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181

Suggestions / Weapon Mounts with Uneven Firing Arcs

« on: June 17, 2015, 09:03:58 AM »

On a number of real life guns, the gun can be turned farther one way than the other. I would like to be able to define weapon mounts in this way.

So instead of two parameters (angle and arc), there would be three: angle, arc left, and arc right.

An alternative is to add a "rest angle" parameter to the original two.

Spoiler

This might belong in Modding, but I felt Suggestions was more appropriate.

[close]

182

Suggestions / Teensy-Tiny In-Combat UI Change

« on: May 05, 2015, 09:31:13 AM »

Completely inconsequential, but I noticed this:


And thought it would be better if it said "Elite Battleship" instead of "Elite Variant". Especially since the corresponding UI for the player's ship does say, for example, "Elite Battleship" or "Phase Strike Cruiser" or whatever.

183

Bug Reports & Support / Fatal 2 Index 2

« on: April 27, 2015, 03:05:31 PM »

Got a crash while running a large simulation battle. Started it with a tad bit less than 500 DP total in ships, then jumped in some reinforcements after taking quite a few casualties. The battle had run long enough for an Elite Wolf to reach critical CR loss.

Here's what the log says:

Code: java

46464 [Thread-5] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.campaign.save.CampaignGameManager  - Loading stage 39 - last
47833 [Thread-11] INFO  sound.O  - Creating streaming player for music with id [music-campaign_system_corvus.ogg]
47833 [Thread-11] INFO  sound.OooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  - Playing music with id [music-campaign_system_corvus.ogg]
61768 [Thread-5] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatEngine  - FP1: 206, FP2: 648, maxFP1: 200, maxFP2: 300
63334 [Thread-11] INFO  sound.O  - Creating streaming player for music with id [music-battle_ambience_01.ogg]
63334 [Thread-11] INFO  sound.OooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  - Playing music with id [music-battle_ambience_01.ogg]
689318 [Thread-5] ERROR com.fs.starfarer.combat.D  - java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException: Index: 2, Size: 2
java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException: Index: 2, Size: 2
	at java.util.ArrayList.rangeCheck(Unknown Source)
	at java.util.ArrayList.get(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.combat.systems.G.setCurrentActive(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.combat.ai.attack.AttackAIModule.o00000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.combat.ai.attack.AttackAIModule.o00000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.combat.ai.BasicShipAI.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatEngine.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.combat.G.Òôo000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.oOOO.oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.Ò00000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.combat.D.o00000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncherjava.run(Unknown Source)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
689403 [Thread-11] INFO  sound.O  - Creating streaming player for music with id [music-battle_ambience_01.ogg]
689403 [Thread-11] INFO  sound.OooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  - Playing music with id [music-battle_ambience_01.ogg]

184

Modding / Very High Ship Acceleration/Deceleration Values

« on: April 11, 2015, 08:46:16 PM »

I was idly testing very high acceleration/deceleration values and decided to see how big of numbers I could use. I was not able to test thoroughly, however, I was able to determine a few things.


Bugs:
 - Extremely high values (confirmed at 100,000) in both acceleration and deceleration causes a bug that affects diagonal movement (only tested using turn to cursor): forward/backward speed (but not left/right speed) drops to a very low number. Forward/backward and left/right strafe movement alone still work as they should. Testing at various values between 40,000 and 50,000 seems to indicate the cutoff value is in that range, however, I was not able to find an exact value.

 - My testing may have been interfered with by a possible bug with diagonal movement: either diagonal movement is not at a 45 degree angle, changing the acceleration/deceleration values can affect the angle, or (now that I think about it) the 16:9 aspect ratio of my screen was affecting my perception. More rigorous testing should be able to hammer this out, although it probably requires significantly better measurement tools than my good ol' Mk 1 Eyeball (D).

 - The action Decelerate (default "C") cannot handle large deceleration values (such as 30,000); it overcompensates, unable to get to zero. The value of acceleration has no effect.


Findings:
 - Nearly imperceptibly fast (effectively instantaneous) direction change is accomplishable by setting acceleration and deceleration to 30,000 (should be bug-free, excluding directly above bug). When testing a Hound only a flicker of the ones place on the speedometer was visible when changing back and forth from forwards to reverse or strafe left to strafe right. When testing a Lasher traveling at 600 (modded 500 base + AE + 0-Flux Bonus) the changing numbers were more noticeable, but still only a brief flicker. 60 fps, of course.

 - Forward and strafing acceleration are controlled by the acceleration value, but reverse acceleration is controlled by the deceleration value. This means you cannot create a ship that can accelerate quickly forwards but not side to side, as far as I can tell.

