94 replies to this topic

[Koniving]

evilauthor, on 07 May 2018 - 06:47 PM, said:

Before doing anything else, right click on the text box area and click Undo. That should get all your backspaced text back.

What I meant was it "backspaced" the browser to a previous page, removing all text from temporary memory.

MustrumRidcully, on 08 May 2018 - 03:01 AM, said:

I haven't tried that yet myself, but there is some manifest file that says which files exist, and if you add a new one, you need to add it to the manifest.

There are even people that have added new mech variants this way. (Not entirely new mechs, only creating a variant for an already existing chassis.)

If you want to have stuff appear on the battlefield, in salvage or store, there might be additional things to edit. (Store requires editing store inventories or "specials".)

Figured there was one just havent found it yet. Will hunt for them tonight unless someone has their locations?

This is gonna be as involved as sharing modded megamek files....and then the updates....sigh. Heh.
Megamek mods exist which put random situations such as fights between pilots, being arrested and so on. The rage quit because poor pay and took your mech situation especially sucks.

Edited by Koniving, 08 May 2018 - 03:58 AM.

[Koniving]

Interestingly the options in weapon variants, from "shots" per use to projectiles per shot, etc. leave a lot of potential in what the weapons could have been. I've already successfully tested an AC/5 that fires over walls on a whim. It looks slightly weird but it works and tells me how simple the basic premise is. Also tested a medium laser that fires 3 projectiles. It worked exactly how I expected.

What will take some time is balancing it. Weapons with more projectiles per use, ESPECIALLY the Pontiac 100, need something as an AC/20 does 20 damage doesn't work when you have a Chemjet Gun lobbing four projectiles and a Pontiac 100 lobbing 100 projectiles, Thankfully I worked this out in the past. Weapon classes also define themselves as loose damage categories, with a middle ground standard, more projectiles would have a little more accumulated damage with less focus and fewer projectiles would have more focus with less overall damage. There of course would be other trades. Bigger shells would have more push, potentially more accurate range. Smaller shells would have less recoil, etc., etc., etc. Again the biggest principle being give and take; gotta give something to gain something, where the more that's given the more that's gained and the less given the less gained, until at some point it meets in the middle.

The final issue is creating all new weapons while leaving the old overpowered things in so as to not break updates (or have the mod broken by updates). It would be a matter of players choosing whether or not to use the vanilla weapons. Though I wonder if the player starts with a literal stock Blackjack 1 or if the player's default mech is built in another file. Will have to test that as well.

[Leone]

Quote

Yes. The file is SimGameConstants.json in the ...\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\data\simGameConstants folder. Look for the keyword StartingLance, then change the mechdef_mechname parts to the mechs you want. The mechdef files are in the \mech folder. Make sure you get the filenames exactly correct or the game will get stuck in a loading loop. You can even add a sixth battlemech to the starting lance if you wish. This will not change the player character's battlemech until the start of the first mission after the tutorial.

edit: DragonsRage showed the relevant code section in his post above.

~Leone.

Edited by Leone, 09 May 2018 - 07:03 AM.

[MechaBattler]

So do the multiple shots on ACs actually have a chance to hit different sections?

[Leone]

Nope, not with the two shot acs I've found in game, but then I've not done any modding.

~Leone.

[Koniving]

The old multi shot ones in beta hit several locations. The Ac/5 appears to hit up to two sections. Will need to pay closer attention.

[Metus regem]

MechaBattler, on 09 May 2018 - 09:12 AM, said:

So do the multiple shots on ACs actually have a chance to hit different sections?

They can, I had them doing that in the beta... if I remember correctly, they need to use an effect similar to MG's... it was one line of code in the weapon files... I only found out how to do it, after talking with the weapon designer at MechCon '17.

