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[Broseph Stalin]

I found another neat trick. I was building defenses and thinking that it would be really neat to build a flying castle. Only, its hars to get enough lift from suspendion chambers and they are fragille.

But... as it turns out, out of combat lift and in combat lift are two different beasts.  So I made a stone cannon outpost,  added a couple of suspendium chambers to lift it a few feet off the ground, and a strong engine to be able to bring it to places. Then I added a small coal store.

It works. As soon asit reaches combat I land it away from the action, and use my other, cheaper ships to defend it from bombers while it pelts away at city defenses. Works great as a mobile siege platform

This is pretty much my strategy for flying aircraft carriers.

[LoSboccacc]

so this is interesting. wide ship float better

[Kagus]

I think that has something to do with the way the service ceiling is calculated and how "deep" the ship is. Since the wide ship is approximately eight meters "shallower", if the suspendium flies to the same altitude then the the bottom will be roughly eight meters higher than the bottom of the design on the left. Seeing as the service ceiling difference is listed as being nine meters, that seems about right.

Still interesting to know. Does this mean that a ship with suspendium chambers built on the bottom will float higher than one with chambers on top?

[LoSboccacc]

Does this mean that a ship with suspendium chambers built on the bottom will float higher than one with chambers on top?

no, I tried that. same final height.

[Kagus]

Alright, so it does calculate out from center mass or so, and it's just my math/estimate of grid size that's off. Makes sense.

[crazyabe]

Started playing very interesting and quite amusing- although prone to crashing on my Crappy 2007 Windows brick.

[Dostoevsky]

so this is interesting. wide ship float better

If I'm not mistaken, I've also noticed some aerodynamics calculated - there have been times where adding an additional piece (i.e. additional weight, which would typically slow the ship down) that makes the ship a little less blocky from the front will increase the top speed.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Why is the AI so bad with boarding? It seems like air marines in general are really finicky, not making small jumps, unable to climb up from one ship to another--are grenadiers just the only way to go?

[LoSboccacc]

Why is the AI so bad with boarding? It seems like air marines in general are really finicky, not making small jumps, unable to climb up from one ship to another--are grenadiers just the only way to go?

the marine ai defaults on sending them on top of a ship, so if your ship is tall they won't jump down. and they refuse to jump upward too.

to make them work you need a thin craft, move it on top on the ship to capture beforehand, and only when you are close and above giving the boarding action. you're going to need a low order cooldown or an harpoon for this to work of course.

Spoiler: this module kinda works reliably for me (click to show/hide)

[Broseph Stalin]

Hell yes. I remember dreaming of a game like this (albiet in 3d) about ten years ago. Love the style. Kind of like Pixel Pirates but in the air?

]

From the Depths is basically Airships in 3D.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

@LoSboccacc, my dedicated boarding ships are only like 2-3 tiles tall (and much, much wider). I have noticed the marines always go to the top tendency, but it seems like they get stuck up their a lot, with their bodies phasing through the open air decks. But yes, perhaps I shall experiment with even heavier boarding ships with more survivable amounts of armor and harpoons.

EDIT:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Similar "flying platform" design as compared to my ultra-light corvette. It does an okay job, especially against landships (which I've apparently made pretty OP, as they've wiped my fleets a couple of times now), but in some ways it is not ultra maneuverable--I am wondering if I should try and cut it down in size...

BUT in very interesting news, if several of these bad boys are connect back-to-front-to-target marines from the rearmost ships will cross through friendly ships to board the target (once ordered to). I actually had a crazy fight where this happened, but the target was a really heavily defended mobile-castle and the fight went back and forth across the top decks--even had two of the three ships captured from me (but won in the end when another two stormed the landship from above.)

Hell yes. I remember dreaming of a game like this (albiet in 3d) about ten years ago. Love the style. Kind of like Pixel Pirates but in the air?

]

From the Depths is basically Airships in 3D.

