Anyone have any thoughts on how to do an energy-cage weapon that fires from the rear of a ship, a la the Tholian web from the classic Star Trek episode named, oddly enough, "The Tholian Web"?

One thing I tried was a ship that fires a guided weapon with no velocity, a reload rate of 1, an extremely long period of life, and made the ship extremely fast and agile, but all it did was chase after a ship it had targetted, spitting out the weapon only once it was practically on top of it -- while the other ship just ran from it in a straight line.

Ideas? Anyone? Bueller?

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Energy cage? What does this weapon do? I don't remember that episode.

If it just sort of drops behind the ship, then make it a free-fall bomb, like the stellar grenades.

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Well, in the episode the weapon was intended to ensnare the ship -- it was essentially a web gradually built by the Tholians around the Enterprise throughout the episode:

What I want to do is create an AI ship and weapon which can "esnare" the player's ship (and others) by creating a stream behind it -- resembling a line of energy (it doesn't have to be straight) that will disable any ship traveling over it.

What I did create was something very similar to what you suggest -- essentially a number of grenades. However, the AI behavior was such that the ship with the bombs just chased the ship it was attacking, rather than surrounding it.

If what I want to do can't be done due to a limitation in Nova's AI engine, I'll cope, but I would really like to do something like this...if for no reason other than because I've never seen anything like it before.

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You could make it into a rear-firing turret whose ammo points to some sort of missile.... I seem to recall accidentally making a proton turret fire torpedoes in EV. Making a web, however, is impossible (unless you make some sort of "web" graphic for the gun and giving it a slowish firing rate).

Matrix

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"Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool."

(This message has been edited by what_is_the_matrix (edited 06-12-2002).)

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Originally posted by what_is_the_matrix:
**You could make it into a rear-firing turret whose ammo points to some sort of missile.... I seem to recall accidentally making a proton turret fire torpedoes in EV. Making a web, however, is impossible (unless you make some sort of "web" graphic for the gun and giving it a slowish firing rate).

Matrix

**

I think might have to be even more creative. Such as have a weapon with zero velocity and a really big graphic that is itself an animation of the ship spinning the web. I'm not sure how Nova would feel about a 480x480 weapon sprite, tho. Plus, how do you hide the original firing ship?

Unless...might be a clever way of utilizing the "unfolds to fire" animation. Hide the transition from ship sprite (animation of a ship making a cage) to weapon sprite (of the completed cage) with a "flash of activation" -- which is also when the weapon fires, thus, when the cage starts working.

With the cage now a weapons sprite the original ship flys off. Then all you have to do is figure out how to make the cage work.The only thing that springs to mind is ionization. I'm not quite thinking in Nova yet. I think "BSOD" (my TC in progress) is gonna stay in EVO.

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Interesting thought, and the effect that you suggest is what I was going for as well ---a combination of "disable only" and a high ionize value -- though what Matrix suggested is closer to what I had already done.

Again, to clarify -- what I'm wanting is a ship that fires its payload behind it that lingers for a long time, such that it appears like a line; what I'd like the ship to do is circle its enemies with this weapon, forcing them to stand still (not a big problem there -- most other ships are inertialess).

The problem seems to be the AI behavior -- the attacked ship just runs away, while the attacking ship with this weapon just chases it at the same speed (even though it has a higher speed, accel, and maneuver value), not discharging the weapon until it's on top of its opponent.

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Isn't there a way of altering it so it retreats at such and such shield level compared to an enemy? It will certainly make battles with it absolutely hateful, but modifying it so it retreats at the first sign of an enemy will certainly make it run away. Provided that no one wants to run away from it as well. That would be odd

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(This message has been edited by Ex Nihilo (edited 06-13-2002).)

Quote

Originally posted by UncleTwitchy:
**Interesting thought, and the effect that you suggest is what I was going for as well ---a combination of "disable only" and a high ionize value -- though what Matrix suggested is closer to what I had already done.

Again, to clarify -- what I'm wanting is a ship that fires its payload behind it that lingers for a long time, such that it appears like a line; what I'd like the ship to do is circle its enemies with this weapon, forcing them to stand still (not a big problem there -- most other ships are inertialess).

The problem seems to be the AI behavior -- the attacked ship just runs away, while the attacking ship with this weapon just chases it at the same speed (even though it has a higher speed, accel, and maneuver value), not discharging the weapon until it's on top of its opponent.

**

Try using a turreted beam with blind spots to the front and the sides (leaving the back non-blind), and make it like a damaging tractor beam. It holds the enemy ship in place, and deals damage at the same time. Make it ionize as well (to ensure that the ship can't move, even if the beam goes out of range), and make it emit lots and lots of particles upon hitting.

Matrix

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"Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool."