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2726
Announcements / Upcoming Features (Alpha 9)
« on: June 06, 2016, 08:52:22 PM »
Alpha 9 is around the corner! No plot spoilers from me, but some epic times are upon us...
[Update: Released! Changelog and notes here.]
Today I'll just be sharing the usual pre-release summary of what features I can screenshot/record for you:
Autosort your entire parts list by subtype at the press of a button.
A new class of special weapons to discover, with a new damage type. Samples:
New fabrication mechanics, with a schematic here showing the new build requirements at the bottom, and an increasing build speed for higher-tier Fabricators. (Also, the required matter comes from the system now, not you.)
Fabricators and Repair Stations display an on-map countdown timer while processing.
Building friends at a Fabricator is much easier.
The "route" section of the score sheet now also records exits discovered in each area. Those that lead to an unknown destination appear in brackets, and those you approached are marked with *
Insufficient resources (matter/energy) for any action will now include exactly how much you need directly in the message itself.
When accessed via keyboard, Intel and Order modes now show they are active with an indicator at the top of the map (otherwise you might've accidentally tapped a z/o key and aren't sure why you can't enter commands elsewhere).
Nearby explosions shake windows individually, with the effect varying by power and distance. (The true appearance I haven't been able to capture in a gif--recording FPS not high enough, so you can see it in game
)
Bump into disrupted or rebooting allies to instantly reactivate them.
Lots more info to come with the release notes!
[Update: Released! Changelog and notes here.]
Today I'll just be sharing the usual pre-release summary of what features I can screenshot/record for you:
Autosort your entire parts list by subtype at the press of a button.
A new class of special weapons to discover, with a new damage type. Samples:
New fabrication mechanics, with a schematic here showing the new build requirements at the bottom, and an increasing build speed for higher-tier Fabricators. (Also, the required matter comes from the system now, not you.)
Fabricators and Repair Stations display an on-map countdown timer while processing.
Building friends at a Fabricator is much easier.
The "route" section of the score sheet now also records exits discovered in each area. Those that lead to an unknown destination appear in brackets, and those you approached are marked with *
Insufficient resources (matter/energy) for any action will now include exactly how much you need directly in the message itself.
When accessed via keyboard, Intel and Order modes now show they are active with an indicator at the top of the map (otherwise you might've accidentally tapped a z/o key and aren't sure why you can't enter commands elsewhere).
Nearby explosions shake windows individually, with the effect varying by power and distance. (The true appearance I haven't been able to capture in a gif--recording FPS not high enough, so you can see it in game
)Bump into disrupted or rebooting allies to instantly reactivate them.
Lots more info to come with the release notes!
2727
Everything REXPaint / Re: mini-REXSpeeder for C++
« on: June 04, 2016, 08:09:33 PM »
Ouch, can't use zlib? Everybody uses zlib 
Funny that you can use 7zip to extract an .xp file; never thought of that
Thanks and I've added this to the resources page!
Funny that you can use 7zip to extract an .xp file; never thought of that
Thanks and I've added this to the resources page!
2728
Support / Re: [Windows10] Cogmind wont launch
« on: June 03, 2016, 07:21:30 PM »
Woohoo! Glad that was it
And actually, only now do I realize that was my fault, since I gave you my config file, which I did edit, but forgot to turn on the cursor for you *facepalm* (I play without the mouse myself). Check the options menu (F1 > 4) and see if there are any others you might want to change.
And actually, only now do I realize that was my fault, since I gave you my config file, which I did edit, but forgot to turn on the cursor for you *facepalm* (I play without the mouse myself). Check the options menu (F1 > 4) and see if there are any others you might want to change.
My monitor isn't DPI, no.Thanks for letting me know.
2729
Everything REXPaint / Re: Show off your REXPAINT creations
« on: June 03, 2016, 07:13:45 PM »derelictHehe, it's one of the forms of "life" in Cogmind, which I ended up using as ranks here on the forums
ˈdɛrəlɪkt/
Ahh I love my new attribution!
