[MOD] (Alpha 8) MOAR Turrets! (Ver 1.0) (1/4/15)

Started by callmewoof, January 04, 2015, 07:28:26 AM

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callmewoof

Moar Turrets Mod


Hello everyone! This is a simple mod that I made for myself and I'm releasing it in case others find it interesting. It adds 16 buildings (turrets) to the game, which are based on all weapons in the game (except the two rocket launchers). Except for the basic ones, the others must be researched. This will make those raids much more interesting and finally give you a use for the tons of weapons that drop from baddies besides selling or scrapping them.

Game Balance
I feel the turrets are decently balanced. I want them interesting without being too weak or too over-powered. Each turret requires the specific weapon as part of the construction, and you do not get the weapon back after the turret is destroyed. Anything beyond the neolithic turrets requires an actual weapon, as in, the kind you can't craft. You can get them off raiders, or buy them from traders, but if you don't have them, you simply can't make them.

Furthermore, each turret shoots at the exact same speed and range as your Pawns would; while the first shot is always instant, the recharge time between shots is the exact time it would take your pawn to aim+cooldown (which means aim again, or run away, etc).

Compatibility
This mod shouldn't interfere with anything else that I can think of, unless you have a mod that changes the vanilla weapons in the game. This mod pulls the weapon stats straight from the vanilla items, including the base turret building, but it doesn't make any changes to them; it just straight up adds new buildings.

The Turrets

Neolithic Turrets
Types: Shortbow, Greatbow, Pila
Pros:

  • No power required (they use metal gears, and, hmm, wizards? I don't know)
  • Cheap and quick to make
  • Made at your smithing table from (mostly) renewable resources
  • No research required
  • Great for early game defense, or later game "scouts" that can buy you time
Cons:

  • Low Health
  • Wood burns
  • If you don't have some already, you must first craft the weapon required. The turret itself is cheap, but the neolithic weapons can take 100+ wood to craft (but remember, renewable resource!)
  • Not very strong. They will stop a few crazy squirrels or a couple of raiders, but don't expect much.
  • Later game enemies will rip through these things like cardboard
  • Yes, the Pila really takes 8 seconds between firing. It's actually almost as strong as the M24 Rifle (!!!) but very slow and very inaccurate. I guess that's the trade-off?

Simple Turrets *Requires Research*
Types: Pistol, Pump Shotgun, Uzi, Lee-Enfield
Pros:
  • They don't explode when destroyed
  • Cheaper and quicker to build than improvised turrets
  • Use in conjunction with improvised turrets for low-cost defense zones
  • Pistol is great for steady, constant damage. Pump shotgun is very strong and very accurate at close range. The Uzi is a quick spraying gun and will usually hit something in a crowd. Lee-Enfield is a good sniper turret in the back of the fight.
  • Those pistols only sell for, what, $24? They make much better turrets!
Cons:

  • Still much less health than improvised turrets
  • If you don't have the required weapon, you can't make the turret
  • If you spam these turrets, you'll probably run out of guns or out of metal quicker than you think. Use wisely.

Modern Turrets *Research unlocked from Simple Turrets*
Types: M16 Rifle, M24 Rifle, L-15 LMG
Pros:

  • M16 is like an improvised turret, but has increased range. M24 has insane damage and insane range, but fires a single bullet with a long recharge time. L-15 LMG is almost identical to the improvised turret, but it is fire-proof (because of reasons. Or wizards again. Not sure) so it might be okay to fight beside one and/or keep repairing it.
  • Damage on par with improvised turrets, and they won't explode
  • Almost as healthy, less power required, and still a tad bit cheaper to build than improvised turrets
Cons:

  • It may be more valuable to trade that rifle for several medical kits instead
  • If not placed strategically and with purpose, you may as well be using regular improvised turrets and doing anything else with the guns.
  • Must be researched

Advanced Turrets *Research unlocked from Modern Turrets*
Types: Minigun, R4 Charge Rifle
Pros:

  • R4 Charge Rifle is solid with a great blend of Accuracy, Damage, and Speed; good for single targets or small groups. Minigun is just plain sweet; perfect for large groups.
  • Healthier than an improvised turret
  • Seriously, get a few minigun turrets and watch as you blot out the sky with a hailstorm of bullets. SO COOL!
Cons:

  • The required weapons are harder to obtain
  • Plasteel is required to build
  • These turrets will explode, so be careful!
  • Needs 2 earlier researches and a 3rd expensive research to unlock.
  • They use a lot more power to function
  • These are not a pair of "end-game" turrets meant to be spammed. The R4 is nice but won't stop a horde of pirates. The Minigun's bullets are individually weak, and it relies on "Spray n' Pray".
  • If not positioned correctly, the Minigun will probably end up ripping holes in your other turrets, walls, and colonists.

