Distension discussion

[Viruk]

The shark seems to level pretty slowly, even near the beginning, and the RP reward for the end of rounds isn't large enough to bring the points the shark gets anywhere close to what a fighter gets

I agree with this. At this early stage my shark has been the hardest ship for me to level up (although I have no bullets yet). Looking at the rankings seems to confirm that it isn't as easy as other ships although people do seem to be managing to get reasonable ranks.

It also seems handicapped in energy, at least as a scout, because the other ships can already spray multi-fire yellow bullets, which are one-hit deals for me right now.

Not sure what level you are but only my terrier (and hopefully soon my levi) can tank L2s. I don't think shark is disadvantaged here. Can anything other than warbirds use L2 multifire at the moment?

Whoever commented on increasing the radius for bomb damage a bit was on the money, I'd suggest doing that, if only a very small bit at first, to see if it helps without being too strong.

If this means having to increase it for all ships it is going to power up javs and levs more since they can both fire more easily than shark. I suppose repping enemy bombs would be more effective but that won't help you kill directly.

If we think that the shark should be more of a killing ship I would rather see a tiny bullet upgrade rather than a tiny bomb upgrade to reduce teamkilling. Alternatively add a tiny bit of forward thrust to the bombs to make them easier to shoot but still requiring momentum. This might make them easier to spot and avoid when rushing at someone though. Otherwise tweak the support bonus as the shark is still very effective at mining, sweeping and flag grabbing.

[DankNuggets]

So is it true that z-class gets overall less upgrade points than the other specializations? That seems a bit lame...

i think i have this right after talking about it last night, though it confuses me too.


z-class gets 10 UP per rank, others get much less (6-8).

However, the 2-4 UP less per rank is used to automatically upgrade slots 4/5.

You must use your UP to upgrade these slots with the Z-Class. This leaves less UP to use for specials and other upgrade slots.

I believe the Rank Requirements for each level of 4/5 is the same for all specializations. I could be wrong here, and if I am, then it would make the Z-Class a little better assuming it could earn higher level upgrades of 4/5 before all others of the same rank, but different specializations.

I'm assuming that with all specializations besides Z-Class, slots 4/5 are upgraded as they become available (unlocked by rank). It could be that a Rank 20 Z-Class can have 1 more upgrade of slots 4/5 than say a Rank 20 advanced scout. however, they're paying for it with earned UP, so they'd have less room for other abilities.


So in the short run, you'll have maybe one or two (or none?) possible upgrades of energy and rechage over all other specializations, assuming you spend all your UP on them, and do it immediately as they become available. By doing so you may or may not notice the difference in one upgrade of 4/5 (i don't know how many there are, it could be like +2% or it could be +10%). You will notice that you don't have any UP to spend on things like reps, portals, bursts, specials, etc.

At the extremely high ranks, you'll be able to have the maximum energy and recharge, whereas all other specializations will max out sooner at a lower top 4/5. Assuming there's more than enough UP for everything you can get, you might eventually get all those special items you originaly didn't buy.



From what I gather talking with a few others, there's probably not a lot to be gained by choosing Z-Class. A few ships (spider someone suggested) don't have to many specials to spend UP on, so you might be better off using that UP on energy or recharge. Any ship with a lot of special slots would be a bad choice, since you'd be spending your UP on slots 4/5 instead.

I know at one point someone had created a tool to 'build' your ship. Given some time (and knowledge of the exact numbers), maybe someone else will create a tool or write a guide so you can plan out specialization.

[Chao.]

The shark seems to level pretty slowly, even near the beginning, and the RP reward for the end of rounds isn't large enough to bring the points the shark gets anywhere close to what a fighter gets, and I say that knowing the requirement for them to level is a lot different. It also seems handicapped in energy, at least as a scout, because the other ships can already spray multi-fire yellow bullets, which are one-hit deals for me right now. Whoever commented on increasing the radius for bomb damage a bit was on the money, I'd suggest doing that, if only a very small bit at first, to see if it helps without being too strong.

[gdugwyler]

PH: just complaining about it is silly, and you know it. My "decisions" on the game are neither final nor definitive. In fact, they're generally arbitrary, done in (usually) small increments, and almost always in response to player suggestions. I don't play Distension. I need people to tell me about what's wrong. Along the lines of what DP posted was far more useful, but I don't need to tell you that, you wacky guy. But if you're actually looking to get it changed, it's not hard at all -- just need proper feedback. This isn't pub, where it takes a year to muddle around about a change before it's tried. In Distension we can try it out and adjust it or revert it if it causes problems. No big deal. (Others with input on the shark, please give it here if you have a chance.)

