Tremulous Forum
General => Feedback => Topic started by: Cadynum on January 23, 2011, 04:30:54 am
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It has already been said many times, but I feel it has to be mentioned again:
The defense computer is currently next to useless.
Here is a nice list how to make it useful:
Remove healing range restriction and remove stacked healing
Stacking is never used. Healing of forward bases would be useful.
More intelligent threat reporting
Instead of "Base is under attack" which is next to useless as it could mean almost anything (reactor getting eaten vs. forward turret getting slashed). It should contain somewhat detailed info about what's happening. We have location info in each map, lets use it. The structure getting hit could also be included.
Example: "Turret under attack at 'Long hall'"
Preferably it should be in in the normal output as centerprints are annoying, this is just my personal opinion though.
Increase healing rate
Perhaps it would be too good if every suggested change is incorporated, although i doubt it. If anything the BPs required could be upped to 10.
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YES!
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Might be too much info..
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ATM multiple DCs can be worth the BP if you have a rep base & low player count. I use double DCs in niveus, and that is with just 5 reps. In many maps you can fit more, often 7-9 (even ATCS outside can fit RC and 7 reps...), thus more buildings.
I doubt healing range and threat changes will improve it enough for people to use them in most bases (since it will cover whole base and buildings will all be in 1 area). Healing rate and hp should be increased IMO. Reporting which building gets hit could be spammy if it reports it for every building.
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F1, F1, and F1. Another idea would be to have it give back BP slightly faster.
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+1
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ATM multiple DCs can be worth the BP if you have a rep base & low player count. I use double DCs in niveus, and that is with just 5 reps. In many maps you can fit more, often 7-9 (even ATCS outside can fit RC and 7 reps...), thus more buildings.
I doubt healing range and threat changes will improve it enough for people to use them in most bases (since it will cover whole base and buildings will all be in 1 area). Healing rate and hp should be increased IMO. Reporting which building gets hit could be spammy if it reports it for every building.
I congratulate you on the day you build 7 repeaters in outside ATCS (an alien team that doesn't know how to spawn does not count). I also believe in the Niveus example you are wasting build points on DCs. I can build you a lot stronger base without any DCs and more turrets/teslas instead. Also you are highly exaggerating, 5 repeaters is basically the max you can fit in a (good) base.
I build one DC max, and only because of the Base Under Attack text. In some games you do need the warning text as a lot of times you find yourself fighting the aliens pretty much alone anyways. Warning text aside, there's no reason to build one ever. The repair rate is indeed too low to be of use. Repeater DCs are useless as they do not reach all of the main base structures because DC and Reactor both have a range of 1000. DC stacking? Next to useless as no builder will ever build more than two DCs. Even then with two DCs the base defences suffer way too much. Isn't the more powerful RC zap at least useful? Turrets placed to kill aliens on top of reactor cost the same and are much more useful as they shoot aliens everywhere else, too. It isn't also particularly hard to just shoot aliens on top of reactor.
How to improve it then?
Remove healing range restriction and remove stacked healing
Stacking is never used. Healing of forward bases would be useful.
Stacking isn't used or not useful at all - true. Removing healing range restriction I disagree about, forward bases are supposed to be vulnerable since they are such a powerful tool. However the current range of 1000 is very bad and makes DCs much less useful. The range could very well be raised to 1500-2000.
More intelligent threat reporting
Instead of "Base is under attack" which is next to useless as it could mean almost anything (reactor getting eaten vs. forward turret getting slashed). It should contain somewhat detailed info about what's happening. We have location info in each map, lets use it. The structure getting hit could also be included.
Example: "Turret under attack at 'Long hall'"
Preferably it should be in in the normal output as centerprints are annoying, this is just my personal opinion though.
I like the idea very, very much. However as Uniq said it could be spammy. But then again, currently the Base Under Attack text reports every ten seconds only, and I don't see why such a limit couldn't still be there, although with only 5 seconds or so.
Another idea would be to have it give back BP slightly faster.
The BP is being already returned at a considerably fast pace, especially if you compare it to the aliens. I don't think it needs to be any faster.
