[MOD 0.18] Orbital Ion Cannon 1.8.2

[Supercheese]

Good catch, quite a silly typo...

Version 1.3.1 is out to fix it.

[3hose]

Hey Supercheese, haven't gotten a chance to use the mod quite yet but I like the idea. I am having a crash when the research for the auto target is completing. Repeats every time, I also cancelled the research and completed another research then restarted the auto targeting research and when it finished it just froze factorio without any popup. BTW, I did update the mod as well. I am using the following other mods:

rail tanker
research queue (I guess it could be the culprit, will test after supper)
Time tools


Edit:
So, after a fine meal I did as I said I would; it still crashed. However, after some more gameplay I chose to do some more research and try the Auto-Targeting research again. This time it surprised me and finished without a crash. Not sure what the cause was. FYI, the research I completed before auto-targeting completed succesfully was Combat Robot Damage 4 & 5. I do have the game save and log files, I'll include them. Just don't make fun of my eclectic base

[Pasmans23]

So let me get this straight: this mod is compatible with Bob's mods, but does not need it? Like I can download and use this mod without any of the Bob's mods installed?

That is correct. If you DO have bobs mods, it just makes the cannon use more expensive Bobs mods items.

They are in the dependencies though... You sure that's not a problem? (I can't run the mod because I have an outdated base version, 0.12.3, will be upgrading soon)

It runs totally fine with and without Bob's mod. I never had issues.

You are completely right. Thanks again. A great mod, surely recommended! (Especially in combination with the "Factorio, Directed by Michael Bay"-mod )

[StoneLegion]

Where is the mute button and where is the ability to pause auto targeting

[Supercheese]

Where is the mute button and where is the ability to pause auto targeting

Mute option is in the config, and to pause auto-targeting stations, well, there's always the Power Switch .

[3hose]

Hey Supercheese, haven't gotten a chance to use the mod quite yet but I like the idea. I am having a crash when the research for the auto target is completing. Repeats every time, I also cancelled the research and completed another research then restarted the auto targeting research and when it finished it just froze factorio without any popup. BTW, I did update the mod as well. I am using the following other mods:

rail tanker
research queue (I guess it could be the culprit, will test after supper)
Time tools


Edit:
So, after a fine meal I did as I said I would; it still crashed. However, after some more gameplay I chose to do some more research and try the Auto-Targeting research again. This time it surprised me and finished without a crash. Not sure what the cause was. FYI, the research I completed before auto-targeting completed successfully was Combat Robot Damage 4 & 5. I do have the game save and log files, I'll include them. Just don't make fun of my eclectic base

As I said before I did get the research completed for the auto-targeting. I did not use the mod for a while because I did some revamping of trains and other things. Once I did start using the mod I fell in love with it. I went as soon as I could to produce auto-targeting. Then I got sidetracked again (I think I was having an ore crisis). When I got back to it I started laying out the auto targeting stations. I have several around my perimeter and expand as needed. I did not notice at first that there was any type of skip, but as time progressed it became more and more prevalent. So I used this mod for a while but now the frame skips are just too much. I disabled all other mods except this one and I am still getting the frame skips, about 10 per 5 seconds. I really LOVE this mod but my base is becoming unplayable with it. Any way we could take a look at this? I am going to reload factorio and give that a try.

[Supercheese]

As I said before I did get the research completed for the auto-targeting. I did not use the mod for a while because I did some revamping of trains and other things. Once I did start using the mod I fell in love with it. I went as soon as I could to produce auto-targeting. Then I got sidetracked again (I think I was having an ore crisis). When I got back to it I started laying out the auto targeting stations. I have several around my perimeter and expand as needed. I did not notice at first that there was any type of skip, but as time progressed it became more and more prevalent. So I used this mod for a while but now the frame skips are just too much. I disabled all other mods except this one and I am still getting the frame skips, about 10 per 5 seconds. I really LOVE this mod but my base is becoming unplayable with it. Any way we could take a look at this? I am going to reload factorio and give that a try.

You probably have too many auto-targeting stations at once, try reducing your overall number of them and/or reducing their range in the config file.

[3hose]

You probably have too many auto-targeting stations at once, try reducing your overall number of them and/or reducing their range in the config file.

Thanks for the reply. I dug around the config file a little to learn about the ranges and such of the mod. I did not fully understand the reach of the auto-targeter until I did some teleporting around. Performance is back to what it should be. Thanks again Supercheese for a great mod that is fun and takes the "pressure" off the biters setting up shop right outside my door. BTW, I took the radius up a bit and killed myself by standing too close.

[Qon]

You probably have too many auto-targeting stations at once, try reducing your overall number of them and/or reducing their range in the config file.

No, the problem is using find_entities_filtered for targeting. It isn't meant to be used for such big areas so often. My version used another API call that finds nearest hostile force unit that is faster. Since you haven't explicitly adressed this I'm not sure if you are aware of it or if you are avoiding this solution because it naturally also attacks the biters and spitters. But the performance improvements are dramatic and practically eliminates the stutter even if you increase the range massivly. And it's cool to use ion cannons as base defence imo.

[Optera]

You probably have too many auto-targeting stations at once, try reducing your overall number of them and/or reducing their range in the config file.

