You can modify your airplane's data file (.xml), and edit the url field (copy-paste the URL of the predecessor build) and save the file. If you are on PC, you can do it by opening the file with notepad, and if u r on iPhone, there's an app that lets you move and edit docoments (I use use one called Document by Readdle).
The part you want to replace is the six-letter part.
.
You may have moved on from this, so in that case I'm posting this for the benefit of others who sees this post looking for info.
Here's some quarks I've noticed/learned about this trick as I messed with this system. Might help people who want to build other AAA build for AI based on this build:
.
.
-Gun seems to stop firing if the cockpit is moved too much after spawn. And once it stops firing, it seems they never fire again. So spawning the gun on moving objects such as USS Tiny or Beast makes it not work, at least on my game (latest iPhone 1.12.203).
.
I tried making a moving version of this AAA by combining it with 11qazxc's automatic gift truck, but couldn't get it to fire a single round for some reason. I gave up on the project, and later realized that even static versions stop firing when something moves the cockpit, or so it seemed. There might be a different, actual, precise cause for guns stop firing, but for the time being I presume this is the cause.
.
.
-Gun and cockpit can be misaligned due to movement caused by rotators (seems to be a characteristic/bug of the game). When this occurs, naturally the gun becomes inaccurate as it always aims at a wrong spot.
This can be mitigated by attaching a second cockpit to the base of the gun (in this case hull of the static vehicle), setting up Current Heading part variable of the second cockpit (by giving it a name), then modifying the rotator's FT by replacing all the Heading with the name for the heading variable of the second cockpit.
@Lwillswith2sentryguns
Indeed I have returned.... and now, I, the King Kendog84 the third, hereby declare myself the second deputy Emperor! Muwaha.. waha... WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
I did not expect this to push me past the 25k, but thank you all nonetheless for downloading, commenting, upvoting and highlighting.
Happy Simple Planing!
@Ye4567
!https://www.simpleplanes.com/Notifications/View/51382749
Here it is, I've included all wings as it was easier in a way. It says RF-84, but it's identical to my F-84's (G, I think). Flap is assigned to trim, and trim tabs are assigned to VTOL
@Ye4567
No, I don't mind, go ahead!
I have actually built flyable versions before turning them static, but I never completed them. I'll link one here if I still have it somewhere, you may use that as the base, instead of one of those static models, if you like:)
@Monarchii
Glad to be of service;)
I couldn't find the Natter though, unfortunately. But if I remember right, I think it used sum(clamp01(condition)) (=shows/gives you the time since the condition is met in second) to limit its engine run time.
Something like the following for engine activationGroup. Disables the engine 10 sec after AG1 is turned on.
sum(clamp01(Activate1)) < 10
Here's some I could find on my phone chii, I may find a few more on my computer if I'm lucky. (Don't get your hopes up for the Natter though!)
Did you figure out the AI gun thing btw? Sorry I haven't looked into it much yet, I've been away x(
.
.
Chii's builds
Airplanes
Doug AI https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/K8tZHr/AI-Fighter-Doug-Redesign-by-Tsuchiisan
@Ceilies
I assume you used an explosive cannon or one with high impactDamageScaler? System doesn't work with large explosion or too high an IDS due to the way the game works.
@UnidentifiedStapler
Yeah, the hitbox thing happens when you change the Z scale of the wheel part. Enabling the built-in suspension fixes it (as long as the suspension values aren't too low). Drawback is that... you have to enable the built-in suspension.
(My comment got cut off, it was probably too long. Here's the rest:)
But AI will stop firing the cannon under some conditions (I'm not sure what exactly are those conditions), and when it stops, you basically have to make it, the AI, repeat the process if you want it to fire a cannon again. And this is how my Missile & Rotator based bot trigger mechanism works. Every time AI stops firing its weapons (=not pressing down on the Virtual.. Insanity.. jk, FireWeapons button), missile re-activates, so AI can & will fire a missile again.
Feel free to throw me more questions about this thing if you don't understand something about it. I try my best to explain it, but it's kinda convoluted and it can be hard to tell how well I'm explaining it.
@Monarchii
Sorry for my late response chii, been kinda occupied.
Anyhow, no problem at all:)
.
So, the radar-tator and the activation missile+the orange cannon are separate things.
.