Increase healing rate
Perhaps it would be too good if every suggested change is incorporated, although i doubt it. If anything the BPs required could be upped to 10.
I understand that Norf didn't want to make heavy changes but still the +1 repair rate is hardly noticeable. Still needs 1-3 points more (preferably two to make DC heal 6 points a second) for it to go to the useful section, and it still wouldn't be in the overpowered section.
One possiblity I'd like to add into Cadynum's list is to consider raising the HP of DC since currently it is so easy to destroy, although of course I'd like to see more "active" changes.
Bottom line is that some changes need to be made still, and the proper way to do it is to experiment with it a lot more. It is indeed currently next to useless and more heavy changes like what Cadynum suggested should be made. If it is needed, the changes can be downsized to the preferred point. Or you can balance it out with removing the stacking or raising the BP cost to 10 as said, or by limiting the amount of buildings it can heal.
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More intelligent threat reporting
Instead of "Base is under attack" which is next to useless as it could mean almost anything (reactor getting eaten vs. forward turret getting slashed). It should contain somewhat detailed info about what's happening. We have location info in each map, lets use it. The structure getting hit could also be included.
Example: "Turret under attack at 'Long hall'"
Preferably it should be in in the normal output as centerprints are annoying, this is just my personal opinion though.
+1, I like all the ideas and definitely this one.
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Got an idea.
Make it optional for what level or critical importance of information you receive.
Like if you want to know if turrets are exploding, rc is dead, rc is being attacked,
rc is low health, you have one node left, you have no arm, your arm is heavily damaged, your arm is under attack,
no defenses, etc.
All selectable in 3 or 4 levels of information.
1 would be critical, 4 would likely overload anyone.
Sorry for the jumbling of the post, but you get the idea.
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Dude.
Incessant Repair. Repairs constantly, completely removing the damage-to-heal threshold currently in place.
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Alternatively, a DC could heal one building at a time, and heal faster -- much like a ckit.
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Just make sure that it can't spam. For example, if a marauder starts zapping the base, humans would be overwhelmed with "<structure> under attack at <base location>" strings, and it could potentially be annoying.
-K
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Does the extra information it gives have to be active? You could have some sort of passive HUD that shows health of buildings/attack structures/whatever. Sometime like this.
:reactor::turret: firing icon
:reactor::turret: firing icon
:reactor: :reactor: zapping icon
:reactor::tesla: zapping icon
:repeater::turret:
:repeater::turret:
Optional information about other structures health
:reactor: :telenode:
:reactor: :telenode:
etc...
On the icons you could have a health bar.
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Or something like... a minimap!
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how about letting the DC cut down turret "target acquisition" time, and tesla refire rate? by like something of a third of current values. that's the kind of thing i'd expect a defense computer do. currently, it's more of a "maintenance hub" than a defense computer.
an example of what i mean would be this - using completely made up numbers as i havent looked into what the real values are
if turret "acquire target" time is 1 second, having a DC in range reduces it to .6 second
if tesla refire time is .5 of a second, having a DC in range would reduce it to .34 a second
how odd, my first post and i'm suggesting buffs for humans.
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I like the turret upgrade idea.
That or it could provide some information.
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how about a "smart" healing system?
the more damage the base as a whole has the faster the heal rate but the less damage a single building has the slower its heal rate.
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how about a "smart" healing system?
the more damage the base as a whole has the faster the heal rate but the less damage a single building has the slower its heal rate.
NO. (I like funny pictures of birds aswell). =D
Sounds well over powered, sructures have to die sometime...
Can you imagine throwing a mara at a building, get it nice and smokey, coming back and its turbo-healed back to normal?
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you obviously don't understand the concept.
the larger the base the slower the healing per one building, but the smaller the base gets the faster it heals per one building.
all that is needed to make it really balanced is the right math formula, this will take awhile.