Grenade Turrets *Research unlocked from Modern Turrets (Yes, at the same time as Advanced is unlocked)*
Types: Frag, Molotov Cocktails, EMP, and T-9 Incendiary Launcher
Pros:

  • Finally, all the benefits of using grenades with none of the risk of turning your colonists into chunky salsa
  • If placed correctly, they can do fantastic damage to tightly packed groups of enemies
  • EMP can stun those horrible Mechotoids!
  • If you have the right kind of flammable landscaping, these can strategically cause controlled fires to harm your enemies without damaging your base
Cons:

  • Very small range
  • Needs 2 earlier researches and a 3rd expensive research to unlock.
  • Can't fire at targets too close to the turret
  • EMP grenades only stun mechanical things, and do zero damage to everything. The stuns can be adapted (temporarily) making additional shots worthless for a time. Further, they can stun your own turrets, so be careful with placement!
  • Improper planning will blast holes in your base and set fire to your things
  • The T-9 Incendiary Launcher is currently near worthless (in vanilla). It does 4 damage (weakest direct hit from a bullet in the ENTIRE GAME), and if it hits the target exactly center (e.g. doesn't miss to a nearby tile) it won't start any kind of fire at all. And even when it does miss, it will only start a 1-tile fire. I'm still at a loss to imagine a scenario where this turret OR the gun itself could be even remotely useful.

Known Issues

  • The cost and health of the turrets may need tweaking
  • The descriptions are pretty basic and need sprucing up, but also confusing!. I need to find a better way to list the properties/damage/stats of the turrets. Right now I'm using a HIGH/MED/LOW system, but it can be confusing. When I say that a Lee-Enfield (18 damage) is HIGH, I only mean compared to the other simple turrets, but not compared to the other tiers of turrets. See? I need a more uniform method.
  • Right now they are all listed under the security category. But once you research them all, plus mortars, you end up with some 20+ building buttons and it looks like crap. Sorry.
  • The weapons will rotate while idle just like a normal turret would, but when they shoot the guns are always at weird angles. I'm not sure how/if I can align the graphics to make it look proper. This mod is nothing but modified/created XML, so maybe that isn't within my ability.

The Mod and other Information
Download Link for Alpha 8
https://www.dropbox.com/s/y1alou34zpynzmj/MOAR_Turrets.zip?dl=0

Please feel free to post any bugs, typos, suggestions, or thoughts on my mod. I'm not normally a mod maker, and I haven't touched C# since... geez I'm getting old. If you feel like using it, have fun!

P.S. Here is the Jotti Virus scan for this file: http://virusscan.jotti.org/en/scanresult/a75c48bcf92e46c4f44c8036120ea8749be6cb8f It's clean and all that jazz. Not sure if I needed to include that. I probably should have read some forum stickies on how to post new mods. Oh well. If I screwed up someone please let me know the changes to make, thanks!

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callmewoof

Reserved for future use. As if I'll ever need it. Is this allowed? I always see people doing this when they make mods. I should really stop typing my thoughts.

Romi

Awesome!!! one question it works with project armory or with gun+ ? i hope yes because your mod is very usefull!

callmewoof

I could make it work with that, sure. I've never used those mods before but it would be simple to add. Since my mod is effectively just creating buildings from existing guns, it remains independent of all weapons. If that makes sense. I'll look at those mods and see if I can work something up.

Igabod

Quote from: callmewoof on January 04, 2015, 07:31:45 AM
Reserved for future use. As if I'll ever need it. Is this allowed? I always see people doing this when they make mods. I should really stop typing my thoughts.

It's allowed, I luckily did it for the Mod List. Your mod was the one that broke the limit on the mod list so now I've had to move mods letter T-Z down to the second post. The limit for any given post is 20,000 characters by the way.

MikhailBoho

This looks ridiculously fun Igabod. I always end up with absurd amounts of weapons after a raid, and using them for better defenses will be oodles of fun now. I'll let you know what I think!