Distension Beta Suggestions/Bugfix thread

[gdugwyler]

no, not yet. but it gets harder to keep up with others with every day of beta because it lacks usefull upgrades. a compareable levi for example is faster, has faster bombs of higher level and a port.

hell i can keep a 1:1 ratio, but thats because i am so awsome and not because of the ship

Yeah, but the Levi's bombs are EMP and do around 35% of the damage that the Lanc/Jav/Shark bomb does. And your guns are much faster. I can go 1:1 in the Lanc as well, and I'm not all that awesome. The Lanc is a fighting ship, and so its upgrades focus on fighting abilities, much as do the upgrades of WB and Spider. Lanc isn't going to get a port just because a ship like the Levi -- which requires more to upgrade per level and especially early on has trouble getting RP -- has one. Fighting ships are far more plain ships than the supports, yes, but the idea is that they're able to make more kills in the long run.

[Fluffz]

But do you really think the Lanc is so weak that it needs all of these extra abilities?

no, not yet. but it gets harder to keep up with others with every day of beta because it lacks usefull upgrades. a compareable levi for example is faster, has faster bombs of higher level and a port.

hell i can keep a 1:1 ratio, but thats because i am so awsome and not because of the ship

[gdugwyler]

Lanc is going to be special unlock, though that doesn't mean it will necessarily be one of the last ships to be unlocked. Even if other ships that people use to unlock the ship may be long-haul sorts of ships, the Lanc is designed to advance somewhat faster but top out pretty early. That's just how it goes.

Regarding bounce, I've been avoiding them for a couple of reasons. One is that for some reason on TW they're considered crash-happy (I've not tested it but apparently there are problems with how the server is set up). The other is that once you introduce bounce to bullets, torrential spray becomes a problem. If you want an idea of how bounce can really take some of the fun out of a game, take a look at Hyperspace. In its present incarnation basing consists of holding down fire and angling your shots properly, with some variations. I'm not saying that giving a couple of ships the option for bounce would make Dist degenerate in this fashion, but it's a pretty big change as far as what are considered the standard dynamics of TW. tl;dr summary: I'm uneasy about it presently.

Fluffz, why should 2 bombs be able to be shot with full energy at no delay? A Lanc bomb can travel faster than a Jav bomb, and it also doesn't have bounce, so you can target walls directly fairly easily. Granted it's difficult to aim, but with a bit of practice you can work out some pretty good shots that people don't expect when you're facing the other way from them (and then of course it knocks you away, so if they're firing on you at the same time, you're no longer there). For shields, I'm reserving them for a high-level ops ability. Decoy cost I can look at. But do you really think the Lanc is so weak that it needs all of these extra abilities?

Epic, what you suggest is the way I probably would have liked to implement regeneration of burst/port for terr: not being able to go over the amount you've purchased. Unfortunately the information that the bot can give about what items a player presently has is not very reliable/is often stale. I think that limiting the starting amount will work decently instead, though.

[2kill]

I just see 2 weasels around all the time

But you got to remeber the two main weasels are on basicly every test and they started basicly at the sametime. So they were able to lvl fast and get in front I don't think that will happen in the release as much.

[Epic li]

Weasels:
I think you have to remeber that weasels are a special unlock and won't be around much in the release so imagen no weasels or just one playing sometimes I don't think their to over powered... thats me with my lanc with wide shots and my terr with lots of ports and regen...

2kill

I just see 2 weasels around all the time

Ok, here's my idea of terr bursts... it would work like this:
if a terr has one burst upgrade,he can carry only 1 at time, even if it was suposed to prize a burst with regeneration, it wouldn't, same for portal
And of course, the regeneration upgrades would be cheaper/betterto compensate that

[Zeimonster]

about bounce.. It'd be interesting to see bouncing bullets as an upgradable feature. In the matter of fact, I'd like to see every ship have a chance to get them at some point.

[Fluffz]

yea it was. and thats why for lanc

• lvl3 bullets should come with bounce
• 2 bombs should be able to be shot with full energy at no delay.
• shield should be an !! upgrade
• decoy should be cheaper

[2kill]

It's meant for those that want to play well quickly but not necessarily for the long haul. Hope that sheds some light.

what? I thought the lanc was a special unlock. Its going to be unlocked by people in for the long haul...

so I'm a bit confused

On a lighter note, about the full charge for the spider where you have to pm the bot I think it should be called 'emergency cappacitor' cause thats basicly what its doing just an idea don't know if you named it yet I haven't played spider since you mentioned the change

Terrs:

I like maddack's idea I think it could work

Weasels:
I think you have to remeber that weasels are a special unlock and won't be around much in the release so imagen no weasels or just one playing sometimes I don't think their to over powered... thats me with my lanc with wide shots and my terr with lots of ports and regen...

thats all for now
2kill

[gdugwyler]

Make the second starting burst much more expensive to buy. I don't know current numbers but suggestion is something like 1st burst maybe 10 UPs, 2nd burst 40 UPs?

This is a good idea: doesn't eliminate the possibility of starting with L2 entirely, but makes it a difficult choice. Re: Lanc L2 v Terr L2, the Terr's version is still almost twice as slow as the Lanc's, costs a more, and doesn't have as concentrated a spread. Also, fixing the rotation bug definitely rendered that particular upgrade less useful, I'll admit, as everyone now starts with pretty good rotation. To compromise I've tried to make it cheap for those that want to try the upgrade. It's at least pretty useful on the Lanc, on which I have several levels of it.


