Training Core

Development areas for Allegiance core (IGC) design.
Xeretov
Posts: 1633
Joined: Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:50 pm
Location: Canada

Post by Xeretov »

Thread Contents

1) Introduction
2) Specialty Equipment
    2a) Weapons
    2b) Other Equipment
    2c) Training Ships
    2d) Drones
    2e) Global Attributes (GAs)
3) Current Issues
4) Other Changes
5) Upcoming Additions
6) FAQ
7) Ideas & Suggestions
8) Download



1) Introduction

The Training Core is a core based off of the Community Core and intended for use in training sessions. Its purpose is to provide the specialty equipment to make running these easier, be it for cadets, new players, squad practices or anyone else. The core is not meant to be used outside of practice sessions and is not balanced for play on main, side or squad games.

The idea is to make the equipment available and then let the instructors/students/trainees/etc. have the option of using them. The responsibility is on the user on whether they use this core for realistic practice or go spend a few hours making giant, phallic 3D probe art.

Current Version: tcor_02
CC Version Used*: CC_03


2) Specialty Equipment

All of the specialty equipment in the training core has been created to fill gaps in the training environment. Most notably, it adds a plethora of training weapons and drones for target practice, probes for DM practice and a scout that can carry a huge number of them. All of the training equipment is listed below.

All of the faction modifiers, tech paths, etc. found in the current version of CC remain in the training core. The training equipment is available in addition to the normal CC ones, and always available to all relevant factions with either development on or off. This is so that trainees do not have to leave and switch cores to practice without the training items.


2a) Weapons

All of the training weapons are variants of the originals found in CC. They are identical in every respect except damage; they do roughly 10% of the original. This is to let trainees practice their aim on other players without wasting time waiting for the other person to launch and boost back after they are podded/killed.

Most non-capship weapons have variants available. There are no currently no T variants of capital weapons, excluding skycap and Rix station drones. The EW and PE versions do not consume as much energy as the originals either. Finally, the missile variants are all based off of the enhanced tech versions. Seeker T has the same tracking and lock time as Seeker 2, for example.

Note: The basic missile variants carry twice as many per rack than the originals do. This is to help practice aiming and landing missiles. It currently applies to SRM Dumbfire, MRM Seeker, MRM Quickfire, LRM Hunter and LRM Killer.

Current T Weapon Variants

Guns
    -EW A-B Can T (TF only)
    -EW A-B Stinger T (Rix only)
    -EW Disruptor T
    -EW Sniper T
    -EW Util T
    -PE AutoCan T (TF only)
    -PE Gat Gun T (TF only)
    -PE Mini-AC T (TF only)
    -PE Mini-Gun T (TF only)
    -PW AutoCan T
    -PW Gat Gun T
    -PW Mini-AC T
    -PW Mini-Gun T
    -PW SkyCap T

Missiles
    -LRM Aleph Res T
    -LRM Hunter T
    -LRM Killer T
    -MRM Quickfire T
    -MRM Seeker T
    -SRM Anti-Base T
    -SRM Dumbfire T
    -SRP Killer T
    -XRM Anti-Base T
    -XRP Anti-Base T

Droppables
    -Prox Mine T
    -Combat Drone T (Rix only)
    -Station Drone T (Rix only)
    -Hvy Station Drone T (Rix only)
    -Plas Gen T (TF only)
    -Hvy Plas Gen T (TF Only)


2b) Other Equipment

This is where the cheese tech of the traincore begins. All of the items in here were made to make practicing some aspect of play easier in a training environment.

Booster T:

The training booster is identical to booster 2, but consumes 1/8th the fuel of the original. The idea behind this was to let trainees load up a ship with T weapons and a full load of ammo without having to give up the booster. In a DM practice they can boost out and back to base when they run out of ammo on the same tank.

Sig Cloak T:

Sig Cloak 2 without any energy drain. Similar in concept to the booster, this would allow the trainee to get practice with firing hunters. They should also be able to get a feel for how much they can sneak around without having to hide and waste a couple minutes now and then to recharge.

EWS Probe T:

This is EWS1 with the base number per rack (2) of EWS3 for probing practice. Combined with the training scout, the trainee can run around placing probes without having to rip home and dock for more every couple of minutes. Again, more of a time saver than anything else. Its also really easy to make probe art with the 72 probes per loadout of these the T scout can carry. Use as you see fit.

LR Training Probe:

These have an 9600m scan range and a 2hr duration, and are what I find myself needing in training sessions more than anything else. Right now when I run dogfighting practices we have to waste five to ten minutes dropping probes everywhere so we don't lose eye. We still do when a fight wanders out past the probes, but tossing a few of these around the map would only take a couple of minutes and eye everything.

