BSF 2 suggestion topic.

[FIREST0RM000]

I've taken a renewed interest in modding weapons recently, and I've come across something that could see significant improvement. no offense, but the current ship maker system sucks. there's not as much freedom as there could or should be, and I'd hope this solution isn't too radical.

completely redesign the current system for weapons, modules and sections. here's how my Idea works.

firstly, there is one template for sections, one for weapons, and one for modules. these contain all the same editable boxes of their respective weapons classes, as well as a few additional ones. basically, in addition to the current set of options, there would be a image file to use as the sprite, and another monochrome pic for the hit box (IE: black is in the hit box, white isn't). this would then be saved as another file (IE: weapons get .wep, sections get .sec, and modules could get .mod. also there could be a special one for cores, and any other pieces not found in the above categories. these would all be saved automatically to some folder out of the way, and accessible through a menu in ship maker. the default pieces could be kept and compiled into a dll or something.

basicaly, the UI ends up looking like this, though it would be much better laid out:

1: click it brings up the drop down menu in 2
2: standard windows drop down window. lets you search for things or find them in the list.
so that's my basic idea. there is a drop down menu for each of the options, that lets you select the file you want to load in, and/or you can search for it by name.

in more detail

Code: Select all

 (this would be the weapons edit screen.)
[check box] projectile (we're doing projectile)
[check box] beam
[editable field] image for weapon (IE: ...black hole cannon.bmp) this would contain the image for the normal weapon, as well as the firing animation all in the same file. info on how the animation plays is customizable
[editable field] image for weapon (IE: ...black hole shot.bmp) similar to the other image file, but has data on the projectile fired.
[editable field] hit box for turret (self explanatory)
[editable field] hit box for projectile
[editable field] rotation (let's use 0)
[editable field] name (this is the weapon name as it is saved.  let's use 'black hole generator')
[editable field] HP (the default HP value.  editable in SM without modifying file)
[editable field] turning (same)
[editable field] deviation (same as normal)
~I'll expand this if there is interest.~

furthermore, weapons should be able to have multiple layers of customizable sub munitions. Imagine a weasel gun having Demeter sub munitions that fire rail gun like shots. stuff like that, but better. again, all editable to the same degree the parent shot is. also the ability to chose behavior when effected by PD, shields, and other phenomena for a totally customizable game.

[Pyront]

To be able to put our custom ships into the main screen but they have a limit of how large they are (i.e. 10 Sections) and wepons cannot be uber modded.

[Pete]

To be able to put our custom ships into the main screen but they have a limit of how large they are (i.e. 10 Sections) and wepons cannot be uber modded.

Why? Its just a menu screen. Its not like it has to be balanced or something.

[T-002]

To be able to put our custom ships into the main screen but they have a limit of how large they are (i.e. 10 Sections) and wepons cannot be uber modded.

Why? Its just a menu screen. Its not like it has to be balanced or something.

I don't think anyone would like their menu screen running at 30 spf.

[flabort]

so just don't insert those ships that slow it down that much into your menu. that solves the 30 spf thing easy.

[Cycerin]

Flanking Broadside AI. For ships that circle a target while keeping one side turned towards it.

[T-002]

Flanking Broadside AI. For ships that circle a target while keeping one side turned towards it.

Actually, just the ability to mix AIs. Would give you Flanking Broadside, but also stuff like Flanking Kamikaze.

[Danny420Dale]

Flanking Broadside AI. For ships that circle a target while keeping one side turned towards it.

Actually, just the ability to mix AIs. Would give you Flanking Broadside, but also stuff like Flanking Kamikaze.

Also, new AI types like a quick slashing attack past the target; call it 'Drive-by'

[lightstriker]

you can somewhat simulate that now using negative ai ranges.

edit: key word: somewhat

[T-002]

you can somewhat simulate that now using negative ai ranges.

Except it would go through the enemy instead of past it. It could work for fast-moving enemy ships, though.

[Danny420Dale]

Someone said 'recolorable jump hurricanes', I jumped.

[Himura.Kenshin]

Dunno if this has been suggested yet, but the ability to change the 'Normal Ship Spawn' spawns to custom ships within the BSF directory.

It would make it much easier to test for balance and things like that.

[lightstriker]

or just have the BSF official ship thing that tormaksaber made be included as a default in the custom ships folder.

[Swamp Fox]

If this has already been suggested then I'm surprised I didn't find it, and if not, then it should have been.

I would like an autosave that activates in the shipmaker maybe every 5-10 minutes. A nice feature (in my opinion) would be for it to check whether or not the ship has a name, and if so save to "that name.sb3", and if there is no name to save to something like "autosave.sb3". The shp isn't necessary in my opinion, but I can see why you might want that to autosave as well.

The other thing I'd like is the option to load encounters without the scenery. In other words, I want to be able to play encounters without all the hundreds upon hundreds of nebulae and planets. The things that actually affect the ships would need to stay of course, but the flowery aesthetics easily become a pain when in large numbers.

[Pyront]

If this has already been suggested then I'm surprised I didn't find it, and if not, then it should have been.

I would like an autosave that activates in the shipmaker maybe every 5-10 minutes. A nice feature (in my opinion) would be for it to check whether or not the ship has a name, and if so save to "that name.sb3", and if there is no name to save to something like "autosave.sb3". The shp isn't necessary in my opinion, but I can see why you might want that to autosave as well.

But if your making a different "version" of that ship (e.g. a disarmer version and a beamer version.) you wouldn't want your disarmer version to be overwritten with the beamer version, but an autosave save idea that always save the ship as autosave.sb3 would be nice.