[MOD 0.13.x] Artillery Cannon - v1.2.0

[Buhamut]

I wrote a small mod to add an artillery cannon to the game.

Patch is up as of 7-6-16 to 1.2.0

Version 1.2.0 Patch Notes

1.2.0:
-Got mod working with 0.13.
-Had to copy the old explosion file as it no longer existed in factorio base.
-Minimum range has now been implemented!!!! This is huge. No longer will the turret destroy its own defences.

Version 1.0.1 Patch Notes

1.0.1:
-Changed item location in crafting grid. Now the artillery is with the gun turrets.
-Fixed wrong explosion in use for shell impact. Should have been Huge-Explosion, was only explosion.
-New muzzle flash animation.
-I intended the cost of the cannon and shells to offset the power of the damage, the feedback that it was cheap to construct and maintain lead to the following changes:

Research increased from 60 X (2 red, 2 green, 1 blue)
to 90 X (1 red, 2 green, 3 blue)

Price of cannon increased from 50 Steel, 5 motors, 2 radars, 1 processing unit
to 100 Steel, 25 engines, 2 radars, 10 processing units

Price of shells increased from 3 for 5 steel, 5 explosive
to 1 for 12 steel, 6 explosive

Hopefully that is more in line with "expensive", however due to peoples bases being different this may not be the case or might be overboard and putting it out of reach of some players. Let me know, feedback appreciated.

A list of things to expect from an artillery battery

Cons -
-Inaccurate
-Slow to aim/fire
-Loud
-Rounds are expensive
-Mobs WILL aggro when hit (well the survivors anyway)

Pros -
-Extreme Range
-High damage

To Do

-Figure out how to implement minimum firing range[DONE]

-Trim base of model to allow it to play nicer with surrounding objects

-See if it is possible to add arcing shots

-Attempt to allow manual fire control. My original idea had this be the ONLY way to fire it. Where you would get into the turret and have a free cursor to move around to select the target location, but ghost mode reveals the map. Until I can work around that I will not implement ghost mode fire selection.

-Get the turret to prioritize bases over mobs if auto fire mode has to stay in.

0013.png (20.71 KiB) Viewed 23544 times

This is my first factorio mod, so there are many things I am not satisfied with, but any tips or suggestions are welcome!

[Stryder88]

sounds fun but got a json error when i put it in my mods folder any ideas

[aRatNamedSammy]

same error.. a little fix is required

[Buhamut]

Found the error. I was in a rush when I zipped it up and did not realize it needed to have a redundant folder inside the zip folder. All fixed now.

[darkshadow1809]

Mind if i add this to the modpacks ? Seems like a really nice addition! This should deal with the big spitters!

PS: Awesome sprite !

[Buhamut]

Yes, you may add this to any mod pack. I made it for people to enjoy!

[Thomasnotused]

Love it! Just wish it had a minimum range. Keeps blowing up all meh turrets lol.

[darkshadow1809]

Love it! Just wish it had a minimum range. Keeps blowing up all meh turrets lol.

Yeh would like that aswell !

[Buhamut]

I did want it to have a min range, but everything I tried to make it happen failed. If anyone knows how to make it happen let me know so I can update it. For now just (try to) keep the creeps away from your base!

[darkshadow1809]

I did want it to have a min range, but everything I tried to make it happen failed. If anyone knows how to make it happen let me know so I can update it. For now just (try to) keep the creeps away from your base!

Ill ask around a bit on the forum modding help You should also! We have a helpful community!

[Thomasnotused]

I did want it to have a min range, but everything I tried to make it happen failed. If anyone knows how to make it happen let me know so I can update it. For now just (try to) keep the creeps away from your base!

What about a "don't fire at target if within this many tiles of a building"? I remember seeing about that somewhere and how the biters used it in migrating, so maybe you could "repurpose" it

[Xterminator]

This should work with most other mods right? Like Dytech for example? I think this might be the perfect solution for the problem me and a friend are having with killing stuff in Dytech.

[Thomasnotused]

This should work with most other mods right? Like Dytech for example? I think this might be the perfect solution for the problem me and a friend are having with killing stuff in Dytech.

Yes, it is working with DyTech, as I'm using it in my save XD

[Buhamut]

This mod just adds 2 new items (the cannon, and the ammo) with vanilla recipe components. It should be compatible with any other mods. It does borrow the tank shell graphic for the ammo icon temporarily and the explosion2 sound effect from vanilla, so if a mod alters those it might cause something weird, but otherwise it should be fine.

[ZTStrike]

Anyone got video of this thing working?

[Thomasnotused]

Anyone got video of this thing working?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkfY-Olt5nY

[Buhamut]

Anyone got video of this thing working?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkfY-Olt5nY

To ZTStrike: sadly that video does not have the new muzzle flash I put in, but the base functionality is the same.

General update: I think I may have a way to implement minimum range. I'm working on that now.

[ZTStrike]

Mod thoughts about this mod from what I saw.
Pros:
-Great potential weapon system

Cons:
-Gun too big (3x3), I would recommend (2x2) or maybe a mortar to be added as well.
-As stated before no minimum range, they blow themselves up. Hope your idea works out.
-Physical damage is more than the explosion. (Not how real artillery works) Recommend 50 explosion and 20 physical.
-Blast range seems to be very large, (7x7?) I would recommend (5x5) or (3x3) at best.

[Alekthefirst]

let the forum know if you find a way to get that minimum range working!
could be used for so many situational weapon systems

[Buhamut]

Mod thoughts about this mod from what I saw.
Pros:
-Great potential weapon system

Cons:
-Gun too big (3x3), I would recommend (2x2) or maybe a mortar to be added as well.
-As stated before no minimum range, they blow themselves up. Hope your idea works out.
-Physical damage is more than the explosion. (Not how real artillery works) Recommend 50 explosion and 20 physical.
-Blast range seems to be very large, (7x7?) I would recommend (5x5) or (3x3) at best.

Still wresting with lua (learning how lua handles tables, and how factorio handles entities) to implement the minimum range, but making progress.

This weapon was designed to be large, its range is 200. Compare to a standard 2X1 turret with a range of 17. You need a large gun to put massive ammo that far downrange. Do a google image search for "train artillery" for some cool pics and size comparisons.
The damage numbers were based off the tank cannon shell, and are currently LOWER than the tank round (tank = 150 physical, 50 explosive / arty = 100 physical, 40 explosive). The tank round will even punch through enemies in its way with 300 physical damage. I feel that the increased range offsets the reduced damage fairly.
The physical damage is theoretically based off the shrapnel that such a large shell (not bomb designed for a massive explosion) would put out, explosive is just to propel the metal chunks, like a giant grenade.
The blast radius (10 radius circle btw) is to help make up for the inaccuracy of the artillery. Between the long reload time (currently over 8 seconds) and the inaccuracy the artillery would become useless without a high-damage, large blast radius. It takes almost a full 20 rounds before the first hive goes down, sometimes it is able to fully regenerate before the second shell scores a hit.

If you have ever played a real-time strategy game named Supreme Commander, I based this artillery design off of the tier 3 artillery, which allows base-to-base across map firepower at the cost of slow fire rate and terrible accuracy. That game also has smaller tier 2 artillery emplacements with faster fire rate, higher accuracy, but lower damage output and significantly less range. If this mod was successful, I was planning to make a variant based on the tier 2 arty, which is probably what you are after by the sounds of it.

All in all I think that I like the values I have, and while I appreciate the feedback, I do hope you understand where I was coming from when I chose the values I did.