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					*HLK Ouka*
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					Version 1.00
					
Zip contains:  this readme, fighter61.POF, fighter61-01a.pcx, fighter61-01b.pcx, fighter61-01c.pcx, OukTest.fs2

I created this ship using several programs.  VPVIEW enabled me to extract the skins, the model (POF), and the ships.tbl.  AXE, a freeware HEX edit program enabled me to change the POF to refer to the new skins so the old Thoth is still usable in FreeSpace 2.  Paint Shop Pro 6.01 was used for the editting of the skins (the skin of the Ouka is basically copied from the skins of the Mentu and Aten-class cruisers).
A special thanks to Zarathud at Descent Chronicles for creating the MODing guide that helped me to create this mod.  Without that guide and its recommendations, this ship would still be on the drawing board.
Also special thank you to Volition for creating the best space sim in the known universe, FREESPACE 2! :)

To use his mod, place the following files in specified directory:
Place the ships.tbl in the FreeSpace 2/data/tables directory.
Place the model file, fighter61.POF, in the FreeSpace 2/data/models directory.
Place the skins (fighter61-01a, fighter61-01b, and fighter61-01c) in the FreeSpace 2/data/maps directory.

To play the test mission:
Place the file OukTest.fs2 in the FreeSpace 2/data/missions directory and play the mission from the FreeSpace 2 Tech Room Mission Simulator.

The HLK Ouka is a different fighter deisgnation than any other in FreeSpace.  It is also radically different in its intended purpose.  The designation HLK stands for Hammer of Light Kamikaze, or suicide, ship.  The Ouka has NO primary weapons and NO secondary weapons, which means it is utterly useless in a dogfight.  However, it is an excellent flying bomb against capital ships.  The Ouka travels at a maximum top speed of 116 ms/, faster even than the Horus interceptor.  However, the Ouka does not have shields or afterburners, it is not intended for anything but to survive long enough to smash itself into an enemy ship.

To effectively use the Ouka in FreeSpace 2, one must do some things in FRED2 differently.  Since the Ouka has no weapons, for it to have any use other than target practice, one must specify it as a 'kamikaze' ship in FRED2.  To do this, open the ships editor and pick an Ouka (or multiple Oukas as the case may be).  Then, go to miscellaneous (which is a button labelled 'Misc').  There are a number of checkboxes here, place a check in kamikaze to activate that.  This will then clear the box near that check.  In that box, a number will appear indicating damage that the fighter will do when it explodes against an enemy ship.  This number is very low since it is a fighter-class vessel.  If attacking a large ship such as a destroyer, one should change the damage properties to at least 5000 if a swarm is used.  Between 5000 and 15000 is a good rule of thumb for setting damages, generally dependent upon size of Ouka swarm.  I generally use 12000 to 15000 dependent upon how many Oukas there are and how many waves of them there will be.  This is important since too large a damage value may upset play balance.  Also useful is to check in either the ship or wing editor for the ship(s) or wing(s) selected the No Dynamic Goals check box.  Checking this will mean that the ship will ignore other attackers and concetrate on what it was told to do.  This way, it will dive straight for an enemy capital ship instead of trying to evade fighters (the best chance the Ouka has is to head directly towards a targetted ship rather than attempt evasion maneuvers).  Finally, if it is a friendly ship (if for example, you are playing as Hammer of Light in a mission) then you should also uncheck any of the Player Orders so that it will disregard players' orders.  I also recommend setting the AI value to Major or Colonel as the fighters seem to then do a better job of following orders.

The Ouka is player allowed, but I see no point in flying it since it has no weapons capability.  If you wish however, you can use it for a player ship.  If you do use it as a player ship in a mission, do NOT attempt to go to the Weapons Selection screen.  No weapons can be loaded on the Ouka and if you try to commit to a mission from that screen, you will get the message 'Player has no weapons' and will be unable to continue.  If you use it as a player ship, I recommend setting the Mission Specs in FRED2 to a scramble mission or a red alert mission.  The ship also uses the Thoth's loading anim for ship and weapon selection, I could have changed it too look like the Ouka but I did not to keep the size of the zip small.  This shouldn't be much problem since I doubt anyone will be flying the Ouka as a player ship.

A note to those whom may be wondering where I came up with the ships name.  I pulled it from a history book covering Japanese weapons, tactics, etc. of the Second World War (sorry, can't recall the name it was a long time ago that I saw it).  The Japanese utilized kamikaze attacks towards the end of the war with increasing frequency.  There was one ship called the Ouka which was little more than a rocket with a cocpit and large explosives warhead attached.  It was intended, if I recall correctly, to be dropped from a large aircraft and then simple flown into a target by its pilot.  I also recall reading that American forces in the Pacific called the ship Baka, which I am told translates to 'fool'.  I don't know if it was any more or any less successful than standard Japanese aircraft used as kamikaze ships, but that is where I got the idea.

Feel free to use the ship in any missions or campaigns or even add it in with another MOD (all you need to do is cut and paste ships.tbl data).  Just be sure to give credit to yours truly :).

So there you have it.  If you have any questions/comments/suggestions/etc. please feel free to e-mail me at:    vasuda_prime@hotmail.com
Hope you enjoy using my little flying bomb as much as I enjoyed making it!
Bon Carnage!

-Ice Heart