Flak

[Tortured_Soul]

Pulled from the 'weapon_equip.ini' file.

[Explosion]
nickname = li_battleship_flak_turret01_explosion
effect = li_flakcannon01_impact
lifetime = 0.000000, 0.000000
process = disappear
strength = 100
radius = 200
hull_damage = 10000
energy_damage = 0
impulse = 0

Strength, I believe this is to do with physics rather than weapon damage.
Radius, Explosive Radius - the area is deals damage to, in this case 200m from the epicenter
Hull Damage, speaks for itself. This does 10000 points of damage to anything within the Explosive Range

How-an-ever, this doesn't need to be modified at all. No-one seems to be complaining about the damage that the Flak can deal, simply that it strips other ships equipment too quickly. Tis is easily solved by reducing the 'explosion_resistance' modifier from 1 to probably 0.2. This would stop the weapon stripping from occuring because the flak, from the engines point of view, is simply an explosion from a specific point.

Problem solved, for Capital Class ships anyway. My view on fighter being struck is this, don't make your flight plan so predicatble. There is a further modifier, elsewhere in the file, that sets the projectile to detonate when it's within 4m of a target. This should probably be zero'd and the turn rate for the actual turret itself should be chaged from 90 deg per second, to something much lower.

But that's just my opioin.

As for the wireframe/collision data I want clear things up for everyone.

They are NOT the same thing. Wireframes are the display in the bottom left of the screen that you see when appropriate. They have no other use other than making models/the game seem more polished and visually complete. Collision data controls the physics behind how everything reacts to the explosions. They could be added (so far as I know, I've never done any work with SURface files) with relative ease.

The wireframes I've already given my personel verdict on, they would require a huge amount of time, effort and a lot of dedication. This is because they need:

1) Permission from the original author to modify/recreate his/her work (10 minutes up to Never)
2) Work modifying/recreating the model (Couple of weeks)
3) UVW mapped again (A week for a good one)
4) Re-textured, although this could be avoided with some nifty UVW mapping (A week for a good one, maybe less)
5) Suitably reduced so that they make effective wireframes (and potentially customised SURface files) (Hours)
6) Not so much recoded, but certianly they would need retested. (Week)

That's per ship, which is why I never bothered myself to make a start back on this. There are how many custom ships in Discovery at the moment?

I've never been brutalised by someone using Flaks, so I'm with holding my vote until I have something to base it on, but that's what the files look like to me, and that's my views, thus far.

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Initial Biography ; Running Story