Turret Help

[Seige911]

Tried to make my first turret and ran into a few issues. I followed the tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_2466279619&feature=iv&src_vid=U1D5l1-0xAE&v=O1WkJCVf3So

The turret correctly tracks my mouse, however it does not fire any shells when I manually try to fire it. I think the IAit is working anyway, as my turret tracks targets but does not fire upon them. I do have ammo boxes.

Any ideas why this is not working?

EDIT: When I hover over the barrel, I keep getting 0 ammo in 0 boxes. When I hover over the boxes they tell me they are connected to the barrel.

EDIT 2: Loaded a pre-fabed cannon and everything worked. So the issue appears that my ammo and autoloaders are not being recognized by my barrel. Any hints on how to resolve this? I tried starting from scratch a few times and keep getting same issue

[rditto48801]

To cover some possible basic mistakes.
Is the Firing Piece pointed in the same direction as the turret? (game sometimes changing block rotation after placing the turret base. Which happened in the video)
Are the cannon barrels directly connected to the front of the Firing Piece?
Is the Firing Piece assigned to the same weapon group as the turret?
Do you have Ammo Barrels on your vehicle? (weapons need ammo to fire, somteimes even if a weapon is 'loaded' when first made) (scratch that, not a factor until after ammo boxes are emptied)
Are the Auto-Loaders connected to connectors, and are those connectrs connected to the side(s) or top of the Firing Piece?

On a related thing, if the cannon has a connected Predictor, does it show the AI controlled turret is actually aiming at the target? The end of the curved line should be generally 'on' the target if it is.

A few things not mentioned in the video or that seemed not fully explained. And also stuff just to cover all bases.

• Cannon Barrels can affect range. To few barrels can limit range.
  
• Azi = Azimuth. Moving left and right. Elevation relates to moving up and down.
  
• Ammo Barrels regenerate ammo slowly, but explode when destroyed.
  
• Ammo processors use power (10 or 20, forget), and also use 5 metal per 20 ammo. A poor choice in campaign with limited metal..
  
• Motor Driven Barrels counter azimuth/elevation loss of longer length barrels. Several of these with Elevation barrels allow for making 'High Angle' cannons.
  
• High angle cannons can 'drop' shells on targets at long range. A good reason armored turrets need armor on top also if planning for long range battles.
  
• You need to be close to a weapon or turret base to control it.
  
• Being close to Fire Control Computer (located under Control) allows you to control all weapons on the vehicle/structure.
  
• 6 way AI connector blocks are more expensive than the 5 way version in campaign. Use 5 way connectors for horizontal lengths of AI connectors.
  
• AI Receivers/Transmitters will work if placed on the side or bottom of a 6 way AI connector.

Edit: Fixed list format, fixed error/mistake.

[Seige911]

I am pretty sure my issue deals with the reloaders and ammo boxes. I took a functioning prefabed cannon and removed all but one ammo loader and ammo box. I then took note of the values of the cannon. I then removed them took note again. Then replaced them. The values did not change from the state that they were there and not there. Any hints on how to place those items?

[rditto48801]

Are you using the Manual Orientation or Automatic Orientation version of the Auto-Loader x3?

The manual orientation version is selected by default (it is for me, anyways), and needs to be manually rotated/aligned to connect properly.
The three long rectangular protrusions/shapes/slots being to top and sides where the ammo connects, so the bottom is opposite of the middile of those slots. It needs to be connected directly to a connector block or even to the firing piece.

When starting out, the Auto-Loader x3 Automatic Orientation might be a better choice. When placing it, it will do as its name suggest and automatically orient itself to try to connect to a valid connection it is placed next to.

I forget if the video mentioned it or not, but connectors and the firing piece itself are also valid connection points for ammo boxes, for times you need extra ammo but not faster rate of fire. Same goes for the special ammo types (Explosive and Armor Piercing), although Auto-Loaders don't give fire rate bonuses for connected special ammo, they are cheaper than 6 way Connectors, something to consider when playing campaign or designing stuff on a budget for story missions.

[Seige911]

I have tried both loaders with the same result. Any other ideas?

[rditto48801]

Well, time for basic trouble shooting.
Take an Auto-Loader x3 Automatic Orientation and mount it directly on top of the Firing Piece, then put one or more Ammo Boxes on the Ammo Loader.
Does that have the ammo boxes connect and register properly with the Firing Piece?

[Seige911]

It does not. Even if I place the ammo box directly ontop of the firing peice with no autoloader

[rditto48801]

Another stray thought.
Is the Firing Piece connected/adjacent to another Firing Piece, or otherwise connected to a connector that is also touching another Firing Piece? Or does your turret just have one Firing Piece on it?

If it is just a single Firing Piece on the turret, then one other thing to try is to simply remove the Firing Piece, and putting down another one in its place.
That trick works when the AI Maineframes decide to stop working, so maybe it will work here with the Firing Piece.

[Admiral_Gravleos]

Are your connectors attached to the sides of the firing piece?

[Seige911]

There is only one firing piece. I have tried to make my turret multiple times and every time I encounter this issue. The connectors appear to be connected, or at least when I hover over them they say they are... granted the ammo boxes are reporting being connected as well so not sure what is going on.

[rditto48801]

So, to recap...
The firing piece is confirmed to be pointing in the same direction as the turret, and at least 1 barrel piece is connected to the firing piece and points in the proper direction when aiming the turret, and the ammo boxes/auto-loaders/connectors report as being connected.
But the Firing Piece still reports 0 ammo in 0 boxes...

Very odd.

Does the ID of the Firing Piece match the ID of the firing piece the other parts report they are connected to?
How much Ammo does the connected Ammo Box(s) report having? When placed, they should show "Ammo: 200 of 200" when first placed.
Also, just to cover all bases, what type of Ammo are you using on your custom cannon?

[Seige911]

Update, I created a wooden platform and tried to make things as simple as possible. My set up now is just a 20x20 wooden square with 16 ammo barrels and a firing peice at the front facing the direction of the ship. There is a 6 way connector directly above the firing peice and two ammo reloaders to the left and right of that. I then attached ammo boxes to ammo reloaders. The final result looks like this (F = firing peice, A = Ammon Box, L = auto loader, C = connector, + = blank space for formatting):

+A+A
ALCLA
+AFA+

These are the results I got all using this same set up trading the ammo boxes for different types:
1) Regular ammo box: boxes reported ID of firing peice, reported 200 of 200 ammo. Firing peice reports correct number of boxes and ammon. Cannon Fires and cannon reload time decreases with every ammo box added. SUCCESS
2) AP ammo box: boxes reported ID, does not report ammo status. Firing peice reports no boxes connected. FAILURE.
3) EXP ammo box: boxes reported ID, does not report ammo status. Firing peice reports no boxes connected. FAILURE.

So with this new data looks like I am having issues with the AP and EXP ammo boxes. Any ideas why? The cannon setup is exactly the same except for this one thing.

[rditto48801]

Ah, so you have been trying to use Warheads alone on cannons?
If so, that is likely the problem.
Only the Ammo Box has Ammo Storage.
The AP/Explosive Warheads do not count as actual ammo, they simply add extra damage effects to shots.

[Seige911]

Excellent, thanks for that bit of information. Makes sense now. Thought all of the boxes counted towards the ammo limit. Guess I can finally get around to building my cannons. Thanks everyone!

[rditto48801]

You're welcome, glad to help.