Distension Beta Suggestions/Bugfix thread

[Mjollnir]

How do level 4 bullets and bombs work in Continuum? Are these bullets also hardcoded so that shooting them costs x times more energy than lesser bullets. What about the bombs? Especially level 4 bombs could be useful as an ability. Warping a player on top of a ball (that increases bullet and bomb level by 1) and back would enable having up to lvl 4 stuff. This could be a high level tactical op or a high level officer ability. This ability has three potential problems though:

1) It would mean that the ball would keep giving different people (even the enemies) the ability to get higher level stuff since the ball doesn't disappear anywhere.
2) If the energy costs cannot be lowered most people couldn't even shoot, rendering the ability useless.
3) Warping isn't possible with a ball since the warp button shoots the ball.

With all the problems and uncertainties I am not sure if it is a good idea to have something like this but I guess that new ideas can't hurt either.

EDIT: Other high level abilities could be prizing a brick, a thor, bouncing bullets, super, shields, or warping people to certain locations. Some of them are probably OPs abilities already?

[2kill]

#1 conscription: Sounds okay. Being level 0 or 5 doesn't make much of a difference but I guess it doesn't hurt either. This would probably get abused though since people would be leveling their friends up.

2# Discounts: This would probably be too much of a mess to implement. What happens after the round ends? How about an ability to give a rank in all main manuverability upgrades (or other upgrades) to a ship/ships?

I do not like the idea of losing RP over not listening to orders. Other alternatives would be demoting a player (after several offences) or forcing them to the ordered ship if that is the order. I do not want to see people losing a lot of real RP from not listening to orders since most people are droolers (and hence won't listen no matter what) and if someone is abusing the orders it will get old pretty quickly.

1# conscription: they would only be able to level them up to level 5 its wouldn't be to abused since if you want, those levels go pretty quick, but it makes them have some stuff like a burst I can't remember right now when you can upgrade them.

2# discount: you would keep your upgrades at the round end cause you did spend your UP on them. Now do you mean that they would get the improvement just for that round? (I could see that working since dug mentioned it in his post already)

I think your right it could get annoying if someone abuses it, maybe give mods or staff the ability to demote someone to a cadet again? and as I said I would perfer a bot enforcing the rules. and if they won't listen to orders they should be taught to listen

2kill

[Mjollnir]

now heres a few ideas for flag officer (though I think they maybe too powerful)

#1 conscription: the ability for high ranking officers to order people in to support ships (terr and shark) limited to one per round or something and as a bonus new people to the ships could get the RP to level up to rank 5 or so (cause thats what I hear the most from people in the game 'I would terr but my terr low rank so its going to be really bad')

#2 Discounts: the ability to discount by 5% or something a general upgrade(like thrust, top speed, recharge) for the whole round and free time following to give the people who are to busy in the round to upgrade. (terr)

also I see a chance that no one will listen to orders so there will have to be an ability to !courtmartial <soandso> he could lose 1 rank or so much RP from all his ships. (Or perhaps the bot from an ability like conscription can lock you in to a ship? or check to see if a squadron is in the right place and if the majoriaty isn't it would -RP everyone I mean that that would count spawn as where the squadron is supposed to be too)

Cadet 2nd class 2kill

#1 conscription: Sounds okay. Being level 0 or 5 doesn't make much of a difference but I guess it doesn't hurt either. This would probably get abused though since people would be leveling their friends up.

2# Discounts: This would probably be too much of a mess to implement. What happens after the round ends? How about an ability to give a rank in all main manuverability upgrades (or other upgrades) to a ship/ships?

I do not like the idea of losing RP over not listening to orders. Other alternatives would be demoting a player (after several offences) or forcing them to the ordered ship if that is the order. I do not want to see people losing a lot of real RP from not listening to orders since most people are droolers (and hence won't listen no matter what) and if someone is abusing the orders it will get old pretty quickly.

EDIT: Following orders could lead to faster promotions.

[2kill]

Cadet/Officer/Flag officer rankings: You've probably noticed the addition of these rankings. I'd like to see them become meaningful. You already have to be an Officer (Ensign or above) in order to pilot Tactical Ops. I'd also like to see Ensign+ give some abilities, such as official communications. You PM the bot something, and it sends out the message with the header ENSIGN SOANDSO: <msg>. A really basic function, but one which gives your message a more official bearing. Limited to one every 5 min or so per person. Starting with the command ranks (Lieutenant Commander+) I'd also like to see the option to give orders to lower-ranked individuals: go to this or that base, defend this person. Or, forming squadrons, so that a certain bot command could communicate between members of the squadron (no limitations), with the leader's messages given a special header. Ideally it would be something simple, like just starting the PM to the bot with -, and then the message after would be sent to the formed squadron. At the Flag Officer level (Commodore and above), even more selective commands would be useful. Maybe something to alter how the army behaves, such as bonuses to special ability chances, or increased levels of maneuvering for all ships, each with some sort of cost built in. Flag Officers could also order full squadrons to specific areas and so on. Just throwing out some ideas ... would be interested to hear if you guys have any suggestions for what we might do with the new rankings.