No, the problem is using find_entities_filtered for targeting. It isn't meant to be used for such big areas so often. My version used another API call that finds nearest hostile force unit that is faster. Since you haven't explicitly adressed this I'm not sure if you are aware of it or if you are avoiding this solution because it naturally also attacks the biters and spitters. But the performance improvements are dramatic and practically eliminates the stutter even if you increase the range massivly. And it's cool to use ion cannons as base defence imo.

You got my attention.
What api call do you use instead?

[Nexela]

entity.surface.find_nearest_enemy {position=entpos, max_distance=global.builddistance, force=builtby.force}

but it only returns the first enemy unit it finds (not sure if it works on spawners yet).

In theory you could use this in your script and if it returns true then check for filtered entities in a smaller range around the returned enemy from find nearest, might reduce overhead

[Qon]

entity.surface.find_nearest_enemy {position=entpos, max_distance=global.builddistance, force=builtby.force}

but it only returns the first enemy unit it finds (not sure if it works on spawners yet).

In theory you could use this in your script and if it returns true then check for filtered entities in a smaller range around the returned enemy from find nearest, might reduce overhead

Correct.

Works on spawners. And if it's hit immediatly by a OIC blast then next scan cycle by another nearby auto targeter won't target the same enemy. I changed the mod in my version so that auto targeters can drop OIC blasts immediatly while the player has the regular heat up time to deal with this problem.

Why would you do an additional check for filtered entities around the target location? I did this to make sure it didn't attack friendly structures (or the player, without any problems with long reach mod) but I'm not sure that is what you are suggesting.

[Supercheese]

I've been thinking that ion cannon blasts should be lighting everything on fire, as well as destroying things outright.

IonCannonFlames.jpg (3.31 MiB) Viewed 6963 times

You could ignite forest fires from orbit. Your thoughts?

[Nexela]

Only good thoughts!!!

But I have a condition. Its an expensive condition. Text buttons on my GUI cause me to punch my monitor. I am not sure if it is OCD or some anger management problem but I would really love a little icon button so I can install this mod and go around doing massive ion radiated forest fires

[Supercheese]

Only good thoughts!!!

But I have a condition. Its an expensive condition. Text buttons on my GUI cause me to punch my monitor. I am not sure if it is OCD or some anger management problem but I would really love a little icon button so I can install this mod and go around doing massive ion radiated forest fires

I think I'll switch the text button for an icon in the next update, I've been meaning to for a bit anyway.

[CorBlimey]

hello

i havent used Ion Cannon mod before but before I install it on my main save - how does this interact with a) normal rockets sent score and b) score extended mod? Is it all fine and dandy?

[Sunnova]

What change would need to be made so that the ion-cannon-target is left on the ground after firing? Sometimes I can't find where it took place on the map at all. This would allow searching for it at least.

[Supercheese]

i havent used Ion Cannon mod before but before I install it on my main save - how does this interact with a) normal rockets sent score and b) score extended mod? Is it all fine and dandy?

Launching an ion cannon into orbit does not increase the vanilla "Rockets sent" counter; Ion cannons are tracked separately in the new Ion Cannons GUI.

I've not used the Score Extended mod so I can't say for certain, but here's a relevant post from that thread that indicates it should work: viewtopic.php?p=168022#p168022

What change would need to be made so that the ion-cannon-target is left on the ground after firing? Sometimes I can't find where it took place on the map at all. This would allow searching for it at least.

Making the ion cannon target indestructible would leave it on the ground... but then it would stay there forever! Don't worry, in the next update, the ion cannon blast will leave behind large plumes of black smoke, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding the blast site.

[Sunnova]

Making the ion cannon target indestructible would leave it on the ground... but then it would stay there forever! Don't worry, in the next update, the ion cannon blast will leave behind large plumes of black smoke, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding the blast site.

Thanks! That will be great, with my train stations so scattered, most of the time I can't see on the map where the blast is.

[CorBlimey]

I've been thinking that ion cannon blasts should be lighting everything on fire, as well as destroying things outright.

IonCannonFlames.jpg

You could ignite forest fires from orbit. Your thoughts?

I think it would be awesome to have two variants, each a seperate launched type (plus side is gives a further incentive to launch stuff). Variant 1: Ion cannon vanilla big boom but with smaller radius, same delay before firing as currently - used for 1 hit kills on static enemies and stationary behemoths. Variant 2: Infrared beam of death - bigger radius than currently, shorter delay before firing but no boom just burnnn (+ points for changing graphic to a red/yellow tint) - used for cleaning out mobs and slowly burning worms to death.

I would also really like it if you introduced orbital decay or whatever mechanic you were originally thinking of form your OP. By the time you have launched 100 sats you are done - if they degraded after 100 firings each, that would still keep them useful for base defence / perimeter sweeps (loving the auto-targeter ) but would also require you to keep launching.

Lasting 100 firings each roughly means firing 1 = 300 ore, 100 crude (on a productivity module production line) which is about the cost of 1 to 2 destroyer capsules. Actually, on that though perhaps even lasting only 50 or even fewer is fine.

edit: p.s. please pretty please can we have an Icon instead of Text menu button? (happy to provide one if it helps
and also thanks for response r.e. Score Extended. I took the plung and they seem to work great together, and I am having a lot of fun since installing Ion Cannons - who doesn't want to know that they have averaged 2 mins per ion cannon launch