Battletech

Archangel of Death · Post by **Archangel of Death** » 20 Sep 2005, 00:17

Well, I already have the beginnings of the ammo system in. I'm just not sure I not sure if setSFXoccupy was implemented in Spring. Well, it better work. Current plan has them fully reloaded when they go into an mfb or dropship, how much ammo it gives them will be based on how much ammo they have for that weapon in that configuration. I'm thinking of having both MW3 and MW4 style mfbs, with the buildings repairing faster. For the MW4 style, you would set load and unload areas on the two sides, then send a mech to the load side to get it in to reload and repair. I'm thinking I might be able to make them keep using their walk animation while being loaded. Course, would walking in place when inside or being stiff legged while going in and out be weirder? For dropships, don't think I can have them land then load, so we'll just assume they are a custom config for hot dropping. And MW3 style mfbs, hmm, those might be more interesting, but it is somewhat important to have field support available that isn't an expensive dropship.

bobthedinosaur · Post by **bobthedinosaur** » 24 Sep 2005, 12:02

omg

you motovate me!!

and hi gryph! glad to see youve come from hiding.

any how you are free to use anything ive done with the old mechwars projects, and modify them (since they are very bug and some are ugly models) but you have to mention it somewhere in your notes, all the older people who worked on the old project (GA, mechy, aracne falcon, me, and various others) and please dont use the same aweful name 'mechwars' i swear its bad luck!

for my personal opinion try to leave out modern wizkid/ microsoft crap and keep it slighlty modified classic battle tech. but thats up to you, altthough i love the 3067 Tro mechs so.

ill pm you some other junk.

dont let the mod die!

FizWizz · Post by **FizWizz** » 25 Sep 2005, 00:04

BobTheDinosaur wrote:please dont use the same aweful name 'mechwars' i swear its bad luck!

That raises a good question: what are we going to call it? I'd just as soon call it "Spring: Battletech" myself, it's simple and straightforward.

Archangel of Death · Post by **Archangel of Death** » 25 Sep 2005, 09:14

I personally think Battletech Spring rolls off the tongue better than Spring: Battletech. I am open to suggestions, neither is quite as cool as I want.

Ok, heat and ammo systems are working well. I'm currently working on a limited damage simulation system (arms only). Eventually I'll get all the weapon data and mech loadouts I'll need and can start updating all the current units (. At the same time as redoing units I'll keep an eye out for any particularly low quality ones (of which I've been warned about) and eventually get up a list of things that could use a bit of remodelling and/or walk scripting (I was told some are just copy/pastes and don't look to great).

At some point I'm going to put up my design for the resource system, build tree, guidlines for general map layouts, and what kind of play I'm trying to produce with it. I will be looking for input, analysis, suggestions, and alternate plans when I do. Don't expect that too soon though, I'll probably finish up a bunch of converting before I spend much time on that.

A note on the Ammo system: Units (excluding Aircraft) will get reloaded when they get picked up by a transporter. This means only Field Bases and Dropships will be able to reload them. Now, don't think this will make them too undesirable to use, ammo based weapons tend to be rather powerful. Mobile field support units (don't think that is the name, I'm just going to make sure there is one) probably won't be able to reload units, only repair. It would probably be to much of a hassle to use them if they had to load mechs, especially since they will be ground vehicles.

Field bases will work by setting the load area on one side and the unload on the other. You then walk a mech into the load area and "autopilot" will kick in and bring it in. It will then hold it there for a bit as it repairs and rearms it. Now, I'll make sure it is scripted so that if the field base is on the verge of death it will unload whatever is in it. Stuff usually doens't get taken out by a mere field base explosion.
The dropships will be pretty high up the tech tree, and of a light variety. They will not be able to repair units. Being able to reload units on the battlefield will be a significant bonus on its own.
It just struck me that I could probably reload aircraft on landing. I'll probably include a bit of a delay, like 20 seconds, after landing before they are actually reloaded (so you don't just bounce off the ground in the middle of fights to reload).

SwiftSpear · Post by **SwiftSpear** » 25 Sep 2005, 10:39

I personally find the abreviation BS to be more inapropriate then SB...

zwzsg · Post by **zwzsg** » 25 Sep 2005, 21:09

If the unitlimit is fixed or if someone code me a way to read unitlimit I can script it so the ammo is replenished just by getting near a supply, without having to load and unload the whole unit.

FizWizz · Post by **FizWizz** » 25 Sep 2005, 22:20

zwzsg wrote:If the unitlimit is fixed or if someone code me a way to read unitlimit I can script it so the ammo is replenished just by getting near a supply, without having to load and unload the whole unit.

Reminds me of the RTS "Conquest: Frontier Wars." Less micromanagement would be better (without doing away with the ammo system).

Archangel of Death · Post by **Archangel of Death** » 26 Sep 2005, 00:15

Good point swiftspear. Hmm, perhaps we should start with a really cool sounding acronym, then develop the name from there?

At least that way we won't end up with something like "Crazy Rebellious Aggressors Purple" (erm, few if any of you will get that reference).

