Modding SW3?

[Goblin Wizard]

Originally Posted by sidius

-seem I can't conver turret into major caliber turret, or even add new major caliber turret in that IMD editor. There is no such option

Because IMDEditor was made for Star Wolves 2. You have to export TurretGK refpoint (e.g. from stationary turrets models) and import/add it to your file.

[fx3269]

Goblin Wizard! Can you give me your IMD editor?I cant download it from the link you gave before.Thank

[Goblin Wizard]

Try FileFront

Originally Posted by Trucidation

However, inside \Data\XMLSchema\ folder, Rockets.xsd does not include MultiRocket in the xs:choice list. There is a definition for it in AllModules.xsd though, on line 246. I wonder if we can simply add an xs:element line for it into Rockets.xsd.

This, apparently, works. However, max_rocket_count is not how many launches you get; instead, the number of launches you get is = max_rocket_count divided by rocket_slots.

Example:
max_rocket_count = 20; rocket_slots = 4
Q: How many launches, and how many missiles per launch?
A: (20/4) = 5 launches, with 4 missiles per launch

Therefore, unlike MIRVs, max_rocket_count is not how many launches (or "missiles per pod") you get. It is simply the overall total number of missiles.

Originally Posted by Trucidation

As to Aleksty's suggestion, if adding it to the schema works then I have a strong feeling that simply assigning a MIRV type to rocket_name in the rocket_params section should make this a multiple-MIRV launcher, each of which in turn will spread into multiple warheads.

Correct. However, with the default values, all MIRVs are launched close to each other in a tight, packed formation -- guess what happens when it's time for the MIRVs to split up and deliver their multiple warheads? Blast radius damage happens, that's what. So basically your MIRVs end up destroying each other.

I am currently about to tweak the MIRV blast values and to see if I can do anything about the launch pattern. Otherwise the multiMIRV launcher will be a useless idea because the missiles are so close they detonate each other. (And as expected, my pilot who launched the missiles also got caught in the blast radius. I knew there was a reason I hated the default missiles -_-.)

Cutting down the MIRV detonator explosion_distance and damage helps a bit (I actually reduced both values to 1) but the missiles still destroy each other a lot.

Okay, I think I fixed it. In Modules.xml crank up viewing_angle and dispersion. In Rockets.xml turn down the explosion_distance of the parent missile (the MIRV). I think you can safely leave the damage alone; after all what happens if it hits a target before separating? Similarly, turn down the explosion_distance of the warheads. Wa-la, there you go: multiple MIRV launches, and each of them separates into multiple warheads.

The only problem I have with this concept is that without the danger of a blast radius to worry about you basically have an ultimate weapon. You'll need to pare down the damage a lot, single digits even. Heck, even my weak 30x 13 dmg danmaku were deadly in the hands of a missile expert.

Edit:
Screenshot 2, note how close the multiMIRVs are on launch - I'm merely using 4, and even then you can see two of them are actually physically overlapping. No wonder when they separate into warheads they hit each other and explode.

[Goblin Wizard]

Have you tired to change missile hit points (hit_points > own damage or damage of all warheads)? I don't know if this have any sense because I haven't modified missiles yet. The main question is: Is missile destroyed by default or by their own damage (or both)?

No, they don't get destroyed by default, but if the enemy is grouped together in one direction then the missiles don't spread far enough and hit each other. If enemies are spread all around you it is better, missiles don't get tangled together.

Hitpoints for parent MultiRocket looks ok (is unchanged default 10,000) - that is far more hp than the potential damage (30 warhead x 10 dmg = 300 dmg). Even if they all hit each other it is still only 4 missiles per launch, or 300 x 4 = 1,200 dmg. Each warhead has very low hp though (default 10 for MIRV_WH). Perhaps this is the problem. Let's see what happens if I jack this up to 10,000 as well.

Edit:
Ya, that did the trick. I forgot I was modding LRM1 and pointing to MIRV3, needed to increase the hp on the MIRV3 missile and warhead (I don't know why the hp for these is default 10, very very low). I guess this solves the problem, you have your MultiRocket - MIRVs now

[Goblin Wizard]

Thanks for testing. I suppose the biggest problem will be to balance damage of this multirocket/MIRV missile. Hmm... I constantly have feeling that all ships have too low hp comparing to most types of weapons (especially high-end versions). They simply die too fast.

