A17b - Combat Extended Artillery (v1.3)

[JadedApprentince]

Oh, that's absolutely lovely then! I eagerly await the release.

Regarding the issues with the ammunition patch, have you checked with the people on the CE Discord server? They may be able to offer some help.

I actually realized my mistake today.
It revolves around the idea that the XML format was correct, but the ammunition code was incorrect, since I was using the RocketHEAT code for 90mm HEAT shells as the base, when I should have been using the ammunition code for specific ammunition types.

Basically: I messed up by attempting to reuse the same code for different ammo types, and used one base instead of the several given by other ammo such as .50 BMG. This also means that APCR (sabot) rounds will return for the 50mm. I'll try and finish in the next few days for version 1.3

[JadedApprentince]

Version 1.23 released! Here's the rundown about what has changed, please see the important notes section regarding a new update on version 1.3's current progress!

- New change-log system for this post.
- New textures for turrets and ammunition; A new texture was also added for shells fired, before it was CE's HEAT shell projectile by default.
- Balancing of ammunition: Silver value, mass, bulk, etc. will roughly match the values given by the materials they were made from:
> 50mm APHE is FAR lighter than before, allowing you to carry 5 shells in place of 1 when compared to the old values.
> Ammunition costs for both calibers got cheaper and much more balanced.
> 105mm HE got lighter, but also more powerful and lethal.
> 105mm shells are now made in pairs instead of single shells.
- Balancing of turrets: Just like ammunition, turrets were also balanced considerably and the 50mm got far lighter than before, having 300 mass and 200 bulk, allowing it to be semi-portable.
- Various bug fixes and improvements.

[admiralKew]

Wonderful! Downloading now!

Would it be impudent of me to suggest a portable 'toolkit' workbench that allows you to further break up the the larger guns into smaller pieces (Barrel/Gun shield/aiming systems/etc.) for transport in a later release? It'd allow the big guns to be portable via pack animal, but would probably be balanced out by having to have to reassemble the gun twice for a siege.

I eagerly await 1.3, and more by the way!

[JadedApprentince]

Wonderful! Downloading now!

Would it be impudent of me to suggest a portable 'toolkit' workbench that allows you to further break up the the larger guns into smaller pieces (Barrel/Gun shield/aiming systems/etc.) for transport in a later release? It'd allow the big guns to be portable via pack animal, but would probably be balanced out by having to have to reassemble the gun twice for a siege.

I eagerly await 1.3, and more by the way!

I'll see what I can do, but I think that the idea of disassembling an existing turret into those parts might not be possible, but I can probably set something up that allows you to craft the basic parts for the cannon and therefore assemble it similarly to just building a mortar in the vanilla game. Also expect later on that turrets will have much more realistic and balanced mass and bulk, so like the ammunition, their value will be roughly their base products value with some extra since its a manufactured item.

Other than that, I'm probably going to release a sort of patch that will overwrite the default 90mm cannon so it doesn't seem as useless compared to the other cannons CEA adds in.

[admiralKew]

I'm not an expert in modding, so feel free to take my words with a tablespoon of salt. Though, wouldn't a recipe that accepts, say, a 105mm cannon as an input then outputs its subcomponents suffice?

[JadedApprentince]

I'm not an expert in modding, so feel free to take my words with a tablespoon of salt. Though, wouldn't a recipe that accepts, say, a 105mm cannon as an input then outputs its subcomponents suffice?

I'm no expert either, but it may be possible if you can modify the value and/or items that are dropped from deconstructing something. I'll have to look into it.

[admiralKew]

Wouldn't minifying a structure allow it to be used as an ingredient in a recipe? I figure that if the 90mm Flak can be produced as a minified turret in the machining bench, so too can the minified version be used.

I'll see if I can knock together an experiment later.

[JadedApprentince]

Wouldn't minifying a structure allow it to be used as an ingredient in a recipe? I figure that if the 90mm Flak can be produced as a minified turret in the machining bench, so too can the minified version be used.

I'll see if I can knock together an experiment later.

If you use it like that then technically yes, you could "disassemble" cannons using a crafting spot, then turning it into "---mm cannon parts." These parts then could be "reassembled" at the same crafting spot into the minified item.

