Distension Beta Suggestions/Bugfix thread

[Ward]

distension beta is the beta test for distension which is being made by dugwyler.

if you would like to try it out, the tests are a 2-3 and 7-8 EST (-4 GMT)

come try it out

2kill

Thanks tips, but I was actually kind of wondering what "Distension" is.

[2kill]

Can someone stress one more time for me - What the fuck is this "Distension Beta"? I'm kind of interested now since the thread is reaching 18 pages.

distension beta is the beta test for distension which is being made by dugwyler.

This is a thread for beta testers of Distension, the TW basing game with saved upgrades and ranks, combining the levelling system of an RPG and the hot basing action you have come to expect from TW for the last 30 years. .... To participate in the beta, join ?chat=distension and ?go #distension when the bot notifies the chat that a test is beginning. After you have played once, you will be PMd by the bot for larger tests. Use the !beta command to the bot when it's online to see the most recent updates.

if you would like to try it out, the tests are a 2-3 and 7-8 EST (-4 GMT)

come try it out

2kill

[Singularity]

I'm not sure here since I only play trenchwars normally, but bouncing bullets only bounce once like jav bombs don't they? If they just keep on going like bursts it would be horrible I agree.

For the replenish option, the idea was not to reward the team if the terrier dies but to strenghten the team who is then without a terrier so they have a bigger chance of holding the flagroom (flagroom battles are fun anyway). It would certainly have to be a higher level ability so level 0 terriers don't just suicide and give the team bonuses, and maybe multiple upgrades giving a few % chance.

What is the warbird doing with thors anyway. and why haven't I seen one yet btw?

The shield for sharks would also be more of a different path, instead of the light shark that has to depend on repels to stay alive, the other shark can just tank loads of bullets and won't have put up a huge repelshield to move 5 cm in the flagroom towards the flag (too much repels annoy me immensely) it could also be used more offensively.

Edit: I also just like the way some upgrades aren't combinable, so more powerful abilities can be included that are broken in conjunction with others. (Cheap level 3 would be insane with multifire for example, if you want both it should be much more difficult to get).

[Ward]

Can someone stress one more time for me - What the fuck is this "Distension Beta"? I'm kind of interested now since the thread is reaching 18 pages.

[roxxkatt]

i still use !s regularly to check my Op and Com points.
If it cannot be done graphically

great idea, something i hadnt thought of. !s sucks

The idle time out should ideally take account of
moving around in spec, <<<<<impossible
team chat/PMs <<<<<impossible
and the usual distensionbot commands as well as <<<<<possible
pub chat and op commands. <<<<<possible

When the terrier dies all other friendly ships get prized full energy

bad idea, and unnecessary.

Bouncing warbird bullets would SUCK HORRIBLY

fix'd

Instead of choosing brick, weasel can choose to have a repel.

good idea.

i dont like this, i think its just lame/retarded

A STATEMENT OF OPINION, didnt seem necessary, and i know it took work to add in/try, so dont be all like "OMFG ROAR I HAET U NAO!" cuz i used the word retarded.

[Viruk]

for the terr, he said "When the terrier dies all other friendly ships get prized full energy." just full charge not all abilitys...

I understood this but still think it quite overpowered to give all ships on the team a full charge for every terrier death. As soon as you get more than a couple of terriers on one team you are likely to get suiciders. This leads to frequent terrier deaths. Since frequent full charges are going to make it increasingly difficult to kill with L1 and L2 bullets, yet more people are going to start switching to terrs with their 1-shot killing bursts (and team prizing on death.) This is likely to accelerate the process even further until the whole game degenerates into a suicide burstfest.

If there is only a 0-50% chance of all friendly ships in the same FR or base getting the full charge it would be much more reasonable. It still seems bizarre to reward a team for letting its terrier die!

The bot has died a few times lately. Maybe 4 times in the past week or so? I just feel it always happens very late in the test so maybe it has something to do with the test timer.

We did notice the timer appear to stick and some people thought the bot was down when it was still running before it finally died the last time.


Tac Ops

I tried this again. I think I got on the right team when I tried it this time although it is difficult to know who is part of your team when teams are recently reshuffled and players often assist. It was closing the door in the correct base - I could see that much!

Got used to the new dot syntax which works well but is slightly confusing because I still use !s regularly to check my Op and Com points.
If it cannot be done graphically there needs to be an ops command to give you just the OP and CP information without having to pick it out of the status spam.

Shortly into my Op sessions it says something like 'Viruk has left the Tac Ops console' and apparently shoves me in spec. It lies! !manops does not get me back and I can still access all my op commands and remain at 100% participation (thankfully.) I get no feedback and lose my teamchat though.
If I switch to a ship and then !manops again it takes me back and then the same thing happens again. I got disconnected for switching ships too often. It sometimes seemed less than 5 min to me.

