version.
Athena Mk I - Basic Corvettes
Athena Mk IIB or Mk IIE - Advanced Corvettes
Athena X Experimental - Elite Corvettes.

High performance ships like the bomber (Fang) and gunship have no civilian model, so they simply start out requiring Advanced Corvettes.
It should also be noted that when I release BTC 0.95, there will only be 3 frigates (miner, the multi-purpose Orca refit, and the tanky-as-hell Crab refit) and only one cruiser.  Still, frigates open at level 5 and cruisers at 10, so people wanting to fly larger boats won't have to wait nearly as long in the scheme of things, though as one might expect the cruiser you can fly at level 10 isn't on the same level as a Hammer or Deathbringer in vanilla. :P

This also provides for a natural level of hull unlock progress.  Level 1 is basic corvs, 5 is basic frigs, 10 is basic cruisers, 15 is adv corvs, 20 is adv frigs, 25 is adv cruisers, 30 is elite corvs, 35 is elite frigs, 40 is elite cruisers.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 21, 2014, 09:02:08 AM
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bj1mjuduxlnu67m/btc093.zip

BTC 0.93.  Just a few minor tweaks, the new pilot tree, and a new weapon system to play around with as a proof of concept.  Let me know what you think, Hecter; it's currently in the main shop as the CRB-X1.  (CRB being the model name for the Carrier Bay.) :D
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hecter94 on August 21, 2014, 09:48:10 AM
Quote from: Hammish on August 21, 2014, 09:02:08 AM
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bj1mjuduxlnu67m/btc093.zip

BTC 0.93.  Just a few minor tweaks, the new pilot tree, and a new weapon system to play around with as a proof of concept.  Let me know what you think, Hecter; it's currently in the main shop as the CRB-X1.  (CRB being the model name for the Carrier Bay.) :D
Ooooh, now this I simply /must/ see.
I'll try it out as soon as I get home and let you know what I think of it.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 21, 2014, 10:45:28 AM
Cool beans.  Granted it's not balanced or anything, but I kinda like how it turned out.  I realized after I thought about it that to represent drones... you could just use an existing ship model and scale them down.  So currently that bay launches tiny little Avalanche clones that spit missiles.  They look hilarious when you get like 6 going at once, too.

I even figured I'd go for a bit of realism, so after you fire them (their launch sequence) they have no arming or tracking and just fly straight out.  On ships with fixed missile points like the new missile cruiser it looks pretty decent; not so much on ships with twistable launchers.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hecter94 on August 21, 2014, 12:10:41 PM
Quote from: Hammish on August 21, 2014, 10:45:28 AM
Cool beans.  Granted it's not balanced or anything, but I kinda like how it turned out.  I realized after I thought about it that to represent drones... you could just use an existing ship model and scale them down.  So currently that bay launches tiny little Avalanche clones that spit missiles.  They look hilarious when you get like 6 going at once, too.

I even figured I'd go for a bit of realism, so after you fire them (their launch sequence) they have no arming or tracking and just fly straight out.  On ships with fixed missile points like the new missile cruiser it looks pretty decent; not so much on ships with twistable launchers.
Oh? I would think that, realistically....drones should be able to track their target, shouldn't they?
And if it doesn't look very well on ships with twistable launchers...then couldn't you restrict them to ships with only fixed launchers?
Something like....find every hull with fixed missile mounts and give them an effect called "fixed_mounts:true"
Then have the CRB-X1 require "Fixed Missile Mounts:OK"

Actually, couldn't you actually make it so that equipping the weapon applies an effect that reduces tracking angle to 0?
I know that there is an effect that lets you increase or decrease the tracking angle of a weapon, but I don't know if:

a) Weapons can apply effects on equip that modify the hull.
b) tracking angle effect can be limited to missile weapons only

Now, if that won't work. I'm almost certain you could do it with a booster.
Have a booster named like...."Drone Replicator" which gives two effects:

allow_drone:true
tracking_angle:=0

Then set the CRB-X1 to require "Allow Drones: OK"

It seems like it would be possible, and might actually help with balancing. ie: In order to launch drones, you have to downgrade your weapon mounts to fixed hardpoints.
Which seems like a fair drawback as you'll be relying primarily on drones as your weapons anyways.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 21, 2014, 12:35:03 PM
Well, realistically you'd want them to be limited to carrier-based hulls anyway... so it'd probably be easiest to just set that attribute on the hull and have it check, anyway.  Even with fixed-mount launchers they still look a little odd, so for an actual dedicated carrier you'd want to alter the model a bit to put the physical bay on it.

As for tracking drones, it depends on how you handle them.  I did it the easy way I mentioned and just made them projectiles of the launcher that then fire scattering submunions at regular intervals.  With a situation like that, they're always going to rely on your targeting, so with the way I have them in now they fly out straight for two seconds like doing a launch sequence and -then- start tracking your current locked target.  The missiles they fire also will track your lock.

In order to get them to pick their own targets, though, you'd have to go the device-and-script route that BeLugh mentioned, so far as I know, and actually spawn the drones as NPCs with their own AI prioritizing.  (And devices with abilities to control their target, ect)  This is more of a slow, constant-ticking missile attack that can be shot down.  It bears mentioning, though, that if you lose YOUR lock your drones (and their missiles) will also go dumb... but will start tracking again if you reacquire lock, even if they are already mid-flight.

Since you gave a picture of the battleship from RA3 the other day (Yamato, right?) it bears mentioning that these drones strongly resemble the Allies' carrier attack from that game; pick a target and they will engage that target, but very limited AI when not directly aimed via locking.

Edit: Just confirmed, and changed it for the next patch: you can put skill additions on hulls (or any other equipment) and while they won't show on the Skills page under the list of effects, they do still work.  So in the next patch released, only ships like the refit for the Orca and Aurora, with fixed launchers, will have drone=OK.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hecter94 on August 21, 2014, 02:27:37 PM
Quote from: Hammish on August 21, 2014, 12:35:03 PM
Well, realistically you'd want them to be limited to carrier-based hulls anyway... so it'd probably be easiest to just set that attribute on the hull and have it check, anyway.  Even with fixed-mount launchers they still look a little odd, so for an actual dedicated carrier you'd want to alter the model a bit to put the physical bay on it.
True, that seems like the best overall solution...very very good as a "proof of concept" weapon.

QuoteAs for tracking drones, it depends on how you handle them.  I did it the easy way I mentioned and just made them projectiles of the launcher that then fire scattering submunions at regular intervals.  With a situation like that, they're always going to rely on your targeting, so with the way I have them in now they fly out straight for two seconds like doing a launch sequence and -then- start tracking your current locked target.  The missiles they fire also will track your lock.
Oh, that's fine then. From the way you worded your post, I was under the impression that they had no tracking at all and just flew in a straight line. The way you just described it is perfect for drones.

QuoteIn order to get them to pick their own targets, though, you'd have to go the device-and-script route that BeLugh mentioned, so far as I know, and actually spawn the drones as NPCs with their own AI prioritizing.  (And devices with abilities to control their target, ect)
Maybe something like that for the future, but for now....as a proof of concept, they already work very well.

QuoteSince you gave a picture of the battleship from RA3 the other day (Yamato, right?)
No, the Shogun Battleship. The Yamato was the Battlecruiser from Starcraft.
The Shogun battleship was the basis for my battleship design, wheras the Yamato cannon from the Battlecruiser in Starcraft greatly resembles the mining laser on my Planetcracker.

Quoteit bears mentioning that these drones strongly resemble the Allies' carrier attack from that game; pick a target and they will engage that target, but very limited AI when not directly aimed via locking.
I see, yes...that's a very apt analogy.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 21, 2014, 03:41:27 PM
My general train of thought was to make the size-IIs launch bombers, then, with a fair bit more DPS but slower and having to get in closer... and then the size-III launchers do a pair, bomber and interceptor together, but on a longer cooldown to keep balance in line.  So it'd be something like one bomber or interceptor every two seconds or a pair every three seconds.  Bombers would have the additional advantage of having a higher damage/shot and thus being more effective vs. armor.  Though I don't know what model I would use for the mini-bombers; crab, maybe, or even the cargo ship.

And ah, that's right, Shogun Battleship.  It's been a while since I played any RA3, and most of what I remember fondly is the Russian man-cannon. :D  The comparison to the carriers just hit me afterward, but they were almost the same.  I suppose the Fusion Ray has passing similarities with the Void Rays from SC2 as well, with the way the beams build up over time.

When you get a chance to try them out, let me know what you think about balance.  Numbers like speed, damage and tracking are easily modified.  (I already halved the duration on the interceptor missiles locally, they are way too potent at the 4-second duration in the build.)  I was trying to strike a balance between them being able to actually track a target and look like they were approaching while keeping them slow enough to be able to fire all missiles.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hecter94 on August 21, 2014, 03:53:59 PM
This is officially the best thing ever.
I just loaded four of them on to my ship and started shooting them, I was laughing maniacally from the moment the first one launched until every enemy in my solar system had been decimated.

That was absolutely sweet.

Now you know what we need?
Carriers, that fire mini-carriers...which fire drones!
Mwahahaha
(That's a joke, don't do that.)

In seriousness though. Would it be possible to tweak the lifespan of the drones so that they last a lot longer, but increase the ammo capacity so that you can have a lot of them while also lowering the amount of damage the actual missiles do?
It feels like, to me...drones should be something that pretty much just continuously follow their target unless they kamikaze it or you lose your target lock.

Right now, it just seems like they do too much damage too quickly, whereas I would rather see them as being like....a constant harassment, slowly whittling your health down while preventing your shields from recharging.

I haven't been on the receiving end of them yet, but it just seems like they'd be almost impossible to actually defeat.

I would think that, ideally...when facing drones, you could either move away to force them to lose lock....or move in close, tank the damage and out-dps the actual main body of the Carrier before the weak but continuous damage of the drones does you in.

When I was playing just then, the playstyle I was using felt far too similar to the same playstyle I always use with any missile carrier. So a drone carrier should be tweaked a bit to give it a different feel and playstyle.

Just my two cents, though...and I can't stress enough how effin awesome this is as a proof of concept.

-EDIT-
Seems I have a bug to report.
This is a bit of an odd one, to be honest.

