Battleships Forever Info | 0.90d released 14 Apr

pwhk · Post by **pwhk** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:22 pm

th15 wrote:A lot of the values for the modules are hard coded, it's hard to make it such that you can modify everything.

Then why you have the option changing the values of modules in Ship Maker?

Post by **th15** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:47 pm

Because you can still change some.

Da_Higg · Post by **Da_Higg** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 3:14 am

I hope this 'gosling launcher' will be in the editor

Captain Trek · Post by **Captain Trek** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:05 pm

Sounds like you've been busy with the polish there, TH...

Post by **th15** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 12:19 am

New Version Released
Get it here: http://www.wyrdysm.com/games.php

Major graphics overhaul for this version. Oenone has been reverted to the old design with the wing tips. The Cronus has also been reworked. There's lots of other little changes in the graphics which add tons of polish to the game.

One of the most important new features are the objective arrows. These will point out on your screen and minimap exactly where you objectives are.

Another noticeable change are the new planets, done using Lunar Cell by Flaming Pear. You can see them in the very first mission.

I've been having some website bandwidth troubles lately, you might have noticed the site was down for about a day. My host has been kind enough to extend my bandwidth limit for this month so the site is back up. Also, the game is now mirrored on www.VictoryGames.com.pl. Thanks to Mateusz 'Eugen' Bartkowski for the hosting space!

Changelog:

Battleships Forever v0.74
-Added code to make bullets spawn exactly outside the barrel of a turret instead of on top of the turret
-Fixed a bug that caused the number of Meteors on a map to double
-Added a force fire option, with turrets selected, hold X and right click on any point to order all turrets to fire at that location. Note that you have to issue a stop command or give a new target for the turrets to stop
-Fixed a bug that caused Flak Gun shots to explode at the same range.
-Fixed a bug that occured when pressing the C key with turrets selected
-Minor cosmetic improvements to Flak Gun and Railgun
-Fixed the centering of the Railgun bullet
-Fixed the N key selecting turrets that are on intercept mode
-Optimized some textures that were needlessly large, deleted uneeded ones
-Fixed some of the menu buttons being slightly the wrong size and colour
-Tweaked the way resources are handled, should shorten loadtimes and reduce memory usage
-Fixed MegaTachyon not importing properly
-Added Gosling Launcher, this is an Alien module that fires a single bolt that successively splits into more bolts eventually resulting in a massive torrent of devastation. It's like peer-to-peer carnage.
-Gravbeams now interact differently with Demeters. It will now exert a crushing force on the Demeter, causing it to expire earlier and slow down gradually
-Fixed some minor depth issues with certain modules.
-Added some juicy physics. Ship explosions now push things around in a far more realistic manner. Tweaked the way ships move around a little too. The end result is that exploding ships produce a concussive shockwave and smaller ships are really thrown around when their sections explode.
-Added support for custom AI settings on player owned ships
-Fixed a bug that occured when shift-clicking components
-Fxied Reinforce powerup triggering on Defence Platforms and Nanomatrix Platforms
-Tmolus HP reduced slightly
-Alien Raider HP reduced
-Edited the message portraits so some characters have a little bit of rank insignia showing
-Blaster shrapnel speed increased and dispersion radius tweaked. Shrapnel no longer flies directly forward. This makes the shrapnel far more likely to hit other ships rather than hitting the same ship as the primary shot.
-Oenone and Oenone Delta faster, more agile
-Increased arcs of Blasters on Hestia Alpha
-Reduced Deflector HP
-Made it slightly harder to issue a move+faceto command, this is to prevent you accidentally overwriting your face to ship target.
-Fixed bug with Teller that stopped you from selecting anything else if you canceled a launch
-Increased turret turn rates across the board
-Reverted to the old Oenone
-Increased Beamer HP slightly
-Oenone Delta gets a Flak Gun
-Added some ship ambient noise
-Added a new particle type to enhance explosions
-Improved Interceptor weapon's range finding so that they stop trying to shoot at things just outside their range
-Tweaked damage and fire reload on Plasma Charge
-Tachyons now bounce off Deflected sections, it's really cool how they bounce around now
-Tweaked Sun rendering so that it isn't so bright
-Fixed some edge blending issues with the terrain asteroids
-Meteors split up more often
-Improved the Planet graphics and some message portraits
-Tweaked the size and depth of asteroids so that bigger, brighter ones are closer to the camera and smaller, darker ones are further away
-Adding objective pointer and warning arrows, these point out your current objectives and other points of interest
-Made Rat Hole mission easier
-HP of Nagaya's first flagship reduced by 100
-Fixed a bug in Titan mission

Ship Maker v2.3
-Fixed QuadBlasters looking a little skewed when placed
-Section depth and HP settings now only drawn if the section is moused over or selected
-Improved parenting arrow drawing so it isn't obscured by sections with custom depth
-Fixed a bug that caused ships made in the Alien ship colour to appear as the normal enemy colour
-Fixed depth bug where ships created had incorrect depth in-game

Da_Higg · Post by **Da_Higg** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 2:33 am

Nice one.

