Pithlit Pithlit

Lets make some new abilities!

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Lets make some new abilities!

from Sins Forums
Now that i am quite finished with my rebalance project (although there might be an update coming next week) i have turned my eye to the ships abilities.

Even with just editing the files directly and not with the forge tools, there are really a lot of abilities and i am currently playing around with what is possible and what isn´t.

I am currently making a few abilities that i´ll be using in my planned TC once the game is out. Even if the system is not final yet, its still much fun to play around with.

I have made a very nice self destruct ability (will be a ultimate capship ability) with which you can sacrifice the cap but damage or destroy anything in the vicinity.
The capital overloads its phase engines inside a gravity well and the cascade failure creates quite a shockwave.
After a fuse of 10 seconds everything in close proximity to the cap is damaged severly and everything further away still gets quite some.

Both enemy and your ships are being destroyed by this huge explosion.

I would like to make some videos to show you, cause it looks really nice ( i can´t edit particle systems yet, but i have rigged a few of the ones currently in use to produce some really nice effects :)

Sadly my gamecam makes SINS crash and fraps only produces corrupt avi files.
Any idea what capturing program i could use other than those?

Also give me your ideas for wacky or cool abilities you´d like to see.
I will make them and if you like create new files for them or make them instead of an existing ability so you can try them out ingame with your installation easily.
So give me all your ability ideas you like to see.

Once my video capturing works i can also show you the abilities you requested in videos if you don´t want to alter your sins installation (just create a backup you pussy :P)

That way we can also see what possible and what not and thus give the devs input in what we modders would like to see in the final :)
modding
26,731 views 47 replies
Reply #26 from Sins Forums Top
hey pithlit want some help realising peoples ability dreams? im gona have to learn abilities at some point so i might as well help out while i am. plus i have plenty of time
Reply #27 from Sins Forums Top
Sure if you like, why not :)
Just give me a message over IM or so and i can fill you in, if you don´t know yet how the abilities work.


New Ability:
An ability that works like the TF2 Medics Medigun:
Healing the Target and if fully healed it increases its hull points.
While doing so it slowly loads its antimatter.
When that is full it can activate an "ubercharge" depleting the antimatter and making the target invulnerable at the time.
(this ability only works fine for a ship that has a set antimatter regeneration of 0, antimatter restoration only comes through this ability :) )
CursorFX - Customize your Windows cursor
Reply #28 from Sins Forums Top
huh... odd little ability.

you know what I would like? a reverse gravitational field: fling everything away from the planet at a great acceleration until they meet the edge of the phasespace ring, would make a great opening for siege frigs :P
Reply #29 from Sins Forums Top
@shod - my marauder already kinda has that ability!

anyway, I want to see some defensive boons that help while you're on the run or at home.
like...

A nano-technobabbler that replicates dummy cap ships to confuse the attackers while it escapes. Low hp, but maybe some ships will go for the dummy instead of your cap.

A bolster planet ability that helps a friendly planet under siege by either increasing the planets shield power or "rallies army" to allow planet based attacks??? Not a clue as to how far the tools we may get will let us (ie, you) play around.

An AWAC type passive, that boost all weapon range on all friendlies in grav well. grav well.

An ability to jam IFF signals. For x time your ships will not trigger alarms upon jumping into enemy planets, auto attack maybe % wont attack unless given manual order due to inability to tell if friend of foe (IFF) and doesn't want to kill own ships.

I could go on...
Reply #30 from Sins Forums Top

An AWAC type passive, that boost all weapon range on all friendlies in grav well. grav well.


you mean like the akkan has?
Reply #31 from Sins Forums Top
I didnt realize its effects were grav well wide. But fine, take that one off the list. But realize in the time it took to sarcastically help identify my folly, you could have told me how sweet my other ideas were.

Or made a suggestion of your own. :P
Reply #32 from Sins Forums Top
it isnt grav well wide, but the effect range is rather large, i do somewhat like your ideas, but they are based largely on current military jargon and need more technobabble :P

also, i didnt think i needed to provide examples since you had stated "I could go on..."

...wow, im almost as combative as shoddy tonight...
Reply #33 from Sins Forums Top
Hey man- I'm an idea man, if you want me to jazz up the language for PR for the actual game I could bullshit later. And, I could go on. AND, you are combative. AND I think you are trying to be combative like shod, and you like it.
Reply #34 from Sins Forums Top
But realize in the time it took to sarcastically help identify my folly, you could have told me how sweet my other ideas were.