Weasels/Stealth/XRadar: I've lowered the costs and rank required for XRadar for several ships to mid-range (nobody had it except Terrs, Weasels and some Sharks). Jav, Lanc and Levi are the main recipients here. The costs are still fairly high for these ships (think Jav in pub). WB and Spid also had the rank required for X slightly lowered, but it still costs a lot to purchase it. A lot of people I don't think will end up buying it ... but that's the so-called name of the game here.

Re: Weasel size, pretty sure Dock put that one in. I still think it was a good change ... gives the ship a unique aspect and makes it more combat-ready. However, with this change also came weasel no longer being able to stealth/cloak infinitely. Presently in the world of Distension, with only half normal recharge and a few levels of energy, as is the case with Mjoll's ship, a weasel is able to have them both on with a drain of only about 5 energy per second (!). This is the biggest reason that it's been so devastating -- not that no-one has XRadar. There's a reason the Weasel can be managed in pub ... because after making a kill it can't have both stealth and cloak on. In the spirit of the original intentions of the small weasel I've increased stealth drain by a little bit so that a Weasel who's just been able to purchase stealth can't cloak/stealth infinitely. This will be the case with higher level weasels, however -- just one of the benefits of a powerful ship, and really not all that big a deal.

Fluffz: there's a +50% bonus for base TeKs . I removed any other bonus for terr kills as the base ones are all that should matter. Also, excuse me if I sound exasperated, but the Lanc bomb is not 0 speed... try firing it a different way. It's the beta, so yes, some things will be a little mysterious, but this one is definitely not all that hard to figure out. It is, however, unlike how any other weapon is fired in SS -- I'd be willing to bet you've never had to fire this way before -- but it only works in that fashion and without knowing that piece of information I would inclined to agree with you that it appears less useful than a regular gun. As for how useful it actually is when fired properly, the jury is not yet in. (Protip: have very high top speed, and fire so that the recoil doesn't affect the bomb...) I reduced the fire energy slightly for this weapon, as well as the fire delay. Make it useful. I just tested it out again and if you do it right with top speed it fires about as fast as the bullet... so responding to your comment about bullet fire delay, I won't reduce it for the normal gun as that just perpetuates the image of the Lanc being a one trick pony. As for the Firebloom, I also tested that one out today, and my, it's still quite nice. This is the Lanc's final ability: after rank 45 or so the Lanc doesn't have much, because its RP required for each rank is quite a bit less than for the other two fighting ships. It also doesn't have access to the last few levels of "basic" upgrades that all other ships do. It's meant for those that want to play well quickly but not necessarily for the long haul. Hope that sheds some light.

[Fluffz]

this game is supporting caming. like i stated, pushing isnt worth it. i think thats because the damage output related to dodging cost is very high. there should be less bullets and bombs around. or points for TEKs in base. or some tank ability like shield which u get every x mins by messaging !! to the bot (for lanc wtf) instead of full energy

weasels are supposed to be the same size as normal ships, whoever made them tiny in the first place had no clue. port+cloak is instant tek id id play them.

imho terrs are too slow and or tank too less, thats why they have to hide in the ear all the time.

lanc has no high level upgrade worth getting, i have heard firebloom is good but bomb or decoy is kinda worthless for its price unless its like 5 decoys a second. lvl3 bullets at a higher energy cost for 40? UP aint worth it without high level leech. dont get me wrong, those gadgets are ok, but i cant afford to put UP into it because i need all my UP for movement/energy in order to be able to compete.
basically i just get upgrade 1-5 and leech which is another energy upgrade. at lvl45 i get that mysterious firebloom and than what? i dont think that the 0 speed prox bomb with shrap will prove itself more usefull than lvl2 singlefire bullets. also lanc fire rate is too slow.

[maddack]

Bursts:

Current limit 5, maybe lower to 4. Why not lower more? I think getting prized bursts for staying alive is a nice bonus, especially if you're guarding a FR all alone, it's fun to fill up. And besides you have a small chance to defend a quick attack before people attach to you!

Make the second starting burst much more expensive to buy. I don't know current numbers but suggestion is something like 1st burst maybe 10 UPs, 2nd burst 40 UPs? maybe 60 UPs? Then you can have a third burst available at some level and it costs like 100 UPs and you'd have to be very strange to buy that! Then some crazy guy can buy bursts but will sacrifice alot of energy/recharge and stuff. I like options. This goes similarly to the terr level 2 (btw dug did you make sure this lvl2 is less effective than lanc lvl2?). I have chosen not to buy lvl 2 bullet because it's so expensive, but that raible guy has it.

The burst regen is good as it is, especially with above changes. No need to increase it.

Everything else about terr is perfect! Except maybe the rotation upgrade. I see no point in buying it at all! Currently flying 0/16 rot, 10/10 thrusters, 8/16speed which I think is pretty much optimal.


Weazels:

I love having to dodge Mjollnir. He plays his ship very well. If you nerf wzl do it very little I think. Better in my opinion is to make somewhat cheap x-radar available for lanc/shark/jav. Cheap to buy but cost much energy to use, like in pub!


About other ships I noticed very few warbirds flying around recently. Maybe that's just temporary?

[Nockm]

Aww Mjoll you meany

[AcidBomber]

whic is why every terr i saw fighting him got owned*

Which is why i second what he said. :P

[Epic li]

which is why i still have to run from you even in terr, right?

whic is why every terr i saw fighting him got owned*

[PH]

Terrs pretty much own me so I think anyone with x-radar will do so as well.

which is why i still have to run from you even in terr, right?