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More ships

782 (23.9%)

More weapons

496 (15.2%)

More campaign features

488 (14.9%)

Space monsters

717 (21.9%)

More lore

212 (6.5%)

More music

135 (4.1%)

More portraits

159 (4.9%)

Subfactions

283 (8.6%)

Total Members Voted: 1462

[Cycerin]

Yeah they work well with vulcans or light MGs on it. The current stock attack variant for the Scarab is using a turreted squall cannon, two ir pulse lasers, and two light MGs and it works fairly well. My main beef with the sponsons is that it looks silly with certain stock turrets on it.

Did some rebalancing and Uomoz helped me get a station inventory going, so Blackrock is now pretty playable in the corvus campaign. Gonna make some weapons next, Blackrock is in the weapons business after all, not just in the shipmaking biz.

Here's the Desdinova firing its new Squall Cannons:

[ramondarkdemon]

Holy mother of epicness 

[Cycerin]

Still don't know what ship system to give it. Was considering some sort of weapon activated through the ship system controls, or an incredibly superpowered EMP system that wrecks everything that gets too close to it. This ship is supposed to be on the threat level of a Paragon and is definitively no walkover.

[Talkie Toaster]

The engines look pretty intimidating, and the front looks seriously well armed in comparison to the back. So... to tie in with the advanced maneuvering jets in the previous ships, how about a maneuvering jet that also fires 'beams' from the engine mounts? So when your cap ship gets swarmed and your poor rear weapon coverage bites, you have an 'emergency escape' button that also deals a bunch of damage? It might be a bit close to the burn drive though, even if it has the opposite aim.

[Cycerin]

A Kzinti Lesson Dispenser? It's too good not to consider. I just had an idea, though... will get back to the thread in a bit.

[Piroton]

Crap me, that Meta1 Ship turned into such a beauty.

I'd suggest a Maneuvering Jets-like thing which greatly increases your strafe rate - that'll make for a great escape/flank tool.

BUT YES YES YES THE SYSTEM BATTLESHIP YES
/fanboying

Honestly though that glow is sexy, sexy stuff. I'm looking forward to this.

[Cycerin]

Took its sweet time to draw that missile launcher, but yeah. The ship system is going to be a Macross Missile Massacre. This ship has the usual Blackrock setup of good flux, enormous weapon capacity, inefficient shields. The missile array is a good thing to use when you need breathing room to vent flux or if you are surrounded by annoying strike frigates.

[Alex]

Very cool, looking forward to seeing it in-game

About the system - you may want to reconsider using a weapon as a system, as you won't be able to get the AI to use it. As the player, you also wouldn't see weapon arcs, ammo counts, etc - it's just not meant for that usage. If you want the weapon to be a unique part of the ship, I'd suggest making it a built-in one (like the Onslaught's TPCs).

For the system itself, I think it's a good idea to look at the role of the ship and give it something that either makes it better at it, or shores up a glaring weakness. Given the BRD "glass cannon" theme, a Fast Missile Racks type system - to use in conjunction with the built-in missile launcher, if you go that route - might work. Or something similar to the Accelerated Ammo Feeder, but for missiles (that'd work better if the missile weapon wasn't bursty, but just had lots of missiles and a decent RoF). A last-ditch defensive measure could work, too.

Just suggestions/thoughts, obviously. I definitely wouldn't put a real weapon in the system slot, though, not if you care about the AI being able to use the ship.

[Cycerin]

Ah, I figured I could hack it into using it if I gave a flare launcher that fired homing missiles the EMP AI, since it's supposed to have a similar "role" to the EMP system in combat. Won't that work? My fallback option was to turn it into a built-in weapon, but I somehow think that makes it less cool. :c

And the reason I wanted to make it a system was because I could make a truly ludicrous missile barrage, something that you might reasonably have to disable the ship's shields and weapons to properly target and unleash.

I might give it a maneuvering jets-esque system or give it more missile slots and do something like what you said. I think it's important to get the big ships "right" since they're basically the poster boys for a faction. The Onslaught, Conquest and Paragon are both extremely cool and well executed in their own ways. Sometimes it's hard to find niches that the game hasn't already covered.

[Alex]

Ah, I figured I could hack it into using it if I gave a flare launcher that fired homing missiles the EMP AI, since it's supposed to have a similar "role" to the EMP system in combat. Won't that work? My fallback option was to turn it into a built-in weapon, but I somehow think that makes it less cool. :c

That won't work - it'll crash the game. The EMP AI expects an EMP system. And don't let the Onslaught hear you saying it's less cool!

And the reason I wanted to make it a system was because I could make a truly ludicrous missile barrage, something that you might reasonably have to disable the ship's shields and weapons to properly target and unleash.

Well, functionally it could be exactly the same, regardless of whether it's a system or a weapon. And since a built-in weapon is restricted to that hull only, you don't have to worry about it ending up on some other, unintended ship.

I think it's important to get the big ships "right" since they're basically the poster boys for a faction. The Onslaught, Conquest and Paragon are both extremely cool and well executed in their own ways. Sometimes it's hard to find niches that the game hasn't already covered.

Yeah... thanks, glad you think so I've got to say you've done an admirable job of that so far - the ships feel different and fresh, but not overpowered.

[Cycerin]

Oh Alex, you are the gentlest crusher of dreams. 

And yeah, finding niches and trying to hack ship systems into doing novel things is challenging and fun. I play a lot of Dota 2, so I like trying to come up with ways a concept can feel "almost overpowered" and yet still have counters.

I think the strafe jet system Piroton suggested would be interesting, if it can be done. Part of the reason I wanted it to be a system, is because I could set one little hidden "system" weapon for each missile pod and have each of them participate in the barrage, sort of like flare launchers work (unless I missed something)

[Alex]

And yeah, finding niches and trying to hack ship systems into doing novel things is challenging and fun. I play a lot of Dota 2, so I like trying to come up with ways a concept can feel "almost overpowered" and yet still have counters.

That seems like a good way to arrive at something fun.

Part of the reason I wanted it to be a system, is because I could set one little hidden "system" weapon for each missile pod and have each of them participate in the barrage, sort of like flare launchers work (unless I missed something)

Hmm. You could still do that with a built-in, though - I'm not sure what the issue you're seeing is. I guess part of it would be that they could get assigned to whatever groups the player wanted, is that it?

[Cycerin]

Yeah, it feels sort of messy and not as cohesive as it could have been. I think I'll find a way to pull it off though.

[WKOB]

You could make a single weapon mounted in the middle of the ship and then go nuts with barrel off-sets.

[HeliosRX]

Great mod!
Could you possibly make it fully campaign integrated for the next release? I want to use the Desdinova in the proper campaign!