"Radar-tator" is a mechanism which rotates the Cockpit (set as Primary) 360 degrees until it finds a target (and reset when it does). This is for helping the AI find a target. It's needed for "enemy AI turret" type builds because aggressive AI has a frontal field of vision that's probably less than 180 degrees (angle is based on the current heading of the main cockpit block) and only "sees" other active planes inside this cone. Only exception I know is when the AI gets locked-on by other active plane's missile from any angle, in which case it can "see" the threat and react to it.
.
.
The orange cannon is a part of a mechanism which limits the maximum firing range (altitude & distance) of the flak gun. This is an optional thing, mainly for realism & (I suppose,) game mechanic.
Basically, AI must keep firing a weapon/ (=a cannon) if you want it to keep firing/using a cannon. Meaning, if you give it only a cannon(s) that disables itself under certain conditions, it stops firing under said conditions, and it won't fire the cannon again. But you do want to disable the cannon under some conditions, so what you can do is to give it a fake cannon to replace the "real" cannons when the real ones are disabled.
I think technically it's probably possible to give this function to the bot trigger missile, and remove the fake cannon, but I think that'll probably introduce some other nuisances.
As for the trigger (Activation) conditions for the fake and real cannons, you just need to write an Activation FT for the real cannons as a Custom Variable (condition which activates the real cannons), and give the same variable to the fake gun as its activation FT except with an inverse function (=!).
.
. How AI uses cannons
I should write a quick refresher on how AI uses cannons. Basically, AI never uses air-to-air weapons other than missiles (as weapons, using FireWeapons input) under normal conditions. (I don't think they ever use air-to-ground only weapons)
But if it fires a missile that's AtA (including multirole), and "runs out" of that missile, AI switches to the next AtA weapon, while still pressing-down on the virtual FireWeapons button. And if the next weapon is a cannon, it continues to press down on the virtual FireWeapons button, which causes the cannon to fire. This is how AI fires a cannon (in current version of the game).
B
You have every right to do things the way it suits you and at your own pace with this game & the site chii, I for one am just happy to see you around again:)
@KSB24
Since I've uploaded the flak cannon, I've learned that there's a much simpler, easier & cost efficient way of doing this (thanks to @PlanariaLab). All you have to do is, instead of detaching 1/3 of the total parts count, lose over 1/2 of the total (starting) wing area. Just one big wing on a detacher in other words. (you can scale down the wing part, of course) Just two parts!
@MrCOPTY
Not sure if this is the issue you are having, but there seems to be a bug where having "&" condition inside the activation FT of a parachute does something weird. When I used it (the & condition) trying to create a retardation/high-drag device for a bomb, game would alway glitch and became unplayable, spawning my aircraft some crazy distance below ground.
When I saw the teaser, I speculated that this was using fuel tank and fuel percentage for the trigger, as I could get an auto-ejecting pilot with that method (which had big fuel tanks (capacity wise) in each wing, so when one of them gets destroyed, fuel percentage gets really low, which activates the detacher)... but wow, I didn't think it would be this advanced!! Great job!
Love the design and functionality. The buikd quality/the finish is very nice, and it 'looks' and 'feels' like a medium bomber--which is one my favorite class of aircrafts!
@Astro12
Very true. I really needed something like this for a turret that uses autoaim (which is for AI) especially, since it can't even make a manual adjustment unlike a human player.
.
I was very lucky to come up with this method (using a secondary cockpit to get the data on how much the ship's roll angle--this is most likely not the first one to use it), since alternatives (like doing crazy calculation based on ship hull's heading, pitch/roll angle, turret rotation etc.) get pretty complex and way beyond my brain's computing power and math skill. lol
@WinsWings
Thanks, that would make sense.
I think I'll try to make each class of gun/cannon AA distinct in terms of their effectiveness, based also on era. Looking back, I've made the 85mm flak too capable in the tracking department (rotates too fast).
@SILVERPANZER
Thanks for tagging:)
Yeah I am very much interested in this. I have some speculations on how this might work (in a very simplified way), but I'd love to see it for myself when it's uploaded.
Really cool build! I especially like the sequenced breath/laser attack. Tried it against some ground targets, and when the laser hit them, they'd just fly like a speck of dust brown by wind! Haha. Glorious stuff.
.
I got this issue though, on mobile version where the FireFuns button constantly flickers (perhaps due to something with activationGroups FT?) and never stayed on screen, which made it unable to use the laser. It was easily fixable though, with an extra hidden minigun or wing gun with burstCount of 1 and really long timeBetweenBurst. Not sure if it happens to others as well, but I thought I should let you know nonetheless.
