Flying Backwards

I found this old topic made by qaanol in the EV Developer's Corner which I thought sounded cool. It was about flying backwards(Heres a link http://www.ambrosias...showtopic=93884). The idea was that you could make your ship fly backwards. What I would like to know is, if anyone made a plug which did it, or if not, if someone could explain to me what that code stuff means and how to use it to make the weapon myself.

This post has been edited by Robdemon : 04 April 2008 - 08:36 AM

Fire up your plug-in editor, make a weap resource and fill up the fields as necessary using the data from the codebox. Do note it's a beam; set the weap accordingly.

Then make an outf resource that is a gun that points to the weap resource in question, and give it the appropriate mass. If you want, toss in a desc and pict to go with it. Simple.

:unsure: ... ok.......

This post has been edited by Robdemon : 03 April 2008 - 10:52 AM

That's as simple as you can get from me, I'm afraid. I've never been much challenged by EVNEW, and I don't know how it is on the Mac side of the fence.

Im a windows user anyway so thats ok. whats a weap resoarce, whats a outf resoarce, whats a desc. Please forgive my stupidity.

Start off with EVNEW, the one and only plug-in editor for Windows.

Head over to 'weap' and click 'New'. Weap resources, as the name says, control weapons. Fill it up as necessary from the codebox, and make sure 'Guidance' is set to 'Beam weapon'. Also, make sure the resource number up top is 235 or greater to avoid conflict with existing weap resources. (Check Nova Data 4.)

With that done, you'll need an outf for it to be available in the outfitters. Fill up the fields as necessary; in this case, set one of the Mod Types to 'Weapon' and set the box below to the number your weap resource is - so if your weap is 235, then your outf should point to weap 235. Again, to avoid conflict with existing outfs, use numbers 444 and higher.

A desc is optional. Not to insult anyone's intelligence, but I don't think I need to outline something as simple as setting a desc for an outf - the trickiest bits are setting the bits within the desc itself and making sure its number is the correct one the outf asks for.

The options are different. I can't find everthing that should be there(example flags).

Evidently some of the things he mention are under a different name, could you tell me what name corresponds to the names on EVNEW(that or he's using shorted version of some).

Try searching for something along the lines of "Reverse Thrusters" on the addons page. If not, here's how you can do it.

1. Since your a Windows user, find and download EVNEW if you haven't.

2. Open up EVNEW and create a new plug-in.

3. Create a new weapon resource. To be safe, I'm going to arbitrarily suggest making it ID 400.

4. Set guidance to "unguided projectile", or -1 if it only has numeric selections.

5. Set count to 1

6. Set reload to 0.

7. Set graphic to 0 (mostly as a safety precaution).

8. Find the box that says "Is a secondary weapon" or something similar and check it.

Now you have two methods...

9a. Set speed to a value like 900. If the weapon doesn't work, try lower speeds. If it launches you in the wrong directions, try higher. Put impact to a very high value, like 6,000. Set the blast radius to something small, like 10. Then finally find the box that says "Blast affects player" or something similar and check it.

Or.

9b. Set recoil to a high value, such as 6,000. Note that this results in somewhat different behavior from the other method. I've never made a reverse thruster myself (though I know how), so one may be better than the other.

10. Click the "OK" box and then save.

11. Create a new outfit resource, I'll arbitrarily suggest 600 to be safe.

12. Set one of the four outfit types to weapon.

13. In that field for the weapon, put in the ID for your weapon (400 if you used my suggestion).

14. Set tech level to 1, availability to 100. You could use different values to make it more rare, but I'm assuming you're not wanting to go hunting for it.

15. If you so wish, you can now set the other name fields, a desc, and outfit picture. Though since those are optional, I'm not going to cover those.

16. Save.

17. Drop into your plug-ins folder and run Nova. If there are no conflicts with other plugs, it should work and you should see your outfit in most outfitters (Fed space at least).

That seems like a bunch, but it can be done in five-ten minutes easily, if even that long. If you still have any question, ask away at the Dev Board.

@guest_robdemon_-, on Apr 4 2008, 03:40 AM, said in Flying Backwards:

The options are different. I can't find everthing that should be there(example flags).

Q has written the information as it is represented in the actual plugin itself. EVNEW (and MC also, I believe) represents the Flags field as a series of check boxes, because the flags are set up as a series of yes/no bits, where each bit has a specific function - making check boxes the logical way of representing it for human use. Try comparing the field names that Q gives to the wëap section of the Nova Bible - you'll find the Nova Bible in the Documentation folder within your Nova folder.

P.S. Josh - Q made the weapon into a beam for a reason.

Like I said, I've never made a reverse-thruster. And like I didn't say, I haven't used one either. Hence my directions were really how I'd go about making it.

Righto, this seems like it belongs in the Developer's Corner moreso than here, so I'm moving it over.

@joshtigerheart, on Apr 3 2008, 06:50 PM, said in Flying Backwards:

Like I said, I've never made a reverse-thruster. And like I didn't say, I haven't used one either. Hence my directions were really how I'd go about making it.

You've never made a weapon for specific use as a reverse thruster, but there are some weapons in ctc with enough kickback and burst to work as one (see the reverse flamer, IIRC)

True, I have used the Burst Laser to dodge shots before.

I made an Autododge system. It only works on the player though. I implemented it for TCTC and I can just sit there without pressing anything and my ship dodges shots.

Let me guess... PD weapon with recoil?

Impact actually.

Regarding which, does anyone know why AIs aren't bumped by their own shot?

Maybe the AI pilot code isn't sophisticated enough to deal with recoil and keep aim at the same time.

I'm interested in the auto-dodge system. My version is Qaanols reverse thrust beam (the smallest), but in point-defence form. Both PD turret and PD beam don't seem to give any sort of dodgity. Can anyone help?

@timmytiptoe, on Apr 12 2008, 07:34 AM, said in Flying Backwards:

I'm interested in the auto-dodge system. My version is Qaanols reverse thrust beam (the smallest), but in point-defence form. Both PD turret and PD beam don't seem to give any sort of dodgity. Can anyone help?

I think Quaanol's version is a PD turret with a shot that flies out a bit, detonates and catches the player in it's shockwave. That way it will always push you away from the shot, unlike beams that push you backwards all the time.