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the right math formula
e = mc²
(no, seriously, what about calculating the healing rate relative to the building's 'mass' == faster healing for rets and slower for large buildables == balanced (?) :3)
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the right math formula
e = mc²
(no, seriously, what about calculating the healing rate relative to the building's 'mass' == faster healing for rets and slower for large buildables == balanced (?) :3)
No, absolutely not, SirDude. You really work on your IDEAS and THINK ABOUT THEM before POSTING. You are wasting people's time. What WOULD work, would be a system that focused on vital structures. Say, your RC is down to around 50% health, it will stop healing rets to boost the healing by 1.5. This is just off the top of my head, and I don't support this. The humans are OP as is. And I don't want them camping anymore than they do. However the notification system tweaks would work a hell of a lot better than what we have now.
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e = mc²
(no, seriously, what about calculating the healing rate relative to the building's 'mass' == faster healing for rets and slower for large buildables == balanced (?) :3)
No, absolutely not, SirDude.
Hey, what.
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No, absolutely not, SirDude. You really work on your IDEAS and THINK ABOUT THEM before POSTING. You are wasting people's time. What WOULD work, would be a system that focused on vital structures. Say, your RC is down to around 50% health, it will stop healing rets to boost the healing by 1.5. This is just off the top of my head, and I don't support this. The humans are OP as is. And I don't want them camping anymore than they do. However the notification system tweaks would work a hell of a lot better than what we have now.
a Large part of my post didn't get posted for some reason and i didn't word my concept right anyway, oh well.
so here it is in math.
*base health = total building health % / # of buildings*
(Default-v-base)
building A: 100% (350)hp
building B: 100% (350)hp
building C: 100% (650)hp
building D: 100% (800)Hp
Base health: 100%
heal rate = 1
(Default-^-base)
building A: 75% (262)hp
building B: 100% (350)hp
building C: 100% (650)hp
building D: 100% (800)hp
Base Health: 93%
heal rate = 7
building A: 50% (157)hp
building B: 75% (262)hp
building C: 100% (650)hp
building D: 100% (800)hp
Base Health: 81%
heal rate: 19
building A: 75% (262)hp
building B: 90% (315)hp
building C: 80% (520)hp
building D: 69% (560)Hp
Base health: 78%
heal rate = 22
building A: 100% (350)hp
building B: 100% (350)hp
building C: 100% (650)hp
building D: 23% (184)Hp
Base health: 80%
heal rate = 20
building A: 100% (350)hp :turret:
building B: 100% (350)hp :turret:
building C: 100% (350)hp :turret:
building D: 100% (350)hp :turret:
building E: 100% (350)hp :turret:
building F: 100% (250)hp :medstat:
building G: 100% (650)hp :armoury:
building H: 100% (500)hp :telenode:
building I: 100% (500)hp :telenode:
building J: 100% (1000)hp :reactor:
Base health: 100%
heal rate = 1
building A: 45% (157)hp :turret:
building B: 80% (280)hp :turret:
building C: 63% (220)hp :turret:
building D: 89% (311)hp :turret:
building E: 20% (70)hp :turret:
building F: 37% (92)hp :medstat:
building G: 55% (330)hp :armoury:
building H: 75% (375)hp :telenode:
building I: 59% (265)hp :telenode:
building J: 79% (632)hp :reactor:
Base health: 60%
heal rate = 40
The way buildings can be healed can be done in many different ways like:
-Heals building that has lost the most Hp based on % one at a time.
-Heals building that has lost the most Hp not based on % one at a time.
-*Priority buildings first* then other buildings that have lost the most Hp not based on %.
-Heal rate is divided between all buildings.
-Heal all buildings at the same time at the same rate (remember the heal rate lowers as base health rises).
-A very complex one that is not worth explaining
* = that has lost the most Hp not based on % one at a time.
*Note* Building health points are not accurate, give me some an i will make a accurate model.
**Note** Heal rate shrinks as Base Health rises
***note*** attacking lower Hp buildings makes Base % shrink faster then high Hp buildings.
****Note**** heal rate is how many points of health are healed(or to be distributed) in a repair, heal speed is undefined.
Care to correct yourself now?
Other then that i think it can be done and is a well balanced system.
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tl;dr
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Can someone explain math to me?
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Simplicity can be the best way to acomplish things in most instances.
