Drones

[CW]

Final got my act together and my hands dirty in modding! Just went through the VehicleSize.txt, there is a vehicle type called drones. Why doesn't it exist in any of the existing races? It looks promising as a long range cruise missile!

By the way, if I add an extra ship size and only make the graphics for one of the races, will the game crash? Will that race be the only one able to build the new size? Or will something else happen?

[Puke]

i think there is a default picture if any are missing, but i can not swear to that. as to the drones, search the forums for old questions on that. I think the 'when do we get drones' nag has gotten stowed in the same place as the 'when do we get TCPIP play' one. As far as I know, no one is quite sure what drones do yet, but it was supposed that since this game is heavily based on starfire that they would function similarly to the drones in that game.

Having never played starfire (dont shoot, im unarmed!), i cant really give you an educated opinion.

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"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)

[dogscoff]

QUOTE:
By the way, if I add an extra ship size and only make the graphics for one of the races, will the game crash? Will that race be the only one able to build the new size? Or will something else happen?
/QUOTE:

A mod can easily support extra images. You just have to make sure that either:

A> ALL races have ALL images required, or
B> You have a suitable "generic" image for your extra size(s), which any races without images can default to (option B is btter than option A)
C> Both of the above together (Option C is best=-)

I'm trying to create a centralised filename standard for non-standard images, so that mods can share images.

Check out my Space Vikings thread for details.

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"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so Brain but, if you replace the P with an O, my name would be Oinky, wouldn't it?"

[BeeDee10]

Drones are supposed to be sort of like long-range missiles that you design and construct like units. You'd design a drone with whatever components you needed for some task, and then you'd launch it like a fighter and give it orders. It would then follow those orders, and self-destruct once it had finished. They should theoretically be able to do anything a ship can do, assuming you can fit the components into it. Unlike fighters, they can transit warp points. They're maintenance-free, but not reusable.

Drones were apparently enabled in the early beta tests of SEIV, but Aaron couldn't get them working quite right at the time and so disabled them in all public releases since then. I've been longing for their return ever since SEIV came out. Most of the code must be in there already, it probably just needs tweaking or something...

Please, Aaron, I wanna push a button and plague-bomb my enemy's worlds from afar! Sun-buster drones, just imagine, pretty-please!

[Q]

Yes I agree, drones are very high on my wish list for the next patch! Just the fix of the counter-intelligence is more important IMO.
It would be a good start for Aaron coming back from his holidays.

[dogscoff]

They won't work yet, but it's worth putting them in because eventually MM will implement it. I believe some mods make use of the image as well.

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"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so Brain but, if you replace the P with an O, my name would be Oinky, wouldn't it?"

[disabled]

I think the reason why Aaron hasn't done drones yet is the AI needed to put behind it. Drones would be used for nearly every aspect of a fleet, but you wouldn't have any control on them. Makes me think.

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HADRIAN AVENTINE
pacea@solar-outpost.com
http://www.hyperionbase.com

[Suicide Junkie]

Drones could improve the AI a lot...
Right now, there are lots of complaints about AIs not having a clear goal between turns. If the drones can't have their orders changed, the AIs would tend to have thier forces follow through with attacks, and generally be more dangerous.

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The latest info on Pirates & Nomads (forum thread).
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[disabled]

There's a thought.

Maybe MM should ad something called "AI Goal"

and that could be set to several options based off of the demanor setting for the race.

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HADRIAN AVENTINE
pacea@solar-outpost.com
http://www.hyperionbase.com

[CW]

So, if I put the entry and images for my drone in they will not work?