[DEVBLOG#169] Three days of Pirates - Day Two (Patreon)

Welcome to Day Two of the Three days of Pirates devblog series!

You can check Day One by following the link.

Let's go!

Day Two:

I promised we will talk about warcaskets next and this is exactly what we will do. This is the main component of this mod, and something I have wanted to do for a long time. A step between a normal pawn, and a Warwalker. Between a pawn, and a tank.

WARCASKETS

Warcaskets are industrial-tier powered combat suits that earned this name due to the commitment required to wear one. Warcaskets, instead of being worn per se, are actually constructed around the user, welded together for maximum protection, whilst also stopping the user from ever taking it off. The suit itself is connected to all the systems of the human body, from waste disposal to the nervous system, and allows the user to permanently sustain themselves until death, either on the battlefield or of old age.

Warcaskets are a new technology that allows the player to build a warcasket foundry, a building that’s used to assemble a warcasket around a human volunteer. It has a special UI element allowing players to customize the warcasket, which includes selecting the color and the modules.

Various new research projects unlock new components for warcaskets.

WARCASKET FOUNDRY

A complex foundry with four operating arms designed to assist an operator in mounting a person into the frame of a warcasket. Once they are locked in, the pilot cannot leave until the procedure is finished.

To begin, an operator starts linking them to the suit - their nerves and limbs permanently linked to the frame. Since the warcasket is not designed to register wear or damage they will feel no pain. The pilot can exit the foundry only when the final rivet is placed, the last plate is welded, and the power system is brought online. Until then they will need external help such as feeding as they are effectively buried alive.

Because the various parts of the warcasket are welded onto the frame as a single, homogenous entity,  one can mix and match various designs to suit the situation but certain later generations of warcaskets function better if they are part of the same series.

Warcasket foundry is the main building used to create the suits of armors. It’s expensive to build and consumes a lot of power when working.

Research required: Warcaskets
Resource cost: 120 steel + 12 components
Dimensions: 3x3
Power consumption (Working): 50W (350W)

ASSEMBLING A WARCASKET

When you select a pawn, you can right-click the warcasket foundry and select ‘Entomb in warcasket’ option. This should then display a warning in the top left part of the screen that says:

“Entombing a colonist in warcasket is permanent operation that cannot be reversed without painful consequences.”

When a pawn enters the warcasket foundry, they move to the middle of it. They then have a frame appear around them, like on the image below:

As you can see, there is a vertical progress bar space on the frame. It slowly gets filled as the work on the warcasket continues.

Once the pawn steps on that platform and the frame appears, a UI with warcasket customization pops up:

From top to bottom:

South, north and east view of the warcasket that updates as you change colors, helmets etc.

Three columns where you select an Armor frame, a Shoulder pads and a Helmet. You can cycle through all researched warcasket elements. As you change it, it updates the render above with a new helmet/shoulder pads/armor, whatever you change.

Pressing the Information button opens up the item page of that specific armor piece. It does NOT close this window. It opens up above it.

The description under armor elements is actually not the full item description, but a ‘short description’. It will be explained below. Essentially each warcasket item has a long description and a short description.

Resource cost shows how much each of these individual items cost in resources.

Colors, same as in Ideology. Player can select a different color for each armor part. It should probably be fetching from ColorDefs, as long as it’s not Ideology locked.

Total cost shows how much resources will need to be delivered to the warcasket foundry to initiate work.

Work amount shows how much work it will take to make this warcasket.

Crafter allows players to select who will be welding the warcasket. Similar to how the bills menu works.

Cancel button cancels the procedure and lets the pawn out. Accept button initiates the resource delivery and welding.

When player hits accept, the selected crafter will deliver all the resources to the frame. They will then approach the frame and start welding it, which will slowly fill the progress bar on it. Once it’s done, the warcasket will fully render.

If the crafter dies, another one will take over the task.

