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News:

Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

Poll

What would you like to see in Blackrock?

More ships
- 755 (23.7%)
More weapons
- 481 (15.1%)
More campaign features
- 478 (15%)
Space monsters
- 705 (22.1%)
More lore
- 207 (6.5%)
More music
- 131 (4.1%)
More portraits
- 157 (4.9%)
Subfactions
- 277 (8.7%)

Total Members Voted: 1425


Pages: 1 2 [3] 4 5 ... 209

Author Topic: [0.9.1a] Blackrock Drive Yards  (Read 1790834 times)

medikohl

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #30 on: August 23, 2012, 08:06:28 PM »

I remember seeing the Nevermore (great name, by the by) on the SA thread.  These things look brilliant, and you've definitely pushed the limits--and have shown marvelous expertise with--the BSF ship creation tool and a bit of post processing.  I'm a bit envious of how good you've gotten these things looking, and not just on the skill you've shown with the toolset you've used.  The concept and the quality of their execution is very high; I'm not sure I can meet it.

Now just to wait and hope for release, because these look rather fun to fly.
yeah but my nevermore was a bit different

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GUNINANRUNIN

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #31 on: August 23, 2012, 08:51:33 PM »

You are my role model.
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medikohl

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #32 on: August 23, 2012, 10:55:00 PM »

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Cycerin

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #33 on: August 24, 2012, 07:58:52 AM »

Thanks to help I recieved from DAT Uomoz, a campaign integration is underway. Right now I'm implementing the Revenant-class Support Cruiser and the two fighters, and after that, I'm going to make a few missions and a campaign integration, and put up a download, so I can begin balancing the faction a bit more.



Revelicious!

Also, medikohl, I think that guy meant SA as in "somethingawful", where I first posted that ship before registering here. I might be wrong though.
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Uomoz

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #34 on: August 24, 2012, 08:02:47 AM »

I exchanged poor java knowledge for good music.
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MShadowy

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #35 on: August 24, 2012, 08:48:31 AM »

Also, medikohl, I think that guy meant SA as in "somethingawful", where I first posted that ship before registering here. I might be wrong though.

You are correct; though I'm not a member of the somethingawful forums, I do tend to visit the gaming boards from time to time when it's allowed, largely because it tends to be a good place to keep informed on the coming of games I might otherwise miss.  Like, say, Starfarer, which I probably I would never have heard of if I hadn't seen it posted in a combined SPAZ/starfarer thread.
« Last Edit: August 24, 2012, 08:51:09 AM by MShadowy »
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Cycerin

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #36 on: August 26, 2012, 09:19:08 AM »

Currently setting up some missions, while balancing the ships to match up well against vanilla opposition.

So far, here are the Blackrock ship systems:
Desdinova: Arcjet Burner - after the first time you see a Desdie ram into a wolf at 350 speed, then shotgunning the poor frig in the face with its Squall Cannons at it spins out of control overloaded from the impact, you will never want to deploy any other destroyer, ever again.

Nevermore: Lucifer Generator - Overload the Nevermore's complex generator system for 3 seconds, locking the steering thrusters and main engines, disabling shields, and giving double energy weapon damage for a short duration. Generally speaking, this system has hard synergy with the built-in Antimatter Lance, and lets you truly put out the hurt on ships if you are skilled at aiming and anticipating enemy movement. See a frig that's close to overloading? Pop that sucker! (provided you are a true baller)

Revenant: Barracuda Drones - Heavy combat drones that excel at destroying overloaded vessels. Featuring two light mortars and a vulcan, these aggressive drones can tear through armor and hull, but are not especially good against shielded fighters, or at destroying missiles. They are also unshielded and only have a thin armor coat to protect themselves.
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robokill

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #37 on: August 26, 2012, 11:42:52 AM »

what about the frigate i haven't heard no nothing at all on it.

ps are the offsided turrents intentional on the carrier
« Last Edit: August 27, 2012, 02:09:53 PM by robokill »
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Cycerin

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #38 on: August 26, 2012, 11:55:01 AM »

Still figuring it out, really. So far the idea is oversized weapons/downsized defense, but as for the ship system, right now it just has Active Flares.
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Killian

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #39 on: August 26, 2012, 07:04:58 PM »

God dammit Cyc stop showing off. :P

Good ol' BRDY!
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Cycerin

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #40 on: August 27, 2012, 09:50:55 AM »

BIRDY never dies!



Repurposed from a never-popular class of mining vessel built by Blackrock before it began specializing in military hulls, the Gonodactylus-class Destroyer is a nasty brute that chews through the enemy with its cannon batteries, only to turn around and show them its other, equally ugly cheek when they begin venting.

Featuring a built-in Hammerclaw Impact Bolter originally used to break up asteroids, the Gonodactylus can put self-propelled solid tungsten slugs deep inside enemy hulls when their defenses are down. This has given the oddly-shaped destroyer quite a menacing reputation, and Blackrock prides themselves on being able to turn practical equipment into deadly weapons of war in a time where resources and good engineering work are both scarce.



