Well, Clan Battles went alright, though there were definitely some frustrating matches in between the steamrolls and hard fought victories.
I’ve got to clear out some old recordings soon but I’ll review them first to see if there’s anything worth keeping and using in video clips.
Drone Testing
I did some more testing on the Messer conversion today. It looks like there’s just one problem standing between me and actually having fully functioning Cosmo Messer drones. That problem is how the drones decide which dock they want to use. Half the time they’ll pick the closest dock and half the time they’ll pick the other one.
The Hipper’s design pretty much prohibits building docks in a line. It’s either 2 fighters side by side or just one, and right now I’m leaning toward the latter. Admiral Hipper was never meant to be reliant on drones, I just liked the idea of having one or two available.
I’m still not planning to use the E models as the base for the drone models, but they work well enough for testing.
Sort of …
This is what happens when the wrong docks get picked. The drones either come in way too fast and slam into each other or just decide to relax and cuddle.
Anyway, the last thing I wanted to mention is that my Space Engineers projects feel like a pretty good source of material for the blog, so I’ll be putting more effort into that, as well. That includes trying to pick up C# and making adjustments to in-game scripts.
I’ll try to post any useful info I learn about that and building techniques here going forward.
His head is a giant middle finger for crying out loud. That’s just too on point for a boss design. He’s also the most fun of the bosses to fight in my opinion. At least up to this point.
So far 2022 has been a pretty rough couple of months. Even my monthly goals approach is getting blasted with constant setbacks. Since I don’t know what random nonsense is lying in wait for me in March, I’m trying to think of some changes I can make in the meantime to try and stay on track.
The biggest problem right now is that Lydia’s Golden Treasury needs a new chapter I didn’t see coming, between chapters 1 and 3. I’m much faster and far less prone to mistakes writing things chronologically, but that’s no longer an option. Having been a month behind already when some issues with the site came up means my goal of having LGT finished by the start of April just isn’t happening.
While LGT may need some restructuring, I still don’t want to put off everything else past April. That’s how you get backed up for months as other things inevitably come up.
I’m going to try out some new daily approaches for my writing projects during March, then in April, I’ll use the best ones to tackle LGT and anything else that needs doing little by little.
February isn’t over yet, so I’m still going to do what I can. I’m on track to finish reading The Virtues of War and FV2 is certainly doable. An LGT editing session requires a bit more focus than I have right now, but I’ll try to at least get started on those again before the end of this month.
I don’t quite get the drone scripts the XB-2 uses yet, but based on my own testing I’ve got serious doubts that I’ll be able to convert the E model of the Cosmo Messer into one. My best bet with this sort of thing is having a connector on the back in the same style as the XB-2. Even that won’t fix all the problems, though.
It’s the length, among other things. The Cosmo Messer has to land in a particular orientation to have them in good numbers on a ship, which is more code and more problems. Even with a connector on the back they would have to orient themselves to be right side up to be stored internally, something the XB-2s don’t have to do.
I’ll keep poking around to see if there’s a way to do it long term, but the E models have come too far for any major overhauls at this point.
At least they look majestic parked on the approximately 60% complete Admiral Hipper.
I didn’t want to be posting this late, but it’s always a possibility with Clan Battles.
Anyway …
Cosmo Messer Progress
I’ve decided on the designation BfC 109E. The only difference between that designation and the original plane is the C, which just stands for Cosmo. The E is the first production model of the Messerschmitt that I’m aware of so it’s the model number I’m going with for mine.
Here’s what they look like currently.
These two are parked on the Admiral Hipper’s aft arms. They can’t be serviced from these spots but it lets them hitch a ride over extremely long distances without obstructing the weapons. It also looks cool, so there’s that, too.
There are some visual mods working in the world I’m using but the Cosmo Messer E models are still modless. Not scriptless, but scripts always get a pass if they’re set up properly.
I won’t be able to do it this month since I’ve got a bit more testing to do and not a lot of time to do it, but sometime in March they’ll be ready for prime time on the Workshop.
Also I want to make at least one drone variant of the Cosmo Messer based on pro’s XB-2 combat drone. I’ve got some of them working ‘okay’ with the Admiral Hipper, so it’s looking promising. One step at a time and eventually we’ll get there.
Clan Battles
Tonight was W-P-A and W-P-O’s first official outing in Clan Battles. All in all it wasn’t too bad. We didn’t go positive on wins, at least not in the W-P-O div, but I think we were only down two losses. I didn’t check in with the W-P-A div but they were apparently doing alright.
I’m not sure how things are going to go throughout the season; my initial impression isn’t helping me make up my mind on that one way or the other, so here’s hoping.
One More Thing
I just wanted to share these because they’re each uniquely amusing.
