Weapons Demonstration: News and Discussion

[Byamarro]

I think it will be hard to force lazy users to not make cube ships. There is no purpose to use any other shape. In real life, shaped armor/hull can reduce damage, because bullets or missiles have more chances to slide sideways than penetrate.
Also shields are really broken in this game, and whatever you do to balance it, there will be always a way around it. I would see something like regenerating hull rather than magic aura around entire ship and it should be relatively easy to implement. Simply add some regeneration to hull heath. Old shield block could be used for temporary shield, hull regeneration or health boost. Bigger amount, stronger effect, but also bigger power usage and longer countdown time before you can use it again. Sometimes I think Devs are lacking creativity, and only copy ideas from Sci Fi movies... If it were up to me, I would delete shields entirely and redo armor functionality, which I did partially once as an experiment using block config file (get rid of shields, boost armor value in hull blocks and ship core), and fights were far more enjoyable.

It means repairing ship after every single fight. Shields just needs to be nerfed.

 

[RedDragonflyxx]

13 walls of text! (8 read but ow) My question is why the way to get the build is secret? It seems quite illogical to reduce the number of alpha-alpha testers (is that a term?) It was even on the old site! (http://starmadeserver.org/new-dev-build/) Can someone please tell me the reasoning behind this?

 

[Borr]

13 walls of text! (8 read but ow) My question is why the way to get the build is secret? It seems quite illogical to reduce the number of alpha-alpha testers (is that a term?) It was even on the old site! (http://starmadeserver.org/new-dev-build/) Can someone please tell me the reasoning behind this?

its not a secret, at least old players know about it. Maybe you just didn't ask where you can get latest dev build ;]

 

[rece ktore leczo]

I think it will be hard to force lazy users to not make cube ships. There is no purpose to use any other shape. In real life, shaped armor/hull can reduce damage, because bullets or missiles have more chances to slide sideways than penetrate.

And i don't think we should force anyone to build ship with certain shapes instead of the shape we don't want them to build. It's limiting and we don't like limits (in creativity)
Adding a mechanism of bullets bouncing off the armor would probably greatly increase CPU usage and make this game even more laggy.

Also shields are really broken in this game, and whatever you do to balance it, there will be always a way around it. I would see something like regenerating hull rather than magic aura around entire ship and it should be relatively easy to implement. Simply add some regeneration to hull heath. Old shield block could be used for temporary shield, hull regeneration or health boost. Bigger amount, stronger effect, but also bigger power usage and longer countdown time before you can use it again.

This magic aura prevents the need to repair the ship after every minor battle. It would be nice to have a way to repair the ship not inside buidling mode (there most likely would be an overhaul to repair beams), but anyway i don't want to loose blocks every time i get into any fight.
For me the shields work as they should, of course later they should be balanced, as right now they've got a buff to make battles last longer, but that should be done parallel to ship's health update.

Sometimes I think Devs are lacking creativity, and only copy ideas from Sci Fi movies... If it were up to me, I would delete shields entirely and redo armor functionality, which I did partially once as an experiment using block config file (get rid of shields, boost armor value in hull blocks and ship core), and fights were far more enjoyable.

Copying ideas from other sci-fi titles whether they are from movies or games means that the game can take all the best ideas and combine them to make as much immersive universe as possible.
We are used to certain archetypes: middle age theme has bows, swords, armor and usually magic, while sci-fi genre has lasers, shields, FTL and big space battles. Making something much innovative could be fresh, but not necessarily fun to play.

Armor would have some purpose in the game, probably increasing overall health of the ship, but nothing's certain right now.
And well, Devs know that they can't make everyone happy with their values of variables in config file, so they've made it customizable, so everyone can have the experience they wish to have.

 

[Byamarro]

its not a secret, at least old players know about it. Maybe you just didn't ask where you can get latest dev build ;]

Where can I get changelog to latest dev build :P?

 

[Borr]

And i don't think we should force anyone to build ship with certain shapes instead of the shape we don't want them to build. It's limiting and we don't like limits (in creativity)
Adding a mechanism of bullets bouncing off the armor would probably greatly increase CPU usage and make this game even more laggy.

