[Suggestion]: Fire Computers for Turrets and Mortars and a General Rework

[bdole92]

This might be more reasonable as a Mod, rather than in the base game, but i thought i would just go ahead and throw it here.

With the addition of offensive sieging/raiding, and the almost certainty that base generation for pirates/outposts/tribes will get more complex as time goes on, i thought it might be good to revisit how Mortars and Turrets work. My suggestion is that a new item, called a Fire Computer, be added to the game to network together mortars and potentially turrets to improve their efficacy. It would work something like this. A fire computer could be attached to a mortar (like a multi-analyser to a research bench), and at its most basic this would give them increased accuracy. I believe what would be interesting/balanced is if the mortars would gain increased accuracy with the number of shots fired, essentially "zoning in" on the target. So with every shell fired, the computer gets a better firing solution, leading to a large bank of mortars gaining accuracy quicker. The target moving around too much would reduce this, as the computer has to compensate for their movement. There would also be a hard minimum on shell accuracy, as variances in mortar barrels and homemade shells would make pinpoint accuracy impossible, and a steady decline in accuracy-gain-per-shell, so every shell fired adds less accuracy than the previous shell.

Different grades of Firing Computer could be added (Basic, Advanced, etc) that would modify this. A basic Firing Computer might add only half the accuracy per shell of an Advanced Firing Computer. Advanced Firing Computers might also have a higher cap on mortar accuracy, as they are able to account for individual variances in mortar barrels. Basically, if you put 30 (number pulled out of ass) shells down range with an advanced firing computer you get pretty close to pinpoint accuracy. You can balance the FCs by making them more or less expensive.

Also, different mortars! We have Incendiary/normal/EMP, but i think we should also have basic/advanced mortars, with basic being a bit worse than current and advanced being a bit better. I envision basic mortars as being cobbled together and with shorter range than advanced mortars, but being easy to build and cheap. Advanced mortars would be much more accurate, but much more expensive.

Taken together, mortars would run the range from Basic without a firing computer, which is about as accurate as throwing a dart at a map of your colony and hoping you hit the raiders, and multiple Advanced Mortars all linked to an Advanced Firing Computer, which is equivalent to calling in a tactical strike from an actual military brigade. Of course, Pirate Sieges can use these too! If you let Pirates set up camp with their crazy ass military mortars and you don't do something about it, be prepared to get pounded into the dirt.

Oh, also Auto-Mortars! Attach an Auto-Mortar to a Hopper with artillery shells and an Advanced Firing Computer, and watch it go to town on your enemies. A lot of these could be implemented in pieces (Mortar types, firing computers, etc) rather than all at the same time