The latest ship I've implemented in Anathema is unique in that it operates near-exclusively in enemy territory, which means that a non-hyperspace-capable escape pod would, lore-wise, be next to worthless for providing for the safety of the pilot. So rather than use escape pods, the main fuselage can detach from the rest of the ship, jettisoning the main engines, shield generator, and weapons systems (the things most likely to go critical and kill the pilot). Of course, the survival module is next to worthless, but it can then try to run away.

I remember a while back, in a discussion about alternate implementations of fighters, somebody bringing up the idea of using a single shïp resource to represent a fighter squadron. Individual ships being destroyed would be represented by the, say, 6-ship shïp being replaced with the 5-ship shïp via escape ships. It was further discovered that one could prevent a ship from launching fighters under any circumstance except for as escape ships by giving the said ship the fighter but no bay, thereby ensuring that the 5-ship shïp is only launched when its parent 6-ship shïp is destroyed, representing one of the fighters being shot down.

This works fine. Sometimes. However, in trying this out, I've found that more often than not (around maybe a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio) the survival module will not launch for my ship. I've experimented with auto-eject outfits, lengthening the destruction sequence, giving the actual bay along with the fighter/module, and giving up to 20 modules instead of just one. From what I can tell, nothing has increased the chance of the module launching. However, actual carriers, like the Fed Carrier, seem to have a 100% escape ship launch rate as far as I can tell (assuming they have any fighters left when they go down). Does anybody have any light to shed on the situation?

I guess one thing occurred to me while typing: I made the escape ships Brave Traders (I think) so that they would tend to run away after jettisoning, since their shields are down, they're much less mobile, and they're down to one small gun. I could try mucking with the AI on the survival pod and see what happens. Let you know tomorrow; tired. Must sleep.

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……………

If all else fails, you can always work up some explanation about how it isn't 100% effective detatch or that sometimes the pilot is too slow to detatch or what not.

Very true. In fact, the player is never intended to use that particular ship (it's really just there for escort duty and hitting targets of opportunity), so the effect is only there for its aesthetic or "hey, neat!" value. Still, it's one of those puzzling things that will bug me for ages if I don't figure it out, like that cloaking behavior problem from months back that I never resolved.

Oh and as far as I can tell, changing the ships' AI didn't do anything. I'll start troubleshooting the wëap resource now I think.

QUOTE

It was further discovered that one could prevent a ship from launching fighters under any circumstance except for as escape ships by giving the said ship the fighter but no bay, thereby ensuring that the 5-ship shïp is only launched when its parent 6-ship shïp is destroyed, representing one of the fighters being shot down.

So, you've actually tested this, then? I had a similar problem with the plug-in I am working on. In this topic I asked about how to hide an escape ship from the player. Numerous people recommended I give them the ship but no bay. I never got this to work; I could never launch the ship without the bay (i.e. 0% success rate). You gave another solution (link) of giving a bay but hiding it with a beam that stops other weapons from firing. I ended up using that trick.

So, in my experience: No bay - 0% success, given a bay - 100% success. I wonder what's different....

This post has been edited by n64mon : 22 April 2009 - 01:27 PM

Well, in my original post, I mentioned that I got the same results regardless of whether or not I gave the ship the bay as well. I suppose it may be a 1.0.10 to 1.1.0 transition thing. I'll keep messing around.

Thanks for reminding me of the other solution though! It would be easy enough to duplicate the ship and make the AI version's weapons all secondary.

Glad I could help! Thank you for the idea in the first place! I'll cite you, of course, when I finish the plug. I still think it's weird that it would work 1/4 times. Huh.