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Messages - whatdoesthisbuttondo

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1
Mods / Re: [0.9a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.3.1 [03/16/19]
« on: March 22, 2019, 08:01:58 AM »
Just gave them a try, really love the art style  ;D

I'd say they still feel quite a bit underpowered, especially early game (running Nexerelin game) where I usually go with 3-4 frigates plus a destroyer I almost feel helpless against the low tier vanilla fleets, e.g. Luddic Path and such, where with vanilla ships I have no trouble going against fleets twice my size.

Don't get me wrong, I like the comparatively low shield coverage and main HP in hull idea, but the problem is with hull tanking already being the worst tanking option to start with, and no clear edge in speed or firepower, they really have not much to go on.

Haven't played them long enough for good feedback, but my first impression would be that especially Gregory and Walsh need a speed buff to be competitive against vanilla.

2
Mods / Re: [0.8.1a] Mayasuran Navy 8.0.6
« on: July 17, 2018, 02:36:35 PM »
Like the visual style, blends into vanilla perfectly.

Small problem running this on Linux, there is uppercase/lowercase issue with:

graphics/mayasura/ships/MSS_Brawlerhead.png

Referenced as lowercase, so either needs to be renamed to MSS_brawlerhead.png, or (keeping with the naming pattern) have
the reference corrected.

3
Is it possible to have (fixed) shield arcs on two opposing sides of a vessel, i.e. fixed 90 degrees port and starboard?

This being a ship system instead of an actual vanilla shield would fine.

And in a somewhat related question, is it possible for projectiles/missiles to have the ability to pass through a shield,
i.e. bypass the shield arc without doing damage to it, and hitting directly to armor/hull?

4
Modding / Re: Spriters judgement thread [non-sprite art allowed]
« on: March 08, 2017, 03:21:46 PM »
@MShadowy:

Like it a lot (in fact just recently played your mod the first time, really digging the style), what strikes me as
odd though is the right-side front, that rocket nosecone kinda thing, doesn't fit well in the overall organic
style imho.

Somewhat feel the same about the front connection between the two nosetips, would probably fit a lot better
if that were more organic and less of a straight line.

5
Modding / Re: Ship balance feedback thread
« on: March 07, 2017, 03:40:24 PM »
*Ahem* Okay, about this raider Wolf of yours. Loving the idea of it, I assume Raiders =/= Pirates from the tech level your ship seems to be maintaining. The initial lack of rear-facing point defence is a great balance for any buffs you give the ship over the vanilla Wolf, so that's a good start. Even with the Phase Skimmer, dodging lots of missiles can become a chore very quickly - especially with your narrowed shield arc.

Yea, the theme wouldn't really be all-out pirate (though I imagine the occasional privateering being on the table for the faction), more along the lines of generally being somewhat at odds with whatever consense of law the sector still has, e.g. smuggling, gun-for-hire etc.

The lack of point defense does work out rather well indeed, especially salamanders are really a pain here.

Giving the ship a Phase Field hullmod seems a little odd personally. I always think of it as something that only Phase-capable ships can do, but since the Wolf has the Phase Skimmer... What do I know? Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea. Alternatively, something like High Resolution Sensors, or even a built-in Insulated Engine Assembly would make a good raiding vessel - something that gives it an ability to lie in ambush and/or spy on a target without being seen.

Yea, high res sensors was another idea I initially dismissed, thinking again that might indeed fit a high-tech non-phase vessel a lot better. Good point about the insulated engine assembly, that didn't occur to me, but you're right, that would make for a good hullmod in campaign map and fit the theme.

Might even consider combining the two, but I guess that would mean lowering some other stats in return and possibly shaving off 2 OP or so.

I assume btw that this raider Wolf has the same number of ordnance points as the vanilla Wolf? I always think of the number of ordnance points a vessel has available as a direct representation of its immediate "Customizability", which I feel can really define a ship in the campaign especially.

Woops, seems I missed a rather important thing  :o

OP are down 5, to compensate for the fact that I generally consider 1 medium = 2 small mounts as far as OP are considered. Updated the post.

6
Modding / Re: Spriters judgement thread [non-sprite art allowed]
« on: March 07, 2017, 02:09:07 PM »
As for the greebles, I kinda fell in using them as some kind of vent or object for detailing purposes, but maybe on the larger vessels they seem a little like a beehive. I'll see what I can do to clean them up.

I'd say the transport the meaning quite well, just the color is a little too aggressive/dominant, would probably work a lot better if they blended with the base hull a little more.

7
Modding / Ship balance feedback thread
« on: March 07, 2017, 12:58:11 PM »
Since we have a dedicated thread for spriting, I thought I'd start one for the other half of the job,
the stats balancing against vanilla.

----------

I'll start off with a ship that currently has me stumped on where to go with it, it is a modified Wolf
frigate, intended to be kind of an elite raider variant refit.

The slot layout changed compared to the vanilla Wolf:

- 3 small turrets removed, and replaced with 1 medium energy (210 degree frontal arc)
- 2 small missile hardpoints changed to universal

The stats change compared to the vanilla Wolf:

fleet pts: 6 (+1)
ordnance: 45 (-5)
max flux: 2400 (+150)
dissipation: 165 (+15)
top speed: 165 (+15)
acceleration: 135 (+5)
deceleration: 110 (+10)
max turn: 65 (+5)
turn accel: 130 (+10)
shield arc: 120 (-30)
baseprice: 13500 (+1500)

-------------

When compared against vanilla Wolf, it doesn't feel significantly stronger, in some respects even weaker, which is a good thing I guess.