PE/PW Gat C and Mini C:

These are identical to Gat 2 and Mini 2 but are always available like Mini T. Upgrading either gun in the appropriate techbase will not upgrade the C version. So upgrading Mini 2 to Mini 3 will not change Mini C. Useful if you want more power against drones or other targets.


2c) Training Ships

These ships have been designed to fill specific roles in training and are usually created by request. Like the training equipment, they are available to all factions from the start regardless of settings.

Training Scout

Every probe artist's dream come true. Its fast, has a huge scan range (3600) and can carry huge amounts of droppable equipment. Fully loaded with EWS 3 or EWS T it carries 72 probes total. The speed and scan make scouting a map quick for when thats desired, such as a command practice when you don't have a team of scouts but still want to see the available rocks. The cargo space is primarily for probe practice so you don't have to rip back after only a handful of probes. Its available to all factions but doesn't load missiles or have much ammo, energy or hull.

Training Interceptor

An IC heavy int with nearly unlimited (9000 rounds) of ammo per clip, high fuel capacity and the ability to mount fighter guns (gat/dis) as well as the usual interceptor weapons. It can also ripcord.

Combat Scout

A scout with a large number of hull points (2000) and ammo (9000/clip). Can mount almost any weapon as well as light booster. Armed with one turret that can also mount any weapon. Not able to nan, but can drop probes, prox and plasgens (if TF) and has a large pack (cargo) size.

Instructor Ship:

A Bios heavy int with very high thrust values. The idea is to be able to demonstrate maneuvers to students, as all thruster actions will be exaggerated and hopefully easier to see. Can ripcord and also acts as a smallrip reciever to help move students around if needed. This ship is pretty much pure cheese, so use it responsibly during a session. Quick note: It carries 30 countermeasures per slot, which also weigh a lot. If you want to slow the ship's accel down, load counters into cargo. A full cargo full of counters and it performs similar to most ints.


2d) Drones

The training drones were all developed to help with dogfighting or aim practice. The fighting versions are armed with the T weapon variants, so they should still provide a moving, shooting target in a fight but not kill the student. I find it counterproductive to learning for a student to be dead or flying a pod for half a session. Note: Drones are not intended for use with Friendly Fire set to ON. Drones will not fire back at friendly or allied targets, with the exception of the scout drone since it can be given the repair order. With FF on however, the scout drone will not be able to repair any friendly targets (due to the FoF gun).

Training Caltrops & Tower Drones:

These are just very cheap, very quick to build versions of the AC tower layer and the caltrop layer. We've found the constructors useful for training in SRM so an quicker version was made for the core. Available to all factions, including TF. The actual towers and caltrops are also in T versions which do little damage for practice.

Fighter and Interceptor Drones:

Similar to the old phoenix combat drones. Currently comes in four versions, an IC int and an IC fig armed with T weapons, and the same things but armed with normal weapons. Cheap and fast to build, available to all factions. The [T] versions are armed with the T weapons, and the [C] versions are full power.

Scout Drone:

An IC scout drone armed with a nan and an FoF gun (credit for that idea to Dark_Sponge). Will nan friendly targets if given the "Repair" order from the F3 menu. As a combat drone, it will also attack nearby enemies if left alone but the FoF gun should cancel out the nan damage. See the above note about FF being on. In version 02 it will strip a target's shields and slowly work down the hull. In the next version (03) it will do neither.


2e) Global Attributes (GAs)

These are GA changes made available to help the training environment. They are available to all factions and can be researched quickly and cheaply from the garrison menu. They do not require a garrison to research though, much like the Cash Box.

Slower Mining Speed

Slows down mining speed by 2000%. This should let trainees set up a miner target at a specific rock and have it stay there until they want it to move. Note that you will not have a working economy after this is researched so you should start with out9/2.5 money settings. You will have to restart the game to remove the GA.

GA: Super Scan Range

Increases your team's scan ranges by 2000%. Intended for use in solo command practice, so you can deploy your drones to do the initial scouting while you sort out the cons.


3) Current Issues

This is just a list of current thoughts/concerns/ideas that need consideration. If I'm unsure about a request it will be posted here.

EWS Training Probe: The duration on these is still set to one hour. If people really want to use this core for probe art displays then I have no problem increasing that duration to something longer, or even adding a probe art probe. I leave this one to requests.

