Starbase ability to spawn ships?

the tech starbase can construct frigates/cruisers, BUT NOT caps. I do not know of any mod that can construct caps at a starbase.

as far as spawning in ships it might be possible, but you might have to restrict yourself to firgates/cruisers, and accept possible random selections.

goa could probably give better info

harpo, the GhOSt NON-subscriber

The links between Starbases and their upgrades & abilities can be a little tenuous to determine for the 1st time.

The weak link I found when figuring out the chain is the propertyType - each upgradeable ability must have a unique value.

The first ability unlocked by an upgrade has a value of AbilityALevel, the second is AbilityBLevel, third AbilityCLevel etc.

As harpo indicated, starbases can certainly spawn frigate/cruisers (captured Ferengi/Son'a/Tamarian HQs can be upgraded do that in SOA2), but I'm not sure about capital ships.

Oops sorry, the goal is to actually spawn frigates, not Cap Ships. For some reason, ZombiesRus5 called his Alien frigates Cap Ships rather than frigates.... 

I'm not fussed on whether its a spawn/summon, or to build specific frigates. The reason I've opted for spawning is because I would like to limit the starbase to summoning only 2 types of frigates, and not be able to build all of them. 

NewHorizons - I've made sure that its "AbilityALevel" in both the upgrade entity and the ability - so I'm not sure that this is the issue. 

I'm going to ask a really dumb question, but I expect it is actually the problem.  The two files you pasted look perfect.

Did you add the ability to the starbase file?

Quoting psychoak, reply 4

I'm going to ask a really dumb question, but I expect it is actually the problem.  The two files you pasted look perfect.

 

Did you add the ability to the starbase file?

I sure did.... Mustn't be perfect because its not working!! 

Can you post the Starbase entity file? I don't see anything immediately wrong with the ablility either (though I like to always give a max fleet size of +1 more than the min, but that might just me being paranoid).

I have several abilities that spawn frigates from Starbases, though mine are probably more complicated than you need. It's been a while since I've spawned ships directly from the ability file lol.

Sure - here you go. I can research it at the starbase (1 level), but then it won't display as an ability that the starbase can use!  

