I played a lot with ACE_DFX and other OPT utilities in order to create a nice Superlaser weapon, in fact I think that putting a death star on the background isn't a cool way to simulate the Sov's Axial Superlaser. It's simply weird to see the laser emerging from nowhere, passing through the Sovereign and hit the target. Anyway, I wasn't able to add the DSII laser to Sovereign OPT so I had another idea: to add a hardpoint to a small object (that's an escape pod) and create a superlaser from scratch to use on that pod. Using OPT Enhance I added cloaking to the OPT and I removed engines and their glows.
Now it's possible to place this "Axial Pod" everywhere, The main advantage is that the bolt departs from a specified position in space and the laser looks ok from every angle. Moreover the pod can follow its "mothership" because it can move at 20MGLT and it has a hyperdrive.
The only problem is this new Super Laser behaves like a normal Turbo Laser (that's: it fires continuously until the target is destroyed) so you need to do some editing with AlliED.
Here's how to use my Axial Superlaser:
1)
First off all, you need to place
the Pod in the correct position. Below is a list of relative WPs for each
of the Super Star Destroyers:
Ship
Ship Coords Pod Coords
SSSD Sovereign
0,0,0
7.35,0.01,0.14
ESSD Eclipse
0,0,0
8.10,0.00,0.20
ESSD Eclipse II
0,0,0
8.00,0.00,0.05
To place the pod on other ships or platforms won't be difficult since ALLiED has wire-frame models for all the craft/objects in XWA (17.8 Km SSD included in the last version)
2)
If the ship is moving you must use
a “Circle Waypoints” order for the pod. Remember
to check that both the pod and its “mothership” have the same speed!
Also you'll probably need some testing to be sure the pod follow the same
path of the ship.
3)
Now it's the hard part: as I said
the pod's super-laser behave like a normal turbo laser. If you set its
orders to “patrol+attack” when its target is at range it will shoot 3 or
4 bolts on it (depending on the distance), this is not very realistic because
a superlaser weapon is supposed to blow up many things with a single powerful
shot :P
This is the sequence of order I used
to force the pod to shoot only 1 laser bolt:
FG Pod
Order #1: Wait, Time = 200, Targets
= none
Order #2: Self-Destruct, Time = 1,
Targets = none, Jump = 100% of Msg #1 must be shown
Order #3: SS Patrol+Attack. Targets
= FG <Name>, Jump = 100% of Msg #0 must be shown
So the pod starts with order #1, when the first message is shown it jumps to order #3 and when the second message is shown it explodes. And here're the messages:
Msg#0: when this message is shown
the pod will shoot so you can use a sentence like “Fire at Will” for this
message or you can just use a dummy message (e.g. not sent to any Team).
The “arrival” condition of this msg can be everything.
Msg#1: when this message is shown
the pod will self-destruct ending (in a rude way :P) its firing sequence.
Again you can insert here a custom sentence or use a dummy message. Important:
this message must be shown 1 second after Msg #0 !!
Of course you can customize orders, for example if the Sovereign is moving you can use “Circle WPs” instead of “Wait” as 1st order. Also it's not important for the messages to be in slots #0 and #1.
4)
With that sequence of orders each
Axial Pod is capable to fire at 1 target. Anyway, to have more shots you
just need to increase the # of waves in the Pod Flight Group. For example:
4 Waves of 1 Axial Pod will grant you 4 shots. Of course it's also possible
to use other sequences of orders, playing with messages and jump conditions.
5)
If you want to have a nice Mass Destruction
effect you can use "Self-Destruct" order for all the craft/objects surrounding
the primary target.
Lets say I have a fleet of 6 CRSs
and the Sov must take 'em out with a single shot, I'll pick one of the
CRS as primary target (the one to be destroyed by the Axial) and for the
other Cruisers I'll add a self-destruct order with a jump condition like:
100% of CRS <Primary Target> must be destroyed.
Note:
Even if invisible, the AxialPod can
be targeted. I know it's possible to make an OPT completely stealth but
I thought that the high amount of energy produced by the Axial SL might
interfere with targeting computers (like when in ROTJ the fighters enter
DSII and they find the main reactor locking the most powerful energy source).
Axial Superlaser specs:
Power: 10,000,000
Speed: 8000 MGLT
Range: ~40 clicks
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CMDR-TCT-TCS/CPT Gidda/Ranger/Wing
XI/ISD Immortal
GS/BSx4/PCx5/ISMx14/MoI/MoT-1rh-3gh-2bh/IS-2BW-2BR-1SR-2GR/MoC-1BoC/CoB/LoA/OV
[LGNR]
{IWATS-GFX-IIC/1/2/3-M/1/2-SM/2-TM-TT-XAM}
JH Gidda (Sith)/Galthain of Satal
Keto, SC/DC-KC-O-C/(BN) {SA: CORE}