@WinsWings
Mmm! I'm wondering if it's (it probably is) better to use machine gun parts for those. They are a bit more tricky to use though, and seems to have some limitations. https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/j40xqF/ZSU-23-4-Shilka-AI-Ground-Target
Here's a working example of it, it's also one of my inspirations.
If you don't mind me asking, do you know when the medium caliber AA guns were most prominent and when they were phased out? Stuff like 57mm guns.
Incredible, love it!
You can modify your airplane's data file (.xml), and edit the url field (copy-paste the URL of the predecessor build) and save the file. If you are on PC, you can do it by opening the file with notepad, and if u r on iPhone, there's an app that lets you move and edit docoments (I use use one called Document by Readdle).
+1The part you want to replace is the six-letter part.
.
You may have moved on from this, so in that case I'm posting this for the benefit of others who sees this post looking for info.
Here's some quarks I've noticed/learned about this trick as I messed with this system. Might help people who want to build other AAA build for AI based on this build:
.
.
-Gun seems to stop firing if the cockpit is moved too much after spawn. And once it stops firing, it seems they never fire again. So spawning the gun on moving objects such as USS Tiny or Beast makes it not work, at least on my game (latest iPhone 1.12.203).
.
I tried making a moving version of this AAA by combining it with 11qazxc's automatic gift truck, but couldn't get it to fire a single round for some reason. I gave up on the project, and later realized that even static versions stop firing when something moves the cockpit, or so it seemed. There might be a different, actual, precise cause for guns stop firing, but for the time being I presume this is the cause.
.
.
-Gun and cockpit can be misaligned due to movement caused by rotators (seems to be a characteristic/bug of the game). When this occurs, naturally the gun becomes inaccurate as it always aims at a wrong spot.
This can be mitigated by attaching a second cockpit to the base of the gun (in this case hull of the static vehicle), setting up Current Heading part variable of the second cockpit (by giving it a name), then modifying the rotator's FT by replacing all the
Headingwith the name for the heading variable of the second cockpit.@DimitriIqbal91
Thanks! And I did not think of that, I gotta try that. Seeing these fall seems fun lol
@Lwillswith2sentryguns
Indeed I have returned.... and now, I, the King Kendog84 the third, hereby declare myself the second deputy Emperor! Muwaha.. waha... WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
jk thanks lol Don't expect high output!
@AluminiumFX
Thank you!
@LunarEclipseSP Imgbb, I'll check it out, thanks!
+1@Monarchii
+1Nobody told me about the ritual! AUGHHH!!! (thrown off an aircraft, into kraken's mouth)
I did not expect this to push me past the 25k, but thank you all nonetheless for downloading, commenting, upvoting and highlighting.
Happy Simple Planing!
@Ye4567
!https://www.simpleplanes.com/Notifications/View/51382749
Here it is, I've included all wings as it was easier in a way. It says RF-84, but it's identical to my F-84's (G, I think). Flap is assigned to trim, and trim tabs are assigned to VTOL
@Ye4567
Sure thing
@Ye4567
No, I don't mind, go ahead!
I have actually built flyable versions before turning them static, but I never completed them. I'll link one here if I still have it somewhere, you may use that as the base, instead of one of those static models, if you like:)
Oh btw--is there a good alternative image hoster to discord? Thanks
+1Five, six, seven, o, nine.
+1@DatTrainGuy19
+1My habit/policy to always include the name of the creator when saving a build has paid off:)
@Monarchii
+1Glad to be of service;)
I couldn't find the Natter though, unfortunately. But if I remember right, I think it used
sum(clamp01(condition))(=shows/gives you the time since the condition is met in second) to limit its engine run time.Something like the following for engine activationGroup. Disables the engine 10 sec after AG1 is turned on.
sum(clamp01(Activate1)) < 10
Looks good and very fun to fly! (even on smart phone!)
Great build.
Here's some I could find on my phone chii, I may find a few more on my computer if I'm lucky. (Don't get your hopes up for the Natter though!)
Did you figure out the AI gun thing btw? Sorry I haven't looked into it much yet, I've been away x(
.
.