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tl;dr
Don't worry he was just trying to sound smart.
Simplicity can be the best way to acomplish things in most instances.
This
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If you are going to do any changes at this point to the DC, might I recommend you make them small changes?
I think the following would enhance the utility of the DC and not overpower it:
- +1 Healing Rate for a total of 5
- Increase DC Healing Range from 1000 to 1500 (or a range higher than 1000 but not more than 1500)
- Enhanced "base under attack message" (building type under attack only) but ONLY for those buildings in the DC Healing Range. That is, no warning message for forwards out of range.
I think the above would be worth a try.
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First of all, the DC range isn't only the healing range, it's the whole range under which it operates (healing, RC zap boost, Base Under Attack messages). Secondly I think the healing rate increase should be +2.
That being said, your list transforms in my perverted mind into:
- +2 healing rate for a total of 6
- Increase DC range from 1000 to 1500
- Enhanced Base Under Attack message with a lower, 7000ms(?) attack period (how often it spams X at Y is under attack)
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Hold a dev at gunpoint for a possible gameplay change to see what happens with DC change?
Just kidding but it would be sweet if they tried something with it.
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Simplicity can be the best way to accomplish things in most instances.
Fix*
if that was true, then why can't we solve this issue in simple ways?
having a better warning system won't help much in normal games (around US1 size), in smaller ones it may but its not really that much helpful, just like team overlay.
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Simplicity is relative.
I had an acquaintance who is an electronics engineer that attempted to give me a grasp of how logic gates work.
Simple to him, brain freeze for me.
Perhaps we could have small icons that change color depending on their HP?
You would be able to select the ones you want to see and how they are displayed.
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Simplicity is relative.
I had an acquaintance who is an electronics engineer that attempted to give me a grasp of how logic gates work.
Simple to him, brain freeze for me.
Perhaps we could have small icons that change color depending on their HP?
You would be able to select the ones you want to see and how they are displayed.
+1 for good idea.
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*base health = total building health % / # of buildings*
[long explanation of what amounts to: healing_rate = undefined_constant*(100-average_percentage_damage)]
I should point out to you that this is a very naive concept because it ignores the fact that this system has feedback. Put simply, if the system were perfectly smooth (continuous damage/healing application) you'd still have to add a constant term just to allow it to heal to max in a finite time and would have to reduce the effect enough to allow buildings to ever be destroyed.
But the system is not perfectly smooth so you have a host of new problems such as when my attack takes the health to zero in one case and it dies in one go but in another case it takes it to 1 hp and in the time between hits it gains a large chunk of hp from the extreme heal rate it gained (from getting so low in health) and so takes much longer to kill. See the problem?
What was the point in having it work like this anyway? If you want the base to support itself part of the way but still require repairs for max hp then why not explicitly implement that?
if (current_hp < 0.5*full_hp) then apply_heal
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I should point out to you that this is a very naive concept because it ignores the fact that this system has feedback. Put simply, if the system were perfectly smooth (continuous damage/healing application) you'd still have to add a constant term just to allow it to heal to max in a finite time and would have to reduce the effect enough to allow buildings to ever be destroyed.
But the system is not perfectly smooth so you have a host of new problems such as when my attack takes the health to zero in one case and it dies in one go but in another case it takes it to 1 hp and in the time between hits it gains a large chunk of hp from the extreme heal rate it gained (from getting so low in health) and so takes much longer to kill. See the problem?
there would be a warm up time on how long it takes to start healing after it was attacked but i assumed you would also assume this, and if you looked at the "default" base stats you would see that the minimum heal rate is always 1 even at 100% (DOESN'T OVERHEAL).
Also, i believe you missed the line where i said heal rate equals how much Hp is repaired in one heal and that i never defined how much time there is between heals.
Do note that i never included the DC itself in the base health charts as i believe the DC should not heal its self based off of the Base health, it COULD heal itself at a slow fixed rate but i don't really know if this would have a huge impact.
