Distension Beta Suggestions/Bugfix thread

[Mjollnir]

When you come back into the arena, does it tell you: "!return and then !lagout in the next asdf seconds to return to battle and keep participation." or does it not say anything? Also, if you do happen to do the !return first, does it work?


Shark balance: I'll try implementing the +1 shark max limitation. This is pretty easy to do compared to the other options.

Shark repels: I like the idea of giving sharks quite a few repels early on, with a max of 4 allowed. Well -- maybe 5 max, for one final one at a ridiculous rank. Having only 1 rep when you first get the ship definitely keeps people from trying to get started with a shark. As a balance I could make the repel regeneration ability available slightly earlier.

Terr power: I'd like to do a couple of things with the Terr to make it more desirable after the burst change. The first is to give it the option to be able to stay alive longer and still be offensive. This can be accomplished by more numerous and cheaper portals. If a terr doesn't have to rely on what is usually a single port for emergency escape, it can use a spare for an offensive move. The second is increasing bullet speed very slightly (very). Finally, if the multi is not being used very often anyway, I can tighten the spread and make it cost slightly less than a normal shot, but with a large UP cost. This gives a Terr an option to make an offensive build by focusing on the gunning systems, if they're willing to sink the points into it. Opinions on this?

Spider super+L2: is it insane? Should super and L2 not be allowed together? It would require special code to prevent, but let me know if it's far too powerful. If we went this route it would open up the option to make any two upgrades mutually exclusive in a similar fashion on other ships.

Shark repels: Good ideas. I feel that the Shark repels are a little too powerful at repelling stuff though.

Terr power: Sounds good otherwise but I think the Terriers are getting a huge amount of portals as it is. It is currently almost impossible to kill a Terrier (that is even relatively high leveled) with my Weasel because they portal away every time I am close to them.

Spider super+L2: As someone mentioned it didn't seem too good yet but I bet when the spiders get their super upgrade to a high enough level it is going to be crazy. They are really powerful even with the red bullet multi and a high level super upgrade. I guess we'll have to see how it goes.

[gdugwyler]

Also, Tactical Ops is available for public use starting today. Requirements: level 20 in all ships, and officer rank.

[meddi]

Spider super+L2: is it insane? Should super and L2 not be allowed together? It would require special code to prevent, but let me know if it's far too powerful. If we went this route it would open up the option to make any two upgrades mutually exclusive in a similar fashion on other ships.

I didn't find it as ridiculous as I might have thought it would be. Only twice yesterday did I see Acid get this in useful circumstances. I was, however, a shark with 5 reps. If a spider with L2, multi, and super were to be set lose on a full flagroom with no sharks I am pretty sure it would be the end of the opposing team. Maybe let it be for now? It didn't seem to be frequent enough to seem seriously overpowered.

[gdugwyler]

Forgot to mention: Warbird bombs. These aren't meant to be used by all WB players, or even most WB players. Originally the idea was going to be to give the warbird a way to prevent its opponent from persuing it in a tight spot such as a base, giving it enough time to get away and then snipe a little bit. This is via the mine available from the bomb. I'm not sure it anyone has ever used a mine on a WB, though. Drop by, mine the flag, run off? Scurry into base, drop a mine in one of the entrances, then snipe through another hole as your opponent tries to re-analyze the situation?

The mine costs absolutely no energy but has a small delay (2 seconds -- reduced) after which it can fire again. 2 max.

The bomb was an afterthought -- oh, hey, wouldn't it be funny if the warbird had a bomb they could use as well at extremely high energy? I'll probably just remove bombing from WB completely, and then greatly reduce the cost of the upgrade.

[gdugwyler]

i think !lagout is broken if you dont do !return first.

me: !lagout
bot: cannot lagout, trying to return you to your army automatically
me: !lagout
bot: not registered to lagout
me: !you must be kidding i losst all my participation
bot: sucks for u

true story

When you come back into the arena, does it tell you: "!return and then !lagout in the next asdf seconds to return to battle and keep participation." or does it not say anything? Also, if you do happen to do the !return first, does it work?


Shark balance: I'll try implementing the +1 shark max limitation. This is pretty easy to do compared to the other options.

Shark repels: I like the idea of giving sharks quite a few repels early on, with a max of 4 allowed. Well -- maybe 5 max, for one final one at a ridiculous rank. Having only 1 rep when you first get the ship definitely keeps people from trying to get started with a shark. As a balance I could make the repel regeneration ability available slightly earlier.

Terr power: I'd like to do a couple of things with the Terr to make it more desirable after the burst change. The first is to give it the option to be able to stay alive longer and still be offensive. This can be accomplished by more numerous and cheaper portals. If a terr doesn't have to rely on what is usually a single port for emergency escape, it can use a spare for an offensive move. The second is increasing bullet speed very slightly (very). Finally, if the multi is not being used very often anyway, I can tighten the spread and make it cost slightly less than a normal shot, but with a large UP cost. This gives a Terr an option to make an offensive build by focusing on the gunning systems, if they're willing to sink the points into it. Opinions on this?

Spider super+L2: is it insane? Should super and L2 not be allowed together? It would require special code to prevent, but let me know if it's far too powerful. If we went this route it would open up the option to make any two upgrades mutually exclusive in a similar fashion on other ships.

