Towing hook

[Bobby]

check it out HERE and tell me what you think.

some thing to know:

to grab a wreck to tow: target it(rom included), get within 3 light seconds, and use it, it's key is H.

to let go of a wreck(and lose those "mass"s on your ship) just target something else or nothing.

what can be hooked? ship wrecks, station wrecks, cargo crates(both types, you can still shoot with them, just be careful with omni weapons) stargates and beacons(don't do it, it wont crash or anything, but it's just not right...).

how do i know ive got something hooked? you will snap to it and stop moving, just get back to speed, you have it hooked.

known exploits: hiding on a big station being dragged to avoid enemy fire. dragging stargates(actually a dumb idea, it brings enemies right to you). massive stations have no impact on ship mobility, only it's cargo does.

it will add up the mass of the cargo inside the thing being towed, but not the object itself, and the mass can be jettisoned on the run, eliminating any performance degrading effects. if the player gates out while towing something the mass may be left on your ship, just hook and release something again and it will be removed, or just jettison it.


any ideas for improvement are appreciated.

EDIT: another exploit discovered, placing wrecks on both sides of the arena walls and hooking the one on the other side through the wall, you will snap to the other side of the wall and be able to escape without being banned from the fights.

[Charon Mass of Goo]

Any ideas for improvement are appreciated.

Add a "Tow Line". Give it some distance, and some free movement, so it is more realistic.

I know I know, its probably not possible to do that at the moment, but it would be cool

But you can still add a "Tow Line" to make it look like it is hooked.

[Bobby]

Any ideas for improvement are appreciated.

Add a "Tow Line". Give it some distance, and some free movement, so it is more realistic.

I know I know, its probably not possible to do that at the moment, but it would be cool

But you can still add a "Tow Line" to make it look like it is hooked.

i agree with the that, i tried to add distance, but the current solution is all i could do, it may be possible, but i can't do it.

tow line? add it where? if distance is added that would be visible, but right now the ship covers the object being towed so this would not be visible. also i don't know how to add a line from my ship to the target, that's why it's a hook and not a cable. if you mean on the image it shouldn't be too hard.


EDIT: a line could be added by using syscreatefire to shoot it with a 0 damage laser beam when it moves the ship.

[Charon Mass of Goo]

tow line? add it where? if distance is added that would be visible, but right now the ship covers the object being towed so this would not be visible. also i don't know how to add a line from my ship to the target, that's why it's a hook and not a cable. if you mean on the image it shouldn't be too hard.


EDIT: a line could be added by using syscreatefire to shoot it with a 0 damage laser beam when it moves the ship.

Well, we should work on giving it distance then. And a syscreatfire would be nice too

[Bobby]

distance...

stations don't naturally move, so objmoveto must be used else they stay stationary, which is probably a good idea anyway.

i have no understanding of vectors to move movable things, is there any way to get and set x and y velocities?

or how would i use vectors to make the ship being towed stay within 3 light seconds of myself? i'll need a lot of help with this

[Charon Mass of Goo]

distance...

stations don't naturally move, so objmoveto must be used else they stay stationary, which is probably a good idea anyway.

i have no understanding of vectors to move movable things, is there any way to get and set x and y velocities?

or how would i use vectors to make the ship being towed stay within 3 light seconds of myself? i'll need a lot of help with this

Sigh. Unfortunately I have no knowledge in this sort of area. I'm a heavy weapons guy among the universe of Team Fortress. Get Ttech or Taben or Betel to help.

[digdug]

One word : AWESOME !
This is really a great job !

However I found a minor bug (that can be considered a feature, mmhh): if you try to dock with a station when you are towing, the playership doesn't dock and keep the speed and direction until you push again "D" and cancel docking.

[Charon Mass of Goo]

One word : AWESOME !
This is really a great job !

However I found a minor bug (that can be considered a feature, mmhh): if you try to dock with a station when you are towing, the playership doesn't dock and keep the speed and direction until you push again "D" and cancel docking.

Duh.

It's basically just Wreck surfing.

[Ttech]

A tractor beam?

[Bobby]

A tractor beam?

no it's not, more like the hook on a tow truck.- below explains how it works.


code does the following:
in the invoke: if player is targeting an abandoned object less than 3 light seconds away, remember it, move the player on top of it, add up the mass of it's cargo and put an equivalent amount on the player(ignores max cargo space), start a recurring event.

in the recurring event: make sure it is less than 3 light seconds away and still targeted, if so, move it to the player, else cancel the event, forget the object, and remove objects with the "mass" attribute from player

events section on the item: if an object jumps, check to see if it's the player, if so if the player is still targeting the remembered ship, then the player is still dragging it and has jumped, so move it to the player.

[Ttech]

A tractor beam?

no it's not, more like the hook on a tow truck.- below explains how it works.


code does the following:
in the invoke: if player is targeting an abandoned object less than 3 light seconds away, remember it, move the player on top of it, add up the mass of it's cargo and put an equivalent amount on the player(ignores max cargo space), start a recurring event.

in the recurring event: make sure it is less than 3 light seconds away and still targeted, if so, move it to the player, else cancel the event, forget the object, and remove objects with the "mass" attribute from player

events section on the item: if an object jumps, check to see if it's the player, if so if the player is still targeting the remembered ship, then the player is still dragging it and has jumped, so move it to the player.

either way it does nothing on 98d (lastest).


It fails

[FAD]

either way it does nothing on 98d (lastest).


It fails

Simple fix, in the code change;

Code: Select all

<TranscendenceExtension UNID="&unidExtension;" version="0.98">

to...

Code: Select all

<TranscendenceExtension UNID="&unidExtension;" version="0.98d">

[Bobby]

either way it does nothing on 98d (lastest).


It fails

it works fine for me...
instructions repeat: target the object, get within 3 light seconds, or right on top of it, make sure it is a dead ship or station.

if you are not close enough, or not targeting it, or it is not dead, nothing will happen, not even a message. also if you meet the criteria, you will snap to the object and stop moving, also without a message.

EDIT: also if you just gave the item to another ship it wouldn't work, the hook itself is dependent on the <events> section inside the ship it is used on.

[Desolator]

Simple fix, in the code change;

Code: Select all

<TranscendenceExtension UNID="&unidExtension;" version="0.98">

to...

Code: Select all

<TranscendenceExtension UNID="&unidExtension;" version="0.98d">

No, that's the minimum supported version. I could as well specify 0.1 and it should work fine.

[FAD]

No, that's the minimum supported version. I could as well specify 0.1 and it should work fine.

Perhaps, but I did notice this in the code...

Code: Select all

<!ENTITY itbeacon						 "0xD211f221">
	  <!ENTITY itAlmightyWrench "0xD4664011">

And if you do NOT have either mod in your extensions folder, you will get an error upon loading.