HOW WARCASKETS WORK

Warcaskets have several traits that we need to keep in mind when deciding how they should work:

• They have custom rendering with custom drawing order.
• They provide huge protection to the pawn.
• They allow the pawn to equip warcasket weapons.
• They cannot be taken off or destroyed. They have no durability and are permanent.
• They still allow the pawn inside to be wounded, and such a pawn can still undergo surgeries.
• Some warcaskets have abilities, and some of them require refueling.
• Warcaskets don’t have quality.
• Warcaskets disable all work types. Pawns wearing warcasket armors can only Fight and do basic jobs (flicking switches, firefighting). They won’t haul, they won’t clean, they won’t do anything else. This can probably be done by giving a trait with 0 commonality.
• Warcaskets disable pain. Pawn wearing a warcasket will never go down in pain and will keep on fighting until death.
• It’s important we allow warcaskets to spawn on particular enemies (especially for the new pirate faction added in this mod). As such, we should consider the edge cases: What happens if the player downs a warcasket? They can probably recruit them. But what happens if they kill a warcasket user? Can they loot the warcasket? No. I have an idea how to fix this: If at any point a warcasket is dropped (for example during butchering) it just spawns a steel slag. How does that sound?
• Warcasket elements each have an xml tag called ShortDescription, which is used by the UI. It should include a description without any flavor text, literally just an explanation what this armor is good for.
• Warcasket elements each have a ‘workToBuild’ tag which is used by the Warcasket Foundry to calculate the total work time it takes to craft a warcasket.
• Warcasket pawns should emit Mechanoid wounded sounds when hit.

WARCASKET ARMORS, SHOULDERPADS, HELMETS

All Warcasket armors have the following coverage: Torso, Neck, Left Leg, Right Leg, Left Foot, Right Foot.

There is absolutely a lot of them, so I will only cover the general idea:

When customizing a warcasket you get to select what kind of armor, shoulderpads and helmet it will have. Each of them come with different stats, some need to be researched, and some come with unique abilities. For example:

SHOCK WARCASKET ARMOR

Specialized warcasket shell with superior protection with higher weight, fitted with impact mitigators and a large propulsion engine on the back.

Blast off

Fire a large propulsion engine strapped to the back of your armor and designate a location on the world map to drop pod into. This will create a large explosion at the destination, but will most likely leave you stranded without fuel for the trip back.

Reloadable ability. Can store enough fuel for 1 such jump. 100 chemfuel per jump. Select a location on the world map and after a quick warmup blast off from your current map and fall on the new map that you’ve selected. Upon landing, generate an explosion with the radius of 15. Base range is 30 world tiles.

BARRAGE WARCASKET ARMOR

Specialized warcasket shell with peerless protection and excessive weight, fitted with stabilisers and penetrator pistons on the legs.

Siege Mode

Drill yourself into the ground in order to gain more stability and turn yourself into a stationary artillery unit, increasing the attack range and reload efficiency drastically.

Toggle-able ability. Has a 10 second cooldown between changing the modes. This ability allows the user to become completely stationary (Reducing movement speed to 0), but also gaining 25% increase to the ranged attack range and 25% shorter weapon cooldown.

BARRAGE WARCASKET SHOULDERPADS

Specialized warcasket pauldrons with peerless protection and excessive weight, fitted with arm stabilisers and shoulder-mounted grenade launchers.

Grenade Barrage

Fire a barrage of grenades from the shoulder mounted launchers, covering a small area in explosions.

Reloadable ability. Can store enough ammo for 2 shots. 25 steel per 1 ammo. Select a spot in range and fire a two-grenade burst at that location. Base range is 12.9 cells. Use CompProperties_Reloadable and look at Grenadier armor for inspiration. It should use launch frag grenade verb, just like the Grenadier armor.

WARCASKET TRAIT

Once warcasket is installed, the following trait is permanently added to the character:

Warcasket

NAME is entombed in a warcasket. No amount of pain will have an effect on them, and they can never go into a pain shock or drop unconscious due to pain. Because of how bulky the armor is and how much energy it takes to use it, NAME is not capable of doing any work.

