Firebreathing Ant Companions and Summinign device

[Alixen]

So, you have just taken the AntAgonizer's outfit. How is unimportant, what IS important is what you plan to do with it? Cast it away? Take it up? If so will you become a hero or villain?

 

Actually, you can't really, since your just a weirdo in a costume. More so than the previous Antagonizer infact since the game at least gave her a few scripted Ants as servants.

 

People who want to be the Mechanist ahve it easy; just download the RobCo Certified mod and they can take up the mantle. Being the AntAgonzier means becoming a solo-act.

 

However... the AntAgonizer could potentially become an interesting playstyle. Obviously you would need a lot of Giant Ants to come close to them being useful as anything but cannon fodder against even a Raider band. But, there are always the Fire Ants of Greyditch. Living and moving flamers. And, potentially at your call. If any modders are willing that is.

 

Again, one is too easily taken out by the simpest of ranged attacker; but ideally you could summon a dozen perhaps. That would give even the Enclave something to think about.

 

I hope someone would be willing to do this; because right now it's not actually worth even trying to play as the next AntAgonizer.

[Trueform]

This is an interesting idea. There's a mod called FullOn Summoner Mod which does a similiar thing, but with most of the enemies in the game, including the giant and fire breathing ants; but I see what you mean by adjusting it to fire ants. Just a thought, but it could perhaps be made to work in levels, or have a perk or something that summons a more powerful ant minion depending on the level taken;

 

rank 1: Worker fire ant

rank 2: Soldier rank

rank 3: Warrior rank

 

I'll have a look in the next few days, browse over the geck and some similiar scripts, and see how it could be approached. But yes, it is possible to do :) I'll be back in touch when I've looked into it and let you know of my findings.

[Alixen]

Awesome, glad to see the idea interested someone. I'm looking forwards to hearing what you discover.

 

A perk sounds interesting; infact, to take things a step further... it could be interesting if getting the intial perk was part of 'Those!' like the other Ant-based perks. Lesko is already enough of a mad scientist. It would also deepen the idea of gaining the ability to control the ants while explaing their fire-breathing from a storyline point of view. This is just me pondering though; having a dozen or so fire ants at my characters call in any form would be certainly interesting.

 

For now I'll mess around with that summoning mod and see how effective it is.

 

EDIT: Had a look and it's actually a pretty good mod, except for the limitation of not being able to give orders. The pets have problems with enemies on balconies and such, but then, thats just the AI. On that same note though it would still be great to see something a little bit more advanced; just not if the ammount of work would be too much.

[Trueform]

Although it's possible to make it into a perk, it would be very lengthy and difficult (to me at least lol) but I have altered the summoning script to allow you to call stronger ants when you reach higher levels. I could perhaps put this up for you when it's finished then integrate it into a perk if I can do it at a later date?

 

Anyway, here's what I have so far:

 

When you pick up the AntAgonizer Helmet, you get AntAgonizer Pheremones added to your inventory.

This is technically a helmet but it has no graphics so it won't interfere with the visual aspect of the costume; set to to a hot key, then tap the hot key to summon the ants. You could technically summon them even without the AntAgonizer costume with the pheremones, but I'll try to work on that and change it if I can.

 

There are several levels of ant summoning:

Level 1 - 5: Worker Fire Ant

Level 6 - 10: Soldier Fire Ant

Level 11 - 15: Warrior Fire Ant

Lvel 16 - 20: Nest Guardian Fire Ant

 

I could add another pheremone item so that you could summon regular ants if you wish? that way, you could summon a queen at higher levels to spit acid at high-up balcony enemies (I may have to adjust the size of her so she fits indoors). The only other alternative is to try and make the smaller ants spit acid as well, although I can't promise anything; I'm not sure their models are compatible with this attack.

 

What kind of number limit would you like on the summoned ants?

 

As for giving the ants orders, I can do it, I have scripted companions before. It would take a bit longer, but I don't mind doing it if you don't mind the wait :) I could make them wait and follow, and whatever other packages you want me to add, just let me know. That way, you could position your ant army where you like in strategic locations for all-out war on the wasteland!

Edited October 11, 2010 by Trueform

[Alixen]

I'd hate for you to go to so much effort when that other mod is there. It's not perfect; but it is workable. Most of all it doesnt eat up a ton of your time.

