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Re: static guns[message #330034]
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Sun, 26 January 2014 15:30
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Flugente |
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Messages:3509
Registered:April 2009 Location: Germany |
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I probably should have clarified a few things. Okay then:
Hip firing is a different aiming mode. When using it, you don't use any scopes/sights on the gun, and receive a hefty malus to cth. The bonus is that the AP-cost is lowered significantly - one quickly fires relatively unaimed in the general direction of the enemy. But all the cth functions still work the same way. The gun animation simply indicates we aim differently, but we don't :laugh:
Static guns are different. First of all, what I always assumed to be obvious is that a static gun is still on the map if nobody operates it. It is a structure on the map. One cannot simply pick it up, once cannot move through it, and it can be fired at/damaged. Like a crate, or a door, or a barrel. The new thing about static guns would be that a soldier can interact with it - he can operate it and fire it. If you envision static guns to be different, then your idea might actually doable - but as I don't know it, I'll now outline why my idea isn't possible at the moment. This might be a long bit of explanation, be warned :sign:
The 'structure part' is one of the main problems of the entire thing. Obviously, we don't have any map structures that are static guns. Those can be created however - smeag creates lots of new stuff, like vehicles, trees and whatnot for his maps. But: We cannot use those in maps already in existence. Period. This is the reason the fortification feature works only a few some vanilla maps but in all of smeag's bigmaps: Most vanilla maps don't have that structure. If you order the game to build a sandbag in a map that does not have that tile, the game will either build nothing or something else. Like a dishwasher, or part of a wall. The map simply does not know what a 'sandbag' is. Smeag wisely added the sandbag tiles to his bigmaps even before it was implemented, so you can go wild with fortifications there. And many vanilla maps are pretty full, so we can't just add new tiles there.
What has been tried quite a few time in the last years, but never fully successfully, was to make maps able to 'know' structures they weren't build with. We once came close, but the added structures were only there graphically, but had no shadow, doors couldn't be opened etc.. In my view solving this would be a major milestone in JA2 modding. Solving this would lead to a myriad of cool mod ideas and greatly improved maps. Like being able to fortify everything, which much more selection. It would allow the player to 'build' his HQ. Add infirmary wherever you want. Build a camp in the desert. Use pows and conscripts to build an airstrip. Build roads. I'm sure you get the picture :venus:
Now no the aiming and firing. Lets assume we have an static gun in a map. Now, how does a merc interact with it? He'll crouch behind it and then do what? Current interaction with tiles is simple - we can open or close a crate or a door. But we want to aim, shoot and reload a static MG. First, structures do not have a gun assigned to them. I'd hack that by 'hiding' a 'handler' gun that represents the MG. But when do we access it? Easiest would be to give a merc the 'handler gun' when he has free hands and is behind the MG, and remove it if he moves away (similar to weapon mounting - the property only shows up on certain conditions, and is removed immediately if the condition is no longer fulfilled).
We can fire the 'handler gun'. But wait! We want the MG itself to fire!. That's bad. There are no structures that can fire. Easiest way would be to create a special animation where the operating soldier also causes the muzzle flash. If we overlay that over the gun, it creates the illusion that the gun itself fires.
How do we aim and fire? This is a new problem, as the gun we 'fire' is not at the same position as the soldier that fires it. We might be able to see a target, but there might be no direct line of fire from the gun - it might be obstructed by wall etc.. This is very bad. We would have to account for this in all cth calculations - aiming and firing might happen from 2 different locations. Both for OCTH and NCTH, as people will cry bloody murder if we do otherwise :hmm:
A somewhat heretical idea would be to instead use one of the 65k new soldierslots for the gun. Then we'd have no problem with the map structure restrictions and the cth calculations. I previously said that this was the way to go for sentries, so what's the problem?
I can only warn very intently of this. A sentry is basically a soldier that does nothing except shooting if it sees someone. A static MG is something completely different. It is not an 'actor'. It would have to be removed from all soldier handling, AI calculations etc. etc.. Also, we then have the problem that we do not know how to even fire it. Especially not the AI.
I am not trying to stop you from making animations, far from it. This game desperately needs that. Perhaps someone else already has an idea for a much easier implementation of static guns that would work with that. I sure don't. :whoknows:
[Updated on: Sun, 26 January 2014 15:33] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Re: static guns[message #330043]
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Sun, 26 January 2014 18:19
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Deleted. |
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Messages:2663
Registered:December 2012 Location: Russian Federation |
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NightOps mod has heavy MG (Kord) similar to what Maalstroom speaks of.
Firing only when crouched, needs AP for preparing etc.
[Updated on: Sat, 03 January 2015 22:39] Report message to a moderator
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