I was using the Experimental Hephaestus Hull, with two energy torpedoes and one CRB-X1.
Energy torpedoes were working great for a quite a long time, then.....all of a sudden...I noticed that they weren't doing any damage to Boomerang hulls or shields.
So I started destroying those with the drones, and kept playing.
A little while later, they stopped dealing damage to Avalanche hulls, then Fang hulls etc. etc.
Until they weren't dealing any damage to anything.

I can upload a log file if you point me to where I should look.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 22, 2014, 07:40:40 AM
Actually I think that's a known bug not just in the mod but in the game, but seemingly hard to reproduce reliably.  I saw someone else had mentioned it as well in bug reports, where ships just stop taking damage except possibly from explosives (probably because of the AOE nature).

As to the rest, I'll look into those tweaks. :)  I mean, it's always going to be -similar- to flying a missileboat; the major different at the end will be that the fighter bay will allow a person to do better theoretical damage over time, whereas the missiles give a nice big boom up front.  I can stress this a bit more, though, by upping the duration as mentioned.  Damage will be tougher to work with, though; right now they're set to 20 damage per missile and going much lower than that will make them all but useless at high hull levels.  What I can do to keep it balanced, though, is increase the life of the fighters and just spread the missiles out over the lifetime.  So instead of firing a rocket every half-second they fire every second.  Less DPS from the start but the same overall damage over the course of the fighter's life.

Also, I got the bombers done last night, and they seem to work nicely as well.  Also played around with other various settings to sometimes-hillarious effect that I might share in the next patch as well.  My favorite are the actual superiority fighters that I made; they launch in groups of five and actually launch in a small formation using direction but no spread, turn after about a second to engage your locked target, then strafe it with autocannons before trying to suicide into the enemy hull.  Turns it into more of a direct weapon (opposite what was mentioned previous) but the visual effects were actually pretty cool.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hecter94 on August 22, 2014, 07:53:16 AM
Quote from: Hammish on August 22, 2014, 07:40:40 AM
Actually I think that's a known bug not just in the mod but in the game, but seemingly hard to reproduce reliably.  I saw someone else had mentioned it as well in bug reports, where ships just stop taking damage except possibly from explosives (probably because of the AOE nature).
I know of a bug where, you can get the shields down, but then the hull stops taking damage and you have to let the shields regen a bit...and it seems to happen randomly.

However, this seems a bit different, as it does 0 damage to either the shields or the hull and happens every single time. It's possible the two bugs are related, but they don't seem /that/ similar.

QuoteAs to the rest, I'll look into those tweaks. :)  I mean, it's always going to be -similar- to flying a missileboat; the major different at the end will be that the fighter bay will allow a person to do better theoretical damage over time, whereas the missiles give a nice big boom up front.  I can stress this a bit more, though, by upping the duration as mentioned.  Damage will be tougher to work with, though; right now they're set to 20 damage per missile and going much lower than that will make them all but useless at high hull levels.  What I can do to keep it balanced, though, is increase the life of the fighters and just spread the missiles out over the lifetime.  So instead of firing a rocket every half-second they fire every second.  Less DPS from the start but the same overall damage over the course of the fighter's life.
I wouldn't see much of a problem with lvl 1 fighter drones not being able to reliably engage high level hulls.

I see these drones as being fairly fast to engage, fire many low-damage guided missiles, that are powerful against small and fast ships, then kamikaze them and die.
Whereas, lvl2 bombers could be much slower, and fire powerful unguided (or limited guidance) torpedoes that do very heavy damage but much easier to dodge.
and finally level3 could be a fighter-bomber with two powerful main guns (think semi-auto Gauss Cannons) that it uses to strafe heavy targets and small guided missiles that it uses against light targets.

all-in-all I would definitely like to see them have more "presence" on the field....and not disappear after a couple of seconds.
If that means that lvl1 drones have to be ineffective against heavy armor, so be it.
As long as there's other alternatives to use against heavy armor.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 22, 2014, 08:07:58 AM
Huh.  That does seem like a new bug.  If you quit the game and then reload the save, does it reproduce?

And true, with regards to the fighters not being able to engage heavy hulls.  I just wouldn't want to go much under 20, is all, because at higher levels (once the final engineer tech tree is in, with the available boosts to armor) they'd have issues engaging even light fighter/interceptor hulls.  It's actually why I had to change my rotary autocannons; I wanted them to be 20 shots/sec but the damage would have been around 10/shot which meant like 90% of the ships in the game were immune to them.  I think I have the math up on how to get them to the sweet spot you mentioned, though; I'll toss up a build later tonight or tomorrow for people to try.  Tech 1 (my v1.0) is almost set to launch, anyway.

I did the bombers exactly like you mentioned, though.  Fires two torpedos total after a longer initial interval than the fighters, much slower but still with limited guidance.  The heavy fighter-bombers I'll have to tinker with; I love the idea but having fixed weapons on them seems bring a lot of design issues to light given how I produced the fighter effect in the first place.  Actually having them as NPCs would make that idea sweet as hell, though, since you could actually set them up either for strafe runs or to establish an orbit on slower things while pounding away with guns.  At that point, though, I think I'd have to name the bay the CRB-130 'Spectre'. :D
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hecter94 on August 22, 2014, 10:02:22 AM
Quote from: Hammish on August 22, 2014, 08:07:58 AM
Huh.  That does seem like a new bug.  If you quit the game and then reload the save, does it reproduce?
I'll give it a try when I get home.


QuoteAnd true, with regards to the fighters not being able to engage heavy hulls.  I just wouldn't want to go much under 20, is all, because at higher levels (once the final engineer tech tree is in, with the available boosts to armor) they'd have issues engaging even light fighter/interceptor hulls.  It's actually why I had to change my rotary autocannons; I wanted them to be 20 shots/sec but the damage would have been around 10/shot which meant like 90% of the ships in the game were immune to them.  I think I have the math up on how to get them to the sweet spot you mentioned, though; I'll toss up a build later tonight or tomorrow for people to try.  Tech 1 (my v1.0) is almost set to launch, anyway.
Perhaps the solution to this is to separate fighters and bombers into separate bays?
Have a "Fighter Drone" bay with fast and agile fighters that are used to engage light targets but are almost useless against heavy armor.

and then a "Bomber Drone" bay that has powerful but slow bombers that are good against heavy targets, but almost useless against light targets.
[/quote]
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 23, 2014, 02:20:25 PM
I actually thought about that, but I also wanted to keep the total number of weapons fairly low, if just for the purposes of balancing.  Came up with a solution based on some of the things you said, though, along with the basic weapon premise in BTC that heavier weapons are slightly higher DPS but more important are higher burst/raw damage with longer cooldown.  Ergo, the light shots should be on the small weapons, and the big booms should be in the large slots.

So I retinkered a bit and made the light bay into essentially gunfighters with enough project speed that they can still reliably engage light targets.  Fast ROF, but a low damage, will have issues with heavy armor.  Medium-sized bay launches the missile interceptors with slower shots but enough damage to still be effective even against endgame light ships.  Heavy bays now launch the bombers with limited-guidance torpedos for engaging large, slow targets with heavy armor.  Then, once I have the tech in place and I'm ready to proceed on them... I figured if there's a place where multi-launch would be suitable, it'd be my capital spinal mounts; basically a flight deck along the hull of the ship, able to launch much larger waves in one huge burst.  It'd be a unique twist on the 'superweapon' thought. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 25, 2014, 08:12:08 AM
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3suk7xu4ues3c4z/btc098.zip?dl=0

BTC 0.98.

It still needs some polish but I think it's safe for testing now.  Some of the graphics need tweaking still (like the new consumable icons) but that'll come later today or tomorrow.  Please, anyone who can, take the mod for a test run now and report any bugs you find here.  I know there are a few, but there have to be some that I haven't found yet.  Also let me know what you think on weapon balance, looks, and... well, everything.  For now tons of news toys to play with:

All new graphics for a ton of stuff.

Tech tree is 90% done.  The only bits to add after I've had more time to balance are the 2nd tab of the defenses tree, for armoring, and the 2nd tab of the engineering tree.  I haven't decided completely on that one, it'll either be the industrial tree or, if I can find someone willing to help with making mining/trading more robust or incorporate an outside mod, it'll be the generic-engineering tree and the mining will go to the social/industrial tab.  Other areas should be fully fleshed out now, though balance tweaks will be coming.

New hulls in the game.  All variants of the Athena, Apollo, Hephaestus, Ares, Dionysus and Artemis are now in, as is the basic civilian version of the Hera heavy cruiser.

All tier-I tech should be in the game now.  This includes 2 engine strains, 2 RCS strains, 2 radar strains, 3 power plant strains and 3 shield strains.


In 0.99, the last before the the 1.00 Tech 1 release, I hope to have the following:

And, as always, some screenies for Lurler. :P

(http://i.imgur.com/5iWFQQ9.jpg)
Combat page of the new tech tree.  I really like how the icons are shaping up now.

(http://i.imgur.com/PsMV5a9.jpg)
Mini-Avalanche and mini-Banshee fighters launch to engage the enemy.  You can even see a few of their missile and railgun shots.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 25, 2014, 08:18:31 AM
P.S.  I would recommend not trying the Hera hull until you have some better engines/RCS and movement skills.  It's even worse than the old Hammer hulls without any sort of tweaks and it will take you a looooooong time to travel around.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. :D

P.S, he's a rough draft of the dedicated carrier that will eventually be coming in.  My buddy just needs to lower the poly count a bit after adding in the engines, then I'll skin it, then it should be good to rock:

(http://i.imgur.com/KxhxsWJ.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/WfsUPDp.png)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Lurler on August 25, 2014, 08:21:06 PM
Looks very promising :)
Keep up the good work!
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 27, 2014, 04:46:25 PM
https://www.dropbox.com/s/txfe5a4zw1rcitl/btc099.zip?dl=0

Quick update here.  A few item fixes, some playing around with pulse lasers (more before the 1.0 release, still not happy with either version), some changes to various hybrid weapons (carrier drones are now hybrids and require the advanced tech, and hybrid weapons in general are more potent because they require a lot more skill points invested to use.  The Dionysus and Artemis hulls are now fixed as well, and the Hera and Poseidon (carrier and tanking hull) are now in with all relevant models.