The PD capability is, apart from mounting a heavy burst PD in the medium turret (good enough in 1v1 or 1v2), pretty much gone, no
more IPDAI tac lasers, while it gains the ability to mount a fully dedicated tac laser / graviton harassment fit (works nicely in packs, but
then again, what doesn't?).

A normal heavy blaster / graviton / harpoon combo performs as one would expect from a similar vanilla Wolf fit, maybe a tad bit better.

Flux stats and armor do not really allow for a dedicated effective close range energy fit, and close-range HE projectile configurations
share that issue somewhat.

Both of the above are still options, but overall having the hardpoints universals isn't that big of a deal, missile/energy would suffice I guess,
but I kinda like the theme of side-mounted machine guns for the ship.


Edit: Some more in-game testing, and I've found railguns combined with the forward-leap ability of the phase skimmer do make the universal
hardpoints a pretty big deal together with a heavy hitter or ion pulser in the frontal hardpoint.

Overall, I feel like it is in a good place already balance-wise, but needs a little something to spice it up.

Having the medium turret hybrid I think would be over the top regarding flexibility, I've been thinking about 'soft' bonus like say
built-in phase field hullmod to reduce the sensor profile.

Would make little difference in combat, but fit nicely with the raider theme.

Thoughts? Maybe ideas for variants I didn't think of that are issues balance wise, or stat changes that could give it a little
extra?

8
Modding / Re: Spriters judgement thread [non-sprite art allowed]
« on: March 07, 2017, 07:42:16 AM »
@AxleMC131:

That does look surprisingly good in-game, wouldn't have guessed that the whole steampunk idea would work all that well, but it does
with turrets mounted and that engine glow.

(I'd probably go with low-tech engines, since they give more of a smoke trail, possibly even custom engines that give even more smoke,
since those spaceships would have to be steam-powered  ;D)

One thing that does look out of place in that in-game shot is those kinda pinkish-white greeblings though, those could be a little toned
down, with a more grime-metallic look to them.

9
Is it possible to leave out some elements in the .faction file?

My faction doesn't have capital ships, so I'd like to leave out combatCapital for instance, and
set combatLarge to a really low figure.

So far I've tried to set their preferrence really really low, and fill it with the next best size (cruiser),
but that appears to have them dump tons of cruisers in the market (maybe they dump what they
don't need themselves?).

I remember there was a post explaining the .faction file, but I couldn't find it again for the life of me...

10
Modding / Re: Spriters judgement thread [non-sprite art allowed]
« on: March 05, 2017, 11:57:29 PM »
Some progress on the Wolf refit from earlier, shiny (or not so shiny) new paintjob.

Still needs some detail work and cleanup, but I think the color works quite well
for the intended pirate freelance captain faction.

[attachment deleted by admin]

11
Modding / Re: Spriters judgement thread [non-sprite art allowed]
« on: March 05, 2017, 11:51:44 PM »
AHAHAHAHAHAHA I'mnowherenearintelligentenoughtocodeanexelerinmod  :-X

It's not that difficult really, basically you just need to make sure your mod doesn't crash the game when
Nexerelin is running its sector creation routine and you're good to go for a start.

12
Is it possible (or will it be with the upcoming 0.8 release) to have properly working phase carriers?

I've searched the forums and only found a very old post saying that the carriers apparently service fighters even if phased out,
which is not what I want.

At the time, iirc Alex said that it was considered a feature. If that still holds true, is there maybe a way to work around this by
code?

13
Mods / Re: [0.7.2a] Outer Rim Alliance (28/02/2017)
« on: February 27, 2017, 05:16:49 PM »
Woa, nice style, getting somewhat of a persian vibe here from the paintjobs.

Second from left kinda looks like a flying space carpet  ;D

14
Blog Posts / Re: Building Better Worlds
« on: February 23, 2017, 02:06:09 PM »
Yeah, pretty much same page here. But procgen being procgen, it's almost inevitable that sometimes something won't make sense.

I'd say it depends on what you actually allow to be generated, and a set of rules that is 'realistic'.

Inhabited systems are probably best hand-crafted to begin with, or derived from a few generic templates that
may be modified by a set of parameters, but procgen can still be used to do the legwork of making them unique
and interesting.

A template based system could be much better than pure procgen, even more so if you break it down further by
making partial templates, and then iterate over the base result multiple times by randomly alterating sub-systems
in a narrow instead of broad fashion.

E.g. something like this:

- create system, place sun
- place 1-4 sub-systems (a 'major' body, with 0-5 'minor' bodies orbiting it) <--- these are from templates

then

- modify sun, set size and type
- do a pass on all subsystems, set size, type and (if applicable) climate according to distance from sun
- same as above for minor bodies

You could even, once the generating is finished, just look for suitable bodies to place points of interest.

15
Blog Posts / Re: Building Better Worlds
« on: February 23, 2017, 01:51:34 PM »
Also, I'd regard it as likely that a lot of information was lost in the Collapse and in the chaos following it, especially if the Domain had some form of interplanetary/interstellar internet which allowed records to be accessed relatively easily even on planets or in systems which did not host an archive with copies of that information.

Even if that information itself is still available, e.g. a blueprint for say a phase skimmer, that would still require all the information on machinery that is required to actually manufacture said device,
which adds up to a lot for very complex, advanced technology.

It would be more than likely that many devices that still exist in the sector could even be reverse-engineered, but the technology that is required to reproduce integral parts simply isn't available at all,
or only a very small number of the required machines is still in working order, kept under lock and key (and impossible to reproduce should it break down because see above).

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