Fractal Softworks Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

Pages: 1 ... 15 16 [17] 18 19 ... 75

Author Topic: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (0.62a ALPHA build 34) (TC Mod)  (Read 418505 times)

Trylobot

  • Global Moderator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1170
    • View Profile
    • Github profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build) (TC Mod)
« Reply #240 on: December 03, 2013, 11:42:05 AM »

Hey xeno, I just noticed; your "TL:DR" section in the second post is actually longer than the original post. I'm not entirely sure you know what TL:DR stands for.

LOL  :D
Logged

xenoargh

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 5078
  • naively breaking things!
    • View Profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build) (TC Mod)
« Reply #241 on: December 03, 2013, 11:59:20 AM »

It's marked TL:DNR and it's buried like that because I don't figure most people are bored enough to read about the philosophical stuff and it's really, really long  ;)
Logged
Please check out my SS projects :)
Xeno's Mod Pack

xenoargh

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 5078
  • naively breaking things!
    • View Profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build 3) (TC Mod)
« Reply #242 on: December 04, 2013, 12:29:34 AM »

Build 3 is now available.

1.  All Factions now spawn their own ships in shops, including the ones that were previously not being sold, using a new method that's Faction-agnostic.  

2.  A few other minor fixes and improvements, such as some fixes for the death explosions to make it happen more often for small ships (fighters and drones get wiped out pretty much instantly, which helps with performance in big fights, but big ships will now blow up a little less frequently) and a few other little things like that.  

Nothing major; I'm probably not releasing anything else this week unless a crash bug comes up (or I get really inspired).  The big stuff that still needs doing (in particular, writing a Janino-friendly Station Dialog so that players can take over Stations directly after fighting a Boss Battle, Fleet Dialogs and other gameplay changes) needs to wait a bit.
« Last Edit: December 04, 2013, 12:31:42 AM by xenoargh »
Logged
Please check out my SS projects :)
Xeno's Mod Pack

Cyan Leader

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 718
    • View Profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build 3) (TC Mod)
« Reply #243 on: December 04, 2013, 08:29:32 AM »

I realize this is a TC and it might break the balance, but what happens if I enable Omnifactory with this? Will it be functional?
Logged

xenoargh

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 5078
  • naively breaking things!
    • View Profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build 3) (TC Mod)
« Reply #244 on: December 04, 2013, 09:12:59 AM »

It probably it won't work without being modded in, but IDK. give it a go and see :)
Logged
Please check out my SS projects :)
Xeno's Mod Pack

haloguy1

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 45
    • View Profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build 3) (TC Mod)
« Reply #245 on: December 04, 2013, 09:20:53 AM »

It probably it won't work without being modded in, but IDK. give it a go and see :)

Actually today when i was playing i had omnifactory on and it acted like my own faction.
Logged

xenoargh

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 5078
  • naively breaking things!
    • View Profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build 3) (TC Mod)
« Reply #246 on: December 04, 2013, 09:30:11 AM »

Did it work as an Omnifactory, though?  If not, I'll have to think about making it available, preferably as something that's neutral so that it doesn't suddenly get captured / destroyed by the AI (and the player, when that's possible).  I don't really mind people having something like Omnifactory around; it makes the game a little easier, but in a long game where you're actually trying to take over the Sector, it's not that important.
« Last Edit: December 04, 2013, 09:32:18 AM by xenoargh »
Logged
Please check out my SS projects :)
Xeno's Mod Pack

xenoargh

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 5078
  • naively breaking things!
    • View Profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build 3) (TC Mod)
« Reply #247 on: December 04, 2013, 10:29:15 AM »

Tested it, just to see- yup, it works.