Just needs bug checking and balance testing, now, and it will be ready for full public release.  1.0 will also have the uptech equipment like better shields/engines/ect, I have already playtested this locally.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Samui on August 29, 2014, 02:34:19 AM
Good mod, gives more action to gameplay.
1. Reworked weapons looks good, even almost OP ;) But hybrid one's need some power up (range, speed), I think, but  I may be wrong.
2. Vanilla weapons from tyre 2 still need energy/ballistick/rocket skills to equip. Must be changed to medium and large turrets skill. Otherwise your skill tree looking good.
3. I cant find any mk2 generators, am I blind?;)
4. Need more ships!(WC3 Alcolyte voice)
5. Cheater must be renamed to Scrooge Mcduck(just kidding) ;)
6. It will be good if we can run this mod on some server for PvP and Coop test.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 29, 2014, 03:05:13 AM
Which vanilla weapons are showing up in your game?  They should all be disabled, but I might have missed one, or it possible came off pirate loot (which will be changing fairly soon, anyway)

And no, you're not blind. :)  I was waiting on a bit of feedback from people before tossing up the final 1.0 patch.  It has the Mk 2, Mk 3 and experimental (superpowered) versions of generators, shields, radar, ect.  It'll also have the final three hulls I have planned out, after that it'll be seeing what my modeling friend can toss to me and what the devs release.  Which hybrids did you think needed work, though?  The GSC is a little weak IMO but it's also an auto-tracking weapon, the gauss is essentially a better mass driver, the fusion is a better beam laser,

You may notice that the weapons seem a bit less overwhelming as you creep closer to endgame, too; the tier 2 and tier 3 weapons are much less of a DPS increase than they are in the vanilla game, so the pirates and aliens can still give a pretty darn good challenge. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Samui on August 29, 2014, 04:25:56 AM
I saw some vanilla lasers, rocket launchers and many hulls in stores. In loot was only BTC items. And I didn't saw any t2/3 BTC weapons hulls =(

I got it, I downloaded 0.9.2v of BTC from your first post yesterday... what a noob =)

I'll update BTC and try it again ;)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 29, 2014, 05:09:26 AM
Yeah, that would have been from before I started some of the major balance patches. :)

0.99 is above, and you can snag that if you want.  I just hadn't been updating the main links until 1.0 came out, which should be later today.  1.0 should be 100% compatible with 0.99, though; no need to restart saves or anything.

That said, you will need to look a bit for the T3 hulls, as they only appear in the capital systems currently.  Eventually, once I get the knack of it, the Civ through Mk 2 hulls will be purchasable and for the Experimental variants on all gear you'll need to trade in pieces of mysterious tech that you find as loot or get for mission rewards.  One of my little ways of making combat more rewarding. :)

Oh, and another thing I haven't spelled out: not every hull has all the variants.  Certain hulls have a civilian variant, others like the Artemis and Dionysus only have a basic and an experimental.  The basic version on these is about equivalent to the Mk 2 on the starter hulls and requires piloting-2 in the relevant craft tree.  They tend to be much more potent but specialized for the rareness, though.  I'm especially proud of how the gunship turned out, and it's a monster... but one with clear-cut weaknesses, too!
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Samui on August 29, 2014, 06:44:56 AM
Hope dev's take some good things from your mod to main game. Or even all of them ;)
Talking about rewards: can you add some pirate fighting reward? 50-200cr for shooted down depending of target strength?
And one more thing: full energy ships extremely rare, why?
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 29, 2014, 03:32:27 PM
They've already been interested in a few things, I think Lurler said.  I consider it a nice compliment. :D

And I had thought about the reward, but I need to look into how to doing it as part of the code and getting this thing shined up for a public release has been my #1 priority during free moments.  At the very least I'm going to look into throwing in a new trade items with funny names that can drop as loot off them, like stolen goods and the like, that sell for a fair bit but aren't purchasable at shops.  The VE version of vendor trash. :)

And by full-energy ships, do you mean the -X variants?  That's just a stopgap measure.  As I think I mentioned, soon they won't be shop-purchasable anyway but will need to be 'crafted' via drops.  I want the top-tier stuff to be fairly potent but late-game and something that a person really has to work toward in terms of SP and finding/producing items.  For example, right now, a player needs to spend a full 90 points to unlock all three tier options for a hull size; that helps to focus any particular character, because you need to specialize to get the really shiny stuff... but you can't have it all.  You'd need to be an insane level, for example, to get Experimental-level gear in every slot even on one hull size type. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 29, 2014, 04:32:58 PM
Finally taking the leap.  I've tested it as much as I am able to locally, v1.0.0 now released.  Information on the first page updated.  Download link updated.  Please update from any past versions.. and let me know what you think. :D
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: dginio on August 30, 2014, 05:17:49 AM
Were nice mode. But. Where skills "Experimental Consumables", "Military Consumables"?
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on August 30, 2014, 05:32:14 AM
Not in, a lot of the skills have changed to match the new set of items.  The advanced consumables I may introduce yet, or I may go the other route and start working on devices and relegate shielding and hull healing to those instead to match what I plan to do with ammo on some of the hulls.  Odds are at least some of the advanced consumables will return when I finish fleshing out the defenses tree, as that is where they belong. :)

(That reference to ammo is my idea for carriers to limit the amount of 'deck size' I assume they have; the general principle will be that carriers will be able to mount manufacturing systems in modules or devices that allow them to replenish ammunition, which in turn is representing fighter drones.  Ammo count on the launchers/bays will be very low allowing the carrier to field limited numbers of drones... but they will also be self-sufficient in terms of ability to refresh those drones.)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Samui on September 01, 2014, 12:08:02 AM
Vanilla mines, they back!!!{scared screem}
(http://img.chaos-online.ru/images/2014/09/01/2uA9QXFH.jpg)
(http://img.chaos-online.ru/images/2014/09/01/Q4UoMf29.jpg)

And you didn't add better fuel tanks yet? C'mon, I can't reach aliens systems without that! Arghhh, I need to kill some aliens! ;D

There was some visual glitches when I started 0.9.9 BTC save, but they vanished after I jumped to another system.

Otherwise mod is good as it was ;)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on September 01, 2014, 03:09:05 AM
Man how did they get in there!  I'll fix them yet!

Thanks for the bug report, though.  And gas tank improvements are in the next version coming out, which will also include the last three hulls I have for now (a mining mid-sized frigate, a destroyer and a heavy cruiser), large-size weapons including DUN DUN DUN bomber drones, and the first few boosts for mounting in module slots (I'll definitely have engine mods and weapon mods in, since they're likely to see the most use.  Possibly generator mods as well, because with the tweaking I did on energy weapons... well, medium- and large-size energy weapons are REALLY power hungry by design.  Cuz they are ENERGY WEAPONS.) :)

Just as a teaser, too, the higher-end gas tanks will force you to choose between stat boosts and raw storage.  Choose wisely if you want to go on long jaunts!

Also, I'd like to look into making a stellar scoop or somesuch for refueling on long journeys, but I'm not sure if it's even feasible via code given that there is no spare-fuel consumable that I am aware of.  Ergo, I'm not sure what I'd use to replenish fuel... nor how to balance it if it is.  Perhaps a massive debuff to certain ship systems while it operates; you want gas you shut down critical ship systems and start draining gas from space, and hope you don't get ambushed mid-fueling.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Samui on September 01, 2014, 03:46:38 AM
Quoteyou want gas you shut down critical ship systems and start draining gas from space, and hope you don't get ambushed mid-fueling.
Something like mining asteroids? It's would be great ;) Especially if remember that some asteroids really contain gas and you can, somehow, refuel from tham. (faster than from space, for example). I think in that mechanics should be interested dev's.
By the way, in SR there was some "black swill" that slowly but permanently recovers your fuel.

UPD. Medium pulse laser (Broadsword-M Pulse Laser) Can be equiped in 1st size turrets making them OP for the early game. Lootbox pirate guard live only for 3-4 dual shots.
(http://img.chaos-online.ru/images/2014/09/01/gjXnfuh.th.jpg) (http://img.chaos-online.ru/rNF)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hammish on September 01, 2014, 12:59:17 PM
Thanks again.  Already discovered the M-pulse error when I was copy-pasting over for the large turrets.  Fixed in next version. :)

Also, that's a great idea for balancing refueling.  Another option, depending on how they implement it once it's in, may be crafting.  If crafting is able to be done in space and not just on stations, it should be possible to make a crafting method of breaking down certain 'roids for gas along the way.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Tchey on September 02, 2014, 01:04:02 PM
That seems to be a very impressive mod. I didn't try it yet, but i will certainly do. If i start a new game with that, and then you update the mod, should i start again ?

I've started too many games in order to tests some bugs etc previously, and i prefer to wait a little for my next session, to be more like "playing" and less than "testing".

Is it a good day to start, or to wait more ?
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 02, 2014, 05:53:46 PM
It's a good day to start with v1.0. :)

Anything going forward should be 'added on' instead of a replacement on an item, which is what caused some odd issues.  For example I changed the way I tagged some items, so Fusion Rays used the tags fsr_xi, fsr_xii, fsr_xiii.  That was clunky so now they are just fsr_s, fsr_m, fse_l... but anyone who still had an old fsr_xii in a save would get an error.  If I add things from this point forward, at worst old saves won't have new stuff instantly available in shops, but they will eventually refresh and start (possible) spawning new things.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 04, 2014, 03:51:17 AM
BTC 1.1.0 released over in the scrubbed thread.

Bug fixes!  I think I got all the ones pointed out on this thread.  If I missed any, or if anyone finds new ones, please list them out here or shoot me a PM. :)
Three new hulls added: The Persephone-class mining frigate, the Hades-class destroyer (uses the cruiser skill for now) and the Zeus-class heavy cruiser.
Large (III) versions of all weapons added.
9 modules added for starters: 3 engine mods and 6 weapon mods.
Alternate and better gas tanks added, all the way up through experimental.  They require Engineering to equip, but may eventually shift to Engines.
Some projectile effects changed.  Plasma cannons and mass driver now have animated shots and pulse lasers really pulse!
Introduced scaling models for medium- and large-sized energy weapons.  Thanks FlessenGreendart!
Also from FlessenGreendart, there is a one-off character available: the Han Solo class, complete with his own Falcon.  Coming soon, a giant sphere to fly into.  (Just kidding, but only about the Death Star.)

