Tarsus Mk2

[z30]

I am having trouble with the Tarsus Mk2. I have done averything in the sheet you first posted, and i cannot add guns or turruts. also only the left engines work. i can fly ok but it does not look that good. i have not tried the Orion Mk2 yet.

Micheal, I'm encountering some problems with old saved games. I recommend you download the latest units.csv, master_parts_list.csv , copy these over the original files then start a new game.

Don't use the wingmen.py & factions_ships.py yet, I'm still testing these for balance. Hope this fixes your problems - just let me know if how it goes.

[Gosshawk]

Great work Z30 I'll continue testing and should have everything ready tommorrw. I hope. been busy so havent spent as much time as i would like.

[Gosshawk]

Okay, here we go.

1. I'm not sure but i think you may want to change column AQ (Warp_Capacitor 800MJ) on the orionMk2 to 12 instead of 6. That should give it double jump fuel as advertised. I havent tested it tho.

2. Column BX ( cloaking) on the sparrowhawk Should be 0. Unles you want it to cloak.

3. Sparrow Hawk has a default colour radar. I know your worried about them not having a radar, but the other blanks don't and it doesnt adversly affect them. Still, your call and I'll support it.
Also, TarsusMk2 Ai craft will probably have a non color radar. not sure if thats really an issue tho.

4. Katana has a deffault repair droid. Not sure if its intentional tho.

5.Katana and Sparrow hawk have no ecm capability whatsoever. The template versions need to have 6's in columns CD & CE. Probably why you couldn't intsall ecm.

6. Sparrowhawk and Tarsusmk2 Dont have afterburner,(column CU, rows 356 & 359)

7. Why is there shield and reactor entries for the tarsusmk2 subunits entry(column CV)

8. Do the turrets on the Katana work? The only entries I see are turret_mediumrear_invisible & turret_invisible_medium.

9. I like the description you've written for the TarsusMk2. I'm not the most creative person, so I tend to come up with simpler descriptions. However, It has a belly turret, not a top one.

10. Jup drive issue fix. Column AT Should read (Sparrowhawk)TRUE:(Sparrowhawk.blank)FALSE: (Sparrowhawk.template)TRUE .

Not trying to be harsh, just what I was able to pick out when I looked at the files. I havent integrated yet, But I'm going to add the sparrowhawk with the minor changes as specified and do final testing of the DCVL.

Cheers

[Gosshawk]

Z30, I started reading this and my brain stopped. I think This http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/phpwi ... itMissions can help with some AI behavior. Maybe Turn some ships into better escorts? Not sure.

[z30]

Okay, here we go.

1. I'm not sure but i think you may want to change column AQ (Warp_Capacitor 800MJ) on the orionMk2 to 12 instead of 6. That should give it double jump fuel as advertised. I havent tested it tho.

Great! Will do that - the Fuel meter is going down twice as it should.

2. Column BX ( cloaking) on the sparrowhawk Should be 0. Unles you want it to cloak.

I think the cloaking is on because Talons are normally enemy craft. Will remove it.

3. Sparrow Hawk has a default colour radar. I know your worried about them not having a radar, but the other blanks don't and it doesnt adversly affect them. Still, your call and I'll support it.
Also, TarsusMk2 Ai craft will probably have a non color radar. not sure if thats really an issue tho.

I'll watch the Sparrowhawk's performance without it, any side effect should hit only randomly generated ships (&not wingmen).

4. Katana has a deffault repair droid. Not sure if its intentional tho.

5.Katana and Sparrow hawk have no ecm capability whatsoever. The template versions need to have 6's in columns CD & CE. Probably why you couldn't intsall ecm.

Not intentional - will remove the Katana btw since this was only intended as a test bed. Thanks for the heads up on enabling ECM upgrades for the Sparrow hawk, will implement this.

6. Sparrowhawk and Tarsusmk2 Dont have afterburner,(column CU, rows 356 & 359)

7. Why is there shield and reactor entries for the tarsusmk2 subunits entry(column CV)

8. Do the turrets on the Katana work? The only entries I see are turret_mediumrear_invisible & turret_invisible_medium.

The turrets on the Katana work but weirdly - I don't like it myself. Will check that afterburner issue on the Sparrowhawk & TarsusMk2.

The shield & reactor entries beefs up the default reactor & shields of your wingmen - otherwise they dies too easily with only level 1 eq.

9. I like the description you've written for the TarsusMk2. I'm not the most creative person, so I tend to come up with simpler descriptions. However, It has a belly turret, not a top one.

10. Jup drive issue fix. Column AT Should read (Sparrowhawk)TRUE:(Sparrowhawk.blank)FALSE: (Sparrowhawk.template)TRUE .

Not trying to be harsh, just what I was able to pick out when I looked at the files. I havent integrated yet, But I'm going to add the sparrowhawk with the minor changes as specified and do final testing of the DCVL.

