Fin Funnels?

Slayer0019 · Post by **Slayer0019** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 6:42 am

This is completely new to me. How do they work, and more importantly, how do I make them?

lightstriker · Post by **lightstriker** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:04 am

http://www.wyrdysm.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3671
the carrier.

Slayer0019 · Post by **Slayer0019** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:20 am

...Okay, yes, I understand that is where they were used. Care to explain how?

Chiiro · Post by **Chiiro** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 6:16 am

I think the easiest way to understand them is to pick them apart.
There's an sb4 for the carrier included in the download, if I'm not entirely mistaken.

lightstriker · Post by **lightstriker** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 6:22 am

that was my point, yes.
As well, if you looked through the thread, there is a (somewhat rudimentary) explanation of how they work.
So, uh... yeah :/ Apparently you didn't understand.

Slayer0019 · Post by **Slayer0019** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 3:22 am

I have already looked through, and I read how they worked. But that doesn't help me in terms of knowing how to make it. I know how guns fire bullets, but I don't know how to assemble one.

Thank you Chiiro, that's what I was looking for.

Danny420Dale · Post by **Danny420Dale** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 3:57 am

Not everyone's adept at reverse engineering, which is what 'picking apart' a Fin Funnel really is. That's why I haven't adopted the technology or tried to build my own version.

I'm curious as to whether they can be used in DC mode as well.

Chiiro · Post by **Chiiro** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 4:04 am

Since they use automatic tracking, I highly doubt it.
It depends on wether you can set a weapon to be automatic in DC mode, something I've never looked at.

Post by **Arcalane** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 4:37 am

Chiiro wrote:Since they use automatic tracking, I highly doubt it.
It depends on wether you can set a weapon to be automatic in DC mode, something I've never looked at.

Any weapon without a DC key will behave under AI control (ie, normally) in DC mode. It's a good way to set up autoturrets.

Danny420Dale · Post by **Danny420Dale** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 10:09 am

Arcalane wrote:
Chiiro wrote:Since they use automatic tracking, I highly doubt it.
It depends on wether you can set a weapon to be automatic in DC mode, something I've never looked at.
Any weapon without a DC key will behave under AI control (ie, normally) in DC mode. It's a good way to set up autoturrets.

So in short, the FF will be by necessity an autoturret. I've already done those on a bunch of my ships already.

Ixranin · Post by **Ixranin** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 2:37 pm

I'm not exactly sure they are reverse-engineerable in the first place, since it has clusters of sections scaled down to 0, making them impossible to click on. At least, not clickable in a way that I know of.

LordGarcia · Post by **LordGarcia** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:21 pm

Ixranim. you're wrong there. Eri used a pretty nice trick to archieve unclickable sections. so the connectors can't get shot ingame. he just used complete black sprites.

aniway. The fin funnels tecnology is pretty complicated when you first look at it and if you didn't experiment around with triggers you might not get it first.

to the DC thing. Why shouldn't it work? with the right settings it would be pretty awesome having swarming bots follow your mouse cursor.

about adapting and changing them to something else. I went mad and canceled my version because it jsut was getting far too complicaded and timed for what I was planning. the fin funnels are cool as they are right now.

Ixranin · Post by **Ixranin** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 8:50 am

Shrinking them or using black sprites basically achieves the same effect though.

Anyhow, it turns out the key to figuring out the fin funnel system was to load it ingame and press END. You see something like this:

Which shows that it's actually not too complicated. Besides the basic extending pieces, there're two turrets to control the range, then the funnels rotate around the end-points.

Ixranin · Post by **Ixranin** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 12:32 pm

http://www.wyrdysm.com/battleshipsforev ... elDemo.zip

Reverse engineered one of the Arch Angel's Fin Funnels and mounted it on a simple demonstrator ship. It's not an exact replica, but hopefully it helps show how they work.

Squishy · Post by **Squishy** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 1:53 pm

This certainly helps understanding the system, Ixranin.

Your efforts do not go unappreciated, thank you.