Warcasket trait removes pain from the character - they can never go into painshock and no matter how many limbs they lose and wounds they suffer, they feel no pain.

All work is disabled when a pawn has this trait.

Rest falls 30% faster.

People with this trait can equip VWE-Heavy Weapons Heavy Weapons.

NEW OPERATION

There is a new operation unlocked with Warcasket Removal technology called…

REMOVE WARCASKET

“Carefully remove the pawn from the warcasket by separating their arms and legs from their torso. This will leave the pawn completely immobile and the warcasket unusable.”

This operation cuts off the pawns arms and legs. Warcasket turns into a steel slag. Pawn is just a torso with a head.

SHELLCASKET

Once warcasket is uninstalled, the Warcasket trait is replaced with Shellcasket trait, until the pawn is installed in Warcasket again.

Shellcasket

NAME was entombed in a warcasket, and then brutally pulled out of one. The neural and nerve damage from being unplugged is so severe that NAME is in constant, agonizing pain and can barely assemble his thoughts. Only installing NAME back in a warcasket can cure the symptoms.

Upon being removed from a warcasket, the warcasket trait is replaced with Shellcasket. It should keep the pawn in a constant, agonizing pain. Shellcasket pawn is incapable of Social and Intellectual work.

Rest falls 30% faster.

WARCASKET WEAPONS

These weapons outlined below can only be equipped by warcaskets. As such, they need to look different than normal weapons - instead of looking like a weapon on the ground with random rotation, warcasket weapons will look like military crates with a weapon symbol on them. When right-clicked by a pawn without the warcasket trait, it should show:

Cannot equip (Requires a warcasket).

These weapons can appear on combat traders. These weapons don’t have quality. These weapons can only be crafted upon researching Warcasket weaponry tech project. These weapons might benefit from unique sound effects.

WARCASKET AUTORIFLE

A portable version of the Autocannon designed for use by a Warcasket. Due to a shortened barrel it has a lower range, less penetration and damage compared to the turreted version. However, it is very capable in close quarters combat which makes up for the slight accuracy loss at greater ranges.

Market value: 1250
Crafted on: Machining table
Resources required: 175 Steel, 20 Plasteel, 3 Components
Work required: 45.000
Skill required: 6 Crafting
Damage: 22 (Bullet)
Range: 28.9
Armor penetration: 37.5%
Accuracy: 55% - 64% - 55% - 45%
Burst count: 3
Burst ticks: 17
Warmup: 1
Cooldown: 2.2
Stopping power: 0.5

Sound: Autocannon firing sound.

WARCASKET URANIUM SLUG RIFLE

A portable version of the Uranium Slug Cannon designed for use by a Warcasket. Due to a shortened barrel it has less penetration, worse recoil and damage compared to the turreted version. However, it lacks the minimum range requirement thanks to a human operator and has better mid-range performance.

Market value: 1650
Crafted on: Machining table
Resources required: 150 Steel, 15 Plasteel, 30 Uranium, 3 Components
Work required: 48.000
Skill required: 6 Crafting
Damage: 50 (Bullet)
Range: 45.9
Armor penetration: 75%
Accuracy: 20% - 35% - 55% - 95%
Burst count: 1
Warmup: 2.3
Cooldown: 2.7
Stopping power: 2

Sound: Uranium slug cannon firing sound.

WARCASKET SLUGTHROWER

An upscaled version of the Pump Shotgun designed for use by a Warcasket. Each cartridge fired contains 4 pellets larger than slugs from a regular-sized shotgun, giving it better range, armor penetration and much better damage. The recoil is insane though, even for a Warcasket’s recoil damping system.

Market value: 1100
Crafted on: Machining table
Resources required: 190 Steel, 3 Components
Work required: 45.000
Skill required: 6 Crafting
Damage: 30 (Bullet)
Range: 18.9
Armor penetration: 22.5%
Accuracy: 80% - 87% - 77% - 64%
Burst count: 4
Burst ticks: 1
Warmup: 0.9
Cooldown: 2.75
Stopping power: 3

Sound: Shot_Slugthrower

WARCASKET MINIGUN

An upscaled version of the Minigun designed for use by a Warcasket. It uses larger caliber rounds which are poorly made en masse due to how many rounds need to be manufactured. Thus, it has a slower rate of fire and armor penetration, but who cares because no one wants to be on the receiving end of this amount of dakka.

