Bots + Nuclear Railgun

[nooop12]

Can I make the bot not shoot a nuclear shell when you crash into another sub and the gun is literally touching the hull?

[kratos]

My suggestion. You need a child lock. A button that locks the trigger_out of the rail gun. So that you can only fire the weapon when the switch is in the "on" position.
Or perhaps just keep bots off the ww3 button.

[frumple]

You can make the bot shoot a shooty gun or not shoot a shooty gun. Big shooty nukem gun of devastation is probably not for bots.
If you hate fun. And exploding.

Of course bots have no idea of consequences. They just operate the gun.
Aim. Fire. Occasionally complain about ammo.

They don't think.

You should fire that gun yourself. Let bots operate Double Coilguns and Pluse Lasers.

[Rhapsody]

Shift+MMB on nuclear railgun shell and "ignore this". Just don't leave it inside the loader.

[Nathanael]

if you play single player and can't reach the railgun periscope in 3 seconds or less reliably, use other weapons instead.

bots are very good with flak cannons (use explosive ammo early and switch to physicorium later)
and double coils (explosive only, physicorium or piercing if you have ammo issues)

use bandoliers on your bot gunners whenever possible (increases fire rate)
and use the right job on the right gun:
engineer with extra burn damage on pulse laser
security with tandem and better explosive on guns with primarily explosive ammo types
security with extra bleeding on guns with physicorium/ piercing ammo types

if you use chainguns with bots, look into wiring oscillators, to keep them allways spinning


congrats, now the combat is easy mode and the management part is the one you focus on

[patrol]

The best way to make sure bots don't fire a gun if it would damage your sub is making a circuit relying on motion detector/s, which would cut off the trigger signal from periscope if something is detected within it's range (like a wall, some fauna or enemy submarine). That way it will prevent you from getting a suprise in the form of a new window to look through, but it might not always be desirable to be locking down your gun when an enemy gets too close, so you'd preferably also make a circuit to switch the "failsafe" On/Off

[frumple]

Originally posted by patrol:

The best way to make sure bots don't fire a gun if it would damage your sub is making a circuit relying on motion detector/s, which would cut off the trigger signal from periscope if something is detected within it's range (like a wall, some fauna or enemy submarine). That way it will prevent you from getting a suprise in the form of a new window to look through, but it might not always be desirable to be locking down your gun when an enemy gets too close, so you'd preferably also make a circuit to switch the "failsafe" On/Off

That's the "best" way? O.o

It's a needlesly complex solution. Props for coming up with it, but the best solution is to not let a bot fire a railgun.
Bots can fire other guns just fine, but the big nuclear one is not for them. You fire it yourself. That way there's no blowups or ammunition issues.

[Rhapsody]

Yeah, the only thing you really need to do is set all those little nukes to be ignored by bots, and farm physicorium for railgun food. A full loader or two of physicorium shells beats full loader of nuclear shells in almost every situation. You'll only need them for quick clear of thalamus or submarine, first strike on an endworm, or final shot at a retreating latcher if you have ventral railgun. Charybdis can close distance to sub too quickly and persistently.

In most cases the cost (time and materials) of making nukes, and the time you spend and the risk you take messing with shells, loaders or periscopes isn't worth it. Remember that you can use that excess incendium just by inserting IC-4 inside the shells (both railgun and depth charges). Other material (especially uranium) can be spent on fabricating other ammunition nowadays.

It can be an interesting experiment to set up some kind of fail-safe or even auto-fire system for turrets, but the campaign subs don't last very long unless you play on OP tier 1 sub with Iron Storm.

[patrol]

Originally posted by frumple:

Originally posted by patrol:

The best way to make sure bots don't fire a gun if it would damage your sub is making a circuit relying on motion detector/s, which would cut off the trigger signal from periscope if something is detected within it's range (like a wall, some fauna or enemy submarine). That way it will prevent you from getting a suprise in the form of a new window to look through, but it might not always be desirable to be locking down your gun when an enemy gets too close, so you'd preferably also make a circuit to switch the "failsafe" On/Off

That's the "best" way? O.o

It's a needlesly complex solution. Props for coming up with it, but the best solution is to not let a bot fire a railgun.
Bots can fire other guns just fine, but the big nuclear one is not for them. You fire it yourself. That way there's no blowups or ammunition issues.

Sometimes you have to let them fire the big boom thing, if you're playing solo or with people who have no self preservation instinct. I gave a solution that would allow players and bots to fire it without the risk of self-induced incident. It's not very complex either. Signal from the periscope's trigger going through a relay to the railgun with a motion detector to set the relay either on or off. With few more components to make the relay ignore the motion detector output and forcing it on, allowingthe "proximity sensor" to be an On/Off thing

[frumple]

Originally posted by Rhapsody:

...
the campaign subs don't last very long unless you play on OP tier 1 sub with Iron Storm.

What do you mean by this?

Originally posted by patrol:

Sometimes you have to let them fire the big boom thing, if you're playing solo or with people who have no self preservation instinct. I gave a solution that would allow players and bots to fire it without the risk of self-induced incident. It's not very complex either. Signal from the periscope's trigger going through a relay to the railgun with a motion detector to set the relay either on or off. With few more components to make the relay ignore the motion detector output and forcing it on, allowingthe "proximity sensor" to be an On/Off thing

The solution is valuable, just not a simple one. Esp. for single player. Co-op is a different story.
It is a good design. I wasn't trying to be dismissive.
Except that it's in no way simpler than not ordering Bots to operate that gun.

I'm piloting a Humpback right now in Singleplayer, and i got 3 turrets + Searchlight for bots to use.
If i swap the Railgun out for a Dual Coilgun, i'll order a bot to shoot it. But right now the big gun is not in use at all. Unless Hammerheads knock us into the Abyss...

Even without nuclear ammo, it would be too wasteful to let a Bot fire the Railgun. They'd taget Treshers and Crawlers with it, the clumsy idjets

Co-op is of course different, but in Single, you have to directly order a crew to shoot a gun. So don't! order them to shoot a Railgun

[Rhapsody]

Originally posted by frumple:

Originally posted by Rhapsody:

...
the campaign subs don't last very long unless you play on OP tier 1 sub with Iron Storm.

What do you mean by this?

Just that if you don't rely on Iron Storm so you can keep using the tier 1 (those vanilla subs don't have large hardpoints anyway) and tier 2 subs, you will have to switch between submarines and it may require you to do complex wiring again when switching to a new sub.

During my latest campaign it actually took us until the very end of Great Sea to be able to buy Berilia. And the campaign ended like 10-15 rounds later after clearing up the hunting grounds and activating remaining beacons (which was the goal I set for the campaign).

[frumple]

The Barsuk is ... i mean , i like it. Kinda. But it's a turd.

Not enough storage slots, no speed whatsoever, so few rooms to hold oxygen, you get sunk almost immediately.

It's got decent turret coverage, but the Supercapacitors can barely support two Pulse Lasers.

I guess you intend to Frankenstein the heck out of it using wiring and electronics?
Because as a vanilla sub, even if it could withstand the pressure, it would be suicidal.