Unable to cast from component to child class of monobehaviour.

Hi all,

I'm currently trying to create a subsystem parent class derived from monobehaviour and I can't seem to figure out my downcasting:

Code (CSharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2. using System.Collections;
3.  
4. public class SubSystem : MonoBehaviour
5. {
6.     //stuff
7. }
8.  

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2. using UnityEngine;
3. using System.Collections;
4.  
5. public class Engine: SubSystem
6. {
7.     //Some stuff
8. }
9.  
10.  

Code (CSharp):

1. using System.Collections;
2. using System.Collections.Generic;
3. using UnityEngine;
4.  
5. public class PilotPlayerInterface : MonoBehaviour
6. {
7.     public GameObject shipGameObject;
8.     public Engine shipEngine;
9.  
10.     void Start()
11.     {
12.         shipEngine = shipGameObject.GetComponent(typeof(Engine)) as Engine;
13.     }
14. }
15.  

In the class PilotPlayerInterface I Visual Studio tells me that it "Cannot convert type 'UnityEngine.Component' to 'Engine' via a reference conversion, boxing conversion, unboxing conversion, wrapping conversion, or null type conversion". However, when replacing the class Engine by SubSystem (line 8 and 12), the code works. Can't I downcast a "SubSystem" class to an "Engine" class?

Can you guys see the silly mistake that I cant see here?

Thank you in advance,
Elliot.

 

Code (csharp):

1. shipEngine = shipGameObject.GetComponent<Engine>();

 

Worked like a charm ! I will try to read some more unity manuals.
Thank you good sir, have a wonderful day.

 

Stardog's suggestion is the better way of doing this, although I'm surprised your first attempt threw an error...