Meta 2 Test Build
Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 12:09 pm
Given that people outside the closed trial are interested in building (and presumably testing) ships, I felt it only fair to release this openly.
The following executable is a non-official branch of BSF! If microscopic weasels pour out of your monitor and gnaw your ears off, it's not my fault.
Changes:
0.41
• Point Defense lists adjusted, now includes Artillery shells (but not Autocannons) for balancing purposes
• Modified bullet sprite for Particle Gun - it now looks more like an MG bullet
• Modified demeter drone sprite - now SWAized
The PG bullet was adjusted code-side to ensure maximum effectiveness. The normal bullet sprite and it's hitbox are actually around 30 pixels long which I assume is so that the chances of a successful intercept are increased. The replacement sprite is slightly wider (3px vs 2px) and shorter, but HorseMonster tells me that the CIWS functions acceptably using the current sprite.
Replacing the bullet sprite for the Particle Gun in shipmaker should not be done for any reason.
0.42
• Fixed enemy HVRs being shot down too easily by ally/player PD
• Fixed artillery shells from both sides being uninterceptable
0.43
• Autocannon-type and Vulcan-type shots are now interceptable, but are lowest priority on the PD list. This should help curb Vulcan/HVulcan-spam without resorting to having code complicated armour systems.
• HVR trails are now white.
0.44
• Preliminary Armour Rating system incorporation.
• Damage Control system modifiers should actually work now. DC repair capped at 75% rather than 100%.
• The Total HP readout on the HUD now correctly displays a % sign on the end, and will now round to the nearest integer. Hopefully. Looks like it bugs out sometimes.
• Slowed animation speed of sections to 0.25x, should allow for limited use of animated sections for situations doodads may not handle well.
• New weapon type: Flak Cannon. Modified AC with no impact damage, proximity fuse vs a single target. Shots have a half-second arm time before the fuse is active. Shrapnel penetrates armour ratings.
0.47
• "Enhanced" Armour Rating system incorporation.
• Lowered damage control repair amount.
• All Missiles gained a new Quality: Armour-Piercing.
• Ships no longer stop dead when told to start jumping out, instead retaining their momentum. Turning and acceleration are still lowered, however. Jump still can't be aborted, and I'd love to get a higher-quality warp effect as well.
• Jump out time multiplier reduced to 1.5x from 2x; time in frames now = 30+(shipsize*1.5). Size 80 = 70 frame (2⅓ second) warpout.
• Vulcans and MGs now fire "soft" bullets, which means their minimum damage is 20% normal, not 50%.
• Some other stuff I've probably forgotten?
~~
Tracking:
Almost all weapons now have an improved target tracking system, lifted from the Point Defense code. This means that guns are a hell of a lot more accurate and it makes for much bloodier fights that no longer excessively favour small, thin ships. Unfortunately that meant combat was even more brutal than before - and meta2 is shaping up to be a system where fleet casualties can be quite high. None of us had the inclination to go back and start screwing around with weapon balance, so I sat down and worked on...
Armour:
During the initial tests that were run once a few ships were floating around, both publicly and in the private team forums, it became very obvious that the Vulcan Cannons were basically the weapons to have; they pelted the target with an inescapable hail of hundreds of shots, inflicting a death of a thousand cuts on even the most durable enemy; large, high-health sections were largely worthless, and big bruiser ships just weren't worthwhile as they would be torn apart too quickly.
But no more! Initially, it was a simple hack that ignored damage below 1% of the target section's health. With a little tweaking (namely beating Silverware over the head until he got his math straight, plus a bit of duct tape) we managed to implement an armour system that scales incoming damage, and it's also based on the current health rather than total health, so sections and armour will become more vulnerable as they take more damage.
Of course, having armour is nice and all, but you need weapons that can reliably counter your enemy's armour. With that in mind, certain weapons (torpedoes, drones, artillery, missiles, and most importantly, beams) can completely ignore the armour effect, vastly improving their worth. Weak, spammy weapons now just about bounce off heavy armour. Damage for weapons that don't ignore the effect cap out at 50% normal damage - though certain weapons can be reduced to as low as 20%, as you can see in the patchnotes.
