The purpose of this tutorial is to help users learn how to make a hidden cannon.
The weapon will not fire until a button is pressed. this is usually accompanied by moving sections hiding a depthed weapon (press w with the weapon selected), but the main focus of this tutorial will be how to get a weapon to function only when the "cover" of the ship is opened.
The ship that I will be using for this demonstration is the "Eligor Final" by: Anna
Why, because it has the weapon that we want to create.
Eligor Final
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Some doodads have been removed from this area and the weapons have had their "alpha" value set from "0" to "1" to make them visible for greater clarity while working.
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They are parented to this section at it is the one that they get their trigger settings from.
This would be the first step in creating the cannon.
1. Create the section that is to hold the trigger command. (In this case, it is the moving section that the weapons are parented to). Note: There are two weapons, a pulsebeam and a teslabeamer.
2. The trigger is set to make the section move.
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Off Action 1: The section itself will stop when it reaches the target spot
Off Action 2: The section itself will stop when it has returned to the origin spot (press the activation key again after it already moved out to make it move back)
It also has some movement parameters.
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Target Distance: The distance that the section will move. (Plus all of its children)
Target Direction: The direction that the section will move. Input any value between 0 - 359. 0 = Right, 90 = Up, 180 = Left, and 270 = Down. (Plus all of its children)
Advance Frames: Game time for the movement from start to target location. 30 = 1 second
Return Frames: Game time for the return movement from target location to start.
Example (Eligor Final): When the comma (,) key is pressed, the section representing the cannon will extend out 20 points over a period of 30 frames (1 second). There is a delay involved, but that is not important at this point.
3. Set the "shooting" option on both weapons to "disabled". and set their "mode" option to "shooting".
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Note: Remember the weapon must be selected and the section that it is supposed to get the trigger information from is right-clicked (Weapon to section, Not section to weapon)
5. Set the secondary weapon (the teslabeamer in this case) to the same section under "set on trigger 1". (As in step 4) It will have a teal arrow.
Note: The teslabeamer does not shut off after the front is re-closed, even if the "set off trigger 1" is added.
6. Select the primary weapon (pulsebeamer) and select "set link" on the secondary weapon (teslabeamer), so it will fire only when the primary weapon fires. The red arrow will point to the weapon(s) that it controls. If you do it wrong, select
That is all. The weapon will now function in the intended manner. You don't have to use the same weapons as this ship either, you can use your own.
Anna
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