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[Trylobot]

The Toad has been rebalanced; before this change, it dominated every fighter without a nick, and cost less to field than some of the heavier fighters. This was not my intention, and as we all know, balance is an ongoing, uphill battle. Anyways, I've kept the spirit of the Toad, which is to be a superior fighter platform in the field, for somewhat more up-front cost (12,000 CR base value), but not to be a godlike unstoppable death machine (which they were).

AFTER the balance changes, you'll notice they still win every 1-on-1 fight against any vanilla fighter... but some of these fights were extremely close. Basically they're where I wanted them originally. Slightly more powerful than vanilla, for more cash money, with in-combat fleet points of a standard heavy fighter chassis. The following log shows my in-depth trial results, and I am very pleased with the outcomes now.

nomads__balance_record__oct_2013.txt

Map size: 8000 x 8000
Fighter wing duel: 1 wing vs 1 wing
CR: 60%
Using ship_data / wing_data last modified:
   2013-10-14 6:18 PM CST
---
TESTING GRID

toad          7 fp
  vs
broadsword    6 fp
xyphos        7 fp
gladius       6 fp
warthog       8 fp
thunder       6 fp
talon         3 fp
wasp          5 fp
dagger        5 fp
piranha       5 fp
trident       8 fp
longbow       5 fp
mining_drone  5 fp

---
TEST RESULTS

toad vs broadsword
   toad wins, 100% total hull no losses, enemy retreated with 2 lost

toad vs xyphos
   toad wins, 60% total hull no losses, enemy retreated with 0 lost
   toad wins, 50% total hull no losses, enemy destroyed

toad vs gladius
   toad wins, 80% total hull no losses, enemy destroyed
   toad wins, 20% total hull 1 loss, enemy destroyed
   toad wins, 90% total hull no losses, enemy destroyed

toad vs warthog
   toad wins, 45% total hull no losses, enemy destroyed
   toad wins, 40% total hull 1 loss, enemy destroyed

toad vs thunder
   toad wins, 100% total hull no losses, enemy retreated with 1 lost
   toad wins, 98% total hull no losses, enemy retreated with 1 lost
   toad wins, 100% total hull no losses, enemy retreated with 1 lost

toad vs talon
   toad wins, 100% total hull no losses, enemy retreated with 3 lost
   toad wins, 100% total hull no losses, enemy retreated with 2 lost

toad vs wasp
   toad wins, 100% total hull no losses, enemy retreated with 1 lost

toad vs dagger
   toad wins, 100% total hull no losses, enemy destroyed

toad vs piranha
   toad wins, 100% total hull no losses, enemy destroyed

toad vs trident
   toad wins, 100% total hull no losses, enemy destroyed

toad vs longbow
   toad wins, 90% total hull no losses, enemy destroyed

toad vs mining_drone
   toad wins, 100% total hull no losses, enemy destroyed

[Az the Squishy]

I don't think the Dagger's would effectively hurt a small ship unless it was imbolie in the first place.

As for the mod, I love your sytle, keep it up! (i particularly love piloting the yellow jacket, that thing is fringgin' evil!!!! EEEEVIIIIIIIL!)

[Trylobot]

Here's my concept thus far for a work-in-progress ship I'm calling The Roadrunner:
(The sixth image on the far right is the one I like the most, so far)



Roadrunner
* a light "sprinter" destroyer
* streamlined/sleek shape but still asymmetric
* "Escape Drive" ship system; similar to Burn Drive
  however, weapons are completely disabled while active
  and controls are not locked (steering possible)
  but maneuverability is still reduced from the normal amount


The idea with this one is simple; Roadrunner steps in on normal power, unloads a barrage on its target using all or most of its flux reserves; then when other ships would normally need to back off or vent, Roadrunner runs the hell away with its Escape Drive, and vents at a safe distance. Since steering while burning is possible, it need not trap itself by being locked on a heading, and fly into another even more hostile situation. The hit-n-run concept should be a nice complement to the upfront high-flux gamble flying Nomad ships are usually known for.

