I'm Rusty Can You Help with an Interaction Issue?

thelunarboy

Can any of you help me?

I'm trying to set an objective in a mission where the player needs to phaser a rock that blocks access to a cave chamber... and the rock needs to exlpode. Now I know I just need to make an object disappear once interacted with, but I can't find an interaction for firing a phaser.

I thought I might be able to have a workaround by making NPC actors stand just in front of it and phaser them (with the rock disappearing once they are defeated), but I can't work out how to make enemy actors a) static and b) invisible to create the illusion.

I also want to "mine" other placed rocks and take samples from plants in the cave. Can you help me with what I need to be doing?

Thanks in advance.

duncanidaho11

There is no firing phaser animation. It exists in the game but it's not available for Foundry authors to use.

You may be able to have the player wield a pistol through an object interact animation, then have that trigger an explosion FX. But that's the extent of it.

For mining, there's a hammering FX that may work. Same principle as before: use an object interact objective and use an animation from the list that satisfies as best possible.

benalexander

Sadly, we do not have access to the phaser-fire-animation. And while it is centainly possible to use another animation and explain to the player (either directly through dialog or indirectly via context) that a phaser is being fired, I would always go for a more intuitive approach - even if it requires rewriting the story a bit. Instead of using the phaser, the player could place some explosives (quite a few objects would be possible for that) and detonate them from a distance. An explosion would be triggered, the wall vanishes and the player could continue on their way. As a bonus: The explosion FX would cover up the despawning of objects.

Using enemy NPC groups the way you discribed would be very difficult - if not to say impossible. The only even remotly possible way would I can think of would be to trap a weak NPC inside the wall. Once shot at by the player the wall could despawn. However: Trapping the NPC is difficult and it would most likely glitch through. And it would fire back. And you would need an entire NPC group that has to be killed.

In conclusion: I would rewrite the story. Usually these things are not too important for the overall mission - so it does not require you to rework all your ideas.

For mining, as duncanidaho wrote, the hammering animation would be good. There are also others that could be used to take plant samples or dig in the ground. What exactly is best for your purpose depends very much on the environment. If you are unsure, just put down a dozend NPC contacts with different animations and see what fits best. If mining by hand is to slow for your taste, there is also a weapon-turret that can be used as a mining laser. With a particual Borg force field, some explosions and other fireing / loding effects this might be a good base for a puzzle. (I always prefer puzzles with some kind of visual indication or representation. They seem more engaging.)

thelunarboy

Thanks for coming back to me.

During the evening before I got a response, I decided to opt for "spatial charges here, there and there." on invisible objects. Explosion and disappearing objects work really well, but I do need to add in a component for the charge once it is placed. Have to check if there's a suitable object.

I was thinking of using trapped animals in the wall with the NPC idea... but obviously have abandoned that. Really frustrating that such a simple and commonly used animation has not been allowed.

For the mining I was thinking of trapping a purple horta partially underground. The idea of the mining being that you need to obtain crystals to regenerate your ship's power to break free from geosynchronous low orbit of the planet 892-IV, a few decades before the Beagle incident and the Enterprise as featured in the TOS episode "Bread and Circuses"

Do you think it is okay to have an episode with little to no combat?

Synopsis is:

Hailed by a Wells timeship to help track down a rogue agent in an Aeon shuttle.

You track down the shuttle which feigns being disabled but then sends a shockwave that sends you plummeting towards 892-IV. You stabilise your ship but it is trapped in geosynchronous orbit in the thermosphere and shining like a roman candle.

You beam down to a remote rocky wilderness on the edge of a province and make your way to a cave to obtain dilithium to help kick-start your ship. You are not alone in that cave and your presence once discovered is an inadvertent minor breach of the prime directive that you have to manage (balancing the needs of who you meet against the need for secrecy of who you are).

Leaving the planet you resume your original mission and track the shuttle to a system where a battle took place. Te shuttle has been abandoned. You discover a warp trail leading back to the 892 system and realise that a ship & crew that was lost historically has been commandeered by your enemy.

He destroys an asteroid that was originally broken up by a gas giant and then became the meteor shower that disabled the Beagle, changing history. You have to stop the crew (you might have a choice how you do that, especially as you need to find a way that doesn't alter the timeline), and find a way to replace the meteor shower.

You then return to your own time where you discover the small but significant role you played in 892-IV's history.

By the way, how do you get cave skylights to work? I'm using them in the cave but no aperture appears, do I just need to alter their vertical position?

starfarertheta

thelunarboy wrote: »

Thanks for coming back to me.
...

Do you think it is okay to have an episode with little to no combat?
...

My non-combat mission "A Routine Mission" is sitting at 1800+ plays (and it doesn't have as much going on as is shown in your synopsis), so I'm pretty sure you'll be okay.

rancidmojo

I did something like what you describe once. But as others have said there is phaser firing animation...there is however a "point gun" emote (can't recall the name but its pretty much something like "point gun". Then just use an FX explosion and despawn the rocks. I'm not sure if there's a "flash" animation you can use to make it look like an energy beam may have hit the target.