I'll probably write some code that will look for the Omnifactory, and if found, convert it to Neutral, so that it won't produce Player fleets at the game start and won't get destroyed by the AI.
Logged
Please check out my SS projects :)
Xeno's Mod Pack

Chronosfear

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 211
    • View Profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build 3) (TC Mod)
« Reply #248 on: December 06, 2013, 07:36:18 AM »

Hi,

I´ve been running this mod for some days now.
And here is my humble opinion :

+ Fighters are very cool , they really can turn the tide of the battle while stile being somewhat weak
+ Frigates without collisions : makes them a real threat, the strike and after that hide between my bigger ships
+ Battles with large ships takes much time and looks great with all those fighters, bombers in between ( But those battles can "kill" powerless computers )
+ You can even in low levels maintain a large fleet and later a much bigger one  ;D
+ More Skill/Aptitudepoints per level ( you can never have enough of them  :P )
- The beginning can be very hard. ( even the small enemy fleets can beat you at the start ) -> maybe the player should get another ship to his starting fleet so he must not fight alone ( makes a big difference )

Spoiler
Items :
-Atropos are to weak compared to Reapers, both have unlimited ammo. The RoF is higher but their compared damage takes render them close to useless ( or Reapers to high )
-Antimatter Blaster : Damage compared to other weapons to low , while fluxcost is high compared ( if it should be considered a better emp weapons ... i think it is not)
-Heavy Mauler : Same as Antimatter Blaster
-Ion Cannon : I think this weapon is somewhat OP in your mod due to the "shield piercing effect" or makes it a must have weapon ( 1 or 2 makes most of the enemy ships helpless )
-Guardian PD System : RoF lower than its ammo regen.
-Heavy Blaster : very low flux compared to the damage

-Many ammo based weapons needs more ammo , the often run dry to early in bigger battles ( even with expanded magazines )

Ships :
- Onslaught Built-In Weapons : RoF to low , fires way slower then the ammo regenerates.
- Paragon : Only fought 1 yet , but I think that in player hands its invincible , hard flux dropped while using Fortress Shield. Killed it only because he dropped his shield instead of using fortress shield again .

Shipsystem :
- High Energy Focus : Minor "bug" when active it shops -75% damage in green while it should show it in red. I really didn´t notice that debuff at first in the heat of the battle.

Skill :
- Navigation : Very strong ;) but some eg. Level 1 and 2 stats are the same , I think 10 it was ( for captial ships ) the jump is to high , would be better if it increased to that number over some levels.
                  
[close]

more to come if i stumble over something

Chronosfear

P.S: Crew is just a resource in this mod. They are just ... supplies with different levels
... so many dying red shirts in here



« Last Edit: December 06, 2013, 07:57:11 AM by Chronosfear »
Logged
Be the change that you wish to see in the world.

My words are backed with nuclear weapons
Gandhi (Civ)

xenoargh

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 5078
  • naively breaking things!
    • View Profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build 3) (TC Mod)
« Reply #249 on: December 06, 2013, 08:28:46 AM »

Glad to hear that it's Fun enough to be worth several days of play now :)

I would have thought the beginning was really easy, since you can mine the asteroids for easy cash, plus there really isn't any major penalty for dying, but I am totally fine with buffing the early fleet as suggested.  I'll strongly consider changing the starting ships for stuff that's a bit sexier in the next build (like how it used to be, before I had to wipe out the character-creation code) and giving the player a companion is a good idea.  I totally agree with you, the mod should be easy to start... and get hard later.

Weapon Stuff:
Spoiler
Atropos is meant to be mainly an "annoyance" weapon; while it doesn't use ammo, it has a fast refire-rate at a very low Flux cost, meaning you can tie up all of the PD weapons of the enemy with spam.  It's really useful against stuff like Ventures, if you're trying to solo them with a single Frigate.  That said, I could change its role if there seems like a good alternative.

AM Blaster / Heavy Mauler are too weak on damage, agreed.  They used to be more of a threat, but they're mainly useful for EMP now.

Ion Cannon:  NP, will nerf it, probably by reducing the RoF a lot.  It should be the most powerful EMP you can put on a ship, shot-for-shot, but I agree that it's probably a bit much.