Chii's builds
Airplanes
Doug AI
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/K8tZHr/AI-Fighter-Doug-Redesign-by-Tsuchiisan
Geoff AI
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/WekXVr/AI-Fighter-Geoff-by-Tsuchiisan-lpfighter
Nachute AI
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/I8g2uI/AI-Fighter-Nachteule-by-Tsuchiisan
E-3 Bandog AWACS
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/28k28v/AI-ASAP-AWACS-E-3-Bandog-by-tsuchiisan-chiis-old-build
Hamuko - single seat fighter
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/VIPN43/Hamuko-by-Tsuchiisan
Giant Seaplane Zephyr II
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/GR78ON/Giant-Seaplane-The-Zephyr-II-TT3-by-Tsuchiisan-LPplane
Air ship
Grand Explorer
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/9IKs07/Airship-Grand-Explorer-Holy-Lyre-TGT2-by-Tsuchiisan
Hover bike Sleipnir
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/614Z0k/Dieslevr-Aeroflotmotorwerks-H-11L-Custom-Sleipnir-by-tsuchiisan
Senko pilot fig
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/g9Yn4O/Figure-G_suit-Senko-by-tsuchiisan-anime
Ships
HMS Reaper, CVE
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/0uNXFU/HMS-Reaper-escort-carrier-TT2-by-Tsuchiisan-LPS
I-15 sub carrier
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/4tochL/SSV-I-15-Floatplane-Submarine-TT4-by-tsuchiisan-lps-AIS
@Ceilies
I assume you used an explosive cannon or one with high impactDamageScaler? System doesn't work with large explosion or too high an IDS due to the way the game works.
@UnidentifiedStapler
Yeah, the hitbox thing happens when you change the Z scale of the wheel part. Enabling the built-in suspension fixes it (as long as the suspension values aren't too low). Drawback is that... you have to enable the built-in suspension.
@ScoutTrooperGaming
No problem!
You need to disable AG8 & activate AG1, then lower the VTOL slider.
Feel free to ask questions if you have more:)
(My comment got cut off, it was probably too long. Here's the rest:)
But AI will stop firing the cannon under some conditions (I'm not sure what exactly are those conditions), and when it stops, you basically have to make it, the AI, repeat the process if you want it to fire a cannon again. And this is how my Missile & Rotator based bot trigger mechanism works. Every time AI stops firing its weapons (=not pressing down on the Virtual.. Insanity.. jk,
FireWeaponsbutton), missile re-activates, so AI can & will fire a missile again.Feel free to throw me more questions about this thing if you don't understand something about it. I try my best to explain it, but it's kinda convoluted and it can be hard to tell how well I'm explaining it.
@Monarchii
Sorry for my late response chii, been kinda occupied.
Anyhow, no problem at all:)
.
So, the radar-tator and the activation missile+the orange cannon are separate things.
.
"Radar-tator" is a mechanism which rotates the Cockpit (set as Primary) 360 degrees until it finds a target (and reset when it does). This is for helping the AI find a target. It's needed for "enemy AI turret" type builds because aggressive AI has a frontal field of vision that's probably less than 180 degrees (angle is based on the current heading of the main cockpit block) and only "sees" other active planes inside this cone. Only exception I know is when the AI gets locked-on by other active plane's missile from any angle, in which case it can "see" the threat and react to it.
.
.
The orange cannon is a part of a mechanism which limits the maximum firing range (altitude & distance) of the flak gun. This is an optional thing, mainly for realism & (I suppose,) game mechanic.
Basically, AI must keep firing a weapon/ (=a cannon) if you want it to keep firing/using a cannon. Meaning, if you give it only a cannon(s) that disables itself under certain conditions, it stops firing under said conditions, and it won't fire the cannon again. But you do want to disable the cannon under some conditions, so what you can do is to give it a fake cannon to replace the "real" cannons when the real ones are disabled.
I think technically it's probably possible to give this function to the bot trigger missile, and remove the fake cannon, but I think that'll probably introduce some other nuisances.
As for the trigger (Activation) conditions for the fake and real cannons, you just need to write an Activation FT for the real cannons as a Custom Variable (condition which activates the real cannons), and give the same variable to the fake gun as its activation FT except with an inverse function (=
!)..
.
