Distension Beta Suggestions/Bugfix thread

[gdugwyler]

If I worked more on the other map I talked to you about a few weeks ago, would it possible to do tests there (maybe just in dev if we can bring some people) so see the general reaction/get ideas for it?

Yes, we could definitely do some dev testing. To make it easy, it would be best if the coords would match up with the current map as far as the rearm area, center base spawn and warp/respawn goes.

Recent changes:
- Shrap made random as some were saying it was ineffective
- Jav and Levi TK penalty halved; hopefully this makes Jav more enjoyable while still curbing TKs
- You can now stop kill messages from being sent by using !killmsg. Turning them off gives you a 1% bonus to all RP earned, so it's worth considering. This has been done to alleviate more load on the server and bot.
- Implemented the time limiting system. If there are 50 people in the game you can now bump players that have been playing longer that particular day; they get to play out the end of the round and then are switched out. Also, regardless of how much or little a player has played, anyone who is docked (in spec) is fair game for losing their playing slot. At present time is reset at the start of every test, but later on when the bot is up for long periods of time it will be once per day. Use !leave to log yourself out completely (does more than spec/!dock) and stop your playing timer running. If you want to get back in you'll have to !return at that point. This is untested, except as a thought experiment, so feedback will be especially helpful here.

[Peace_Maker]

3 items to report of notice:

I have noticed, a couple of times now, that if I go afk for 15 secs or so and get the notice to be active or I will be specced I get specced after dying and returning to the spawn area. I will attach and play until I die but it seems that the bot starts back where it left off on counting time. Maybe there is another factor I am unaware of.

Today while playing, the bot took away everything it had prized to players, they retained the bty. Every player in the game at the time experienced this and were prized correctly upon dying and rearming. Dunno what that was about.

Toward the end of a session the bot disappeared/died on us. It did not just shut down in its normal pattern of speccing all players sending an arena message it was going down for maintenance.

Is !killmsg in the !help command? I am sure most players would use it. I will be.

[Vergilius]

Another small thing, at the end of a pretty long round the teams were 14vs11. Team 2 was winning, and with only a few seconds to go i saw hak (in shark) changing freqs. He was on the freq for like less then 10 seconds, but still got the full RP bonus.

I understand that support ships like shark and terrs keep participation bonus when switching in mid-game from a winning to the losing team, but cant you make it that when hey switch from a losing to a winning team they dont get that full bonus? I know that this situation is very rare, but its kinda annoying to see that he still got like 1k RP (dont know exact numbers anymore) for being on it for less than 10 secs.

No offense on u, Hak, just you happened to do it under my watching eye.. tbh i would have done the same

[HateTheFake]

Yea i saw that as well, only when he switched and we won, I recieved 0 rp and i was on the winning freq the whole time.

[hak]

Distension bug

Another small thing, at the end of a pretty long round the teams were 14vs11. Team 2 was winning, and with only a few seconds to go i saw hak (in shark) changing freqs. He was on the freq for like less then 10 seconds, but still got the full RP bonus.

I understand that support ships like shark and terrs keep participation bonus when switching in mid-game from a winning to the losing team, but cant you make it that when hey switch from a losing to a winning team they dont get that full bonus? I know that this situation is very rare, but its kinda annoying to see that he still got like 1k RP (dont know exact numbers anymore) for being on it for less than 10 secs.

No offense on u, Hak, just you happened to do it under my watching eye.. tbh i would have done the same

Actually, I was abusing this bug to see how far it stretches. When everyone started drama-ing about it in the distension chat, I tried to make it clear to you how it works, and why it works incorrectly. I'm sure Dugwyler knows what I'm talking about, if not, we will certainly have a word.

A possible solution to this bug would be no !assisting in the last 30 seconds of the game. This however cancels the effect of avarice (!assisting the other team in the last seconds, so the teams aren't too unbalanced)

Thank you for reminding me though Vergilius, I forgot to put the 'bug' on the forum.

Regards,

Hakkinen B)

[Foreign]

Maybe this is a limitation brought about by subspace, but I feel like there isn't enough of a gap between levels. A level 1 is able to kill a level 20+ with relative ease if the higher player is low on energy, which means newbies will level ridiculously quickly once this has been going on for a while.

To counteract that, eventually you may want to split arenas based on level (1-20, 20-40, 40-60, etc.) Of course you'll always need a greater quantity of the lower-rank arenas as there will always be more lower-ranked players, but I think the higher-ranked players specifically will have more fun playing against opponents who can give them more points.