Guardian:  I mainly just didn't want it to run out of ammo, ever.  I think I'll simply get rid of the ammo regeneration feature of that one and the other burst lasers, as it tends to either cripple them when you need them most or it's buffed enough it might as well not be there.

Heavy Blaster:  I'll raise the flux a bit.  It's a weird weapon that the AI doesn't tend to use super-well, so I'll have to be careful about it.

Which ammo-based weapons are you having the most trouble with, ammo-wise?  I'm happy to buff them if I know which ones need some help :)
[close]

Ships:
Spoiler
Onslaught:  will just get rid of ammo regeneration.  It's a really powerful weapon, I'm not sure how much of a buff it needs, but I'll look at it and see.
Paragon:  it's meant to be the ultimate tank, managed well.  That said, there are ships that can actually Overload one with a Fortress Shield up.  Or at least, there were; I'll check and make sure that still holds true.  Used to be that a pair of Gauss could do it, with Armor Analysis.  A big fleet with Kinetic weapons can do it, certainly.  Anyhow, if I have to adjust the shield again, np, but I'll probably have to buff the AI version in other ways, since it's supposed to be a really tanky ship.  That, and the one other ship that has Fortress Shield (the poor, benighted Dachshund) will need a buff.
[close]

I'll fix that bug with HEF.

Navigation's always worked like that (the staggered levels thing).  I'll alter the "steps" for capitals, though; I originally intended that as the capstone for them if you maxed out that skill, but frankly, I can't see players not capping that skill, it's too important, so it's probably better to ramp it differently.

As for crew... I've been thinking about removing Crew leveling entirely (now that we can do that) and having more specialized types of Crew that give different bonuses.  Like, for example, having Engineers to boost CR recovery / repairs, Explorers to help find more treasures when Tech-Mining and other stuff like that, Gunners to improve ship damage across the fleet, and Red Shirts, which would be cheap and expendable.  I've always felt that the whole crew-leveling thing is pretty boring, since it's just there to increase grind.
« Last Edit: December 06, 2013, 08:50:25 AM by xenoargh »
Logged
Please check out my SS projects :)
Xeno's Mod Pack

Chronosfear

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 211
    • View Profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build 3) (TC Mod)
« Reply #250 on: December 06, 2013, 09:05:58 AM »

Ohhh mining , i totally forgot about that.THAT changes everything .. my bad  ::)

ammo based : must stop the time of a large scale battle. Then maybe every weapon ( at least medium and large ones ) that last less then 1/2 or less in combat until out of ammo would need more ammo ...
But I think there is a limit of 9999 (?) . So fast firing weapons with much ammo wont profit.

If those Atropos should be an annoyance. I still think they need a buff. Any other missile can take that role until out of ammo , too. And fighters with missile are just so much better and don´t run out of ammo.
Thats why I stick to Reapers on bigger ships ( got unlimited ammo , too )

btw : bought an Paragon : Yes , it seems to be invincible ( extended shields , pushing venting ) I can stay in the heat of battle without venting ( just use fortress shield when growing high flux )

oh and don´t forget about that Thermal Pulse Cannon.

Chronosfear
Logged
Be the change that you wish to see in the world.

My words are backed with nuclear weapons
Gandhi (Civ)

xenoargh

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 5078
  • naively breaking things!
    • View Profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build 3) (TC Mod)
« Reply #251 on: December 06, 2013, 09:18:40 AM »

Yeah, mining makes the money problem largely go away.  

The real question with mining (oh, and try going to a planet that looks like it might support life, btw) is whether I need to tone it down or not.  

Right now it's meant to be an easy, but limited, resource for early game cash.  Eventually, the AI will mine all of the asteroids everywhere, though, but players should have an uber-fleet by then.

I'll definitely tone down the Fortress Shield; IIRC I "balanced" it back in the day using Forlorn Hope, but that no longer pertains.

