Potential Problems With A (90° Rotated) Turreted Tracked Tank?

[General_Hoohah]

I've thought about this in the past, but I couldn't forsee it going well. So has anyone tried to do this? How did it drive? Could you aim at anything (not stationary)?

Also, are the physics being worked on by Ken going to improve the functionality/performance of a vehicle of this type?

[Spawn]

You can either use an ass tank with a fake turret or a scav with weapons.  Not too useful, unless the weapon doesn't need aiming or is something like phantom.  There is a scav with chain and vir somewhere in the wall map in FE, and the scavs in Icarus have a laser ability.

[General_Hoohah]

Okay, let me reword this. Does Ken foresee a vehicle like this being much more fun to drive, when the new tracked physics are worked out?

[Commando]

Not sure.  Ken hasn't been active lately in 1.3 development so I wouldn't count on it.

[Spawn]

I don't see how the current types given don't work out, or why this would need to be added.

[General_Hoohah]

Go try and drive a scavenger around a map for an hour spawn, one with a lot of turns, cliffs, water hazzards, etc. Also, go as far as imagining trying to aim fixed guns that can only rotate up and down while doing that. You'll understand after that.

Edit:
Also, I never asked for anything to be added.... I don't know what you're talking about.

[Spawn]

Right...then what exactly do you mean by non turreted tracked tank?  Without a turret the treaded tank wouldn't be able to spin, or do you mean only visually, so the model doesn't change?  I also don't understand exactly why you would want this, but it could be useful for racing+dumbfire rockets.  With the new tracked physics constants you can make the units slightly more fun to drive in, especially t higher speeds.  Unless you turn uside down...then your crazily flipping

[General_Hoohah]

Well... you're right in a sense, I really didn't mean... "non-turret" as in no turret what so ever or anything like that, even though that’s what it comes off as. What I meant was a tracked tank that uses what the program would see as a turret, but not the user. It would be a way of using the turret in a non-traditional way. Basically it would be two turrets rotated along the Z-axis 90 degrees, each with a gun, and only have the ability to rotate a small distance. They would be positioned like the guns on the ISDF tank.

Sorry for the misleading title. But this is how my thoughts have been developing, although they weren't completely thought through when I first started this thread. I’m pretty sure Avatar or someone else has discussed this somewhere in this forum before. So yes....  you are right. I’m changing the title to avoid any more confusion.

Edit:

Not sure.  Ken hasn't been active lately in 1.3 development so I wouldn't count on it.

What..? I read in the last public beta change log that Ken is still messing around with the new tracked vehicle physics... So he hasn't done anything with this since then? Aren't you guys going to release the next beta soon too?

I wanted to let Ken know that I've been experimenting a lot with the scav, using the new values, and the Mass value seems to have NO affect what so ever. I've tried using low numbers, high numbers, negative numbers, and everything in between, and no change at all. The scav still drives like a giant balloon filled with helium.

These are the notes I have in the ODF I've been working with:
/// Problems:
///- Doesn't stop fast enough, drifts for too long after you remove finger from controls- Cannot fix with current values
///- Rocks forward and back too much when accelerating, decelerating, and stopping - Cannon fix with current values
///- Leans too much while turning - Cannot fix with current values
///- While moving, takes to long to stop turning after you take you're finger away from turn key. Often causes scav to go in circles with speeds over 20. - Cannot fix with current values
///- Turns too slowly while moving - Experimenting
///- Has no traction, and slides around too much - Cannot fix with current values
///- While sliding in the middle off a turn, while moving, unit catches on terrain, and hops. - Cannot fix with current values
///- Appears to weigh nothing, and feels like driving a baloon. - "Mass" value does not work

[GENERAL MANSON*]

Two words.


Nothings perfect. 

[General_Hoohah]

Manson... the scavs can't control themselves. Scavs arn't stupid which you would probably think if you watched them clunk together and romp around you're base like the Three Stooges for an hour. They can't stop or turn correctly so they go plowing into buildings, crashing into other units, and diving off cliffs. Its so bad, they can't turn unless they stop. If they turn while in motion, they can't stop turning and go in a circle. This is something that really needs to be fixed.

[Spawn]

There are a number of new constants which can do the things you look for, have you read the changelog, or even the modlog?

[TrackedVehicleClass]
      COLLISION_RAISE =  0.5
      SUSPENSION_MIN = -0.2
      SUSPENSION_MAX = 0.3
      SPRING_FACTOR = 2.0 // minimum value: 0.01
      DAMPING_FACTOR = 2.0   // 2.0 = critical damped, minimum value: 0.01
      TREAD_STATIC_FRICTION = 1.5

More than that even, you should take a look some time.

[Commando]

Nothing unfortunately affects how heavy a treaded unit is.

[mrtwosheds]

If you want a turret that does not rotate in the y axis, try NOT naming the turret frame, turret_y (or turret_y_1) in the model xsi.
It will not rotate if you do this. However the ai will be unable to shoot unless it is pointing at its target.