Ooh, too bad you lost it--looks like you had gotten quite a lot done there!Spoiler: Here is screenshots of it I found (click to show/hide)
Those receivers looks great, too! You've really got the spirit of the style down
Snow? Heh, we're burning up here in the subtropics. Your English is fine--my Russian can't compare
(it's nonexistent) Come to think of it, "Subspace Receiver" could be a pretty cool name I haven't used yet for a machine... maybe I'll add that to the game.
2730
Stories / Re: The First Pacifist Win
« on: June 02, 2016, 07:23:54 PM »Matter is probably the biggest. There is very little matter to be found lying around without destroying robots for it. This limits part swapping, firing to open walls, etc.Have you noticed that a few releases ago matter-related machines can be shot to let their matter spill out? This has saved me on a couple occasions
But, such machines are only found in Materials and Factory, so that won't help with the late-game. At that point, I wonder if it would be worth using an inventory slot for a backup Field Recycling Unit. They're quite easy to use now with the new mechanics, a mobile source of matter that doesn't require destroying anything except the items you don't need, of which I'm sure you found many!
I'm just used to instant turns, is all.Gotcha, certainly a staple of traditional text-based roguelikes.
2731
Everything REXPaint / Re: Show off your REXPAINT creations
« on: June 02, 2016, 07:01:59 PM »
Awesome Dima3z! I especially like the activation sequence.
Very much the style overall
(but I imagine you know this)
The most common players, 1080p, get this,
and it goes much bigger than that
Edit: Added one to the gallery
Very much the style overall
And your artwork is way bigger than Cogmind's.Hahaha, I always post my art at the native size I draw it, 12x12, but the size is just dependent on what font the player is using
(but I imagine you know this)The most common players, 1080p, get this,
and it goes much bigger than that
Edit: Added one to the gallery
2732
Stories / Re: The First Pacifist Win
« on: June 02, 2016, 09:03:08 AM »
Awesome job, zxc! Was barely a couple days between when you said you'd do it and actually doing it
(Of course, if your movement speed is really slow that's a different story since they can get multiple turns to yours, but when you're flying around you get a ton of moves for each of their volleys...)
I do make changes if a particularly common weapon is too slow, though (on its own). For example, once the caves were opened up I halved the speed of the Derelicts' Beamcaster animation, since it's increasingly common and was quite slow before.
[/diversion]
Back to the celebration!
edit: BTW when playing fast, the wait for enemy firing animations is pretty long.In most cases it's the powerful weapons that might take a little longer, but overall the average is around 150-300 milliseconds. From the beginning I've felt this is a better approach because otherwise you have to make sense of the log, and the same information would be very difficult to understand given the sometimes large number of similar participants in Cogmind battles, and the fact that almost all battles are at range. The goal of the UI is to keep players looking at the map, so the information needs to be there just long enough to be parseable as it happens.
(Of course, if your movement speed is really slow that's a different story since they can get multiple turns to yours, but when you're flying around you get a ton of moves for each of their volleys...)
I do make changes if a particularly common weapon is too slow, though (on its own). For example, once the caves were opened up I halved the speed of the Derelicts' Beamcaster animation, since it's increasingly common and was quite slow before.
[/diversion]
Back to the celebration!
2733
Confirmed Bugs / Re: Incorrect Mass Displayed Briefly
« on: June 02, 2016, 08:31:23 AM »
Huh, oops. Haven't seen that one before, but from checking your video I can see what must have happened:
Not long before you must've opened the window when you had a mass like
) That's my theory anyway, I'll have to investigate and solve.