Mining Speed GA: Right now you have to restart the training session if you want to remove this GA. I can make a counter GA that will restore the mining speed back to normal if thats desired, although you would have to restart the session again anyways to slow them back down. The restoring GA, if researched without the slowing GA would also enable any faction to empty a rock instantly.


5) Other Changes

There aren't currently plans to change much besides the training equipment. However now and then the core may have a default from CC changed to help training.

Ammo & Fuel Icons

This is a personal pet peeve of mine and has been brought up by the community before. I've changed the fuel and ammo icons to something more recognizable when they're floating around in space to help practices. If anyone else wants to use these icons in their core, go right ahead.


5) Upcoming Changes & Additions

This is a list of changes and items that have been approved and added into the core, but are not in the current release version.

FoF Cannon: A couple of problems have been found and addressed with the FoF gun on the scout drones. I've also changed the weapon to only cancel out the nan repair rather than do a bit of damage on top of that.

Util Can C: Will be added in. Will function just like Gat C/Mini C - identical to Util 2 and always available.

LR Training Probe: Duration increased from 2 hours (120 minutes) to 2.5 hours (150 minutes).


6) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Why make a training core?
A: The ideas for the core came from a wishlist of sorts I've been collecting from all of the training sessions I've run in SRM.I keep hearing myself and others say "it would be really neat if we had X bit of equipment to make this run better". The core is designed to provide that sort of equipment.

Q: My idea was turned down for the CC. Can you put it in this one?
A: Unless its training related, no. Aside from the training equipment, the training core will be kept identical to the current release of CC. I will be trying to keep the core updated as new versions of CC are released.

Q: Will Omicron Hive be in the training core?
A: Hopefully yes. I will look into that when OH is released.

Q: Is the core available on the regular servers?
A: Yes, the core is currently available on GPZ. It will hopefully be on Planet soon as well.

Q: Will the core be on autoupdate?
A: This will be looked into. Hopefully yes.

Q: I can't see a use for any of this stuff.
A: I expect this to come up at least a few times. If you don't need anything from the core, you don't have to use it. If you are looking for equipment like this to use in practice sessions, then thats why I'm making this core. All of the equipment posted above has been desired for training at some point or another.


7) Ideas & Suggestions

I want this core to be useful to everyone for when they want to set up a server alone or with friends to get some practice in. The same goes for squads running practices or anything set up for cadets or by the training zone staff. On that note, if you have any ideas, suggestions or requests for equipment in this core please post them in this thread. I'd prefer not to be PMd with them although you can take that route if you are shy about your suggestion.

Do not worry if your suggestion is unbalanced for gameplay, so long as it will help a session somehow I'm happy to put it in. The same goes for if you have any questions about the core. Finally, I'm open to any constructive criticism you might have but please leave the flames and trolls in the rants forum.
Last edited by Xeretov on Thu Aug 12, 2010 7:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
TheDevil
Posts: 771
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:04 pm
Location: London, UK

Post by TheDevil »

Will there be Tech bases like EXP, Sup,..because if there are I don't think they should be there. I think all the tech should be available in Garrison only since the "Instructor" can just buy whatever tech he needs easily. However this will make this core useless for comm practise so upto you!
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Valiance
Posts: 561
Joined: Sun Nov 30, 2008 4:06 pm

Post by Valiance »

make a dumb T because hitting even miners with dumbs unless your directly behind is pretty hard (for me)
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Makida
Posts: 1793
Joined: Tue May 08, 2007 12:04 pm
Location: Canada

Post by Makida »

I think it's a nice idea for the Training missiles to come in larger numbers per rack. In the spirit of saving time, if the trainee is supposed to be learning how to get the missiles to hit their target, it might not be as useful to have them wait during reloads, or have to dock back at base to reload missiles.

I think giving the training probe a ridiculous scan range also makes sense if its main purpose is to minimize the need for probing when that is not the purpose of the training. There's the T EWS probe when a student needs to learn to plant and/or evade probes for real... I also think the training probe should have a ridiculously large signature, to minimize the risk of cheating (like a student using it instead of regular probes, when they're actually supposed to be learning to probe well).

I think another thing to add might be some training equipment to help train students to nan. For instance, a T constructor that is cheap and quick to buy. Have combat drones attack it, and see if the student can keep it alive while it gets to an asteroid. It would be even better if there was some way to let it take damage from friendly fire regardless of FF settings (or have the drones be able to attack and damage their own team regardless of FF settings) so that you could train nanning in one-team games, but I don't know if that's possible. >_>

This isn't really useful, but I think it would be cool if the fighter and interceptor drones had their own distinct models - for example, if you actually gave them the old Phoenix models - to help differentiate them from ships with real pilots. Or give them Technoflux models instead of IC, to fit the in-game theme. :P
Kap
Posts: 1466
Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2007 5:20 am
Location: Mexico

Post by Kap »

It would be cool if you could add a "Training Miner" that has same hull and shields and all but which mines extremely slow so it stays at the rock almost forever and not really draining it much. This would help miner O/D simulations because you wouldn't have to go to a new rock or wait for regen or babysit the miner so it doesn't leave the he3 rock when its depleted.

