5484567

Targeting Subsystems Mod

Buttmonkey9000

March 31st, 2011 08:16 PM

So I played the whole game and didn't realize that this was even included in the game. I try to use it, but I feel it's unrealistic and awkward to use, so I want to change it.

I'd like to change it so one could simply target a subsystem from a distance, and continue to attack it. Why would I need to wait for a sensor lock to do this?


Is there a mod existing that will change this system, or do I need to make my own?

5486431

Re: Targeting Subsystems Mod

April 3rd, 2011 12:50 PM

Short answer, no there is not a mod available that can do this. Not that I know of anyway.

If I have this right, it is hard wired into the game engine, and cannot be changed. I am sure I will get corrected if I am wrong.

When you are in a heated battle with a lot of enemy ships, it is pointless anway, just shoot and get their shields down.

To be honest it is another one of those issues, where the game could have been made so much better, but was rushed from the outset.

5487227

Re: Targeting Subsystems Mod

Muldrf

April 5th, 2011 09:02 AM

When you lock on to a subsystem it locks onto a single subsystem hardpoint on the model. You retain that lock if you can get back to proper line of sight to that subsystem hardpoint again. It's not readily obvious, but you do as long as you regain a full phaser lock as well. When you get a subsystem lock you only lock on to that one specific hardpoint on the ship, even if the ship has 2 or more hardpoints assigned to that single subsystem you only lock on to the one that you had visible at the time you locked on.

That's not to say I like how it works, just saying if you lock onto a heat signal, some em emission, a bit of paint on the surface of the ship or whatever it picks as it's "bullseye" you will stay locked on it to as long as it's visible. You can't hit a bullseye that's painted on the other side of the ship obviously, so you loose the lock when it moves out of sight. Because ships turn and move in 3d and move rather quickly most of the time it's very hard to keep these bullseyes in sight to keep hitting them for any length of time.

Sometimes I'll use subsystem targeting to take out the engines, just to make it easier to take out the enemy without him being able to bring his heaviest weapons to bare on me. But mostly I just destroy them outright.


It's a very awkward and impractical system, you might think by the 24th century the computer targeting systems would be more advanced. Like "take out the weapons" is all you need to do, but I also think it is just another rushed bit of the game, sad what Legacy could have been... Then again what fun would it have been for Worf if he only has "Fire Phasers and Engines", "Fire Phasers at Weapons", "Fire Phasers at Shield Generator".. Would have gotten boring for him I guess.. Plus you see how often phasers and torps miss their target on screen..

There are no mods that make it better or anything along those lines. Tjoz was experimenting with altering it's function in someway for AM but that was experimenting only to this point he hasn't released anything, it seemed to greatly alter what it did making it a different type of feature.

5487653

Re: Targeting Subsystems Mod

April 6th, 2011 04:52 AM

Sub-system targeting... No it is not entirely hard coded and does have quite a bit of room to be altered. There are two parts to it; the hardpoints (this part is hard coded) and the actual targeting system (this is pure interface).

You cant play around with freedom with the hardpoints but you can play with the interface component. The bulk of the sub system targeting is all interface and its event triggered. If your confident and patient in playing around with event code you will quickly find how open Legacy is.

You can change the event to be more 'constant' but the downside is Legacy becomes very boring very fast. You can also add a cycle event if you want that BC gameplay effect.

An honest tip; dont try to turn Legacy into BC... It is not the game for it. Although it can be done it is not worth it.

---

Something for the scripting guys out there; your WOK missions. There is a certain aspect of it that can be played out in-game instead of in a script. I think its the 'fire torp at Khans nacelle part'. This can be done on-the-fly without having to script at all. Add a new section to the event sequence for sub system targeting, add a lock boost to torps and you can lay a torp right up his rear end

Same concept can be applied to the Borg encounter in First Contact if any of you guys have that in your HM roster.

---

Thats not all sub system targeting can do...

edit:

Forgot another thing; to make the whole sub system targeting 'easier' to live with; change its events to a cycle type. It makes selecting the system easier

5489792

Re: Targeting Subsystems Mod

April 9th, 2011 05:56 PM

I like to script certain aspects of 'Movie Based' missions into cutscenes, for the simple reason that when we are trying to emulate what happens in a movie, it is sometimes difficult to give the player control of this.

eg:

In TWOK, the 'Enterprise' does not destroy the 'Reliant', it is 'Khan' activating the 'Genesis Device' that destroys the 'Reliant',


For the 'TB3 TWOK' mission, I tried to emulate that, it might not be the best effort, some people probably hate the mission, but I thought it worked at the time.

As a mission scripter, I like the controlled environment of a cutscene, when we are trying to recreate a specific event or scene from a movie, this always seems to be the best way, the ships and objects do exactly as they are told, with no player intervention.

As for 'subsystem targetting', I always thought it was awkward to use in the Stock game.

There was 1 campaign mission in Particular that asked you to use this against some 'biogenic transport vessels', this never seemed to work for me, plus I think there was an error in the mission script itself, as you are supposed to disable all 3 'transport vessels engines' in this manner, but I always managed to win this mission by just disabling 1 of them, then had to suffer multiple overlapping 'Captain Archer Voiceovers'.

I could fix this bug without thinking, but I dont work for 'Bethesda'.

5489852

Re: Targeting Subsystems Mod

Muldrf

April 9th, 2011 10:26 PM

For scripting there is always that question "how true" should you been to what happened on screen. And in turn is "how far" can I trust the player to "follow the script", but also how to keep it interesting to the player.

While I don't think I'd trust the player to shoot the torp at Khan at the relative right time, such a concept does open to question could it be done in a more "controlled" point during the mission controlled by script.

5489929

Re: Targeting Subsystems Mod

April 10th, 2011 03:50 AM

I coming from more of a player immersion stand point. Wouldnt a player like to experience the whole ordeal for themselves instead of watching it play out via a cutscene?

The possibility of giving the player that level of immersion factor is there. You can still control it via script by not letting the player able to use torps up until a certain point. Use the script world for limiters but still give the player that level of freedom to play it out for themselves.

You have an opportunity to give the most realistic playing experience plus you give your scripters some breathing space by not having to test for weeks on end till its as close to perfect as they want to present it.

5490300

Re: Targeting Subsystems Mod

Muldrf

April 10th, 2011 07:20 PM

With 2.2 finally done I'm hoping to switch gears from porting to scripting for awhile, been away too long, and it is my favorite part of modding Legacy. Quite a good argument for immersion. There always has to be some balance to shoot for. Still I have so little time to spend it takes me forever to get a script written, mostly why I switched to porting after 2.0 was completed well over a year ago.