Flessen, I tagged you at the top of the main post as a contributor, as well.  Is this okay with you?  I just want to give credit where credit is due, and while I need to test the scaled turrets on all hulls still... the ones I did get to test on, they looked amazing.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: FlessenGreendart on September 04, 2014, 04:34:36 AM
Thanks for the credit  ;D

Glad they're working out, have you managed to sort out the muzzle flash issue?

Also, did you find a use for my custom built turrets? I can throw together some more if you would like.
As a personal goal, I'd like to make each of the vanilla turrets have a unique model, so I'll most likely be doing it anyway.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 04, 2014, 08:10:07 AM
I have not tried the customs.  But I will, that should be soon.  I do like the thought of customs-for-everything, too.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Samui on September 04, 2014, 01:41:24 PM
At last I have fuel tanks! =)
Great work as always, Hammish.

I just realize that most of russian speaking comminity will need translation of your mod. I allready started with items translation for myself and can share after it will be done.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 04, 2014, 09:07:34 PM
Awesome, thanks man!  And thanks for the praise, too.

If you're going to do that I'll toss your name on the credits as well, and I'll keep the changelog for each version extra-clean so you know what was all added.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Tchey on September 05, 2014, 03:57:18 AM
I've patched the game to the last version, installed the mod, started a new world, new character, and... nothing... loading screen after accepting my character. For now about 10 minutes.

Did i miss something ?
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Tchey on September 05, 2014, 04:44:03 AM
Hm after restarting the game completly two times, i am able to play. However i have another trouble : i'm an Engineer, because i want to go Trade/Mining and nothing else seems fine for these jobs. I need to stay alive, so i try to equip a missile weapon and a beam weapon, as my freighter allows me to do so. But i can't. The missile says i'm not allowed to equip missiles, but looking at the skill tree i can't see anywhere to unlock that. I've put one point into turret, one into Beam and one into Missile.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 05, 2014, 08:31:10 AM
Are you attempting to use a non-BTC save or do you have other mods running when you play with BTC on?  If so, that could be responsible.  Missile weapons in BTC are actually split into two categories: pure missile weapons and carrier drones.  Every hull in the game with green hardpoints is able to mount one or another but never both, and the hull itself carries the unlock for either missiles or drones; you don't actually research it, just equip the hull and you'll automatically gain the ability to equip the type that matches up!  So it'd be helpful to know which hull you were trying to equip, since if it's a BTC hull it means I missed adding an attribute somewhere.

If you look at, say, the Apollo-C hull... you can actually see that one of the attributes it gives is 'Equip Missile Weapons OK'.
By contrast, if you mouse over the the Hera-C, it gives 'Equip Carrier Drones OK'.

Unfortunately, this also means any non-BTC ship you use at the same time as the mod isn't going to have functional missile points.

P.S. To equip most turrets, you don't actually need any sort of subresearch into energy, missiles, ect in BTC.  Those are just for fighter pilots to specialize and really enhance specific weapon sorts.  To equip most turrets you simply need to go down the Gunnery line for regular turrets, or Gunnery + Experimental line for Hybrid weapons.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Tchey on September 05, 2014, 10:09:08 AM
I only have installed your mod, nothing else, and i try to install missile weapon on the new freighter hull from your mod, the one i get from Joe after the first mission.
I will check again, maybe i've missed something, but i'm pretty sure i can't equip and i don't have the skill on the skill tree.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Samui on September 05, 2014, 11:38:26 AM
Some of your mod ships missing skills or hardpoints that they should have according to description. I'll try to list them all later if you didn't find they by yourself.

About mod translation:
When I translated all character types and came to check it in the game... there was only "? ? ? ?  ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??". But with items/ships/factions everething ok... that strange.

For now I finished translation for: factions, boosters, consumables, devices, engines, fuel tanks, generators, grapplers, hulls and characters. I hope to comletely translate all items and skill tree till the monday.
If some body want to check it out please download it from here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lyyo8qzq1k1rmad/rubtc.mpk?dl=0

I'll be glad to see some suggestions and error reports.

 
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 06, 2014, 02:36:51 AM
Ahhhh, I see now!  Thanks for pointing it out, I see the issue now.  Originally I had been using the Freighter hull for the Hephaestus, with the introduction of the Endeavor I swapped them around and used the Endeavor for the HPH and the Freighter for the PERS but forgot to change up the hardpoints when I did so.  Sorry, my bad. :)

The correct layouts (should be fixed in a new patch on Saturday) should be:
HPH Civilian - 2x energy-I
HPH Mk I - 2x energy-I
HPH Mk II - 2x energy-I, 1x missile-I (bottom mount)
HPH Experimental - 2x energy-I, 1x missile-II (bottom mount)

PERS Mk I - 2x energy-II
PERS Experimental - 2x energy-II, 1x missile-II (bottom mount)
PERS Military Refit - 2x energy-II, 2x drone bay-I

That's why the attribute was missing; because the Mk I you get from the quest shouldn't have a missile on it, I never added the attribute.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Tchey on September 06, 2014, 03:55:10 AM
Alright !

Thanks for the mod, and for the upcoming update(s) !

AtomicTorch should copy/buy/borrow your ideas. The mod is very interesting, more readable and deeper than the vanilla system, both about graphics and gameplay.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 06, 2014, 04:04:56 AM
Well, thank you, for starters. :)

And I already gave 'em permission to borrow anything they'd like, actually, though I think more of the depth in-systems is coming from them fairly soon.  Crafting is on the list for them if I remember right, and that right there will both massively increase the scale of the game while making mod support even easier in terms of adding in new content.  That's why I pushed my planned crafting system way back; my workaround was to make quest hand-ins to 'craft', but I bet theirs will be quite a bit deeper and able to utilize the UI, and thus, far more eloquent.

My systems still do need a lot more work, though, in my opinion, especially at higher levels, but I only have so much free time.  Just glad that ideas are starting to come together from the community and we're getting a bit of cross-mod/work cooperation. :D
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 06, 2014, 03:14:12 PM
1.1.1 released, should fix up the HPH-C and HPH-I.  Let me know if it didn't take on your save for some reason.

It also has the SPACE FLAMETHROWER.  But don't flame me too hard over it.  It's a WIP. :P
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Tchey on September 07, 2014, 12:58:46 AM
I will test it as soon as it's downloaded. Why more than 200 Mo ? It seems huge !
(edit : tested and fixed, thanks)

It would be nice to update the main mod title according to version, something like :

From : Breaching the Core Full Mod Main
To : Breaching the Core - 1.1.1 - 140907

and also edit the first message here to add a link to the other topic.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 07, 2014, 03:23:48 AM
Ah, it's just huge because I haven't yet optimized what I all need to actually save in my modpack.  I can probably strip out a lot of the default sounds and models that I just use as-is, I'll make sure to put that on my list for 1.2.  Thanks for mentioning it and reminding me!

Alas, some duplication is necessary because there are certain aspects of the vanilla game that I keep disabled in BTC.  For instance, the weapon folders are quite large because I keep a duplicate copy of all of the vanilla weapons, and just set them to enabled=0.  But those are .XMLs and are fairly small.  You will, however, see the size of the mod grow steadily as time goes on as more and more custom hulls are added to it, along with sounds and other things that are a fair bit larger than marked-up text documents.

And speaking of which, anyone out there good with sounds?  I need a good sound for a space flamethrower, I finally have the effect looking like I want on the local end.  Thanks to the wonders of animated spites the fire now starts as a small burst and expands through space to really look like flame!  I would also welcome thoughts on how to balance a weapon like this; currently it's very high DPS but has a very quick damage falloff (a target five units away from you would already be taking less damage than if you just used a pulse laser) and the shots are very slow to give it the proper visual effect, but I am open to thoughts on how such a weapon should be behaving since I don't think I can currently manage to code in a damage-over-time effect.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Tchey on September 07, 2014, 04:09:22 AM
I've tested the flamer, i don't really like to use it. It's way too short range and not enough powerful to balance that, i think. Also, i find strange to have flame like this in space. Maybe simply change the color and name, something like "blue magnetic vomit" or "green corrosive spit". I would keep the short range but boost the damage, but i'm not sure...

Another thing about the mod : i can't find anywhere a mining device better than civilian, so i can't mine advanced ores. Same goes for the grappler, only civilian ones are available. I've been to all kind of stations in different systems and factions. I'm now level 25 and working my way to join the Order.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: FlessenGreendart on September 07, 2014, 09:16:48 AM
Enjoying your mod so far!

Just a little suggestion:

I'd like to see a slight variance between the different tiers of hulls, just so they can be quickly identified.
nothing major, just like a palette swap or something.
Would come in handy if, for example, you come across a pirate, you'd know what you were up against.  ;)

Here's what I mean:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/peixv7rsx0njlf9/Athena%20Ships.jpg?dl=1)

Also, unrelated; I noticed the tutorial quest still has the title "Package for a Banshee" even though (technically) the Banshee doesn't exist in your mod.
(generic_quest_begin_tutorial.js; line 193)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 07, 2014, 10:18:11 AM
Excellent ideas on the color shift!  I had played around with it a bit earlier in the mod history but never really got serious about it.  I can totally take a look at both that and at the prospect of possibly adding other flair.  Extra running lights on the Civ model (since it's really supposed to be almost like a trainer or 'test drive' model for different weight classes) and things like that.

For the flamer, it was actually something of a fun discussion sometime back in this thread or another.  And while flames would be odd (and impossible more or less except for if you had a hull breach or something), plasma is perfectly plausible and even works with the notion that other weapons are using magnetic fields as well.  Quick question, though: how close were you when you were using the plasma?  The way I had it set up was to have the damage falloff close to a straight linear, with full damage out to 1 range and max damage out to 10, so ever at range 5.5 you'd already only be doing 50% of the normal damage.  It should also have almost no armor piercing capability against things like cruiser hulls, but when I tested it out myself I was melting any sort of light ship that got too close to me in a second or two with just one of them. :)

With regards to mining, you're not missing anything; currently the civilian miner and grappler are the only ones available.  I wanted the industial section of the mod to really stand out and other people on the forums are/were slaving away on doing some really awesome things when it came to expanding on the mining theme, so I figured I'd wait and see what they came up with. :)  Still, I hadn't thought about the advanced ores; what I'll do for 1.2 as a short-term fix is tack the Astrogeology skill on to the hulls designed for mining (on the notion that they have specialized computers for scanning asteroids) and whip up some icons for the advanced miners in vanilla so you can snag them and get at the good ores while I plan out the endgame for all that.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: FlessenGreendart on September 07, 2014, 11:38:00 AM
I like the idea of the runners, but then again, I'm a sucker for pretty lights! ;D
If you want, I can throw together the texture swaps, it didn't take me long to do the Athena hulls. I spent more time trying to find them in game than I did making them!

