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Messages - ORMtnMan

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31
Modding / Re: Spriters judgement thread [non-sprite art allowed]
« on: October 12, 2014, 11:55:45 AM »
One last touchup: emphasized the raised front bit, fixed a bit of shading on the wings, and added some small lights for color.



I'm going to move on to reshading the Tackle next *gulp*.

[Edit] Whoops! Left on the white background layer. My bad.

Hmm, I'm getting a little faster at this:

Retouched the Tackle to swap the lighting, added some definition:


Thaago,

The arrow looks a bit flat at the moment... I would give it a slightly stronger gradient of shading (don't go to black though). ((yay for nitpickyness))

Next on the Tackle, it is difficult to see which part of the ship is higher than the other (The CIC section or the "Arms") This is becuse the plating just behind the CIC ends abruptly at what looks like underside-internals of the arm... Maybe extend the plates a bit? or add a bit of shadowing there?

Keep it up, they look a lot better now, the shading looks great directionally.

32
Mods / Re: The Crystanite (0.62)
« on: October 10, 2014, 02:11:19 PM »
Until i get written permission from HELMUT that using his sprites is OK, the download link will be disabled. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Good man (or woman >.> hard to tell on the internet). I am sure he will give you the okay but as Tartiflette said, it is just good etiquette.

33
Guys, you're forgetting this was designed to be a boss faction, you're supposed to fight against them not stroll in their stuff, perhaps lowering your chances of getting their stuff?

Didn't know there was such a thing as a boss faction, though I guess the Templar may be one as well... The difference is you can't go and purchase Templar ships as far as I know...

34
Mods / Re: The Crystanite (0.62)
« on: October 10, 2014, 12:24:41 PM »
Behold: the Crystanite have awoken!

More info coming soon!

This is my first mod, so it isn't that well made. I basically did a faction based on armor over hull and shields, and i think it turned out OK.
Since i cant sprite if my life depended on it, i simply modified some of the sprites HELMUT gives away for free.

Download:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bjlzwrnmpzxsxm2/AABTarMfBCvZFncDL5fHgLxVa?dl=0

Two things, did you ask permission, and pictures please?

35
Modding / Re: Spriters judgement thread [non-sprite art allowed]
« on: October 09, 2014, 01:26:02 PM »
I did a little work on the Arrow - antialiased the sides a bit and recolored the front dark areas. Better?


Much better! Good job, only one more nit-picky thing I have for you.

On the top section of the arrow (just below the hardpoint)

The way it is shaded makes it look like it protrudes upward out of the body for me... perhaps even out the shading a bit?
Again, real nitpicky because this is a great kitbash. Keep it up!

36
Okay so i more or less finished my Valkyrian campaign and like a lot of people i consider them still too strong despite the recent nerfs.

One of the biggest weakness of the faction is their lack of mobility but i noticed it wasn't an actual issue for them. You can't flank those ships because of their very good shield coverage and the amount of PDs on the rear. All the combat ships with the exception of the Valkyrie MK.II have at least a 270° shield arc. On top of that, even the destroyers have at least 4 PDs to protect themselves against missiles.

Because of this, Valkyrians actually don't really have to fear of anyone getting in their back and for a faction which main weakness is the lack mobility, it's problematic.

But even then not every Valkyrians ships lack mobility, the Nirvana series and the Elysium have infernium drive that allow them to quickly move to a position to another. A lot of time i could go straight in the middle of the enemy fleet, delivering the killing blow to that one ship with my Nirvana and could get out relatively unscathed thanks to its ship system. In some way, the Nirvana/Elysium/Radiance are probably the only worthwhile flagship for the player as you can pull some very nice play with the infernium drive. The other ships? Not so much.

Another problem is their excessive amount of weapons. To compare an Elfheim and an Enforcer, the Enforcer have 5 medium mounts and 4 small ones. The Elfheim have 4 medium mounts, 6 small ones and 4 built in PDs guns. That's a lot more guns, especially when the Elfheim cost 10 deployment points just like the Enforcer and have much better stats in nearly every single categories.

Same thing for Cruisers, a Nirvana MK.I (for some reason i can't find a variant of it, even in dev mod) cost 17 deployment points like the Aurora but with 1 large mount, 8 medium mounts and 10 small ones. The Aurora only have 1 large mount, 3 medium and 9 small. The firepower difference is absolutely monstrous. In the campaign, i couldn't find a single cruiser that could go toe-to-toe with my Nirvana MK.II as i could drown it in missiles and bullets.

It's the same thing with nearly every Valkyrians ships, all heavily outgunning vanilla ships and keeping extremely good stats on top of this. Never in the campaign i felt strained by the the flux despite the amount of weapons i fire.

