CSC Upgrade

[Stormhawk]

CSCs have gotten a bit underpowered, or at least overwhelmed by the number of enemies in late game. So I thought of a couple ideas to make them a bit more powerful without really changing much.

1)An "onAttacked" event that would launch one to three more Centurions.

2)Something to make their shots fly "over" their own fighters.

3)Some sort of cruiser? they could launch with anything but particle cannons, in case a Xenophobe Worldship came by.

Those are my ideas, I think I'll definitely make the 1st one into a mod, and probably try the second.

The 1st could be applied to Marauder Raid Platforms too.

[Psycholis]

the CSC is an old ship. i think of it like a battleship/air craft carrier of the navy. it's been outdone by newer more advanced ships, namely the aquila. i bet it's hard for the commonwealth to fly out more advanced weaponry to the CSC considering their position. not every ship can do what the playership can do and if that cargo was to fall into the wrong hands, it could be disastrous for the fleet. just some random thoughts..

[Stormhawk]

I don't want it to have more up to date weapons. Just better use the ones it has.

[Aury]

Maybe give it some sort of armor repairing device? So it would increase its survivability- and throw in a few more Centurion X's.

[Stormhawk]

Agreed! That would help knock out the Worldships... Well, wouldn't help too much.

[Aury]

Agreed! That would help knock out the Worldships... Well, wouldn't help too much.

But it'd still be enough to help in the fight, so its not utterly defenceless...

[Atarlost]

If you don't want to upgrade them to Terra standard (Katana Starcannons) at least upgrade them to Antarctica standard (NAMI heavy launcher). That would let them at least hurt xenophobe worldships and maybe kill them depending on how many missiles they carry and how easily they get shot down.

[digdug]

It would be nice if each CSC had unique equipment, or at least some distinctive trait, based on its function and/or its captain.
At the end they have been away from home from many years, and isolated from each other, it's reasonable to think that they would refit-adapt any kind of usable device to increase survivability.

[Aury]

It would be nice if each CSC had unique equipment, or at least some distinctive trait, based on its function and/or its captain.
At the end they have been away from home from many years, and isolated from each other, it's reasonable to think that they would refit-adapt any kind of usable device to increase survivability.

that was my thought- I was going to implement it in TX2- (and I still might will), seeing as how they've been away for so long. The Pangaea is the only exception to this seeing as it sits in the middle of the CW, but still has been rather heavily modified into a mobile fortress meant to gaurd St.k's (and make the rather ridiculously hard final CW mission somewhat easier- the ares invasion of St.k's).

CSC's by nature are large and powerful vehicles, capable of sitting around while sending off centurions to deal with threats and fending off any force foolish enough to attack it- it is not a battleship however, and it focuses on defense.
The hospital CSC's will now be even more defensively oriented, coming with higher level variants of the ICX turret, shields, etc, but generally less powerful in the direct fire component.
AND- CSC's should NOT be so vulnerable to a single actinide waste cannon... >.< *cough*antarctica*cough*

CSC's are:
analogous to aircraft carriers and use the centutions to do all the dirty work
big and well armored
one of the heaviest ships out there, even if they are a bit dated
armor>armaments type ship
CSC's are not:
meant to charge into the fray as a one-ship army
covered with the biggest guns in existence (they can have had an extra gun, or perhaps an artil cannon or some sort installed over the years, but never having something like 4 ares positron cannons and a pair of ranx FPG howitzers...)
meant to directly engage an enemy capship- just fend it off.

[schilcote]

Strangely enough, it seems to be impossible to give CSCs shields... I tried modding the XML to give them shields and nothing happens. They need them, one hit with a radiation weapon will destroy the ship (eventually). That's a bit like throwing a rock at Fort Knox and blowing it to bits.

Maybe I'll make a mod where the CSCs have some adapdations that they've gained over time, as previously suggested. Also, maybe I can make it so that the CSCs can accept and install weaponry from the player or loot wrecks on its own... That would be neat. I could probably base the code off of the Upgradeable Wingmen mod.

[Prophet]

In modern armies a Carrier is never sent out alone, it's the command vessle of a fleet of ships, surrounded by Destroyers, cruisers, and dozens of smaller craft. I would even say give the CSCs an Aquila Cruiser and take all the CSCs weapons off except for some point defense weapons. Have the Aquila patrol with a few Centurions Escorting it and it should be fine.

I find it funny when the CSCs have better weapons for sale in the Armory then they are using! That isn't right...

[Atarlost]

Just make their armor radiation immune. They're pretty much the only ones that use it anyways.

[Stormhawk]

I like the idea about the Aquila, but it seems sad to take away it's weapons. Those four Tev9s put a hole in pretty much anything. And actually if the CSC was a bit faster it could theoretically act alone in the field. I'm not sure it's just a carrier though, seems more like a mobile weapons platform/carrier. Although Aquilas should definitely be seen more often, I wonder if they would be too effective against the Ares. So then the Ares would have to counter by building more Cometfalls. And then the Commonwealth would respond by arming their ships with the archcannon! And then the Ares would develop their own archcannon!!!

It would quickly turn into an arms race and destroy the known galaxy, same way they destroyed Sol.

Just a thought... Why not arm CSCs with Fusion Fire Howitzers? In the description they say that they're military weapons. Just one of those on a limited swivel or even fully turreted would give the CSC a huge advantage.

I totally agree that P1000 Hexphase armor should be radiation immune, EMP too.

(Kinda off topic but since I started it I guess it's okay. There should really be more Commonwealth/Ares battles. Some that happen when the player isn't around.)

[Bobby]

it should be possible to give the csc's a device that automatically cancels the radiation, perhps combine the <onAiUpdate> with code from the decontaminate docscreen, perhaps have it use barrels.

Code: Select all

			<OnAIUpdate>
				(if (and (objHasItem gSource (itmCreate &itDeconGel; 1)) (shpIsRadioactive gSource))
					(block Nil
						(shpDecontaminate gSource)
						(objRemoveItem gSource (itmCreate &itDeconGel; 1))
					)
				)
			</OnAIUpdate>

*not tested

perhaps they could order a ship to deliver a barrel if there's none left, or the event could be placed in an event on the ship itself.

[Aury]

Actually, considering P### hexphase armor is designed to thwart thermonuclear weapons, shouldn't it be radiation immune and EMP immune anyways? (since technically in reality thermonuclear weapons generate both besides the actual blast)

It's just too cheap to kill the antarctica with a level 4 actinide or level 5 EMP (when combined with another weapon)... I've done it both ways before- they just seem too much like exploits IMO...

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The "donate a weapon" thing sounds sort of interesting, though its not something that happens everyday. But if I were a CSC captain, there's no way I'd say "no" to a free weapon... problem is, is that you'd need to make the weapon omni...

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The CSC is a fortress and a carrier- they arn't at all in any way meant to charge into the fray- neither will do that, but on the other hand, CSC's are designed to be self-sufficient and CAN fend for themselves when their task force is off fighting...

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I have successfully put a Mammoth100 on a CSC before, so yes, it IS possible to shield them.

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The CW and the Ares don't have unlimited resources... The CW is actually struggling on the front lines (high casualty rates), and knowing the sturdyness of CW ships, imagine what the Ares are going through (then again, they are clones and can be easily pumped out on an assembly line)... (And the Ares got an archcannon first.)