Yes it will, java is CPU eating monster. I just pointed issue with cube ships there. For now there is no way to benefit from different shape witch is most important thing for PvP builders.

This magic aura prevents the need to repair the ship after every minor battle. It would be nice to have a way to repair the ship not inside buidling mode (there most likely would be an overhaul to repair beams), but anyway i don't want to loose blocks every time i get into any fight.
For me the shields work as they should, of course later they should be balanced, as right now they've got a buff to make battles last longer, but that should be done parallel to ship's health update.

You just don't getting it. Regenerating hull is like shield but directional. Also if you break the shield you can destroy ship anyway, and any armor your opponent have is useless from that moment. Imagine situation when your shields are breaking from the front, you can maneuver your ship to expose other part of your ship, but can't point your weapons, and if your ship is big and slow and your opponent is lighter, faster more maneuverable then you're probably fucked.

Copying ideas from other sci-fi titles whether they are from movies or games means that the game can take all the best ideas and combine them to make as much immersive universe as possible.
We are used to certain archetypes: middle age theme has bows, swords, armor and usually magic, while sci-fi genre has lasers, shields, FTL and big space battles. Making something much innovative could be fresh, but not necessarily fun to play.

Armor would have some purpose in the game, probably increasing overall health of the ship, but nothing's certain right now.
And well, Devs know that they can't make everyone happy with their values of variables in config file, so they've made it customizable, so everyone can have the experience they wish to have.

First of all, configs are lacking a lot of customization, trust me, I've been there, I've made a lot of tweaks to our server configs, mostly to eliminate all exploits and make fights more fun. There is no way to add certain behavior to other blocks. You can add new hull, tweak hp or armor values, change prices, add custom recipes, but that's it, nothing more.
Increasing ship hp by adding hull is lamest and laziest solution, because you can add big chunk of hull anywhere in your ship and that have no sense or any logic. Hull should protect interior.
This game needs innovations to be competitive with other sandbox games. I prefer something innovative that works than poorly executed copy of something else. The problem is that you can't make something amazing in java without cost of performance.

 

[Borr]

Where can I get changelog to latest dev build :p?

probably nowhere :P

 

[ToyotaSupra]

Where can I get changelog to latest dev build :p?

If you're asking where to get the latest dev build:
http://files.star-made.org/build/
Click on dev. Password is dev, username is dev.

 

[Ithirahad]

Increasing ship hp by adding hull is lamest and laziest solution, because you can add big chunk of hull anywhere in your ship and that have no sense or any logic. Hull should protect interior.
This game needs innovations to be competitive with other sandbox games. I prefer something innovative that works than poorly executed copy of something else.

I agree... The HP change doesn't really help hull blocks not suck against weapons, it just gives people a reason to put chunks of hull inside their ships just like they do with shields right now. :\

 

[Thriver]

Repair based off of the blueprint. Blueprints sold by players becoming part of the economy.


Currently, a little damage to multi-million credit ships can be too complex to repair causing the player to scrap the entire ship as opposed to repairing it. Players are reluctant to PVP and risk their ships unless they are filthy rich.

Change it so when a ship is damaged you repair based off of the blueprint. Nerf the shields and then let everyone go at it. Set it up so the player would need to have the spare parts in their repair ship or repair dock.

Blueprints could become physical items in the game. A copy could be pulled from a ship core like a storage slot.

Blueprints could be traded, sold, stored. They would become part of the economy. This would further a players desire to create really cool stuff as it would be more marketable/profitable. Look at how effective that was for the game Second Life a game started in 2003 with an estimated 600,000 active users.

It would probably be extremely hard for the developers to implement in the game but repairing based off of the blueprint would be nice. This would end the shield cube ships while promoting creativity, the economy, and PVP.

 

[ghettodexter]

ToyotaSupra The change log not the download read thread before posting... schema this is true... why no change log with the dev builds or bug fix log with each download.... this would be much help for us. Thriver You took my idea from the old forum.... and last dev Q/A...and before that.... yea why no blueprint repair-dock yet? IJS

 

[Rovertoo]

I'm sorry, but I can't figure out how to bind weapons together? All I've been able to do is change the color of the beam (which is awesome!).