Edit: this is, of course, being optimistic in terms of future zone population. I'm hoping the best for ya

[gdugwyler]

- Upped the frequency of how often idle checks for players in the safe. I'm guessing you just got unlucky, and each of the 5 times it checked you (in 20 second increments) you were in safe/had just died. Now it'll check 10 times in 10 second increments, so the likelihood of you being in spawn each time will be significantly reduced.

- Fixed the bot death problem. Was caused by a player who did a sector break but was immediately DC'd. Sorry about that.

- !assist will now be deactivated if you're trying to switch to the winning team while they have a sector hold, even if they technically are down in strength. Chances are, if they can hold both flags at any time, they don't really need help at the moment. The assist system will no longer advert for help in this case either.


Regarding rank differences, I haven't had too much trouble with the little guys. As long as you make sure you don't have low energy you'll generally be just fine. Lower players often complain of not being able to kill anyone -- they need that lucky stray to be able to advance at all. The rank differences aren't meant to be overwhelming, either ... just enough so that it makes it interesting. I still want it to be possible for a very skilled rank 0 to kill a rank 50 who isn't thinking straight, for example. The arena division you talk about might happen, though. We'll have to see if it can be supported.

EDIT: Also, yes, !killmsg is in the !help.

[FarScape]

Major bug with rotation...

I got level 6 (max) rotation with spider and im unable to aim because the rotation start slow, but continue fast.

For example, if i click slowly to rotate, it will move very slow, if ill need more touch and rotate a bit further, It will rotate too fast. Its not smooth like how ships rotate in Trench wars. need a fix. need constant rotation speed through out all the turning of the ship.

[gdugwyler]

Seems to be a regular problem in other ships such as the Jav as well. I'm guessing this has to do with how much rotation is added when holding the key -- as though the numbers are not matching up well with actual rotation points.

Did you notice this problem just at 6 upgrades of rotation on the spider, or at other levels as well? I'd pose the same question to anyone who javs and has the problem.

[Chao.]

I don't know if it's the same for javs, but I feel like I wasted points buying shrapnel - is there any way to make it shoot out a bit faster?

[hak]

Shrapnel

I don't know if it's the same for javs, but I feel like I wasted points buying shrapnel - is there any way to make it shoot out a bit faster?

I second this. Shrapnel moves way too slow on both the Shark and the Javelin. (Shark shrapnel is actually only half the speed of the Javelin shrapnel). These shrapnels can be dodged with ease as they move slower than a level 1 Warbird.

Also, I have noticed that shrapnel does not seem to one-hit-kill at all times. Very high energy ships seem to live through them.

I !Scrap'd my shrapnel, as it seemed so utterly useless right now. If you change it to something for useful, I'll !upgrade it again to see how it works.

My suggestion is: Increase shrapnel to a very high speed projectile that can hardly be dodged. It's not going to be a mass killer any way, since only 25% of the bombs shoot out shrapnel in a base.

Regards,

Hakkinen B)

[FarScape]

Seems to be a regular problem in other ships such as the Jav as well. I'm guessing this has to do with how much rotation is added when holding the key -- as though the numbers are not matching up well with actual rotation points.

Did you notice this problem just at 6 upgrades of rotation on the spider, or at other levels as well? I'd pose the same question to anyone who javs and has the problem.

Started to feel it on level 5 rotation and in 6.
on level 4 it was o.k.

[Dameon Angell]

I just wanna move for a "Random" beta test tomorrow night. Since I'll actually be home for it. And I don't have work the next morning. I think we need to make sure it works on days that end with "day".

[gdugwyler]

Re: shrapnel: I've increased the speed more than double on shrap, and increased the damage level slightly as well. Hopefully this will remedy the shrap problem a bit. Also, as far as I can tell from testing Shark shrap should go just as fast as Jav shrap, but who knows ... Bomb speed or present velocity might affect the calculation a little bit.

I'm still working on the rotation issue... interestingly if you're rotating at high speeds and change direction, it doesn't seem to be a problem. Also, stomping on the direction seems to work better than casually pressing over ... it might be a hardware issue, it might be a game issue, or it might be something with the way the rotation amounts add up in the settings. I'll keep looking at it.

[gdugwyler]

Also, !scrapall implemented for mass-scrapping all of one upgrade #, all upgrades, all maneuver upgrades, all energy/recharge upgrades, or all special upgrades. Try it out and tell me if you find any bugs.