Cheers

Will correct the descriptions, some of them are out of date. Ditto for jump drive. Don't worry about your long list - these are real issues that should be addressed before we post the patches in the sticky thread.

Fyi - I've upped the ship generation for militia by 3x (from 0.1 to 0.3) and the merchanters by 33% (from 0.6 to 0.9).

The Privateer universe is too hostile -- Merchant centers like New Constantinople & Troy should be strongholds.

There's also too little ship traffic and the militia's prescence should be much stronger than it is now.

Attaching my latest faction_ships.py and quoting relevant section for ship generation ratios. Still checking if the new ratios feel correct :

----------------------------


staticFighterProduction={"retro":3, "pirates":1}
fighterProductionRate= {"confed":.002
,"landreich":.12
,"border_worlds":.06
,"kilrathi":.008
,"retro":.5
,"merchant":.9
,"pirates":.4
,"hunter":1
,"militia":.3
,"default":.1
,"firekkan":.1
,"AWACS":2
}

[z30]

Applied the corrections, will test the Sparrowhawk next as a piloted fighter.

Orion Mk2 got another upgrade, dual missile launchers in the hull now carry 15 missiles each. I have a feeling this variant will , for the first time, make the Orion live up to it's name.

[z30]

Applied the corrections, will test the Sparrowhawk next as a piloted fighter.

Orion Mk2 got another upgrade, dual missile launchers in the hull now carry 15 missiles each. I have a feeling this variant will , for the first time, make the Orion live up to it's name.

[z30]

I had to put the colored radar back into the Sparrow. The game disables any radar upgrades no matter what is in the units.csv so I reverted back to the Talon defaults.

Toned down merchant ship regen to 0.7 but kept militia regen as is. The increased generation of friendly fighters plus the improved variants are (for the most part) keeping talon swarms in check when near merchant or militia centers.

Before, it could pretty impossible fast with almost every place feeling like Oxford.

I'm happy with the random AI Kukhris & Sparowhawks, militia forces are no longer the impotent targets they once were. Then, you could have 3 Gladius fighters pounding on a singe Talon pirate and the pirate would win.

Now at 2-1 the Talon is pretty much toast, at 1-1 it's 60-40 odds that the Kukhri/Sparrowhawk will end up on top.

The OrionMk2 is starting to feel sweet to handle. The double jump capacity, fast 7 second jump, extra turret, dual missile launchers with 15 missile rounds each all are combining to give this ship a unique feel.

One unexpected benefit in just having a single heavy gun in front is faster shield regen. Will try level 5 reactors & level 4 shields and see how tough this ship gets in the worst places

[micheal_andreas_stahl]

What is the Kukhri? Sounds Kilrathi.

[z30]

What is the Kukhri? Sounds Kilrathi.

Kukhri is a modified Gladius with wing guns moved to the hull for more concentrated fire, 110 kph afterburner speed, better maneuverability and heavier missile load.

Gladius used to be cannon fodder for the Kilrathi's - not anymore

[z30]

What is the Kukhri? Sounds Kilrathi.

Kukhri is a modified Gladius with wing guns moved to the hull for more concentrated fire, 110 kph afterburner speed, better maneuverability and heavier missile load.

The word itself is the name for the fighting short blade of the Gurkha's, famed elite British troops recruited from Nepal.

Gladius used to be cannon fodder for the Kilrathi's - not anymore

[z30]

I've increased the cargo hold capacity to 100 tons and it's proving to be a good merchanter vessel specially with the other improvements. I've always believed that the Orion was completely miscast as a hunter ship and am more and more convinced the faster I rack up credits.

Though I kept the turn and climb rate the same as the original, I've adjusted the roll rate to be faster. Spinning to spread damage from enemy fire across the 4 shields should be a more viable tactic.

I'll probably request Gosshawk to make a version with a turret underneath the cockpit , discarding the rear turret but keeping the one in front of the antenna. This will give players a choice between a defensive configuration (Mk2) & a more offensive one (Mk2a).

The Mk2a will feature higher speed (800kph), lower cargo capacity (75 tons) asides from the (lower) cockpit turret.

[micheal_andreas_stahl]

Z30, you bet me to it! Not that i would have done anything other than seggest it. My thought was turn it into a missile ship with 2 Light, Medium, Heavy Guns. Having 2 light 2 medium 2 heavy and 1 light medium heavy special missile racks. the light would carry 15 missile and be heat sinker. the medium would carry 10 missile and be either FF or IR missiles. The heavys either carry 5 or 10, can't decide, and would be autotracking dumfires. the light medium heavy special would be Protons and be mounted in the center were the middle gun was. the price would be 120,000 credits. speed would be 450, AB 900. What do you think? Good, bad, or stupid?