ASSS zone: it'd have to be another programmer; definitely not putting in the time for the hundred or so hours of adaptation to a different language. It's a nice idea, but Distension is a TW game. It's based on TW settings and TW basing, and its rightful home should be TW. One day we might get RoboQueen running again, PriitK willing, in which case we'd be in a much better place as far as lag goes. As it stands, it really doesn't seem too bad.

dako: Yeah, that bug's been around a while. Still need to get down to fixing it. Will try to check it out tomorrow, as well as the shark limits and the false "need a shark" notify.

Bomb radius: small to make upgrades work. L1 radius/damage is the same regardless of ship, however, so the shark is not at a disadvantage except that the bombs are a bit slow. With bullets upgraded a bit, maybe we can make it a viable ship again. Not seeing many, so it's likely it needs a change.

Chat colors: will probably stay, though I might make them brighter.

Z-Class: gets fewer total UP than the other ships (though not by much) because they can adjust their upgrades far more freely, including setting energy and recharge at the level they choose -- for example, if you need more energy to use a new weapon, you can simply upgrade it. This's quite the advantage, and to give them the equivalent amount of UP to the other ships would mean that anyone with two braincells would choose Z-Class every time -- specialization would be meaningless.

Ops: Will work on getting more. We can't have a schedule, but feel free to make requests for Distension to staff. We'll increase the number of ops in proportion to those that wish to play.

[meddi]

maybe slightly projectile bombs for shark? nothing fast, just. . . movable.

Boost+move+bomb=fast projectile bomb

[Stabwound]

So is it true that z-class gets overall less upgrade points than the other specializations? That seems a bit lame...

[project dragon]

maybe slightly projectile bombs for shark? nothing fast, just. . . movable.

[dako]

Weird bug im getting... all these PMs occured simultaneously

Distension> A slot has opened up. You may now join the battle.
Distension> DAKO authorized as a pilot of PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF MISANTHROPY. Returning you to HQ.
Distension> DAKO leaving hangars of PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF MISANTHROPY. Time played today: 0 min.
Distension> Another player wishes to enter the game; you have been removed to allow them to play.
Distension> Pilot limit reached: 40. You are in the queue to replace the pilot who has flown the longest at the end of the battle.

[StarKitty]

The chat bot needs changing.. It still tells people to go to #distension.

[Peace_Maker]

Qan is it possible to have the bot start automatically once or twice a day at certain times without an op to run it?

[meddi]

I would really love to be able to play some distension, given how much time I dedicated to playing the beta version, but I can't simply hang around online all day waiting for it to start. The last two times I tried to come online in the afternoon I spent 15 mins in spec waiting for someone to leave so I could join an army, and then the game simply ended before that even occurred.

[duel pasta]

its really hard to kill in shark, when 40 players are playing everybody will just tank the little red bullet you can shoot and the delay to shoot another one is just too big, would be better if the delay was shorter, raise the energy it takes to shoot a bullet if you want but, I would like to see a smaller delay

also bomb radius is very small which makes it even harder to kill. Lev ands Javs both have a bigger bomb radius then shark, well I can understand jav having a bigger radius, but with the weak bullets, we sharks depend on our mines and bombs. and you really have to aim your bombs REALLY well to kill someone beacuse if its misses by a little, it wont do any damage

[Peace_Maker]

Cheese!> the reason that anyone knew how to unlock wzl or lanc is because i told the secret before i knew i wasnt supposed to

So the only reason anyone has weasel is because they were told how. I think the ship should be locked or everyone should know how to get it. Opinions?

Things like this remind me of the way hyperspace is ran which was very annoying. I hope this is not the road distension is going down.

[DankNuggets]

Shark

what do you think about changing the shark limitation so that when the 1 base game is running, it's exactly the same, but when the 2 base game is running the following takes place:

Keep the maximum sharks per team at +1, but allow for two sharks when the other team has none. With 40 ppl playing, 2 sharks on one team isn't absurd or overpowering. If the other team wants to not have any sharks, that shouldn't preclude the other team from having 2 - one to defend/attack each base.

I wouldn't change it to +2 in general, the idea of one more shark than the other team works well in all scenarios except when one team has no sharks and the other is maxed out at one.



As far as the bullets go, how different are they from the beta test (around when it ended) ? My shark around then could shoot 3-4 bullets and 2-3 multi with one go. Low ranked shark isn't really supposed to be able to shoot a stream of bullets, just one or two to take down an unsuspecting, low energy opponent (or most of the time enemy sharks).

