The Praedian Records

J.G. Phoenix

Current Projects

Chapter 2 1st Draft 30%

Remnants of the Elders

Yamato 60%
Hermes 5%
Yorktown 80%
Victorious 30%
Maya 5%
Blücher 70%
Prinz Eugen 10%
Seydlitz 85%
Lützow 10%
Magdeburg 5%
Prinz Heinrich 5%
Konigsberg 5%
Type 34 Destroyer 90%
Type 36 Destroyer 80%

Favorites in Fiction

MS-14Jg Gelgoog Jäger

YF-29 Durandal (WIP)

M.A.S.S. Builder: Patch 0.9.0 Released

by | Nov 21, 2022 | , ,

M.A.S.S. Builder – MAJOR UPDATE: Patch 0.9.0 Released! Alpha Phase Multi-Player READY! – Steam News
Well! We’ve started the year off with version 0.8.0 and we’ve finally done working on version 0.9.0 at the end of the year and now, we’re ready to release the long-awaited update!

Oh man, I just flat out assumed this would be coming on a Saturday, not a Monday. Overall it’s been a good day, though. I’ll probably have to make another post about that tomorrow, though.

I already posted the patch notes for 0.9.0 on Saturday so for the rest of the week I’m going to be doing some work on M.A.S.S. Builder every day until I finish the Bronze Bullet (a mech from my Frame Ops story). I’ll be posting progress notes and the like.

This week is turning out to be overwhelming and it’s only the start, but it’s pretty exciting. I’m going to make the most of it.

M.A.S.S. Builder: 0.9.0 Updates Roundup

by | Nov 19, 2022 | ,

M.A.S.S. Builder – WIP: 0.9.0 Patch Notes and Balance Updates Roundup – Steam News
Hello everyone! We’re excited to announce that we’re extremely near the update of version 0.9.0 and there’s only a few things left to be polished before it’s ready.

This is more of a look back over all the previous previews slated for update 0.9.0, but it illustrates just how much is going to change.

We’ve got new customization options coming, from the new accessories and ‘base weapon’ parts, to new poses for photograph mode. We’re also getting more story missions, a new hunt mission, tier 6 node unlocks, the new weak point system for bosses, as well as some tweaks to their attacks to make life a little easier for melee playstyles.

There are also a lot of QoL updates to be happy about.

I’m a bit busier than I’d like but I do want to get more M.A.S.S. Builder content going around the time 0.9.0 releases, so I’ll up that on my list of priorities until I find the right balance between that and my other projects.

M.A.S.S. Builder: 0.9.0 CO-OP Missions Preview

by | Nov 12, 2022 | ,

M.A.S.S. Builder – WIP: 0.9.0 Alpha CO-OP Missions Preview – Steam News
Hello everyone, today’s a short preview of the coming multiplayer missions you’ll get to try your hands on with your friends (or enemies, we don’t judge). As we’ve mentioned months before, we’ve decided to add co-op missions into this update as it took a long time and came out with three of them.

As someone who generally likes cooperative gameplay, the addition of coop missions in M.A.S.S. Builder has always been exciting for me. This may only be in alpha, but you’ve got to start somewhere, and I’m looking forward to it.

M.A.S.S. Builder: Introducing Weak Point System

by | Nov 5, 2022 | ,

M.A.S.S. Builder – WIP: Introducing Weak Point System – Steam News
Hello and welcome to another WIP update, this week, introducing a new system we’ve been planning to implement for a good while, the Weak Point System.

This one is painfully self explanatory. Shoot glowy spot, make hurt more, etc. That said, given how tanky the bosses in this game can be, a weak point system is a more than welcome addition. My biggest issue as a shooting focused player is always running out of ammo and having to focus entirely on killing mobs to rearm. It shouldn’t be as big of an issue if I can get more damage in.

There are some particulars with the system, though. First off, the weak points aren’t something you can just lock onto, so ranged players will have to use the manual aim for a change. Fine by me. Melee also has better damage versus weak points, so while they probably won’t hit them as often, the burst damage should be higher. Ranged meanwhile, will just be able to consistently target weak points. It sounds balanced enough on paper, but I’m sure there’ll be some tweaks down the road.

VD also mentioned that they’re disabling all special movement openers for the players in 0.9.0. It’s a bit weird, but I’ve got enough good faith saved up with them to just roll with it and see how they try to balance things going forward.