About the vanilla weapons combo with their ships. Most Valkyrian weapons deal energy damage but i think they benefit much more from Kinetic weaponry like the vanilla needler because they can instantly crush an enemy ship shield and open the way for their missiles. And Valkyrians have a lot of missiles.

A lancer/scorpion work but it doesn't work as well as a HVDs/annihilators combo in my opinion and experience. The Nirvana MK.II, with 4 medium and 3 small missiles mounts can spam Annihilators even better than an Onslaught and when you have 4 HVDs plus a MK.IX AC plowing your shield, there's not much an enemy cruiser (or even capital sometime) can do. But then again, it's not because Valkyrians weapons suck, it's because they have too much guns.

Still about the weapons, the IR-PD cannon is too strong. At 6 OPs, the IR-PD is a much better PD weapon than the dual MG, more ammo, more range... At every tests it took down more Pilums than the DMG did. A bit too good right now, especially when its built in some ships. The IR-PD laser however need two shots to take down a Pilum, it can intercept two lrms at best, sometimes 3 with expanded magazine.

In the end, Valkyrians have too many guns, way too many. Either you nerf their strength by reducing/removing some medium mounts, either you nerf their "weakness" by (heavily) reducing the shields arc and flux capacity/venting, or maybe a combination of both, given how strong they are it certainly won't kill them. They need to be vulnerable in some way. Right now missiles can't reach them and trying to crack them open with brute strength doesn't work either as they'll overwhelm your shield first.

Other than this, i found a few other issues.

As i said in the chat, the Legion lrm is broken. Infinite long range missiles will only lead to broken stuffs, if not for Valkyrian, then for another faction. They already have the Shadow lrm (although its range is surprisingly short for a lrm) that fill this role. The Legion really shouldn't exist, also it use II medium ballista sprite.

Speaking of sprite, the Ice lance have the same sprite as the concussion beam from Citadel, you might want to see this with Foxer.

The Scorpion MRM i think is a bit stronger than the Harpoon (more ammo which is better against frigates, faster missiles even though it's ROF is lower) but it's debatable. What is not debatable however is that the Scorpion is 2 OPs cheaper the Harpoon pod, not a good thing.

The Valkyrie MK.II is underpriced for such an incredible carrier. A mobile flight deck with two medium missiles and cheaper than an Condor? Hersey!

The Radiance redemption laser is too loud, like, uncomfortably loud.

A mistake in the Yoshura description "while its mobility is lacking" i think it should be "however its mobility is lacking".

The Ancord bomber CR cost is way too expensive. 20% per bomber deployed give it way too few replacement. By comparison a Trident wing is only 10%.

Also might be a good thing to add description to Infernium drive and Overcharge

I probably missed a lot of things but the main issue is here, too many guns, overall stats way too good. Nerfpls.

Holy S--- yeah, I totally agree w/ Helmut here. I remember my days of trolling around the galaxy with my Nirvana MkII, with the Cain cannon from I-fed (a very very overpowered weapon by itself) and a whole slew of PD... nothing survived... nothing... I am not that good aof a player so that is saying something.

37
Modding / Re: Spriters judgement thread [non-sprite art allowed]
« on: October 08, 2014, 04:28:30 PM »
Not a problem Thaago. That Arrow one also looks like a spade, or a at-rest moth... very interesting shape. I also notices some jaggieness on the outside edges that could use some anti-alias love (google spriting anti-alias on how to work with  that, there are many ways to go about it).

As for the (what you called) spines, they are antennae, for which there will be glowing lights in game (not very easy to show here) Currently they are outside the hit box so I don't think they themselves will catch any fire. Though I haden't thought about how awkward those may look if the ship around it is damaged (or the whole ship is destroyed). I'll have to give it a test, thanks for pointing that out.

The Tackle is like a more B-A version of the Brawler. Other than the lighting things which you already pointed out, this sprite could also use some help on the outside edges with AA.

Brainstorm your faction some more and see what kind of ships you want to thrown in there.

Finally, keep it up, you are doing a great job and I for one am eager to see how you do with editing those sprites.

38
Modding / Re: Spriters judgement thread [non-sprite art allowed]
« on: October 08, 2014, 03:37:12 PM »
I was feeling bored/inspired so I threw together this kitbash:



I'm calling it the "Arrow" - either a light destroyer or very heavy frigate. How is it? Any suggestions for tweaking the color scheme away from vanilla midline?

