This is a proposal for adding station defense to Rogue Fleet stations. In previous versions, Rogue Fleet stations have either a TeV 9 blaster or a star cannon for defense. For 1.9, we propose that they have outrigger static defenders with weapons appropriate to their surroundings.

The following outriggers are defined:

LEVEL WEAPON                        ARMOR                HP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 6    TeV 9 blaster                 Blast plate          90
 6    SAR/10 cannon                 Advanced plasteel    90

 7    Dual TeV 9 blasters           Heavy blast plate    120
 7    NM900 missile pod             P150 Hexphase        120
 7    Dual SAR/10 cannons           P150 Hexphase        120
 7    Katana star cannon            Heavy blast plate    120

 8    Fusionfire howitzer           P450 Hexphase        160
 8    Dual Katana star cannons      Medium ithalium      160
the_shrike 10 Oct 2021:

The NM900, as a missile weapon, may overperform for level 7 (especially if you use the Britannia reload code). High DPS tracking weaponry is difficult for players to counter (and encourages sniping from range rather than getting in and fighting where the AI can retaliate), so limiting the number of these weapons on individual stations (or finding a substitute) is probably a good idea.

digarw 21 Oct 2021:

What about mine field like Sapiens do? They also uses mine launcher in CSC Mission and work best on higher level. Better remove NM900 and put mine launcher in level 8 because as Shrike said, it overperform for their level yet they never seen have been used it.

EDIT: Since Britannia is said to be a new models to displace Centurion/X for Commonwealth Fleet, I think the NM900 is also come along with the ship. So it's a bit unreasonable Rogue Fleet have that disposable launcher as they need constant supplies for it.

the_shrike 22 Oct 2021:

Having tested mine launchers for the CRM100, it does require some tweaks to the virtual item to make it work (spawning a mine with syscreateweaponfire prevents it from proximity-detonating, so it needs a fragmentMinRadius set), but otherwise it works really well.

I'll poke you on discord but I have functioning code that can be poked and prodded into something suitable.

the_shrike 22 Oct 2021:

Okay, notes from my own experiments with CRM100-based minefields around fleet bases (which use the rogue fleet stations as templates) and booby-trapped 'shipwrecks':

  • Use of the basic code from the Sapiens minelayer works, but a direct copy does not because the CRM100 is a much more powerful weapon.
  • The CRM100 has friendly fire capability when it detonates. Thus, it has to be quite some distance from the spawning station when it's live. The Sapiens spawn radius will reliably kill the firing station every single time.
  • Rogue fleet stations I believe can have other factions visiting them that we don't want to immediately kill with mines. Thus the station must/ have NoFriendlyFire enabled.
  • To avoid a mine blowing up right next to the station the projectile requires a failsafe. Usually I go for 120 because that's very safe indeed.
    • Removing the canHitSource would also help with this but that's no fun. Leaving it on and using other methods allows blowing up enemies in their own mines, but only if you work for it.
  • Mines created with sysCreateWeaponFire do not proximity-detonate. For a high-radius minefield this is a problem: setting fragmentMinRadius to 2 or so gets around it to a degree.
  • The base CRM100 does in fact detonate when it times out. We should probably fix that, but if it hasn't been fixed and you want to use it, that's a problem.
    • Because of all these, you can't use the base CRM100 item in sysCreateWeaponFire to create a properly-functioning minefield: you need to make a virtual clone of it, then tune that for station use (and leave the stock one as the item that actually turns up in wreckage)
  • Minefields and patrols should not overlap (if they do a well-armored enemy can detonate them and destroy the guards a little too easily)
    • But they can be close to each other to tempt players. Sometimes they'll pull it off.
  • Randomising the speed of sysCreateWeaponFire slightly makes a high-radius minefield look a lot better, since the mines spread out more.
wolfy 16 Nov 2021:

Should the rogue fleet even be using ammo? They dont really have any supply lines, just what they defected with.

the_shrike 19 Nov 2021:

@Wolfy

I think it does. Mines in particular are canonically quite common in lore, but not ingame. The sort of thing that would be lying around in large numbers is fine, but nothing too modern or premium I think.

derakon 20 Nov 2021:

Plus, if you're going to be using ammo, using it to defend your home base is about as good a use as I can think of.

wolfy 21 Nov 2021:

Also, come to think of it, is there a reason for the rogue fleet to be hostile to a non-member of the CW fleet/militias? If the player is just a nobody without having earned a military ID at some point (stealing one doesnt count as earning it, though a stolen one might still set them off if you docked with them)

They could be a conditionally hostile/neutral/friendly faction that people not in good standing with the CW's military could befriend and get at least a subset of military supplies from, as well as installation services. No stuff like free fuel though, still have to pay for that, since they wouldnt have the logistics for it.

digarw 22 Nov 2021:

There are reason, most rogue fleet are doing piracy. They are defected soldiers and not a proper businessman.

wolfy 22 Nov 2021:

Is this explained anywhere in-game right now? Might be some new missions added in the last few years that we haven't seen

derakon 22 Nov 2021:

I think it's just assumed. The stereotype for military deserters is that they become bandits. They have the skills and equipment for it, and can't make a legitimate living due to being outlaws.