How AI uses cannons
I should write a quick refresher on how AI uses cannons. Basically, AI never uses air-to-air weapons other than missiles (as weapons, using
FireWeaponsinput) under normal conditions. (I don't think they ever use air-to-ground only weapons)But if it fires a missile that's AtA (including multirole), and "runs out" of that missile, AI switches to the next AtA weapon, while still pressing-down on the virtual
FireWeaponsbutton. And if the next weapon is a cannon, it continues to press down on the virtualFireWeaponsbutton, which causes the cannon to fire. This is how AI fires a cannon (in current version of the game).B
@Monarchii
+1Oh man, you made me brush heheh
I'll be looking forward to seeing whatever you're cooking up... x)
You have every right to do things the way it suits you and at your own pace with this game & the site chii, I for one am just happy to see you around again:)
+1@DatMaluchGuy19
+1Whenever I got time & drive
This is just sugo-incredible.
+1@KSB24
+1Since I've uploaded the flak cannon, I've learned that there's a much simpler, easier & cost efficient way of doing this (thanks to @PlanariaLab). All you have to do is, instead of detaching 1/3 of the total parts count, lose over 1/2 of the total (starting) wing area. Just one big wing on a detacher in other words. (you can scale down the wing part, of course) Just two parts!
@DatMaluchGuy19
+1Sure, you and me, or KSB and me?
I should write a quick tutorial on how to remove marker at some point, it's pretty simple & useful.
Beautiful. Love the design.
So cool!!
Nice house!
+1Another great FT weapon!
+1Pleasant to fly even on smartphone, with nice turn rates and such (there are so many planes out there I can't fly on mobile). Nice build!
+1@MrCOPTY
Not sure if this is the issue you are having, but there seems to be a bug where having "&" condition inside the activation FT of a parachute does something weird. When I used it (the & condition) trying to create a retardation/high-drag device for a bomb, game would alway glitch and became unplayable, spawning my aircraft some crazy distance below ground.
Love this! Camera aim and nice flight characteristics actually allow me to let it fly in circles and hit things on the ground. Well done.
+1Love the design!
When I saw the teaser, I speculated that this was using fuel tank and fuel percentage for the trigger, as I could get an auto-ejecting pilot with that method (which had big fuel tanks (capacity wise) in each wing, so when one of them gets destroyed, fuel percentage gets really low, which activates the detacher)... but wow, I didn't think it would be this advanced!! Great job!
+2@DatMaluchGuy19
+1Thx lol
Had to have something there to simulate the rolling/pitching motion, so I figured it may as well be a ship
Love the design and functionality. The buikd quality/the finish is very nice, and it 'looks' and 'feels' like a medium bomber--which is one my favorite class of aircrafts!
Looks great! Tag please, whenever it's out.
@Astro12
+1Very true. I really needed something like this for a turret that uses autoaim (which is for AI) especially, since it can't even make a manual adjustment unlike a human player.
.
I was very lucky to come up with this method (using a secondary cockpit to get the data on how much the ship's roll angle--this is most likely not the first one to use it), since alternatives (like doing crazy calculation based on ship hull's heading, pitch/roll angle, turret rotation etc.) get pretty complex and way beyond my brain's computing power and math skill. lol
Love this! It's kinda ugly as an aircraft (sorry, lol), but the build quality is very high.
+1@WinsWings
+1Thanks, that would make sense.
I think I'll try to make each class of gun/cannon AA distinct in terms of their effectiveness, based also on era. Looking back, I've made the 85mm flak too capable in the tracking department (rotates too fast).
T!
@SILVERPANZER
Thanks for tagging:)
Yeah I am very much interested in this. I have some speculations on how this might work (in a very simplified way), but I'd love to see it for myself when it's uploaded.
Really cool build! I especially like the sequenced breath/laser attack. Tried it against some ground targets, and when the laser hit them, they'd just fly like a speck of dust brown by wind! Haha. Glorious stuff.
+1.
I got this issue though, on mobile version where the FireFuns button constantly flickers (perhaps due to something with activationGroups FT?) and never stayed on screen, which made it unable to use the laser. It was easily fixable though, with an extra hidden minigun or wing gun with burstCount of 1 and really long timeBetweenBurst. Not sure if it happens to others as well, but I thought I should let you know nonetheless.
@MACCOD
Thanks, I hope they'll come out nice!
Thanks for the tag, looking forward to seeing more!
+1@WinsWings
Mmm! I'm wondering if it's (it probably is) better to use machine gun parts for those. They are a bit more tricky to use though, and seems to have some limitations.
https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/j40xqF/ZSU-23-4-Shilka-AI-Ground-Target
Here's a working example of it, it's also one of my inspirations.
If you don't mind me asking, do you know when the medium caliber AA guns were most prominent and when they were phased out? Stuff like 57mm guns.