Distension Beta Suggestions/Bugfix thread

[Mjollnir]

My opinion is that weasel should be nerfed. Concentrating all my anger on mjollnir, obviously because he's got the highest level weasel. Just gonna state all the reasons why I feel the ship is overpowered at the moment. Might add some more later.

1. MJ was annoying even before he got stealth but now he can assassinate practically anyone except for a terr if they have their x-radar on (there are some high level terrs who dont use it all the time).
2. Mj can shoot 2 bullets within 1 sec
3. He regenerates very quickly
4. He's got a rocket
5. And a portal
6. The ship is so tiny that its way to the base cant be blocked by anything and it's hard to hit something so small - especially if they're completely invisible

At the moment there aren't many ships that could kill mj 1on1 even 1 out of 10 times AND survive because of the reasons above. Terrs of course might stand a chance...

Weasels have some other unique abilities as well (Vengeaful Bastard and maybe getting a brick soon) which I dont really mind them having, though.

Terrs pretty much own me so I think anyone with x-radar will do so as well. Doesn't most everyone get x-radar by level 40 except levi at 44? You have to remember I own most people because my level is higher (lvl 41). It is of course true that I can currently own people who don't have x-radar when it's 1 vs 1. In a crowded flagroom I can't do very much though. The bullet firing rate is such that, I can shoot 2 single bullets pretty fast in a row but not multis.

I guess it all comes down to how Dug intended it to be. If he wanted the weasel to get cloak and stealth then there isn't much one can do. The ship is going to get them at some point and I don't think it's very early to get stealth at level 40. When people start getting x-radar my stealth and cloak will be useless especially if the x-radar nrg cost isn't huge.

I would like to hear from Dug how he thought this one out because there is probably some reason for the level when people get x-radar and I get stealth. If everyone was close to my rank it would be much easier to determine if the current weasel is too strong. I wouldn't be so sure yet.

I realize it must be very annoying to play against me now that I have stealth though so I certainly understand your frustration.

[AcidBomber]

Lol i am with Zei on that one.

The only way i can kill MJ some times is when he misses me and i shoot him back (all while he has no more port).

Lol... now he's completely invisible is like impossible to see him without x-radar...
PS: Verg is 2nd highest level weasel, he's a bit different, i get engine shutdown when i kill him... which is gay cuz i get strayed and cant dodge lol

haha

[Zeimonster]

All I want is for the ships to be balanced, so that is why I wrote how I felt about playing with/against some ships. It was just my opinion of the situation and I wish more people posted theirs as well.

It just feels you missed the point entirely and focused on seeing it all as pointless whining.

My opinion is that weasel should be nerfed. Concentrating all my anger on mjollnir, obviously because he's got the highest level weasel. Just gonna state all the reasons why I feel the ship is overpowered at the moment. Might add some more later.

1. MJ was annoying even before he got stealth but now he can assassinate practically anyone except for a terr if they have their x-radar on (there are some high level terrs who dont use it all the time).
2. Mj can shoot 2 bullets within 1 sec
3. He regenerates very quickly
4. He's got a rocket
5. And a portal
6. The ship is so tiny that its way to the base cant be blocked by anything and it's hard to hit something so small - especially if they're completely invisible

At the moment there aren't many ships that could kill mj 1on1 even 1 out of 10 times AND survive because of the reasons above. Terrs of course might stand a chance...

Weasels have some other unique abilities as well (Vengeaful Bastard and maybe getting a brick soon) which I dont really mind them having, though.

It may seem pretty whiny but the fact of the matter is that this game is still in a beta phase. That means that the ships are most likely not balanced yet. The more balanced they get, the more fun it is for everyone to play. You may have a good time with your ship but that doesn't mean every ship is fun to play or truly balanced yet.

[HateTheFake]

terriers need burst how else are they spose to get kills? they arent nearly as gifted as javs to have 1 hit kills anyother way. Not to mention getting 30 000 rp while profit sharing 50 rp every min is gonna suck balls, you think not alot of people terr now, wait til you nerf the terr even more. Maybe then after everyone does basing without them, you will give its burst back.

[AcidBomber]

We are now patiently waiting in #distension for it to start ^___^

^-^

[Vergilius]

i already suspect what the answer is gonna be, but can you install a way to switch from l3 to l2 bullets in mid combat, like turning multifire on and off? (so without having to !scrap that upgrade or sth)
Could develop a whole bunch of new techniques

[Mjollnir]

Reading all the whining about l1 damage and this ship is good, that one is bad just gave me a nice headache-.-
the fact is, i have a good time killing anything, and they some times kill me, actually, weasels own me, and i'm not complaining, like someone said, a certain ship should be good against some ships and bad against other ships. Let's think about javs:
they have the bounce bomb advantage, if you know how to use it, you can defend the base, and no, you shouldnt try going 1x1 with someone, just like in ?go base, javs run from everyone=p and shot when they have a chance, and maybe they do a teamfer, fun eh?

It may seem pretty whiny but the fact of the matter is that this game is still in a beta phase. That means that the ships are most likely not balanced yet. The more balanced they get, the more fun it is for everyone to play. You may have a good time with your ship but that doesn't mean every ship is fun to play or truly balanced yet.