TXT
entityType "StarBase"
ability:0 "AbilityMeteorStrikeShips"
ability:1 "AbilityPhaseGateStarBase"
ability:2 "AbilityMeteorStrikePlanet"
ability:3 "AbilityFallenMoonPlanetShield"
ability:4 "AbilityBuildAlienShip"
defaultAutoAttackRange "None"
defaultAutoAttackOn TRUE
prefersToFocusFire TRUE
usesFighterAttack FALSE
numRandomDebrisLarge 12
numRandomDebrisSmall 24
numSpecificDebris 0
armorType "Module"
hudIcon "HUDICON_STARBASE_ALIENARTIFACT"
smallHudIcon "HUDICONSMALL_STARBASE_ALIENARTIFACT"
infoCardIcon "INFOCARDICON_STARBASE_ALIENARTIFACT"
minZoomDistanceMult 1.000000
NumWeapons 2
Weapon
WeaponType "Projectile"
damageEnums
AttackType "CAPITALSHIP"
DamageAffectType "AFFECTS_SHIELDS_AND_HULL"
DamageApplyType "BACKLOADED"
DamageType "ENERGY"
WeaponClassType "LASERTECH"
DamagePerBank:FRONT 146.000000
DamagePerBank:BACK 146.000000
DamagePerBank:LEFT 146.000000
DamagePerBank:RIGHT 146.000000
Range 8000.000000
PreBuffCooldownTime 5.000000
CanFireAtFighter FALSE
SynchronizedTargeting FALSE
PointStaggerDelay 0.150000
TravelSpeed 4000.000000
Duration 0.000000
fireConstraintType "CanAlwaysFire"
WeaponEffects
weaponType "Projectile"
burstCount 5
burstDelay 0.350000
fireDelay 0.000000
muzzleEffectName "Weapon_TechCapitalLaserHeavy_Muzzle"
muzzleSoundMinRespawnTime 0.300000
muzzleSounds
soundCount 3
sound "WEAPON_TECHCAPITALLASERMEDIUM_MUZZLE"
sound "WEAPON_TECHCAPITALLASERMEDIUM_MUZZLE_ALT1"
sound "WEAPON_TECHCAPITALLASERMEDIUM_MUZZLE_ALT2"
hitEffectName "Weapon_TechCapitalLaserHeavy_Hit"
hitHullEffectSounds
soundCount 1
sound "WEAPONIMPACT_ENERGYHEAVY_HITHULL"
hitShieldsEffectSounds
soundCount 1
sound "WEAPONIMPACT_GENERICHEAVY_HITSHIELDS"
projectileTravelEffectName "Weapon_TechCapitalLaserHeavy_Travel"
Weapon
WeaponType "Beam"
damageEnums
AttackType "CAPITALSHIP"
DamageAffectType "AFFECTS_SHIELDS_AND_HULL"
DamageApplyType "OVERTIME"
DamageType "ENERGY"
WeaponClassType "BEAM"
DamagePerBank:FRONT 256.000000
DamagePerBank:BACK 256.000000
DamagePerBank:LEFT 256.000000
DamagePerBank:RIGHT 256.000000
Range 6500.000000
PreBuffCooldownTime 8.000000
CanFireAtFighter FALSE
SynchronizedTargeting TRUE
PointStaggerDelay 0.250000
TravelSpeed 0.000000
Duration 4.000000
fireConstraintType "StarBaseUpgradeLevel"
requiredStarBaseWeaponLevel 1
WeaponEffects
weaponType "Beam"
burstCount 1
burstDelay 0.000000
fireDelay 0.000000
muzzleEffectName "Weapon_TechCapitalBeamHeavy_Muzzle"
muzzleSoundMinRespawnTime 0.100000
muzzleSounds
soundCount 1
sound ""
hitEffectName "Weapon_TechCapitalBeamHeavy_Hit"
hitHullEffectSounds
soundCount 1
sound ""
hitShieldsEffectSounds
soundCount 1
sound ""
beamEffectSounds
soundCount 1
sound "WEAPON_TECHSTARBASEBEAMHEAVY_TRAVEL"
beamGlowTextureName "TechStarBaseBeam_Glow"
beamCoreTextureName "TechStarBaseBeam_Core"
beamWidth 80.000000
beamGlowColor ffffffff
beamCoreColor ffffffff
beamTilingRate 8.000000
m_weaponIndexForRange 0
firingAlignmentType "Default"
TargetCountPerBank:FRONT 4
TargetCountPerBank:BACK 4
TargetCountPerBank:LEFT 4
TargetCountPerBank:RIGHT 4
canOnlyTargetStructures FALSE
ShieldMeshName ""
renderShield TRUE
squadTypeEntityDef:0 "SquadTechCombat"
squadAntiMatterCost:0 0.000000
squadTypeEntityDef:1 "SquadTechBomber"
squadAntiMatterCost:1 0.000000
squadTypeEntityDef:2 ""
squadAntiMatterCost:2 0.000000
squadTypeEntityDef:3 ""
squadAntiMatterCost:3 0.000000
mainViewIcon "MAINVIEWICON_STARBASE_ALIENARTIFACT"
experiencePointsForDestroying 400.000000
nameStringID "IDS_STARBASE_ALIEN_ARTIFACT_NAME"
picture "PICTURE_PLANET_UNKNOWN"
statCountType "StarBase"
creationSourceAbility "AbilityFallenDeployStarBaseArtifact"
maxUpgradeLevelCount 8
UpgradeTypeCount 8
UpgradeType "StarBaseArtifactUpgradeWeapons"
UpgradeType "StarBaseArtifactUpgradeToughness"
UpgradeType "StarBaseArtifactUpgradeTradePort"
UpgradeType "StarBaseUpgradePhasePhaseGate"
UpgradeType "StarBaseUpgradePsiControlMeteoroids"
UpgradeType "StarBaseArtifactUpgradeBuildAlien"
UpgradeType ""
UpgradeType ""
MeshNameInfoCount 1
MeshNameInfo
meshName "StarBase_Artifact"
criteriaType "None"
meshNameIncreasedEffectName ""
meshNameDecreasedEffectName ""
NumSoundsFor:ONATTACKORDERISSUED 0
NumSoundsFor:ONCREATION 0
NumSoundsFor:ONGENERALORDERISSUED 0
NumSoundsFor:ONSELECTED 1
SoundID "STARBASE_TECH_ONSELECTED"
NumSoundsFor:ONSTARTPHASEJUMP 0
ExplosionName "StarBase0"
formationRank 3
minShadow 0.100000
maxShadow 0.400000
cargoShipType "FrigateMilitiaTradeShip"
maxCargoShipCount 5
cargoShipRespawnTime 25.000000
baseBuildTime 0.000000
buildEffectName ""
angularSpeed 0.500000
rotateSoundName ""
rotateFacingType "AwayFromOrbitBody"
rotateConstantly TRUE
maxAccelerationLinear 0.000000
maxAccelerationStrafe 0.000000
maxDecelerationLinear 500.000000
maxAccelerationAngular 1.000000
maxDecelerationAngular 9.999996
maxSpeedLinear -1.000000
maxRollRate 2.000000
maxRollAngle 35.000000
mass 10000.000000

A nameStringID & descStringID may be useful.

Which of the following abilities does the above ability file represent?

just one other bit of info, starbases can only have FOUR active abilities and one passive ability due to the limited buttons in the interface(hardcoded)

harpo, the GhOSt NON-subscriber

ability:4 "AbilityBuildAlienShip"

Thanks Harpo. I'll check this out... 

I thought as much, but just wanted confirmation.

You'll probably need to set propertyType to AbilityDLevel in the entity files for the ability and the upgrade.

If you look at the other abilities & upgrades you'll probably find they have their own unique values of propertyType.

upgrade entity:

upgradeProperty
        propertyType "AbilityDLevel"
        value 1.000000

ability entity:

levelSourceType "StarBaseUpgradeLevel"
sourcePropertyType "AbilityDLevel"

*deleted*

*deleted*

Yeah, Starbases, Capitalships and Titans need the 5th ability slot for the purchase ability/upgrade feature. You cannot place an active ability in that slot, because the button to purchase those things will always take precedence, hence you couldn't ever actually press the ability button. Passives can be snuck on there, but the player won't be able to see it from the UI.

IIRC there is actually an AbilityELevel you could use if needed.

Thanks heaps NewHorizons and GoaFan77.... It's working now.