Homing Arrows and Target-Based Magic Spells

[Vagrant0]

You know, I've been searching in the mod database and I haven't seen the word 'homing' in any single description whatsoever. I may have come across that word on some mods, but only in their READ ME text documents or in-game books, like Midas' Magic Spells (although it would be better if they WERE in the mod description field). I'm not so certain at its fullest extent, though. Nevertheless, I'm wondering:

 

Is it possible to make arrows and target based magic spells go nowhere else but straight to the actor that you looked at as SOON as you cast the spell or fire your arrow?

Off hand, I'd say no. Remember, there is no real way to determine what exactly the player is looking at. Short of having a known target, or having hit that target previously with a spell, there is no way to get the reference of that target with certainty. You can get close by checking the heading of the player, and pulsing out an effect which hits everything in the area to see what the player is looking at, or atleast something close, but this method has its own flaws. And anything where you pre-register a target with a spell effect requires that effect to remain active while it is being tracked. All scripting done in relation to that reference would have to be done within that scripted effect. This is because (atleast in this case) references cannot be recorded outside the scripts attached to them.

 

As for sending anything between a fixed point, and a moving point, that is a different mess. Even if you have a known target, there are no existing systems that would home in on that target. In order to get anything close, you would need to make an activator that is moved along that path. However as figuring out points along a non-static path can be a bit math heavy, there aren't many people who can sit down and get it working. You would however still be limited to things which can be accomplished by an activator and not things which are done by the actual spell or arrow. This means that when it does hit the target, you will need to make that activator affect that target through scripting.

[xilver]

I've added 4 different types of "seekers" to Midas Magic. Sorry, but I didn't feel like calling them "Homers". I actually created them as creatures instead of activators. And used a AOE spell to search for the target the player is looking at. Placed the creature on the map and set it's combat target to the targeted actor. It works fairly well but the "homer" must hover above the ground and follow the path nodes.

[Oddbrother]

So it's pretty much acting like a running suicide bomber, right?