Bunch of technical questions related to weapons/shields

[mr.WHO]

I have a bunch of technical questions regarding X4 ship weapons/equipment.

1) Will there be any limit for small ships (fighters) amount of guns and missile launchers? So far on screenshots/video I see fighters with max two guns and max two missiles.

2) Will we be able to set up gun/groups like in X3 (e.g. assign 2 PAC to key1, 4 HEPT to key2)?

3) Will missiles be stored in ship cargo bay like in X3, or there will be dedicated missile space on the ship (e.g. missile pylons, missile bay)?

4) Will capital ships use missile ammunition? Or will it be "fake" like X-Rebirth, where they eat ammo, but can shoot with 0 ammo.

5) Will shield be power-type like X3 (e.g. 200 MJ, 1 GJ) or will they be just a "generator" like in X-Rebirth (e.g ships can have max 6 generators equiped in ShipYard).

6) Will we be able to directly take control of turrets or they will be AI only?

7) Will turrets be capable of missile-defence like in X3, or do you plan to make something dedicated for this (e.g. Flares, decoys, dedicated anti-missile turrets)?

[j.harshaw]

I have a bunch of technical questions regarding X4 ship weapons/equipment.

1) Will there be any limit for small ships (fighters) amount of guns and missile launchers? So far on screenshots/video I see fighters with max two guns and max two missiles.

Yes. Number of guns, engines, shield generators, turrets that can be installed is defined on the hull.

2) Will we be able to set up gun/groups like in X3 (e.g. assign 2 PAC to key1, 4 HEPT to key2)?

Yes, but not sure if you can assign firing of each group to different keys. There are certainly two groups that are assigned to different keys. But i think you have to switch between groups before being able to use a key to fire weapons in that group. Any given weapon can be in several groups. Not all groups have to be populated.

3) Will missiles be stored in ship cargo bay like in X3, or there will be dedicated missile space on the ship (e.g. missile pylons, missile bay)?

At the moment, ship hulls have missile storage which are internal bays only for missiles.

4) Will capital ships use missile ammunition? Or will it be "fake" like X-Rebirth, where they eat ammo, but can shoot with 0 ammo.

All ships that fire missiles currently use ammunition and cannot do so when they run out.

5) Will shield be power-type like X3 (e.g. 200 MJ, 1 GJ) or will they be just a "generator" like in X-Rebirth (e.g ships can have max 6 generators equiped in ShipYard).

Not sure i understand your question? Each ship can have a certain number of shield generators (variable, but max depends on the hull), each shield generator is rated to a certain amount of joules, total effect is cumulative EXCEPT for smaller shield generators that only protect a smaller number of subcomponents.

6) Will we be able to directly take control of turrets or they will be AI only?

Don't know, sorry.

7) Will turrets be capable of missile-defence like in X3, or do you plan to make something dedicated for this (e.g. Flares, decoys, dedicated anti-missile turrets)?

The AI currently has a mode for this, but we haven't decided on an interface for the player to activate it yet, so it might still go away. Countermeasures are also in, these are in addition to turrets doing missile defence.

[MegaJohnny]

Ooh, new info, thanks J .

3) Will missiles be stored in ship cargo bay like in X3, or there will be dedicated missile space on the ship (e.g. missile pylons, missile bay)?

At the moment, ship hulls have missile storage which are internal bays only for missiles.

Does this mean, then, that missiles are wares in the same sense as trade wares, but with a different storage type?

[j.harshaw]

Does this mean, then, that missiles are wares in the same sense as trade wares, but with a different storage type?

Eh, no. At the moment (and i cannot stress that enough) missiles are neither stored nor traded as wares. They're manufactured to order, similarly to ships, then directly stored in the customer's ship's missile bay.

[A5PECT]

Does this mean, then, that missiles are wares in the same sense as trade wares, but with a different storage type?

Eh, no. At the moment (and i cannot stress that enough) missiles are neither stored nor traded as wares. They're manufactured to order, similarly to ships, then directly stored in the customer's ship's missile bay.

This seems to imply that a ship can only rearm itself with missiles at a station that manufactures them.

So we can't just bring missiles in some kind of transporter to resupply combat ships away from stations? So carriers won't be able to rearm their fighters, either?

[Ezarkal]

This seems to imply that a ship can only rearm itself with missiles at a station that manufactures them.

