Spring RTS Engine

Recruiting: AeroAssault

AeroAssault is an idea I have already started scripting. The basic concept is that instead of a commander you get a giant hovercraft station thing. It is loaded out with much more weapons than your BA or CA commander. Basically this building can build building suspended with large rotor turbines. While there will be ground on the maps, they act only as a platform for mexes, (which can be moved, simply hovering above mexes and when needed slowly floating away), geos and large semi-craters.

Basic Unit Tree:
---
Federation: A main faction which focuses on fully upgraded, technology which has already been discovered.
---
Mothership: [Flux Cannon (shock), Scanning Lasers (like CA commander lasers, fast attack)]
---> Solar Platform (12 energy)
---> Wind Generator (10 + wind, only placed on ground)
---> Earthbound (hover metal extractor)
---> Convect (extremely ineffeceint metal maker)
---> Espionage (radar tower, extremely small range)
---> Honeybee (short range laser tower)
---> Bluebird (short range, fast attack Gat tower)
---> Morph mothership into Skylab

[T2 - Skylab required]
---> Medic (builder and repairer, can build T1 and Battle Labs)
---> Greyhound (portable short range laser tower)
---> Eagle (barely portable medium range radar)
---> Delta Collector (like a tidal generator of the sky, 15 energy)
---> Delta Reactor (like fusion plant, 40 energy, requires land)
---> Cronus (stationary, long range flamethrower)
---> Gimmite (Tactical laser beamer, low damage massive range)
---> Morph mothership into FlyingFortress

[T2 - Battle Lab]
---> Medic (see above)
---> Emu (barely flying, ground assault/ground constructor/hyper weapon engineer)
---> Ragnarok (medium laser fighter)
---> Zexu (light stealth laser fighter)
---> Gregoth (medium torpedo fighter)
---> Stinger (weak parylize drone, 1~2 seconds)
---> Hen (mass healer drone, low heal speed but heals all units around)

[T3 - FlyingFortress required]
---> Proteous (advanced T2 aircraft constructor + can build Xenolabs, healer)
---> Magnuke (mobile anti-nuclear weapons)
---> Garpike (mobile point defenses)
---> Espion (long range radar)
---> Doomer (short range anti-torpedo, cloaker + jammer)
---> Verve (fast attack stealthy fighter, with radar jammer)
---> Nevvy (slow recharge, short ranged rocket plane, hi traj/ lo traj settings)
---> Nitrofusion plant (must be placed on ground, 150 E)
---> Advanced Nitrofusion plant (must be placed on ground, 500E, can explode for no reason)
---> Energy Storage (flying energy storage, 5000 E storage)
---> Ground Energy Storage (must be placed on ground, 20000 E)
---> Metal Storage (flying metal storage, 2500 M storage)
---> Ground Metal Storage (metal storage placed on ground, 10000 M)

[T3 - Xenoloabs]
---> Proteous (see above)
---> Medic (see above)
---> Emu (see above)
---> Breather (manamine layer, flying mines/attractive battery)

---
Republic: a main faction which focuses of super-mega-hyper experimental kinda of units. This entire faction is very unstable and energy using. If these units are not used right they should be deemed useless.
---
Mothership: [Flux Cannon (shock), Proton Beam (basically one hit kill, recharges slowly)]
---> Solar Platform (12 energy)
---> Wind Generator (10 + wind, only placed on ground)
---> Earthbound (hover metal extractor)
---> Convect (extremely ineffeceint metal maker)
---> Skybound (radar tower, extremely small range)
---> Fruitfly (short range plasma tower)
---> Galvon (short range, deltawave launcher - will explode plasma and torpedos on impact with delta wave)
---> Morph mothership into Skylab

[T2 - Skylab required]
---> Caretaker (builder and repairer, can build T1 and Battle Labs)
---> Seagull (portable plasma fighter)
---> Revnik (quite portable but low range radar plane)
---> Delta Collector (like a tidal generator of the sky, 15 energy)
---> Kroglath (much bigger than delta collector, more expensive, but can be built in the sky)
---> Greggy (point defenses/flak)
---> Meggy (twin laser tower)
---> Morph mothership into FlyingFortress

[T2 - Battle Lab]
---> Caretaker (see above)
---> Warthog (barely flying, ground assault/ground constructor/hyper weapon engineer)
---> Regeroth (fast attack plasma fighter)
---> Munlik (anti-torpedo unit)
---> Asprit (low energy using spy aeroplane)
---> Mangite (shock paralyse drone, shocks all units for 4-5 seconds but acts like a bomb. Explodes on use).
---> Nestkeeper (heals multiple units quickly however drains a very considerable amount of energy and very eneffecient)

