Modding SEV Thread Questions

[MrToxin]

President_Elect_Shang said:

Well I can’t recall ever seeing that line, and then again there are so many… I suspect this is an ability that is not yet in use. There are other abilities listed there that have no known effect but only testing will tell for sure!

Yeah, that's the big one I'm tinkering with right now...if all else fails, I'm thinking having various technologies referenced in the planet size file itself. I assume pretty much everything can be a forumla, correct?

[President_Elect_Shang]

As long as you see the word formula to the left on the same line!

[Kana]

Anyone have any idea what scale 1 hex is supposed to be on the System map?

I know that in combat the term LS, or Light-Second is as the increment descriptor of range. A LS being about 300,000km.

What is the total possible size of the combat area? I guess the maximum retreat area? I would assume what ever that number is the size in LS of the combat area, which would then be the rough area of a hex on the system map in LS.

[Phoenix-D]

Don't even try to make sense of the numbers. It'll break your head. Example: a frigate moving at 12 KM/s will, in reality, cross a LS in 25,000 seconds or about 7 HOURS. In SE5, that takes less than a second.

[Captain Kwok]

I personally treat the ranges in combat as Km.

[Phoenix-D]

Which means that a CSM fired from a laucher heavier than most current navy ships has less range than the missiles those ships carry..

[President_Elect_Shang]

The max the combat map can be set at is 5000 I believe. Now I took a ship of known speed (8km/s) and entered the combat area with another ship (in the simulator). I timed how long it took for the ship to travel from one side of the map to the other in a straight line. Yes I am nuts and yes I do have massive amounts of patience. It took20:97:655 but lets just say 20 minutes and 18 seconds or 1,218 seconds. Now using the old formula we get:

d=8*1218 which works out to 9,744 units. Far too short of a light second.

Did I do this right? Where is Fyron when you need him?

[Kana]

Still is is useful information...that is about 1/30th of a LS.

Yeah I know trying to wrap your mind around the scale is confusing...yet it would see that would be a smart place to start making a game from. If you are going to use real measurments, then you should at least make sure they make sense across the board. If your using hexes, or units then use them. Once you quantify them, then your in a pickle...Now if we could actually change them in mainstrings.txt that would be even better...

[President_Elect_Shang]

Well the first problem I see is that the combat is run on squares and the system is run on hexes. Unfortunately I think you are shooting for a level of realism that SE5 just can’t deliver. For my purposes I use these terms:

1 square in the combat map is 1ls (light second).
1 hex on the system map is 1lm (light minute).

Obviously this has its flaws, but as I said SE5 just can’t offer that up. Another trick you might try is to determine the scale of the combat map the best you can; you might find something I didn’t, and then adjust the system map to better match your needs. Finally while you are pondering all of this keep in mind that weapons won’t fire on system map so any scale over combat is for all practical purposes useless for the player. Just the modder as we try to lay out the systems.