[roxxkatt]

ph, you could speed past them, or cloak in in your shark, using the bullets you STILL HAVE....



been thinking about the future of distension, here are my thoughts:

soon, it needs to be 40 player max, 2 arenas with a bot and 40 each, and a distension core, with a global ops console for each army.
there WILL be more players.

a long time from now, distension will be too big, and maybe even 2 arenas will be too big. Tw simply cant handle the message load of 2, perhaps.
soon, a asss zone will need to be set up to handle a large distension:

Cheese!> hms, i had a thought
Cheese!> we have the technology
Cheese!> to put a bot here
Cheese!> which sends anyone who enters to another zone
Cheese!> without knowing
Cheese!> and
Cheese!> we could set up a zone in asss for distension
Cheese!> and
Cheese!> we could put a bouncer bot in ?go tw in that zone
Cheese!> making it SEEM like it is still tw
Cheese!> but really 2 seperate zones
Cheese!> I THINK THIS IS A GOOD IDEA
AEn|ma> why keep distension out of TW?
Next belim is starting. Paradise has won 2 back to back! Type ?go belimbeta to play
Cheese!> because it will still BE tw
Cheese!> :>
AEn|ma> so say 300 ppl join TW
AEn|ma> 60 go to Dist
Cheese!> just in 2 different servers
AEn|ma> then there are 240 in TW
AEn|ma> are numbers important?
Cheese!> thats what the zone list will say, but there will still be 300
AEn|ma> ah, i get it
AEn|ma> different servers, same zone
AEn|ma> less lag?
Cheese!> maybe
Cheese!> running dist is a large strain on the server
AEn|ma> i could imagine
Cheese!> dist having its own server would ELIMINATE all bot lag, cuz there would be no bot
Someone bring the kryptonite to ?go duel, stayon has a 42 game winning streak in javelin! -DuelBot
AEn|ma> hockey zone has no bots, would something like what they do be helpful?
Cheese!> and it wouls still SEEM like it was tw
Cheese!> it will be like that
Cheese!> Cheese!> we could set up a zone in asss
AEn|ma> well why not just put the bot on a separate server?
Cheese!> hz is asss too
AEn|ma> ah, i see
Cheese!> because the bot sends messages
AEn|ma> i'm not savvy in this
Cheese!> and server has to handle messages
Cheese!> a LOT of messages
Orimattila> cheese is dug?
Cheese!> no
AEn|ma> gotcha, hence the 1% bonus if you turn off kill msgs from the bot
Cheese!> right, thats to help
Cheese!> but imagine getting a pub chat every time you get a green from the bot
Cheese!> EVERYONE gets a green
Cheese!> and its a message
Cheese!> A LOT
Cheese!> L
Cheese!> O
Cheese!> T
Cheese!> so what if
Cheese!> what if we made the server the bot?
Cheese!> 0 messages
Next elim is starting. Last round's winner was Stealthreaver! Type ?go elimbeta to play
Cheese!> if we did this, i think it would be best
AEn|ma> well DO IT
Next belim is starting. Last round's winner was 24! Type ?go belimbeta to play
Cheese!> cant, only dug can write the code
Cheese!> only he can optimize it for asss
AEn|ma> go to his house...and make it
AEn|ma> him
Cheese!> ...?
Cheese!> lmao
AEn|ma> where does he live? pay me and i'll do it

also:

I just shut it down LAST weekend because it was halloween.

holidays in tw are important to me, we should celebrate them, and i am PISSED that there was no map for april fools TWO YEARS IN A ROW, i loved those since i started playing.

There are still bugs to fix.

there are, and we cant FULLY turn on distensions engine till we know it wont catch on fire.

But he is in the arena 24/7, so he might as well be the bot.

if i left, and the arena was empty, scores would be erased. you have me to thank for that.

Ranking up is slow, I agree. However, this game's only been running a couple of weeks and we already have people in the low to mid 20's. The last abilities are gotten at rank 80

IT WILL TAKE A FEW YEARS TO GET TO LVL 80, DELIBERATELY. STOP COMPLAINING. UNLESS YOU WANT SHIPS TO BE RESET, OF COURSE.

Until we get 24/7 Distension we can't expect any one person to be able to provide a decent schedule of games (unless you can find a trusted insomniac Distension freak with no life). More Distension hosts please!

here i am =)
hms WE NEED A SCHEDULE! with SET TIMES, hosted ON TIME.