Randomized Z-Layer

[Corey]

Most of what we're doing is currently not very visual, hence the lack of screenshots, but we've got some stuff going on in the background.

We (by we I mean Pox) have been working on a script to randomize the levels ships jump in on, so each instance of a ship class isn't always on the same level. This has been done previously in other mods with some story scripting that cycles between unit variants, but those tend to limit the possibilities, wouldn't work super well with era changes, and also tends to make selection a hassle. This alleviates those problems. It may have unintended side effects if larger ships end up in the middle, but we've chucked all Supers under everything else so that shouldn't be an issue, and that's what testing is for.

[Lord Xizer]

I confess myself very excited for this development.

[Eclipse]

This is going to be a very cool feautre, space battles will look even better now!

[tlmiller]

Yeah, this will make space battles extremely cool looking.  No longer be able to actually command things because be in cinematic mode all the time. 

[Pali]

That'll definitely affect tactics, not being able to rely on dropping frigates on top of capital ships for cover and local firepower.  Should be interesting to see how it plays out.

Also, how does it work when selecting a ship as a reinforcement?  For instance, if I select a ship to drop in, see it's coming in on a level I don't want it to (say, the top level), deselect it without bringing it in, and select it again, will it be coming in on the same level as the first time (top level) or will it randomize again?

[Vulcanus]

That'll definitely affect tactics, not being able to rely on dropping frigates on top of capital ships for cover and local firepower.  Should be interesting to see how it plays out.

I may understand this wrong, but  movement class should still remain the same, even if z-layers are randomized. So stacking should still be possible. And if ships are set to randomize roughly at certain levels, cap ships may still be placed under frigates.

[Slornie]

Also, how does it work when selecting a ship as a reinforcement?  For instance, if I select a ship to drop in, see it's coming in on a level I don't want it to (say, the top level), deselect it without bringing it in, and select it again, will it be coming in on the same level as the first time (top level) or will it randomize again?

I'm sure Corey or Pox will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the reinforcement shadow will show you the z-layer the ship will be on.  As I understand the reinforcement shadow will just show the default level for that ship and then it will spawn at a random level when you actually bring it in.

[Pali]

I may understand this wrong, but  movement class should still remain the same, even if z-layers are randomized. So stacking should still be possible. And if ships are set to randomize roughly at certain levels, cap ships may still be placed under frigates.

Yes, but relying on it would no longer be possible.

I'm sure Corey or Pox will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the reinforcement shadow will show you the z-layer the ship will be on.  As I understand the reinforcement shadow will just show the default level for that ship and then it will spawn at a random level when you actually bring it in.

That could potentially cause problems, couldn't it?  Say I've got an ISD, and I want to drop in a VSD, and I put the reinforcement shadow over the ISD to drop the VSD on top of it, which the game would currently allow without trouble... and then the VSD comes in on the ISD's plane, having them occupy the same space.  How would that be resolved?

[Mat8876]

Yes, but relying on it would no longer be possible.

That could potentially cause problems, couldn't it?  Say I've got an ISD, and I want to drop in a VSD, and I put the reinforcement shadow over the ISD to drop the VSD on top of it, which the game would currently allow without trouble... and then the VSD comes in on the ISD's plane, having them occupy the same space.  How would that be resolved?

Correct me if i'm wrong but surely as they are two different ships surely the VSD will just slide into the ISD we have this "problem" already with the eclipse where you can get smaller ships inside it.

[Corey]

It handles the VSD being on the same plane with the ISD the exact same way ut handles an ISD being on the same plane as an ISD.

[Pali]

It handles the VSD being on the same plane with the ISD the exact same way ut handles an ISD being on the same plane as an ISD.

That was my guess, but my question is about the reinforcement shadow and how it relates to what plane the ship will come in on.

At current, if I have an ISD and select a VSD reinforcement, the shadow can be placed over an ISD and the VSD can jump in on top of it.  Under the randomized system, will that shadow reflect which plane the VSD is jumping into (i.e. the shadow turns red and won't let it jump in if it's coming in on the ISD's plane)?  And continuing that, if the shadow does reflect the plane it's coming into, when I deselect the VSD and reselect it, does the plane randomize again, or is the VSd fixed on that plane for the battle?

[Pox]

The layer is randomized after the ship jumped in.
What this system does is basically making the ship invisible while it jumps in on its regular height, then spawns an invisible dummy unit on a random z layer and then forces the ship to jump in again on the new layer, this time visible of course. So the reinforcement shadow just shows at the ships regular z layer and you have no control over on which layer it's going to jump in.

[Pali]

Thanks Pox, that's what I was wondering about.  So I'm guessing that it's prevented from picking a z-layer that already has a ship in that spot then, so my hypothetical VSD reinforcement called in with the shadow over my ISD would definitely end up on a different layer than the ISD - it wouldn't fail to jump in or glitch into the ISD's location.  Correct?

[Pox]

Hmm...probably....?

The script doesn't prevent that. However, the z layer of the spawned dummy unit is relative to the regular z layer of your unit. So I think units should usually not end up glitching through each other, at least not more than in the base game.