Thanks
Not long before you must've opened the window when you had a mass like
Code: [Select]
73 / 104then lost some propulsion and opened it again, at which point everything was shifted over since your propulsion dropped to two digits and it's right adjustedCode: [Select]
763 / 84leaving a 7 out front which wasn't erased from the window for some reason. (Note the value went from 763 to 63--not a coincidence ) That's my theory anyway, I'll have to investigate and solve.Thanks
2734
General Discussion / Re: Thoughts from a new player
« on: June 02, 2016, 08:20:18 AM »
I do believe strongly in keeping spoilers at bay. Worth mentioning here: mindreader pointed out the Operator benefits are listed in the manual, along with one other potential ally. I consider that pure mechanics more than anything worth "discovering," so felt it was important to point out how those features worked. There are a lot of numbers involved, and they're also a part of the hacking system, which I think the manual needs to explain in full.
2735
Competitions / Re: Weekly Seed #42 [Alpha 8] [Seed: Shotty Mayhem]
« on: June 02, 2016, 08:11:31 AM »Spoiler: P. Caves (click to show/hide)
2736
Competitions / Re: Weekly Seed #42 [Alpha 8] [Seed: Shotty Mayhem]
« on: June 02, 2016, 05:27:58 AM »
Kyzrati did not, to my knowledge, do such a thing.
Nice 0-kill runs up to the end, though!
No good hackware, eh? That's a drawback to an Alpha 8 pacifist run, relying mostly on luck for those since you can't steal them. Fabrication might help with that... I'm still waiting anxiously for the results of the next release to see if that will make things a little too easy.
Nice 0-kill runs up to the end, though!
No good hackware, eh? That's a drawback to an Alpha 8 pacifist run, relying mostly on luck for those since you can't steal them. Fabrication might help with that... I'm still waiting anxiously for the results of the next release to see if that will make things a little too easy.
2737
General Discussion / Re: Thoughts from a new player
« on: June 01, 2016, 08:14:21 AM »
Welcome!
Sensors are essential for speed runs, and can even be useful for survival with a combat build if you can spare the slots and aren't attempting to take on the whole world like some players around here.
With the right build you'll be able to reach the end with little to no fighting, though you'll still encounter challenging situations. Just ask zxc and biomatter.
. Those mechanics were quite complicated to implement within the existing inventory system (it didn't start out that way), so by the time it was all working I didn't have the motivation to spend another huge chunk of time getting a confirmation inserted into the middle of all of it. That effect has worn off now and it's time to add that before yet more players rip their own processors off
The manual does mention it, but getting Operators to help you with hacking is not necessary or done all that often.
You can get greater details and learn what's going on around the floor via hacking, if you need them.
. I'll just say that you can turn around losing situations at almost any point of the game, and having a fast core is really helpful in that. Cogmind is a game with a lot of potential for epic comebacks.
Some items found early seem abnormally strong, like win the game strong. Like I found advanced sensors and I was flying through the game in hover mode I could choose every engagement and dig through walls and nothing could stop me.Not all items are created equal, for sure, but aside from some fluff items and not-so-useful things meant for other robots (since you can take almost anything from anyone), a majority of items are just situational and will depend on your strategy.
Sensors are essential for speed runs, and can even be useful for survival with a combat build if you can spare the slots and aren't attempting to take on the whole world like some players around here.
With the right build you'll be able to reach the end with little to no fighting, though you'll still encounter challenging situations. Just ask zxc and biomatter.
On that note I really wish there was a confirmation dialogue when you try to remove a cpu that will immediately break because that ended that game really quick.It's coming, rather high on the list, actually
. Those mechanics were quite complicated to implement within the existing inventory system (it didn't start out that way), so by the time it was all working I didn't have the motivation to spend another huge chunk of time getting a confirmation inserted into the middle of all of it. That effect has worn off now and it's time to add that before yet more players rip their own processors off Reading the forums I have been spoiled that there are trojans that help, but this reeks of secret elbereth style knowledge, which I refuse to look up, because it will spoil my enjoyment.Yep, if you want to get good at hacking Trojans are quite important, and many of them can be learned via in-game lore (NPCs and sometimes various terminal records). All of them can be learned in world as of the next release
The manual does mention it, but getting Operators to help you with hacking is not necessary or done all that often.