What was the point in having it work like this anyway? If you want the base to support itself part of the way but still require repairs for max hp then why not explicitly implement that?
this means humans could loose their offensive capability without completely loosing their defensive capability, but to do that they must defend a weak, expensive structure with their weak weapons (assuming that they lost arm, and even then it is still a easy kill).
thus meaning aliens have to use a bit more tactics, instead of just overwhelming the base and/or wearing it down.
Do i pick the base apart 1 by 1, or do i just go for DC, or go for Arm then DC, medi, spawns?
adds more depth to base defense and attacking.
IMO> the DC doesn't need all these "extra features" or buffs, but a outright revamp.
Perhaps we could have small icons that change color depending on their HP?
You would be able to select the ones you want to see and how they are displayed.
good idea but IMO it doesn't actually "help" defend the base.
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I will admit I failed to notice that at 100% it stayed at a healing rate of 1 but I hope you understand that this tells me nothing about how it heals when it's under 100%. Also, I see why you called it "heal rate" but a better name for it would be "step difference" as it is to be added, not multiplied by. So please help me understand how this works. Am I right in saying your system is as follows:
hp_gain = round( (1 - (current_total_hp/max_total_hp))*100 )
if (apply_heal = TRUE) then (current_hp = current_hp + hp_gain)
Which, when healing a single 100hp building, gives the difference equation:
hp(n+1) = hp(n) + (100 - hp(n)) = 100 (max)
Meaning that it heals it instantly no matter what the damage (barring destruction) such that any attack that doesn't do 100 damage between heal pulses will never destroy it.
When healing a 200hp building:
hp(n+1) = hp(n) + (100 - round( hp(n)/2 )) = round( hp(n)/2 ) + 100
So if hp0 = 2 then hp1 = 101, hp2 = 151, hp3 = 176, hp4 = 188, hp5 = 194, hp6 = 197, hp7 = 199, hp8 = 200(max)
Refer to the following plot to see what this kind of progression looks like (the length of the graph is 22 steps and shows 200hp, 300hp, 400hp and 500hp buildings). The damage decreases with an exponential decay as you'd expect.
(http://i.imgur.com/BFkWD.png)
BUT if the 200hp building is being healed and damaged then the equation becomes:
hp(n+1) = round( hp(n)/2 ) + 100 - DAMAGE
which is at equilibrium when:
DAMAGE = 100 - round( hp(n)/2 )
Meaning that DAMAGE would have to be greater than 99 just to destroy a 2hp building (brought down from 200hp).
So yes, if this is going to work you'll probably need a delay of some sort.
Also I guess this will make people not repairing less of a problem, whether that's a good thing has yet to be seen.
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(http://i.imgur.com/BFkWD.png)
tl;dr, but i noticed your image failed :(
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Yes and no.
HP_gain is found in a far more simple way.
100 - Total_Base_health = HP_Gain.
IE
building A: 75% (262)hp
building B: 100% (350)hp
building C: 100% (650)hp
building D: 100% (800)hp
Base Health: 93%
(Base HP = the average of all buildings HP based on %)
100 - 93 = 7
HP_Gain=7
Thing is, You can never have only 1 building that makes up the entire base without meaning you have lost the game.
And you would need a heal delay, but only for REALLY small bases.
IMO this is a fool proof idea.
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I may as well post here that the effectiveness of +2 to healing rate can be tested for the next while on the Brindus Mod Rotation.
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Yes and no.
HP_gain is found in a far more simple way.
100 - Total_Base_health = HP_Gain.
You've written the same thing without the part that converts the base hp into a integer percentage. You've just assumed a percentage would be readily available, which it wouldn't.
Thing is, You can never have only 1 building that makes up the entire base without meaning you have lost the game.
The point of highlighting the 1 building case was to show the point at which your system is MOST effective. As you can see in the single 100hp building case, with no scaling factor the building heals to max on every single heal. The more buildings you have, the less each will affect the healing rate when damaged and the easier it will be for the aliens to overcome each in an attack. But you clearly understand how important the small base case is as you yourself pointed out, every base comes to it when it's going down.
Does the dc include it's own hp and the reactors hp in the total base hp and thus can you can even have a single building case? If so similar things can be said for small bases but the effect will be diminished.