Cosmo Messer F Release

by | Nov 1, 2022 | , ,

Steam Workshop::Bfc 109 Cosmo Messer F
The next entry in the Cosmo Messer line.
Description

The next entry in the Cosmo Messer line. The F series serves as a branching point for all of the remaining variants. This is an ‘aesthetics first’ type of design, so it’s almost completely reliant on internal thrusters. Compared to the E, the internals have been revised: One medium battery, along with all up and downward facing ion thrusters were removed. It’s also noticeably heavier due to having a bit more heavy armor and some subgrids. It’s still vanilla, though.

Once Grid AI releases I’ll be branching out to the Messer F2 (a no subgrids printable version of the Messer F), the Messer T (unit for fleet carriers), and the Messer QF (drone variant). I might also make a QE since the original Messer is pretty nimble.

That’ll be it for the unmodded Messers. The G and K variants will be using one or two mods that fit with the Kaiser faction’s future developments.

I’m also fiddling around with some modules for these planes. The ones that didn’t give me too many problems can be found here:

Kaiser H2 Pod (Type 1)
Kaiser Boost Pod (Type 1)

Lore

The next phase in the development of the Cosmo Messer, the F series made several trade offs to improve the craft’s performance and versatility while keeping the original frame. Due to the Kaiser faction’s increased terrestrial presence, the Cosmo Messer F had to be nimble in both space and under high gravity. On top of receiving retractable landing gears for ground use, the F series also received hardpoints and new software for controlling external modules.

Before the outbreak of hostilities between the Kaisers and several other factions, the F series were greenlit for mass production, becoming the fleet’s primary fighter. Kaiser infrastructure and support facilities grew to match. The KCV Admiral Hipper was among the first capital ships in the fleet to receive the new fighters, helping to establish their presence in the system.

Specifications

Primary Mission: Short Range Fighter
Crew: 1 Pilot
Armament: 4x Gatling Guns, 2x Rocket Launchers, 1x Autocannon
Power Plant: 1x Hydrogen Engine (500kw), 3x Medium Warfare Batteries (9Mw)
Thrusters: 40x Hydrogen, 18x Ion, 58 Total
Hardpoints: 2x Hinges
Wingspan: 42ft (13.1m)
Length: 69ft (21)
Height: 18.4ft (5.6m)
Grid Mass: 77,971
PCU: 7,722

Notes

  • Messer F uses more heavy armor than the Messer E, so it’s less maneuverable going down or strafing.
  • Page 2 is set up for weaponcore and vanilla, so delete the toolbar set you don’t need.
  • Ship has multiple subgrids: 2x for rockets, 3x for landing gears.
  • The landing gears can let out those little puffs of contact smoke while retracted; not sure if it’s fixable.
  • Can use connector with landing gears deployed; doesn’t make it any more stable, just looks cool.
  • The third monitor (index 2) doesn’t work with weaponcore; change to whatever you want.
  • Final version was tested mostly in Pertam’s 1.2Gs and can get to space easily. (Costs around 50% internal H2 stores going full manual)

Scripts

Controls

(This info is taken from the Messer cockpit)

PAGE 1:
THROTTLE CONTROLS
Num1 – Flight Mode Normal
Num2 – Flight Mode Cruise+
Num3 – Flight Mode Governor
EMOTES
Num4 – Check Wrist
Num5 – Salute
CAMERAS
Num6 – Electro Optical Sensor
Num7 – Tailfin Camera
Num8 – Rearview Camera
Num9 – Ventral Camera

PAGE 2:
WEAPON CONTROLS – WEAPONCORE
Num1 – Toggle Gatling Gun Group Mouse Control
Num2 – Toggle Autocannon Mouse Control
Num3 – Toggle Rocket Launcher Deployment
Num4 – Toggle Rocket Launcher Mouse Control
WEAPON CONTROLS – VANILLA
Num5 – Toggle Gatling Guns
Num6 – Toggle Autocannon
Num7 – Toggle Rocket Launchers
CAMERAS – COMBAT
Num8 – Tailfin Camera
Num9 – Rearview Camera

PAGE 3:
CONNECTOR/MAG PLATE/LANDING GEARS
Num1 – Connector Switch Lock
Num2 – Toggle Mag Plate Lock/Unlock Sequence
Num3 – Toggle Landing Gears Sequence
CAMERAS – LAUNCH/LANDING
Num4 – Tailfin Camera
Num5 – Rearview Camera
Num6 – Ventral Camera
ADDITIONAL SYSTEMS
Num7 – Toggle Gyroscopes On/Off
Num8 – Toggle Thrusters On/Off
Num9 – Toggle Landing Guide Projector On/Off