The way I see this, the stress is on the "At the moment", so it implies that it's still WIP and subject to change. (I might be wrong, though. Writing/reading on forums is a good way to misinterpret stuff.)

It does induce some brainwaves, though. How about mobile missile manufactures? (Ships that will load up in various wares, produce missiles on board and then sell them where needed, directly to the other ships.)

...just throwing some random thoughts around.

[mr.WHO]

IMO Freighters and Carriers should be able to transport missiles for other ships/fighters otherwise it would make missile supply for carreir fighters an capships a chore.

[Falcrack]

So regarding missile storage, is this how it will work?

Missiles loaded into the cargo bay will be treated as wares, ie not firable.

Missiles loaded on missile pylons/rack will be firable, and not take up cargo space.

To load missiles on missile racks, the ship must be docked? Or can it somehow load direct from cargo bays into missile racks while in space? If so, is there any delay for missile loading times?

[CBJ]

Missiles cannot be loaded into the cargo bay.

[Falcrack]

Missiles cannot be loaded into the cargo bay.

That seems really, really odd. When in a cargo bay, why could they not simply be treated as any other ware that takes up space?

And what if we want to purchase missiles from some location using a freighter that lacks missile pylons, and transport them to another base of operations? Or send them from a missile producing complex to a base where we would want to restock the ships? The only option would be to load them in the very limited missile rack spaces on the freighters to transport them? Or send all our ships we want to equip with missiles directly to the missile producing stations?

[adeine]

Yeah, that seems like it would break the ability to set up your own supply chains.

[ajime]

Personally I would of have preferred general cargo bay for supply chain play.

[Seanchaidh]

I wonder if eventually they'll have two different modes of storage; in specialized missile magazines ready to launch and as ordinary wares that must be loaded into a launcher by some mechanism/crew.

[j.harshaw]

The way I see this, the stress is on the "At the moment", so it implies that it's still WIP and subject to change. (I might be wrong, though. Writing/reading on forums is a good way to misinterpret stuff.)

Hi. Just wanted to clarify what i meant: it's all still WiP. Game isn't out yet.

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

Maybe you can just order some missiles and they are delivered by high speed drones. Sort of Amazon in space.

[A5PECT]

I'd like a system where a ship can carry missiles in its cargo bay, but in order to fire missiles they must be loaded into the ship's missile launcher. This loading process could only occur while the ship is docked.

This would allow ships to transport missiles for trading and logistics, but their combat capabilities can be balanced by limiting in the number of missiles they can have loaded at a time. It would also give purpose to assigning fighters to carriers or stations. Fighters would be most effective and efficient if they're based at a ship or station that can keep them rearmed.

[mr.WHO]

One more question - has anything clarified regarding boarding mechanics?
- will we use boadring pods like in X-Rebirth or something else (e.g. dedicated marine dropship)?
- will NPCs like pirated be able to board ships? IF yes what about situation when player ship is a target of boarding. I assume ugly scenario where we won't or we will see the scripted marine fights in ship interior. Both will be bad, one from immersion, the other from visual point of view

[Tenlar Scarflame]

Honestly I'm kind of a fan of the shift away from missiles-as-a-ware. They occupied kind of a weird place in the supply chain as a ware, and fighter-sized ships have been able to field WAAAAAAAY too many missiles since forever. Same with transport ships. The missile type limitations from X3 kind of helped, but a bazillion hurricane missiles can still cause mischief.

Now, fighters rearming at their mothership would definitely be a positive. Would make sense if motherships carried a ware, or set of wares, that could assemble missiles and arm fighters/bombers with them on the fly. If it's not a core feature, I suspect that'll be on deck for the modders to tackle pretty quickly. ^^

[Crellion]

Missiles cannot be loaded into the cargo bay.

Yeah that sounds like a mistake right now CBJ. Maybe in the way it will be implemented it will be a good fit but seems very unlikely. For obvious logistics reasons.

If you are simply looking to stop 'rearm in space' for smaller ships you can make it so sub capitals can only move missiles from cargo to missile bay when docked at station or inside a capital.

Otherwise you are killing a bunch of gameplay options (like looting early game) and creating logistical nightmares for later on.

Hoping your ideas when implemented will prove me a fool

[sh1pman]

So, no missile trading then? What if I want to relocate them from where they’re produced to a dock/shop/other station, to rearm ships from there? Please consider adding an option of transporting missiles “in bulk” in cargo space, maybe in “inactive” form as a ware?