Oh, and... perhaps, on the ammo situation, I need to put those "munitions ship" artworks to good use.  Would be pretty cool to have ammo replenishment...
« Last Edit: December 06, 2013, 09:25:38 AM by xenoargh »
Logged
Please check out my SS projects :)
Xeno's Mod Pack

LostInTheWired

  • Lieutenant
  • **
  • Posts: 83
    • View Profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build 3) (TC Mod)
« Reply #252 on: December 07, 2013, 12:48:59 AM »

Man...  I thought I'd give this a shot.  It just didn't work for me.  My saves stop loading within the first 15 minutes.

Spoiler
Code
1298180 [Thread-6] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.campaign.save.CampaignGameManager  - Loading D:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\saves\save_AlsemiDVrenn_617473235515662240...
1342783 [Thread-6] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.campaign.save.CampaignGameManager  - Error loading
1342785 [Thread-6] ERROR com.fs.starfarer.campaign.save.CampaignGameManager  - GC overhead limit exceeded
java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: GC overhead limit exceeded
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.FieldAliasingMapper.key(FieldAliasingMapper.java:43)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.FieldAliasingMapper.getMember(FieldAliasingMapper.java:67)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.FieldAliasingMapper.realMember(FieldAliasingMapper.java:56)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.MapperWrapper.realMember(MapperWrapper.java:38)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.MapperWrapper.realMember(MapperWrapper.java:38)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.MapperWrapper.realMember(MapperWrapper.java:38)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.MapperWrapper.realMember(MapperWrapper.java:38)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.OuterClassMapper.realMember(OuterClassMapper.java:44)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.MapperWrapper.realMember(MapperWrapper.java:38)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.MapperWrapper.realMember(MapperWrapper.java:38)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.MapperWrapper.realMember(MapperWrapper.java:38)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.MapperWrapper.realMember(MapperWrapper.java:38)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.MapperWrapper.realMember(MapperWrapper.java:38)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.MapperWrapper.realMember(MapperWrapper.java:38)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.MapperWrapper.realMember(MapperWrapper.java:38)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.AnnotationMapper.realMember(AnnotationMapper.java:100)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.MapperWrapper.realMember(MapperWrapper.java:38)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.mapper.MapperWrapper.realMember(MapperWrapper.java:38)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.reflection.AbstractReflectionConverter.doUnmarshal(AbstractReflectionConverter.java:289)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.reflection.AbstractReflectionConverter.unmarshal(AbstractReflectionConverter.java:234)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.core.TreeUnmarshaller.convert(TreeUnmarshaller.java:72)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.core.AbstractReferenceUnmarshaller.convert(AbstractReferenceUnmarshaller.java:65)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.core.TreeUnmarshaller.convertAnother(TreeUnmarshaller.java:66)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.core.TreeUnmarshaller.convertAnother(TreeUnmarshaller.java:50)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.collections.AbstractCollectionConverter.readItem(AbstractCollectionConverter.java:71)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.collections.ArrayConverter.unmarshal(ArrayConverter.java:55)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.core.TreeUnmarshaller.convert(TreeUnmarshaller.java:72)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.core.AbstractReferenceUnmarshaller.convert(AbstractReferenceUnmarshaller.java:65)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.core.TreeUnmarshaller.convertAnother(TreeUnmarshaller.java:66)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.reflection.AbstractReflectionConverter.unmarshallField(AbstractReflectionConverter.java:355)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.reflection.AbstractReflectionConverter.doUnmarshal(AbstractReflectionConverter.java:306)
at com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.reflection.AbstractReflectionConverter.unmarshal(AbstractReflectionConverter.java:234)
[close]

Not only that, but the log is constantly spammed with this message:
Spoiler
Code
1298050 [Thread-6] WARN  org.lazywizard.lazylib.combat.CombatUtils  - Using deprecated method getCombatEngie()
[close]

When I ran into issues, I did an full uninstall/reinstall of Starsector, made sure no other mods were running (even removed the mods from the mod folder except for lazylib and your mod).