I agree that some ships are supposed to be good against certain ships and bad against other ships. I am not complaining about that. I never said that I wanted a certain ship to be able to take everyone on 1vs1 either. And I know how a jav is supposed to be played but in this game there are other factors in play as well. All I want is for the ships to be balanced, so that is why I wrote how I felt about playing with/against some ships. It was just my opinion of the situation and I wish more people posted theirs as well.

It just feels you missed the point entirely and focused on seeing it all as pointless whining.

[Mjollnir]

...
Terr burst: it sounds like a good change may be to more severely limit the starting number of bursts for a terr, but increase the regeneration ability, as proj dragon is suggesting. It wouldn't change the dynamic all that much except to limit the number of double-bursts occurring. Would make the ship a little more unpredictable as well ... knowing that a freshly-respawning terr is not necessarily the most strong. This would have the added effect of extending the life of the average terrier, and encouraging a more tactical approach, suicide terring being less possible.

Jav: Let's just see how this one goes for now. I think one problem that's occurring is people were playing the Jav differently than it's played in any part of TW. First, I actually heard a jav say that his bullets were nearly useless. What? That should have been enough to make me think... but when you look at the settings, it's no surprise: Jav could fire a bomb with a bounce that would do 2650 damage on contact, and have a not-insignificant proximity damage effect when it hits a wall ... all for a mere 725 energy. Compare this with an L2 warbird bullet that does not bounce, has no damage effect on nearby players if it hits a wall, and does about 1600 damage, for a cost of 1000 energy. Granted, the WB's recharge is much better, so it can fire more often, and it can move around a good bit faster than a jav. Nevertheless there's a pretty obvious gap. Normally in a pub arena the jav's bomb costs 1100 to fire. Now in Distension it costs 1000. What does this mean? Javs are probably less fun to play, because they can't go chasing after people firing 2 (sometimes 3) bombs. Yeah, I actually saw a Jav chasing down a WB in a pretty wide-open area, a place where the bird should win 8 of 10 times. What Javs are going to need to do is start playing like Javs in any other arena: making careful, delicate shots, with guns to support when times get rough, rather than just throwing everything into energy and recharge so they can fire 3 bombs in 5 seconds. Rocket cost, though: I'll check it out in case it's too high.

Terr bursts: Sounds good. Would be good to limit the max bursts too. That way 5 bursts in a row isn't going to happen anymore since that's just silly. A high enough burst regeneration will ensure a nice flow of bursts every once in a while.

Jav: I have two concerns about this. First of all, because the ship's RP/lvl costs were balanced when it had cheap bombs and was able to get a lot more kills, it is likely that the balance is now gone. I bet it's a huge pain to level now. The other concern I have is that the ship itself was balanced around the certain bomb cost. Now that the bomb cost is high the ship will naturally be a lot weaker. Even when the bomb cost was cheap only a handful of people played the ship and now that it's like this, I am afraid people are going to ditch the ship again. Anyway, we will have to see how it goes. It did feel really weak when I played it again but maybe I can try it out a bit more.

[AcidBomber]

Yeh, the L1 bullet is good now i think.
Can at least get over 50-50.

[Epic li]

Reading all the whining about l1 damage and this ship is good, that one is bad just gave me a nice headache-.-
the fact is, i have a good time killing anything, and they some times kill me, actually, weasels own me, and i'm not complaining, like someone said, a certain ship should be good against some ships and bad against other ships. Let's think about javs:
they have the bounce bomb advantage, if you know how to use it, you can defend the base, and no, you shouldnt try going 1x1 with someone, just like in ?go base, javs run from everyone=p and shot when they have a chance, and maybe they do a teamfer, fun eh?

[Vergilius]

Me and mjoll found a sweet little bug (which im gonna stop abusing, i promise :P ) whenever you !lagout, you re-enter on the other freq, but spawn into the original spawnarea. So, you can just sit there, wait for the spawners, get ez kills until the bot specs you for being idle. Real fun, free 500 RP w/o putting energy in it, just kinda annoying when you choose not to abuse it .

[AcidBomber]

Ooo... hey that's cool!

No high level spiders yet it seems... mango lvl 33... i am almost there! 30 currently i think -_-

[Foreign]

There's a small stats website now available at http://www.trenchwars.org/distension/

You can just see the top 5 in each ship for now. It's been kinda up for a while, so if you didn't know already now you do.

[AcidBomber]

Ooo... nice change about the return and enlist! ^-^

[gdugwyler]

Easy: Nanobots.


Checked out Jav rocket cost. It was 35UP (!) and available at rank 25. Meant to have it the other way around, from some notes. But instead I've made it available at rank 20 for a cost of 18, and an additional 2 rockets available at rank 35 and rank 70 (the third just adding something to strive for in the later ranks if anyone actually chooses to do so). Fortunately this was an easy change because only one person bought it at its ridiculous cost.\

Dropped L1 bullet damage to 550. We'll experiment with this for a bit. This is 30 more than the pub default of 520.

Adjusting Terr bursting will be a much bigger pain, considering most terrs have 2 bursts to start. Will get back to that one later.


AMUSING CHANGE OF THE DAY: I'm attempting to make !pilot unnecessary. Just ESC+# to pilot, and the bot should handle the rest. !return will also be unnecessary, as will !enlist for new players -- you'll be automatically returned or enlisted when you jump in a ship. Hope this makes it all a lot more newbie-friendly.