The only problem with this thing is that the AI hates it and keeps crashing it into asteroids and other hulls, and doesn't really ever turn around to use the other side's weapon when it should. At least it knows which broadside is the most powerful.

I might have to resort to giving it a built-in weapon with a less prohibitive flux cost or something to entice the AI to use it. And if I give it any weapon with too long range (even a harpoon MRM), it begins behaving like a fire support ship and is, generally, quite useless for it.

Anyway, if I can't ever get it to work as an assault vessel, I'm just giving up and mirroring the arm with 4 gun hardpoints so I can turn it into a dedicated point defense vessel or something. The AI REALLY dislikes asymmetry.

Another question I have regarding this: The Revenant does not register as a carrier for use with "rally carrier group" in the fleet UI, even though it has a flight deck. Likewise, I can't get any Desdinova kit to register as a "strike" vessel. Is it possible to hard-code the game into recognizing this?
« Last Edit: August 28, 2012, 09:51:28 AM by Cycerin »
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Brainbread

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #41 on: August 27, 2012, 10:07:42 AM »

BIRDY never dies!



Repurposed from a never-popular class of mining vessel built by Blackrock before it began specializing in military hulls, the Gonodactylus-class Frigate is a nasty brute that chews through the enemy with its cannon batteries, only to turn around and show them its other, equally ugly cheek when they begin venting.

The only problem with this thing is that the AI hates it and keeps crashing it into asteroids and other hulls, and doesn't really ever turn around to use the other side's AM blaster when it should. At least it knows which broadside is the most powerful.

I might have to resort to giving it a built-in weapon with a less prohibitive flux cost or something to entice the AI to use it. And if I give it any weapon with too long range (even a harpoon MRM), it begins behaving like a fire support ship and is, generally, quite useless for it.

Anyway, if I can't ever get it to work as an assault vessel, I'm just giving up and mirroring the arm with 4 gun hardpoints so I can turn it into a dedicated point defense vessel or something. The AI REALLY dislikes asymmetry.

Another question I have regarding this: The Revenant does not register as a carrier for use with "rally carrier group" in the fleet UI, even though it has a flight deck. Likewise, I can't get any Desdinova kit to register as a "strike" vessel. Is it possible to hard-code the game into recognizing this?

First of all, its gorgeous. As for the carrier rally, Alex recently changed the "flag" so that heavily armed ships like Ventures and Odyssey's, though they have Flight Decks, wouldn't flag as a carrier -they are a battleship first, carrier second. So if you want it to flag as such, you'd have to prolly cut down its armaments a bit, or just manually assign that ship to a carrier rally (if you didn't know, you can manually assign any ship to whatever tasks they are illsuited for).

As for disliking Asymmetry, the AI dislikes perfect Bi-Lateral symmetry even less. Have you seen them fly a Conquest? :) But in order to get them to use their "weak" side, they'd probably have to be damaged on the "good" side before their recognize the firepower.

For crashing into stuff, I'd check the collision radius on the ship? It might be a little bit off (or need to be bumped up). Alternatively, you might have given the ship too much "mass", which would make the other AI move to try avoiding it (smaller ships move out of the way of bigger ships, not vice versa).


So, when're we gonna see mission to pilot these beauties? :)
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Cycerin

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #42 on: August 27, 2012, 10:18:37 AM »

Cool, I'll double check that. As for the missions, I'm working on them! I've been doing balance at the same time, which also takes time. I currently have a rather challenging one where you have to kill an Onslaught, a Venture and an Enforcer plus escorts with two Desdinova, a Revenant, and two wings of Locusts. Took me quite a few tries to get it down, had to play around with refitting my Desdie a lot.

The other one is a slugfest between some tri-tachs and a fairly sized BRDY fleet, where you flagship a Nevermore. Landing your AM Lance shots is pretty important in order to win it.

If people aren't too fussy about the polish on things, I can probably have a download up pretty shortly.
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KriiEiter

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #43 on: August 27, 2012, 10:22:44 AM »

Glad to finally see another person using BSF sprites to their potential.

Usually when people try to sprite with them they forget about shading and the fact that you can rotate/chop up pieces to your hearts content.

Great work man!
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Amazigh

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards
« Reply #44 on: August 27, 2012, 11:19:13 AM »

Another question I have regarding this: The Revenant does not register as a carrier for use with "rally carrier group" in the fleet UI, even though it has a flight deck. Likewise, I can't get any Desdinova kit to register as a "strike" vessel. Is it possible to hard-code the game into recognizing this?

It might not have enough flight decks to register as a carrier.
To register as a full on carrier a ship need to have at least a minimum number of flight decks for its hull size, frigates/destroyers need 1, cruisers need 2 and capships need 3. At least that's how I remember it going.

Love your ships by the way, the slight asymmetry that some have is really neat.
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