[MOD 0.18] Orbital Ion Cannon 1.8.2

[Supercheese]

Version 1.2.1 released, fixing the unintended behavior with the Standard Library event registry.
Additionally, the graphics for the Auto-Targeting station have been improved, utilizing graphics from the ExtraChests mod by Qumojo.

[DevilXD]

Could you add worms to the auto targeting as well ? It's annoying that they are left after a base is destroyed...

Also, a range of 300 on the auto targeting would be better and not to OP in my opinion.

[mawnicker]

Just to chime in on the other side of things... I like the smaller range. The auto-targetting station is pretty cheap. You can always build more if you want to cover a larger area. This way you get to control the shape of that area more deliberately.

[Qon]

Just to chime in on the other side of things... I like the smaller range. The auto-targetting station is pretty cheap. You can always build more if you want to cover a larger area. This way you get to control the shape of that area more deliberately.

But a range of 200 is not that much bigger than a victory pole. 200 is borderline useless. Any shorter and it would never activate...
And why does it matter if the targeter is cheap? The actual weapon, the Ion cannon and the rocket, are not.

[Supercheese]

You can add longer range in the config all you like, and you shouldn't encounter too many problems if you have only a couple auto-targeters. But performance problems can arise if you have more than a dozen of them all scanning 500+ tile radii around themselves...

[DevilXD]

Could you add worms to the auto targeting as well ? It's annoying that they are left after a base is destroyed...

[Supercheese]

I'll add worms as valid auto-targets for the next version.

[DevilXD]

I'll add worms as valid auto-targets for the next version.

Thank you very much

[Qon]

New unofficial version!

Code: Select all

Version 1.2.1 by Qon - 2016-05-23 (ISO 8601)
----------------------------
Performance improvements for long range Auto targeting stations. Tested on a machine that struggles with 20/20 FPS/UPS, but range of 2000 seems
 to work better than 200 did before. Hard to tell on bad hardware though. Expect things to stutter and freeze less though.
ATS targets biters.
ATS avoids killing friendly entities.
ATS targets closest enemy instead of random enemy within range.
ATS avoids heatup time. "Heats up while targting"
Proximity check on friendly entities is optional.
Proximity check works with long range mod.
"Ion cannon ready" voice only plays if you have no ion cannons ready when one finishes cooldown. No more spam.
Klaxon only plays when player targets enemies.
Less text spam, especially for auto targeting.
Recipe now uses 2 satellites + more stuff instead of the ingredients for about 2 satellites + more stuff.

Since each auto targeting station targets an enemy every 10 seconds you need to place down 10 of them together (placed down one second apart) to get a fire rate of 1/second.

@SuperCheese
I didn't bother making the tidiest code possible. I was just fixing functionality q:
I didn't fix the accelerated cooldown bug that I found earlier either. Don't want to hog all the fun

I found another bug: The "Time until next ion cannon ready" times is stuck at 0 for some reason. I don't think I touched anything related to that. Whatever, it is minor.

Edit: ATS targets all enemies, not just biters. Just a typo. It uses api for finding enemies based on force, so could even work against enemy players (don't remember if the rest of the mod is multiplayer compatible though). Since the heatup is 0.1 seconds for ATS targeting it's pretty OP in PvP though. But satellite uplink station mod renders PvP impossible anyways q:

Edit: This 1.2.1 is not the same as the 1.2.1 Supercheese released. I accidentally chose the same version number q:
And I changed the default range to 500. But it isn't really needed since it can target all enemies and not just stationary targets.

[Supercheese]

@SuperCheese
I didn't bother making the tidiest code possible. I was just fixing functionality q:
I didn't fix the accelerated cooldown bug that I found earlier either. Don't want to hog all the fun

I believe that particular bug to be fixed in 1.2.1.

And there is a Github project page: https://github.com/Suprcheese/Orbital-Ion-Cannon

You can fork the repository, push changes, and make a pull request. I wasn't familiar with this workflow myself, until just a couple months ago, but it works great and is helpful to all parties involved.

[vanatteveldt]

@Supercheese, thanks for the update! I'm loving the auto-targeting... I now have 75 ion cannons patrolling my walls.

What is the range of the targeter? It seems to be a bit less than the STRS Impulse Radar, but I can find any statistics. In any case, I think a bit longer range would be okay, and making it (optionally) target biters or having a second building to target biters also sounds cool.

And there is a Github project page: https://github.com/Suprcheese/Orbital-Ion-Cannon

You can fork the repository, push changes, and make a pull request. I wasn't familiar with this workflow myself, until just a couple months ago, but it works great and is helpful to all parties involved.

