There really isn't an accurate way to portray X-Wings in Nova. They open their S-foils before combat (it slows them down), and keep them that way in a battle. They only really keep their S-foils closed for long distance flying.
That said, I would prefer for an X-wing's S-foils to open to fire (too bad there's no way to slow you down here) and close again when done, so long as it was quick (i.e. faster than the Asteroid Miner). If nothing else, it would be a nifty animation. 
orcaloverbri9, on Nov 13 2005, 10:43 PM, said:
There really isn't an accurate way to portray X-Wings in Nova. They open their S-foils before combat (it slows them down), and keep them that way in a battle. They only really keep their S-foils closed for long distance flying.
That said, I would prefer for an X-wing's S-foils to open to fire (too bad there's no way to slow you down here) and close again when done, so long as it was quick (i.e. faster than the Asteroid Miner). If nothing else, it would be a nifty animation.
View Post
Well, you could.
Have an abortable mission in the active missions box.
"Put S foils into Attack Position."
When the player aborts it, you grant a negative speed mod and 4 balsters, and it starts a mission that the player can abort to close the wings. You could also grant an invisible key caried ship to trigger the key carried frames in attack position.
But it wouldn't be animated.
I still think that the current behavior is a good emulation of X-wing behavior. And how the hell do open S-foils slow you down in vacuum flight?
You just have to assume that the only reason you would be out in space is to fight... and if you are in an X-wing, thats probably not all that far from the truth.
The same reason you get sound in Star Wars space.
This is true.
The only problem with it is that this would happen each and every time you fire-and it would close immediately after you finish firing. Not a very accurate simulation of the X-Wing, and it would mess up attacks.
-Bob
This post has been edited by Consul Bob : 16 November 2005 - 11:30 PM
Consul Bob, on Nov 17 2005, 03:27 AM, said:
Not a very accurate simulation of the X-Wing...
View Post
Neither is using 'unfolds on land & jump'. I'll grant you that it's closer than using 'unfolds on fire', but it's still by no means an 'accurate simulation of the X-Wing' as you put it - and isn't therefore a reason for retaining the current rig.
On the contrary....
Maybe "Unfolding" could look like the Argosy where it adds extra engines to the sides. Extra engines are needed for landing, as you could potentially go in with the engines facing down, full power. This landing technique would almost counter gravity, greatly slowing the ship, removing problematic heat. If you wanted it be as realistic as possible, that would really be needed.
Maybe the Argosy closes it's engines :huh:... Anyway, it changes for hyperspace. Or was only when disabled? Maybe the Argosy analogy wasn't that great. And I know someone on this thread said that it doesn't do anything, but it sure folds/unfolds for some reason, even if I'm not sure what triggers it.
By the way, Weepul, I should probably note that adding an "unfolds to land" flag probably isn't that hard as it's just a number, and he would only need to modify whatever checks for the "unfodls to jump and land" flag - nearly all of the code is there already, it just needs a couple additions and some rearranging.
Not to imply that I actually expect Matt to do this.
Qaanol, on Nov 17 2005, 02:58 PM, said:
What if you just make the "Unfolded" frames show the ship growing smaller and smaller?
When it hyperspaces it looks like it's traveling away , deep into space, and when it lands it looks like it's traveling "down" to the planet. Bada boom. EV with 2.5D graphics!
View Post
Indeed, but this is knocking right on the door of why it would be most useful to me to have only unfolds to jump: so many neat effects could be created for hyperjumping, and relatively very few would be appropriate to also be shown when landing.
orcaloverbri9, on Nov 17 2005, 05:25 PM, said:
By the way, Weepul, I should probably note that adding an "unfolds to land" flag probably isn't that hard as it's just a number, and he would only need to modify whatever checks for the "unfodls to jump and land" flag - nearly all of the code is there already, it just needs a couple additions and some rearranging.
Not to imply that I actually expect Matt to do this.
View Post
Two words: NovaTools support. 
Granted, NovaTools isn't Nova nor is it the only way to work with Nova data; however, I believe it is both the officially-provided way, and no longer being updated.
Hudson, on Nov 17 2005, 11:20 AM, said:
Neither is using 'unfolds on land & jump'. I'll grant you that it's closer than using 'unfolds on fire', but it's still by no means an 'accurate simulation of the X-Wing' as you put it - and isn't therefore a reason for retaining the current rig.
View Post
Actually, yes, it is. Simply have the X-Wing in flight graphics show one with unlocked S-Foils, and upon landing/entering hyperspace, it would fold. Just because it says "unfolds on land & jump" doesn't mean it has to actually do that, graphically.
-Bob
This post has been edited by Consul Bob : 18 November 2005 - 07:27 PM
Umm... it says that, because that's what it actually does. My point is that as I understand it, the S-Foils are only open for a small percentage of the time X-wings are out of the hanger - they are only opened when combat ensues. So like it or not, this isn't an accurate simulation based either on the trigger points, nor on the time the S-foils are open.
As a writer in Empire put it this month - Star Wars is only a B-movie that's gotten way above it's station. I don't think we should lock down this kind of functionality solely for the benefit of one craft animation (which isn't even accurate - in this case, you'd be better off giving the X-wings banking animations) that may well only appear in one or two half-decent plugs/TCs anyway. It's not even as though unfolding S-foils is even critical to the X-wings presentation. It's just a 'heh, that's nice' kind of thing. On the other hand, We've had to seriously think about plot movements and narratives because of the limitations on this functionality.
Go ahead and call me stupid, but what is this "unfolding" you speak of?
Star Fighter 9000, on Nov 20 2005, 01:29 AM, said:
Go ahead and call me stupid, but what is this "unfolding" you speak of?
View Post
The Nova engine lets you trigger 'ship animations' at particular points. Both the 'unfolds on land/jump' and 'unfolds on fire' just describe the animations that happen at those points. Very few ships in the stock Nova scenario use them. The Auroran Argosy for example uses the 'unfolds on land/jump' flag.