 

If you want to try this i'de cheer you on, because those are some really interesting ideas and it would be fun to use, but at the same time with NV so close and such I doubt it would get the attention the work would deserve when you were done. I'd feel guilty asking you to do this when i'm probobly going to be playing NV for months on end when it's released, especially when that Summoning mod is sufficent. :happy:

 

Thanks for posting it's name.

 

I look forwards to seeing what ideas you ahve for NV when it's released.

[Trueform]

Thank you for the kind comments :)

 

In all honesty, I'll be playing NV too, and will jump at the chance to get modding on that when I can. On the other hand, though, I have ME (chronic fatigue syndrome) so I have a loooooad of spare time at the moment. I'm modding because it keeps me busy and I'm working towards learning programming and game design, so time and effort isn't something I lack :P

 

I actually thought this mod would take me longer to look into, but it seems to be going smoothly so far. I don't mind working on it, and the packages are simple enough. I have a version that will work for you already, the other things will be relatively minor adjustments now the bare bones are done and it will be fun :) so, be guilt-free!

 

if it's something you go back to when you've finished NV, great :) if it's not, I got the practise, and people who can't afford NV or go back to FO3 once they're finished and waiting for the NV Geck to come out can use it :)

 

UPDATE: I have added a new regular ant pheremone so that you can summon the usual giant ants too.

 

Level 1 - 5: Worker Ant

Level 6 - 13: Soldier Ant

Level 14 - 20: Queen Ant

 

Although the other giant ants can be quite weak, the queen will make it worth investing time levelling up and using the mod, even if it's just for her long range attack (and the fact that she looks cool following you). I could change the strength of the ants anyway. With regards to adding ranged attacks to regular ants, sadly, they aren't compatible with the acid spit; it's classed as an embedded weapon, which isn't programmed into the regular giant ants.

 

I think I know why the summoning mod didn't have any orders to give your pets - because of the way it's scripted, it's basically summoning friendly versions of the enemies. It might be that the orders would either spread to every ant summoned or conflict with the ant enemies. Plus, it would be quite hard to database, but I'll look into it a bit later today, and report back when I have a definite answer.

[Alixen]

You have ME too, wow, what are the odds. I'm sorry to hear it. :ermm:

 

In light of what you've been saying; awshum, can't wait to see how things go. I like the ideas as I said before; and having the summoning done by level will mean I might actually bother taking a character into the teens. These days I often turn xp off at about level six or eight (I never go into BS. I simply hate the enemies with a passion and feel they suck the fun out of the game) but with this it will be worthwhile going higher. One worry though; do you always have access to previous types of Ants? Or at level twenty would it just be Queen Ants and Nest Guardian Fire Ant's? Nice and powerful, but perhaps a tad overkill for some situations. Still awesome if thats the case, just wondering. A smaller queen does sound like a good idea for the ranged high-up enemies.

 

I don't think i'll end up abandoning FO3 for a long while thinking on it; it still has a wealth of mods that NV just won't be able to compete with for at least a year, if it ever can. It's not recieved the marketing that FO3 did from what i've seen. I probobly won't be able to get into it properly until a mod increased general weapon damage (so that one lucky headshot, or a few torso shots kill) is released, and a few other fluff roleplaying mods come out.

[Trueform]

You have ME too, wow, what are the odds. I'm sorry to hear it. :ermm:

 

Do you have ME as well? Or do you know someone else with it? :blink: that is odd indeed. I was diagnosed last Christmas - pretty lousy timing, but it has given me some time to focus on game design, which I ordinarilly wouldn't have had the time to do, so every cloud has a silver lining I guess, no matter how lousy it seems.

 

One worry though; do you always have access to previous types of Ants? Or at level twenty would it just be Queen Ants and Nest Guardian Fire Ant's? Nice and powerful, but perhaps a tad overkill for some situations.

 

At the moment, you will only have access to the higher level ants. The only way I can see to get around it would be to add a pheremone item for each kind of ant, but then you'd have about 7 different pheremones; possible, but then it cancels out the levelling. I could try to make a message box appear when you use the pheremone, so you could select which type of ant to choose. That way, at level 20, if you wanted to summon a worker ant, you'd just have to choose it from the list. Fiddly for large amounts of summons maybe? But it would work.

 

These days I often turn xp off at about level six or eight (I never go into BS. I simply hate the enemies with a passion and feel they suck the fun out of the game) but with this it will be worthwhile going higher.