Market value: 2240
Crafted on: Machining table
Resources required: 240 Steel, 10 Plasteel, 8 Components
Work required: 55.000
Skill required: 7 Crafting
Damage: 12 (Bullet)
Range: 30.9
Armor penetration: 12%
Accuracy: 15% - 25% - 25% - 18%
Burst count: 25
Burst ticks: 8
Warmup: 3.1
Cooldown: 2.6
Stopping power: 0.5

Sound: Shot_WarcasketMinigun

WARCASKET GRENADE LAUNCHER

An upscaled version of the Grenade Launcher designed for use by a Warcasket. A straight upgrade, it fires in bursts of 3 and benefits from recoil damping for faster recovery and better range. Like all launchers though, it has a worse miss radius compared to a hand-thrown grenade.

Market value: 1890
Crafted on: Machining table
Resources required: 120 Steel, 80 Chemfuel, 4 Components
Work required: 55.000
Skill required: 7 Crafting
Projectile: Frag grenade throw projectile.
Range: 30.9
Forced Miss Radius: 2.9
Burst count: 3
Burst ticks: 12
Warmup: 1.8
Cooldown: 3.0

Sound: Shot_WarcasketGrenadeLauncher

WARCASKET HEAVY FLAMER

An upscaled version of the Heavy Flamer designed for use by a Warcasket. Thanks to the twin barrels and larger heat sink, it can spit out two jets of flames while also needing less time to prevent overheating. A common saying among those dealing with infestations is “Brother, burn them in holy fire!'

Market value: 2450
Crafted on: Machining table
Resources required: 200 Steel, 160 Chemfuel, 6 Components
Work required: 55.000
Skill required: 7 Crafting
Projectile: VWE Heavy Weapons Flamer.
Range: 19.9
Burst count: 2
Burst ticks: 20
Warmup: 1.25
Cooldown: 7.2

Sound: Shot_WarcasketFlamethrower

WARCASKET COMBAT KNIFE

An upscaled version of the Combat Knife designed for use by a Warcasket. It is only still called a knife due to size comparison to a Warcasket, but it is capable of cleaving a man in half and is just as large. The preferred weapon for the faster moving Warcaskets that prioritize lightly armored, isolated targets.

Market value: 870
Crafted on: Smithy
Resources required:  140 Steel
Work required: 25.000
Skill required: 7 Crafting
Attack 1: Point (stab) 24 damage, 2 second cooldown, 34% armor penetration.
Attack 2: Blade (Cut) 24 damage, 2.4 second cooldown, 34% armor penetration.

WARCASKET BROADSWORD

A very unique melee weapon exclusively made for Warcaskets. It combines massive weight and a cutting force that gives it no equal in melee combat. While it was intended for use against other Warcaskets, it works just as well against smaller targets that would normally be considered armored.

Market value: 1460
Crafted on: Smithy
Resources required:  270 Steel
Work required: 35.000
Skill required: 7 Crafting
Attack 1: Point (stab) 26 damage, 2.6 second cooldown, 45% armor penetration.
Attack 2: Blade (Cut) 36 damage, 2.8 second cooldown, 50% armor penetration.

Generally speaking, that's it for this devblog. Warcaskets are incredibly powerful, but they do come with a major drawback of NOT being able to work in them. Only construct them on pawns you want to keep as fighters and fighters only.

Are they better than Powered armor? Because of that, I'd say no. Other than the pain insensitivity, and access to warcasket weapons, a legendary marine armor has similar armor values to a standard warcasket.

Do we plan to add Spacer Tech warcaskets? Probably not. The idea is that they are industrial tech precursor to powered armor.