Er, that wasn't sarcasm -- that was a genuine question, i. e. "like the akkan's ability?" to clarify your intent. After all, the Akkan doesn't have a grav well wide range... I think. I don't use it much.
Reply #35 from Sins Forums Top
Heres some ideas...

This one is for Siege Caps I think - Level 6

Viral Pods - for planetary bombardment. High cooldown , high antimatter cost for balance .Viral Pods wipe out 50% of the population on the enemy planet instantly (whatever the total) , but leaves infrastructure intact. The idea is that this special ability is great for damaging enemy income , but doesnt effect planetary health.

Asteroid infection - After an enemy mining station has been destroyed leaving the asteroid open ,the ship can send a nano-bot infection that actually sucks the resource asteroid completely dry of resources. Only works for metal asteroids. This is a devastating ability that is set on autocast off at the start!. This is great for a sucker punch to an enemy system which you havent been able to capture , but still want to leave a lasting impression on.





Reply #36 from Sins Forums Top
Viral Pods - for planetary bombardment. High cooldown , high antimatter cost for balance .Viral Pods wipe out 50% of the population on the enemy planet instantly (whatever the total) , but leaves infrastructure intact. The idea is that this special ability is great for damaging enemy income , but doesnt effect planetary health.


that would be a nice subsitute for the passive desolator ability, which really seems useless to me

Asteroid infection - After an enemy mining station has been destroyed leaving the asteroid open ,the ship can send a nano-bot infection that actually sucks the resource asteroid completely dry of resources. Only works for metal asteroids. This is a devastating ability that is set on autocast off at the start!. This is great for a sucker punch to an enemy system which you havent been able to capture , but still want to leave a lasting impression on.



thats a bit imba IMO, and very hard to set actual levels for. Maybe have it drain resources from the asteroid, giving you a little metal income for a bit, and then have it render the roid useless for a period of time. each level would reduce cooldown and antimatter by 5, as well as providing a 10% increase in metal given as well as a 10% increase in how long the roid is inoperable
Reply #37 from Sins Forums Top
I hope Ironclad and Stardock keep these ideeas for their next patch or sequel of the game...... too many ideas to waste.
Reply #38 from Sins Forums Top
Hey, where could i find some good vids on sins that dont take much of a net to watch (as in low quality)?

Anyway, my idea is to have a computer virus that could be uploaded into a planets mainframe as soon as you phase in and come into range which would stuff up the infrastructure (Lore: as in blacks out citys and factories ect. and damages the electronics, so to get it all up and running again, the electronics are going to have to be replaced, which would take time). It would not affect the planets sheild, as it has a military grade virus protection/firewall, but would stop ALL income from the plannet (as it will still be recovering). this would last for a short amount of time (say a couple of minutes) and after this time has expired, the planet would have repaired some of its mainframe, and the income would then slowly come back, starting as a trickle, then eventually back to its former self. during all of this, none of the plannets military units would be affected (ie. stations). This would not be useful to attack a planet, rather inhibbit a players economy so as to piss them off, or if it was done after a major battle, during which the player is trying to rebuild a fleet, it could hinder the process.

rofl, that last part may not make sense, i think ive had a few too many voddies, but i think ull get the general gist of it.

also as a note: this could be done by changing income amounts after the attack. no spiffy explosions or radical changes to gameplay. it could be really simple to do. :NOTSURE:
Reply #39 from Sins Forums Top
Hey, where could i find some good vids on sins that dont take much of a net to watch (as in low quality)?


multi made some vids in both high and low quality https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/?forumid=402&aid=148534#1366976

of course, that somehow never got pinned...
Reply #40 from Sins Forums Top
Okay some more, less plausible maybe, but still new abilities.

Vasari phase trapper - when triggered during jumping to another planet during a retreat or counter attack, the cap ship switches the position of the jump out point the aforementioned planet another previously picked (fortified /attack world) and prob with phase gate due to manipulation of blah blah superiorblah. You with me? Normally, a pursuit fleet will jump asap and the counter attack starts on one of the two planets and the ships ping pong or slug it out. This is a way to start a counter attack with a devastating blow.

Trader's Blue light special - All full/profit bearing trade ships in sector (x jumps away or distance?) seek out this cap ship when it spams its amazing deals ability. Even enemies want to haggle when they hear how low the traders can go. Friendly traders can gain a 1.5x bigger haul for distance traveled, plus the bonus for the extra distance for traveling out of normal route. as crew on the ship can afford being ripped off. But enemy trade ships automatically pay X amount credit for the right to buy better good, not to mention steal from their banks.

