Fractal Softworks Forum

Starsector => General Discussion => Topic started by: Lopunny Zen on October 26, 2011, 06:33:31 AM

Title: Carriers
Post by: Lopunny Zen on October 26, 2011, 06:33:31 AM
Do carriers slowly or at a moderate pace produce ships or just store them. Can you become a carrier and will there be a high class one
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: theShadow on October 26, 2011, 07:54:24 AM
there is a carrier in the game currently, and it just stores/repairs/refits fighter squads, however, there might be future plans for them.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Lopunny Zen on October 26, 2011, 08:12:31 AM
i know there's a carrier but i mean a big one thats for way later in the game like the big star ships i saw in some of the pictures.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Zarcon on October 26, 2011, 08:59:51 AM
There is a VERY large Carrier in one of the missions that is already in the game at this point, it is pretty powerful for sure, I honestly cannot beat that mission as of now because of how good the Carrier is, but then again I'm not all that good at the game yet, ha ha.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Lopunny Zen on October 26, 2011, 09:59:58 AM
i see well i hope i can become one of those lol
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Zarcon on October 26, 2011, 10:13:41 AM
Actually, if you do a random mission (currently the final mission option in the alpha version, available if you pre-order the game), it is possible that the large carrier might be added to your fleet, in which case you could transfer command to it, and give it a try.   :)

In order to refresh the random fleets generated in the random mission, just click it again in the menu, and it reloads with fresh ships on both sides, etc.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: CommComms on October 26, 2011, 12:19:46 PM
Yes, the Astral is the big high-tech capital class carrier.  Like any ship you can can hop into the captain's chair if it's on your side.  You get one in the Coral Nebula mission, and I guess could get one in the random battles. 

It is, in my opinion at least, less fun to pilot than most other ships, just because it's big, slow, fragile compared to anything comparable, and way under gunned compared to anything comparable.  That and the mission where you get it puts you up against a bunch of pretty tough cruisers that it can't really go toe to toe with.  It's still pretty awesome of course, I'd just rather be driving something zippier instead.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Lopunny Zen on October 26, 2011, 03:09:45 PM
its ok i prefer slow but powerful anyways :)
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Lopunny Zen on October 27, 2011, 03:50:37 PM
problem on the random wars you never ever get the giant carrier but the enemy seems to get it....somethings wrong here maybe theres a glitch...
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Alex on October 27, 2011, 08:10:40 PM
Hmm, yeah, you don't get the Astral in that one - the random sides aren't the same. Without modding, the only way to fly it right now is in the "Coral Nebula" mission.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Zarcon on October 28, 2011, 08:16:42 AM
Hmm, yeah, you don't get the Astral in that one - the random sides aren't the same. Without modding, the only way to fly it right now is in the "Coral Nebula" mission.

Oops, my bad, I made an erroneous assumption there that it was eventually randomly going to appear in your fleet, ack.  :)   Good to know you can use it in the Coral Nebula though.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Lopunny Zen on November 08, 2011, 11:31:21 AM
so...why does the enemy get a random carrier and i dont...i dont get it isnt random suppose to be....random....but for some odd reason a carrier is restricted...
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: JuffoWup on November 28, 2011, 04:54:12 AM
so...why does the enemy get a random carrier and i dont...i dont get it isnt random suppose to be....random....but for some odd reason a carrier is restricted...

If you navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starfarer\starfarer-core\data\missions\randombattle1 and open MissionDefinition.java in notepad you can see the the various probability factors; just change "astral_Elite" to something other than 0 and you should be fine. Also, in this section:
Code
	}
if (makeFlagship) {
api.addToFleet(side, "conquest_Elite", FleetMemberType.SHIP, true);
makeFlagship = false;
}
you can change your flagship to something other than the Conquest. I had it set to the Astral for a while, and it made for totally different experience in the random battle. Just make sure to back up any files before you edit them.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Zarcon on November 28, 2011, 03:43:57 PM
so...why does the enemy get a random carrier and i dont...i dont get it isnt random suppose to be....random....but for some odd reason a carrier is restricted...

If you navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starfarer\starfarer-core\data\missions\randombattle1 and open MissionDefinition.java in notepad you can see the the various probability factors; just change "astral_Elite" to something other than 0 and you should be fine. Also, in this section:
Code
	}
if (makeFlagship) {
api.addToFleet(side, "conquest_Elite", FleetMemberType.SHIP, true);
makeFlagship = false;
}
you can change your flagship to something other than the Conquest. I had it set to the Astral for a while, and it made for totally different experience in the random battle. Just make sure to back up any files before you edit them.

Ohh, that is pretty cool, I'll have to give it a try.  Btw, is there a file in there with a list of the proper file level names for all the ships?  i.e. astral_Elite and conquest_Elite, clearly it wouldn't like it if I just guessed at the exact names, etc, ha ha.  :)  Forgive me if the answer is obvious, I don't poke around in the guts of this game much at all.  :)
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: JuffoWup on November 28, 2011, 06:56:21 PM
Ohh, that is pretty cool, I'll have to give it a try.  Btw, is there a file in there with a list of the proper file level names for all the ships?  i.e. astral_Elite and conquest_Elite, clearly it wouldn't like it if I just guessed at the exact names, etc, ha ha.  :)  Forgive me if the answer is obvious, I don't poke around in the guts of this game much at all.  :)

Not a file exactly, but "C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starfarer\starfarer-core\data\variants" has all the names in it. They're all case-sensitive, I've found.

There might be a better way, I'm not sure. This is all just trial-and-error on my part.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Alex on November 29, 2011, 08:31:01 AM
Yep, that's the way to see it - the ship variant ids are actually inside the files, but the names *should* match those exactly - but that's just a matter of convention. Renaming one of those files wouldn't change/break anything in the game.

