[MOD] (Alpha 6) Jaxxa Shields 0.08 - 2014-09-07 - Announcement

[Jaxxa]

One thing to note is that the blue shield circle is just an approximation of the area that is being protected.

What happens if you have a larger overlap by moving the shields closer together and have the turret further away from the edges of the shield?

[Smacher305]

One thing to note is that the blue shield circle is just an approximation of the area that is being protected.

What happens if you have a larger overlap by moving the shields closer together and have the turret further away from the edges of the shield?

http://puu.sh/aapwu/3651baeedf.jpg
That was indeed the problem.The circle around the generator is actually a false outline, with the true edges being about a block or so closer.

In fact, the edge seems to be exactly about a block closer than the outline shows. or rather 1.5 blocks up down and to the sides, and 1 block diagonally. As evidenced by the bottom right turret firing. The heavy turret has a misplaced center as well, but judging from the basic turret it does not matter.

Turret test: http://puu.sh/aaqrZ/b39eee0db2.jpg

[Jaxxa]

Yes, had another look through the code and that is expected.

It is getting all the squares in the radius from the shield and applying the "protect square" on every square that is within 1.5 of the radius.

I might try reducing this number and see if it can still block 100% of incoming rounds. It would be good to get it as close as possible to the graphics, but not if it might miss some as this situation is a bit specific.

[Smacher305]

I believe it might be easier to simply make the shield aura texture 1.5 squares smaller than it is now. i'm not sure but wouldn't that accomplish the same goal? like changing the texture of a settler from a colonist body to a weapon. it's still the same entity, it just looks different. Wouldn't it be easier(and less problematic) to just follow the code than to alter it?( I have almost 0 modding experience so if what i just said was very dumb then please forgive me, i'm trying lol)

[Jaxxa]

Not a dumb idea at all but It wont work in this situation for a few reasons. Telling you this because you sound like you would be interested, not to dismiss your idea.

With the project and visual studio already setup it does not take very long at all for me to edit and rebuild the code.

The blue shield dome "texture" is actually drawn from the code and does not read in any files, this way when the radius is changed in XML this automatically changes visually.

Shrinking the texture would just change the problem to be different but more noticeable, you would see enemy fire being destroyed before visually hitting the shield. I think that would be a lot more common than firing from the edge of a shield to enemies that are on the opposite side of the shield.

It looks like at this time you are just going to have to deal with this issue for the time being I don't see it as a major issue.
It could probably be mitigated by some more complex calculations, but that may introduce more bugs and make it slower so I am hesitant to do that.

Hopefully we can get read access to the Projectile: origin, launcher, destination and assignedTarget values that are all protected. That would be helpful for some of my ideas, I might post in the help section about that.

[Smacher305]

Yea it really isn't much of a problem,  and the small inconvenience it causes can be just as easily fixed by letting people know something like (True border of shield is ~1~ block closer to center) or something of the sort.

All in all i just wanted to help, so at least the information is known now ^_^

[Somz]

Sounds good, let's test it.
One thing, as I've read I've noticed there are no textures (of the...force wall).
If you are open to suggestions: could you make, copy or change it to make the textures in the zone of the shield a little more blurry, or use the 'fog' effect? Or just a little white-ish / blue-ish light (like the coloured lamps)?
Would make the impact of the shields better in my opinion.

Edit.: Tested it, works fine, awesome. Thanks for the mod!

[Undecided]

I'd like to suggest/request a version of the shield that's the opposite of the Phalanx CRAM; Ignores indirect fire weapons (artillery and mortars), but still blocks direct fire-weapons.

My reasoning is that I have a defensive line of direct fire turrets, behind which sits my artillery. But if I protect my direct fire turrets with basic shields, my artillery is blocked by said shields, so I have to disable my artillery to effectively use shields.

[axenn]

nice idea ! i hope that work against mortar !

[Jaxxa]

Yea it really isn't much of a problem,  and the small inconvenience it causes can be just as easily fixed by letting people know something like (True border of shield is ~1~ block closer to center) or something of the sort.

All in all i just wanted to help, so at least the information is known now ^_^

The issue is defining what counts as the border of the shield? since behind the scenes is it protecting squares that approximate the boarder there is not a thin line but a number of squares that are protected by the shield from being shot at, but still cant fire further into the shield. From my view I would count these as inside the shield.

Sounds good, let's test it.
One thing, as I've read I've noticed there are no textures (of the...force wall).
If you are open to suggestions: could you make, copy or change it to make the textures in the zone of the shield a little more blurry, or use the 'fog' effect? Or just a little white-ish / blue-ish light (like the coloured lamps)?
Would make the impact of the shields better in my opinion.

Edit.: Tested it, works fine, awesome. Thanks for the mod!

Glad you like it, I will have a look at what I can do to make it look better, but I want to keep it simple so people with a lot of shields will still have good performance and not have the screen too cluttered.

I'd like to suggest/request a version of the shield that's the opposite of the Phalanx CRAM; Ignores indirect fire weapons (artillery and mortars), but still blocks direct fire-weapons.

My reasoning is that I have a defensive line of direct fire turrets, behind which sits my artillery. But if I protect my direct fire turrets with basic shields, my artillery is blocked by said shields, so I have to disable my artillery to effectively use shields.

Good idea, that will be in the next version, if not as one of the default shields atleast as an option you can change in XML.

Ideally I would have the shield block indirect fire that will land inside the shield but let rounds that will land on the opposite side of the shield continue through. But I have not seen a way to make that possible yet.

nice idea ! i hope that work against mortar !

They they all will currently. The next version may only have some that work against mortars.

[Eios Vasarian]

I can't seem to find the download link at all... 
Found it NVR mind

[Jaxxa]

I just updated the mod.

The main change is the SIF generator.
It will now only protect certain objects (doors/walls) rather than a large circle.

This is mostly a response to the requests for Shielded Embrasures.

As always let me know got it goes and any questions / suggestions / balance ideas.

[bobucles]

Do shields not drop wreckage or something? When these things burn down or get destroyed nothing gets left behind. At least that was my experience with shields in the super mod pack.

[BetaSpectre]

SHIELDS ARE EPIC.

[Jaxxa]

Do shields not drop wreckage or something? When these things burn down or get destroyed nothing gets left behind. At least that was my experience with shields in the super mod pack.

They should but I don't remember testing that. I will have a look into it.

SHIELDS ARE EPIC.

Glad you like them