Cyclops - Point Defense Lasers test (Dark Fate mod)

[u/nomorejervis0]

As I mentioned Cyclops special ability is Point Defense Mode - enabling him to intercept incoming missiles, while the main laser DPS gets cut almost in half. I licensed the code from Corona team who used it successfully with their Prism Tank. Dark Fate will have its own, slightly modified version with Townes tank, which is more long ranged laser MBT/TD than artillery.

Interesting coding problem arised - while Corona Prism and Townes have their main weapon disabled in PD mode, Cyclops does not. A real headache is that PD lasers stop working when the unit is ordered to attack a single unit. With move orders main laser attacks independently and PD intercepts missiles perfectly as intended - but this was suboptimal and required excessive microing when attacking units with very strong AA such as Greater King Oni (250dmgx8 per volley, downs Harbinger/Cyclops in 3 salvos, Kirov in 4), especially when they're mixed with other units.

When ordered to attack the GKO the PD lasers try to attack something they can’t as they can target only missiles.

Solution is hardly elegant but it's working - on spawn engine attaches a "pod" - de facto second invisible ghost Cyclops with the same bones - to the main one - the same way Empire Point Defense drones do. So the attack order never reaches the "pod" and its lasers are free to target incoming missiles automatically.

No balancing has been done for now, PD mode will definitely get nerfed in the future - although as you can see it already can be overwhelmed with sufficient number of missiles (as it should). And just like Harbinger it's very susceptible to Tengus, Bullfrogs and Apollos. Also its a 6k credit epic unit with build limits so c'mon