now heres a few ideas for flag officer (though I think they maybe too powerful)

#1 conscription: the ability for high ranking officers to order people in to support ships (terr and shark) limited to one per round or something and as a bonus new people to the ships could get the RP to level up to rank 5 or so (cause thats what I hear the most from people in the game 'I would terr but my terr low rank so its going to be really bad')

2# Discounts: the ability to discount by 5% or something a general upgrade(like thrust, top speed, recharge) for the whole round and free time following to give the people who are to busy in the round to upgrade. (terr)

also I see a chance that no one will listen to orders so there will have to be an ability to !courtmartial <soandso> he could lose 1 rank or so much RP from all his ships. (Or perhaps the bot from an ability like conscription can lock you in to a ship? or check to see if a squadron is in the right place and if the majoriaty isn't it would -RP everyone I mean that that would count spawn as where the squadron is supposed to be too)

Cadet 2nd class 2kill

[Edit: another idea, a !progressrank (or !pr) to tell you how many more rounds you need to win to increase you standing, just an idea]

[gdugwyler]

Sorry about the loss in data. I have no idea how that happened. I made a copy from the database we were using to a new one... but, yes, such is the way of beta. Also, I think I figured out why it didn't save yesterday before the automated shutdown. Should be fixed today.

TK penalty: Made this slightly less serious across the board for Javs and Levis, but it'll still hurt. Also, the TK penalty used to be reduced for TKing someone below rank 10; now it's reduced for anyone 20 ranks or more below you.

Levi Multi: The delay hasn't been reduced, no. You simply have to think a little bit about how you might use it, as is the case with a lot of Distension abilities. (God forbid it not simply be a spread that costs a little more than normal fire! O heavens!) Consider that it's much, much cheaper than regular fire. The intent is not to use it by itself, but in conjunction with the standard fire and bombs. As it costs so little, you can fire it when you have almost no energy. At this point you wouldn't be able to fire a normal shot, or, if you fired a normal shot with the minimum amount of energy, you'd have to wait about the delay of the multi's delay to recharge back enough to fire again -- if not longer. The point of the Multi is having an extra shot at the end of a barrage when you'd otherwise be waiting around to recharge anyway. High-skill players with a good Multi toggle location will do well with this, whereas those new to the game will not ... and generally this is how I aim to have most of the powers work, so that skill (as well as a thoughtful, tactical approach) remains a large factor in how well you do in Distension.

Shrap: Slowed it down slightly.

Player cap: This isn't done because I necessarily want it to be done. After a certain point too many people in game would admittedly get ridiculous, but I don't think we've yet reached that point. Mainly this is to keep the bot running smoothly, rearming people at a good speed, without too much waiting or lag, and with no risk of recycling the server. As most people can probably attest to, in most cases the rearm speed is much better than it used to be, and the bot doesn't lag any longer. The cap I intend to be at 50, but during beta I need it at 40 to ensure the system works before public release. Depending on player demand and whether or not the server and bot core can handle it, multiple arenas may be in order. In particular we may have one arena for somewhat higher ranked ships only (25+ or so), and one that allows 1 to 40 or thereabouts.


Need opinions:

Cadet/Officer/Flag officer rankings: You've probably noticed the addition of these rankings. I'd like to see them become meaningful. You already have to be an Officer (Ensign or above) in order to pilot Tactical Ops. I'd also like to see Ensign+ give some abilities, such as official communications. You PM the bot something, and it sends out the message with the header ENSIGN SOANDSO: <msg>. A really basic function, but one which gives your message a more official bearing. Limited to one every 5 min or so per person. Starting with the command ranks (Lieutenant Commander+) I'd also like to see the option to give orders to lower-ranked individuals: go to this or that base, defend this person. Or, forming squadrons, so that a certain bot command could communicate between members of the squadron (no limitations), with the leader's messages given a special header. Ideally it would be something simple, like just starting the PM to the bot with -, and then the message after would be sent to the formed squadron. At the Flag Officer level (Commodore and above), even more selective commands would be useful. Maybe something to alter how the army behaves, such as bonuses to special ability chances, or increased levels of maneuvering for all ships, each with some sort of cost built in. Flag Officers could also order full squadrons to specific areas and so on. Just throwing out some ideas ... would be interested to hear if you guys have any suggestions for what we might do with the new rankings.

(Also, this sort of thing could really be added after we go public ... there's a lot that could be put into Distension after a public release, so long as it's understood that it's still in development. A lot of games continue to develop quite a bit after beta -- just without the fear that character stats will be reset.)

[AcidBomber]

On dist-topic: the rumor of all progress from the last 3 days being deleted, true?

Yes.
But then again is beta, things do happen. :P

[Vergilius]

and an nme wzl that i go out of my way to prevent rocket/port-ing our bt...

Somehow i feel adressed by this... :fear:

On dist-topic: the rumor of all progress from the last 3 days being deleted, true?