And you would need a heal delay, but only for REALLY small bases.
Why make a special case for small bases? That just overcomplicates it. Delays already occur with alien healing and it's intuitive that the DC would have to assess damage and wait for it to stop before it can set about repairs.
What was the point in having it work like this anyway? If you want the base to support itself part of the way but still require repairs for max hp then why not explicitly implement that?
this means humans could loose their offensive capability without completely loosing their defensive capability, but to do that they must defend a weak, expensive structure with their weak weapons (assuming that they lost arm, and even then it is still a easy kill).
thus meaning aliens have to use a bit more tactics, instead of just overwhelming the base and/or wearing it down.
I don't feel like you've answered my question. Why does it need to behave in this very specific way? If you want it to be stronger when it's smaller then you can just calculate healing directly from base size. Why do you need to include information about damage?
I can see how having a healing structure at all can enrich tactical gameplay, but I don't think this particular system does anything to make the game interesting, just more arbitrarily complicated.
EDIT: Here. (http://www.mediafire.com/?ic6rhtj998ni68r) I've created a nice little excel simulation of the system which allows you to act on a single building, damaging or healing it from whatever hp you like to whatever extent you like and see what happens. Only change the values in the coloured boxes, unless you know what you're doing.
You'll notice that in some cases, changing the time of attack slightly can severely change the time of destruction (as shown in the following image).
(http://i.imgur.com/bLkco.png)
RE-EDIT: Updated simulation adding rounding to the HP. (http://www.mediafire.com/?wod920cigxrt411) Try changing the 3 under "Time of First Hit" to a 4. It goes from taking 192 ticks to 130 ticks with only a tick difference between the start of attack.
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*base health = total building health % / # of buildings*
[long explanation of what amounts to: healing_rate = undefined_constant*(100-average_percentage_damage)]
I should point out to you that this is a very naive concept because it ignores the fact that this system has feedback. Put simply, if the system were perfectly smooth (continuous damage/healing application) you'd still have to add a constant term just to allow it to heal to max in a finite time and would have to reduce the effect enough to allow buildings to ever be destroyed.
But the system is not perfectly smooth so you have a host of new problems such as when my attack takes the health to zero in one case and it dies in one go but in another case it takes it to 1 hp and in the time between hits it gains a large chunk of hp from the extreme heal rate it gained (from getting so low in health) and so takes much longer to kill. See the problem?
What was the point in having it work like this anyway? If you want the base to support itself part of the way but still require repairs for max hp then why not explicitly implement that?
if (current_hp < 0.5*full_hp) then apply_heal
Nux, just ignore him. Don't bother answering him because he just wants to seem like he's smart.
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/\It's really simple math, and I'm the chicken who cowers in the corner regarding higher math.
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You've written the same thing without the part that converts the base hp into a integer percentage. You've just assumed a percentage would be readily available, which it wouldn't.
AH, now i get at what you are saying...
Does the dc include it's own hp and the reactors hp in the total base hp and thus can you can even have a single building case? If so similar things can be said for small bases but the effect will be diminished.
If you did (reread) my post (#34) I said I didn't include the DC itself in the Base_health as i felt it could become overpowered or make it a weak point.
Why make a special case for small bases? That just overcomplicates it. Delays already occur with alien healing and it's intuitive that the DC would have to assess damage and wait for it to stop before it can set about repairs.
I was saying that a heal delay wouldn't really be necessary and only servers with low BP would (May) need it.
I don't feel like you've answered my question. Why does it need to behave in this very specific way? If you want it to be stronger when it's smaller then you can just calculate healing directly from base size. Why do you need to include information about damage?
Now I see.
Based off of the number of buildings means all buildings are worth the same amount no matter how important it that building actually is (:armoury: Vs :turret:).
doing it based off of total damage adds more depth and means some buildings are worth destroying first and others are not worth damaging till the end.