 - Deceleration set to 0 is read as 1. Presumably acceleration defaults the same way.


 - I also messed with turning acceleration. Setting it to a high value with turn to cursor movement causes the ship to flicker back and forth, overcompensating in a similar way to the Decelerate action as it tries to face the desired direction.


More testing would easily (given time, of course ) find all the unknown cutoff values that create the above anomalous behaviors, but I found enough to do what I was interested in, so I'm not messing with this further. Hope this helps somebody else.

185

Suggestions / Mail Couriers

« on: March 26, 2015, 08:18:05 PM »

Actually not inspired by the new blog post, I was rather watching a show called "Connections" and the Pony Express came up. It occurred to me that if the FTL relays aren't 100% private and secure, then there would be couriers to transport high-priority confidential messages.

With all the various interests in the Sector, couriers would surely be a common sight.

But then that nicely ties into the new missions with message delivery missions. Or even intercepting deliveries.

186

Suggestions / Give Jump Points more Screen Space

« on: March 17, 2015, 10:27:58 AM »

The jump points we have in game right now are pinkish-purplish rings that are smaller than a mid-sized fleet. Given how important they are for travelling from system to system, I think they could use some love in the graphical department. Of course, then the question becomes, "What look would better convey their importance?"

I'll admit this isn't my sort of thing, and I only thought about it because of a very minor rendering bug (that only stays on screen for a second or two):

Spoiler

[close]

I like how it makes the jump point really big and eye-catching. It looks important, and even a bit mysterious. It doesn't even get in the way of clicking anything since the rays are purely graphical.

187

Discussions / Random Idea of the Day

« on: March 10, 2015, 02:55:24 PM »

Feel free to post your own random ideas.

My silly little random idea relates to stealth in space. Specifically, detection by reflected light.

Since there is no air resistance in space and I guesstimate that micro meteors would only be a minor problem, lots of tiny adjustable mirrors covering a ship would allow the ship to deflect sunlight that hits it away from those who might be looking for it. This may also help against radar.

Mirrors would probably offer no benefit against thermal detection of internal heat sources, but may reduce problems from the ship being heated by sunlight.


My formal physics education only goes up to mechanical physics, so I don't guarantee that this idea isn't completely awful.

188

General Discussion / Weapons randomly choose not to fire?

« on: February 20, 2015, 07:25:55 PM »

I've been flying a Conquest lately with both banks filled with auto-fire weapons. Sometimes they just don't shoot at the enemy they are targeting.

I'm not counting all the times they've held fire due to an ally getting between me and my target (the "do not fire" area seems too generous). I've been scraping alongside an Onslaught and my broadside holds fire; I've been firing at range with nothing between me and an Onslaught and the weapons stop shooting for no clear reason.

I can't tell why the auto-fire guns decide it's a bad idea to shoot, but they're blatantly wrong. Has anyone else been experiencing anything like this?

189

Bug Reports & Support / Minor Quibble: Captured Ships Shown in Results Screen in Both Fleets.

« on: February 20, 2015, 07:11:13 PM »

Both Conquests are the same ship, of course:



It feels odd that the ship shows up twice at that point. Especially since it is in the Disabled or Destroyed section but isn't either of those.

Edit: Also, that Elite crew marker makes it obvious that it is actually drawing from the same data to display the two icons.

190

Suggestions / Simple Skill Change to Remove Level Bonus Gates

« on: February 20, 2015, 05:17:52 PM »

We all know many skills, especially combat skills, have a level 5 and a level 10 perk. (On top of this we have hull-mods that get unlocked at specific levels, but this thread isn't about hull-mods.)

These perks are often pretty powerful, and can make the difference between a level 4 and 5, or 9 and 10 character enormous (skill levels, not overall character levels).

Evasive Action, for example, at level 5 gives +75% maneuverability and at level 10 doubles armor strength for damage reduction only. So going from level 4 to 5 makes you turn nearly twice as fast and going from 9 to 10 reduces the armor damage you take by about half. That's a big deal.


My suggestion is to spread these bonuses out over the levels of the skill.


Changing examples to Power Grid Modulation, which has +1% flux dissipation rate and -1% shield damage taken per level (ending at +10% and -10%), at level 5 grants +50% flux dissipation rate while venting (Safety Override), and at level 10 unlocks 20% hard flux dissipation while shields are on and -30% phase cloak flux generation (Advanced Routing Algorithms).