If you're feeling particularly adventurous, you could actually edit the variant files by hand to set whatever weapons you like (the full list of weapons is in "data/weapons/weapon_data.csv").
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Zarcon on November 29, 2011, 08:44:18 AM
Yep, that's the way to see it - the ship variant ids are actually inside the files, but the names *should* match those exactly - but that's just a matter of convention. Renaming one of those files wouldn't change/break anything in the game.

If you're feeling particularly adventurous, you could actually edit the variant files by hand to set whatever weapons you like (the full list of weapons is in "data/weapons/weapon_data.csv").

Excellent!  :)  Looks like I'm going to have some data editing fun when I get home tonight, lol.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: JuffoWup on November 29, 2011, 10:13:07 AM
If you're feeling particularly adventurous, you could actually edit the variant files by hand to set whatever weapons you like (the full list of weapons is in "data/weapons/weapon_data.csv").

Good thing, too; how else was I going to stick 22 HILs on a Conquest?
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Alex on November 29, 2011, 11:12:52 AM
Good thing, too; how else was I going to stick 22 HILs on a Conquest?

Oh my.

I hope you added some gratuitous flux vents and capacitors, or that'd only be fun for the 0.2 seconds it could sustain fire.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Thana on November 29, 2011, 11:32:21 AM
I hope you added some gratuitous flux vents and capacitors, or that'd only be fun for the 0.2 seconds it could sustain fire.

Ah yes, the unofficial sequel to Gratuitous Space Battles; Gratuitous Flux Vents.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Zarcon on November 30, 2011, 08:16:38 AM
Yep, that's the way to see it - the ship variant ids are actually inside the files, but the names *should* match those exactly - but that's just a matter of convention. Renaming one of those files wouldn't change/break anything in the game.

If you're feeling particularly adventurous, you could actually edit the variant files by hand to set whatever weapons you like (the full list of weapons is in "data/weapons/weapon_data.csv").

Excellent!  :)  Looks like I'm going to have some data editing fun when I get home tonight, lol.

Ok....That was extremely awesome! :)  I made an Aurora that was pretty stinking crazy, ha ha.  I created a new .ship based off the Aurora.ship file, and then made a new .variant also, I had to change the .ship file in order to make all the slots turrets and to ditch the missiles.   :) ha ha, Good times.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Alex on November 30, 2011, 10:57:06 AM
Excellent :)  Just FYI, you don't have to change slot types - anything you put in the variant file will work.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Zarcon on November 30, 2011, 11:39:23 AM
Excellent :)  Just FYI, you don't have to change slot types - anything you put in the variant file will work.

Oh, lol.  Yeah that was a bit of work, heh heh, the .ship file doesn't look very tasty in notepad, but I managed somehow. 

So I can change any weapon I want in the variant, that is good, but I would have to make a new .ship file to change the original missile hard-points to turrets for energy and ballistic right?  That is what I did in my Aurora version.  :)  It is a beast, and I even increased the fleet points on it, ha ha!  :)  All the way up to 20 I think.  I also modified the arc's of course, it was a ton of fun, but also kinda hard to read, if I wasn't a programmer by trade myself I think I would have corrupted the code in the process, lol. (Not a complaint btw, clearly it isn't designed to be modified in notepad, ha ha, just a very fun but slightly tedious feature currently, that is totally worth the effort!  :) )
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Alex on November 30, 2011, 12:11:26 PM
Yep, you got it right. And yeah, not exactly intended for manual editing, although the variant files aren't so bad (been manually tweaking those myself until just recently, where I set up an option for the refit screen to overwrite those - got a lot more fun to tweak, I'll tell you!)
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Zarcon on November 30, 2011, 01:08:12 PM
Yep, you got it right. And yeah, not exactly intended for manual editing, although the variant files aren't so bad (been manually tweaking those myself until just recently, where I set up an option for the refit screen to overwrite those - got a lot more fun to tweak, I'll tell you!)

Ah yeah I agree on the variant files, they are currently pretty clean and concise files.  So the refit screen rewrites them dynamically, and that makes them look a little less easy on the eyes I guess?  :)  Fun times, heh heh.  For my next fun project I think I'm going to redo a larger ship of some sort, and also a really small one, like a frigate, I've never been any good piloting the frigates, and it is about time I got better at it.  :)  (That is a skill that will end up paying big dividends in the early game of the campaign if I remember you correctly.  :) )
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Thana on December 01, 2011, 11:29:25 AM
I've also started experimenting with creating custom missions with a few smaller ships, partly to gain familiarity with them, partly to because they're under-represented in the single missions available right now. It looks like I should take some notes on what the different ships (that I haven't used much in the single missions) are like and create lists of ships by class and faction if I intend to play around with it some more.
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: obo on February 18, 2012, 06:42:54 AM
Can i find infos about carriers anywhere? How many ships they can carry, how often they auto undock, what time they are in space ect.? Or is there a shiplist where i can find every single statistic of the ship?
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: Hammerhead on February 18, 2012, 07:01:46 AM
Can i find infos about carriers anywhere? How many ships they can carry, how often they auto undock, what time they are in space ect.? Or is there a shiplist where i can find every single statistic of the ship?
Is the in game codex not enough?
Title: Re: Carriers
Post by: obo on February 18, 2012, 08:28:29 AM
Can i find infos about carriers anywhere? How many ships they can carry, how often they auto undock, what time they are in space ect.? Or is there a shiplist where i can find every single statistic of the ship?
Is the in game codex not enough?

Oh Sorry i never looked into it. :D First time after months i used it. Thanks anyways.