Fighters/Carriers

posted on July 13th, 2011, 1:51 pm

How do you make fighters follow their carriers.

I was under the impression that only these lines:

Code: Select all

classlabel = "Fighter"
supplyclasses = 0
   "fed_avalon.odf" 1
        ect....

were required but the fighters just sit still and do nothing. They're not using the same physics file as the peregrine but even when I swap them to use the same physics file they still just do nothing.

Thanks in advance.

posted on July 13th, 2011, 2:17 pm

the following is actually in the replaceweapon coding.  The fighter class label determines how the ship itself acts, but to get it to follow a carrier, you must have it launch from the carrier, and there are a few extra lines of code there to make it work.  Check out the fed_avalonF2 or whichever one is the launcher.

If you are interested, there is actually a way to get fighters to launch and follow your carrier, but then you have the ability to control them and give them orders.  So, they will at first follow and protect the carrier, but then you can select them up and tell them to attack ships independently, guard aa position, etc.  It is pretty cool imo.

posted on July 13th, 2011, 2:18 pm

ainame = "FighterProcess"  :thumbsup:

EDIT: just saw Adm. Zaxxon's comment - the above thing should be the only additional item to get them to move around like FO fighters

posted on July 13th, 2011, 2:23 pm

Hey Zax...can you tell me how I can have the fighters move independently. I like the idea of having the fighters attack a seperate target. My goal is to mod fleet ops to make it more like World War II naval combat...but with starships.

posted on July 13th, 2011, 2:48 pm

ainame = "FighterProcess"  :thumbsup:

EDIT: just saw Adm. Zaxxon's comment - the above thing should be the only additional item to get them to move around like FO fighters

the following is actually in the replaceweapon coding.  The fighter class label determines how the ship itself acts, but to get it to follow a carrier, you must have it launch from the carrier, and there are a few extra lines of code there to make it work.  Check out the fed_avalonF2 or whichever one is the launcher.

If you are interested, there is actually a way to get fighters to launch and follow your carrier, but then you have the ability to control them and give them orders.  So, they will at first follow and protect the carrier, but then you can select them up and tell them to attack ships independently, guard aa position, etc.  It is pretty cool imo.

After a bit of investigation the fighter of is the only one that needs to be modded. The fighters are created via replace weapon.

It seems they need the following lines:

Code: Select all

classlabel = "Fighter"
supplyclasses = 0
   "fed_avalon.odf" 1
        ect....
ainame = "FighterProcess"

Without the info on supplyclasses the fighters make a beeline for what was I assume the enemy base.
Without the classlabel fighter my game crashed.

Is there anyway to stop the fighters circling and make them sit still until you give an order to the carrier?

Hey Zax...can you tell me how I can have the fighters move independently. I like the idea of having the fighters attack a seperate target. My goal is to mod fleet ops to make it more like World War II naval combat...but with starships.

This is just a guess but have you tried changing ignoreinterface = 1 to 0 I think that would probably make them respond to commands.

posted on July 13th, 2011, 2:56 pm

Use ainame = "CraftProcess"
and classlabel = "Craft"
and ignoreInterface = 0

Now your fighters will obey you 

posted on July 13th, 2011, 3:04 pm

Use ainame = "CraftProcess"
and classlabel = "Craft"
and ignoreInterface = 0

Now your fighters will obey you 

Tried this with the exception of ignoreInterface in the hope they would behave more like normal ships (i.e. stop moving when they don't have to. Is it possible at all to get them to move like the carrier but to follow it around and protect it like fighters?

posted on July 13th, 2011, 3:08 pm

If it were possible to make the fighters stay in the centre of the carrier's location by default, only moving to attack, would give the impression that the fighters only launch to attack/defend...

posted on July 13th, 2011, 3:20 pm

I'm not sure exactly what you want...

If you have normal fightercraft with ignoreInterface = 0, then you can control what targets the fighters shoot at independently of the carrier.

If you have fighters set as craft, then they behave exactly like all normal ships, but they won't guard the carrier or follow it around without an express guard order.

posted on July 13th, 2011, 3:30 pm

I'm not sure exactly what you want...

If you have normal fightercraft with ignoreInterface = 0, then you can control what targets the fighters shoot at independently of the carrier.

If you have fighters set as craft, then they behave exactly like all normal ships, but they won't guard the carrier or follow it around without an express guard order.

Somewhere inbetween  . Preferebly I want fighters to move like normal ships but still follow the carrier (without circling it) and attack whatever the carriers attacking (without circling what they're attacking).

So I basically want fighters that move around like normal ships.

posted on July 13th, 2011, 4:16 pm

Ah, I believe the behavior is hardcoded into the AI of the fighter classlabel, so I imagine it would be best to request a feature that allows one to determine whether the ship moves or not.

posted on July 13th, 2011, 4:23 pm

Ah, I believe the behavior is hardcoded into the AI of the fighter classlabel, so I imagine it would be best to request a feature that allows one to determine whether the ship moves or not.

Thanks Dominus 

[Anonymous]

posted on July 13th, 2011, 4:38 pm

Last edited by Anonymous on July 13th, 2011, 4:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

No, its possible.  The fighters didn't always use the fighter classlabel you know.

You need:
ignoreinterface = 1 so you can't control them. 
avoideme = 0 so they don't push your carrier around.
classlabel destroyer, not fighter
normal physics file,

and your launching odf should look like this.

Code: Select all

wpnname = "Viper Tube"
tooltip = "Viper Tube"
verbosetooltip = "AUTOTOOLTIP-fed_avalonFR.odf"
buttonslot = 0
replacementaction = 3
replacementkeepowner = 1
replacementresetspecialenergy = 0
selectmode = 2
replacementinstantai = 1
replacementinstantplayer = 1
replacementinstantcycle = 45
concurrentchilds = 12
transferstats = 0
replacement0class0 = "BSG_fighter_viper_mk2.odf"
replacement1class0 = "BSG_fighter_viper_mk2.odf"
replacement1class0position = 0,0,-40
classlabel = "replaceweapon"
special = 1
replacementmaintainorders = 1
speakonattack = 0
attackspeech = 0


and that should do it.

You specifically need the replacementaction = 3 line.  the ships that are replaced should protect your ship. and since they are not under your control it should work fine.


The fighter clall label has alot of stuff hardcoded into it, like the inability to stop moving.  I didn't like this, as well as some of the ways the fighters acted, so my mod does not use it.  It also helped me from having to rewrite all my fighter odfs.

Try that, and if it doesn't work, could you please post your fighter and replaceweapon odf here?  I have it  working in my mod right now so I know its possible. 

Hey Zax...can you tell me how I can have the fighters move independently. I like the idea of having the fighters attack a seperate target. My goal is to mod fleet ops to make it more like World War II naval combat...but with starships.

Yeah, simply remove the ignoreinterface line from the odf(you might have to remove the fighter class label as well) and they should work.  the only problem is that when you control the fighters, as soon as they move they no longer count twards the "currentchilds" limit.

posted on July 13th, 2011, 4:40 pm

Ah, my mistake, I thought you wanted fighters you could control specifically, but still behaved light fighter craft 

posted on July 13th, 2011, 4:49 pm

You can still do that too, for the most part.   The only reason the fighters act the way they do is because of their negative(or 0) backwards acceleration on the physics file.  and the avoidme = 0 line(its kind of important if you don't want your fighters to push a ship across the map )  but other than that, without the ignore interface line, they will simply be ships, that move and act like fighters.   You can control them specifically, and they will still have the fighter behavior.