I've been as high as -6, but it when I lose on any floor I never know why. A lot of times I'll move around the level and it is like no one is looking for me, no matter how many robots I kill. Other times I'll literally have 20 robots barrelling at me and popping out of the floor and I have no idea what I could've done to cause it or how to stop it. It would be nice to be told that I am alerting the system when I screw something up because I have no idea what actions I am doing that are stirring the bee hive or by how much. At least let me know occasionally that an action was bad, so that I can learn.There is only one situation in the game where attackers are dispatched and it isn't explicitly announced via your message log, and that's because they aren't sent directly at you, only your general location, but I'm going to add a message for that one, too. Even without any dispatches you may just be running into multiple patrols or fighting at the wrong place and time simply based on who's nearby.
You can get greater details and learn what's going on around the floor via hacking, if you need them.
It might also be great if when you reset the game, it told you the current status of the game, the security level, what squads (extermination? search? whatever) were out to get you before you start the next game. I'm not sure what else might give me some insight into my situation.You can get some helpful related information from the post-game score sheet regarding alert level.
A lot of times I end up naked running through the level with 500 core left, but I don't know how to recover from this state, so it is always a slow death. Is there really any point to having the core move really fast, prolonging the game?Absolutely! I'm having trouble replying though because I'm afraid to spoil anything
. I'll just say that you can turn around losing situations at almost any point of the game, and having a fast core is really helpful in that. Cogmind is a game with a lot of potential for epic comebacks.
2738
General Discussion / Re: Thoughts from a new player
« on: June 01, 2016, 02:12:59 AM »
I've heard a number of AI War references since last year . Haven't played it myself, but I think it's almost always a good thing when games move away from that player-centric mentality which runs through most games of pretty much any genre. Sure the Cogmind is special, but there's a lot more important things going on than you, and if you just lay low no one really cares.
Yep, all machines will produce sound (okay, those with a name, not the little random bits and pieces of unnamed machinery you see). I opted against sounds for specific mundane robot actions, since it could easily be a bit too noisy when moving quickly (= time passing quickly). But yeah I want to add background ambient sounds as well, though I will probably need someone else to do it, and can't efficiently work on that until the world is mostly complete. We'll get to that part later!
. Haven't played it myself, but I think it's almost always a good thing when games move away from that player-centric mentality which runs through most games of pretty much any genre. Sure the Cogmind is special, but there's a lot more important things going on than you, and if you just lay low no one really cares.Yep, all machines will produce sound (okay, those with a name, not the little random bits and pieces of unnamed machinery you see). I opted against sounds for specific mundane robot actions, since it could easily be a bit too noisy when moving quickly (= time passing quickly). But yeah I want to add background ambient sounds as well, though I will probably need someone else to do it, and can't efficiently work on that until the world is mostly complete. We'll get to that part later!
2739
General Discussion / Re: Thoughts from a new player
« on: May 31, 2016, 07:33:48 PM »
Hello and thanks for the feedback, Dullahan. A list is great--easier to both write and read for something like this
Making it to -4 is pretty good for having just started out. That's the floor where things have a chance to start getting extremely messy
Making it to -4 is pretty good for having just started out. That's the floor where things have a chance to start getting extremely messy
-Hacks are interesting even if I have some trouble with manual input due to not using a qwerty keyboard, using up and down mitigate that but the problem persist with other keys.Yeah, sorry about that. Non-qwerty support is something I want to explore some more. It's not so easy to implement in Cogmind, there is more than one way to handle it, and no solution looks perfect, so it still hasn't been addressed :/
-I like reading the lore, really, enough that I do suicidal runs just to poke around terminals. I would love an ingame screen where I could read all the stuff I unlocked across my runs.This was also recently suggested by another player and I definitely want to do it, so expect that to happen at some point. It's fairly high on the list right now.
various effects and sounds make the weapons feel like weapons (I can't get enough of the various gatlings sounds).I just added a special new gatling-type weapon that's coming with the next release, so maybe you'll get to hear that in action--it's pretty wicked
-I didn't mess with fabricators but I assume it would be very beneficial for a hacking oriented build.Fabricators will be much changed/improved for the next release, so it's good you haven't fiddled with them yet. Too fiddly!