[TA1980]

Dear JadedApprentice,

thank you for fleshing out this mod.

Some ideas:
-105 mm capable of indirect fire (akin to mortars; possibly switch between both modes depending on range?)
-ammunition in general should be based on historical ammunition, e.g:

http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/50mm/
http://www.pmulcahy.com/ammunition/howitzer_rounds.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-explosive_incendiary

Regards

[JadedApprentince]

Dear JadedApprentice,

thank you for fleshing out this mod.

Some ideas:
-105 mm capable of indirect fire (akin to mortars; possibly switch between both modes depending on range?)
-ammunition in general should be based on historical ammunition, e.g:

http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/50mm/
http://www.pmulcahy.com/ammunition/howitzer_rounds.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-explosive_incendiary

Regards

Ammunition is partly based on historical information, but its limited since we don't know exactly how powerful FSX as an explosive agent is, and what compares to it.

As for 105mm cannons, they should be acting like mortars. I believe I made it so that they could fire indirectly, but if not then I'll look into it and patch it when I find it.

[JadedApprentince]

Version 1.24 released!

Version 1.24
- Fixed 50mm sight efficiency,  0.9 to 1.1.
- Adjusted warm-up time for 50mm, reduced from 3.5 to 3.
- Fixed 105mm sight efficiency, 0.9 to 1.2.
- Adjusted warm-up time for 105mm, reduced from 5 to 4.5.
- Fixed 105mm range, increased from 100 to 200.
- Updated descriptions of items with the v1.3 descriptions.
- Fixed 105mm steel cost, was 500 when it should have been 600, components are the same.
- Adjusted 105mm bulk value, changed from 575 to 700.
- Fixed sway factor for both cannons, was 0.75 when it should have been 0.25.
- Fixed 105mm not being able to indirectly fire at targets, just like the mortar.
- Refined all textures with shading, general improvements, etc. I hope you like them!
- Various other small changes and improvements.

[TA1980]

Dear JadedApprentice,

thank you for the quick response! Regarding the vote options:

a) More calibres: a 20/30mm autocannon would be nice.

b) More ammunition types:
I think CE features illumination as factor, so maybe
-illumination rounds for night battles,
-smoke rounds for smokescreens during the day (allowing your pawns to get into position, slow down enemy),
-incendiary ammunition for the above mentioned autocannon,
-DU SABOT (depleted uranium armor piercing ammunition).

Regards

[JadedApprentince]

Dear JadedApprentice,

thank you for the quick response! Regarding the vote options:

a) More calibres: a 20/30mm autocannon would be nice.

b) More ammunition types:
I think CE features illumination as factor, so maybe
-illumination rounds for night battles,
-smoke rounds for smokescreens during the day (allowing your pawns to get into position, slow down enemy),
-incendiary ammunition for the above mentioned autocannon,
-DU SABOT (depleted uranium armor piercing ammunition).

Regards

I do plan on adding more ammunition in the future, its just that I'll have to find out ways of doing it without breaking compatibility with CE.

And like before autocannons will be coming in a future update, just like rockets.

As for illumination/smoke rounds: I'll see what I can put together, its just going take some time to try and find the right way of doing it without any errors coming up. I don't believe I can make smoke slow enemies, but like the vanilla smoke it would reduce accuracy and prevent auto turrets from targeting anything in the smoke.

Incendiary rounds will be made of promethium instead of FSX, so the costs for shells will be practically the same except for the filling material. Cannons 50mm or less in caliber will be using steel for sabot rounds, but anything larger will have some small amount of uranium inside it. This was planned for sabot rounds in general, but I'd like to keep 50mm cannons at their relative section of the "weapons tree" and make it a much more appealing option for many players due its cheap cost (relative to cannons/heavy weapons).

[TA1980]

Dear JadedApprentice,

the 105mm shells are travelling very slowly (possibly even slower than mortar shells). Did you intend this?

Regards

[JadedApprentince]

Dear JadedApprentice,

the 105mm shells are travelling very slowly (possibly even slower than mortar shells). Did you intend this?

Regards

105mm shells should have a speed set to 200, so it should be faster than mortar shells which travel at 185.
I'll do some testing and fix it in update 1.25 if its a problem.

Also for comparison, 50mm shells will travel at 225.