[z30]

Gosshawk , I couldn't make the Drayman CVL work I'm sorry. First the turret modifications wouldn't mesh so I took them out and just pasted the main Drayman entry into units.csv.

But more than half of the turrets would not accept a gun, so I just threw my hands up at that point and gave up.

I think the gun arrangement is just too complex - and maybe too many.

[Edit : Gosshawk , apologies for the negative tone. I got too frustrated and really wanted to try this out]

[z30]

Z30, you bet me to it! Not that i would have done anything other than seggest it. My thought was turn it into a missile ship with 2 Light, Medium, Heavy Guns. Having 2 light 2 medium 2 heavy and 1 light medium heavy special missile racks. the light would carry 15 missile and be heat sinker. the medium would carry 10 missile and be either FF or IR missiles. The heavys either carry 5 or 10, can't decide, and would be autotracking dumfires. the light medium heavy special would be Protons and be mounted in the center were the middle gun was. the price would be 120,000 credits. speed would be 450, AB 900. What do you think? Good, bad, or stupid?

Would you settle for an 850kph missile ship with 3 missile launchers in the hull? Two would carry 15 Light/Medium missiles each and the third would be able to carry 10 Light/Medium/Heavy Missile or Proton Torpedos.

I don't want to vary the stock Orion too much at this point, the additional turret was already a big change.

I'll peg it at 120k credits but tone down the shields & generator at level 4 (story would be to make space for the bigger drive engines & missile magazines).

We'll call this the Orion Mk2b

Will test it first then post the units & master parts list here plus all the other variants.

[Edit: Micheal, your crazy idea just turned the OrionMk2 into a killer - even with the limits i put on it and the finite missile supply]

[Gosshawk]

Two possibilities:

1. Did you put rear turrets in rear turret slots and normal turrets in normal turret slots? There are 4 large turrets, which cant be changed. 3 standard turret slots, and 4 rear turret slots.

2. Did you do a line for line change when installing the turret changes? The turret entries are not one large group that can be copied and pasted. In the stock units.csv, the large turrets are lines 171&172(lines 7&8 in the DCVL excell), the first group of medium turrets are line 182-202(lines 9-28 ), and the final group is lines 213-236(29-52). There will be some difference, but this should help identify these entries.

If these don't apply, then it will take further investigation. Don't worry about comming across as harsh, as anything having to do with computers can be very frustrating. just worry about being as clear as possible. And good luck.

cheers

[z30]

Two possibilities:

1. Did you put rear turrets in rear turret slots and normal turrets in normal turret slots? There are 4 large turrets, which cant be changed. 3 standard turret slots, and 4 rear turret slots.

2. Did you do a line for line change when installing the turret changes? The turret entries are not one large group that can be copied and pasted. In the stock units.csv, the large turrets are lines 171&172(lines 7&8 in the DCVL excell), the first group of medium turrets are line 182-202(lines 9-28 ), and the final group is lines 213-236(29-52). There will be some difference, but this should help identify these entries.

If these don't apply, then it will take further investigation. Don't worry about comming across as harsh, as anything having to do with computers can be very frustrating. just worry about being as clear as possible. And good luck.

cheers

Got it Will give it another try this weekend.

As soon as we got the new patch tested & posted, I'm planning to take a look at the WCU ships and bring a couple over to PR. The pirates & Kilrathi's need more ship variety for one -- too bad the Hornet isn't ready, it would make a neat addition to the militia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_Commander_I

WC1 brings back a lot of memories, a good friend of mine used to play for hours on end on his PI - those 3D graphics were amazing for that time.

[micheal_andreas_stahl]

Z30, you bet me to it! Not that i would have done anything other than seggest it. My thought was turn it into a missile ship with 2 Light, Medium, Heavy Guns. Having 2 light 2 medium 2 heavy and 1 light medium heavy special missile racks. the light would carry 15 missile and be heat sinker. the medium would carry 10 missile and be either FF or IR missiles. The heavys either carry 5 or 10, can't decide, and would be autotracking dumfires. the light medium heavy special would be Protons and be mounted in the center were the middle gun was. the price would be 120,000 credits. speed would be 450, AB 900. What do you think? Good, bad, or stupid?

Would you settle for an 850kph missile ship with 3 missile launchers in the hull? Two would carry 15 Light/Medium missiles each and the third would be able to carry 10 Light/Medium/Heavy Missile or Proton Torpedos.

I don't want to vary the stock Orion too much at this point, the additional turret was already a big change.

I'll peg it at 120k credits but tone down the shields & generator at level 4 (story would be to make space for the bigger drive engines & missile magazines).

We'll call this the Orion Mk2b

Will test it first then post the units & master parts list here plus all the other variants.