 

The higher-level enemies are very sapping to ammo / health, I would have enjoyed them making some completely different enemies for higher levels rather than just keeping variations of the vanilla ones. But if this mod can extend the gameplay for you, then I shall consider it a resounding success; mods are all about keeping a person playing, making it more enjoyable or extending a game's life, so I hope it will help :)

 

As for the orders given to pets, I have looked at possibilities, and I was correct; the reason it hasn't been done on multiple summoning mods is that if affects every summoned enemy of the same type. That might be something you want adding - keeping a bunch of giant ant soldiers waiting while you take a bunch of fire ant soldiers to fight, for example - but it's entirely up to you if you want me to include it or not :)

[Alixen]

You have ME too, wow, what are the odds. I'm sorry to hear it. :ermm:

 

Do you have ME as well? Or do you know someone else with it? :blink: that is odd indeed. I was diagnosed last Christmas - pretty lousy timing, but it has given me some time to focus on game design, which I ordinarilly wouldn't have had the time to do, so every cloud has a silver lining I guess, no matter how lousy it seems.

 

One worry though; do you always have access to previous types of Ants? Or at level twenty would it just be Queen Ants and Nest Guardian Fire Ant's? Nice and powerful, but perhaps a tad overkill for some situations.

 

At the moment, you will only have access to the higher level ants. The only way I can see to get around it would be to add a pheremone item for each kind of ant, but then you'd have about 7 different pheremones; possible, but then it cancels out the levelling. I could try to make a message box appear when you use the pheremone, so you could select which type of ant to choose. That way, at level 20, if you wanted to summon a worker ant, you'd just have to choose it from the list. Fiddly for large amounts of summons maybe? But it would work.

 

These days I often turn xp off at about level six or eight (I never go into BS. I simply hate the enemies with a passion and feel they suck the fun out of the game) but with this it will be worthwhile going higher.

 

The higher-level enemies are very sapping to ammo / health, I would have enjoyed them making some completely different enemies for higher levels rather than just keeping variations of the vanilla ones. But if this mod can extend the gameplay for you, then I shall consider it a resounding success; mods are all about keeping a person playing, making it more enjoyable or extending a game's life, so I hope it will help :)

 

As for the orders given to pets, I have looked at possibilities, and I was correct; the reason it hasn't been done on multiple summoning mods is that if affects every summoned enemy of the same type. That might be something you want adding - keeping a bunch of giant ant soldiers waiting while you take a bunch of fire ant soldiers to fight, for example - but it's entirely up to you if you want me to include it or not :)

 

Yeah, i've got ME too, and know a few other people who have it. It sucks; but as you say it gives you extra time. I always try to look on the bright side. I haven't been diagnosed; but my mother has it, and we ahve the same symptoms. I don't see the point of getting it confirmed; it's a diagnosis of exclusion anyway, and means little beyond "Yeah, there's something up, we just don't know whats causing it or how to fix it."

 

The idea of multiple pheromone items or a menu appeals more than levelling to be honest. I'm more of a roleplayer; my characters walk everywere, gather food/water to survive, and three or four ingame days can pass just walking from Megaton to Rivet. It could take me weeks to hit even the second tier of ants. On a wider usage note; having access to all of them would make things more versatile. Having six pheremone items or summoning individually would be a bit less streamlined; but the benefits would outweight the costs in my opinion. It's your work however, so whatever you think is best.

 

The idea of controlling them by group type sounds interestings; and pretty realistic consider how Ants behave. Giving groups of Ants different tasks would be semi-realistic AND give the option to be pretty tactical. Imagine setting a Fire-Ant ambush for a Deathclaw or Enclave squad, after they are drawn by a group of Worker Ants? Awesome.

[Trueform]

I'm sorry to hear you and your family have suffered from ME too :( I don't know anyone else with it, it's kinda like feeling you're the only one in the world with it sometimes, but looking on the brightside is the best way to go :) and it gives me the motivation to game design, so I can work from home.

 

I can make the pheromone items for you, that will be a very quick process and the mod will be finished very soon, I'll say in the next couple of days, but it may well be far faster. I will probably return to the mod at a later date anyway and add a leveled version for people who want the alternative. Likewise, giving orders will be a quick process too; I agree that it does replicate the behaviour of ants, pheromones and hiveminds quite accurately when you think about it.

 

This mod has also inspired me to create a mechanist one to go with it, except replace pheremones with remotes. I know there's a few robot creation mods out there, but it will be a small mod now the bulk of the work is done.