[Zaphide]

Here's my concept thus far for a work-in-progress ship I'm calling The Roadrunner:
(The sixth image on the far right is the one I like the most, so far)

Spoiler

Roadrunner
* a light "sprinter" destroyer
* streamlined/sleek shape but still asymmetric
* "Escape Drive" ship system; similar to Burn Drive
  however, weapons are completely disabled while active
  and controls are not locked (steering possible)
  but maneuverability is still reduced from the normal amount


The idea with this one is simple; Roadrunner steps in on normal power, unloads a barrage on its target using all or most of its flux reserves; then when other ships would normally need to back off or vent, Roadrunner runs the hell away with its Escape Drive, and vents at a safe distance. Since steering while burning is possible, it need not trap itself by being locked on a heading, and fly into another even more hostile situation. The hit-n-run concept should be a nice complement to the upfront high-flux gamble flying Nomad ships are usually known for.

[close]

Haha nice annotations; I agree with the chicken one

I actually like the one second from the right. Obviously I'm not quite sure what you are imagining as the final ship but it seems to me to offer that Nomad feel while also feeling different enough from the existing nomad ships to give a visual representation of your new hit-n-run concept

Anyway, I also like the far-right one too. Both are great concepts

[Trylobot]

Version 0.9.5 is up! This is primarily a weapons update. I had a lot of fun with this. Also, I'm not sure anyone else has managed to put missile capabilities on a projectile before, but it's now possible. If you're interested in doing this, take a peek at data/scripts/weapons/RenderMissileAsProjectileFXBase.java, which I'll paste here:

Spoiler

Code: java

package data.scripts.weapons;

import com.fs.starfarer.api.combat.CombatEngineAPI;
import com.fs.starfarer.api.combat.CombatEntityAPI;
import com.fs.starfarer.api.combat.DamageType;
import com.fs.starfarer.api.combat.EveryFrameWeaponEffectPlugin;
import com.fs.starfarer.api.combat.MissileAPI;
import com.fs.starfarer.api.combat.WeaponAPI;
import java.util.Hashtable;
import java.util.Iterator;

public abstract class RenderMissileAsProjectileFXBase implements EveryFrameWeaponEffectPlugin
{
	protected Hashtable fx_table = new Hashtable();
	
	public String FX_WEAPON_ID()
	{
		return null;
	}
	
	public void advance( float amount, CombatEngineAPI engine, WeaponAPI weapon )
	{
		if( engine.isPaused() || FX_WEAPON_ID() == null )
			return;
		
		// for every missile launched from this weapon
		// spawn a special visual-only projectile which follows the missile around
		// and lets me create, essentially, a different-looking missile rendering effect
		// also, kill off fizzled torpedoes because they don't "coast" like regular missiles
		for( Iterator m = engine.getMissiles().iterator(); m.hasNext(); )
		{
			MissileAPI missile = (MissileAPI)m.next();
			if( weapon != missile.getWeapon() )
				continue;
			CombatEntityAPI fx = (CombatEntityAPI)fx_table.get( missile );
			if( fx == null )
			{
				fx = engine.spawnProjectile( 
				  weapon.getShip(), weapon, FX_WEAPON_ID(), 
				  missile.getLocation(), 0, weapon.getShip().getVelocity() );
				fx.setAngularVelocity( -25.0f + (float)Math.random() * 50.0f );
				fx_table.put( missile, fx );
			}
			else // faux_plasma already created
			{
				fx.getLocation().set( missile.getLocation() );
				fx.getVelocity().set( missile.getVelocity() );
			}
		}
		for( Iterator m = fx_table.keySet().iterator(); m.hasNext(); )
		{
			MissileAPI missile = (MissileAPI)m.next();
			CombatEntityAPI fx = (CombatEntityAPI)fx_table.get( missile );
			if( missile.isFizzling() 
			||  missile.isFading() 
			||  missile.getHitpoints() == 0.0f
			||  missile.didDamage()
			||  missile.getHullLevel() == 0.0f )
			{
				if( fx != null )
				{
					engine.applyDamage( fx, fx.getLocation(), 99999.0f, DamageType.ENERGY, 0.0f, true, false, null );
					m.remove();
				}
				engine.removeEntity( missile );
				continue; // skip rest
			}
		}
	}
}

