So when I was thinking about aircraft for cataclysm DDA I thought they would be too fast/annoying to handle, so I thought “Why not blimps?”
So basically it would have to be built from scratch with Carbon Fiber Frames (special frames for air vehicles).
A dirigible/blimp/hot air balloon should have four things: A basket, Controls, Gas Balloon tiles, and a fuel source.
Accessories: Engines, Propellers, Helium Tank, Propane Tank, Gas Burner, Balloon Valve, and Anchor Ropes for climbing down while the thing is parked.
It would be fairly easy to do that. Just write a C++ program that translates the 2d pictures of the current game screen as it runs in the background, and translate each object into a running version of source sdk. Im a sdk writer so it can at times look really good.
Of course the textures would have to be wrapped and blended at the ends to match…
Color randomization would be needed, and specific textures would needed to be made in 3d max which i could do…
Of course this is my idea of a work around… Not an actual “3D” version. Just think of it as a mod. Not coming up with Cattaclysm DDA II, since the work should belong to the original devs. They can decide on a 3d mode as long with their old (in the future) version of text based programing.
I think it would make vehicles even more awesome, if the Z levels are fixed why not just add another? If not, applying an [In_Air] tag to keep it from colliding with things and only be hit by ranged attacks.
It would should be simple if Z levels are fixed, if not the Tagged system would suffice. The vehicle code would need a bit of chopping up.
If Z levels are added include a new enemy type: Dust/Rust/Ice cloud it would be immobile, very frequent, and damage the airship parts when driven into. Make them hard to avoid to make very regular maintenance a must. Boom, idea implemented.
Flying vehicles don’t’ work right now because you could fly over a house wall and be in the house when you should be over it.
Though I suppose you could do some special hack where when flying any tiles that are “inside” are not directly visible and are instead replaced by a roof type tile (different ones for different types; aka vehicles, building, etc…)
That is what the clouds are for pthalocy, they damage the vehicle regularly so it would require lots of maintenance.
I forgot acid rain was a thing, and that theoretically you could now fly through it. Dear god. PERFECT.
I second wanting to be able to tame giant bees. One of my playthroughs had a number of plantlike mutations and I kept sitting there wondering if he smelled delicious to insects instead of threatalicious.
I have to ask: how much noise, if any worth noting, do these airships make? I mean Once a blimp is up, it’s up, but it’s got propellers on it to maneuver left/right etc. You’d have to turn off all props and coast to your intended landing pad, and drop anchor/lose buoyancy however you do as silently as possible, else risk the biggest of noise-attracted hoardes waiting for you on the ground. Assuming of course future z-level designs allow for mobs hearing shit above them.
[quote=“Pthalocy, post:15, topic:1578”]I want a pet reindeer bee.
I have to ask: how much noise, if any worth noting, do these airships make? I mean Once a blimp is up, it’s up, but it’s got propellers on it to maneuver left/right etc. You’d have to turn off all props and coast to your intended landing pad, and drop anchor/lose buoyancy however you do as silently as possible, else risk the biggest of noise-attracted hoardes waiting for you on the ground. Assuming of course future z-level designs allow for mobs hearing shit above them.[/quote]
If youtube is any indication… lots. Props are noisy, and bear in mind that you’ll need to run them in reverse to slow down before you can land, which also makes noise… nicely balancing the relative safety of your journey.
Bees would be the electric engine of the family, a methode of capture (trap, domestication with honey, or a lab mind control device.) and some rope and it would be less noisy, but still very noisy.
That or we could have ion engines for real electric power consumption.
But yeah, I want an awesome floating base.
Also to be noted: the balloons of these things are incredibly hard to destroy, the balloon should maintain enough buoyancy even when 25% of the surface is destroyed to land safely.
Also I fucking love bees so I apologize for my repeated absurdity. BEING A MUTANT BEE WOULD BE THE BEST THING. Pro points if one mutation involves a communication hindering flaw, because you communicate more by wiggle-dancing. Bonus when talking to other bees.
I’d like to see hang-gliders, though those are not stable airships.
How would you get the helium required to make the dirigibles feasible? That shit’s hard as hell to get with the world intact as it is. I assume hydrogen would be much easier to manufacture, and I know one of those was already coded into the game (forget which one).