StarMade v0.201.126 - Weapon Update

[Donoterase]

"Fixed shipyards (several issues) and added shipyard logs"

I hear Shipyards are working again, can anyone confirm?

I just threw a shipyard together really quick last night. It got a little finicky when I moved the core anchor block, but it worked alright. I'm currently using 201.130.

 

[KevinFett]

Made a graphic to help me when making weapons. I couldn't figure out how to post this to my profile so I'll leave it here...

 

[Nebulon-B_Frigate_FTW]

Made a graphic to help me when making weapons. I couldn't figure out how to post this to my profile so I'll leave it here...View attachment 50349

Black on dark blue is a terrible color setup, never use it. Also consider putting bulletpoints so that continuations can be distinguished from separate texts.

 

[Ash'gan]

Is AI broken or is there something just on my end or is there something new with AI cores that I don't understand???
I have built a turret, works fine as just a turret but with Bobby AI it does nothing, activated in turret mode an everything, pirate shows up and nothing.
I got one to function once with selected target (it wouldn't function as targeting ship or any)
I have these on stations and the one that worked was on a planet base.

probably shoulnd't have asked this here but I duno if this is due to the weapon changes or is a longer issue.

I'm hosting a dedicated server on the same machine for me and my friend to play lan if that makes any difference.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Is AI broken or is there something just on my end or is there something new with AI cores that I don't understand???
I have built a turret, works fine as just a turret but with Bobby AI it does nothing, activated in turret mode an everything, pirate shows up and nothing.
I got one to function once with selected target (it wouldn't function as targeting ship or any)
I have these on stations and the one that worked was on a planet base.

probably shoulnd't have asked this here but I duno if this is due to the weapon changes or is a longer issue.

I'm hosting a dedicated server on the same machine for me and my friend to play lan if that makes any difference.

AI absolutely sucks (terrible, storm trooper-level aim, no sense of target prioritization, lousy pilots etc.) but it is functional.

If you want to make a working AI turret, go to your AI settings make sure to turn on "any" and turn off "remote control". This will allow your AI to use the turrets. With remote control turned on, you can add the turret axis to your hotbar and manually fire the turrets but AI will not use them. Hope this helps.

 

[Ash'gan]

AI absolutely sucks (terrible, storm trooper-level aim, no sense of target prioritization, lousy pilots etc.) but it is functional.

If you want to make a working AI turret, go to your AI settings make sure to turn on "any" and turn off "remote control". This will allow your AI to use the turrets. With remote control turned on, you can add the turret axis to your hotbar and manually fire the turrets but AI will not use them. Hope this helps.

EDIT: ok so it was a bunch of variables and my lack of understanding of the remote control that led to my meldown on trying to fix the turrets. part of it was I had a scrap pirate ship I was testing it on which is within range of cannons but not in range of the AI??? or something like that since cannons say they have 4k range while the AI with some testing only acquired targets at about less then 3k...

Double Edit: thanks for your help.

Triple Edit: So are Pirate Isanths indestructible right now? they seem to have no structural HP so they can never be killled except as a blown out hull that floats there, I've been resorting to admin deleting them but yeah :/
they also unless I am mistaken seem to use reactor power blocks as thrusters?

 

[Dr. Whammy]

EDIT: ok so it was a bunch of variables and my lack of understanding of the remote control that led to my meldown on trying to fix the turrets. part of it was I had a scrap pirate ship I was testing it on which is within range of cannons but not in range of the AI??? or something like that since cannons say they have 4k range while the AI with some testing only acquired targets at about less then 3k...

Double Edit: thanks for your help.

Triple Edit: So are Pirate Isanths indestructible right now? they seem to have no structural HP so they can never be killled except as a blown out hull that floats there, I've been resorting to admin deleting them but yeah :/
they also unless I am mistaken seem to use reactor power blocks as thrusters?

- You are correct about engagement range. My test universe has 5km sectors and unmodified weapon ranges. Average AI engagement range limit seems to be about 3k with all weapons.

- You are very welcome.

- The newest (post-power-2.0) Isanths do in fact, have reactors. However, they are spread across the extreme rear of the ship; blended in right in front of their thrusters. This is why it is difficult to Kill an Isanth (with smaller weapons) when it is facing you. It's actually a very clever ship design; given the current game mechanics. All the "meat" is in the back end of the ship. Try equipping recon chambers to your ship; with emphasis on "permanent duration" and a strength of 3 or higher. You'll be able to see the reactors and power stream stretching across the back of the ship in a jagged line.

 

[Ash'gan]

- The newest (post-power-2.0) Isanths do in fact, have reactors. However, they are spread across the extreme rear of the ship; blended in right in front of their thrusters. This is why it is difficult to Kill an Isanth (with smaller weapons) when it is facing you. It's actually a very clever ship design; given the current game mechanics. All the "meat" is in the back end of the ship. Try equipping recon chambers to your ship; with emphasis on "permanent duration" and a strength of 3 or higher. You'll be able to see the reactors and power stream stretching across the back of the ship in a jagged line.