I can see how having a healing structure at all can enrich tactical gameplay, but I don't think this particular system does anything to make the game interesting, just more arbitrarily complicated.
in what way is it complicated?
complicated to defeat or to program, or both?
for a new playing i don't think it would be very hard to learn how to defeat as all it would be is, this building 1st, this 2nd, this 3rd, and just ignore these when you can.
you have to remember this, Tremulous is a niche game, the people who play it will only be people who understand/willing/wanting to understand its mechanics and love it.
That's why BattleZone, a older FPS/RTS from 1998, got a great score but sold terrible and why BattleZone II got a bad score for being water-downed version for the masses and despised by many BZ1 players.
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Nux, just ignore him. Don't bother answering him because he just wants to seem like he's smart.
It's best not to insult his intelligence if I expect a reasoned reply.
Yes, I read post #34 but "DC itself in the base health charts as i believe the DC should not heal its self based off of the Base health" doesn't tell me whether other buildings are healed using information on the DC's health. So from this I take it it's completely outside the equation? So what about the reactor and repeaters?
A heal delay IS necessary if you don't want the largely unpredictable behaviour exhibited in the excel simulation I made. It's either that or make sure that all the attack rates of all the aliens are specially tailored to minimise the problem.
I didn't say what "base size" meant, it could easily be weighted for building size by using the maximum HP value for the base (without the current hp value).
Optimal destruction order is already a problem, in a very intuitive way. You can either attack defensive structures to allow for an easy second attack, or go straight for the more costly damage (arm/nodes/reac). If you want the DC to be a bigger target this will be true as soon as it does a good job of healing the base regardless of how it does it (with some non-intuitive curve).
Just to be clear, when I say "complicated" I don't mean "lolz I don't get it" because this stuff is actually very simple for a maths graduate. It's complicated with regards to an intuitive game, which you seem to understand when you replied about tremulous being a niche game (best to be sure). I don't think tremulous being a niche game is a good reason for making the game less intuitive. I think most people would agree with me that the tremulous community growing can only mean good things and anything that hinders that better add enough to the game to be worth it. I don't feel this does. What it's most likely to add is more trouble when tweaking other values in the game due to the sensitive dependency it has shown.
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how about letting the DC cut down turret "target acquisition" time, and tesla refire rate? by like something of a third of current values. that's the kind of thing i'd expect a defense computer do. currently, it's more of a "maintenance hub" than a defense computer.
an example of what i mean would be this - using completely made up numbers as i havent looked into what the real values are
if turret "acquire target" time is 1 second, having a DC in range reduces it to .6 second
if tesla refire time is .5 of a second, having a DC in range would reduce it to .34 a second
how odd, my first post and i'm suggesting buffs for humans.
i really hate selfquoting, but why bother with healing formulas? it's a defense computer, not a maintenance hub. why not have the defense computer actually help with defending, rather than dealing with the consequences of attack? self-healing buildings should be the province of the aliens, exclusively. already humans build bases almost as fast as aliens, and are quite nearly as mobile. the racial descriptions are now quite misleading, as is the DC's name.
i'm certain that DCs would become indispensable, but not overpowered, if they sped up turret target acquisition and tesla refire rate.
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Yes. Choose simple rules that have varied and masterable effects.
Also if you want to make the DC have an area of effect or some sort of distributing scheme, make it clear to the player or don't do it at all.
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+1 at original idea; wishing there's a like button e.g. facebook
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+1 at original idea; wishing there's a like button e.g. facebook
<.< It's called the [build] button.
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If anything, the only issue the DC has is that it's a virtual alien magnet. Big, bulky, enough to completely conceal a mara, asking for trouble.
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the defense computer is great for blocking tyrants. You make a neat little trap for them using the defense computer.
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Maybe the defense computer should have a slight zap to it for defense?
Not enough to spam it but to make it more useful.
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Maybe the defense computer should have a ???slight zap??? to it for defense?
Not enough to spam it but to make it more useful.
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What about aliens? Give back hovel, but cost 6 bp, and instead of making a useless shell/baricade, why not make it increase alien buildable healing speed? I mean, the only server by which grangers can actually manually heal buildings is on KoRx, and it isn't very effective at all.
The only problem is that the model needs to be redone, so it doesn't look rediculous.