I guess one way to do this would be to modify all of the faction's miners to something ridiculously low like 0.000000001 and then add a GA in garrison to override that speed if the comm wants regular miners.
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If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut. -- Albert Einstein
Xeretov
Posts: 1633
Joined: Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:50 pm
Location: Canada

Post by Xeretov »

Valiance wrote:
QUOTE (Valiance @ Jan 18 2009, 10:35 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
make a dumb T because hitting even miners with dumbs unless your directly behind is pretty hard (for me)

Dumbfire T is already in. ;)

girlyboy wrote:
QUOTE (girlyboy @ Jan 18 2009, 02:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
(comments)

Good point on the training missiles - that was my original intention. I suppose practicing their reloads in dogfights is a bit pointless anyhow (at least from my experience, its mostly ammo/fuel I work around). As for the probe signatures, the EWS trainer is identical to EWS1 in every respect except the load number. This also makes it handy for deprobing practice since someone can fill a sector full of probes quickly and then you can go get used to hunting them down. The LR probe does have a gigantic sig though (500%) so they can be easily hunted down if they need to be deprobed for whatever reason. I might increase the sig to that of PPs (1000) just for this purpose.

I'm not sure if nan drones will work (anyone have experience with these?) since they basically have to be told to attack their own constructor. Drones are also predictable, but I can work on getting a nan drone and maybe a con or bomber drone running as well if people want them. Finally, I don't want to use any models or templates that aren't in the current version of CC right now. Since IC is played the most I figured their models for the drones would make a bit more sense. :)


Kap wrote:
QUOTE (Kap @ Jan 18 2009, 06:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I guess one way to do this would be to modify all of the faction's miners to something ridiculously low like 0.000000001 and then add a GA in garrison to override that speed if the comm wants regular miners.


Good idea. I think the easier way to do that would be to just make the inverse of that GA - have one available that slows down the mining speed for a practice if the comm wants to. Easier to make and it doesn't involve messing around with all the default faction modifiers.

Keep the suggestions coming.
Last edited by Xeretov on Mon Jan 19, 2009 12:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Valiance
Posts: 561
Joined: Sun Nov 30, 2008 4:06 pm

Post by Valiance »

Xeretov wrote:
QUOTE (Xeretov @ Jan 18 2009, 05:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Dumbfire T is already in. ;)


whoopsie... =] i thought i read in your post that you had decided agianst training dumbs for some reason =P

also, is it possible to have towers that do friendly fire?
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Kltplzyxm
Posts: 2623
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:36 pm

Post by Kltplzyxm »

Make Gat mountable on ints. I need to be able to switch gun types without having to dock. This is extremely valuable for me to teach with.

There should also be Ammo versions should also be almost unlimited. (Ammo T)

Lastly, lead indicators for figs and ints need to be disabled.
Makida
Posts: 1793
Joined: Tue May 08, 2007 12:04 pm
Location: Canada

Post by Makida »

Disabling the aiming reticule or lead indicator or whatever the right word is for the mood circle that tells you where to aim seems like a cool idea. I mean, if you DM with one team & friendly fire on, that already happens, but it would be nice if you could do that with two teams... I doubt there's a way to change it besides actually changing the file in the artwork directory, though, and since there *is* the one-team-DM work-around for it, it might not be necessary. >_> But it's nice to try and learn to aim without trusting the computer aids.
amsunaakage
Posts: 296
Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2007 7:47 am
Location: MidEast

Post by amsunaakage »

This core will only lack of one thing, which is the realtime/realstatus practicing.

Like what if we really wanna practice on realtime strategy, like every 15 min a scout should go to nan the EWS Probe 1 while have to every 20 min nan the EWS probe 2.

Or practice on real damage affect, or any other similar conditions only provided on other cores.

I would not like to say "Then dont bother yourself by playing on the training core, and just go straight set up a game on other cores" Instead what if it was in some way not within the core file.

And it would be in the game settings itself where you can chose any core you want, and then change your settings from realtime/real settings to practice settings.

I know it will need root code change, but its just an idea, but then the core would sound great. :D
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