Implementing Particle Cannon and DHVRL

[Khall]

One of the things I find Xenonauts to be lacklustre is in the variation of weaponry. By this I mean that you get every type of weapon at the start (exception: stun weapons and the different types of grenades), with each tier being simply an upgrade over the previous. There are no "unique" (for lack of a better word) weapons.

In the files at the moment there are the assets (images, sounds, animations, etc.) for a particle cannon and DHVRL.

Particle cannon:

This would be the equivalent of an alien plasma cannon. It would be researched around the same time as Predator armour, giving it another weapon type to use instead of machineguns (it already has animations). The weapon should be very heavy, have the heavy weapon penalty and have massive recoil (the stronger the soldier, the more accurate it is) so that though anyone can use it, only extremely strong soldiers or those with predator armour could wield it effectively. Lower radius and damage than the default rocket launcher with plasma rockets (which is the equivilent, i guess),unwieldy and hasn't got the different types of rockets, but has a 4 round battery. It should also have a relatively expensive manufacturing cost for the gun and ammo.

Stats im currently testing with:

<Weapon name="weapon.particlebeam" bulletType="rocket" emptySound="Empty Click 1">	<props range="20" hands="2" recoil="80" weight="12" isHeavy="1" clipSize="4" reloadAPCost="30" reloadSound="Weapon Particle Beam Reload" reactionModifier="1" hpLimit="80" disableDamageScaling="1" />	<SingleShot sound="Weapon Particle Beam Single" delay="1.2" suppressionValue="60" suppressionRadius="4">		<Set1 ap="30" accuracy="40" />		<Set2 ap="40" accuracy="80" />	</SingleShot>	<GUIImage name="gui/weapons/ParticleBeam.png"/>	<GroundImage name="grounditemimages/assault_rifle.png"/>	<Ammos>		<Ammo name="ammo.ballistic.flamethrower" type="energy" damage="150" mitigation="20" isOverdamage="1">		<Projectile spectre="projectiles/alienplasma/PLYellow" speed="1600"/>       		<Impact spectre="particles/aleniumexplosion/aleniumexplosion" radius="2.5" sound="Weapon Plasma Grenade" fireChance="0" smokeChance="10" gasType="GrenadeFragSmoke" />     			</Ammo>	</Ammos></Weapon>

DHVRL

Disposable Hyper Velocity Rocket Launcher, this would be a one shot weapon that does massive damage in a small radius, obliterating most single targets. Quite accurate. It is light enough that each soldier could carry one or two (though at the expense of foregoing other equipment) but has the heavy weapon penalty. This would be an end-game item, obtained around when MAG is researched. Causes overdamage. Each unit should have to be manufactured.

Stats im currently testing with:

<Weapon name="weapon.DHVRL" bulletType="rocket" emptySound="Empty Click 1">	<props range="25" hands="2" recoil="0" weight="6" isHeavy="1" clipSize="1" reloadAPCost="25" reloadSound="Weapon Rocket Launcher Reload" reactionModifier="0" isMonoUse="1" hpLimit="80" disableDamageScaling="1" />	<SingleShot sound="Vehicle Weapon MAC Burst" delay="1.2" suppressionValue="60" suppressionRadius="4">		<Set1 ap="30" accuracy="80" />		<Set2 ap="40" accuracy="100" />	</SingleShot>	<BurstFire/>	<GUIImage name="weapons/misc/DHVRLSopen.png"/>	<GroundImage name="grounditemimages/rocketlauncher.png"/>	<Ammos>		<Ammo name="weapon.rocket.hyper" type="kinetic" damage="200" stunDamage="0" mitigation="50" isOverdamage="1">			<Projectile spectre="projectiles/rocket" speed="1700"/>			<Impact spectre="particles/smallgrenade/small_grenade" radius="1.5" sound="Weapon HV Rocket" fireChance="20" smokeChance="30" gasType="GrenadeFragSmoke" />		</Ammo>	</Ammos></Weapon>

The aim of this suggestion is to add more "interesting" weapons throughout the course of the game to keep it fresh. All the stats or when they should be obtained are guesswork, since ive no idea about the mid or end game balance.

Here's a "proof of concept" video I made using existing assets (apart from the particle cannon projectile)

[video=youtube;p9tGQsDBQL8]

Edited December 13, 2013 by Khall

[Assoonasitis]

The "kachoom-THOK" of the DHVRL is so satisfying, you have no idea.

[Assoonasitis]

As a side note, I would dig it if the "precision MAG" was a legit rail gun instead of just another sniper rifle: heavy (Predator OK), hard to aim without Predator armour, massive damage and full penetration. I know the penetration thing would be a nightmare to code into the game, but the rest of the stuff would be cool. Also, you could equip your guys with a thing called a Rail Gun, which is all hells of awesome.

[Surrealistik]

That's fucking awesome; hope the devs add them to the game.

[raziel1981]

I hope this gets implemented as well, both of these look extremely cool and seem very easy to plug into the game as they're mostly ready for usage

[winterwolves]

Very cool.

[Akrakorn]

The sounds are really good (and the idea too).

[Aaron]

Very cool! We are planning on putting the Particle Cannon in remixed into a Singularity Cannon, as a sort of Uber end game weapon which requires Singularity Cores to build the ammo.

I would like to get the DHVRL back in too, but we will have to see.

[Max_Caine]

This post might be useful re. the particle cannon.

[Chris]

Very cool indeed. DHVRL looks fun.

The Singularity Cannon is intended to be a Predator-only weapon when it re-appears.

[Kiel]

okay, where do I put the code to make it work?

[TacticalDragon]

Anyone has the projectile data for Particle Cannon? I'll really appreciate this.

[Mikhail Ragulin]

And what "hpLimit="80"" does, and if it's still active.

[Khall]

okay, where do I put the code to make it work?

This was quite a few builds ago, I'm not sure if it will still work without some modifications to it. The code is what I used in "weapons_gc". You could try overwriting the existing data for it, and remember to do the rest of the stuff to implement it. e.g make sure there is an entry in "items", "manufactures" etc. Check the modding forums for more info. I might make a standalone mod for it If I have time (I've already done xenopedia images for it).

Anyone has the projectile data for Particle Cannon? I'll really appreciate this.

I'll send you the projectiles I used

And what "hpLimit="80"" does, and if it's still active.

As far as I can tell, items in ground combat had their own health. When it took more damage than its health (through overdamage) it would be destroyed. But I don't really know, that's my impression of it. It was never really used in the end, so I don't know if its still active.

[Slayerjerman]

Would you mind packing up the XMLs and projectiles into a ZIP? I'd love to get my hands on this as well.

[Khall]

I lost the XMLs, but for projectiles I highly recommend lightgemini's pack

http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/10837-MOD-Projectiles-images-Replacement?highlight=projectiles

My particle cannon projectile is just a modified version of one of the projectiles in that pack. Here's my projectile.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tneu2zdbzct34jf/New%20PL%20Projectictiles.rar