2740
General Discussion / Re: Do you evolve in the branches? and several other noob questions
« on: May 31, 2016, 12:06:18 AM »
Yeah, makes sense to throw it in there with the evolution and corruption talk.
2741
General Discussion / Re: Do you evolve in the branches? and several other noob questions
« on: May 30, 2016, 07:38:27 PM »
Minor 2: Any utility that stacks will have a "<stacks>" indicator by its description. (The "Advanced UI" section of the manual talks about this and other special indicators.) Force Fields don't have that indicator, so no stacking. The only reason to have more than one active is if you're afraid one will be shot off in the middle of taking a lot of fire (but generally you'd rather have something else in that second slot to begin with).
@biomatter: ?!?!?!?! I am very surprised that you of all players aren't sure of this by now. Correct, and I've just added a line for that to the manual, thanks.
@biomatter: ?!?!?!?! I am very surprised that you of all players aren't sure of this by now
. Correct, and I've just added a line for that to the manual, thanks.
2742
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: May 30, 2016, 07:29:42 PM »
Thanks for the feedback guys.
. And really the essential parts for a speed run are mostly going to be lightweight.
The idea was that if you managed to find one of the good support utils you could theoretically be a combat flier, but I got worried about them while working on this latest flight update, since we have the upcoming fabrication changes and you might be able to easily build one. Maybe I overreacted a bit and a better solution would be to rebuff them and just make them even more rare. (Their distribution setting before was just "uncommon.")
Depends on what they're for, really--to improve a flight build, or is the goal to enable flying death machines, and would anyone even want to do that, anyway...
You've probably seen one or two of my morgues with far more mass support than I needed (maybe over 100 with flight?).Yeah those support utils are crazy good
. And really the essential parts for a speed run are mostly going to be lightweight.The idea was that if you managed to find one of the good support utils you could theoretically be a combat flier, but I got worried about them while working on this latest flight update, since we have the upcoming fabrication changes and you might be able to easily build one. Maybe I overreacted a bit and a better solution would be to rebuff them and just make them even more rare. (Their distribution setting before was just "uncommon.")
Depends on what they're for, really--to improve a flight build, or is the goal to enable flying death machines, and would anyone even want to do that, anyway...
2743
Support / Re: [Windows10] Cogmind wont launch
« on: May 30, 2016, 07:21:44 PM »
Whew, well that's something at least. I've been waiting anxiously for a reply on this
Does still look like it's something about your particular Windows setup. I would hope this gets taken care of by MS because it's apparently affecting a number of games and we devs can't do anything about it...
Now... why can't you see your cursor?! I don't imagine you entered Cogmind's "keyboard mode" by accident? (F2 hides/shows the cursor.) Otherwise, that seems to be another side effect of this Win 10 issue :/ (again, not something that's happened before, to my knowledge).
Also, that earlier question: You don't have a high-DPI monitor, do you? I'm wondering if something MS did to Win 10 more recently has somehow worsened the DPI problem for non-compatible programs (since there is a way to address those problems via a setting, but it's pointless to do that unless you have one of those monitors).
Does still look like it's something about your particular Windows setup. I would hope this gets taken care of by MS because it's apparently affecting a number of games and we devs can't do anything about it...
Now... why can't you see your cursor?! I don't imagine you entered Cogmind's "keyboard mode" by accident? (F2 hides/shows the cursor.) Otherwise, that seems to be another side effect of this Win 10 issue :/ (again, not something that's happened before, to my knowledge).
Also, that earlier question: You don't have a high-DPI monitor, do you? I'm wondering if something MS did to Win 10 more recently has somehow worsened the DPI problem for non-compatible programs (since there is a way to address those problems via a setting, but it's pointless to do that unless you have one of those monitors).