[Edit: Micheal, your crazy idea just turned the OrionMk2 into a killer - even with the limits i put on it and the finite missile supply]

I thought of the gladius missile thing when reading about the fighters these days. thay no longer rely on guns but missiles instead, and i always run out very quickly. I like to have as meny types as possible.

[micheal_andreas_stahl]

Two possibilities:

1. Did you put rear turrets in rear turret slots and normal turrets in normal turret slots? There are 4 large turrets, which cant be changed. 3 standard turret slots, and 4 rear turret slots.

2. Did you do a line for line change when installing the turret changes? The turret entries are not one large group that can be copied and pasted. In the stock units.csv, the large turrets are lines 171&172(lines 7&8 in the DCVL excell), the first group of medium turrets are line 182-202(lines 9-28 ), and the final group is lines 213-236(29-52). There will be some difference, but this should help identify these entries.

If these don't apply, then it will take further investigation. Don't worry about comming across as harsh, as anything having to do with computers can be very frustrating. just worry about being as clear as possible. And good luck.

cheers

Got it Will give it another try this weekend.

As soon as we got the new patch tested & posted, I'm planning to take a look at the WCU ships and bring a couple over to PR. The pirates & Kilrathi's need more ship variety for one -- too bad the Hornet isn't ready, it would make a neat addition to the militia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_Commander_I

WC1 brings back a lot of memories, a good friend of mine used to play for hours on end on his PI - those 3D graphics were amazing for that time.

Huh. I was just about to ask if you cood use some of those ships as this seems to be the same place just a few years later. Why not get the Kilrathi some of there other craft from those older games?

[z30]

Huh. I was just about to ask if you cood use some of those ships as this seems to be the same place just a few years later. Why not get the Kilrathi some of there other craft from those older games?

It would be nice to have the Hornet, Scimitar and Raptor in the game - though the first two were retired ships by the time Privateer took place I think.

Asides from the classic Kilrathi fighters, I'd love to have some of their transport & tanker ships in the game. Not sure if WCU has them though.

The original WC1 ship graphic files are not compatible with Privateer PR, those were meant for much older graphic cards and the layout & layering are very different.

Gosshawk, could you send me a good set of turret coordinates for the OrionMk2b cockpit floor turret? That should nicely complement the pure missile loadout of the hull.

[z30]

I finally managed to satisfactorily balance the Orion Mk2 by removing the rear turret. This places it right smack in the middle between the TarsusMk2 and the Galaxy in terms of power.

Oddly enough this fixed the turret placement problem, I think conflicts happen when two turrets are too close together.

Since missiles are cheap (merchants are above all cost conscious) compared to guns, the dual 15 round missile launchers stayed. Shields & reactor are lowered to level 4 but afterburner accel is boosted by 15%.

Top speed is still lower than stock (750kph), but if you happen to get ambushed near a jump point the 7 second jump period will probably save you.

For this patch, I've decided to leave the original ships alone - weapons too. The Demon is still obtainable only after the Palan missions though the Kukhri can be bought anytime at the right price.

The Sparrowhawk is no longer pilotable, it doesn't really fit in the fighter line. I'm hoping WCU will provide some good lowend to medium fighters.

Drayman CVL won't be in this patch either, still have to get it to work & test the variant for balance.

[Gosshawk]

Ask and thou shalt recieve.

{medium_blank;0;-0.26;0.43;0;0;1;0;-1;0;180.0}

[z30]

Ask and thou shalt recieve.

{medium_blank;0;-0.26;0.43;0;0;1;0;-1;0;180.0}

Absolutely no turret conflicts at all

There's really something about the rear turret (maybe because it's in the middle) that makes it interact badly with the roof turret.

I may switch back to the dual missile / heavy gun config for this one.

---------------------------

After the disastrous failure of the Mk2a, Guild scientists and engineers regrouped to come up with the Orion Mk2b. Triple hull missile launchers can deliver a deadly blow to even the heaviest shielded fighter. A lower cockpit turret guards the ships vulnerable underbelly and can damage any enemy attacking from the front or rear.

Though the slowest of all Orion variants, this is the most destructive of all it's kind able to deliver a withering barrage of missiles and bolts in a frontal attack.

[Gosshawk]

Sweet

[z30]

Not quite what Micheal was looking for but here it is

also upcoming for PR12-PU-1.1 are :

* Drayman CVL - turreted Drayman, Gosshawk's baby will be the ultimate ship in the militia line/merchanter

* Galaxy HK (Hunter Killer) - 4 missile launchers, two turrets, 800kph afterburner top speed plus OrionMk2 jump technology

It would also be interesting if could you could go through the game as a member of the militia, at any rate the merchanter line will be very strong after the next patch is done.

Unfortunately, the hunter/fighter line is beginning to look in dire need of a makeover in comparison.