Captain Trek · Post by **Captain Trek** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 2:42 pm

Well, let's see...

Nagaya new portrait's good, if a little sterotypical, but why does Cherenkov looked kind of stunned?

Anyway, my only real complaint with this version, so far, is how far ships are sent reeling when their sections are destroyed now. 'Juicy new physics' my rear end... Seriously, not only does it look bad, with the ships bouncing around like models on strings, but it's also a bad gameplay mechanic because it takes alien ships and other vessels with poor acelleration forever to recover...

Turns out I actually like the redesigned Cronus, by the way... it's good... though I'd absolutely love for the ship to have some specail mode involving it's two new foward prongs. The way they rest partly inside the section they're parented to just begs for them to be extendable and retractable...

Post by **th15** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 11:52 am

I made the explosions that way because that's how I think it's more realistic. Explosive decompression will produce a fair amount of random thrust I think. That said though, I agree that it's a little extreme and I've toned it down a little. Here's a look at the current changelog:

v0.75
-Gave the sun a sprite
-Cleared some unneccesary sprites, should reduce memory usage a little
-Fixed the edge on one of the planet sprites
-Improved the HUD bar with a slight glow
-Zelus defaults to flanking attakck AI
-Tweaked Impeder code
-Reduced magnitude of section explosions so they don't bounce ships around as much
-Reduced the number of meteors in Grinder a little
-Reduced amount of projectiles that spawn from a single Gosling, enemy Gosling launches now create exclaimation markers
-Destroyed sections now generate a number of explosions proportionate to the size of the section. This means that sections that are scaled up will have the appropriate amount of debris generated.
-Explosions are still drawn in non-particles mode, makes it a whole lot useful
-Added Dieterling Device for Oenone Delta
-Nagaya jumps out faster in Bunker
-Changed the way the game restarts when it has to switch from surfaced mode to non-surfaced and vice versa.
-Fire Support Powerup now spawns 3 Defece Platforms (armed with Blasters) and one Flak Platform (equipped with a Flak Gun)
-Prevented Overcharge Powerup from triggering on Platforms
-Tweaked the messages so that they wrap properly instead of "jumping" the last word
-Fixed a bug in the beam code that intermittently caused an error if the Beamer was destroyed.
-Deflectors will now activate automatically when the ship is within range of an enemy ship. They will automatically protect the sections that are most likely to get shot. They are also more responsive to changing conditions now.
-Tweaked Deflector recharge rate so that it has a shorter capacity but also recharges faster
-Modules can now be selected even without pressing the Q key modifier.
-Added smoke and spark discharges to badly damaged sections

Mjolnir · Post by **Mjolnir** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 2:55 pm

Could we have an ai mode which is both broadside and flanking, ie. you move toward the ship forwards, but missing it by however much is on the AI distance, and it keeps going past, not turning.

Post by **th15** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 10:49 pm

New Version Released!
Get it here: http://www.wyrdysm.com/games.php

Finally added the Oenone Delta's Dieterling Device. This allows the ship to teleport short distances but it's inaccurate and has a tendency of turning the ship around. Therefore it's not very effective to jump toward an enemy and fire but its helps when you're trying to flank the enemy or need to get away quickly.

Ships behave more intelligently now, you can now control ship's AI settings by pressing the L key. This allows you to set your ships to automatically flank enemy ships or fire broadsides. Also, Deflector modules will anticipate when they are about to be hit and activate when in range of an enemy rather than when they get hit. Deflector modules now have a shorter duration but a much faster recharge rate. They are also more responsive in how they react to enemy fire, adjusting their protected section more quickly.

I spiced up the damage component animation a little bit by adding little smoke trails and sparks that appear on heavily damaged sections. Fixed some bugs in the missions and made some of them easier at the same time.

Da_Higg · Post by **Da_Higg** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 2:14 am

More fun!

Captain Trek · Post by **Captain Trek** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:58 pm

The Oenone delta's new device (what's with the strange name?) is a tad short ranged methinks...

Also, the new damage effects are good, but I think you need to take them a little further, with more constant effects like hull breaches or constat sparks...

Post by **th15** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 12:19 am

The Dieterling is supposed to have a secondary effect where it creates a shock wave. I forgot to put that in before releasing the last version. It's not really meant to be used offensively, it's limitations mean that it's more useful for getting out once they've fired their volley.

I'd like to make even better damage effects, but that would really hit performance so this is the best I can do.

Mechman · Post by **Mechman** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:06 am

Problem is, once the delta has fired it's volley, it's dieterling has usually already been heavily damaged/destroyed. It has such a vulnerable position, it's in the exact spot they all shoot at.

Captain Trek · Post by **Captain Trek** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:50 am

Yes, I was going to mention that. And the device being big doesn't help either...

I think maybe you should swap the delta's Dieterling with it's flak gun. I think this would make sense, after all, you would think the Dieterling would be part of the ship's engines...