Asteroid destruction - is this kind of foundry mission possible?

galadiman · June 2014

So pardon the cliches, but I'm new at this.

I was trying to create a foundry mission around saving some escaping ships from a deadly asteroid swarm out of an exploding planet. Is this doable in the current Foundry mission options? I was unable to figure it out. Any help here, and are there any already out there like this? (I know there's a PWE mission like this already...)

Thanks for the help!

thegreendragoon1 · June 2014

I guess it depends on what you're trying to achieve. Are you trying to have asteroids destructable or are you trying to have asteroids actually flying towards something?

We don't have destructible objects per se, but sometimes You can work around this in story by having the player beam down "charges" and have the asteroid set to disappear while simultaneously having an explosion set to go off in its place.

You can't have objects such as asteroids move. However, if your intercepting the asteroids as they travel a great distance, you could make a map where the asteroids aren't moving, but it looks like the entire map is moving. There's a star moving backdrop.

I wound need more specific details about the situation and what specifically you want to happen to advise you any further.

hyefather · June 2014

Maybe, if there was a way to copy a bunch of the comets from the episode "Night of the Comet". I guess you could make a asteroid type instance. I could see someone using that model for a meteor shower. So yeah, It can be done. I guess. Take some creativity tho for it not to go stale. Maybe what cryptic did, add in enemy shilps while trying to clear the shower.
Make it so, i'll play it.

markhawkman · June 2014

the comet trail from night of the Comet is available.

doffingcomrade · June 2014

I wish it were possible to create a classic oldschool mission where it's just you and a metric assload of asteroids, wave after wave, that you must destroy before they hit your ship.

azurianstar · June 2014

I think it's possible to mimic the destruction of asteroids by cleverly placing a ship inside the asteroid or covered with asteroids and then have the original objects disappear and the new objects (asteroid fragments) appear when the ship is destroyed.

But the trick is to get it that the player doesn't see the ship.

And as others aid adding trails or even the warp streaks could help give it a feeling that everything is happening at high speed. Like the Second Breen mission.

doffingcomrade · June 2014

Yes, but then you get violently angry asteroids that attack the player.

ankokuneko · June 2014

USS Violently Angry Asteroid

seannewboy · June 2014

There is one kdf mission where a such a thing happens, as well as the devidian final episode, so the tools should be able to be put in there.

galadiman · June 2014

I guess Big Picture storyline would be this (hoping it's not stolen immediately):

Planet explodes (more to this, just go with it.)

There was a station orbiting the planet - an evacuation station, as it were.

Now the shards of the exploding planet are threatening to destroy the station before all the evacuees can get away.

Incoming shards, (in the form of asteroids), are the targets - flying at the station, in waves (let's not discuss the viability of this in real physics).

Mission is to destroy the shards before they destroy the station. Idea is to allow all classes to have value, so GW/tractor beam/etc. have effect, and if possible, energy weapons should have less impact on the flying rocks than kinetic weapons/damage. (ie, explodey torpedoes>pewpew zorchy phasers.)

So I guess it's a mashup of Night of the Comet with No Win Scenario. Kindof.

thegreendragoon1 · June 2014

galadiman wrote: »

Idea is to allow all classes to have value, so GW/tractor beam/etc. have effect, and if possible, energy weapons should have less impact on the flying rocks than kinetic weapons/damage. (ie, explodey torpedoes>pewpew zorchy phasers.)

So I guess it's a mashup of Night of the Comet with No Win Scenario. Kindof.

So unfortunately, this kind of control is never going to show up in the Foundry. The Foundry really isn't designed to create combat scenarios. It's primarily a storytelling tool.

Your best bet is to put some distance between the planet and the station, say further than the distance from the Earth to the Moon. (Honestly, if the station was in close orbit there wouldn't be enough time to react before it hit the station anyway.) So yeah, comet assets are your best bet. Their trail give the illusion of movement.

So the player ship is directed to fly to a location between the station and the planet. There the comets have appeared. They aren't moving, but they're far enough from a stationary reference point to give this fact away. You might try combining a comet with one for the planet chunk assets to give it more of the planetary debris look.

To destroy the meteors (comets) you'll have to have an invisible object at each fragment. This invisible object is set to trigger the fragment/comet to go invisible while also triggering an explosion effect to become visible in its place. Set the Interact text to "Beam Down Explosive Charges." Rinse repeat for each fragment.

galadiman · June 2014

thegreendragoon1 wrote: »

So unfortunately, this kind of control is never going to show up in the Foundry. The Foundry really isn't designed to create combat scenarios. It's primarily a storytelling tool.

Your best bet is to put some distance between the planet and the station, say further than the distance from the Earth to the Moon. (Honestly, if the station was in close orbit there wouldn't be enough time to react before it hit the station anyway.) So yeah, comet assets are your best bet. Their trail give the illusion of movement.

So the player ship is directed to fly to a location between the station and the planet. There the comets have appeared. They aren't moving, but they're far enough from a stationary reference point to give this fact away. You might try combining a comet with one for the planet chunk assets to give it more of the planetary debris look.

To destroy the meteors (comets) you'll have to have an invisible object at each fragment. This invisible object is set to trigger the fragment/comet to go invisible while also triggering an explosion effect to become visible in its place. Set the Interact text to "Beam Down Explosive Charges." Rinse repeat for each fragment.

Thanks for these excellent ideas! I think this is a great start to what I want to do. I'll wrap my head around how to fit these together.

Asteroid destruction - is this kind of foundry mission possible?

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