Possible solution for movable turrets

from Sins Forums
I just had an idea how to make turrets track their targets. There are a few problems, but I think its worth investigating. We know that the particle system has two things critical to making this work: -ability to automatically track targets (so the shots connect) -ability to use actual meshes So I propose to make a model which has hardpoints for turret meshes. These would be generated with the particle system, possibly consisting of two (but I can think of ways to use only one) turret mesh and using the particle tracking system to point the barrel in the right direction. The problem we immediately face (and the only one) is that in order for the particles to track the target, they have to be a part of the weapon particle system (most notably the _travel_ portion of it). So a way to circumvent that would have to be devised. Any ideas?
modding
3,887 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
Wouldn't the turrets dissapear when the shell arrives?
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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Erm...

Couldn't you just make an extra ability for a ship of choice which deploys turrets in the same fashion as the Sova ability, albeit making them mobile and perhaps longer-lasting?

If you look at the FrigateCombatTurret ability, you can see that you could mod it to increase its speed, for example.

I've been messing about with creating mines that way, myself.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
For mines, that would work, but your turrets need not only track the enemy, but also stay attached to the hull. Spawning static turrets would ruin the effect as soon as the ship moves.

The idea is to have *two* separate "weapons". One would be the real weapon, applying damage and having the normal weapon effects. The other, superimposed with the hardpoint controlling the first one, would be the dummy weapon used to control turret meshes. That way the turrets would not dissapear as soon as the shell hits. But they would dissapear, or better said, would not appear until the ship enters combat. This is actually the only problem. It would be easy to make the dummy weapon "fire" only once and last indefinitely, like a beam. It would track like a beam, but since the only visible parts would be the barrel and turret casing, it would stay attached to the ship, track dynamically etc.

This all needs testing, of course. I don't know if it is possible to make a particle mesh behave like a beam, or if it would also get "ripped off" the hull as soon as the ship moves.
But as far as I know, this is the closest idea to actually get dynamic turrets in the game, so I thought to share it and see if it sparks something. :)
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
Oh, you mean like Turrets as little ability-based additions to battleships and such? Could be good, with Dreadnaughts getting extra bombing turrets, Battleships getting more beams and such, all destructable, mind.

Sounds like a good idea, although I'd personally do it as little "defence drones" or whatever which have the same speed as their home ships and can hyperspace, with a very slow recharge rate and a lasting time of 120 or somesuch.

Just my 2 cents, so to speak.