A Practical Carrier for Disco

[darthbeck]

this sounds pretty awsome..

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<span style="font-family:Century Gothic">Violence is Golden</span>

[Encheta]

I have a question.. Would weapons explosions damage the fighters inside?

For example:

*Carrier with fighters comes up against 2 battleships*
Carrier: Launch fighters!!
*Battleships fire mortars, which blows up all fighters inside*
Carrier: Uhh... Crap.

Whether that would be a good thing or not if this would happen I'm not sure. I guess it does sort of signify that the carrier is taking internal damage, even reducing it's fighting capability by destroying it's fighters, but... yea. Those pilots inside may not think it's too cool..

EDIT: Now that I think about it.. A carrier should be launching its fighters before enemies come into weapons range, so this shouldn't be a problem..

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[worldstrider]

I have a question.. Would weapons explosions damage the fighters inside?

For example:

*Carrier with fighters comes up against 2 battleships*
Carrier: Launch fighters!!
*Battleships fire mortars, which blows up all fighters inside*
Carrier: Uhh... Crap.

Whether that would be a good thing or not if this would happen I'm not sure. I guess it does sort of signify that the carrier is taking internal damage, even reducing it's fighting capability by destroying it's fighters, but... yea. Those pilots inside may not think it's too cool..

EDIT: Now that I think about it.. A carrier should be launching its fighters before enemies come into weapons range, so this shouldn't be a problem for prudent pilots.

Radius weapons would damage things inside if they were close enough--though there is enough room for this not to be much of a problem.

Carriers historically try to launch and recover aircraft away from hostile force detection and are most vulnerable launching and recovering--I am trying to replicate this atmosphere with how the fighters are stored and launched. In Freelancer, the carrier will also be a sortie point--where ships can attack from and fall back to. It will have defenses--for example--placing a repair ship in the carrier makes it easy to resupply. The cargo hatch should make it tricky launching but very doable. So close to what it is like in real life.
Novas may find a real application against carriers.

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[Elsdragon]

You should do it now
Oh crap, My haiku is stuck
on, fear the wordplay

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No longer a slave to the man!

[MrHeadphones]

It does sound like an interesting idea. However, if you have the bays just tied to dropping cargo, what happens when you run out? Also, things can fly out, but things can also fly in, right?

For example:

Carrier and support come up against a group of pirates.

Carrier: "Launch fighters!"

Pirates: "Attack!"

Barghest noob: Sneaks into carrier

Would the carrier take hits on the shield or hull from the subsequent internal SNAC battering, and what would happen if an entire fighter battle ended up taking place inside the carrier?

[worldstrider]

It does sound like an interesting idea. However, if you have the bays just tied to dropping cargo, what happens when you run out? Also, things can fly out, but things can also fly in, right?

For example:

Carrier and support come up against a group of pirates.

Carrier: "Launch fighters!"

Pirates: "Attack!"

Barghest noob: Sneaks into carrier

Would the carrier take hits on the shield or hull from the subsequent internal SNAC battering, and what would happen if an entire fighter battle ended up taking place inside the carrier?

I'm making it a little tough to just "fly into" one. Guns will be concentrated about the bay entrance primarily and there is a narrow window to enter and exit. "Ballast" (the dropped cargo), can be re-tractored as soon as it drops. A cargo of several hundred should be more than enough...scrap metal being the most common to use.

If someone does infiltrate--then the carrier will have an interesting dilemma. Will be fun I am sure.

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[DAnvilFan]

You don't need to make cargo bay doors perse. They would be neat, but it's not really a necessity. Having a hole on the side of a ship should work just fine (carrier stops, pilots emerge). Entering formation with the carrier while inside the carrier should keep the ships from banging around too much. Although this depends on the actual "formation" execution code. Can you make the "formation" rally point be located inside the ship? Or would Freelancer freak out if you tried to do formation with a ship while inside it?


Edit: Make the Cruiser's cargo hold be something like 6000. Then create a single indestructible commodity that takes up 6000 units of cargo space. That way you can't destroy it and large transports can't grab it.

[worldstrider]

You don't need to make cargo bay doors perse. They would be neat, but it's not really a necessity. Having a hole on the side of a ship should work just fine (carrier stops, pilots emerge). Entering formation with the carrier while inside the carrier should keep the ships from banging around too much. Although this depends on the actual "formation" execution code. Can you make the "formation" rally point be located inside the ship? Or would Freelancer freak out if you tried to do formation with a ship while inside it?
Edit: Make the Cruiser's cargo hold be something like 6000. Then create a single indestructible commodity that takes up 6000 units of cargo space. That way you can't destroy it and large transports can't grab it.

Gets abused as a trader then. No one is going to launch and recover say more than 800+ times without tractoring in something to boot during a single encounter. I already have opening for fighters to enter and exit but like the door idea best.

Its unknown to me at present how to anchor the formation point but I am looking for answers and we will see--my thought is "not real practical but possible" (might be a whole lotta hull scrapin').

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[Taffic]

I've always liked the idea of a dockable ship, with fighters flying out to defend. The Hispania concept is really thinking outside the box & it would be fantastic if a FLhook command could be generated for an internal formation. This would add some unique character to the game - keep the ideas flowing :)

Just thinking of Babylon 5 with the mobile Pirate base in Episode 1.

One final thought before I finish my bottle of wine - might it be possible to link a small squadron of NPC fighters to the carrier & if so would they know how to get out???

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[Elsdragon]

use the doors

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No longer a slave to the man!