Laser Mount Switching System OXP

Overview

The Laser Mount Switching System, or LMSS, gives pilots the ability to have a choice of lasers at each of their laser mounts, and easily switch between them. This allows pilots to have multiple configurations of their ships, to cater for different roles.

Sales Pitch

Xenon Industries is proud to announce the release of the Kaiser X5115 Laser Mount Switching System, otherwise known as the LMSS. This system gives you, the pilot, complete control of the configuration of your ship. Gone are the days of having to make a painful, and potentially fatal, decision about what laser to install in what position. Maybe you'd like to do a bit of mining on the side, but shooting out of the rear or side mounts is awkward. Now you can install your favoured beam or military laser in the front mount, and using the LMSS, also install a mining laser. When you're fighting off some pirates, your main laser is installed. When you're chewing up asteroids and scooping the bounty, you can switch to your mining laser.

Or perhaps you prefer to use the beam laser for close quarters fighting, but you also like to snipe using the military laser. With the LMSS, switching between the two is easy. Any laser can be fitted into the secondary laser mount, providing the pilot with unlimited options for arming his or her vessel.

LMSS Installation

There are two components to the LMSS system: the assembly, plus an additional laser. The assemblies can be purchased at any system with a techlevel of 8. If the pilot wants switchable lasers in all four laser mounts, then four LMSS systems must be purchased. After the assembly is installed on a laser mount, the pilot can then choose what additional laser they want to install. First, they must switch the current laser to the secondary position via the "LMSS Dockside Configuration" F4 interface screen. Once the primary laser is moved into the secondary position, additional lasers can be purchased in the primary position in the normal way.

An additional piece of equipment, the LMSS Actuator Upgrade, can be purchased at techlevel 13 systems. This upgrade speeds up the switching process, almost halving the time it takes to switch between lasers.

The LMSS can be used with all lasers, including all the built in ones (pulse, beam, mining and military lasers), plus any lasers provided by OXP's.

Secondary lasers can't be viewed on the F5 ship equipment list. To see all secondary laser installations, go to the F5 F5 Manifest screen, where the secondary lasers will be listed under the heading "LMSS Secondary Laser Installations".

Flight Operation

Once the assembly and secondary lasers are installed, the process to switch lasers is as follows:

1. Select the view where the assembly is installed (front, aft, port, or starboard).
2. Select the primable equipment "LMSS Activator"
3. Activate the equipment by pressing "n" on the keyboard.

There will be a delay between dismounting the current laser and mounting the secondary one. During that delay no laser can be fired in that position.

LMSS and Laser Temperature

The LMSS installs an additional laser mount beneath the existing mount, and includes an assembly and actuator to switch the mounts around. However, the heat dispersal system is shared between both mounts. Heat that is accumulated on one laser still needs to be dispersed even if the secondary laser is activated. Switching lasers does not give the pilot more firepower.

Damage

If the LMSS assembly is damaged while it is switching lasers, the laser mount will be unavailable until the next time the ship docks. Upon docking, the primary laser will be restored to its mount, but the switching mechanism will be unavailable until repaired.

Third Party Lasers

Some OXP lasers use a condition script to determine whether the laser can be purchased at a particular system. Because the LMSS may switch between lasers at any system, the condition script needs to be aware of when the LMSS is in operation and allow the switch to take place. To do this, just add the following code to the top of the condition script:

 // for compatibility with Laser Mount Switching System (LMSS)
 var lmss = worldScripts.LMSS_Core;
 if (lmss && lmss._switching == true) return true;

Availability

LMSS Assembly
Cost: 3,600 Cr. per mount point
Techlevel: 8

LMSS Actuator Upgrade
Cost: 4,200 Cr.
Techlevel: 13

OXP Installation

Place the 'LaserMountSwitchingSystem.oxz' into your 'AddOns' folder and when you start the game, hold down 'Shift' until you see the spinning Cobra.
Alternatively, you can download the expansion using the expansion pack manager in the game itself.

Download

Download LaserMountSwitchingSystem_2.6.oxz
Download LaserMountSwitchingSystem.zip. v2.6 (extract OXP folder to AddOns)

License/Author

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
Sound files taken from "Large Industrial Robot" WAV file, created by Mike Koenig and sourced from soundbible.com. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0.
The expansion pack was developed by phkb.

Version History

2.6

• Fixed JS error when attempting to change lasers that can't be switched.

2.5

• Added a message to go along with the sound when lasers cannot be switched.