The most quick and dirty form of my proposal would change these bonuses to: +1% flux dissipation rate and -1% shield damage taken per level (ending at +10% and -10%) (unchanged), +10% flux dissipation rate while venting per level (maxing at 50% at level 5), and (starting at level 6) +4% hard flux dissipation while shields are on and -6% phase cloak flux generation per level (maxing at 20% and -30% at level 10).

This wouldn't change what a skill level 5 or 10 character could do, but would get rid of the current heavy-handed "gateway" levels and "empty" levels.

191

Bug Reports & Support / Fleet Sprite does not Match: Brawler

« on: February 20, 2015, 07:55:40 AM »

That is supposed to be a Monitor in my fleet, but the engines are definitely wrong. I would hazard a guess that the Monitor's sprite got changed at some point in the past and its fleet sprite never got replaced.

It may be a Brawler with extra engines. Did Brawler used to have Maneuvering Jets instead of Accelerated Ammo Feeder?

Edit: I'm not sure whether it is supposed to be a Monitor or a Brawler.

Edit2: It is definitely supposed to be a Brawler. Monitor fleet sprite seems fine.

192

Bug Reports & Support / Infinite Supplies required to Repair at Station

« on: February 14, 2015, 07:14:18 AM »

Argh, not 100% sure of the cause, and I was stupid and didn't save. Oh well.

I had just engaged an enemy fleet, and a couple of my frigates had been disabled during the battle. They all were repaired afterwards, but one of them was left with 0 crew. When I got to the station, I couldn't click the repair button "because I didn't have enough supplies". The value it listed as required was ~2 million and some, which IIRC is the maximum value for an int.

Buying enough crew solved the problem.

If I run into it again I will try to remember to save and upload it.

193

Suggestions / Zoomable Selection Slider

« on: February 14, 2015, 06:29:42 AM »

I've seen some people state how they don't like the slider for selecting amounts of cargo. I know I've seen complaints about it being not precise enough, and I think I've seen some about it not allowing more than 1000 to be selected at a time.

On my part, I like the slider, but I can see that the two criticisms above are completely valid. There have been plenty of suggestions to add a number input box and other similar solutions, so I won't go into that.



Instead, it just occurred to me while I was playing that using the scroll wheel to dynamically change the granularity of the slider while it is in use would be a fantastic way to solve the precision problems.

What I mean by the above is: say you want to get 1902 fuel exactly.

As it is now, you shift click, hold, grab 1,000, and move it to your inventory. Then you do that again, except you fiddle with it a bit to get exactly 902. Two sliders and you really had to fiddle with one (or otherwise click even more) to get the exact number you wanted.

With my idea, you would shift click, hold, then zoom the mouse wheel out one. This causes the slider to go from 0-1,000 to 0-10,000 (each little spot on the slider would then change to be worth 10 or 100 or whatever instead of one). You now slide out to around 1,950 or so and zoom back in twice. Now the slider shows from 1,900 to 2,000 (10,000 -> 1,000 -> 100, keeping your place). You should now be able to easily pick 1,902. If not, you can always get it about there and zoom to the 10s (1,900 to 1,910).

One click, a few scrolls, and you easily have the number you wanted.

194

Bug Reports & Support / Can Leave even though Enemy fleet maneuvers to prevent disengagement

« on: February 10, 2015, 04:32:13 PM »

I think this has been around for a while. It may be related to how large my fleet is (6 lines of ships on that screen).

Looking at it, this may be a feature that just isn't pointed out.

Spoiler

"You're trying to stop me from disengaging? *smirk* You and what army?"

[close]

195

Suggestions / Large Ballistic Destroyer Basic Idea

« on: February 03, 2015, 09:45:20 AM »

This is a framework idea for a destroyer similar to the Sunder, but with a large ballistic mount.

To start, here is a simple sketch:

Spoiler

Be amazed by my amazing sketching skills.

[close]

As you can see, its armament is composed of the large ballistic hardpoint, a medium missile hardpoint, and 5 small ballistic turrets. One turret should definitely cover the engines (similar to the Sunder), while the other four turrets' angles are free to be decided.

I further suggest making it a Civilian design, like the Mule and Venture, to give plenty of leeway to balance its large ballistic mount. The standard variant of it could have a Hellbore Cannon, a Pilum Launcher, and 5 LMGs, since those are all Open Market.

Lore-wise, I'd say it's some sort of asteroid mining ship. Thus, my simple suggestion for its class name is "Harvest".


I hope this post inspires you, Alex and Co., with ideas of how a destroyer with a large ballistic mount might fit into Starsector. You, and everyone else of course, have my full permission to use this idea however you like.