Super Mastermind draft

[daimon]

wow

[Unknown_Assassin]

DDAAAMMMMMNNNN!! That' is one awesome boss!

It's even more epic when you summon one as your friend and the other one as your enemy.

BTW, if you summon too much Supermasterminds, they seem to disappear....even after you killed them.
If I summon one near the corner or edge and another near the first one, I get this (not sure if it's a bug):

[LilWhiteMouse]

You have to let each Super Mastermind setup before summoning another, else the TIDs get mixed up. Also, summoning more then one looks bad because they can overlap each other. If you still insist, you'll need to remove the SOLID flag from the SuperMastermind_PlasmaCannon, else they won't be positioned properly when overlapping.

I don't imagine summoning a friendly SuperMastermind works, because the remaining actors are spawned via ACS. The script would have to modified to accommodate the FRIENDLY flag on the support actors.

[Project Shadowcat]

The sheer fact that it can fire while moving makes this thing just that much more foreboding. Being able to dismantle it during the fight makes it so cool. I think you did a great job here.

EDIT, some critique: For how tough the Super Mastermind was, her legs were very weakly armored. I brought a BFG to the fight and in only one shot she lost three legs.
Is there any way to affect her speed by how many legs were blown off a little differently? For example, if she loses one or two legs, her speed won't be affected, but once the third goes that you'll notice a speed cut, a fourth, she'll barely be able to move, and the fifth (out of six) cuts speed to zero. While she'll be a sitting duck, the base giving her the regenerative properties would be incentive enough to stay grounded.

[LilWhiteMouse]

The sheer fact that it can fire while moving makes this thing just that much more foreboding.

Since I used this "feature" in Power DoLLS:IA, I've used it in a number of other projects. Harbinger, my Tankoids & Jeepoids from Shaded War, and my UAC Pathfinder. It's only a regular actor, but my Tachikoma randomly circle strafes it's targets when attacking with it's MG. Can't remember for who, or what, but the existence of A_ExtChase() I believe was due to someone trying to use A_Chase() in the attack frames of their monster. I copied the idea for the cavalry in the HQuest 2 demo. So it's not really a new thing.

EDIT, some critique: For how tough the Super Mastermind was, her legs were very weakly armored.

HP/Damage are by no means balanced, tune as needed.

The speed setting just seemed logical to me. Even with one leg, it should be able to pull/push itself along. A single damaged leg will slow it down a little as the other legs have to pick up the slack, and pull it's dead weight. In Shaded War, different legs offer different speeds. Treads were the most heavily armored, but slowest. Wheels were the weakest, but could move a Tankoid the fastest. Legs offered a compromise. It was just easier to pool the speed and reduce as they were destroyed, given the random nature of the Tankoid makeup.

[Project Shadowcat]

Alright, cool. Even if the moving while firing thing isn't new it's still nice to see that monsters are slowly but surely gaining the abilities the players have.

[Julius Clonkus]

Now this is really awesome. I never though this'd be possible. The only problem is, you're not going to have the possibility to add more than one of those suckers in your map (Too bad, I thought about non-boss monsters like zombies you can shoot apart.)

[Project Shadowcat]

Why would you need more than one of this monstrosity?

[LilWhiteMouse]

The only problem is, you're not going to have the possibility to add more than one of those suckers in your map

At least in this instance, you can add more then one. Just do so in a manner that they won't be in the same place. IE, a large arena with some sort of convenient barrier separating them. (Z)Doom's boundary code was never meant to handle this sort of thing, making it a necessary evil to remove the SOLID flags.

Why would you need more than one of this monstrosity?

My original Harbinger map called for three Harbingers (not the released version). The player never actually fought them, it was your job to protect the Pathfinders so they could attack the Harbingers from long distance. Used in the background, the strength of a monster is almost irrelevant, so why not use more then one for eye candy?

[Project Shadowcat]

Why would you need more than one of this monstrosity?

My original Harbinger map called for three Harbingers (not the released version). The player never actually fought them, it was your job to protect the Pathfinders so they could attack the Harbingers from long distance. Used in the background, the strength of a monster is almost irrelevant, so why not use more then one for eye candy?

... That's actually a good idea.

[Unknown_Assassin]

I don't imagine summoning a friendly SuperMastermind works, because the remaining actors are spawned via ACS. The script would have to modified to accommodate the FRIENDLY flag on the support actors.

It does indeed work. You have to make the foe Mastermind shoot the friendly mastermind. Otherwise, the friendly Mastermind and the foe Mastermind will team up to attack you. X_X. You might need to use the "fly". The only awkward thing is that they both will get really close to each other and start shooting.

[DoomRater]

I want to make one Super Mastermind my friend so he shoots all enemies of mine, but not me. I'll look through the code sometime soon to see if there is anything I can do.