Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional? |
I've tested this a fair bit in BM v1.14 with SEV v1.77 -- plasma missiles appear to only be able to fire in the forward hemisphere of the firing vessel.
Is this intentional? Is this BM only, or in Stock as well? (I'm too lazy to test Stock at the moment)
Does it have anything to do with the AI settings of my shipset? (I'm using the Klingon shipset) With the strategy? (using the default maximize range strategy, with a few tweaks)
Anyone have any ideas?
This pretty much makes plasma missiles suck, except as defensive weapons on weapons platforms and bases... unless those objects also have a forward arc, and then they would *really* suck.
Do any other seekers have this restriction? Do they all? (again, I am too lazy to test all the seekers right now -- hoping someone knows something that I do not)
Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
It is not a flaw. A Klingon ship should be facing its enemy when it attacks.

Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
I disagree, it's a shortcoming in the Klingon shipset. The reason why the ships have defined firing points is so that a ship does not fire weapons through itself. All the stock sets have 360 degree coverage for this purpose and firing points on all 4 sides, so you'd never encounter this problem. This set is the first one I've seen that hasn't replicated that setup.
Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
Well maybe it's not in line with other sets. Pretty characterful though. 
Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
I'd say it wasn't a flaw as such, but adds flavour, though maybe an advantage to the ships is necessary when using it if that's possible to counter the limited firing arcs

Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
Yup. If anyone knows of any other ship set exhibiting the same "flavor" behaviour, please post in here. I'd never play such a set, no matter how cool it looks or how "authentic" it is. Crippling yourself in MP simply makes no sense.
----------
See my PBW game stories on http://users.pandora.be/banzaiboy/sevpbw/.

Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
You know, it would be really easy to fix!
Have you sent Atrocities a mail asking him to sort it out?
If Atrocities is no longer around to fix it...I would be willing to do so...it is only 5 or 10 mins work.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Join PBW Emperor Of The Universe League Today. Follow the Link to EOTU
http://thewelloftakahlah.spaces.live.com/blog/
Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
Didn't realise the AI couldn't cope with it, that being the case it is definitely a flaw. If the AI could cope then it'd be fine given an appropriate balancing factor, increased accuracy, damage, defense or speed.
Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
What file do you look at to determine how many and where the firing points are? Is it a text file that can be easily changed?

Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
Yes, it is a text file. Here is a link which will explain how to do it.
http://www.spaceempires5.com/en-US/node/3302
But remember that if you do fix it, it will only be good for single player games...for MP games, Atrocities or someone will have to fix it and upload it to the PBW server.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Join PBW Emperor Of The Universe League Today. Follow the Link to EOTU
http://thewelloftakahlah.spaces.live.com/blog/
Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
Interesting. I was looking at the Frigate in the Romulan ship set and the way that is currently set up it has two firing points each with 180 degree arcs. Is there a difference in performance in game play between this configuration, and say the Light Cruiser that has 4 firing points each with 90 degree arcs?

Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
As long as the arcs complete 360°, the ship can fire in any direction.

Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
Just as Captain kwok has said there isn´t any difference...and it can be done with small model ships, but as the size of the ships get bigger there could be problems as the points will not fire if they have to shoot through the ship model.
So that is probably why the lt. Cruiser has more points than the frigate.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Join PBW Emperor Of The Universe League Today. Follow the Link to EOTU
http://thewelloftakahlah.spaces.live.com/blog/

Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
I fixed that bird of prey, I found it ridiculous that it couldn't fire point defense at seekers coming up from behind, so I added a rear arc. I wish they could have linked the placement of the weapons on the component display to the arcs, would have been nice, but then the AI would have to be much smarter when it was building ships.
My Romulans can fire their plasma torps out the butt no problem, btw. No limitation on that weapon per se.
Watch out for the Rommie Destroyer, as well. It's arc are severely limited on the sides, I guess because of those huge wings it has and no obvious side firing points, the designer reduced the side arcs. This makes it a really limited ship when using the standard AI 'circling' tactic. It needs to head directly towards or away from it's target.
All that is done before the naked stars is remembered

Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
Grumble. I took over an open spot in a PBW game and now I'm stuck with the Romulan shipset. Would you mind uploading your fixed set to PBW? It's the only way players can use it properly in such games, provided it doesn't break games in progress.
----------
See my PBW game stories on http://users.pandora.be/banzaiboy/sevpbw/.




Re: Plasma Missiles -- forward-firing-arc-only... intentional?
It could be due to the defined firing points on the Klingon shipset. Do you see the same effect when using any other weapons? I would except they would all be effected.
Space Empires Depot | SE:V Balance Mod