Thaago, looks nice! Solid Kitbash. The only gripe I have is there is some dark black toward the front that could be lightened up especially on the sides close to the front mount. Think of the light coming from the top front like Kazi said. (something I need to work on myself).

As for the coloration, consider coloring the top plate sections and keeping the under/internals. It is hard to say how to colorize it unless you have a faction...

Anyway, redid the Aegis lighting wise. I think it is much better, I also changed the inner lights to reddish (though they  look a bit pink so I will need to do more tweaking there). As both Kazi and Debido said... this looks... immensly better than it did before. If I may say so myself.

Spoiler

[close]

39
Modding / Re: Spriters judgement thread [non-sprite art allowed]
« on: October 08, 2014, 08:39:01 AM »
@ ORMtnMan -
I would add some directional lighting to the front and back of the mounts to make them appear more 3D. Also the light source for the Aegis appears to be directly above the ship, whereas for vanilla the light source is above and just in front of the prow of the ship. You should add some shadows done done in the "hard light" layer mode (so some very black shadows restricted to certain parts to really give the sense of depth). Lastly, I would throw in small 1-2 pixel wide lights in a color besides blue. It's really a matter of taste, but I find it adds to the ships a lot to add a bit of contrasting color here and there. For instance, my ships have a lot of yellow and red, and I usually throw in a few lime-green or light purple lights to change up the colors a bit and make things seem more complex.

I'm nitpicking here, but I really think you have quite a good sprite here and a few small changes can take your stuff to the next level.
 

Kazi,
That is very helpful! David  was telling  me something similar for one of  my other sprites, I for some reason got  it in my head that the lighting was from overhead. I need to go back  through all my ships and fix that.  As for the lights I have some yellow white lights that aren't  shown  because they are deco weapons, but you are right, perhaps some other colored lights might be in order.

40
Modding / Re: Spriters judgement thread [non-sprite art allowed]
« on: October 07, 2014, 11:51:58 AM »
Nausk,

One more think black lines are bad... They make a sprite look cartoony and are kinda distracting. Try instead using dark colored lines. It will look much better.

Ryxsen,

I agree the glasses look a bit awkward as they are now, but I think there needs to be something there, his face looks to soft/flat without it... So... well you are much better at this than I so take my suggestion with a grain of salt. Just a comment.

Finally  I made some custom turret mounts for the Aegis (which I am not sure if I am quite finished with).

Let me know what you think of the mounts and/or the Aegis



They still look a bit dark in the center, I might lighten up the center mount bit...

41
Modding / Re: Spriters judgement thread [non-sprite art allowed]
« on: October 07, 2014, 05:52:06 AM »




First thing to say, she looks pretty sexy and tough-looking but.. needs more armaments maybe? Also, looks like Neutrino's far far away cousin. Nice work for your first sprite, I'm looking forward to see your next one!

I agree w/ Ryxsen. Looks incredible, especially for your first sprite. Also based on the size of the sprite it does seem under armed attachment point wise. It looks like 2 small turret mounts and two small hardpoints. I would compare with other vanilla SS ships of it same size class for armaments.

Next, use the dodge tool to throw in some highlights. (Something I need to work on) and also throw in some shading going down the wing to give it more depth.

There are a couple of guides sitting around here in the forums. I would go read them and also read the blog post by David (one of the creators) "Let me paint..." There are two parts and they are extremely helpful.

If you need more links to helpful articles I can give them to you but maybe Flashfrozen beat me to the chase there.

42
The issue root cause has been identified. :)
Yep, thanks to David. I now know to make references to my Jar files in the Mod info file >.<

43
Okay, so,
I made a copy (basically) of SHI engine stopper ship system. (with Shadow's permission). while making the following changes:

Changed the names off all the scripts and parts
Changed sounds and sprite pointers to non SHI assets,
Changed it to a missile weapon with limited ammo instead of a recharging beam.
Created a new JAR to house the engine kill effect and the system usage AI.

I am now getting this error in my log:
Spoiler
12635 [Thread-5] ERROR com.fs.starfarer.combat.O0OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  - java.lang.RuntimeException: Error compiling [data.shipsystems.scripts.ac_EASAI]
java.lang.RuntimeException: Error compiling [data.shipsystems.scripts.ac_EASAI]
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.scripts.ScriptStore$3.run(Unknown Source)
   at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: data.shipsystems.scripts.ac_EASAI
   at org.codehaus.janino.JavaSourceClassLoader.findClass(JavaSourceClassLoader.java:165)
   at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
   at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
   ... 2 more
[close]

I can't for the life of me figure out what is going wrong.

44
Send what you have to me real quick and I'll take a look

Edit: via PM

45
Looks about right

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