[0.9a] Stop Gap Measure - Ships for Vanilla

[Kwbr]

I think I found a little bit of a bug

[MajorTheRed]

OK so I know how this variable work about the base value for skin.

On my list for next update, probably there will be other thing like this with other skins (Opportunity clean, Carcajou (P), Copernic (P)...)

Thanks!

[Igncom1]

The unit card, or whatever it is called, says that the Tantive-Class has two medium energy slots, but I can only see the one.

I might be blind as I cannot seem to find a second medium energy slot.

[MajorTheRed]

Thanks for noticing, probably an error problem in Trylobot. Will fix it

[Serenitis]

The Ballista has a problem.

Code:

"weaponSlots": [
    {
      "angle": 0,
      "arc": 120,
      "id": "WS0001",
      "locations": [
        52,
        -0
      ],
      "mount": "HARDPOINT",
      "size": "SMALL",
      "type": "BALLISTIC"
    },
    {
      "angle": -0,
      "arc": 0,
      "id": "WS0002",
      "locations": [
        52,
        0
      ],
      "mount": "TURRET",
      "size": "MEDIUM",
      "type": "ENERGY"
    },

The front energy turret is defined as having an angle of 0 - ie: is a hardpoint.
And the front ballistic hardpoint is defined as having an angle of 120 - ie: is a turret.
Also, both share the same location 52, 0 with the effect that the medium energy slot is entirely inaccessible to the player.

Suggestion:
Either....
Remove the medium energy mount as it doesn't fit too well (imo) with a missile support ship, and the ballista doesn't really have enough op to spare for secondary weapons anyway.
Keep the small ballistic mount on the nose but change to/keep it as a turret.
Or....
Separate the positions and keep them the way they are now. Small ballistic turret + Med. energy hardpoint.

The unit card, or whatever it is called, says that the Tantive-Class has two medium energy slots, but I can only see the one.

I might be blind as I cannot seem to find a second medium energy slot.

This is the same issue. Two weapon mounts sharing identical locations.

[MajorTheRed]

Thanks for reporting the error. It's probably the same error that with the Tantive i.e. in Trylobot mount can be placed in "mirror", which means 2 mounts are placed on the ship at exactly the same location.

Do you have any feeedback about the Ballista? I think it could use some nerf somewhere as I feel it's a little bit too powerfull.

[Serenitis]

Do you have any feeedback about the Ballista? I think it could use some nerf somewhere as I feel it's a little bit too powerfull.

The Ballista is almost an exact mirror image of the Archer from Ship & Weapon Pack, only low-tech and with slightly worse stats and less OP. And I think that is why is doesn't "feel" right, it isn't it's own thing in it's own place. Yet.
You can make it more distinct by trimming it down so it's not quite so "jack of all trades".
If I were making that ship for myself I would be inclined to specialise it more towards missile support, by removing the medium energy slot and maybe 2 or 3 of the ballistic slots.
And in compensation give it a built-in mod to help with missles - I'd probably go for Missile Racks. And then reduce it's OP by 10 to 15 points.
Other than that, it's stats are not in a bad place.

One more thing to note: The missiles being turret mounts makes the Ballista quite powerful when fitted with multiple torpedoes, which is something you'd normally have to fly cruisers or capitals to experience. But also makes it fairly unique.

This is all just opinion, so feel free to ignore anything that doesn't seem "right" for your mod.

[MajorTheRed]

Interesting, at the start I was thinking about making a built-in mod but finally don't because it would feel too much powerfull. As it stand now, it has an insane potential when it has its missile loadout. But once exhausted, the ship become boring because it can defend itself but is not a threat anymore. With the current IA, it's just painfull.
Originaly it's supposed to sport 3 Medium Missile and 5 Ballistic. Now maybe it would feel better with some changes :
-2 Med Missiles Hardpoint
-1 Small missiles turret and 4 Ballistic OR keep the Med Missile and just 3 Ballistic.
-Expanded missiles hullmod
-Less OP
I will try it, thanks for the feedback.

[MajorTheRed]

Version 0.4!

http://www.mediafire.com/file/n480syi1e2nhbup/Stop_Gap_Measure_v0.4.rar

-Include 2 new ships : Cathar heavy cruiser and Triumph battlecarrier
-Fix several mistakes on ship files
-2 new star systems to add military market to TT, Luddic Church and Neutral. The system were completely generated randomly using a house generator for wargame and RPG
-3 Missions. One of them got the lore describded, the two others will wait next update

For next update, I plan to add two new ships, one new star system, 2 new weapons and finally add lore where needed.

[MajorTheRed]

New version :

http://www.mediafire.com/file/kl8m3q93twww3wo/Stop_Gap_Measure_v0.6.rar

-2 new ships : a Dram-based gunship/garbage frigate for pirates, and the Minos, using its high flux capability for defense instead of manoeuvrability.
-2 New weapons : a mid-range salvo medium laser, and a AoE PDS plasma launcher
-A new system, adding another military market for Luddic Church and a nice combat zone with Hegemony and Try-Tachion.