[Mjollnir]

Bot ended the game without saving ehehe... -_-

And it ended prematurely right after the round that was going when Dug left. About the test: The TK penalties seemed really harsh. Often killing the attacking enemy Terrier would actually lead in getting negative RP even if I killed like 3 enemies and one of the teammates since I got like 20+20+60 - 168.

[AcidBomber]

Bot ended the game without saving ehehe... -_-

[meddi]

We shall see, I suppose. I think it is important to test how proportioned it will be.

[Mjollnir]

It will represent the same ratio as the actual release values without the multiplier, as dug mentioned. I think this is a good idea to have them in proportion. If you are killing more enemies than good guys, you shouldn't have a problem.

The problem comes from most enemies being low level kills. The logic of having them in proportion is valid though. It's just that it is probably going to be too big of a penalty.

[meddi]

To be fair, I do make a lot of crappy shots too but it's also impossible not to TK with the yellow bomb in a crowded flagroom. I would say the bombs usually take out a lot more enemies than friendlies so they aren't that bad. If the penalty was increased to amount to the beta multiplier the penalty is going to be huge but I will whine about that after testing it out.

It will represent the same ratio as the actual release values without the multiplier, as dug mentioned. I think this is a good idea to have them in proportion. If you are killing more enemies than good guys, you shouldn't have a problem.

[roxxkatt]

-slower, more dodge-able shrap ?
-fixed angled shrap

#1: agreed
#2: affects ALL shrap, but i might back this idea

terr

my vote, biggest max nrg, low recharge
like 3000, but takes 10s to recharge...

tks

i am the bomb-iest player in the game atm.
noone will argue this.
my suggestion for tks is: counting the tks that are made without killing an enemy within 2s.
this might be too big of a strain on the bot tho...
the main people complaining about tks are sharks with low nrg, spids that sit in groups of nmes with low nrg, and an nme wzl that i go out of my way to prevent rocket/port-ing our bt...

best course of action:
the current pub tk system would also work best for dist.
however, mods playing shouldnt count...
(ive never been warned for anything outside dist, and yet -3- ez mods have warned me out of spite so far... ;D)

levi multi

has the delay been reduced yet?

anti

ive only heard of acid getting it, id like to see more anti.
this game has way too much portaling >_>
would suck for terrs tho, so meh

limiting

i like this idea, but would only work well with multiple arenas.

"Just enter into a ship to start playing (1 and 5 are starting ships)"

saw this from the bot today...
....WTF?



dist is looking good! =)

[Mjollnir]

Does any other ships get anti-warp other than the spider?
And what's the radius range? Just the radar? or smaller? ._.


RE: Terr - It should now increase more flagroom battles

RE: Shark - Sounds like a good change so we at least have a better chance of winning games with a shark like MeDDi playing against us. Easier for someone to switch into a low ranked shark and still make a difference.

TKs - Don't see it as much of a problem when you have the -RP same as killing someone. However, the biggest problem I see (and this is directed at levis) is the emp bomb they throw, it emps your teammates (not necessarily killing you), but GET you killed by enemies...
I think it should be alright because Distension is a public arena and ?Cheater will be taken by staff to watch levi's that just emp teammates more often than necessary. Perhaps that could discourage levi's from firing as soon as their energy is full. -_-

Monitoring levis and proving their guilt is really hard and they will most likely get off this whole thing really light. On the other hand, this whole TK penalty thing will be really hard on the Javelins since they get a lot of TKs basically because of the way the flagroom is built. Another big reason for the TKs are people who just won't listen to my warnings about going to places where I will certainly shoot when the enemy is coming in (mostly in the center of the fr entrance). Since it's going to be a public arena it will be full of droolers and I for one am not looking forward to all the reports made about my Jav.

To be fair, I do make a lot of crappy shots too but it's also impossible not to TK with the yellow bomb in a crowded flagroom. I would say the bombs usually take out a lot more enemies than friendlies so they aren't that bad. If the penalty was increased to amount to the beta multiplier the penalty is going to be huge but I will whine about that after testing it out.

Oh, I almost forgot about the antiwarp. I think it's one of the most powerful upgrades in the game and having it should almost guarantee your team's victory if you can keep their terrs antied. What was the reason for making it cheaper?

EDIT: Got some new info on the Anti. It has a 700 pixel range which isn't even a flagroom so it sounds about right. Hopefully it still takes plenty of energy because it is a really powerful ability to have and will undoubtedly own the Terriers pretty hard.

[AcidBomber]

Does any other ships get anti-warp other than the spider?
And what's the radius range? Just the radar? or smaller? ._.


RE: Terr - It should now increase more flagroom battles

RE: Shark - Sounds like a good change so we at least have a better chance of winning games with a shark like MeDDi playing against us. Easier for someone to switch into a low ranked shark and still make a difference.

TKs - Don't see it as much of a problem when you have the -RP same as killing someone. However, the biggest problem I see (and this is directed at levis) is the emp bomb they throw, it emps your teammates (not necessarily killing you), but GET you killed by enemies...
I think it should be alright because Distension is a public arena and ?Cheater will be taken by staff to watch levi's that just emp teammates more often than necessary. Perhaps that could discourage levi's from firing as soon as their energy is full. -_-