Attack patterns

posted on February 9th, 2011, 3:34 pm

I'm planing to. Star Dreadnoughts have trouble geting around when they have no space to work with.

posted on February 10th, 2011, 2:52 pm

If I remember correctly, that was coded out of FO.

posted on February 10th, 2011, 4:40 pm

It is in the RTS.cfg file

// Ship combat configuration
float SKINNY_SHIP_COMBAT_FLOOR = -250.0;
float SKINNY_SHIP_COMBAT_CEILING = 250.0;
float SHIP_COMBAT_FLOOR = -250.0;
float SHIP_COMBAT_CEILING = 250.0;
float DEEP_SPACE_SHIP_COMBAT_FLOOR = -250.0;
float DEEP_SPACE_SHIP_COMBAT_CEILING = 250.0;
float ANCHOR_PURSUIT_POINT_ANGLE = (3.14159/6);
float ANCHOR_RADIUS = 4.0;
float ANCHOR_PURSUIT_FORCE = 10.0;
float CENTER_OF_COMBAT_PERSISTENCE_CUTOFF = 6 * ANCHOR_RADIUS;
float DOGFIGHT_RANGE = 70.0;

// multiply times target radius to get radius for circling, cloverleaf
float cfgDOGFIGHT_RADIUS_MODIFIER = 3.0;
float cfgCLOVERLEAF_RADIUS_MODIFIER = 1.2;

Just increase the combat floor and combat ceiling size to what ever you want and you have abox again instead of a plate

posted on February 10th, 2011, 4:46 pm

But the 'shift to move the curser up' and down feature has been coded out.   I already raised the combat floor on my mod. I didn't realize that is what you meant.

posted on February 10th, 2011, 4:59 pm

Ships will move up or down as the need and opertunities arise. moving the cursor is only realy usefull for placing station off the center plain in game and for map making. besides if we give the Deves a good enough reason maybe they will put it back in.

posted on February 10th, 2011, 5:07 pm

Moving the cursor was also used to move ships up and down, they should only move in 3D when in a formation that makes them move.

posted on February 10th, 2011, 6:22 pm

Moving the cursor was also used to move ships up and down, they should only move in 3D when in a formation that makes them move.

I agree.  I think moving ships in a 3d area at will made it too easy to evade defenses.

posted on February 10th, 2011, 6:30 pm

That's the same concern the devs had. Avoiding defences wouldn't be a problem if the 3D is present, but greatly reduced from stock limits. Just high/low enough to make good fleet screenshots.

posted on February 10th, 2011, 6:39 pm

I agree.  I think moving ships in a 3d area at will made it too easy to evade defenses.

That's the same concern the devs had. Avoiding defences wouldn't be a problem if the 3D is present, but greatly reduced from stock limits. Just high/low enough to make good fleet screenshots.

See thats part of the problem you are still thinking command and camquer and not Aces over Europe. Space is full of lots of empty space. Static defenses are meaningless there because there are no choke points to control Stop thinking Like Kahn. A2 has what is takes to setup a faily realistic Space encounter but no one thinks that way so there are no maps setup that way. Mod like Kirk

posted on February 10th, 2011, 6:43 pm

Actually, I like 3D space and still support it as they still need to come into range to fire. I can still see where the devs are coming from, though; most people only put a single turret at the side an enemy will come from, so you can just go over it and come down on the other side of an expansion out of range.

Gameplay > canon is the general rule for the game.

posted on February 10th, 2011, 7:03 pm

See thats part of the problem you are still thinking command and camquer and not Aces over Europe. Space is full of lots of empty space. Static defenses are meaningless there because there are no choke points to control Stop thinking Like Kahn. A2 has what is takes to setup a faily realistic Space encounter but no one thinks that way so there are no maps setup that way. Mod like Kirk

I have thought about this alot, but honestly i don't see a way to fix it.  we could end up as either Dominion wars, or command and conquer, and honestly, I like how a2 is atm.  If we could do it any better we might end up like homeworld, which isn't a bad thing, but I don't think that 3 dimensionality was really well implemented in that game either. it was only really in the ships physics, not in gameplay.  combat encounters were almost always face to face, not one ship firring at one above it, ect.  The fighters were cool, but everything else was really moving 2 dimensionally.  sure you could move up and down, like in a2, but when you came right down to it, you were still fighting on a flat plane.

posted on February 10th, 2011, 7:21 pm

I guess my point is that the original programers added a feature in 3d movement and then like everthing else about the game never finished seting it up and see just what you could do with it. Most people assume that it just doesnlt work well and want to through it out. Just once I want to go in the other direction and see just how far it can be pushed. If you really use it how will that effect gameplay? No one has a real working answer because it has never been done, not once in 10 years

posted on February 10th, 2011, 7:28 pm

If you want to know how to re-enable 3D movement in Fleet Operations so that it works like it did in Stock A2 minus one caveat, feel free to PM me (though of course, you may already know) . There's just one aspect I would strongly prefer not being on the forums, hence keeping it on a behind-the-scenes mod basis