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Hee, that was my idea as well, something like actual missiles that are mounted as single-shots externally.  Takes time for the motor to kick in and provide missile velocity.

Understand about the low priority though, totally.  Just figured I'd ask.  I actually came up with a temporary work-around anyway: the missiles I'm using to do it essentially launch as a mine projectile with a very short fuse, then just before detonation launch a single scattering projectile straight forward as the missile proper.  Seems to work okay and looks very neat if you do it while strafing.

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

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).

For the last bit, and not getting stuff to show up in stores... should be able to just set the shop level to something high, like 99.  Then shops will no longer attempt to stock it unless it has a special flag (like civilian, ect).

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.

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.

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.

I will check this out very soon.

Another question about physics as well, when you have a free moment: is there a way, or would it be difficult to code in, the ability to accelerate projectiles?  I've been playing around with the dampening attribute a bit and having some fun, I was hoping it'd be possible to go the other direction by setting dampening to a negative value and thus accelerating a projectile after launch... but it didn't really seem to have an effect.

Am I missing an optional tag/attribute that I could use for the acceleration effect, or is it just not possible with the game engine as it is?  The end effect I had in mind was a missile that would launch slow and then increase in velocity as the motor fired.

I think I mentioned in another thread, if you want to make it so that certain items (like a mining laser) only work on a specific hull or size of hull, you could try this:

Add a new attribute type for a qualification.  Let's call it good_mining_lasers.  You can find the list of qualifications in the Effects folder.  To the best of my knowledge, after the 0.9 updates, any effect you want to use on equipment needs to be in there.

Now you need to add that attribute to any ships you want to be able to equip the item (like good mining ships).  In the .xml for the ship, look under effects; in there you can theoretically add any value that is spelled out in the Effects lists.  So you'd want to add good_mining_lasers as an effect, and set the value to 1.

Last, you need the check on the new mining tool.  That should be as simple as loading up the .xml file for it, going to requirements, and requiring the tool to have good_mining_lasers at level 1.  It's one of the things that I love about the new system; item checks are now based on effects instead of skills, giving you a LOT more flexibility.

The only limitation that I am aware of is that someone could theoretically equip a ship eligible to use the better tool, equip then, then equip a different hull... but if I remember correctly when you swap hulls all current equipment is ejected off to make sure things like this don't happen.  The other thing I'm not sure on is if ship effects update dynamically; if someone equips a ship to give them good_mining_lasers=1, I'm not sure if removing it would revert good_mining_lasers back to zero.  To be on the safe side, you could always add in a tag so that any hull that should NOT have one of your new toys set good_mining_lasers=0.

I just use an old copy of Paint Shop Pro 5 I happen to have; while the newer versions of most editors are nice for photo-quality work, I find the older stuff to be such a godsend when dealing with lower-resolution or non-aliased stuff.

If you like the look, though, feel free to glance through my BTC mod when I post a new version later today; if you like the new icons I did up, I can supply you with the stock versions for each, complete with layering for ease of editing.

It's starting to happen, too.  Look at the EMP thread.

Gonna be bringing in a few of my friends to the game as well, soon, along with activity here.  Just need to get BTC 0.2 ready to go later today.

I know that different effects can be applied to certain hulls already, such as the "Fang" having bonuses to targeting range and speed or whatever.  Would it then be possible to apply a conditional negative modifier?  Such as, when current_emp_charge > 20 apply a modifier that applies a -80% effect to maneuverability. It wouldn't be a perfect solution, but seems like it would simulate the effects of a malfunctioning RCS quite accurately.

Right now the hull repair consumable works in a way similar to how the EMP charge bleed off would have to work, no?  I presume that upon activating this consumable, it applies an "effect" to your ship which gradually increases the hull health variable.  If so, would it not be then possible to apply a constant condition to every ship that simply slowly lowers the current_emp_charge variable over time?That's unfortunate.....for now just having it work in PvP would be more than enough though!

It's possible, though I'm not entirely sure.  I was thinking about it from what I know so far as the current coding goes, versus what I suspect is possible.

Anything that relies already relies on a .js file in the game would be the easier ones; anything else would have to be included in a script that was constantly being checked, such as the calcs for shield regeneration and the like... and that's an area I haven't delved into yet.  Some of them are scary levels of math/variables, and I'm even fairly good at math.

Looking at some of the scripts included but not used, though, it would appear the devs had ideas similar to yours already as well!  There is an incapacitator.js already in, though I don't see it as attached to any objects; looks like we'll have at least a simple version of EMP at some point!

I like this idea as well!

Some of the aspects of it are even possible within the game as it is now, I think.  (Don't quote me on that.)  You'd just need to create a script to produce the effects.  Basically, create a new attribute called 'current_emp_charge' or the like, and have it range from 0-100.  Then have the various pieces of equipment that you want affected do a check in the script; for example, the grappler would need a new status check to see if current_emp_charge is < 100.  Same basic theory as modules that require X energy to activate and will fail if you don't have it.

Not sure how the interactions work for 'innate' modules like RCS, though, or with a 'partial disable' like was mentioned for the radar.  Worth looking into, though!  The only major hurdles I could see would be figuring out a way for EMP charge to bleed off gradually on its own and getting the EMP to interact with NPCs correctly; they don't have as many attributes as players and some aspects can be tricky, in my experience.

One suggestion that I would add as well, especially for PVP, would be a new consumable as a means of clearing some EMP charge.

Yeah, that's actually what I was trying to do as a basis.  In this case I just wanted to make a turret model that was slightly larger, but when I attempted to export it back to .obj I ran into some issues.  Modeling/texturing isn't really my forte.   I'll figure it out, though, or find someone else out there who can.

Either way, though, got the inverted weapons working quite nicely.  Hoping to have a fresh build out this coming weekend for people to tinker around with, now that I think I have all the weapons where I want them as well as four basic hull paths (more stuff like the Banshee turning into the Mk2, ect) and some of the gear; just need to look at seeing if I can get new skills to add, yet.

And this is yet another reason why you guys are awesome.

Thanks!

Now if I can just work out why all some of the models I try to bring into the game end up black and won't take meshes... I'll be wonderful.

Blender and I, we are not friends right now.