[Koniving]

Apparently it isn't currently spreading damage. I haven't figured out what does it specifically. An easy workaround is to change shots per use. But then that causes other problems as opposed to projectiles per shot. For example with a Pontiac 100 I could get 100 projectiles and have them all hit one spot but if I want a spread the easy solution is say 10 shots, 10 projectiles per shot and it could roll for 10 attempts to hit, but use 10 ammo....meaning I would need to setup ammo specifically for that Ac/20 at 10 per use (50) to be equal to 5 uses of Ac/20 per ton. (500 projectiles fired per ton.) that would be the easy route. This may be annoying to people that want simple "got Ac/20 ammo will travel" as it would then go into got Ac/20 ammo for Kali-Yama Big Bore 120mm but I got a Crusher Super Heavy Ac/20 150mm.

Then again... Sadly sorting ammo by caliber has some issues. Would need to make it so that you get 5 uses with Ac/20 120mm and 20 uses with Ac/5 120mm for example. Which is doable but would be a pain. Would players want that? It creates and breaks some build ideas by adding a bit more realism.

Also I think but might have a free reload mechanic that I may have to address. Been thinking of addressing the free armor as part of hardcoring the mod (or as part of a hardcore mod) depending on if it becomes included with the granular difficulty options.

Btw ballistic weapons have knockdown features inherent. They are somewhat equal in strength to lrms and seemingly weaker than arms. So why do people think lrms are knockover cheese other than its easier to boat lrms?

[Metus regem]

Koniving, on 10 May 2018 - 07:49 AM, said:

Apparently it isn't currently spreading damage. I haven't figured out what does it specifically. An easy workaround is to change shots per use. But then that causes other problems as opposed to projectiles per shot. For example with a Pontiac 100 I could get 100 projectiles and have them all hit one spot but if I want a spread the easy solution is say 10 shots, 10 projectiles per shot and it could roll for 10 attempts to hit, but use 10 ammo....meaning I would need to setup ammo specifically for that Ac/20 at 10 per use (50) to be equal to 5 uses of Ac/20 per ton. (500 projectiles fired per ton.) that would be the easy route. This may be annoying to people that want simple "got Ac/20 ammo will travel" as it would then go into got Ac/20 ammo for Kali-Yama Big Bore 120mm but I got a Crusher Super Heavy Ac/20 150mm.

Then again... Sadly sorting ammo by caliber has some issues. Would need to make it so that you get 5 uses with Ac/20 120mm and 20 uses with Ac/5 120mm for example. Which is doable but would be a pain. Would players want that? It creates and breaks some build ideas by adding a bit more realism.

Also I think but might have a free reload mechanic that I may have to address. Been thinking of addressing the free armor as part of hardcoring the mod (or as part of a hardcore mod) depending on if it becomes included with the granular difficulty options.

Btw ballistic weapons have knockdown features inherent. They are somewhat equal in strength to lrms and seemingly weaker than arms. So why do people think lrms are knockover cheese other than its easier to boat lrms?

Volume of fire...

2xLRM/20's will generate more STAB damage than one AC/20 at a much longer range for not a lot more tonnage... Right now my Orion 1K is packing a +10 Stab Damage AC/10 (it does a total of 30 STAB damage) with a +1 STAB damage LRM/20 (it does 60 STAB damage if all 20 missiles hit!)... the weight difference is the AC/10 takes 12t while the LRM/20 takes 10, but the LRM/20 puts out double the STAB damage of the AC/10....


As for the ammo issue, you can make your own ammo types, during the beta I had a uniform ammo type just called AC ammo, that gave 100 rounds/ton and I tweked all AC/'s to feed on it, with different numbers of shots each doing 10 damage times X shots.... this worked grate when I had things like the AC/20 doing 20 shots for 10 damage, with each shot landing around a weighted center like the MG's... didn't work so well when it put all 20 shots into one location... also a 20 round burst takes a long, long time animation wise....

[Koniving]

Firing speed can be controlled though. Which is important as in some cases a fast spurt is great but in others you want to feel the power of each shell.

[Koniving]

Would people generally prefer ammo to be generic such as AC/2 ammo, Ac/5 ammo, and just have different variants perform to fluff running off the generic ammo (making it easier to mix and match Ac/5s for example) or caliber specific ammo that can be used between different Ac classes but only in the same caliber (such as 120mm, 80mm, etc.)?