2744
Announcements / Progress Update: May 30th, 2016
« on: May 29, 2016, 09:39:58 PM »
The second major stage of Alpha 9 is progressing nicely. Everything's planned out, and all the individual pieces are built. Time to stitch them all together to create the new map and plot events coming in the next release. You'll get to see what's up with Warlord, up close and personal.
Alpha 9 will be out some time next week, and you can expect the usual feature preview before then, maybe the weekend.
The most recent non-spoiler visual improvement I can share is this, nearby explosions vibrating console windows independently:
The duration of the effect varies based on the strength of the explosive force and the distance between its origin and your position. This isn't the same as screenshake, which is applied uniformly across the entire screen and denotes core damage. Both are controlled by the same options menu setting, and therefore optional--just an immersion feature you can turn off if it bothers you. It doesn't shake the map, just the windows around it. (The gif can't capture it at high enough FPS to show the true effect--it looks better in game, but you get the idea)
If you're a mouse user, I put out a patch for a bug that prevents drag-drop interaction when your core integrity is low. The patch and more information are available here. I still can't believe a bug like that has gone unreported for so long! Many thanks to seafrank for letting me know.
Last week out of the blue an LPer with 300k subs picked up Cogmind to do a quick intro (). Apparently they're interested in doing a full series on it at some point, which would be pretty neat
Alpha 9 will be out some time next week, and you can expect the usual feature preview before then, maybe the weekend.
The most recent non-spoiler visual improvement I can share is this, nearby explosions vibrating console windows independently:
The duration of the effect varies based on the strength of the explosive force and the distance between its origin and your position. This isn't the same as screenshake, which is applied uniformly across the entire screen and denotes core damage. Both are controlled by the same options menu setting, and therefore optional--just an immersion feature you can turn off if it bothers you. It doesn't shake the map, just the windows around it. (The gif can't capture it at high enough FPS to show the true effect--it looks better in game, but you get the idea
)If you're a mouse user, I put out a patch for a bug that prevents drag-drop interaction when your core integrity is low. The patch and more information are available here. I still can't believe a bug like that has gone unreported for so long! Many thanks to seafrank for letting me know.
Last week out of the blue an LPer with 300k subs picked up Cogmind to do a quick intro (). Apparently they're interested in doing a full series on it at some point, which would be pretty neat
2745
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: May 29, 2016, 07:04:22 PM »I also nerfed mass support utilities.
Wish I never said anything
Don't worry, they're still usable, and I mostly nerfed the high-level ones, which were kinda ridiculously good, yeah? The entry-level one is unchanged, and Adv. went from 10->8. Some of the best could originally give you 40-50 support at a modest energy cost.They still do their job of basically using energy to turn a utility slot into propulsion (albeit without a speed bonus), and cost a good bit less energy than the power source required to generate it which they themselves can support.
Depending on how the propulsion changes turn out, maybe this could be readjusted. In fact, I may as well go over it here to ask for input from anyone who wants to examine the numbers. Weight redistribution components:
| Rating / | Upkeep / | Support (Old) / | Support (New) |
| 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| 3 | 6 | 10 | 8 |
| 5 | 8 | 20 | 12 |
| 7 | 10 | 30 | 16 |
| 8 | 12 | 40 | 20 |
| 9 | 15 | 50 | 25 |
Ah, I wasn't sure what you were referring to, more movement causing the effect, or what zxc and I were talking about (the thing I was trying to fix): high-tier flight costs rapidly expanding due to a single increment in the per-move cost, which is no longer an issue.QuoteWell now it does, so it's no longer an issue.The balloon effect is still present, just less pronounced (you need either zero per tile requirements or zero speed increments to avoid it entirely).
