Distension Beta Suggestions/Bugfix thread

[gdugwyler]

He's right about dev access... but Mav's given clearance for testing on dev, and we've found a way to do it without giving out the IP and port, which has become possible as of yesterday. I've modified a bot (BouncerBot) to use the new feature, and it's verified to be working. (Any interested coders wondering how it's used can see the code here: http://twcore.org/browser/trunk/twco...ouncerbot.java or check out this thread: http://forums.minegoboom.com/viewtopic.php?t=7843)

Also tried out Distension on the dev server, and it's able to get the DB records we've all worked on for quite a while now. This all means: we'll be able to test Monday on dev.

[milosh]

We can't freely hand out Dev Zone access.

[Peace_Maker]

Reworking testing: Unfortunately, billing server downtime followed by a recycle has coincided with Distension twice in the last couple of days. We need to test the game in a slightly safer environment to determine if it's a bot problem, or if it was just coincidence, since the biller going down never before occurred when Dist was running. There's a very cool way to do this without bothering people too much, and it may actually become the preferred way to test the game. But as a result, we won't be testing today (Friday) unless we get it going faster than I think we will. Monday is what we're shooting for. Sorry for the delays.

I vote to test distension in dev zone. You have enough followers to run it there and get the amount of players you need. Also this will allow distension to run longer I believe. Any time you are not working on the bot it could be up running? This will give players what they want, allowing them to play longer. Rank will be gained faster allowing us to test all upgrades faster than its current rate. If you do move the tests to dev count me in on being there when I can.

Peace

[gdugwyler]

Terrs resisting L2: Every single ship will be able to resist L2 bullets; it's just a matter of how many energy upgrades they have. At that point, it would be prudent for the WB to upgrade to L3, which should kill any ship (excepting only one) in one shot regardless of number of energy upgrades.

Weasel rankup speed: It's definitely slowed, I'll agree to that. Before it was easily advancing the fastest of any ship, which would understandably make it a lot of fun to play -- same with the Lancs when they were overpowered. I do still intend to increase them both in power very slightly, though, just to stand out a little bit when certain players do unlock them, and so make them coveted ships... might be best to do this just before the public release, so that they're mostly balanced beforehand, and so adding just a little bit won't throw it off.

Schedule: This is still not really feasible, the reason being that my own schedule is erratic, and because development takes quite a bit of time. I only have a few hours a day to work on Distension, and any time there's a bug report, it goes in before the next test run. Sometimes there are major reworkings that delay tests until later on, or cause one of them not to occur, and sometimes I have to be in at work at a certain time for a lab meeting, or have other appointments... if I had no job, maybe I could schedule it reasonably well, but until that glorious day, it stays at two tests, one starting roughly 10A-12P EST, and the other 2P-5P EST.

Reworking testing: Unfortunately, billing server downtime followed by a recycle has coincided with Distension twice in the last couple of days. We need to test the game in a slightly safer environment to determine if it's a bot problem, or if it was just coincidence, since the biller going down never before occurred when Dist was running. There's a very cool way to do this without bothering people too much, and it may actually become the preferred way to test the game. But as a result, we won't be testing today (Friday) unless we get it going faster than I think we will. Monday is what we're shooting for. Sorry for the delays.

[Nockm]

Mjollllllllllllllllllll

[Mjollnir]

Updates:
...
Mj ranking up slowly: You're level 30 and pretty much every player is below you in rank! What do you expect? Read back on what I've said a couple of times about front-runners for an explanation about why it's so hard to rank up ... the basic gist: the amount of RP required to rank up was arrived at by the number of players you kill at your rank... so if no-one is flying ships above your rank, or even at your rank, your average will be very far below that, and every single rank will take 2 or 3 times longer than it should under the "calculated" situation. In other words, pack leaders can't bitch!

I understand that concept and I have kept that in mind. I haven't even played my weasel for quite some time now to let people catch up (and because it became boring after the nerfing). My concern was with the fact that now that the weasel can kill people a lot slower than before, it is going to be much slower to level up without some kind of an extra bonus.

Anyway, I am sure you will find a nice balance for the ship if you are going to tweak it after testing the ship yourself.

[moltenrock]

So do Terriers still get that much energy to resist Lvl 2 Bullets from Warbirds?

[Burzum]

Will we be seeing some sort of schedule in the near future? It's a bit unnerving coming on at the same time on two different days and either having missed it or having to wait quite some time for it to start.

[gdugwyler]

Updates:

- The no-mine zones around flags have been reduced. Let me know if there are any problems.
- Repels returned to stock TW settings; before they gave a little more push, and lasted slightly longer.
- Warbird bullet energy costs have gone up a little: 50 more per bullet level for non-multi, and 100 more per level for Multi. You're now looking at 1000 to fire L2, and 1300 for L2 Multi. This is an attempt to push the ship back closer to its normal style -- an agile 1-hit-killer that uses up nearly all of its energy to fire, leaving it vulerable. Before, it was able to deliver one-hit kill shots in the manner of a normal WB, but have quite a bit of energy remaining for a reasonably upgraded bird. I've been playing the ship quite a bit to test the new settings, and I'm still able to make kills without too much problems on ships of higher rank... the only difference seems to be not being able to tank shots and fire, or fire and still take a red bullet afterward. It will now be much more likely to get caught in a corner by a spider that has its way with you, as it should be. The WB is meant to succeed at a distance, and fail when it gets trapped up close.