2.4

• Added a sound for when the player attempts to switch lasers and it cannot be switched (either because there is no secondary laser, or no actuator in that view).
• Removed some debug messages.

2.3

• Fixed issue that was preventing lasers from being switched successfully.

2.2

• Added links for integration with planned OXP's.

2.1

• Integration with Laser Arrangement.
• Code refactoring.

2.0.12

• Improved integration with latest version of Xenon HUD.

2.0.11

• Automatically remove the LMSS Activator when the assembly is removed.
• Code refactoring.

2.0.10

• Bug fixes.

2.0.9

• Trimmed equipment.plist.
• Code refactoring.

2.0.8

• Fixed default setting for the switch that 3rd party lasers can use to detect when lasers are being switched. It was on by default, instead of off.

2.0.7

• Fixed issue where purchasing the actuator upgrade does not impact switch performance until after a save/reload.
• Changed "==" comparisons to "===" for performance improvements.

2.0.6

• Updated screenID to enable BGS background sounds.
• Renamed background overlay image to prevent possibility of future duplication.
• Toned down overlay image.

2.0.5

• Small display tweaks.

2.0.4

• Tweaked the dockside interface screen to work better with long laser names.
• Added switch so that 3rd party lasers can know when the LMSS is operating and provide an override in their condition scripts.
• Added OXP hook code to condition script.

2.0.3

• Made compatible with Ship Storage Helper (from version 0.26).
• Made compatible with Laser Cooler OXP.
• Made compatible with Repair Bots OXP.

2.0.2

• Cleaned up some redundant code.

2.0.1

• Fixed incompatibility with Ship Respray OXP.

2.0.0

• Made the LMSS compatible with all OXP lasers.
• Added interface screen to allow dockside laser configuration.
• Added manifest entries to display secondary laser installations.
• Fixed bug where the startUpComplete function wasn't being executed due to badly formed definition.
• Switched terminology from "Front" to "Forward" for better in-game consistency.
• Added compatibility with Xenon HUD's image crosshairs.
• Added the ability to remove all LMSS components. Removing a mount will also remove the secondary laser (if installed) and refund the cost of the laser.

1.0.4

• Fixed techLevel setting for Actuator upgrade
• Fixed damageProbability of the Actuator upgrade so it can be damaged, and added a check to switch the delay back to 10 seconds when it is damaged.

1.0.3

• Fixed a bug where a ship with no laser in a laser mount would cause an error.
• Added maintenance item descriptions for integration with email system maintenance overhaul email
• Adjusted costs of equipment items to be less premium.
• Added sounds to accompany the laser switching process.

1.0.2

• Fixed the "shipDied" function to correctly shut down timers when the player dies.

1.0.1

• Fixed bug where docking (or dying) while switching weapons would cause some unpredictable results.
• If an OXP laser gets installed after the LMSS system, the LMSS will now not switch the laser and potentially lose it.
• If a LMSS laser is purchased to replace an existing laser, a refund is now given on the laser that is removed (100% of standard laser cost).
• Code refactoring
• Put correct tags in manifest file.

Version 1.0

• Initial release

Quick Facts

0-{{{2}}}

Version	Released	License	Features	Category	Author(s)	Feedback
2.6	2023-10-16	CC BY-NC-SA 4.0	Weapons	Equipment OXPs	phkb	Oolite BB

Gameplay and Balance indicator

Oolite Equipment Standard Equipment Astrogation Console • Cargo Hold • Compass • Energy banks • Engine/Main Drive • HUD • IFF Scanner • Life Support Systems • Missile • Pulse Laser • Shields • Ship's Hull • Torus Jump Drive • View Screen • Witchspace/Hyperspace Drive Optional Equipment Advanced Navigational Array • Advanced Space Compass • Cargo Bay Expansion • Docking Computers • E.C.M. System • Escape Pod • Extra Energy Unit • External Heat Shielding • Fuel Scoops • Galactic Hyperdrive • Integrated Targeting System • Military Shield Enhancement • Multi-Targeting System • Naval Energy Unit • Passenger Berth • Scanner Targeting Enhancement • Shield Boosters • Target System Memory Expansion • Witchdrive Fuel Injectors • Wormhole Scanner Weapons Beam Laser • ECM Hardened Missile • Energy Bomb • Military Laser • Mining Laser • Missile • Pulse Laser • Quirium Cascade Mine • Twin Plasma Cannon