[Zeebu]

does the wb bomb bounce? add a bounce or two to it. that might help to make is usable

[project dragon]

As for the jav rocket, I believe it is hard to tinker with because it messes with the rocket settings for the entire arena, mainly the weasles, and I don't think people would be happy when they see a weasle zoom past them, shoot, then zoom away.

At least that is what I understand the problem to be.

[AcidBomber]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that shark repels need to be reduced so something a little more normal. 4 maximum, and only get more via prizes. Maybe they could start with 3 at rank 0, just a thought, and have the 4th be a special acquisition like the terr's 2nd burst. Becuase it's becoming more and more apparent that giving shark all this special random shit like cloak, guns, thrust-bombing and a million repels to get people to play it is not the way to go. Dug, there has to be something you can do with the settings of the ship (give it more energy, let more sharks tank L2s easier, give it more profit sharing options, idk). It's just that all this special shit the shark has is obviously designed to attract people to play the ship, and common sense would tell you that once people -do- play the ship, it's overpowered. And it is. It's just 1 ship, it shouldn't be able to keep an entire team occupied by itself (which it can).

I am with Aqua here on the shark.
If you stayed in the game today, you would realize that wins from meddi's team is because of meddi.
AKA - "LEAD DEFENSE: MEDDI [13 BREAKS] LEAD OFFENSE: MEDDI [12 HOLDS]"

Basically sharks won it for em... and with meddi's rank 44 shark he has like 8 reps? + cloak to distract. lol...
pretty much sits on flag and rep everyone else, plus the mines that cover flag.

Anyways, i agree with 3 reps at start and getting it prized frequently as the shark gets higher ranks, makes more sense. cuz now the shark get 1 rep? lol


PS: I agree with Meddi. -_-

[roxxkatt]

bullet = pew
bomb = boom

bullet + wall + nme = "ez"
bomb + wall + nme = pwned

D:

[Aquatiq]

what are you talking about?

[roxxkatt]

but on a ship where it can shoot 1-hit-kill bullets for less energy than this slow l1 bomb that jav, lev, and shark all come with by default (and lanc relatively early too), it's not needed.

i disagree

bullets cant go thru walls :sorcerer:

maybe a smidge faster ftw

bot kiled game, 1 flag

.

srsly, omg.
have the bot do a final check of the flags before it kills the epic game =(
or something >_>

[meddi]

In defense of the shark: I am awesome.

Actually, 4 max repels would be enough. I also think start at 3 repels would be helpful. This way, when a team is sharkless, someone switching to a low rank shark will be very helpful defensively. As it stands, someone who needs to switch to a rank 0 shark is good for repping a couple mines out of the entrance and that is about it.

The 4th repel could be a fairly high rank upgrade (30-40?) and you could increase the % for being prized. I rarely last 30 seconds in real games.

Edit: In summary, I agree with Aquatiq.

[Aquatiq]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that shark repels need to be reduced so something a little more normal. 4 maximum, and only get more via prizes. Maybe they could start with 3 at rank 0, just a thought, and have the 4th be a special acquisition like the terr's 2nd burst. Becuase it's becoming more and more apparent that giving shark all this special random shit like cloak, guns, thrust-bombing and a million repels to get people to play it is not the way to go. Dug, there has to be something you can do with the settings of the ship (give it more energy, let more sharks tank L2s easier, give it more profit sharing options, idk). It's just that all this special shit the shark has is obviously designed to attract people to play the ship, and common sense would tell you that once people -do- play the ship, it's overpowered. And it is. It's just 1 ship, it shouldn't be able to keep an entire team occupied by itself (which it can).

While I'm at it, I'll talk about other ships, and stuff they do/don't really need:

WB Bombs. These are completely useless as they are. Sorry, I know you said not to say things are useless, but on a ship where it can shoot 1-hit-kill bullets for less energy than this slow l1 bomb that jav, lev, and shark all come with by default (and lanc relatively early too), it's not needed. If you want to keep the bombing option on WB, start out with l2 bombs. Even those probably won't be used by me/dack/hfshadow that much but at the stage in the game where a WB can CARRY bombs, l1 isn't worth carrying in the first place. So if bombs are something you weigh when you consider how the wb's doing and if it needs anything else, please don't even factor their presence in, lol. I -MIGHT- use it if it were like a lanc bomb, used to dodge stuff when it throws you back quickly, just a thought.

Jav rockets - I can't even tell if the enemy javs have them. If they do, they need to be made more apparent/worthwile. Should be very quick acceleration, like the pub one, lasts about the same length, and goes a bit faster than top speed. Maybe these could be made more useful if jav top speed were reduced a bunch, and rockets were upgradeable to like 2 or 3 per death so rocket shots could be something they do more? I just think javs are relatively harmless right now, maybe that's intentional, but it's usually a miracle when one of them gets a bomb in the right place.

[Fluffz]

i think !lagout is broken if you dont do !return first.

me: !lagout
bot: cannot lagout, trying to return you to your army automatically
me: !lagout
bot: not registered to lagout
me: !you must be kidding i losst all my participation
bot: sucks for u

true story

[Dack Falu]

Distension> 6: High-Impact Cannon (NOT INSTALLED) 12 AVAIL!
Distension> 8: Beam-Splitter (NOT INSTALLED) 19 AVAIL!

Upgrade 7 (the higher-powered bombing systems) isn't showing up in my armory screen.