Motherships Mod v0.1

[Goblin Wizard]

Originally Posted by Terry_Lentz

I only don't like not being too buy the Lion Mk2 or Mk3 as some call it. There's only the Mk1 - the prototype you get when you rescue Ternie, and the Invincible - the admirals ship.

I've fought the Invincible/Moscow cruiser is a prototype and player's Lion is Mk2. I didn't played all paths so I'm not sure.

Originally Posted by Terry_Lentz

Oh, yeah and a suggestion. It would be nice if you could exchange control with a vacant mothership. Don't know if its possible, though. If is, it could lead to multiple mothership control. That would be awsome. (Of course there is only one mothership, but it really needs two escort ships.)

I don't fully undestand. The next version will give you an option to buy a mothership for each of your pilots. Each pilot will have a perk that allows him to call 6 fighters escort.

btw I have two questions to all of you:
1. Which motherships do you want for your pilots?
2. Escort works like mercenaries and will be called by perk. The pilots, ships and their armament will be fixed so I think about 3-4 quality levels (perks) of escort. The question is:
What type of ships, armament and pilots the escort group should contain?
There are some different roles for pilots I have to choose from too (ATTACK, DEFEND, MISSLEDEFENCE, REPAIR, CLOACKING, LEADER). I'm slightly confused so let me know what you think about whole idea.

[Terry_Lentz]

Originally Posted by Goblin Wizard

I've fought the Invincible/Moscow cruiser is a prototype and player's Lion is Mk2. I didn't played all paths so I'm not sure.

My bad, the Invincible is the Mk1 and there are two Mk2s. One is the prototype (the one which looks like a sharp deformed knife) and the mass production version (the one with reinforced armor, you get it after defending the shipyard).

Originally Posted by Goblin Wizard

I don't fully undestand. The next version will give you an option to buy a mothership for each of your pilots. Each pilot will have a perk that allows him to call 6 fighters escort.

My fault again, I haven't read that part of the description. Thumbs up for more motherships. But what I meant to ask in the previous post is if its possible to exchange control between two motherships. I.e. you have an old Star Wolf and you have just the money to buy a new mothership (lets say an Astarte), you then lose control of the Star Wolf and gain control of the Astarte. Will it be possible to exchange control manually between your current MS and a vacant one (like the one you just sold.) Now when I wrote this down it doesn't sound as I thought it would. Actually its kinda stupid. Silly me.

Concerning the mercenary escort, I think it should be a classic late-game (but not too late) setting of ships and equipment.
Probably 4th generation fighters and one from the 5th generation.
Pilot roles classic too:
Leader, missile defense (and missile attack) guy, repairman, two attackers, one being able to do team stealth (maybe) and he/she should be in defense or attack. Defense if the team belongs to a corporation or empire, and attack if they're pirates or rebels or whatever.

Motherships:

I would like to see the Admiral in an Lion Mk1 (Invincible) and Greyhair in a Rhino, or something similar (MSS and the other abreviated ship name followed by some random numbers.)
For the rest of the squad I don't care, yet.

Personally I think space is getting a little bit crowded

@Goblin Wizard:
- If I understand correctly, you mean pilots will fly these big ships and they will have a summon perk to call for escorts?

- Suppose we have Main mothership plus two pilots (Hero and Ternie). If I buy a big ship and put Hero on it but I put Ternie in a regular fighter, Ternie will still only be able to dock at Main mothership, not Hero's ship, correct?

- If I'm wrong and the new buyable big ships actually function like the real Main mothership, I think there are some big disadvantages: active skills don't work on mothership and you can't install missiles.

To answer your questions,
1: I really have no particular preference for other pilots' big ships. If you really need input I say just recycle the existing motherships. If you only want a limited selection I say use the ones which look like the Star Wolf (size considerations); after all, it would look odd if a bunch of Alien Battleships and Star Hammers were flying around...
2: I feel escorts should be defensive: leader + 1 other fighter, the other ships should be missile boats. Leader = leader, the rest = defend. If you can make the summon perks coexist instead of replacing older one, then you could have an offensive style summon as well. Leader and the rest attack.

Some of my own questions,
1: Summon perks have a limit, we cannot just create new summon perks right? If you create summon perk levels, the higher level summon perk will "override" the lower level one?
2: What about regular perks, can we simply add new perks or is there a limit?

I've looked briefly at the perk scripts but I don't see any mention of limits. The names appear to be hardcoded (are they?) so maybe that is the limitation?

[Goblin Wizard]

Originally Posted by Terry_Lentz

But what I meant to ask in the previous post is if its possible to exchange control between two motherships. I.e. you have an old Star Wolf and you have just the money to buy a new mothership (lets say an Astarte), you then lose control of the Star Wolf and gain control of the Astarte. Will it be possible to exchange control manually between your current MS and a vacant one (like the one you just sold.) Now when I wrote this down it doesn't sound as I thought it would. Actually its kinda stupid. Silly me.

Hmm... I think it works exactly as you described when you buy new ms at the maintenance station. You lose control of current ms and get control of the new one. I can make that you will be able to buy ms not at the station but anywhere in the space but I think it'll be unrealistic and strange.
Another idea... maybe you want to keep all your previous motherships and change them later for free?

Originally Posted by Terry_Lentz

Concerning the mercenary escort, I think it should be a classic late-game (but not too late) setting of ships and equipment.
Probably 4th generation fighters and one from the 5th generation.
Pilot roles classic too:
Leader, missile defense (and missile attack) guy, repairman, two attackers, one being able to do team stealth (maybe) and he/she should be in defense or attack. Defense if the team belongs to a corporation or empire, and attack if they're pirates or rebels or whatever.