PAGE 4:
AUX SYSTEMS
Num1 – Toggle Maintenance Projector On/Off
Num2 – Wing Pylons Attach
Num3 – Wing Pylons Detach
Num4 – Run Pylon alignment Sequence
Num5 – Toggle Antenna On/Off
Num6 – Toggle Emergency Beacon On/Off
Num7 – Toggle Remote Autopilot On/Off
Num8 – Toggle Hydrogen Engine On/Off
Num9 – Toggle O2/H2 Generator On/Off

Page 9: Connector/Mag Plate Extended Functions
ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS
Num1 – Toggle Connector On/Off
Num2 – Connector Lock
Num3 – Connector Unlock
Num4 – Toggle Connector Collect All On/Off
Num5 – Toggle Connector Throw Out On/Off
Num6 – Toggle Mag Plate On/Off
Num7 – Mag Plate Lock
Num8 – Mag Plate Unlock
Num9 – Toggle Mag Plate Autolock On/Off

Piloting Notes

1: It is not advised to turn off the Cosmo Messer F’s hydrogen thrusters separately; ship has no up or down facing ion thrusters. Use Governor flight mode (Page 1 Num3) for taxiing and landing. Only maneuver in one direction at a time in Governor mode for easier handling.
2: Use the landing guide for landing in unfamiliar spaces. Activate the landing guide (Page 3 Num9) and keep the red areas from clipping through walls or objects. This will prevent lateral collisions.
3: For high speed braking, point the bottom of the ship in the intended braking direction. Additionally, flipping the ship can stop it much more quickly than relying on the reverse thrusters.
4: Follow a target’s movements carefully while firing the gatling guns; the Messer’s nose can catch rounds from them with steep yaw turns. Alternatively, lean more on pitch control for target leading.
5: To prevent toggling the systems of other Messer Fs, move the ship into position on the connector, then turn off the gyroscopes and thrusters before switching the lock state on. Disconnect before toggling systems for takeoffs.

Acknowledgements
Admiral Hipper is launching soon

M.A.S.S. Builder: 0.9.0 New Hunt Mission

by | Oct 29, 2022 | ,

M.A.S.S. Builder – WIP: 0.9.0 New Hunt Mission – Steam News
Hello everyone. We’re at the end of October now and with November in sight, the update looms closer (yes, we’re still on that HOPIUM road saying we’ll update the game in November). With that said, we’d like to show an extra content we’ve worked on while finalizing other systems, a new hunt mission.

November? Maybe I should hurry up with my unit. Anyway, it’s always good to have more hunt missions. I used to farm these and the lack of overall variety was a little irksome, both in the enemy types and environments. But here we’ll be facing off against other M.A.S.S. units in a shelter. That’s perfect.

It also looks like the destructible props idea is going through.

Overall I’d say this is one of those more subtle news updates that’ll be a lot more impactful when 0.9.0 actually releases.

M.A.S.S. Builder: Base Weapon Parts & Starter Content Update

by | Oct 22, 2022 | ,

M.A.S.S. Builder – WIP: Base Ranged Weapon Parts & Starter Content Update – Steam News
A few weeks ago, we’ve shown you new simple parts coming into version 0.9.0 but haven’t provided the full description of how they’ll be unlocked or how many parts will be there. With today’s WIP update, we’d like to go into detail about the topic.

The base parts series has always been one of VD’s better, if more unusual ideas. This will let us make some of the more unique looking guns we want without having to worry so much about the scaling and vanilla parts sticking out. Pistols might even be more doable after 0.9.0 even.

VD’s also making sure that we’re covered across ‘shot types’.

Admittedly, this is a more cluttered looking than it needs to be, and for some it might make them wonder what the point of the original weapon parts will be going forward, but I think this suits everyone. People who want a more basic, already detailed weapon part will have one, and people who want to make a replica of something or design there own (my camp), can do that.

The best part is that we’re getting these as soon as the update goes live. No grind to design for this batch.

Recent Pinned Posts

My Struggle

by | Feb 1, 2022 | , , , , , , ,

The blog, the stories, long term projects, addressing myself and old wounds, even writing this. All of it is one big struggle in my transition from one life to the next. The Site Starting with the base of operations, I like the way the site looks, but there have been...

read more