I haven't tried the flamer yet, but I can't wait to try it out!
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Lurler on September 07, 2014, 11:38:20 PM
Looks pretty cool. I like the idea. Fairly easy to implement and would give some nice variations.

Now, in regards to crafting that was mentioned in the topic earlier. Just want to give a little info on that. We definitely plan to add crafting but just so you don't hold your breath it will be one of the last additions to the game. First there will be things like autopilot, full story line, female characters, some other stuff and such. Basically to make the game feature and scope complete. And when it's done only then we will start adding things such as crafting and upgrades as these are more like extensions of the game rather than a core features.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 08, 2014, 01:30:12 AM
Makes sense, and thanks for the timeline clarification.  I may just bump up my simple version, then, as it won't be too terribly difficult to implement on a small scale.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Samui on September 08, 2014, 12:40:11 PM
Done with mod translation. I'll share it after some testing.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 09, 2014, 01:51:19 AM
Update coming later this afternoon or Wednesday, v1.2.  Adds in a few small bugfixes, various new weapon effects, and four new weapons that I have been tinkering with.  As always, let me know what you think.  :)

Plasma Ejector: Space flamethrower.  Short range, not great against armor but high DPS in close.  I rigged the projectiles so they slow down a bit at the outer edge of range and linger in space slightly, also making it a fairly effective area-denial weapon (and easier to use given the limited range)

Harmonic Amplifier: Low DPS mid-range weapon that fires wide cone-shaped shots that are essentially concussive force.  The larger versions don't increase much in damage but the cones become much wider and larger, allowing for effective defense against ships outside the normal firing arc.  (Still testing the medium and large versions, the final versions will either have a 90/180/360 degree area of coverage with very low DPS or a 45/90/180 degree area of coverage with slightly-better DPS.)

Shockwave Cannon: An overpacked ballistic weapon, so much launching charge is used for each projectile that the excess explosion actually leaves the barrel as well.  Both the shot and the explosive wave can hit enemies, so the weapon can be used a mass driver that does less damage at long range but has the potential for better DPS in close where both the metal shot and shockwave can hit.

Quad-Linked Cannons: Bridges the gap between the rotary AC and the burst rifle.  Fairly average weapons with sustained damage over time and decent accuracy.

Edit: Instead of releasing a full version, people want to give me their opinions on the new effects for the weapons?  I'm still tweaking the balance numbers but you can load up the test mod and try them out.  Note, this test doesn't have the new mining stuff in it yet, but that -will- be in the full 1.2.  If you start a Cheater character he'll have both flamers on him, let me know which you like better.  The quad-linked are fine, not sure if I like the effects on the other two... but they're all in the first shop as Civvie weapons for now.  Input appreciated on the looks. :)

Here's da link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/aepfhle41n6hrxb/btc_test_01.zip?dl=0

Another edit: I also took out unneeded files and shrank the size of the mod as requested.  It's now about half what it was.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: inoi on September 11, 2014, 04:10:18 AM
Quote from: Hammish on September 09, 2014, 01:51:19 AM
Update coming later this afternoon or Wednesday, v1.2.
I don't get, archive doesn't include modsconfig.xml so how can i enable the modifications?)
Have you posted it else where?
I'm pretty sure it is in some obvious place, but i can't find it, lol.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: FlessenGreendart on September 11, 2014, 05:37:55 AM
Hi, and welcome to the forums!

If you're having troubles installing, maybe this'll help:

Installation Instructions:

Game Launcher method (recommended):

Using the AtomicTorch Game launcher, do the following
1. In the cog menu, next to "Play", click "Open Mods folder"
2. Paste the btc.mpk file in the folder
3. back in the game launcher, open the "Play" cog menu again, and click "select active mods"
4. make sure the checkbox is checked for this mod
5. Play game

Manual Method

1. Navigate to game folder
    (By default C:\Users\*username*\AppData\Local\AtomicTorchStudio\Launcher\Games\VoidExpanse\)
2. Paste the mpk(s) inside the "Mods" folder.
2. Go back to VoidExpanse folder and open ModsConfig.xml
3. Underneath "<mod>core_1.0.0</mod>", add this line of text:
      <mod>btc_1.1.1</mod>
4. save the file and load the game
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: inoi on September 11, 2014, 06:33:32 AM
Quote from: FlessenGreendart on September 11, 2014, 05:37:55 AM
3. Underneath "<mod>core_1.0.0</mod>", add this line of text:
      <mod>btc_1.1.1</mod>
That works, thanks.
I have tried to add breaching_the_core_1.1.1 before asking, was close )

Quote from: FlessenGreendart on September 11, 2014, 05:37:55 AM
Using the AtomicTorch Game launcher, do the following
Damn, i'm didn't noticed that stuff in the download section and just downloaded the game archive that does not include it...
Thanks again!)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: FlessenGreendart on September 11, 2014, 11:25:06 AM
Glad to be of service :)

I advise you use the launcher, it makes updating and modding a lot easier.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 13, 2014, 03:41:36 AM
Two screenshots for people over the weekend:

(http://i.imgur.com/MHl23KO.jpg)

New dual-barrel ballistic turret for the dual-linked cannons.  Compliments of Flessen.

(http://i.imgur.com/xACWlXa.jpg)

New spinal mount weapon.  (Dun dun DUN!)  New model also compliments of Flessen.  Still working on HD graphics for the gun but when you shoot that baby you can feel it. :)

Both should be in update 1.2 coming Sunday or Monday.  Linked cannons, flamethrower, shockwave cannon, harmonic cannon and energy auger are all pretty much close to completion now along with that first Cap weapon, the Capital-class gauss cannon.   I'll probably continue to work on the projectile art for all the new guns after I release, though, as some of them like the shockwave cannon and harmonic resonator are still a bit clunky.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Samui on September 13, 2014, 05:16:02 AM
Zag! Zag! =)

Great work, Hammish, as always ;)

About Ru BTC:
Here is complete russian localization of 1.1.0 BTC. https://www.dropbox.com/s/1klx0sivugjmnao/0.1.1%20stable.rar?dl=0

Becouse of font problems there is no Characters translation, and you will see "? ? ? ?..." in pop up messages receiving quest items. This will be fixed when localization system will be released.

I must clarify that it is just mod localization, not full game translate.

Ru BTC will be updated shortly after every BTC update and every time when I need to correct grammatical errors and/or change some descriptions.

Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 14, 2014, 12:23:15 PM
Awesome, man!  Let me prep a link for it on the main page a bit later and give you credit for that work. :)

Also, BTC 1.2.0 released today.  Added: Plasma ejector, wave projector, beam auger, dual-linked cannon, shockwave cannon, advanced mining devices.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Lurler on September 14, 2014, 07:22:43 PM
Oh, that double barrel ballistic cannon looks cool. Almost like it is a vanilla model :)

And just a note: You can actually install mods just by double clicking on the mpk file if you are using the launcher. It will be automatically copied in the right location and installed.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 14, 2014, 11:20:37 PM
The dual-barrel even uses the default texture for turrets, either Flessen got lucky on scaling the width for that effect or he tinkered until it worked. ;)

The only issue with the double-barrel turret is that the bullets all originate from the center of the turret.  I still found a way around this, though, even if it fudges things -slightly-.  The normal bullet is centered in a square for the projectile.  The dual fires two shots in quick succession using two different projectile graphics, one slightly left-justified and one slightly right-justified.  Voila, the shots appear to be coming from each barrel (with a bit of scale tinkering) but the overall hitbox of the projectiles isn't thrown off too much.

I also highly recommend everyone check out both the ejector and the shockwave cannon, I'm very proud of them. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: FlessenGreendart on September 15, 2014, 02:29:04 AM
It is just a tweaked version of the original, so even with scaling, the textures were still mapped nicely.


Quote from: Lurler on September 14, 2014, 07:22:43 PM
And just a note: You can actually install mods just by double clicking on the mpk file if you are using the launcher. It will be automatically copied in the right location and installed.
And I did not know that about MPKs. I'll make sure to include that in future readmes :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Lurler on September 15, 2014, 02:53:29 AM
Quote from: FlessenGreendart on September 15, 2014, 02:29:04 AM
And I did not know that about MPKs. I'll make sure to include that in future readmes :)
Yup, basically just double click and bam, it's installed. Then you may enable it if you want and play.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Hole_in_Head on September 15, 2014, 07:24:35 AM
Quote from: Samui on August 29, 2014, 06:44:56 AM
Hope dev's take some good things from your mod to main game. Or even all of them ;)
Talking about rewards: can you add some pirate fighting reward? 50-200cr for shooted down depending of target strength?
And one more thing: full energy ships extremely rare, why?

Hi Samui,

Here's a small mod that will give bounties for destroyed pirates.  It's a single file edited, so it can be used standalone.  To use it with other mods, it should have the highes priority, otherwise it might not have any effect. 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9IgYXhKrGk0Rk94THBXUThsNkk/edit?usp=sharing


Also, found a small typo that was causing the pirates to want to all group up at the star in the middle of the map.  This should fix that. Just make sure it has a higher priority than the BTC mod.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9IgYXhKrGk0Q19nS0hZMlJQa1U/edit?usp=sharing

Note that the bug above can actually just be fixed by removing the StickToPointAggr.js file from the BTC mod, but figure the mod pack might be easier for some to use.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod
Post by: Samui on September 15, 2014, 07:44:55 AM
Quote from: Hole_in_Head on September 15, 2014, 07:24:35 AM
Hi Samui,

Here's a small mod that will give bounties for destroyed pirates.  It's a single file edited, so it can be used standalone.  To use it with other mods, it should have the highes priority, otherwise it might not have any effect. 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9IgYXhKrGk0Rk94THBXUThsNkk/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks, I'll test it as soon as posible.