Edited by Koniving, 10 May 2018 - 11:21 AM.

[Koniving]

Found something weird that's getting in the way of testing. Making changes to an existing weapon without starting a new game....seems to completely ignore the changes. Is this happening everywhere, or is there something I'm missing?

[Brain Cancer]

New patch fixes a lot of irritating issues, so if you're not up to 1.0.3, update.

[Koniving]

Brain Cancer, on 10 May 2018 - 07:08 PM, said:

New patch fixes a lot of irritating issues, so if you're not up to 1.0.3, update.

Will check out tonight.

Been doing a damage breakdown to regulate my Ac mod. Got a few set points based on known fluff and approximations given by fluff. From there am breaking the math down for approximate damage if 20 is 20 is 100 of basic tt and if 20 is +/- 20 is +/- 100 (which the mod will be the latter to better fit the fluff). Thus each caliber will have a set amount of damage per shell upon which to base everything on a middle ground before the give/take is implemented.

The parameters are almost all inclusive. Could do things like ignore variable evasive pips when rolling to hit for rapid fire multi-shot acs to keep them accurate against runners while the hefty ones with few slots are much more hit or miss.

[Burke IV]

A Little note on LRMs and stab, as far as i can tell its impossible to knock a mech over in a single volly of missiles no matter how big that volly gets, at least in the late campaign game. 4xLRM15 with like +1 or i forget misc ++ is the largest i have tryed. 2xLRM20 with +2 stab wont do it either.

Edited by Burke IV, 11 May 2018 - 11:44 AM.

[Metus regem]

Burke IV, on 11 May 2018 - 11:44 AM, said:

A Little note on LRMs and stab, as far as i can tell its impossible to knock a mech over in a single volly of missiles no matter how big that volly gets, at least in the late campaign game. 4xLRM15 with like +1 or i forget misc ++ is the largest i have tryed. 2xLRM20 with +2 stab wont do it either.

Nope, but my lance currently contains:

2x Orion 1K with +10 STAB AC/10 and +1 STAB LRM/20
1 x Catapult C1 with +1 STAB LRM/15 and +1 STAB LRM/10
1 x Black Knight with +15 STAB PPC

We put at least one mech on the ground every round.

[Burke IV]

Im talking about a single mechs single volly of missiles. When you get late into the game they wont fall over under multiple barrages as far as i can tell. There is a definate upper limit on what its useful to bring as LRMs in this.

My first play thru was entirely build around a pair of +2 stab LRM20s that i got really early in the game

[Koniving]

The problem in general with knockdown central, is the cheese that players bring...

Mechs are supposed to have the risk of tumbling over when you hit them with 20+ damage within a single turn (so 100 damage in HBS BT).

So when you boat enough launchers to start throwing (in Metus's case) 60 + 80 + 60 + 40 + 40 + 50.....
Yeah every single guy you hit like that should fall over...

That's basically 12 (from an AC/10) + 16 (from an LRM-20) + 12 (from an LRM-15) + 8 (from an LRM-10) + 8 (from an LRM 10) + 10 (from a PPC).... 74 damage in tabletop... that'd knock anybody over, even a god-mode pilot.
In a little bit I'll have all the damages from HBS and TT translated/transcribed.

Edited by Koniving, 11 May 2018 - 02:24 PM.

[Koniving]

All base weapon damage translations (HBS to TT)
This only includes base weapons, not the magic damage inflation but if you have a favorite AC you want translated to what damage it does in tabletop, lemme know (or divide it by 5).
Crit chance multiplier is 1 unless otherwise stated.

Fun fact: All lasers are given an accuracy bonus over all other weapon types.

MG
Base TT: 2
HBS: 3*5 (15).
HBS translated to TT: 3 damage.
Crit chance: 1.5

AC/2
Base TT: 2
HBS: 25 (all 3 shells land in one spot and total 25)
HBS translated to TT: 5 damage.

AC/5
Base TT: 5
HBS: 45 (both shells hit one spot and total 45).
HBS translated to TT: 9 damage.