There are two problems with pilot's roles:
- pilots (which are called like mercenaries) have their roles set once when they appear. These roles cannot be changed later.
- when pilot role is set to e.g. DEFEND, MISSILEDEFENCE, REPAIR (and probably CLOAKING) he doesn't do anything else. He doesn't use his guns at all. Only LEADER and ATTACK role let pilot fight.

Originally Posted by Trucidation

- If I understand correctly, you mean pilots will fly these big ships and they will have a summon perk to call for escorts?

Yes.

Originally Posted by Trucidation

- Suppose we have Main mothership plus two pilots (Hero and Ternie). If I buy a big ship and put Hero on it but I put Ternie in a regular fighter, Ternie will still only be able to dock at Main mothership, not Hero's ship, correct?

Yes

Originally Posted by Trucidation

- If I'm wrong and the new buyable big ships actually function like the real Main mothership, I think there are some big disadvantages: active skills don't work on mothership and you can't install missiles.

Speaking truth, the new motherships will be just fighters with different, bigger models. They will have full functionality of regular fighters. This means they will be able to use missiles with on/off option.

Originally Posted by Trucidation

Some of my own questions,
1: Summon perks have a limit, we cannot just create new summon perks right? If you create summon perk levels, the higher level summon perk will "override" the lower level one?

Exactly. Four types of summon perk exist so every pilot can have 4 totally independent summon perks. Each of these perks can have several levels which "override" the lower level one.

Originally Posted by Trucidation

2: What about regular perks, can we simply add new perks or is there a limit?
I've looked briefly at the perk scripts but I don't see any mention of limits. The names appear to be hardcoded (are they?) so maybe that is the limitation?

I haven't tested normal perks too much but names of these perks are not hardcoded. You can create your own perk, add necessary ifs to existing functions (perkDispatcher.script, CalculatePilotSkills.script, etc.) and to two big tables in the PilotProperties.script. I don't know if any limit exists.

[Terry_Lentz]

Originally Posted by Goblin Wizard

Another idea... maybe you want to keep all your previous motherships and change them later for free?

Hmm, a garage? Sounds good, but mothership costs increase therefore as there is no trade-in. So its a no, at least for the main motherships.

Originally Posted by Goblin Wizard

There are two problems with pilot's roles:
- pilots (which are called like mercenaries) have their roles set once when they appear. These roles cannot be changed later.
- when pilot role is set to e.g. DEFEND, MISSILEDEFENCE, REPAIR (and probably CLOAKING) he doesn't do anything else. He doesn't use his guns at all. Only LEADER and ATTACK role let pilot fight.

Well then make them as Trucidation said: try making summoning skills for offensive and defensive style. Else make them Leader, 1-2 attackers, missile defense and the rest defense.

Originally Posted by Goblin Wizard

Speaking truth, the new motherships will be just fighters with different, bigger models. They will have full functionality of regular fighters. This means they will be able to use missiles with on/off option.

Does this mean that main motherships will be huge enough for the smaller ones to be able to dock with it, or will the capital ships dock to the main MS externally or won't they dock at all?

I have an another idea. What if the main mothership needs to be piloted by 2 pilots all the time (the firmware and a pilot), and when in grave situation you can launch the human pilot in a fighter (or in an another capital ship) but the main mothership won't be able to move. The mothership will though have 2 firmware pilots, one standard copilot (pretty useless in this situation) and a tactical operation firmware (giving better performance to shields, turrets and large caliber guns). This, though, uses one pilot slot (or two when a human is copiloting), so the maximum number of pilots is decreased making the game more realistic (You don't see a fleet of 5 to 6 capital ships wandering around in SW universe alot, do you?).

[Goblin Wizard]

Originally Posted by Terry_Lentz

or will the capital ships dock to the main MS externally?

this one ↑

Originally Posted by Terry_Lentz

I have an another idea. What if the main mothership needs to be piloted by 2 pilots all the time (the firmware and a pilot)...

There can be only one pilot (firmware or normal). It's hardcoded.

Originally Posted by Terry_Lentz

(You don't see a fleet of 5 to 6 capital ships wandering around in SW universe alot, do you?).

When we've stabilized our mods I'll try to put together a pack including Nanaki's Fleet mod and Goblin Wizard's Mothership mod. Toss in my modded missiles and space will look like the war zone it's supposed to be, rofl.

[Terry_Lentz]

Originally Posted by Goblin Wizard

There can be only one pilot (firmware or normal). It's hardcoded.

I thought so.

Originally Posted by Trucidation

When we've stabilized our mods I'll try to put together a pack including Nanaki's Fleet mod and Goblin Wizard's Mothership mod. Toss in my modded missiles and space will look like the war zone it's supposed to be, rofl.

Big like. (Ah, stupid Facebook terminology)

[Goblin Wizard]

Just some screenshots of my Angorian Light Cruiser (I really like this model).
Loadout: 6 big guns, 3 turrets, 1 missile luncher, 5 systems. Slightly slower and less maneuverable than Silver Arrow.

angor2.jpg angor1.jpg angor3.jpg

[Sentencer]

So, I just installed the mod today, and went to purchase a new mothership...

Well, all the upgrade spots are gone and there is a big red sign in Russian that I would assume says there is an error. I tried almost all the motherships, and this message only appears for the "Other Models" section, but all but three of them give me this problem...

I've included a screen for details. I tried searching in this thread for an answer, but maybe I'm the only one experiencing the problem...

Ships That Have Error:
Alien dreadnought
Alien frigate
Chimera
Super chimera
Phoenix
Portal transport
Stone Arrow
Angorian Frigate

Ships That Work Fine:
Silver Arrow
Ramadanta
Star Hammer