Quote from: Hole_in_Head on September 15, 2014, 07:24:35 AM
Also, found a small typo that was causing the pirates to want to all group up at the star in the middle of the map.  This should fix that. Just make sure it has a higher priority than the BTC mod.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9IgYXhKrGk0Q19nS0hZMlJQa1U/edit?usp=sharing

Note that the bug above can actually just be fixed by removing the StickToPointAggr.js file from the BTC mod, but figure the mod pack might be easier for some to use.

This bug was already reported, and I didn't saw it in 0.9.9d version. Strange.


2Hammish: open your PM box plz :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hole_in_Head on September 15, 2014, 08:42:18 AM
On the pirate bug, if I were to guess, the BTC files just contain the older version of the file.  I have 0.9.9d, and only saw the behavior once I started using BTC.  The script had a typo so that the pirates were told to go to an undefined coordinate, which just results in going to the center of the map.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Samui on September 15, 2014, 10:49:04 AM
Quote from: Hole_in_Head on September 15, 2014, 08:42:18 AM
On the pirate bug, if I were to guess, the BTC files just contain the older version of the file.  I have 0.9.9d, and only saw the behavior once I started using BTC.  The script had a typo so that the pirates were told to go to an undefined coordinate, which just results in going to the center of the map.

I think Hammish can deal with it if you right ;)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hole_in_Head on September 15, 2014, 11:11:14 AM
Yup, no doubt.  He's done awesome work on the mod, I love it!  :)  Just throwing the fix out there for those who might need it in the mean time.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 15, 2014, 11:11:28 PM
Awesome, thanks for heads-up on such.  The pirate files will be reworked from scratch once a new version of core.cpk is out, anyway, since they were always just a bit of a placeholder.  I wanted to get the baseline numbers on my mod balanced just so before I tuned the NPCs around it. :)

It's entirely likely that this is what causes the bug, though, yes.  The pirate files -are- super-old, back from like 0.8 or so, possibly.  It's also why you still see some pirates still using the old weapons once you go into higher-difficulty systems or level up, because I only did up basic versions for the low-rankers.  I should put all this up on the planned changes, though. :P

Also, glad you're liking the mod!
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Samui on September 16, 2014, 11:39:04 AM
1.2.0 translated and optimized size like in main mod. https://www.dropbox.com/s/gqbaa639eqwhz4e/0.1.2rubtc.rar?dl=0
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 16, 2014, 03:35:16 PM
Since I've had a few requests for this from multiple people, here's a copy of the local data I use to balance out equipment in my mod:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_lj5ZECu9jRJdOThJrFFKSiGdqP55poeRxbXxkBPmQk/pubhtml

I can't guarantee that I'll keep it updated non-stop (far easier for me to keep an Excel open locally, currently) but it at least gives people a baseline.   If it ever gets to the point where a perma-group forms up and makes the project their own, I'll switch over to just Google Docs as a permanent solution.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: FlessenGreendart on September 16, 2014, 03:53:25 PM
Thanks muchly for that, that'll help a ton creating BTC friendly versions of my mods. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 20, 2014, 12:34:58 PM
Changes coming for 1.3:

Industry tree (FINALLY, amirite?)

Changes to weapon skills.  Each weapon type will now branch into two paths: damage increases (that get better as your level goes up) and utility.  Rate of fire boosts are being removed from all energy and ballistic weapons to make way for other weapon changes, these skills will be adjusted and should not affect saved games (I'm hoping!)

Some updated/new weapon sprite effects.  I want to make this mod shiny. :)

New weapon: Tachyon Needler.  Experimental weapon.  A cyclic version of the tachyon repeater, this weapon takes five seconds to spin up to full power as well as five seconds to come to a rest after firing.  Starts off as low DPS but ramps up to twice that of the repeater after hitting peak.  Is a substantial burden on the ship's power systems to keep charged.
New weapon: Standard Cannon.  These replace the rotary AC as a normal weapon, having slightly more punch but a slower rate of fire, especially the larger versions.  The choice for 'baseline' weapons in ballistics is now standard cannons for average performance, dual-linked cannons for two shots but twice the reload time, burst rifles for 3/6/9 shots but even longer reloads, or mass drivers with lower DPS but massive damage per shot for armor penetration.
New weapon: Naval Artillery.  This gun fires shells that do about the same damage as the mass driver but at a slower rate.  They are timed, however, and after a bit explode in a large radius.  Perfect for taking care of groups or for hard-to-hit enemies, but watch the friendly fire.
New weapon: Scatterpack Missile System.  Missed your mines?  You won't have to anymore.  Fires a warhead that deploys a minefield a fixed distance from your craft.
New weapon: Daisycutter Missile System.  Experimental weapon.  Yo dawg, we heard you like mines, so we put mines in your mines so you can mine while you mine.  The daisy cutter, when fired, will deploy a minefield at a fixed distance.  These mines in turn will split into more mines, which will then detonate a short while later.  Still playing around with this one and delaying the explosions on the sub-submunitions so it doesn't overwhelm the sound channels in the game. >.>
Revised Weapon: Rotary Autocannon.  Redone and made into an Experimental weapon, this is now the ballistic version of the Tachyon Needler; it takes the same five seconds to achieve peak rate of fire and to cool down after.  Doesn't have the power limitation of the tach but chews through the finite ammo like nobody's business.

Artemis bomber renamed to the Pan.  Now uses the Boomerang hull and will only support three missile hardpoints.  It is now frigate-sized instead of a corvette and a heavier, slower, harder-hitting craft all-around.
The new Artemis is an energy-based version of the Dionysus.  Gunboats for erryone!
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Tchey on September 24, 2014, 06:47:19 AM
Thanks.

Hmmm... now you have to update everything to Alpha 0.10 !
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 25, 2014, 04:35:38 AM
Quote from: Tchey on September 24, 2014, 06:47:19 AM
Thanks.

Hmmm... now you have to update everything to Alpha 0.10 !

Not so hard as you think really. :)  The only major time I had to really shift stuff around was when they added a few different variables to items and gear, and those are easy enough to spot when you try to run the game + mod on the server app and it fails the parse.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 26, 2014, 08:19:50 AM
v1.3 test is out and up in the main link.  I'm sure some things will still be broken but it's at least playable now and more or less like it used to be; you might just see some aspects of old vanilla equipment popping up now and again until I go over the files with a fine-tooth comb. :P

Added this release (since it wasn't everything):
Tachyon Needler (High DPS experimental energy weapon, energy hog, takes 3/4/5 seconds to spin up depending on size class)
Rotary AC (Changed to high DPS experimental ballistic weapon, takes 3/4/5 seconds to spin up depend on class size, chews up finite ammo quickly)
Standard cannons and Dual-linked cannons (regular ballistic weapons, fires either a single shot (average weapon) or two shots in rapid succession with twice the reload time)
Naval artillery (slightly more damage than the mass driver but much lower DPS in general, shells explode after 0.75 seconds in a wide radius)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 27, 2014, 12:39:51 PM
Pic of the day:

(http://i.imgur.com/qI7wp1l.jpg)

Showing off the up-and-coming revamped Artemis Energy Gunship sporting a few of Flessen's new gatling-style turret models with textures slightly modified by me.  (I'm just giving turrets more shown metal, so they look better across hulls with different coloring.)  Side note: never actually run the setup you see here on the craft, given the energy consumption on those tachyon needlers.  It... doesn't end so well. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: FlessenGreendart on September 27, 2014, 01:50:16 PM
That texture looks a lot better!
Looking at that loadout, I bet the pirates'd be dead before your generator runs flat... as long as you don't mind crawling home!
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on September 27, 2014, 06:26:26 PM
Pretty close thing, actually. :)

The needler is one of those new 'conceptual' things I'm playing around with, both in terms of a weapon with a spin-up time and a weapon that essentially allows you to 'cash in' on excess power to do better DPS.  Under peak use even the small version will drain 150 power/second to charge up, though that can be brought down with skills a slight bit. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on October 01, 2014, 03:20:42 AM
BTC 1.4 released in the main link.  It might require a restart, sadly.  Trying to limit them!  But the changes to the tech tree to add in everything desired ended up being substantial.  The major trees are now:

Engines, a tree for maneuver, a tree for speed/escape, and a tree for gearing
Hulls, a tree for each size class
Weapon enhancement, a tree for each type (misc stats on turrets)
Ammo enhancement, a tree for each type (damage)
Turret mechanics, a tree for max size normal, max size experimental, and turret tracking
Engineering, a tree for reactor tweaking, a tree for mining, and a tree for gearing
Defenses, a tree for shields, a tree for armor, and a tree for gearing
Radar, a tree for gearing and a tree for raw increases
Social, a tree for trade margins, a tree for repair, and a tree for rewards/persuasion.

New mining class to go with such things!
New models, ermagerd!  The gatlings look great.  Also threw in the initial versions of the rocket packs and the long-barrel guns, though they are still being tweaked.  All Flessen's work.

All that is left before Version 2 now are to finalize some weapon tweaking and models, do the rest of the boost modules, finish two last hulls (based on the boomerang and yamato) and then rebalance the hulls.  (The speed penalty will be dropping on larger hulls, making them more viable.  They will still turn like damn bricks, however.)  I may also start showcasing some of the work I'm doing with hull texture reworks to easily identify mark versions.  I'm hoping that getting your first Experimental-class gear will not only bring power but AWESOME LOOKS. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Samui on October 01, 2014, 04:58:33 AM
Seems it didn't work with 1.10.1b =(

When do you think you can release 2.0? Approximately ofcourse.

After October 4-th, I can spend more time on translations, now to busy even for VE testing =( I think, I should wait for your mod release and translate everething in one shot then =)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on October 01, 2014, 09:43:26 PM
I'm hoping that 2.0 isn't too far off, probably a few weeks.  I'll do a test build for it and toss it up on here, then probably make v2.0 the actual 'release candidate' for when everything with Steam is finished up and added down the road.  Right now the major stuff to be done that will affect translation is just to get the last few hulls in along with the remainder of the weapons (MRMs, mines, and the capital laser and missile system).  I'm pretty happy with the skill tree currently unless I go deeper into the mining or trading aspects at some point, just numbers tweaking on the rest, and I'll continue to update models for projectiles and the like as I find/request ones I like, but none of those will actually affect the .xmls. :)

Also, 1.4.1 uploading to dropbox now, should be available in about 5 minutes and should be compatible with 1.10.  Just had some issues with quests since they took the topic folder and gave it the 'ol subfolder treatment. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Lurler on October 01, 2014, 09:55:41 PM
A little note - I kind of feel bad about compatibility with experimental versions. These versions are just that, experimental, they are not really supposed to be actually played or having mods based of them. I would rather suggest waiting for stable releases...
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on October 02, 2014, 08:31:47 AM
No need to feel badly about that, Lurler, at least in this case. ;)  The only reason the last few patches have broken the mod (or probably most mods) was just based on you guys making the XML folders a bit more clean and putting in subfolders for ease of locating stuff.  Stuff like that almost never is going to be reverted when you head up to a stable version, so I figured sure... why not?

