Squadrons

[DOCa Cola]

posted on December 1st, 2011, 5:59 am

Last edited by DOCa Cola on December 1st, 2011, 1:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

So is there any plans for a squadron of ships that operate as one? For instance three fighters that move and fight independent of each other but can still be selected as a single group.

posted on December 1st, 2011, 1:35 pm

yes, such a functionality, similar to homeworld 2 fighter selection, is planned

posted on December 1st, 2011, 3:26 pm

Yay!  I can't wait for that.  it will even more improve fighter combat in FO.

posted on December 1st, 2011, 4:57 pm

It's something I'd been tinkering with on my install of B5 stuff. Basically you have a "Lead Fighter" that you can command as normal, with similar to the 'Civil Hangar' ability, so regular (unselectable) fighters built by the fighter yard follow the Leader. Similar to what one of the races does in Sigma.

posted on December 1st, 2011, 7:37 pm

It's something I'd been tinkering with on my install of B5 stuff. Basically you have a "Lead Fighter" that you can command as normal, with similar to the 'Civil Hangar' ability, so regular (unselectable) fighters built by the fighter yard follow the Leader. Similar to what one of the races does in Sigma.

Yup that's how I did it. The Sov avatar that uses Drones has multiple ships that you control via the leader of the group. I look forward to seeing how the Devs improve the functionality. 

posted on December 1st, 2011, 7:48 pm

It's something I'd been tinkering with on my install of B5 stuff. Basically you have a "Lead Fighter" that you can command as normal, with similar to the 'Civil Hangar' ability, so regular (unselectable) fighters built by the fighter yard follow the Leader. Similar to what one of the races does in Sigma.

Yeah, the only problem is that they don't stay very close, and when your lead fighter dies, you can't make the rest die too in order to simulate collective health.   I can't wait for the Dev solution.

posted on December 2nd, 2011, 1:18 am

Thank you. Whenever its finished it should make it possible to have a 'real' Prometheus in game.

posted on December 2nd, 2011, 10:18 am

Would be nice to see something like "maneuvers" in that. For example one ship covering the other one.

posted on December 2nd, 2011, 2:27 pm

Or flying in different formations!

Thank you. Whenever its finished it should make it possible to have a 'real' Prometheus in game.

That will be sweet.

posted on December 7th, 2011, 9:46 am

Yeah, the only problem is that they don't stay very close, and when your lead fighter dies, you can't make the rest die too in order to simulate collective health.   I can't wait for the Dev solution.

Perhaps a line such as : Primarylead, Secondarylead, tertairylead etc?

When primary dies, lead goes to secondary etc

posted on December 7th, 2011, 2:49 pm

That would work perfectly, however we can't do that currently.   I"m sure the devs system will be much more integrated.

posted on December 7th, 2011, 3:11 pm

Well you could always make the "lead" not an actual fighter, but a selectable and visible, but invincible and non-targetable, marker, that simply acts as a location for the real fighters to rally around. Simples.

posted on December 7th, 2011, 3:16 pm

Yeah, that was mentioned earlier, but what happens when all the fighters are destroyed?

posted on December 7th, 2011, 3:58 pm

You pay to rebuild them or it just can decommission?

posted on December 7th, 2011, 9:16 pm

Yeah, that was mentioned earlier, but what happens when all the fighters are destroyed?

Yes, it was me that mentioned it. The original problem was what happens when the lead fighter is destroyed. By using a non-targetable marker, the "lead fighter" isn't real, just an aid for the player to control the fighter wing by, so can't be destroyed.

The actual fighters themselves are just drones, so once they're destroyed, you move the "selector marker" back to a fighter production facility and it fills it's 'civil hangars' again.

Think of it as assigning fleet number hotkeys, but you have to bring the "number" back to the shipyard in order to assign it to another group of ships.