I presume this is the idle timeout misbehaving. The idle time out should ideally take account of moving around in spec, team chat/PMs and the usual distensionbot commands as well as pub chat and op commands. 5 minutes does not seem an unreasonable minimum. Even then I think it should not spec you unless somebody else uses !manops to replace you at the console (which should stop you from using the ops commands).

Apparently it also left the tube doors permanently up after the first test ended while they were still up. I closed the tube doors again in the next test which seemed to restore normality.

[2kill]

Would have to be a percentage chance upgrade and be area specific or would be way overpowered! I imagine everyone going terrier with 100% team restoration on death! Think of all those bursts - ugh!

High level warbirds already have some sort of thor. Javs already have powerful bombs. I like the idea of an EMPing thor but would rather see it on a support ship - perhaps it would give sharks something to do in between reps and mines.

I agree with all your idea but these for the following reasons,

for the terr, he said "When the terrier dies all other friendly ships get prized full energy." just full charge not all abilitys... but your right that it would have to be a % amount of time per upgrade

I don't think its possible to have an EMPing thor and if it was i bet it wouldn't be possible to have both kinds in one arena so the wb would have an emping one... its just how continuum works <shrugs>

2kill

[Viruk]

Some ideas for special abilities:
Bouncing bullets: Might be fun to have as WB to spice the tactics up a bit and perhaps the lanc. Should be mid-high level

Bouncing warbird bullets would tend to encourage camping or sloppy aiming. I would prefer to see warbirds using their thrust and speed skillfully to get a direct shot. Also, anything that bounces leads to lots of straying on the rebound and I want to be killed by strays and random stuff as little as possible.

Repel on weasel: Instead of choosing brick, weasel can choose to have a repel. Both abilities are exclusive to each other. (idea is that repel can be used offensively, brick defensively, to allow both styles of play for players)

Still seems overpowered to allow weasels reps. The shark limit is there for a reason.

Assassination: Instead of choosing multifire, weasels get level 3 bullets and a small energy bonus. Exclusive to multifire. The weasel becomes an assassin ships that really has to target (or suicide) specific ships.

I like the idea of choosing a multifire or early L3 upgrade path. Might be awkward to implement though. Not sure why you would want to force people to target specific ships for either path although you could presumably do so with special RP caps. The reward for base terriers is enough to get me hunting them already.

Replenish on terrier: When the terrier dies all other friendly ships get prized full energy. (idea is they can hold the flagroom longer in that case)

Would have to be a percentage chance upgrade and be area specific or would be way overpowered! I imagine everyone going terrier with 100% team restoration on death! Think of all those bursts - ugh!

Light armour plating on leviathan: Instead of having level 2 and 3 bombs, leviathans get a huge bonus to movement, creating effectively a light assault emp ship, exclusive to bomb upgrades

A light levi? This would be confusing. They are traditionally supposed to be clumsy, wallowing power bombers. There are other faster bombers and the EMP does not seem powerful enough at the moment to justify multiple paths for the levi.

Subspace Missile: Javs get the ability to throw thors, which are roughly equal to level 1 EMP bombs.

High level warbirds already have some sort of thor. Javs already have powerful bombs. I like the idea of an EMPing thor but would rather see it on a support ship - perhaps it would give sharks something to do in between reps and mines.

Full metal plating: Sharks get a shield which absorbs 50% damage, downside is they can only have 2 repels maximum. (Shark is able to repel less to help the team, but is able to penetrate the enemy's defense better so it can repel strategically)

Shark already has cloak to penetrate the defense.

Relentless assault: Spider gets an escape pod like the weasels, coupled with a full energy for vengeance on its killers.

Escape pods are quite powerful and spiders are popular and usually get their retaliation in first! Suddenly reappearing ships should remain a relatively rare event IMO.

[Mjollnir]

The bot has died a few times lately. Maybe 4 times in the past week or so? I just feel it always happens very late in the test so maybe it has something to do with the test timer.

[Singularity]

Some ideas for special abilities:
Bouncing bullets: Might be fun to have as WB to spice the tactics up a bit and perhaps the lanc. Should be mid-high level

Repel on weasel: Instead of choosing brick, weasel can choose to have a repel. Both abilities are exclusive to each other. (idea is that repel can be used offensively, brick defensively, to allow both styles of play for players)

Assassination: Instead of choosing multifire, weasels get level 3 bullets and a small energy bonus. Exclusive to multifire. The weasel becomes an assassin ships that really has to target (or suicide) specific ships.