Nah, the crew is kind of a big part of it all--FTD is just fully automated ship. Similar look on the surface maybe, but the inner workings are total opposites.

[Kagus]

Marines will also walk along the ground when looking to take over a far-away ship. Honestly, their AI is equal parts remarkable cleverness and complete retardation.

And no, Airships is not Pixel Pirates either. The crew are an important machine, yes, but it's not an RPG.

[Broseph Stalin]

Nah, the crew is kind of a big part of it all--FTD is just fully automated ship. Similar look on the surface maybe, but the inner workings are total opposites.

In both games you conquer a campaign map with player made ships while AI forces trying to do the same. The locations you capture can be developed to produce more resources to build more ships but if left undefended will be attacked and taken back. Other than the absence of AI run boarding actions and the presence of water vehicles they play very, very similarly. The crew largely just a strategic resource that is only depleted by enemy fire.

[umiman]

I really, really enjoy this game. And only found out about it from this thread. Actually thought I posted about it on page one but turns out I was so busy playing it I didn't actually press enter.

Anyway.

In my most recent campaign with the cataclysm mod or whatever. Large map. I'm locked in a temporary stalemate with the other major force on my island. Haven't really been bothered by any other factions outside of my island. Been ramping up landships (well, flamethrower spiders actually) for my final push into the enemy stronghold.

Then suddenly, out of the blue I get a combat notice. Apparently someone invaded my... mini island. Kinda like a Taiwan for my China. These strangers sailed from all the way across the sea just to fight me. They went straight for my capital there, which also happens to be my largest shipyard and where I have it constructing super zeppelin aircraft carriers 24/7. There's one there defending it, alongside a gigantic array of defenses. When I say gigantic, I mean, fucking the entire side of my map is just guns.

I'm laughing. I can't believe the AI is stupid enough to attack one of my strongest, if not the strongest, cities. So I go into it expecting a one sided slaughter.

Turns out... the AI was a little craftier than I thought. I had absolutely never seen it before but you know those ISS Vindicators that's a default ship you can build? Like $5700 cost or something? Yeah, the AI brought 8 of the equivalent. Giant battleships. Heavy cannons, flak cannons, the works.

Holy shit, within the opening salvo my base was completely levelled. My Zeppelin was blown out of the sky, and all the fuel and ammo turned it into a giant bomb that obliterated my main fortress. My defenses managed to down a single battleship and cripple another but we were crushed completely and I lost my most important shipyard.

I was panicking like mad. I had never seen such a powerful force. If those guys could roflstomp my greatest defenses, nothing would stand in their way.

I immediately recalled all my standing navies to regroup nearby. My tech was nowhere near those enemy battleship standards. Hell, I'm still using balloons for everything. My best ship is just 8 cannons stuck onto the side of a giant balloon that I keep at the very back and hope everything dies before it reaches it. So that's the mainstay of my navy. I have a few balloon bombers, another zeppelin carrier, and a few random frigates I have for a front line.

The battle that ensued over the reconquest of my city was incredible. The sky was filled with so much smoke that everything above 200m was just pitch black smoke. My balloons were shot out of the air so fast they just became turrets instead on the ground. My bombers were crash landing onto enemy battleships and suiciding themselves to kill them. My carrier did jack shit but floated so high up in the air nothing could hit it.

It was a stalemate. I won, but only the carrier made it. The enemy retreated with a skeleton of their navy and now I'm worried what will happen when they come back. And not to mention my true enemy on the mainland is preparing to push out again and all I've got to fight him is some walking flamethrower spiders.

I love this game.

[LoSboccacc]

so I found how to add factions. really simple actually. am building a dwarf themed mod, with leg tanks out of the start, flying castles, normal castles and the likes.

some wip tier 0 designs https://imgur.com/a/O13wiXF

I'm still looking for a good walker inspiration. I was thinking on the like of howl castle for late game stuff, but doing thematic walker as small as they are needed at game start is hard