EDIT: I don't know why its using old blueprints instead of newer ugh it means I gotta start the universe over doesn't it *sighs*
hmm now I"m confused I don't even see blueprints for the NPC miners but they have the same thing where the reactor HP value is zero by default. is my game bugged or is there some option somewhere I didn't click?
sry I don't mean to hijack the thread but after coming back so much stuff is new or not working quite right.

 

[Ithirahad]

Is AI broken or is there something just on my end or is there something new with AI cores that I don't understand???
I have built a turret, works fine as just a turret but with Bobby AI it does nothing, activated in turret mode an everything, pirate shows up and nothing.
I got one to function once with selected target (it wouldn't function as targeting ship or any)
I have these on stations and the one that worked was on a planet base.

probably shoulnd't have asked this here but I duno if this is due to the weapon changes or is a longer issue.

I'm hosting a dedicated server on the same machine for me and my friend to play lan if that makes any difference.

What weapon are you trying to use? Not all work properly with AI.

 

[Ash'gan]

What weapon are you trying to use? Not all work properly with AI.

That got resolved I was testing with some abnormality that was causing me to think the Bobby AI was broken but with some more work and Dr. Whammy's help I figured out the problem, I'm still confused by the game using old blueprints of the Isanth VI, and possibly other ships instead of the new ones.

 

[Donoterase]

I'm still confused by the game using old blueprints of the Isanth VI, and possibly other ships instead of the new ones.

My workaround for that--since they didn't bother to update the NPC factions--was to go into the settings and click on "use old damage system" which allows ships to be destroyed when the cores were hit. This old rule doesn't apply to the new power system, or they work side-by-side, or something, because I ran several combat tests with my son while we're assembling our world. Unfortunately, they broke/disabled that rule after 201.142 so only docked entities and turrets die on core hits. There's a user here who has updated the Scavenger ship blueprints, last I looked.

Anyway, the charge cannon and death ray are not usable by AI. So you will want to adjust blueprints accordingly (or, like my son and I, tweak the weapons altogether). Keep in mind old blueprints cannot use missile weapons anymore, if that's the route you go.

EDIT: I almost forgot. If you stack up ships into a fleet, it will give you an engagement range in the fleet stats. However, this range is not based on turrets, but on the weapons mounted directly on the entity.

 

[nightwalker_007]

Removal of push effect makes some builds not possible. It was nice having something controllable by logic which will make a ship move. Granted, it is a rough adjustment, but with push and stop effects, it allows the creation of automatic mining ships or launching of self-propelled warheads... It also made possible a simple autopilot system.

 

[Muffin_man17]

Removal of push effect makes some builds not possible. It was nice having something controllable by logic which will make a ship move. Granted, it is a rough adjustment, but with push and stop effects, it allows the creation of automatic mining ships or launching of self-propelled warheads... It also made possible a simple autopilot system.

I could be missing something but wouldn't the pickup rails help serve the function of launching/ receiving ships or warheads?

 

[kiddan]

I could be missing something but wouldn't the pickup rails help serve the function of launching/ receiving ships or warheads?

Launch rails can, for the most part, replace push effect modules in warheads. So long as thrust dampening is off, the only downside is a reduction in max speed.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Removal of push effect makes some builds not possible. It was nice having something controllable by logic which will make a ship move. Granted, it is a rough adjustment, but with push and stop effects, it allows the creation of automatic mining ships or launching of self-propelled warheads... It also made possible a simple autopilot system.

I could be missing something but wouldn't the pickup rails help serve the function of launching/ receiving ships or warheads?

It's been a while since I worked on launch bays and torpedoes but I'll offer my most recent info.

As of now, it is still possible to create unguided warhead weapons (although, I can't vouch for the effectiveness of Warheads in the current build). You must turn off thrust dampening and then save your blueprint. Unless they changed something, your BP saves your AI, thrust and chamber settings. Unfortunately, I don't know of a way to create a guided torpedo without push effect. It may be possible to use the tractor beam effect mounted on a small craft to pull itself toward a larger object. I haven't tested this so I can't say for sure if that would work.

Transferring ships/warheads from a shootout rail to a pickup rail didn't work for me; even when connected to each other. This is most likely due to the compact size of the device I was building. The shootout rail launched the unit so hard that it went through the pickup point and its rails and bounced it off of the receiver end of the device.

Mining drones can still use standard thrusters; although they were still kind of dumb last time I tried them.

Ship launching in general never really changed since rails were first introduced. Now that Shootout/Pickup rails are available, you can launch and retrieve your fighters and mining drones. With careful planning of your rail positioning and timing, you can have quite a few small craft on a ship; all of which can be launched via logic and recalled via AI commands.

If any of this info is outdated please feel free to correct/clarify.