Replenish on terrier: When the terrier dies all other friendly ships get prized full energy. (idea is they can hold the flagroom longer in that case)

Light armour plating on leviathan: Instead of having level 2 and 3 bombs, leviathans get a huge bonus to movement, creating effectively a light assault emp ship, exclusive to bomb upgrades

Subspace Missile: Javs get the ability to throw thors, which are roughly equal to level 1 EMP bombs.

Full metal plating: Sharks get a shield which absorbs 50% damage, downside is they can only have 2 repels maximum. (Shark is able to repel less to help the team, but is able to penetrate the enemy's defense better so it can repel strategically)

Relentless assault: Spider gets an escape pod like the weasels, coupled with a full energy for vengeance on its killers.

No idea if some of these are already available, but they should create a bit of flexibility in ship creation.

[gdugwyler]

Good idea re: the Weasel. I implemented that one.

Worked on Spider nerf again slightly. Spiders will need a bit more energy to fire now. Their incredibly low cost L2s are still a bit problematic, but we may be able to offset that with a higher cost.

Terriers are now only able to hold 4 bursts at a time, and the upgrade for burst #4 comes along later. They will be compensated with an additional ability soon, probably the "fetch" ability suggested above. Also, I recently added a 15th ability slot, so if there are any ideas for extra abilities for particular ships, it can now be done.

[Vergilius]

Another idea for the weasel.

The inherent 'no escape' ability: All ships killed by weasels are dead, regardless of their escape pods. The weasel bullets are slow but sure and they leave no survivors! Escape pods would still be useful against all other ships but it would make weasel assassination more effective against key ships.

I like this idea.

[Viruk]

Another idea for the weasel.

The inherent 'no escape' ability: All ships killed by weasels are dead, regardless of their escape pods. The weasel bullets are slow but sure and they leave no survivors! Escape pods would still be useful against all other ships but it would make weasel assassination more effective against key ships.

[Viruk]

Basically it doesn't do anything well, it cannot get positive recs, cannot kill terrier better than other ships (without full cloak that is, but I'm talking about <35 level weasel) and ranks slow. Maybe I should try cloaking and see if laming ships coming to the base works.

Does anyone playing Distension care enough about records to compare them between different ship types? It would be tricky to have to balance this as well as leveling and effectiveness. Weasels have the potential to grab a (mined) flag, assassinate key ships behind enemy lines, get key ships to waste lots of specials or pull enough defenders away from the FR entrance to let your teammates break into the FR. Even if you only succeed 10% of the time, you are still likely to be feared by the enemy and respected by your team regardless of your record. If you frequently succeed at such dangerous tasks you should be hailed as a hero! :P

Judicious laming ought to work to help you rank faster if you can bring yourself to do it (and are confident you can avoid any retribution). Possibly you could get a positive record too (although don't expect everyone to respect you for achieving it this way). Leveling a weasel is still unlikely to be rapid, especially before multifire. I have no problem with slow leveling if the ship is not vital to normal team play (weasel is not) and has useful, unique special abilities (weasel does) or is relatively powerful at higher levels (not sure about this)

Maybe we have a different playing style, but when I play weasel I see a relatively fast ship darting in and out of combat to make precision kills on certain ships. The cheap speed and thr upgrades (rockets) suggest that this is possible, yet doesn't always work out, mainly due to the ease to dodge bullets on offensive (Defensive they work of course, if people rush into you)

Why do the rockets not work for you in a darting attack? Perhaps they need upgrading? With my different playing style I have never tested them.
It would seem to require limited specials (e.g. rockets) to make weasels good for a single attack without making them permanently superior.

It must be very difficult to make the weasel good against specific ships (particularly a ship designed to survive like the terrier) without making them superior to everything. This is why people suggest antiwarp ideas which specifically aim to limit one of the terrier's major advantages. I half suspect that the settings would make my idea impossible but perhaps a more powerful but randomly-triggered antiwarp would be possible without it nerfing the portals. I agree with others that the normal controllable, long-duration antiwarp would make the weasel too powerful.

[Vergilius]

3 bricks at once across the FR?

I hope that this is not going to be a common sight as I hate games being decided by specials. If this was the result of fewer than 3 high level weasels then something needs tweaking IMO.

Cant you make it that every time the weasel dies the brick gets reset? This can prevent the sui-rushing and makes placing a brick a well-thought move. Dont have the brick myself though, but being able to put one every time you die while the others stay looks quite powerful to me.

Oh, and sing, the cloak does add a lot of kills. Kills you get of normal ships, that is. The main ships; like terrs, have xradar. The main goal of the weasel for now is either by tricking the terr with a smart portal, of eliminating a wb/jav heading for your own terr. Teks arent easy, but, you get rewarded for them.