I want to make a last update before moving to something else. It will serve to fix minor things, add two last ships (a ECM low-tech destroyer and a cruiser-sized carrier) and lore fore remaining things. I also want to add 2 weapons systems.

[Sarissofoi]

Nice vanilla expansion mod.
Some feedback:
>great job with bonus ships/refits for Luddic Church, look amazing
>like the Pyrrhocorax  and Tantive,  dunno about rest of high tech TT ships, they look good but are they really needed?
>adore Huntsman, really nice looking frigate
>Arbitrator look great
>Opportunity and Foundation also look good, too bad Fundation salvage gantry is only  little more effective than Salvage rig
>Herder look better than Drover but Triumph look hideous
>Hoplite look decently
>rest is pretty meh but still OK outside of Copernicus that not really blend well with vanilla
Sadly there is still plenty of descriptions missing.

[MajorTheRed]

Thanks Sarissofoi. I'm really glad you enjoyed the Luddic ships, I wanted to give Luddic Church some presence in the game.

Just will respond to the relevant comments:
-Mostly I'm still learning to make sprite from scratch, and most ships you found "meh" or terrible are sprite I've made from nothing.
-Foundation: yeah, but the problem is from the core game. But I don't have the skill to change or add something to the value of salvage gantry for cruiser....
-About High-tech ships (Carcajou and Minos): I wanted other ships to give some variety to high-tech. (Example : for frigate, Low-tech has like 3 ships, Mid-tech too, and high tech have 1). I didn't include phase ship because they are more elite super-high tech for me.
-"Herder look better than Drover but Triumph look hideous" : I really hate the drover. It's just a flying brick. Triumph follow the same idea that high tech ship : more variety. In reality I never encoutered a Triumph in game.
-Copernicus : pretty much my thought too. I will probably rework it at some point. I like the scarab aspect, but the overall result is pretty much flat. Still funny you like the Tantive, it's the next ship I will redraw...

About the descriptions, I plan to finish them all. However I sometime lack imagination for some of them. All ships in this mod can be classified as 1) a design I wanted to make to fly it myself with a clear idea of its origin, moderatly usefull for the game  (Dove, Carcajou, Hoplite, Luddic ships), 2) Ships I liked the original sprite or conceptual shape, not really usefull, no inspiration for description (Opportunity, Wagner or Ballista) and 3) ships added only for adding variety (in regards to role or ship-system), with a description mostly boring to justify its presence in game (Traverse, Minos, Herder). So descriptions are mostly added in order of the list above.

Any comments about the new systems?

[Sarissofoi]

What systems do you mean?
Ship systems or star system?
The first need description the second are alright although not fan of the names.
Too bad that there are no more simple expansion mods that add some  star systems for vanilla  faction and new ones that simply use vanilla(or recolored) plus SSP and underworld ships.
Also your frigate transports have really high cargo capacity compared to vanilla or SSP frigate freighters.
I like Tantive - colors are right and it look fitting right into high tech TT.

To be honest I really want bigger map and want factions to be specific and use similar themed ships(but just vanilla+ ones). That is why your mod and SSP/UW is great. Used it for my mini mod. Too bad that it looks like ripping factions and star systems from other mods(and give them vanilla compositions) would be to troublesome.

[MajorTheRed]

Also your frigate transports have really high cargo capacity compared to vanilla or SSP frigate freighters.

That's the point. Vanilla frigate freighters are more "combat" or "armored" freighters, or even skirmisher in the case of the Hound. The Chondrite and the Traverse are more Dram-like ship completly dedicated to their role with nearly absent combat capacities.

To be honest I really want bigger map and want factions to be specific and use similar themed ships(but just vanilla+ ones). That is why your mod and SSP/UW is great. Used it for my mini mod. Too bad that it looks like ripping factions and star systems from other mods(and give them vanilla compositions) would be to troublesome.

Glad that the mod achieved its objectives. About the ripping from other mods, the point is about the rights to use them. In reality they would not be that hard to translate to vanilla, except if you want to remove shipsystems or other scripts for a reason or another (like my inability to use mod needing graphic lib...)

One last thing if you don't mind : any opinions about the weapons? I struggle to balance them vanilla-wise, so any opinion would be appreciated.

[Sarissofoi]

Thing is your frigates are little to little(especially that high tech one) for that much carrying cargo capacity.
I mean they have 150 and its double of most of frigate freighters. Your Tantive have 200 and Mule have 250. The Buffalo have 300 and its much worse armed(compared that its a destroyer).

the point is about the rights to use them

Yeah that is why I write that it would be too troublesome.

About weapons. Only used plasma caster and its good - good looking and sounds good. The rest need descriptions as I avoid using no description weapons. Also over all I am no a big fan of new weapons in my semi vanilla game. Yours still look semi vanilla so its not that bad but no descriptions no deal.
Also putting them in list in first page alongside ships would help.