I don't wish to speculate on the advent because I have no clue what to expect. So, here I go.

Advent's Psychic Fearmongering - When triggered all enemy ships damaged X amount of shield and hull (the devs spoke of retreat functions?) will continue to try to retreat to safe planet until healed or ability turned off. The time and power of the fear / amount of ships leaving battle prematurely should increase. Not sure how it sure handle against a manual attack controlling the fleeing ships, or if the ability should render the ships un-orderable.

So yes I could go on..... but my boredom and insomnia are done here.
Reply #41 from Sins Forums Top
pithlit we at the bfg mod need your help! we would like to know if you can make an abbility that afects an area (ie from the firing ship in a rectange towards the enemy ship) and hurts both friend and foe?
Reply #42 from Sins Forums Top
Hey read your post and think this would be great for creating drones. Here is the idea see if it would fly. I believe they would be created as fighter squadron with 1 fighter(drone)(Can fighters have a special ability?). They would have a special ability of the explosion you outlined (of course not as powerful as a capitol ship blowing maybe 200 dam or something reasonable). Give the drone a short range weapon that does 1 dam (this is so the drone will track an enemy ship). Give the ability the same range as the weapon and just enough anti-matter to kick it off (and make it auto-activated of course. I would think dive it very minor hull and shields so it can be killed with ant-fighter weapons. Then give drone ships the ability to build these in place of fighters.

Does anyone know how to set the initial number of squadrons a ship can start with? I didn't see it in the capitol ship file. Also is there a way to put more than 4 special abilities on a ship? It looks similiar to warcraft III heros and you could fill up the space with special abilities (5 or 6 I think). I was wondering if you could do the same thing with capitol ships. Is it also possible to layer menus? Can I have a menu in the light shipyard that accesses another menu under it? I would like to use this to be able to create more than the initial menu would allow in ship designs. I just started looking at these files and have not figured them all out yet so these may be obvious to evryone else. Thanks all.
Reply #43 from Sins Forums Top
@Prezo: mhh, difficult, i will think about it, no problems would be: damages ships around the target, damages ships around the caster.
Friend foe is no problem, but i don´t really know yet how to make this cone thing work, as sadly abilities seem to be all around, but let me try something.

@Jack: Fighters can´t have abilities (yet). i sent a request to the devs a while ago as it would be great if they´d have antimatter and abilities for example:
Missiles with ammunition, Flak turrets and the like. especially wing commander mods would require these things to make some ships work (personally i wanted them for a bomber with a turret to shoot/damage incoming fighters :)
So YES ABILITIES AND ANTIMATTER FOR FIGHTERS DAMNIT!

There can as of now only be 4 special abilities per ship!

The ammount of fightercraft a ship starts out with is called
"CommandPoints
StartValue 0.600000
ValueIncreasePerLevel 0.100000
"
the value increase per level only applies to capitalships
each time they reach 1 they get a new squad to build
so putting the startvalue to 3.1 would start the ship with 3 squads and at level 9 they would get a 4th
ships that can´t level only have the amount set as start value

It seems that the entity type (like a shipyard) also defines the buttons it has, i tried making a shipyard that also had fighter defenses (1 squad) but the button to build the fighters doesn´t show.
Reply #44 from Sins Forums Top
Im just floating an idea here.
Sometimes in my games I find it really annoying that evertime I bomb an enemy planet I have to colonize it all over again. Would it be possible to make a new kind of cruiser (not frigate) that would be like an orbiting troop transport? Instead of sending nukes in, it could send the small colony ships, except filled with troops.
just an idea.
(Edit) To make it fair, it would have to take a much longer period of time than bombing, and more than what the advent are able to do with planets.
Reply #45 from Sins Forums Top
Thanks Pithlit, Tried adding a weapon to the carrier (for anti-fighter support) and it complained about it. I think it was something about emitters. How do I set these up? I am starting to play around with prerquisites now. Makes no sense to me that I can field a Capitol ship carrier but not a light carrier, so to balance it out I will try and add the lgiht carrier prerequisite to the capitol ship carrier. I have also started changing costs for these things trying to balance it all out.
Reply #46 from Sins Forums Top
Emmiters are set up on the model -- we don't have the "official" tools to modify that, but there is an unofficial tool out.
Reply #47 from Sins Forums Top
which i wish code herder would come back ad fix the right side emmiter bug for so i could make some bloody ships