From what I understand, your mod requires you to allow Starsector more ram (aka, force it to use 64-bit Java).  I do have 64-bit java installed, but that may be the issue, that Starsector is possibly running in 32-bit mode or something, but I just don't see it.  It's what an OOM error would suggest, though.  I guess the biggest problem is that there's no real documentation, or even basic links, from your mod page to say what needs to be done, other than the fact it needs to be done.  I've even done my due diligence, searching for forcing Starsector into 64-bit mode, if that was maybe the issue, but found nothing.

I'll likely just remove the mod and move back to Exerelin, despite it's lack of usability.  I very much enjoyed the UI and ability to build my own stations, instead of just having to take over random stations just sitting there, but this is just frustrating.

EDIT:  Jesus, do you know how long that took me to find?  You might want to add this link to your first post.  It took way too long to find.  That is not a stickied thread.  It's not something that should be reasonably expected to know, even though I've run a ton of mods for Starsector, done some tinkering and scripting myself even.  I found it when going to reinstall Exerelin, even though I've never had any of those issues with it.  Please, put the post link in your top post.  It was extremely frustrating searching for it.
« Last Edit: December 07, 2013, 01:01:57 AM by LostInTheWired »
Logged

xenoargh

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 5078
  • naively breaking things!
    • View Profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build 3) (TC Mod)
« Reply #253 on: December 07, 2013, 02:02:03 AM »

First off, my fault, I thought most people here were aware of the XMS settings stuff around here.  Definitely will put up instructions on that. 

I'm testing with 1GB on a 32-bit system, and it's been stable with that. 

Until the memory overhead of the game comes down a lot, about the only other thing I can do is reduce the number of fleets and stations, which is kind of a bummer, given that I don't exactly have hundreds of star systems and a pretty low number of fleets (15 max per System, plus those wandering around in Hyperspace, so about 200 or so tops). 

I'm really surprised you're not having issues with Exerelin, though; the problem is the same there.  Do you just build 1-3 Systems in Exerelin?  I guess I need to test things and see where 512MB starts getting killed.

Anyhow, what I will do for the next build is offer a low-memory version for folks with serious problems there, maybe even just have a version with just Corvus and one other System.  I hate doing that, though; it kind of takes away from the whole big-universe thing.  I don't have many other solutions, though; I cut down fleets quite a bit at one point and things got easy / boring really fast.  This just isn't a game where low populations work well.  Yet it's insanely memory-hungry, because Alex wants every detail of every fleet stored explicitly, instead of only building it when it can be observed by a player directly.  I'll probably bring that up, but he's no-doubt aware of it already and I doubt hounding him about it would be all that helpful.
Logged
Please check out my SS projects :)
Xeno's Mod Pack

LostInTheWired

  • Lieutenant
  • **
  • Posts: 83
    • View Profile
Re: Vacuum - Build a Stellar Empire. (new 0.61a ALPHA build 3) (TC Mod)
« Reply #254 on: December 07, 2013, 03:17:53 AM »

My usual Exerelin universe is 8 systems, small size, 9 planets, 2 belts, 15 stations, 3 factions with more coming after 4 months.  Not as big as others, but not tiny either.  The system sizes do seem to be quite a bit larger in Vacuum than what I ran in Exerelin though.  Honestly, though, computers are much better now-adays.  I haven't seen a computer with less than 4 gigs of available ram for gaming (after os usage) for a while, and 2 gigs on older or very low budget systems.  Memory allocation definitely should be kicked up a notch by default.

Not sure of any real fixes though, especially if Alex isn't into approximating fleets that are out of sector.  A 512 limit is pretty intense for a modern game, especially for a game that's in alpha, so it hasn't gone through optimization dev cycles yet.  Hopefully Alex can find a way to keep the fleet accuracy he wants to maintain while reducing the memory overhead.
Logged
Pages: 1 ... 15 16 [17] 18 19 ... 75