[T3 - FlyingFortress required]
---> Nitrofusion plant (must be placed on ground, 150 E)
---> Advanced Nitrofusion plant (must be placed on ground, 500E, can explode for no reason)
---> Energy Storage (flying energy storage, 5000 E storage)
---> Ground Energy Storage (must be placed on ground, 20000 E)
---> Metal Storage (flying metal storage, 2500 M storage)
---> Ground Metal Storage (metal storage placed on ground, 10000 M)
---> Jill (advanced T2 aircraft constructor + can build Xenolabs, healer)
---> Yamato (mobile anti-nuclear weapons)
---> Robin (very slow laser spammer)
---> Toddler (long range cloaker, slow vaulnerable)
---> Rooster (long range radar)
---> Frigate (large, slow, stealthy [but barely] plane + radar)
---> Gundam (fast attack flame thrower plane, but very valnerable)

[T3 - Xenoloabs]
---> Jill (see above)
---> Caretaker (see above)
---> Warthog (see above)
---> Joker (manamine layer, flying mines/attractive battery)

NOTE: Still in progress, some T3 & T4 need to be added.
EDIT: Added more T2
EDIT2: Added T3, still to be balanced a bit.

Needed for project:
- Texture artists (1, maybe 2)
- Modeler (1, maybe 2 or 3)

Also needed:
A good experienced map maker to make some custom maps. Normal spring maps will not function properly with what this mod will demand.

Final words:
This is probably the only mod that steps right out of Springs way and ignores base mods like Balanced Annihalation and XTA. This mod is unique and is determined to be finished differently.

To sigh up post in this topic or PM me.

With greatest regards,
~RithiX~

I will try to add to the unit tree as I get more ideas for T3.

EDIT1: I added more T2 units for both sides.

you may want to consider different faction names. Some people might confuse federation and think you are talking about gundam stuff. Just a heads up.


having an extra heavy commander may lead to commpushing just a thought. Other than that, have you started? Any models to show off :3?

If you possess the drive to make this a reality, I'll commit a portion of my assets to furthering your goals.

In simple english: SH0W MOD3LS!!!11!!1!!1!!1!!

No models, only programming and sketches (but my scanner aint working). You won't actually get another commander. You just won't get a ground commander and you get a big flying one instead. If you were talking about the move from t1->t2 its just a simple morph.

This topic is about recruiting modelers. I will code it myself. ^_^

EDIT: I realise what you mean about the heavy commander.... i"ll have to think about it. Maybe only allow the commander to build close to its starting place?...

I also had this idea where certain buildings could be payed tremendous amounts of energy (5000-8000'ish) to warp to places on the map. The commander acts as a general anti-warp to wherever its standing. Who has played AOE3? Theres a rule in there where you can't build x amount close to a person "Town centre" which in this case would be the commander. But I still don't really know how to stop heavy com pushing....

EDIT2: I'll make the commander really really slow then by the time you get near the enemies they have T2 ~T3'ish and defenses built up. You would also waste all your building time if you pushed considering your commander is the only unit which can build until T2.

by programming, do you mean lua? afaik it's the only language available for ingame changing of mechanics. I'd recommend you use placeholder models until you get the code to a reasonable (IE: runs without crashing) state. Then you'll have something to show others, and people will flock to your project .

That said, I could help with modeling/texturing. I'm no master (yet), but I'm quickly learning .

So far, I have these two models to my name:

and

They're free to use for whatever you like, provided you credit me.

I have giant flying coms right now if you want to see how it will work out. Known issues:

Assault shrouding: if you have low flying or ground units beneath it , the large hitsphere of you flying com will block attackers.

Commander creeping: Since it is HUGE with most likely huge hitpoints it can rape your small outside bases. FF used some hackish anti comm weapon, please don't go that direction.

Turn on a dime: you will need to give it a ridiculously slow turn rate or it WILL practically pop around at other targets.

Cock blocking: currently even if you use a well fitted collision primitive, the hitsphere is still used for the aiming of weapons. Therefor you will have it's hitsphere blocking weapons.

aircraft are fucking stupid: if you don't put aircraft at different levels as to avoid the hitsphere you will see aircraft want to dodge the hitsphere sometimes causing them to cruise near ground. They will be easy pickins'

Aircraft with short range weapons: the weapons last time I checked use centerpoint to centerpoint for a firing solution. Meaning if their range is smaller than the hitsphere diameter they cannot shoot the center and behave like a fucking remora.

there are others but I am forgetting it.

@MidKnight
Yes, and wow! Thats a very good model!

Where can I fetch the second picture?

@smoth
I love the flying commander. Im planning on having it only fly, not land if you get what I mean? Thats exactly how I invisioned it though! Good job!

Where can I download this model?

sorry man, that one isn't up for grabs. I appreciate the compliment though.

airHoverFactor = 0
is what you need for a unit that never lands. it will start landed but once it takes to the air it will not land not for airpads or anything.

also some neat tags you may or may not have learned about

isairbase = true: makes air repair pads

isFirePlatform = true: allows freindly units to board and still fire from the base.

cantBeTransported = true : a unit cannot be loaded on any transport

transportByEnemy = false: disallows unit nabbing.

they are handy, anyway. good luck man, I gotta get ready for work.

Thanks for those tags. I can see a few of them which I know will already help a bit ^_^.