(There's a "damage variance" which can allow damage to go up and down depending on glancing/direct blows but they're all set to 0 variance....)

AC/10
Base TT: 10
HBS: 60
HBS translated to TT: 12 damage.

AC/20
Base TT: 20
HBS: 100
HBS translated to TT: 20 damage.

Flamer:
Base TT: 2 damage OR 2 heat damage.
HBS: 5 damage + 10 "Heat Damage" on the enemy.
....has an ammo capacity? Its 6.
Generates ZERO heat?
HBS translated to TT: 1 damage + 2 heat to enemy.

(Fun note: Support weapons are called "Anti-Personnel" weapons in the code.)

Gauss
Base TT: 15
HBS: 75
HBS translated to TT: 15 damage.

Large Laser
Base TT: 8
HBS: 40
HBS translated to TT: 8 damage.

Large Pulse
Base TT: 9
HBS: 45
HBS translated to TT: 9 damage.

ER Large
Base TT: 8
HBS: 40
HBS translated to TT: 8 damage.

ML
Base TT: 5
HBS: 25
HBS translated to TT: 5 damage.

MPL
Base TT: 6
HBS: 30
HBS translated to TT: 6 damage.

Small Laser
Base TT: 3
HBS: 20
HBS translated to TT: 4 damage.

SPL
Base TT: 4
HBS: 25
HBS translated to TT: 5 damage.

LRMs (all)
Base TT: 1 per missile
HBS: 4 per missile
HBS translated to TT: 0.8 damage per missile.

SRMs (All)
Base TT: 2 per missile.
HBS: 8 per missile.
HBS translated to TT: 1.6 damage per missile.

PPC
Base TT: 10
HBS: 50
HBS translated to TT: 10 damage.


So... that should prove interesting.

Edited by Koniving, 11 May 2018 - 02:52 PM.

[Koniving]

Okay I created a damage matrix for all calibers.
Started with hard-known fluff such as 10 shots for Super Heavy 150mm, 4 for chemjet 185mm, 12 for Deathgiver 120mm (King Crab) Ac/20s and 3 for GM Whirlwind/5 130mm Ac/5, etc...
Then roughed out approximations based on vague novel descriptions...
Next worked out a mostly linear progression of damage per projectile and shots to net specifically 2, 5, 10 and 20 damage...
And finally comparing to unknowns, too vagues, kinda vagues and after a tiny adjustment around the middle...

I got something I am happy with. It goes from 25mm to 203mm for acs and has Mech Rifles covered within them for comparison.

Fun fact. If we take Pontiac 100 from the Victors of "Heir to the Dragon" and "Sword and Dagger" which one describes firing 100 shells in 6 seconds and the other says its 100mm (which conflicts but a lot does) and put together with Justin Xiang Allard's Yen Lo Wang (which uses a Pontiac 100 salvaged from a Victor) and states its 40mm...

We can also compare that the Ac/2s of the Blackjack 1 fire 10 shells and is 30mm.

We can mathematically deduce that Pontiac 100 should be 30mm for a literal 100 shots to 20 damage... And differ to the novel the Yen Lo Wang is for a caliber of 40mm... And for 100 shells we can net up to 25 damage. So this is a good example of how the matrix can help with balancing damages, gameplay and the fluff/lore to get a solid middle ground. (To note in HBS BT that would be 125 damage and could be split in so many different ways.)

This only encompasses damage. There are many other aspects to consider. But it is a start.

Similar approaches are being done for lasers, Mg's and flamers. I dont really have much fluff for missile variants but I have just enough to inspire ideas and work with it.

Also learned a little for creating procedural contracts, so it is possible to create missions that could have the appearance of random and specific techs. For example I could create a contract for an assassination... And then have a hero Mech or unique Mech make an appearance as the target. As an example the twin Dragons Flame and Fang. Will be considering this as a separate mod. One I really want to try is my own franker-catapult (C4 or c1 arm plus K2 arm.)

And i know someone would love it if I added a Scorpion Mech .

Also vehicles have purchase info available.....