Federation AI Ship Idea: Need help

[Superblox]

Hello all you lovely people! Before you go saying that AI has been done already, I've decided to try my hand at it, but my idea is slightly advanced. I already have a hull that I could use, which is basically an Auto-Scout re-colored with Federation colors, but I need help with the mod itself. I need suggestions. What would fit the best on an AI ship? I know I could look at the other mods and take ideas from that, but where's the fun in that? Besides, I can get some input from you all! I'll post the hull image. If you could help make the layout for me, that would be appreciated too. I'm not sure what is best, so please feel free to leave suggestions!

Federation AI Ship:

[R4V3-0N]

In terms of weapons the vanilla weapons the auto assault and scout are quite simular to the traditional federation and rebel weapons... in specific this is the weapon list the auto ship uses...

Code: Select all

   <name>LASER_BURST_1</name>
   <name>LASER_BURST_2_A</name>
   <name>LASER_BURST_3</name>
   <name>LASER_BURST_5</name>
   <name>LASER_HEAVY_1</name>
   <name>LASER_HEAVY_2</name>
   <name>MISSILES_1</name>
   <name>MISSILES_2</name>
   <name>MISSILES_3</name>
   <name>BEAM_1</name>
   <name>BEAM_2</name>
   <name>BOMB_1</name>
   <name>BOMB_FIRE</name>
   <name>BOMB_ION</name>
   <name>ION_1</name>
   <name>ION_2</name>
   <name>ION_4</name>
   
   <name>LASER_CHAINGUN</name>
   <name>ION_CHARGEGUN</name>

So we can see here it uses all the burst lasers and other lasers as well as the heavies
It uses most bombs besides the breach, and it have an impressive array of ions and a few beams.

The auto ships are infamous for having 1 of each kinda weapon.

ie a bomb, missile, ion, and burst laser.

or a missile, ion ,beam, and laser. etc... So the starting load out should have 2 or 3 weapons that isn't the same type.


Drones is also common on the assault, and it can help you out... The problem with AI ships is they can't repair fires and breaches... breaches is a problem if you can't repair them you can't repair the system.

The 3 most common ways to counter this problem is...

1) have crew onboard. (Lanius, ghost, or normal crew if o2 is present)
2) slug repair gel. (if you use this, be a bit more fancy and rename it. as this isn't a slug ship)
3) drones. specifically repair drones.

Some popular ideas are having the auto ships to start with slug-like weapons, ie fire beams, anti bio beams, etc.

which I find weird as slug ships rarely have these in the modding community

Code: Select all

   <name>LASER_BURST_1</name>
   <name>LASER_BURST_2_A</name>
   <name>LASER_BURST_3</name>
   <name>LASER_BURST_5</name>
   <name>LASER_HEAVY_1</name>
   <name>LASER_HEAVY_2</name>
   <name>MISSILES_1</name>
   <name>MISSILES_2</name>
   <name>MISSILES_3</name>
   <name>MISSILES_BREACH</name>
   <name>BEAM_1</name>
   <name>BEAM_2</name>
   <name>BOMB_1</name>
   
   <name>SHOTGUN</name>
   <name>LASER_CHAINGUN_2</name>
   <name>ION_CHARGEGUN</name>
   <name>ION_STUN</name>

This is the federation weapon list.

Pretty much the same but more missiles, less bombs, no ions (besides both AE ones), and the vulcan and flak.

Fed normally do burst laser + missile.

[Superblox]

Hmm... I see. I'll take all these weapons into consideration! I'll see what I can do with the layout, and try to fit systems into the rooms.

1) have crew onboard. (Lanius, ghost, or normal crew if o2 is present)
2) slug repair gel. (if you use this, be a bit more fancy and rename it. as this isn't a slug ship)
3) drones. specifically repair drones.

1) I want this to be a normal AI ship in the beginning, with the option to receive Oxygen if you want crew in it.
2) I was actually planning on this. By the way, how would I rename it?
3) Of course. In my opinion, a ship is incomplete without a drone system!

[stylesrj]

2) I was actually planning on this. By the way, how would I rename it?
3) Of course. In my opinion, a ship is incomplete without a drone system!

2) Blueprints.xml

Find the Slug_repair (I think its called) and then change the name under the <name></name> tags to something else.

3) Is that all ships or all AI ships? Because opinions may vary on how useful a Drone Control is on all ships
But an AI ship should have a Drone Control System. It is after all an AI controlling AIs.

[Superblox]

2) Blueprints.xml

Erm.... Where would I find that? I am not very familiar with the FTL directories...

And in my opinion, ALL ships should have the option for drones, unlike some modded ships that I have occasionally found on this site that don't have the system. It irritates me at times, but I guess I can't blame them if they need to do it to make the ship less OP.

[stylesrj]

Erm.... Where would I find that? I am not very familiar with the FTL directories...

Check under the data folder. You did unpack your FTL files, right? If not, go unpack them then check for blueprints.xml under data.

And in my opinion, ALL ships should have the option for drones, unlike some modded ships that I have occasionally found on this site that don't have the system. It irritates me at times, but I guess I can't blame them if they need to do it to make the ship less OP.

So you want ships to start with a drone bay or just have a choice to purchase a drone bay because I don't think any respectable mod-maker does that these days. It'd be like denying Hacking (which by the way would definitely make a ship less OP. Drones are not the bee's knees of overpoweredness)

[R4V3-0N]

I think the only times I leave out the drone system is when I do not have enough rooms for everything and the ships theme would rather beckon for something else instead of drones.

[Superblox]

Honestly, I have no idea how to unpack the files ._.

[RAD-82]

I think Slipstream is capable of unpacking the files, but it has been a while since I looked. It's possible I just used the old Superluminal when I unpacked the files. I'd assume that Superluminal 2 is still capable of that, but I've never touched that program.

Anyways, you don't need to unpack them to view the data files. Slipstream has a feature that will let you view them. Something about a sandbox...? Like I said above, it has been a while since I looked.