Pity I can't use that flying com... did you make it?

The flying comm is made by Smoth, and it's actually something from Gundam (and is actually the commander of the Federation in Gundam). As in, it's from an anime.

And yes, more mods need to explore air combat in Spring. Good luck with your project.

iirc, mobile mexes are actually something of a challenge in Spring.

@smoth - did the "target edge" patch not help the remora problem?

nah it is part of gundam rts. http://gundam.smoth.net/

I do have an aircraft lying around somewhere. You might want that guy but it is a fighter craft.

see attached image. has 6 weapons, 1 in each wing and 4 on the fusselage.


Not really sure pixtl. Anyway I gotta get to bed

Thanks for the pic. I don't think it fits a flying com, but it would probably be a good T2 unit for the Federation.

As for the rename:
Federation can be renamed to -
---> Tactical
---> Force
---> Sqaudron
---> Assault
---> Tactic

Republic:
---> Technological
---> Revolution
---> Assist
---> Technic

Out of pure wierdness (yeah Im wierd) I made some good combos:
Tactic & Technic
Sqaudron & Assist
umm, yeah the ones above don't really match each other.

Well it would be really cool if you could help me brainstorm some ideas for new names. ^_^

I added some more T2 units to first post. Theres the:
- Paralyser drone for one side
- Paralyser bomb drone (similar as above but last longer, waste of a unit =P)
- Spy aeroplane for one side (super effecient)
- Spy light laser plane for the other (ineffecient stealth ability)
- Netskeeper and Hen units added. See their description.

Regards,
~RithiX ^_^

smoth wrote:you may want to consider different faction names. Some people might confuse federation and think you are talking about gundam stuff. Just a heads up.

I don't think anyone would confuse that, especially since "federation" is such a damn generic name. If anything people will think Star Trek.

Compushing in THIS was delayed a bit by making the com also be a big increase to the income on unupgraded positions, pushing too early will leave you with almost no income.

yeah its too star trekky
how about galactic dynasty

While I like the idea of an air-war mod, I think you're boxing yourself in by sticking too close to BA's resource-model and gameplay. Spring is capable of a wide variety of gameplay approaches - while sticking with BA resources will give you the advantage of AI support, it will basically leave your game to be "BA without ground units".

Look at mods like PURE, Kernel Panic, THIS, EE, CA, Nanoblobs, and S44 for non-BA resource models. Kernel Panic, EE, and Nanoblobs have the advantage that their resource-models are close enough (but not identical) that some TA-based AIs have some support for their gameplay, without feeling like BA.

For example, EE has no metal makers. Kernel Panic has no resources but build-time - you have to plant factories on geotherms. Nanoblobs has no metal extractors - you just spam massive amounts of Sheep (and Megasheep) that make metal and energy.

Also, start with more modest goals. Think about 1 level and make it good before getting into multi-level gameplay.

For an air-war mod, I'd go a different way - focus not on map control, but on temporary tactical actions around the map. At start-up , read the metal map and a reclaimable feature on every metal spot. No metal extractors, only harvesters. Then, at later points in the game, spawn random blooms of more resources occasionally. The game would be a series of gold-rushes for resources. Then there would be no porc at the resource patches - you'd send out some early-planes to claim the turf, bring in some deployable turrets and harvesters to harvest the resource, etc. Either way, you design it such that the map will rapidly be depleted in minutes and the players stop porcing and start killing each other... and then you drop another asteroid-full (or three) of resources for them to fight over.

Just an idea. AIs can handle reclaiming, so you'd still have AI support, but the gameplay would be very much not BA.

Pxtl wrote:Also, start with more modest goals. Think about 1 level and make it good before getting into multi-level gameplay.

I disagree. A game design shouldn't be compartmentalized like that. Implementing lv1 first and higher levels later will lead to an unnatural connection between the levels with higher levels being grafted onto a complete system.

I didn't mention startrek because we have no startrek mods around here.

Hmm. Well, I don't want to drift too far from BA but I don't want to be anywhere near it XD.

Metal and Energy are good recources, they provide a balance of two things (you could focus on E and stall in M, or fight for M and not have enough eco for E). I think that Geo plants could be the base for some of the superweapons. This stops people from spamming superweapons in unfair places (e.g. A few Geos on either side of a hill but still open enough to attack).

I might write my own AI for this or not have support at all for a while. I like the idea of rescources being "dropped" or given. I think this would be easy to implement however I would need it to only fall on ground spots, in which case a player could just try and claim all the ground, remembering that anything below sea level on the map appears as a big void, like SkyFortress.smf or SpeedMetal.smf.

Also, please still tell me if you can help me model for this. I'm stuck for modelers. ^_^

Update:
I added some T3 to the first post but it seems very unbalanced. Please tell me where it can improve or if you think things need to be more, or less similar.

I think it could bring more gameplay if one varied/was better in defense, and one better in offense. The one better in defense showing golden points in T4, whereas the one better in attack getting advanced things like flamethrowers in T2, T3. Just take a look ^_^