A system where costs are derived entirely from upkeep wouldn't be fun, because chunks of heat and energy cost would suddenly be applied at turn intervals, and you'd start trying to game when you could take your "free" moves, and when those costs would come into play. Then we'd need some kind of countdown for it, and it would become a focus of the game for some players. It would also mean you'd have a much harder time moving when low on power for whatever reason, or you'd at least be stuck in a single position for longer.
I'm not a fan of the binary overweight threshold because it's annoying to optimize for and it doesn't really make sense. Add 1 more mass => no effect in general, or dramatic slow down. You could keep the system as it is, but scale the slowdown to the amount of overweight. E.g. if you're 20% overweight you get 20% of the overweight penalty.From a gameplay standpoint, a system with concrete thresholds leads to more interesting decisions, because it makes the results of those decisions much more extreme here, in an area where a linear model would add to the uncertainty of the true long-term impact of carrying a little extra weight.
Probably more importantly, it makes it much clearer when one form of propulsion is no longer ideal for what you're aiming to do.
I do wonder how a linear model would impact the game in specific ways, but it isn't something to spend time on now.
2746
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: May 29, 2016, 09:42:18 AM »Goddamn... sorry.Haha, nah, it's fine. Obviously still my choice to actually go through with it!
My intention was just to offer some thoughts and get some discussion going. Flight propulsion seems to be very delicate to balance.
I also think that late-game flight units are crap, with their high heat generation.Well now it does, so it's no longer an issue
Heat and energy requirements balloon up quickly due to the double effect of faster movement and increased resource requirements per tile. In effect, it's impossible to lift a high mass because stacking flight units doesn't scale linearly with respect to heat and power.
. And you will now pretty much always want to upgrade flight units when you can. If you need the support, anyway, because obviously the experts don't need quite so much, BUT you'll probably be wanting more either way due to the speed reduction.I also nerfed mass support utilities.
IMO it should. If the player wants to dedicate so many slots to propulsion, power and heat sinks, why not allow it? I would favor a per tile requirement of 0 balanced with increased base costs.Increased per-turn costs would remove the challenge of getting enough energy and dissipation to move as much as you want to. I like that the cost varies directly proportionally to the amount you move. Every step means something.
While we're at it, I would also remove the quantum effect of the overweight penalty. Your speed should be just a linear function of (total propulsion)/weight.Having a binary effect is clearer and also makes some sense as these things are more sensitive to weight restrictions and quickly become inefficient once you pass the threshold they're designed for.
2747
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: May 29, 2016, 09:14:49 AM »
You single-handedly derailed my evening work schedule today (Sure I was going to be working on Cogmind, as usual, but not this...)
(Sure I was going to be working on Cogmind, as usual, but not this...)
2748
General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: May 29, 2016, 08:56:57 AM »
I noticed you were handling low support impressively well in your video. You won't mind that I've reduced all prototype flight mass support, then .
Probably the most meaningful change I made though is to reduce the speed modifier from -5 to -3, meaning you'll need more propulsion slots to reach the same speeds.
Also, to resolve the efficiency problem, which I found was otherwise insurmountable given the rough granularity of the system at even the reduced speeds, I completely set all heat and movement costs to 1!
This is a sudden collection of rather big changes, so more tweaks could follow, but let's see how this plays first. If together these changes can solve the original issue (which was kinda ridiculous) while still requiring skilled heat and energy management and keep speed builds fun and challenging, that would be, um, nice.
.Probably the most meaningful change I made though is to reduce the speed modifier from -5 to -3, meaning you'll need more propulsion slots to reach the same speeds.
Also, to resolve the efficiency problem, which I found was otherwise insurmountable given the rough granularity of the system at even the reduced speeds, I completely set all heat and movement costs to 1!
This is a sudden collection of rather big changes, so more tweaks could follow, but let's see how this plays first. If together these changes can solve the original issue (which was kinda ridiculous) while still requiring skilled heat and energy management and keep speed builds fun and challenging, that would be, um, nice.
