===[COMMITTED]=== Siege Artillery Rework

[Alexandermb]

Finished hellenic lithobolos equipment.

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Missing only roman medium ballista.

 

[Alexandermb]

Well, as @Nescio theres no much difference between roman and greek artillery so i'll just change the capitulo and the frame position of the root:

Spoiler

 

[Alexandermb]

Well, siege artillery is finally done. I only need to do the different projectiles meshes and actors to finish.

Giant artillery will be kept in case @borg- include that in the next changes for buildable artillery on the battlefield as proposed.

Med ballista has the same size of the current artillery. Except for roman ballista wich has more lenght but less width.

[Genava55]

You really did a great job Alexandermb!

[Stan`]

[Alexandermb]

Almost forgot About gastraphetes:

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[Alexandermb]

@Stan` @LordGood shall we use the new projectile decal used in the new artillery towers instead of flaming decal impact?

[LordGood]

The arty tower projectile is a bit smaller than the standard catapult stone, larger impact actor might be needed 

[Stan`]

2 hours ago, LordGood said:

The arty tower projectile is a bit smaller than the standard catapult stone, larger impact actor might be needed 

Since it's a decal you can just resize it.

[Alexandermb]

8 hours ago, LordGood said:

The arty tower projectile is a bit smaller than the standard catapult stone, larger impact actor might be needed 

i've reduced the stone projectile to match the size of the lithobolos. The actual projectile is the size of the giant lithobolos.

[Nescio]

On 12/9/2019 at 8:27 PM, Alexandermb said:

Finished hellenic lithobolos equipment.

  Hide contents

Missing only roman medium ballista.

Those look good!

Nonetheless, there is space for improvement:

• The power of torsion engines (i.e. the force by which the projectile is launched) is proportional to the thickness/mass/volume of the string. To be able to shoot a rock, one needs a massive string, say at least a hand in diameter, whereas in those actors the string of the largest actor seems visibly just as thin as one of the smallest scorpion.
  Spoiler

  

• Consequently, the larger engines would also have much thicker arms, to prevent them from snapping.
• The largest has two wheels on each side, operated by one man each, which looks a bit ugly and unnecessary. It would be better if two men would turn one wheel.
• Furthermore, there will need to be more differently sized packed artillery actors, with the correct number of men.

Also, could you show all artillery, from small to large? The smallest stone-thrower should be visibly larger than the largest bolt-shooter (and have a larger crew).

On 12/12/2019 at 5:19 AM, LordGood said:

The arty tower projectile is a bit smaller than the standard catapult stone, larger impact actor might be needed 

Given their size, towers would typically be unable to host anything larger than a scorpion (small bolt-shooter) and should thus have similar projectiles, not large rocks or fireballs. Only exceptionally large wall towers, bastions, or fortresses might have space for a small or medium stone-thrower.

Off-topic, it would be nice if the projectile actor could be defined in the templates, rather than in the art files, to improve modifiability, e.g. a Briton fortress firing sling stones or an Iberian tower javelins.

[Stan`]

2 minutes ago, Nescio said:

Off-topic, it would be nice if the projectile actor could be defined in the templates, rather than in the art files, to improve modifiability, e.g. a Briton fortress firing sling stones or an Iberian tower javelins.

You can already do that I believe for both the impact and the projectile.

[Nescio]

8 minutes ago, Stan` said:

You can already do that I believe for both the impact and the projectile.

You can define some values as to how the projectile moves, I believe, but not how the projectile itself looks. At least when comparing the quinquereme and trireme templates, I saw nothing to explain why one shoots large stones and the other just arrows. It seems to be defined in the actor files, e.g. https://trac.wildfiregames.com/browser/ps/trunk/binaries/data/mods/public/art/actors/structures/ptolemies/quinquereme.xml

[Stan`]

@Nescio If the following doesn't work then that's a bug. Usually though it's artists that define projectiles, not gameplay, so it makes sense that it is by default in actor files.

Line 68 - 74 of binaries/data/mods/public/simulation/components/Attack.js

"<Projectile>" +
  "<Speed>50.0</Speed>" +
  "<Spread>2.5</Spread>" +
  "<ActorName>props/units/weapons/rock_flaming.xml</ActorName>" +
  "<ImpactActorName>props/units/weapons/rock_explosion.xml</ImpactActorName>" +
  "<ImpactAnimationLifetime>0.1</ImpactAnimationLifetime>" +
"</Projectile>" +

l 164-166

"<element name='ActorName' a:help='actor of the projectile animation.'>" +
  "<text/>" +
"</element>" +

 

[Carltonus]

The new siege engine models exceeded my expectations after seeing the gameplay video by @psypherium.

The only things left to make are their unit icons. Also, the polybolos icon still uses the oxybeles image, and the Carthaginian deployed siege engines @LordGood's "paintings". Suggest these quick changes, thanks!

Edited January 15, 2021 by Carltonus

[Stan`]

I like @LordGood's icons...

[Carltonus]

What just happened to @Alexandermb's OP light lithobolos? The TLDR is that the projectile is unrealistically large! and appears to be used as some sort of temporary glove. Also, the right engineer is picking up an imaginary projectile:

 

 

On a lighter note (get it?), the stones for the heavy ballista and lithobolos appear out of nowhere instead of being transported by the forward men:

Edited October 1, 2022 by Carltonus
Expanding for the big boys.

[Stan`]

@wowgetoffyourcellphone

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Actor Viewer not always accurate with animations