+1, this is really the only way to collaborate with third parties, it really works great!

[DevilXD]

What is the range of the targeter? It seems to be a bit less than the STRS Impulse Radar, but I can find any statistics.

According to the config file, it's 200 tiles.

In any case, I think a bit longer range would be okay,

I've posted this like 6 post ago here:

Also, a range of 300 on the auto targeting would be better and not to OP in my opinion.

Luckily, we can change that in the config

and making it (optionally) target biters or having a second building to target biters also sounds cool.

With the heatup timer of 7 seconds, it's not going to be too accurate

[vanatteveldt]

I've posted this like 6 post ago here: [..]

So I guess I agree with you

and making it (optionally) target biters or having a second building to target biters also sounds cool.

With the heatup timer of 7 seconds, it's not going to be too accurate

Well, I think that's part of the tradeoff - it shouldn't become a turret-like weapon. But in my experience, biters tend to hover around in a fixed place quite a lot, so it might still be worth it. A good distance from friendly structures would be nice though

[bNarFProfCrazy]

Maybe you should add those FAQs to your main posts so that they can be discovered easier.

[Qon]

@SuperCheese
I didn't bother making the tidiest code possible. I was just fixing functionality q:
I didn't fix the accelerated cooldown bug that I found earlier either. Don't want to hog all the fun

I believe that particular bug to be fixed in 1.2.1.

And there is a Github project page: https://github.com/Suprcheese/Orbital-Ion-Cannon

You can fork the repository, push changes, and make a pull request. I wasn't familiar with this workflow myself, until just a couple months ago, but it works great and is helpful to all parties involved.

Yeah git is great, I've used it some. I won't make my updates as a pull request right now though. When I get the time.

In any case, I think a bit longer range would be okay, and making it (optionally) target biters or having a second building to target biters also sounds cool.

You can try out my version if you want performance improvements and ATS stations to target all enemies. My 1.2.1 version is made from the official 1.2.0 so you lose those latest improvements. I would say my additions are bigger and qooler though q:
It doesn't alter any buildings in any way that makes it incompatible so you should be able to just swap it back and forth as you like.

I would also like to have a short range 200-300 tiles auto targeter with targeting rate that can be used instead of turrets (as long as you don't run out of Ion Cannons lol) + a long range radar for detection of stationary targets. The API doesn't tell which chunk was scanned though which is really annoying...

and making it (optionally) target biters or having a second building to target biters also sounds cool.

With the heatup timer of 7 seconds, it's not going to be too accurate

Works in my version. In the future I would like it to move the target during the heatup instead of the solution I have now where the heatup for automatic targeting is 0.1 seconds. The in lore explanation is that you don't see the targeting until right before the blast but that it actually tracks and moves the target point while heating up. Next challenge is doing it technically too. Would also be nice if the player could drag the reticule as long as you don't let go of the button. Though I don't want to lose the ability to drag the mouse to fire off my 400 ion cannons either...

Well, I think that's part of the tradeoff - it shouldn't become a turret-like weapon. But in my experience, biters tend to hover around in a fixed place quite a lot, so it might still be worth it. A good distance from friendly structures would be nice though

I disagree, turret walls are annoying to place. Lots of manual work that can't be automated in my world with lots of water. And then you have to supply with repairpacks and new turrets, bots and walls all the time. And making a supply train will take forever since there's just so many stations and they are not lined up for easy rail laying. And if I want to expand I have to redo it all. Much simpler to send up a few hundred rockets and then just plop down a few targeting stations here and there to defend an area that is a square km or bigger. Targeting station never need repairs if they kill everything before it comes close enough and the placement doesn't really depend on terrain features with their long range.

[DevilXD]

The API doesn't tell which chunk was scanned though which is really annoying...

IIRC, devs are adding that to the 0.13 version

[Qon]

The API doesn't tell which chunk was scanned though which is really annoying...

IIRC, devs are adding that to the 0.13 version

Fantastic! Then it's only a week until long range radar type spawner targeters will be possible.

[DevilXD]

Is it possible to have a table which keeps track of currently targeted spawners, so that other auto-targetting stations will not "waste" several ion cannons on one spawner ?

[malk0lm]

I just launched a cannon and when I try to use it I get the error: Friendly character in critical proximity to target zone. I have it fully zoomed out and no one is near the target, only the biter base. Why won't it fire?

I'm on 12.34.

[Qon]

I just launched a cannon and when I try to use it I get the error: Friendly character in critical proximity to target zone. I have it fully zoomed out and no one is near the target, only the biter base. Why won't it fire?

I'm on 12.34.

Because you haven't read the description carefully enough and you are not using the latest version.