- Edited
This mod has been discontinued wef Cosmoteer 0.14.0
Compatible with Cosmoteer 0.13.9. Last updated on 28 Mar 2018 .
"Space: the final frontier!
"... seriously, life can be pretty boring out here."
I (the Captain) yawned as Cerberus ion beams were grinding yet another enemy starship into space dust.
"Here I was thinking you cared. " The Ship Doctor questioned. "Of course I care, Doc. I always assumed my respect for our enemy was clear. ... at least they won't die alone. " "Well, that's just cold." Doctor sighed in disbelief. "Mmmm... I have always wondered what if we pulled this ion beam lever all the way,... " I ignored the Doc.
(Pulled lever to max)
"CAPTAIN! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" The Commander stood up. Low roars of giant ion beam emitters resonated throughout entire Cerberus' hull. The usually fierce-red ion beams shifted in color and the emitters hummed louder by the second. "Captain! The ion beams are phasing in reverse direction" My Weapon Specialist shrieked. Indeed, columns of pulsing ion beams were seen rolling backwards from beyond the Bridge windshield. I swiftly ducked behind the Captain's seat.
"ALL HANDS BRACE FOR IMPACT!!"
Everything went silent. I peaked from behind the throne. "Look! Captain, we are pulling the enemy ship towards us." The Commander exclaimed. The beams were flickering in blue and slowly pulling the enemy ship in our direction.
"YES! Prepare to board the ship. We shall take prisoners today!" I regained my composure. "Yes, sir! Right away." The Commander rushed out of the Bridge.
"Elementary, my dear Watson. Exactly as I planned," as I ticked off 'Try something new' on the Captain's to-do list.
"That was a mistake!" The Doctor murmured.
Mod name: Ion-to-tractor beam
Mod folder: ion2tractor_beam
Version: 0.13.9_20180328
Compatible with Cosmoteer 0.12.11 - 0.13.9
Converts all ion beam emitters to tractor beams
beam pulls hit ship closer
beam drains hit shield/parts (with area effect)
beam deals no damage otherwise.
Download
Download from Google Drive
ion2tractor_beam.zip ( zip, ~10kB )
Please refer to How to install mod packages for installing zipped mod in-game.
Screenshots
Proof-of-concept: Two tractor beams playing tug-of-war
Cerberus-in-action
FAQ
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You can't be too careful these days.
What the ...! My OP starship ran from the enemy and started rotating while shooting its own belly.
It is a A.I. behavior -- there were likely a tiny piece or two of enemy ship stuck near the ion beam emitter(s). Remember the last time a bug got trapped in your hair? It was a matter of higher priority.
Technically, It is not the tractor beam's fault; ...well, not entirely.
Workaround
- Turn off your ship A.I. to resume manual control, OR
- Turn off offending ion beam emitter(s),
until the junk piece(s) are cleared, whichever easier.
How tractor beam works?
@Walt has built the feature in weapon system. Keyword is impulse.
Here's a fragment from vanilla ion beam emitter.
HitEffects
[
{
Type = Impulse;
Impulse = 2;
}
]
Impulse can take EITHER a positive (push) OR a negative (pull) value.
Need your help:
Can FireModeToggle value be referenced by mod?
Indicator object seemed capable of assigning a toggle switch object to its Source attribute.
If similar mechanism existed for weapon/turret, it might be possible to create a beam weapon capable of push/pull OR switching between ion beam mode and tractor beam mode.
May I adapt the codes for my own mod?
Yes, the mod adopts Apache 2 license which enables freely use, modify, distribute, & even sell the mod.
More mods?
More light-weight mods
- Lonely planets ( ~10kB )
- Hologram flag ( ~1MB )
- Uniform laser color ( ~10kB )
- Ion-to-saboteur beam ( ~5MB ) - superseded by this mod
- Ion-to-tractor beam ( ~10kB )
- Panel line decals ( ~90kB )
- Chinese translation: zh-cn, zh-tw ( ~70kB )