Now, if I was messing around with stuff that you were just introducing or have said changes are coming to (like autopilot or the Xen storyline/unlocks, respectively), then I'd be more wary of messin' with experimental stuff and would probably hold off.

That said, you bring up a good point and it wouldn't kill me to keep two links and two versions up on my dropbox, a newest candidate for release versions and any current experimental builds I toss up.  There has to be a reason why I keep a record log and a file log of previous versions, right? :D
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on October 05, 2014, 06:46:46 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/I3F6Oe1.jpg)

First look at the reskin work for the Banshee/Athena hull in BTC.  It's a bit dulled-down in terms of colors and has caution stickers on it as a bit of a tongue-in-cheek joke, as this is going to be the Civilian version and thus a training ship. :)  I also added in a few other extra details like egress/fueling ports and the like for a bit of eye candy when you're in port.  The version I'm working on for more advanced versions uses multi-coloring and is shaping up well, and there will be versions for the pirates to use sporting the Jolly Roger.

This picture also shows off two new varieties of turret skins, the basic ballistic and the focusing box for certain energy weapons.  Most of the turret changes are along the same lines as the hulls: made color-neutral so they look nice on all hulls, with a few extra small bits of bling thrown in like high-voltage warnings and the like. :)

Edit: Here's the first look of the blinged-out Athena Experimental.  Mostly I tossed it out to show off three more of the newer weapon models.  From left to right along the top, the dual-barrel box turret, the rotary turret, and long-barrel cannon for artillery and other big guns.  Credit to Flessen again on all of the model changes, I'm just touching up the basic skins from AT on my end.

(http://i.imgur.com/bfcflDk.jpg)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Lurler on October 05, 2014, 11:01:48 PM
These new reskins of the ships look gorgeous!
Though that loooong barreled turret, it looks kind of strange :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on October 05, 2014, 11:48:18 PM
Yeah, the one with the super-long barrel is the one for the Naval Artillery.  I kinda wanted it to look kinda like arty barrels in real life. :)

It looked -really- awkward to me when it was just a longer barrel, though, given where the mounting post was on the back of the turrets.  So Flessen moved it forward a bit, though you can't really see it well in that picture.  The entire assembly rotates along an axis closer to the center, so it feel really heavy and is kinda cool to watch.

Wait until ya see the gfx for the multi-pack missile turrets he has rolling out.  I think there will be a 3-, 6-, and 9-missile version as his time allows and they look /gorgeous/.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on October 06, 2014, 12:39:40 AM
BTW, I saved the best for last:

(http://i.imgur.com/ULKmUuW.jpg)

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... the Pirate Mod Athena.  (Okay, so it's seen better days.  I still like how the paint job turned out!  I really wanted a rusted-out graffiti'd look.)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on October 07, 2014, 05:40:25 AM
New Crab/Poseidon:

(http://i.imgur.com/fZkPyTi.jpg)

Still playing around with this one a bit, not sure if I like the extra shininess on it.  Part of me likes the notion of the better the base hull, the better the ship LOOKS (thus pirate ships looking beat to hell), but this might be a bit over the top.  I like how the meshes on the weapon mounts worked out, too.  Being the experimental version this one also moves the launchers outside the housing, though you can't see them in this shot, to the bottom of the craft as one of the upgrades it gets in terms of functionality: an arc on the launchers, instead of having them fixed.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on November 21, 2014, 09:33:43 AM
For anyone interested, I have a new release candidate that is compatible with the Steam version of VE.  Not going to toss up a link for it yet, but shoot me a PM if you'd like to try it out with the new UI.  Working on a few small things right now to hopefully make the icons for BTC mesh really, really nicely with the new game UI, then I'll wrap up Tech II development after the Steam launch.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on December 06, 2014, 02:14:24 AM
Main page for the BTC mod updated with some of the weapons changes coming for 2.0 with the Steam release.  Mine weapons are currently being worked on and some old ideas (like the rotaries that spun up) have been scrapped given some limitations in-game or general clunkiness of the concept.  Weapons are also now streamlined into themes with an upgrade along each tree (basic weapon, three 'standard' versions of the concept, then an experimental version with unique attributes).
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: jeeplaw on December 06, 2014, 07:13:27 PM
Hammish, should i hold off installing your current version just to wait for the steam release (windows)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on December 07, 2014, 04:41:21 AM
You can still try it out if you want, the current version linked on the main mod page should still work with the most recent non-Steam release for VE.  (I haven't tested it in a little while, but I'm pretty sure it's good to go.)  Just be aware that savegames will not be compatible going forward, even if the Steam release of VE allows for them; too many changes in too much equipment, with some things being tossed or renamed.

That being said, I'm still looking for feedback, even on some of the old weapons.  The plasma ejector (flamethrower), for example, is in the current non-Steam release but clunky and the projectile animations don't work all that well in the new version (or with multiplayer latency), so things like that I'm still looking for suggestions on... in addition to weapon systems or equipment people would like to see that don't exist in it yet that push the envelope of my creativity like the drone/fighter systems did.  A few good examples here are still wanting to develop some support modules with tactical tradeoffs like a repair beam or the ability to replicate ammo/fuel in the field (both probably carrying the drawback of effectively EMPing the ship and rooting it in place, making them dicey to use mid-fight) but would expand on the device/module slots of the game.  I just need more people on the project, still, or more hours in my day to really dive into the Javascript (which is a fair bit more complicated than tinkering with numbers in Excel and then swapping them into .XML files.)

The ultimate goal is to link all that sort of stuff in with the skill tree and provide some excellent late-game progression and really allowing a person to excel in a role while forcing tradeoffs (support equipment means less room for weapon modules, mining equipment or maneuvering assistance, you know!  There's even modules coming down the pipe that help traders, messing with margins and providing extra discounts; I would assume that a trader would have the electronics on his ship decked out in such a way.)  It's already at the point where a pilot leveling up needs to make some hard choices on skills given that most of the higher-tier equipment in BTC requires a skill unlock; I want to continue down that path and make customization really matter and shine. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on December 20, 2014, 04:10:58 PM
Just as a note for anyone who follows the mod, going to be releasing 1.9 before the end of the year with the new weapons and balance changes, since it appears that both versions of VE are now running off the same base code.  Could really, really stand to have some people lined up to help test and debug, especially with some of the new mechanics and effects I am trying out (like the new plasma streamer concept that won't lag out machines quite as bad, some of the new bomber types (sadly beam drones aren't an option due to how beam weapons originate) and the new fusion tri-beams.)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Excalibur on December 21, 2014, 02:40:02 AM
Hey Hammish,

I've got a bunch of folks playing intensely every day on a somewhat private server, if you need testers, I can wipe the server save and start over with the mod installed. Some of them are really looking for new content, they've basically burned out breaking the current game. :D

So, if you want it tested, I can certainly train the imps on it. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on December 21, 2014, 05:02:58 AM
I'd love that, though you shouldn't even need to wipe the server; I haven't tinkered with the server configs much but you can always just create a new world with the mod installed, yeah?  If you wouldn't be adverse I could even pop into your server and get some feedback directly, if if you had a planned time when people were around and you knew when you might try it out.

I'd say hell, you could just install the mod on the existing game, but that generally doesn't end well; BTC has some fairly massive balance changes to gear and in particular at large component sizes it starts to show (the small weapons are about in the same range as core, but instead of following a x1/x2/x3 pattern for S/M/L in core, BTC follows a x1/x1.5/x2 pattern on overall DPS, with larger guns for the most part having a longer cooldown between shots in exchange for large burst potential and armor-defeating capability.  If you develop it as a character you can get armor up to some pretty obscene levels, enough to completely nullify shots from small turrets that aren't aren't dedicated anti-armor and even some shots from the faster-firing medium-size turrets.)  Plus, you know, completely new skill tree for BTC, hard to cross-work it. ;)

The initial 1.9 should have all the new weapons, hulls and skills and most of the new components, in addition to the custom sounds and sprites/particle effects.  I'll be looking to see how people feel in general about the gear selection and skill tree and then move on to balancing NPCs and the like; fair warning, things may get crazy with the new changes to NPC scaling, I have no idea how it affects stats yet. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on December 31, 2014, 06:05:42 PM
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e1xd6b16gaxeekb/btc180.zip?dl=0

I give you... BTC 1.8.0.  Happy new years!

Because I know I've been sitting on it for far too long. :|  It's still buggy but at least people can start checking it out.  Hull and equipment changes are still coming but will be moderate, this version will allow you to at least see and test out the new weapons.  As always feedback (or offers for assistance!) are welcome!

Known issues:
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on January 02, 2015, 11:43:00 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/htuheoZ.jpg)

Showing off the new tri-barrel turret and plasma ejector turret.

(http://i.imgur.com/yk5caLP.jpg)

This is a destroyer with four of the new fusion beams.  It's scary but you don't want to know how quickly your capacitor will deplete. :P
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Syrophir on January 03, 2015, 11:20:55 AM
Hi,

downloaded the 1.8 from the dropbox link.

Trying to activate the mod with the latest version of the game 1.5.3. No other mods.

When the main menu loads up after a couple seconds I got this error:
"Local server fatal error"
"Something bad happened with the local server. Try load your last savegame or start new game."
"Main Menu"-button to click, and then the same error happens again.

Any ideas?

Edit: found the cause, and fixed it.

Parsing errors:
*1) "btc.mpk\data/items/hulls/hull_falcon.xml":
    1) file not found: Icon="content/textures/items/hulls/hull_falcon.png"

The file was in: "/hulls\hull_falcon\hull_falcon.png" and was named untitled-1.png changed the path for it from hull_falcon.xml, and this error perished.