Well, if the looped load/unload is made to work properly and not mysteriously cease to load it will be rather microless after setting the initial points. Having it reload just by going by a field base isn't to realistic since they load after the unit has gone into it. Having just being by something to reload could also be abusable in a defensive role. A lance of fire support mechs spamming missiles is bad enough. When it doesn't stop, things get ugly.

bobthedinosaur · Post by **bobthedinosaur** » 28 Sep 2005, 12:16

i agree that some micromagment should be used to tender the ammunition depleted units but no heavy micro mamagment, it should be a balance between managing ammunition and letting them reload on thier own(such as the orignal iea to have a time delayed reload, but let some units waiting forever, and gave the player no control over reloading). if it is possible to make ammunition or contruction vehicles patrol and reload units as they go about that would be much more effecitve, and would put in more strategy for protecting supply routes.

FizWizz · Post by **FizWizz** » 28 Sep 2005, 16:46

I think that having to pull 'mechs out of a fight to go back to a resupplier will be micro-ing enough, you needn't have to load and unload them too.

SinbadEV · Post by **SinbadEV** » 28 Sep 2005, 18:42

Canadian Reform-Allience Party

Pxtl · Post by **Pxtl** » 28 Sep 2005, 20:20

Yep, the CRAP party was almost as funny as when some former Reformers tried to leave the alliance, hence being called the Rebel Alliance (by the news even!)

Perhaps the logic used for repair pads for planes could be reused for ammo for mechs? That is, mechs automatically run back to the nearest repair pad when low on ammo? Alternately, an ammo-truck could be created - somehting that carries 50 tons of ammo and can drive back to base to pick up more.

Fetching ammo by walking by a depot would also be nice for patrol routes.

Archangel of Death · Post by **Archangel of Death** » 29 Sep 2005, 08:25

It would just be a matter of setting the repeat load/unload (assuming it starts working correctly) on your mfb's. Now, it would be preferable if we could just right click on a transporter to make a unit, or group of units, go load itself, but Spring doesn't support that (yet?).
Do units maintain their command lists when loaded? (In my limited experience they seem to) If so you could just set a patrol to walk to an mfb load area as one of its patrol points. It would get brought in, reloaded, get out, then continue on its patrol.

Now the only issue with ammo trucks is I don't think a unit can detect its been approached by a specific other unit. Can't use Zwzsg's method of measuring height because it is impossible to tell if you've been approached by a friend or foe because of how Spring counts units (in TA, it would have on say 500 unit limit, 0-499 for player 0, 500-999 for player 1, etc. In Spring its 0 for player 0's commanders, 1 for player 1's commander, etc. And then just keep tacking on everyone's new units as they are built). Get rid of that and you can be sure there will be some form of mobile ammo depot besides dropships.

Gnomre · Post by **Gnomre** » 29 Sep 2005, 10:53

Well, this is based purely on OTA experience--I don't know how it is in Spring, exactly.

1) You could tell selected units to go get in transports by clicking move on them. I don't know if it's the same in Spring. Incidentally that's how you Commander surfed...

2) There was a way, in OTA at least, for units to maintain orders even during transport. Zwzsg managed to do it with his bridges, I believe (the units didn't forget their orders after crossing the bridge).

Again, no idea if the same is true in Spring.

FLOZi · Post by **FLOZi** » 29 Sep 2005, 17:03

units lose their orders when transported in Spring

SinbadEV · Post by **SinbadEV** » 29 Sep 2005, 21:19

with exception of those commands posted after a queued wait command, which are resumed after being unloaded...

also, transported units can be give NEW orders once they have been loaded and will do them if possible (Flying FARKS are Fun)

zwzsg · Post by **zwzsg** » 02 Oct 2005, 13:20

Archangel of Death wrote:t is impossible to tell if you've been approached by a friend or foe because of how Spring counts units (in TA, it would have on say 500 unit limit, 0-499 for player 0, 500-999 for player 1, etc. In Spring its 0 for player 0's commanders, 1 for player 1's commander, etc. And then just keep tacking on everyone's new units as they are built).

I wish Spring ordered units ID by team, too.

Oh and isairbase=1; is the FBI tag to put on the transport to let transported units stay semi-active and keep their order queue. Both in TA and Spring.

FizWizz · Post by **FizWizz** » 08 Oct 2005, 07:36

*thought I'd brush off the dust...*
I completed modelling the Mars tank in 3D, and here are some links to it:
The Model
The Source
I've got a problem though: I can't get 3doBuilder to run right on my computer. it crashes on me when I try to access the Armcamo textures or when I open up units. I tried to go around it by setting the program to open in both Windows 95 and Windows 98 compatibility mode, but then the render screen only showed the faces in black. At the moment I can't do any texturing at all. Has anyone had a similar problem or does anyone have a solution for this problem?[/url]

Gnomre · Post by **Gnomre** » 08 Oct 2005, 07:38

Use 2.0 instead of 2.1

Guessmyname · Post by **Guessmyname** » 08 Oct 2005, 14:32

Just modelled this. I used the brickcommander site for my source, so don't be suprised if its a little off in places

model:

source:

file: in a moment or two

Spring RTS Engine

Battletech

What weapon stat system should we base it on?

Heheheh

J Edgar Tank