There were some threads discussing whether this is a good idea (please go there if you have any feedback on the wisdom of trying) I wanted to see if it was even technically possible. Sort of. I've hardly exhausted all possibilities, but I've only got it working with staged ammo, which is what both nukes and unit cannons use. There are two issues: 1. Targeting a unit doesn't spread. If this thing can snipe it's going to have to cost nearly the same as a nuke. This can be easily reproduced by targeting a unit with the unit cannon. 2. Every time the weapon fires, the sim takes a hard pause proportional to the amount of spread, and I think it should have an extremely large spread. I can only imagine it's hit-testing every point in the spread area and then picking one of the valid ones; ideally we'd want the spread to be the whole planet, or a large portion of it. One possible solution is have the staged projectile decay into a wild ballistic shot on entry, but I don't know how to trigger an early death.
Personally I'd want to know what is shelling me. But neither show_in_orbital_layer or show_stragtegic_icon seems able to turn off the paths.
The annihilaser is extra-special. The only things modders have access to are derived from units in game, with a few exceptions for features (like mass teleport) that were removed or have not yet appeared in official units.
People have done some things with the number of engines per slot, but pretty much everything else is locked.
I've got an errand to run, but I found stage_change_height_below/stage_change_range and die_here, so I may be able to work the ballistic entry through a chain of death effects. Although come to think of it I haven't tested the perf impact of extreme ballistic deviation.
Kill on entry works, but auto_fire_when_charged doesn't seem to be able to override a ballistic weapon needing a target to fire. It might sort of work as a snipe counter, but you wouldn't get any spread when no target was visible. Testing turned up a unit idea though: chaos artillery that spews shells everywhere when an enemy is in sight. Just watch out for escape velocity ;^)
so if you can now change nukes into tacmissiles with low to medium AoE and change the model into a multimissilelauncher that would be cool ... because i doubt you could do it well with cannons and shells without it looking too hacky ... even though nukes look hacky already to be honest ... but what do you wanna do :/ ... i think it´s feasable having scouts on the enemy planet ...
@MrTBSC @wondible I have played around a bit. and comb on a problem. can be found on other planets but do not shoot properly on the actual. because there is a problem, it looks so from then if he wants to shoot. http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198076557036/screenshot/384287971857635469 ich habe ein bisschen rumprobiert. und kamm auf ein problem. man kann auf andere planeten schießen aber auf dem eigentlichen nicht richtig. da gibt es ein problem es schaut so dann aus wenn er schieße will. sry for translation
Is that a Holtkins? I haven't really got it to work yet. default_firing_pitch (see Unit Cannon) keeps it from firing into the ground, but then the shell stops at the end of the barrel. (google translate) Ist, dass ein Holtkins? Ich habe nicht wirklich habe es noch zu arbeiten. default_firing_pitch (siehe Einheit Kanone) hält sie vom Brennen in den Boden, aber dann hält die Schale am Ende des Laufs.
i have replacs the ammo to an nuke ammo and have changed the properties. i can shoot too other planets. the problem is the nuke ammo shoot vertical. which she shoots into the ground if there is a rounding. how can I fix that?
the current ammo is: Code: {"base_spec":"/pa/ammo/base_artillery/base_artillery.json","display_name":"!LOC:LR-96 -Pacifier- Missile","description":"!LOC:Nuclear missile - Long range, large area damage, projectile","has_notifications":true,"ammo_type":"Projectile","build_metal_cost":50000,"flight_type":"Staged","damage":5000,"splash_damage":5000,"splash_radius":20,"full_damage_splash_radius":5,"splash_damages_allies":true,"cruise_height":100,"initial_velocity":200.0,"max_velocity":115.0,"turn_rate":3,"lifetime":0,"show_strategic_icon":true,"interplanetary_type":"INTER_System","system_velocity_multiplier":20.0,"gravwell_velocity_multiplier":10.0,"spawn_layers":"WL_Air","show_in_orbital_layer":true,"splash_damage_orbital":true,"enable_orbital_shell":true,"burn_damage":200,"burn_radius":137,"influence_radius":3200,"signal_type":"nuke","damage_volume":{"initial_radius":20.0,"radius_velocity":200.0,"radius_accel":-40.0,"delay":1.5,"burnable_remove_radius":100.0},"model":{"filename":"/pa/units/air/shell_large/shell_large.papa"},"unit_types":["UNITTYPE_Mobile","UNITTYPE_Orbital"],"collision_check":"ground","physics":{"radius":10,"gravity_scalar":3,"ignore_gravity":true,"add_to_spatial_db":true,"allow_underground":true},"fx_trail":{"filename":"/pa/effects/specs/shell_artillery_large_proj_trail.pfx","offset":[0.0,1.0,0.0]},"events":{"died":{"audio_cue":"/SE/Impacts/missile_artillery_long_holkins","effect_spec":"/pa/effects/specs/default_building_explosion.pfx"}},"audio_loop":"/SE/Movement/missile/artillery_long_missile_fly_loop","armor_damage_map":{"AT_Commander":0.33},"stage_on_planet_handoff":2,"stages":[{"ignores_gravity":true,"ignores_LOS":true,"stage_duration":600,"stage_turn_rate":0,"rotates_to_velocity":true},{"ignores_gravity":true,"ignores_LOS":true,"stage_duration":0,"stage_turn_rate":90,"stage_change_range":75,"rotates_to_velocity":true},{"ignores_gravity":false,"ignores_LOS":false,"stage_duration":5000,"stage_turn_rate":90,"rotates_to_velocity":true},{"ignores_gravity":false,"ignores_LOS":false,"stage_duration":5000,"stage_turn_rate":1080,"rotates_to_velocity":true}],"recon":{"observable":{"ignore_radar":false}}} it is not ready and is not revised properly and some things do not need. it works just hold on a planet not (see video). what I need to improve so it goes.
What if instead of a cannon firing a physical projectile, it's a big cannon pointing into a teleporter? It could fire a pseudo-unit (sorta like the fighters from the carriers, but more like a bullet/boom hybrid) through the teleporter using the code from the orbital teleporter, dropping it down from orbit with a spread?