Shark bomb costs: it's the same no matter your energy requirement. However, it was upped back to 1000 recently (this might be what you're seeing).

Lag limits: I'm no expert on them. If someone wants to suggest some settings, we can try adjusting. Until then they stay as they are.

Nightwasp: With what we're already doing this can't be done.

Decoys: They all last the same amount of time, which is 10 seconds. This was greatly reduced from the previous time, to make it more of a tactical weapon rather than annoyance. Read up the thread a bit for more info.

Weasels: They're not getting any weaker than they are presently. This ship is going to be special unlock, so chances are I may actually increase its strength a bit. However, part of the reason it's a special unlock is just due to its many strange abilities. It's not a normal ship, but a special one that should only be in the hands of a few lucky players. Also, as it's been said don't be fooled into thinking that just because the weasel has port, cloak (w/o stealth until later), a rocket, and small size, it's a perfect ship. It's actually still not very easy to do well in. I'll be playing it more extensively to confirm this, and will adjust as I go. (Will be doing this for every ship.)

Levi: Levi gets L2 thrust later on for a reason: it begins to kick a lot of proverbial ass at that point. And L3 is a huge boon for it, regardless of low damage. I've been able to do decently in the Lev, and I think that the substantial number of players that continue to play it despite its setbacks testify to the fact that it's a decent ship -- at least as far as enjoyment goes.

Warbird: Is not meant to be a ship in for the long haul. It has pretty much average upgrade cost. It's meant to be middle of the road in most stuff, kind of like Mario in a cast-of-characters game such as Smash Bros or Mario Kart. It's quite a bit above "decent" right now ... even with the new energy costs for bullets, I find I can kill faster in the WB than in any other ship. The WB also receives a few extra abilities later on.

Mj ranking up slowly: You're level 30 and pretty much every player is below you in rank! What do you expect? Read back on what I've said a couple of times about front-runners for an explanation about why it's so hard to rank up ... the basic gist: the amount of RP required to rank up was arrived at by the number of players you kill at your rank... so if no-one is flying ships above your rank, or even at your rank, your average will be very far below that, and every single rank will take 2 or 3 times longer than it should under the "calculated" situation. In other words, pack leaders can't bitch!

[HateTheFake]

mj i would definately say the wb isnt overpowered. For 1 i have maybe 1/3 of my upgrades on armor. When also some ships are meant to be long term ships, dug said this earlier, the wb will take forever to upgrade and when its at level 60 it will finally be decent. But if u take a stock wb and the distension wbs they are practically the same, cept for the beam splitter and decoy.

[Mjollnir]

verg then you my friend havent been paying attention, Most of my ships are 10+, except for jav they dont really appeal to me. I definitely dont think the weasel is weak. MJs x has port cloak stealth multi l2 bullets and a rocket? I wouldn't call it weak

A little correction: I do not have stealth. The ship may well be close to okay now but I still think the leveling is way too slow (and that's why I suggested a bigger RP bonus for killing terrs before). Also with the new yellow bullet cost (that is huge) it seems the multifire is pretty useless. Even at level 30 I can't shoot 2 multis right after each other and the terrs are starting to have enough energy to survive one yellow bullet. Single bullets can be shot twice in a row though.

On the topic of strong ships and like I mentioned before, the warbird seems to be the most overpowered ship right now. It can take way too much punishment and if it doesn't shoot, no one with red bullets can kill it. Even when it does finally shoot, it's very hard to kill and if you miss your second bullet the warbird can't be killed until it shoots again.

[Vergilius]

the way it was before = with nrg draining bullets and short rockets, or the version before that? I agree that the very first version was too powerful. The one after that too weak. It is decent now, id say dont touch the weasel too much anymore. Imo the wb is more powerful than the weasel, spider and shark too, it takes a whole lot of training to fly it decently...

Stay away from my favourite ship now please I like it how it is now

[Jeenyuss]

drop the l2 bullet damage and revert the weasel back to the way it was before?

[Epic li]

I play lev because i like it, BUT i don't kill that much

wbs: they chase me, afterburner+shots isn't hard for them, i actually got killed in the neutral area, where i can get to my highest speed easily, and this wb reached me and killed me

the rest:the rest is ok=p, they die, i die, etc etc

the problem with lev is that we don't move well=(, our rotation has 20 different levels, our thrusters only upgrade every 20 levels. The only way we kill, is a lucky l2 bomb against ppl w/o full energy, or a yellow bullet that can be barely aimed=p(no chance to dodge if we are at full speed and in the right direction thought, unless you have a portal)

[HateTheFake]

verg then you my friend havent been paying attention, Most of my ships are 10+, except for jav they dont really appeal to me. I definitely dont think the weasel is weak. MJs x has port cloak stealth multi l2 bullets and a rocket? I wouldn't call it weak