Edit2: Is the topic folder needed at all it just messes up every quest dialogue with numbers, for me at least? Deleted the topics folder of the mod and dialogues worked as in vanilla.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on January 03, 2015, 05:01:12 PM
Huh.  I guess the scripting code for dialogue must have changed yet again.  Thanks for the heads-up on both bugs, and I'll have a fix up later tonight.  The major reason for the having the topic folder is that eventually there will be custom chains for BTC.  As it is, before it was broken, Joe's initial quest is changed in the fact that at the end he gives you a choice of entry level hulls to suit your playstyle: cargo, fighter or interceptor.

I'll have a working 1.8.1 up tonight still.  For repayment for possibly breaking saves I will include some of the new custom sound effects for weapons, too.  And thank you very much for offering the testing and feedback. :D
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on January 03, 2015, 08:39:46 PM
Link to 1.8.1 up in the main thread, should fix the quest issues (think it was just the change to localization variables the screwed it up) as well as the missing .PNG.  Also added in the two new sound effects and threw in the hull revisions I already had done for the next balance pass.  (After I get enough feedback on the new weapons, hulls will be next, with changes coming like stepping the Hera up to an Advanced hull and replacing it with the Hercules MR cruiser, which uses the Yamato hull.)  The Artemis bomber now uses the Boomerang model, the gunships now come in ballistic or energy configurations, and the Persephone military refit should be working now but in need of testing (it replaces the huge cargo hold with two drone bays, giving the first true hybrid ship with 2 medium energy and 2 small drones.)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Syrophir on January 04, 2015, 01:22:31 PM
Thanks for the update! :)

Something that has been bothering me though is that certain ship hulls open their tip upwards instead of downwards making it impossible to see the actual stats I'm interested in. I'm not sure if that is mod related or something the game engine just does when some stars align but just wanted to point this out.

Also repair modules currently require engineering 2, have vanilla icons and are sold in pretty much everywhere. Can't be used at all, not sure if this was intentional.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on January 04, 2015, 02:58:52 PM
Repair modules are just a recent addition to vanilla that I haven't parsed in to BTC yet; it's probably the most challenging aspect of running a full-conversion style thing, adapting to all the cool new stuff that is added. :)  In 1.8.2 I'll make sure that I at least adjust them to use a BTC skill, though, and then work on a final version for them in 1.8.3 (which is when I'm slated to do the skill/module/booster stuff)

So far as the tooltips, though, I'm pretty sure that's all handled by the UI in-game and not something I can adjust freely.

Also, here is a gift for everyone: a picture of the new Persephone skin, military-refit version.  It has a much better angle on the twin energy turrets (one above, one below) and the drones it has fly out of the bays near the back along the sides, while it has the same boosts/penalties of all carriers (-50% lock speed but +50% lock range to keep your prey locked in.)  I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. :)
(http://i.imgur.com/Ef76ydq.jpg)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on January 09, 2015, 05:46:18 AM
v1.8.2 released with the new ships and ship physics; please, check it out!  Also has a new class and some minor stat tweaks, as always please report any bugs you encounter.

Sadly I couldn't get the repair module changes into 1.8.2, but that's okay.  1.8.3 won't take nearly as long I hope, and it should include the BTC version of the hull repair in addition to the shield repair module (better for combat situations) and possibly a few new goodies.  I've always wanted to make a fuel scoop that would effectively EMP your ship for a bit while you refuel in space, but I don't know if I can work the code adequately.  First two are in for sure in 1.8.3 though, as will the final tweaks to the skill system and various non-weapon gear (expect further decreases in performance from piloting skills, currently if you max piloting and get the best engine/RCS you can pull off some crazy shit.)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: jeeplaw on April 03, 2015, 05:38:38 AM
Is this mod now compatible with the steam release?
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on April 05, 2015, 09:59:59 PM
Not quite yet.  Working on getting the mod up to snuff with the new graphics code (it's a damned big mod, so there is a ton to adjust in terms of how the projectiles display to get them how I want them).  v2.0 will be the Steam version and I'll go from there.

Currently I have the new energy and missile weapons all wrapped up.  Hulls and hull skins should be good to go as well, which just leaves ballistic weapons to rework and I should have a test version good to go that is compatible with VE 1.1/Steam release.  After that will come balancing as more people test it out, then the addition of additional expansion modules for ships and eventually class expansion.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on April 08, 2015, 10:45:46 AM
Okay!  It's not -fully- updated yet, but I'm happy enough with it that I'll put up a test link here.  Welcome to the alpha for BTC 2.0. :P

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e59cg3vxnovac1o/BTC200.zip?dl=0

Please, go ahead and snag it, give it a try!  This is mostly just an update for the weapons thus far, with new particle visual effects.  Over the next few days I'll be stripping out the remainder of the vanilla items that are newly-added, putting back in the BTC expansion modules and devices, and providing the BTC weapons/hulls to the bad guys in the universe.  Please DO provide me with whatever feedback you'd like; in particular I really need people's opinions on the flight modeling at higher levels and general thoughts on the weapons; what seems to be overpowered or underpowered, ect.

Thanks in advance!
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on April 08, 2015, 10:47:59 AM
Reserving for a list of known issues with BTC 2.0.0.

1) Ballistic weapons on the carrier module drones not properly updated to new particle effects.
2) Some residual modules slipping through from vanilla VE.
3) Shockwave cannon removed until it can be reworked into something less-clunky.
4) MLRS turret model needs some detailing on the skin. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on April 13, 2015, 10:33:03 PM
Updated to v2.0.1 for some omni-hardpoint goodness.  Mostly on top-end hulls, though.  Hey, it's experimental tech!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xmyw9jz27qknwru/BTC201.zip?dl=0
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on April 14, 2015, 04:00:43 AM
Need an opinion.

http://i.imgur.com/epw9HdO.png

How's that look for the new hull icon type?
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: jeeplaw on April 14, 2015, 05:07:25 AM
I like the icon, but it's too jaggy in terms of resolution. Can you post a higher resolution icon?
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on April 14, 2015, 04:01:39 PM
I could, but that's pretty much the WYSIWYG icon and the resolution that you'd generally see it in-game if you're running at 1920x1040.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Farseer Wraith on April 21, 2015, 09:37:51 AM
It looks like the Hades Class destroyer has a pair of level 3 turrets that have a 0 on their traverse rate.

They are stuck pointing in one direction. >.<
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on April 22, 2015, 07:27:46 AM
Yep, this was reported over on the Steam site for the mod and should be fixed in the upcoming BTC 2.1. :)

For the record, I've been moving a lot of my development over to the Steam page for the mod.  Feel free to pop in there and leave comments there as well to make sure I see them quickly, I have a bug-reporting section all set up.  Figure I'm going to need it with the armor-system changes in 2.1 and how ambitious they are. >.>
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: DragonKnight on May 05, 2015, 03:41:40 PM
I've playing with a Hades destroyer and some Tachyon beams. Its ridiculously powerful, to the point where firing just 2 out of 4 beams is enough to one-shot a hive. Feels overpowered and not quite balanced.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on May 06, 2015, 07:02:37 AM
Yeah, that's because aliens haven't gotten the NPC treatment yet.  S'in the patch notes, I was rolling out the NPC adjustments bit by bit.  Corvettes were first, then frigates, the next drop will have the cruiser pirates, aliens and trader ships upgraded with the new formula.  Sorry for the slow roll-out but I wanted to get the entry-level mobs tuned to the new system first before tackling the endgame stuff (BTC is no longer using the vanilla system of determining structure/armor/shield based on danger level, but on individual mob data).

Granted, tachs -are- insane damage, but they're overall very low DPS (great burst damage and snipe, but the 3.0 seconds between shots is murder.)

For a better approximation of the power until then, if you're high level, hang out in high-danger space and square off with some of the NPCs there.  Some of them mount weapons like the tachs or fusion beams.  Be especially careful of the Dio XEs with tachs or ptorps if you're in a Hades, given the lack of hull/defenses. :)
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on May 13, 2015, 09:12:11 AM
Sorry for the long bit between delays, been pretty sick as of late on my end.  Hopefully by this weekend the next patch for BTC will be out.  It should include:

Finished reworking of remaining icons;
Fixing the remaining vanilla VE quest items to work with BTC;
Last of the NPC modifications with armor/hull changes for pirate cruisers and battlecruisers, traders, and aliens.  (Alien balancing in particular will require some testing from the world)
Two new weapon types in the Experimental tree to make the SP cost worth it:
- Plasma Missiles: a smaller, more agile version of the plasma torpedo.  Can empty the capacitor rapidly for burst damage, exceptional tracking, great versus corvettes but only marginally effective against frigates and useless against cruisers and structures.
- Cluster Cannon: an upscaled version of the flak cannon, the cluster cannon fires large slow-reloading canister rounds to saturate an area as opposed to the constant stream of explosives provided by the flak.  The submunitions are actually powerful enough to damage both corvettes and frigates with ease, and the larger versions of this gun can even harry cruisers.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Vampyre111 on July 11, 2015, 01:36:06 PM
I really want to try this MOD.  It was the very first one I downloaded.  It refused to work form.

I'm running win 8.1  64 bit
Nvidea 760 video card
8 GB of RAM
a quad core intel processor at 3 GHrz.(I forget which one, I'm at work tight now.)

The message I get is about a missing file or something.

Any ideas on what I need to do to get it working?

Thanks
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on July 12, 2015, 07:50:07 AM
Try the newest patch version in the main BTC thread now.  (The filename will be the same, but the file is now BTC 2.1.1)  The mod needed updating to work with VE 1.4 but real life kept me from updating it until now.
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Vampyre111 on July 14, 2015, 01:32:39 PM
Yep, it's working now. 

I managed to corrupt my main game but all new games work fine.
After some looking around, I saw a file for backup saves.  I copied the one I needed and restored my main game.  All is good now but I'm not going to risk my main save again

Other than that it's an outstanding mod..
Title: Re: Breaching the Core Full Mod Discussion
Post by: Hammish on July 16, 2015, 03:58:00 AM
Hrm.  I should add a disclaimer about that.  It's probably on account of the fact that BTC changes/adds/disables so many items, I know I've had corruption issues even between versions in the past as I pruned items.

But thank you!