Code: java

package data.scripts.weapons;

public class TheNomadsSelfSustainedFusionTorpedoEffect extends RenderMissileAsProjectileFXBase
{
	@Override
	public String FX_WEAPON_ID()
	{
		return "nom_effect_faux_plasma";
	}
}

[close]

Changes:
- replaced all Nomads usage of ballistic missiles with a "Fusion Torpedo" - large ones are heatseekers, small ones are standard missile tracking. There are three sizes of launcher.
- replaced usage of light/ultralight masers where they were being used as PD, with a new type of PD weapon, the "Firecracker" which behaves very similarly to the vanilla Flak Cannon except that it fits a small slot, does significantly less damage, is Energy type instead of Fragmentation, and does not have limited ammunition. Added a neat sound effect for this weapon as well
- added a new weapon called the "Ripper" which is a triple-barreled heavy maser, and gave a couple to the Sandstorm.
- global balance tweaks
- updated strings/descriptions for all weapons
- updated roster pic with new info
- split Github repo into four subtrees for easier management; one for each mod + one for source materials and docs
- put up a Github page for Nomads at http://trylobot.github.io/ss-nom/

[Doogie]

Cool
But maybe you could make the death bloom the same color as the Komodo MK II, as that would fit into the "elite brigade" style better.

[Trylobot]

I was actually thinking of doing that with the Rattlesnake. It's a heavy cruiser, and I'm about 90% done with the sprite at the moment. After it's done I was going to do an "elite" pass and see which version I prefer. As for the Death Bloom, I'm honestly afraid to mess with it. It came out precisely as I had imagined it, and if I start mucking about with it again I might just ruin it.

[Trylobot]

Spoiler

[close]

The Rattlesnake is 99% ready to be released, I just want to make a final balancing pass, and a bit more playtesting. But overall I'm really happy with it. Probably v0.9.6 release tonight.

[Trylobot]

And, here's an exciting new idea for a ship system I came up with a few minutes ago: "Tug Drones 2x"

[Uomoz]

Wow, super cool idea! Maybe spawn a bunch of relatively immovable projectiles for every pixel of distance (drone-ship) to represent the cable?

[Trylobot]

In my head it's sort of like a "spider thread" thing; so thin that you can't see the cable itself, only the reflection of nearby bright light sources; can sort of fake it by having a couple bright dots that sort of move up/down an invisible line connecting the tow cable anchor and the drone. The movement could tie in to the angle of the cable, so they move only when the line rotates.

[Uomoz]

Sounds neat!

[FasterThanSleepyfish]

It could also be a weak beam the does 0 damage, kinda looking like cyc's sunfire beam.

[HELMUT]

Hum i have a question. From what i have read the Nomads technology date from the pre-autofactory era, so it is safe to think they are low-tech? Because i find them very strong in 1v1 fights. I have played a bit the campaign with them. The Wurm frigate, as well as being dirt-cheap, can slaughter most frigates pretty easily. They are fast, their weapons hit hard and they vent incredibly quickly.

The Yellowjacket, while its sniper is very deadly, it can die to pretty much anything and is punished by its high deployment cost. Its main gun might be a little too strong, i think the problem come from the projectile speed as it can land pinpoint shots on moving fighters wings.

I'm going to try the other ships soon.

Oh and just one thing. Would it be possible to make Nomads weapons available only on Nomads ships? Right now they are built in, which is kinda sad for the player who like to try different layout. I don't know if it is possible to make them exclusive to Nomads (like their hull mod) but that would be interesting and add more customization possibility.

[Trylobot]

As has been stated endlessly, low tech has never meant explicitly "inferior," just different. And yes, they are meant to be somewhat different. My observations of the Wurm matched against vanilla ships have generally been close fights, I'm satisfied with where it's at. Yellowjacket is also working as designed. Think "Sniper" and I think you described pretty much the ideal scenario for this ship.

Regarding the weapon restrictions: no. That isn't possible. And the fact that they're mostly built-in is an important quirk, lore-wise. But in the interest of allowing for a bit of customization, this release provides one way to do so: The Rattlesnake has 4 Universal slots.