~~
Download: http://www.wyrdysm.com/arcalane/meta2/b ... 2_0.47.exe
Flak Shipmaker: http://www.wyrdysm.com/arcalane/meta2/s ... branch.exe
The following executable is a non-official branch of BSF! If microscopic weasels pour out of your monitor and gnaw your ears off, it's not my fault.
Changes:
0.41
• Point Defense lists adjusted, now includes Artillery shells (but not Autocannons) for balancing purposes
• Modified bullet sprite for Particle Gun - it now looks more like an MG bullet
• Modified demeter drone sprite - now SWAized
The PG bullet was adjusted code-side to ensure maximum effectiveness. The normal bullet sprite and it's hitbox are actually around 30 pixels long which I assume is so that the chances of a successful intercept are increased. The replacement sprite is slightly wider (3px vs 2px) and shorter, but HorseMonster tells me that the CIWS functions acceptably using the current sprite.
Replacing the bullet sprite for the Particle Gun in shipmaker should not be done for any reason.
0.42
• Fixed enemy HVRs being shot down too easily by ally/player PD
• Fixed artillery shells from both sides being uninterceptable
0.43
• Autocannon-type and Vulcan-type shots are now interceptable, but are lowest priority on the PD list. This should help curb Vulcan/HVulcan-spam without resorting to having code complicated armour systems.
• HVR trails are now white.
0.44
• Preliminary Armour Rating system incorporation.
• Damage Control system modifiers should actually work now. DC repair capped at 75% rather than 100%.
• The Total HP readout on the HUD now correctly displays a % sign on the end, and will now round to the nearest integer. Hopefully. Looks like it bugs out sometimes.
• Slowed animation speed of sections to 0.25x, should allow for limited use of animated sections for situations doodads may not handle well.
• New weapon type: Flak Cannon. Modified AC with no impact damage, proximity fuse vs a single target. Shots have a half-second arm time before the fuse is active. Shrapnel penetrates armour ratings.
0.47
• "Enhanced" Armour Rating system incorporation.
• Lowered damage control repair amount.
• All Missiles gained a new Quality: Armour-Piercing.
• Ships no longer stop dead when told to start jumping out, instead retaining their momentum. Turning and acceleration are still lowered, however. Jump still can't be aborted, and I'd love to get a higher-quality warp effect as well.
• Jump out time multiplier reduced to 1.5x from 2x; time in frames now = 30+(shipsize*1.5). Size 80 = 70 frame (2⅓ second) warpout.
• Vulcans and MGs now fire "soft" bullets, which means their minimum damage is 20% normal, not 50%.
• Some other stuff I've probably forgotten?
~~
Tracking:
Almost all weapons now have an improved target tracking system, lifted from the Point Defense code. This means that guns are a hell of a lot more accurate and it makes for much bloodier fights that no longer excessively favour small, thin ships. Unfortunately that meant combat was even more brutal than before - and meta2 is shaping up to be a system where fleet casualties can be quite high. None of us had the inclination to go back and start screwing around with weapon balance, so I sat down and worked on...
Armour:
During the initial tests that were run once a few ships were floating around, both publicly and in the private team forums, it became very obvious that the Vulcan Cannons were basically the weapons to have; they pelted the target with an inescapable hail of hundreds of shots, inflicting a death of a thousand cuts on even the most durable enemy; large, high-health sections were largely worthless, and big bruiser ships just weren't worthwhile as they would be torn apart too quickly.
But no more! Initially, it was a simple hack that ignored damage below 1% of the target section's health. With a little tweaking (namely beating Silverware over the head until he got his math straight, plus a bit of duct tape) we managed to implement an armour system that scales incoming damage, and it's also based on the current health rather than total health, so sections and armour will become more vulnerable as they take more damage.
Of course, having armour is nice and all, but you need weapons that can reliably counter your enemy's armour. With that in mind, certain weapons (torpedoes, drones, artillery, missiles, and most importantly, beams) can completely ignore the armour effect, vastly improving their worth. Weak, spammy weapons now just about bounce off heavy armour. Damage for weapons that don't ignore the effect cap out at 50% normal damage - though certain weapons can be reduced to as low as 20%, as you can see in the patchnotes.
~~
Download: http://www.wyrdysm.com/arcalane/meta2/b ... 2_0.47.exe
Flak Shipmaker: http://www.wyrdysm.com/arcalane/meta2/s ... branch.exe