[0.19][WIP] ED-Excalibur_1.0.0.8 (2018-09-27)

[rawrfisher]

The shields do have some massive issues that need to be addressed.
While I am definetly not the most polite in bringing them up I do believe that Once working properly the system you have now will be worthy of replacing the pre beta system

[Jaxxa]

The existing shield system is mostly a technical proof of concept. I was changed massively behind the scenes on how it works from the previous version, both the addition of upgrade modules and how it actually detects projectiles, and once working i moved onto other parts of the mod. So it really needs more work to make it ready for release, that I have just started on.

What I want to achieve with shields now as opposed to the previous version is to make them less common but able to be more powerful. In the previous mod you have 4ish types of  these to pick from each with separate starts and effects, and if you wanted more protection you would just build more shields. Now I intend to have a single Shield Generator type, and when you want more you will build upgrade modules near it that will add additional stats to the same shield, at the expense of increasing the power draw.

My planned modules right now are:

Shield Module: Capacitor
  * Increase Max Charge Level.
Shield Module: Horizontal Projector
  * Increase the max range of the area covered by the Shield.
Shield Module: Vertical Projector
  * Stops Artillery Rounds from impacting.
  * Two can stop Dropoods from opening.
Shield Module: Orbital Datalink
  * Allow an IFF mode so that your bullets can enter into the shield, not just pass out of it.
Shield Module: Power Converter
  * When the shield looses power it will slowly drain Shield Charge and not turn off immediately.

But as with everything in the mod it will be subject to change from both me playing the game and feedback from users of the mod.

[rawrfisher]

Shield Module: Orbital Datalink
  * Allow an IFF mode so that your bullets can enter into the shield, not just pass out of it.
Will be very helpful

Shield Module: Power Converter
  * When the shield looses power it will slowly drain Shield Charge and not turn off immediately.
That's current behavior for my end

Shield Module: Vertical Projector
  * Stops Artillery Rounds from impacting.
  * Two can stop Dropoods from opening.
Already stops rounds far as I can tell. 
Not sure about pods but I have yet to get a chance to test that

Shield Module: Capacitor
  * Increase Max Charge Level.
Current upgrade seems to add to sheild capacity by a small amount.

Now onto my feedback about quantum shields.  I just have yet to really figure out how to work the charging station.
I did confirm they do work with the bots from misc robots just now but thats not the mod I really need it to work with.  I will have to test it with hacked mechanoids when using what the hack. 

[Jaxxa]

Yes, a number of the current default behavior (Stops Artillery / Power Drain) I intend to lock behind upgrades.

For the IFF I am still tossing up if it will stop the enemies from firing out of shields or not.

I will have a look over the charging station and see if I can find any issues with it or ways it could be better explained.

[rawrfisher]

Ok
Wish I knew how to add a picture to this without placing it as an attatchment


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[Jaxxa]

The only way that I know of to embed images I the forum is to upload them somewhere else first.

Neat image, that is about how I usually use the shields.

The NanoShield Rechargers currently have a single global charge storage, so building more chargers will not generate total charge faster and pull from the same reserve in an attempt to balance it. What do you think of it somehow using the ship nanomaterials?

What do you think about the shield control buttons on the bottom when selected? Would those options be better moved Inot the tab panel?

[rawrfisher]

I do like the idea of the sheild using the ships nano materials.  Its very powerful right now.
Yea moving the buttons into a panel would work too.  I will have to try it before I can actually say anything about how it works

I dont think the sheild value is supposed to do that lol

I did find out that the nano shields do not work for hacked mechanoids when using what the hack.
Found out the hard way your sheilds cannot stop the weapons used by the gunners faction


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[Jaxxa]

Yeah, I discovered while reworking shields that currently the shield does not actually stop blocking things when it reaches 0 strength, so it can just keep blocking attacks and have the charge level dropping negative.

I will have a look into adding support for other mods things sometime after the official release.

I might change NanoShields to have a slower recharge, so maybe 1 pawns worth of charge each day, but allow you to instantly refill it using NanoMaterial from the ship. So for small engagements you can recover using the passive regeneration, but then if you want to keep them up when taking fire in a major raid it will cost you resources that you could have otherwise used for upgrades.

[rawrfisher]

Just got around to testing the drills and your allow multiple drill option don't work xD

Small update:  I use blueprints and it lets me build the sheild gen without having access to the ship let alone the tech as long as they were in the blueprint to start with

[Jaxxa]

Thanks.
I will have a look into the drill, although I might just drop the option for multiple drills all together.

Are Blueprints a mod or a new feature that I have not seen? Do they let you build vanilla buildings that you shouldn't have access to yet without research?

[rawrfisher]

Blueprints is a mod by fluffy

I need to check again but I think it does

Just checked and no it seems to only happen to your mod.

Now time to get back to getting killed by a sadistic storyteller -_-

People keep asking for an update on laser drill and I keep telling em to get this mod.

[ELIF]

Any chance we can get a standalone version of the laser drill and laser filler for B19?

[Jaxxa]

Ideally I would just like to leave it all in the one mod, with the idea that if you dont like a part of the mod just dont use it.

That said I am open to criticism and if there is a good reason to have a standalone mod I am open to it, but my preference would be to modify ED-Excalibur to address any issues that arrive.

[Mst]

I was just looking for a way to build over steam vents without editing game files like I used to before the Laser Drill mod. Very annoying to have one interfering in the middle of your perfect layout. Never even drilled any new ones, too op in my view.
This mod seems too big for such a small task.

[rawrfisher]

Its ment to be a combination of all Jaxxa's mods.  I think its also easier to manage and update in this format