Seems I was mistaken about the XMLSchema file. I took another look and noticed that the other definitions in that small Rockets.xsd file were detonators and seekers. "Huh, where are the actual missile definitions?" Found them inside Modules.xsd. Then I wondered why all these separate xsd files when everything is supposedly in AllModules.xsd, right? Maybe someone who knows which files are used or not can tell.

Anyway, I restored the original Rockets.xsd and found that MultiRocket still works. So it looks like you can ignore the files in this folder when creating MultiRockets since the game apparently already knows about them.

Note:
In trade screen you will only see max_rocket_count and damage for each warhead. It does not display rocket_slot (how many launched per attack), which is also important to know -- because if you see max_rocket_count saying 10 rockets that sounds like a lot, but if 5 are launched per attack then actually it's only a little because you'll fire all of them in merely 2 attacks.

If you define a rocket in \Data\Game\Modules.xml as "HomingRocket", trade screen will show "damage, resistance, range, quantity", but if you define it as "MIRVModule", trade screen will show "Number of warheads, damage, range, quantity" - that's why for MIRVs you can't see the "resistance" but in the game data their antijam values are different, and I think this is also important to know. But note MIRVs have 2 antijam values - 1 for the parent missile and 1 for the warheads. Personally, I'm going to max out the parent's antijam and simply use the warhead's antijam value as the rating. I don't like the parent missile to be shot down because then you won't be able to tell that your ECM/AMS stopped a MIRV or just a single rocket.

Unfortunately, MultiRocket appears to use the standard rocket trade display, showing "damage, resistance, range, quantity" where damage is damage per warhead and quantity is max_rocket_count. Players actually need to know the value for rocket_slot as well, like I explained just now. I don't know where trade screen information is located. For now, I suggest that if you create a MultiRocket then please also edit \Data\LocData\English\m_modules.xml and change the rocket's description to also mention rocket_slots (how many rockets fired per launch) as well.

After some searching around I couldn't find any file which mentions "resistance"... I'm guessing this belongs in that hardcoded XML, the same one preventing us from adding new perks and other stuff. It's not a big deal if we can't change the trade display text, but it's annoying, and you'll have to remember to edit the descriptions in m_modules.xml. The resistance display is also referring to the parent missile, which sucks because you need to know how well the warheads perform, not the parent because the parent is not the one delivering the damage.

Edit:
MultiRocket launches are limited, the game can only spawn so many missiles per launch - the limit appears to be 10. I tried with rocket_slot values of 10,15,20,30,40 and all of them only launched 10 missiles per attack. (Seems to tally with the sample missile "MRT" in Modules.xml which only fires 8 at a time.) So if you want a large spread you're still going to need to use MIRVs.

Theoretically there's nothing stopping you from designing a MIRV which splits into other MIRVs... this can get silly real fast though, and the trade display will be even more inaccurate.

[sidius]

hmm, I would simply write that it's shooting 4 MIRVs at the same time to the description in LocData.

I have much smaller problem. "Major caliber turret" - the default name, is simply too long for the small description window, so it's written through "Turret type".

I'm finally finished with adding different kinds of major caliber turrets to different factions FTU markets, I've also modified dispersion or heavy cannons and rapid-fire cannons and plasma cannons so they are now equally strong as lasers and particle accelerators. Liger with 8x Vincinidator + 2x Basilica turrets, yay. All payed for ingame credits, no credits at the start of the game or from selling stuff I've added myself at the start of the game.

It's actually nice for gameplay, I can choose to upgrade fighters (classic SW3) or only mothership(modified Liger).

I'm going to try making rapid fire major calibers . Could be fun if I could make it. And then I'll give it to Triada FTU markets since they don't have any major calibers now.

I thought just lowering the dmg output of those pulse lasers would be easier than trying to improve everything else? The mothership performs too well in combat if you have a good firmware. I've come to dislike fighting near the mothership since it does too good a job of destroying hostiles and leaves little for the fighters to do.