Mod Request/Idea: Ocean Ships

[Bizobinator]

What about using AAI's programmable vehicles framework & what-not to make automated ships? I would loooooooooove to play an ocean game where you had to use cargo ships (freighters & tankers) to ship stuff across oceans ^_^.

Or, even use a variety of railroad? Like, a "shipping lane" item, which is semi-visible.


It could be spiced up with ocean and/or air enemies, convoys/escorts, & what not.

Think of PvP games where you have Battle of the Atlantic-like convoy battles! :O

[thedarkbunny]

I like the idea, but it might be more complex than you'd expect. AAI's vehicles tap into the biter AI for pathfinding, which (for obvious reasons) won't calculate paths across water.

A "shipping lane" system might work decently well, though without a pathfinding engine behind it you'd have to manually set a course between each pair of endpoints.

Depending on how far ahead the AI looks, it should be possible to hack together an amphibious vehicle that can shortcut across water when it's faster than driving around it, but that would involve some ugly workarounds.

Pretty sure aircraft have been done, but I'm not sure anyone has done flying enemies. Something worth looking into, certainly.

[SuicideJunkie]

Do you mean like this?
Youtube
Ships Mod

[Pi-C]

Do you mean like this?
Youtube
Ships Mod

The mod you linked to hasn't been updated for 2 years. There is a remake, though, that's supposed to work with 0.17. I haven't tried it out, but from the description it seems to have no features beyond what the original mod has -- apperently, you just get a basic steamship that can be placed, but isn't minable, and that can only be driven manually. It may be worth to keep an eye on it, though; perhaps it will be developed further.

Meanwhile, I'd highly recommend Cargo Ships, which already does provide what the OP is looking for:

I would loooooooooove to play an ocean game where you had to use cargo ships (freighters & tankers) to ship stuff across oceans ^_^.

Mod provides cargo ships and tankers. Tankers can be loaded at ports, but you can also send them to pick up oil from off-shore oil rigs. The mod also provides a small boat.

Or, even use a variety of railroad? Like, a "shipping lane" item, which is semi-visible.

The mod provides so-called waterways, which are free to produce. You can then use your ships (and the small boat) just like trains, giving them routes between ports (instead of train stations), and making the routes safely passable with signal and chain signal buoys (instead of signals and chain signals). In fact, ships and the small boat (if it's driving on waterways) are just trains in disguise. The small boat doesn't need to be put on waterways, though, it can be driven freely on water -- just like a car (which it actually is, in disguise) on land.

It could be spiced up with ocean and/or air enemies

This is not part of Cargo Ships, but it has an optional dependency on CanalBuilder. That mod introduces swimming:

Swimming - Players, vehicles, and biters can cross shallow water

Thus, biters can attack your ships if they cross shallow water, so they are not entirely safe! On Cargo Ships' information page, artillery ships are mentioned under "Planned features", but apparently, the author is working on silos and cranes right now.

[BlueTemplar]

Neither Cargo Ships, nor Canal Builder existed when these posts were made.

(I blame forum software for not making it clearer that a long time has passed between posts...)

P.S.: Also, hi to SuicideJunkie from Space Empires forums, you might remember me, my avatar looked like this back then :

[Pi-C]

Neither Cargo Ships, nor Canal Builder existed when these posts were made.

Sorry for necroing, then.

(I blame forum software for not making it clearer that a long time has passed between posts...)

No, no, forum software is not to blame in this regard, at least in this case: The problem was that the thread popped up under "New posts" because a spammer managed to sneak in lots of links to porn sites, and somebody posted a commented on that. I just acted on the topic without looking at the date of the original posts -- my own mistake entirely!

[BlueTemplar]

Yes, I know, and something like this would have helped to not make this mistake :
https://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/t/ba ... /143178/64
(Note the "11 months later" mention.)

[Pi-C]

(Note the "11 months later" mention.)

Ah, there it is -- had to let NoScript make an exception for that site before I could see it.

[BlueTemplar]

Yeah, those dynamic web sites are a pain...