Functional ship components

from GalCiv2 Forums
I've started to wonder about something.

How come the supposedly 'smaller', more advanced versions of certain functional ship components (most notably weapons) actually appear larger when you actually go to place them? I could understand if the things actually did more damage, but, for the most part, the weapons seem to get visually larger as the statistical size gets smaller and smaller. This does not compute.

I could understand if it's a brand new type of weapon. A first generation Plasma cannon should be larger than a fifth generation Laser cannon. But a fifth generation Laser cannon is described as being smaller than all the previous generation Laser cannons, and yet it's visually larger and more complicated, with arms coming out every which way.

Another thing is, why even bother? The 3D models for the weapons and such just sit there, anyway. The weapons fire doesn't even give a damn where you placed the weapons, far as I can tell. It's all asthetics, so why isn't it just optional?

The default ship designs don't even have models attached to the hull for some of their components. Why can't I do the same for some of my own designs? Perhaps I think that Mark V Laser looks goofy on my brand-new fighter. Just have it 'internalized' and not be a concern, asthetically-speaking.

I also tend to think that, near the end of the weapon tech trees, the fundamental differences between the damage types starts to break down and the distinction between 'Mass', 'Beam', and 'Missile' is artificial. At some point, the only real defence seems to be a form of gravitational force field that just doesn't exist in the game.
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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Not sure what you're getting at with this. In the shipyard you can adjust the slider to minimize or maximize the size of the object you are placing. Also through trial and error just pissing around and building things, I've found that there are some ship builds that if done "right", will have a hardpoint or two that will seem to be "hidden". If you place a weapon and minimize it some, then add another component or piece of jewelry, you can in essence "hide" the weapon from view. Like I said, this is more trial and error when you try to build a ship, but it works. Is this what you were looking for? As far as the weapons being functional, well, sure in a perfect world a mass driver barrel would be pumping away, but I don't think we will ever see functioning weapons.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Another thing is, why even bother? The 3D models for the weapons and such just sit there, anyway. The weapons fire doesn't even give a damn where you placed the weapons, far as I can tell. It's all asthetics, so why isn't it just optional?


Weaponsfire does originate from the point where the weapons are located, though there is no limitation such as firing arc or blocked view.

The default ship designs don't even have models attached to the hull for some of their components. Why can't I do the same for some of my own designs? Perhaps I think that Mark V Laser looks goofy on my brand-new fighter. Just have it 'internalized' and not be a concern, asthetically-speaking.


If you want to do this, just edit the ship's design files manually. The .shipcfg file controls the ship's appearance, while the .xml file controls the ship's functional components. There are also mods that make the ship components completely invisible and add them as jewelry so you can have them look however you want, or not at all.
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Weaponsfire does originate from the point where the weapons are located, though there is no limitation such as firing arc or blocked view.


Well, I figured the last part... but I really do not see much of a relation between where I put the weapons and where they fire from. Not that it matters, really. Just that I was watching a ship where the laser was mounted under the hull, and the laser consistently fired from the very tip of the nose. In other instances, pairs of torpedoes or ballistic fire would just fire out of the center of the two 'weapons pods' on the one Altarian-style Huge hull (the platforms that support three modules mounted all around it), and often the torpedoes weren't even mounted there.

Not sure what you're getting at with this. In the shipyard you can adjust the slider to minimize or maximize the size of the object you are placing. Also through trial and error just pissing around and building things, I've found that there are some ship builds that if done "right", will have a hardpoint or two that will seem to be "hidden". If you place a weapon and minimize it some, then add another component or piece of jewelry, you can in essence "hide" the weapon from view. Like I said, this is more trial and error when you try to build a ship, but it works. Is this what you were looking for? As far as the weapons being functional, well, sure in a perfect world a mass driver barrel would be pumping away, but I don't think we will ever see functioning weapons.


Yes, this is true... but it just doesn't seem to make sense that the 'default' appearance of these weapons are like this. It's just a form of miniaturization. It shouldn't be adding things to the weapon appearance.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If you don't want components to show up at all, there is a mod by Rasori, UDFM I think? It makes components invisible.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It would be nice if we could place some inside the ships. There are some nice hulls with engine visuals already there, why can't I place my engines 'inside' those and why can't I place weapons inside the hulls as well?
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Because there aren't any hardpoints inside the hulls. With my mod or just creatvively placed/rotated jewelry though you can achieve this.