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General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: May 29, 2016, 06:16:34 AM »
There's code to use that effect anywhere, but it would also be distracting if found on a wider scale. It's nicer to give some areas their own unique feel, however possible with ASCII, and the Data Miner is a little place that is otherwise quiet and empty--perfect opportunity for something like that. It took a long time to get that whole conduit animating just right, though
It takes a lot more time of course, but I do like to go for the "awe players with something found nowhere else" approach whenever I can do it lore-wise (and technically). I had that feeling when creating Zion, for obvious reasons
but that one is definitely getting nerfed.
Edit: Hm, okay I take that back. I can't quite decide how to treat it because unlike other parts, what I did with flight is make it so that it's actually a fully two-tiered system: prototypes vs. common types, where high-rated forms of the latter can't stand up to even low-rated forms of the former in terms of efficiency. (Normal prototypes only average about rating+1 good.)
So there are better prototype flight propulsion outright better than what you were using, you just didn't find them. I did this because you can't get them off enemies, making them difficult to acquire, but with enough of them you could theoretically build a combat-capable flight build. Maybe I should give that up... (Also, that said some higher-tier prototypes do have the problem of fast movement = significant heat and energy cost increases even with a +1 increase on either, so they may be better in some ways, but are not always the most efficient if you want to run extremely light.)
Edit 2: Okay, I just made some rather significant stat changes to flight (and to a lesser extent hover). I'll be interested to see how things have changed for speed runs with Alpha 9!
It takes a lot more time of course, but I do like to go for the "awe players with something found nowhere else" approach whenever I can do it lore-wise (and technically). I had that feeling when creating Zion, for obvious reasons
So going back to this, I couldn't help but look at it now, and I'm not sure how the Imp. Flight Unit got that support value. It's pretty out of whack with everything, actually, at nearly double support for no extra costs. Oops. I'll go back through all the values and make some adjustments,* The best flight units are still an early-game prototype!Huh, we'll definitely be fixing that before long then, especially now that fabrication is coming up! It's tough to balance them into the movement system with everything else--not enough room for common vs. prototype flexibility with respect to flying :/
Edit: Hm, okay I take that back. I can't quite decide how to treat it because unlike other parts, what I did with flight is make it so that it's actually a fully two-tiered system: prototypes vs. common types, where high-rated forms of the latter can't stand up to even low-rated forms of the former in terms of efficiency. (Normal prototypes only average about rating+1 good.)
So there are better prototype flight propulsion outright better than what you were using, you just didn't find them. I did this because you can't get them off enemies, making them difficult to acquire, but with enough of them you could theoretically build a combat-capable flight build. Maybe I should give that up... (Also, that said some higher-tier prototypes do have the problem of fast movement = significant heat and energy cost increases even with a +1 increase on either, so they may be better in some ways, but are not always the most efficient if you want to run extremely light.)
Edit 2: Okay, I just made some rather significant stat changes to flight (and to a lesser extent hover). I'll be interested to see how things have changed for speed runs with Alpha 9!
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General Discussion / Re: Alpha 8 Discussions [SPOILER VERSION]
« on: May 29, 2016, 03:36:27 AM »Yeah, I tap alt a bunch of times before using alt to look around, pretty much regardless of whether or not I alt-tabbed recently. I hadn't tried alt-shift-direction because I have learnt not to fool around holding multiple keys, especially since the times when I pan around the map are usually when I'm in major trouble and a wrong move can mean a lot of harm done.Oh you haven't been using Alt-Shift direction? I always play via pure keyboard and use that a lot. Easy to jump around the map. There is also a new undocumented command, '`', which colors in the entire map area you've discovered, even if outside your FOV. You might find that useful.
This was half a joke. I'm surprised you've even considered this! That said, a map of the current level would really give a sense of the massive scale of some of the levels. The sprawling levels are one of my favourite aspects of the game.Hehe, I know you were joking, but I was seriously thinking about it just yesterday so I thought I'd throw my thoughts out there, too! I might do it as an experiment for the heck of it. Half the reason I want to do it is because it could appear with a cool animation