[BDA] [1.1.3] Airborne Heavy Weapons Platform Challenge- Battles Begin Soon

[drtricky]

@njmksr I think having a minimum SVTOL requirement would be fine, but you should have a set distance which the AWHPs should be able to take off, say, where the hangar is.

@DoctorDavinci You were right, the current BDA AI can't handle AWHPs dependent on VTOL engines for lift. When I was testing the liberator, I couldn't tell whether its inability to maintain altitude was because of the AI, or because its steer factor was set to 1, which is why I said the AI handled it fine. And my entries...well, they're basically planes with VTOL engines, and we all know the AI can handle planes fine.

[Mycroft]

I’m curious. Does my Asterion qualify?

https://kerbalx.com/Mycroft_33/Asterion

Here’s a picture: 

From the KerbalX description:

"CMAU Incorporated proudly presents for your military campaigns the most heavily armed VTOL for its size, the one and only Asterion! Absolutely bristling with missiles, this impressive VTOL carries 22 AIM-120 AMRAAMs, 22 AIM-9 Sidewinder Missiles, 8 ‘Vulcan’ 20MM machine gun turrets, and one CBU-87 cluster bomb. Capable of playing the role of both fighter and bomber, this is one VTOL you don’t want to get on the bad side of. This little VTOL may not be fast, but it can land anywhere, fly straight up, stop and turn on a dime, fly sideways, and is even capable of flying backwards stably! It can fly steadily no matter how many missiles you’ve fired, and is capable of high precision bombing, featuring a deluxe radar system capable of locking on to two different targets at once."

 

Note: Top speed in horizontal mode is ~100m/s, so it’s not super fast. But it literally can turn on a dime. TCA not required. List of mods and action groups on the KerbalX page. Oh! Almost forgot! My computer is absolute **** right now, and can barely run KSP, let alone launch anything big. I can’t host a match with this or pretty much any other craft, so I don’t know who will. My KSP adventures are on pause right now.

EDIT: It seems from the OP that SpannerMonkey is handling this kind of thing, so thanks to him!

Edited October 15, 2016 by Mycroft

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

25 minutes ago, Mycroft said:

I’m curious. Does my Asterion qualify?

Only one way to find out for sure

I've been a little quiet here of late mainly due to the mod chaos that is still raining down around us modding types, so it's going to be a week I reckon before i can sit down for an afternoon and smash up someone elses ships The 1.1.3 install is safe but it may become tricky to find all the mods, so in some cases i may need either working links or a zipped copy. . 

The time when this challenge moves up to 1.2 :{  will come upon us soon enough, though i know already that in some ways we are likely to come unstuck. In order to make it less of an issue, perhaps those more militant of you could knock up some monsters for 1.2 that i can test and get a feel for the way it's going to be

[Mycroft]

11 minutes ago, SpannerMonkey(smce) said:

Only one way to find out for sure

I've been a little quiet here of late mainly due to the mod chaos that is still raining down around us modding types, so it's going to be a week I reckon before i can sit down for an afternoon and smash up someone elses ships The 1.1.3 install is safe but it may become tricky to find all the mods, so in some cases i may need either working links or a zipped copy. . 

The time when this challenge moves up to 1.2 :{  will come upon us soon enough, though i know already that in some ways we are likely to come unstuck. In order to make it less of an issue, perhaps those more militant of you could knock up some monsters for 1.2 that i can test and get a feel for the way it's going to be

This ones 1.1.3, but it should work with 1.2 as well. Please do tell me how the test goes! I can't get the BD AI to fly a VTOL, so I haven't tested it against itself. 

[drtricky]

@SpannerMonkey(smce) Had any time lately to smash up our masheens?

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

Just now, drtricky said:

@SpannerMonkey(smce) Had any time lately to smash up our masheens?

less than none, sorry, eyeball deep in LBP issues, working on updates, being unpopular etc etc, i keep hoping it's all going to be over soon, but every time, something else crops up.  So I'd like to smash right now, but instead I'm hunting a massive memory leak likely caused by mod interactions . I haven't forgotten  about this at all, I'll endeavor to keep you all posted

[njmksr]

Never fear, this challenge has not been forgotten... 

(Potential) RULE CHANGES:

>Strict VTOL is no longer a requirement. STOVL or STOL, however, is.

>PAC-3 and laser damage is to be nerfed.

>Gun damage is to be boosted.

If you all don't like these rule changes, they're subject to change anyway. Just tell me  

And my latest craft, the TALON, is on its way... probably done in 2 weeks or so (life happens). It's pretty innovative arsenal-wise...

Btw @Mycroft I'll add you to the OP soon.

 

Edited October 27, 2016 by njmksr

[drtricky]

@njmksr If you're going to nerf laser and missile damage, you should also nerf gun damage, as most parts are destroyed by a few hits from 20mm rounds. The only stock part I know of that provides significant resistance against 20mm bullets are mk3 cargo bays (I built an armored fighter that exploits this!), but I am not going to spend a month redesigning my aircraft to accommodate them.

On a side note, 30mm bullets are actually overall weaker than 20mm bullets in BDA, since they spread their heat out over an area like missiles, rather than applying all of their heat at once on a part it hits like 20mm bullets. I'm not saying they're balanced, however. 30mm rounds still would destroy AWHP's unrealistically quickly, and would also have to be correspondingly nerfed.