In this video, I demonstrate a new item type called a Maneuvering Thruster that was created for the Target Dummies in the Nexus to make them more interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu1OEhdU8bU&list=UUI8NgyQmuJfPyadcld8JSsA
Maneuvering Thrusters come in 3 types, absolute, relative, and home. Absolute thrusters will always thrust in a certain direction regardless of the ships facing. There are currently 4 of these that I made (AI only for now) which are “North”, “South”, “East”, and “West”.
Relative thrusters are relative to the ships facing. The two of these that I made are “Port” and “Starboard”.
Home-type thrusters only will ever work for AI, and they remember where the AI spawned, and will always thrust towards that point. This helps to keep the AI in one place.
These Target Dummies each have a different super item which uses a combination of maneuvering thrusters to move them around in an interesting, arcade-y, way. The first one does a series “east, west, home”, causing the dummies to move side to side relative to the main Nexus base. The second one goes “north, south, home”, causing it to go vertically up and down. The last guy goes “starboard, home”, causing him to go in a circle around you if he has aggro and you are sitting relatively near his spawn point.
So far, these maneuvering thrusters are AI-only, and only in these target dummies, but expect them to appear in some other AI in the future, and possibly be available to players. I’m thinking something like a tech 9 base kit with built in thrusters so you can move your base around without a tractor beam, or some kind of thatch with no engine, but built in thrusters… Who knows?
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