 

[ghettodexter]

Rovertoo look at the main weapon computer block (the weapon that will fire) and press "C" you should see an orange box around the block, now look at the computer block for whatever you are "binding" to the first weapon system...D1000, AMC, Effects, and press "V" to bind them together you should see a blue box...done... but you can only bind one weapon and one effect on any main system at a time (not all systems are compatible) so one master and two slaves (secondary/effect) effect successful binds have a green box around them.

So you can do:
AMC1+AMC2+emp (connected to AMC1)
or
AMC1+emp
or
AMC+AMC
or
EMP

But you cannot:

AMC1+AMC2+EMP(connected to AMC2)
EMP+EMP
EMP+AMC
or any cobo of the sort...

Currently cannot use logic for:

Ship Docking Port

Turret Docking Port

**Directional Weapons
Will reset orientation to the direction of the ships core atfer reloading or docking the ship if fired through an activation block (used a logic clock activation block into a NOT gate into a OR gate into a delay block that goes into the same OR and NOT then from the OR gate to lastly an activation block) I made a wall of Tech lasers (repair dock) inside my ships hanger on the left wall faced the Tech PC to the right and lasers hooked up the system and flipped the switch... It worked but resetting server or client single player or docking caused it to fire in the forward direction of the ships core. I am not sure if this happens with other weapons that are activated by logic blocks.

Hull
(**wedge hidden stairs I would like this**)

Powercell

Décor blocks

Thrusters
(It would be nice to activate engines and walk about the ship)

Other things are being tested and I'm am preparing a thread on logic and weapon systems
(didn't want to spam this thread with a list of working/non blocks)

I am still testing and I don't have "inside" bug fixed/unfixed information as I'm no lead tester....just another gamer like you though a change log for dev versions would greatly help in this regard. I try to post if I don't see an issue in the forums that is on topic with a bug or what I think may be a bug in the game but a lot of times what we think are bugs can really be features. The whole hush-hush attitude about what features are to come next make it near impossible to have a change log or tell us real testers what things may or may not be bugs in the first place....

IJS damned if you do damned if you don't...... simple as that. OMG just a friggin log so I'm not re-posting fixed issues or "hijacking" threads. A simple thread on the news page at least my gosh! Let us know what is fixed what's being fixed and what is known about but not yet worked on and you don't have to release your secret projects until they are ready unless they must be implement early for testing purposes. my opinion.

 

[canadianchuck]

I'm sorry, but I can't figure out how to bind weapons together? All I've been able to do is change the color of the beam (which is awesome!).

How did you change beam color?

 

[ghettodexter]

canadianchuck Place a plex light underneath the computer of the weapon use like to see the color on red/blue/green/yellow/haven't tried others yet .....other testing

 

[Rovertoo]

Thanks ghetto! Is there a place where I can find a list of all the combination and their effects? I'd really love to make a shotgun ship!

 

[ghettodexter]

Rovertoo To make a shotgun use AMC+D1000

I think on the news page you should find a thread on the weapon combos but the way things have been lately most information seems to be leaked person to person from admins testers and mods on this site down to us rather just a proper place to go and get needed information about current releases or changes and bug fixes... they seem to treat everything like it we can only know until the new release... even bug fixes in dev versions I never know what's fixed even in each version unless I post a thread and find out this issue is known and fixed... or have to scour tons of post looking for similarities... even when the site doesn't say that there are post like this there is someone to say "oh yea this is a known issue... its on thread #1363474678345 rather annoying at this point when there can just be a updateable bug list and whatnot. I'm sure we'll here "soon" or "when we its not alpha!" ...

 

[ghettodexter]

Any who Rovertoo not sure on plugging someones youtube channels but you can follow Mushroomfleet as they have so far the best explaination of the new weapon system (second video) also check out for the best logic tutorial I can find you. Your welcome Bro.
If you can help other in anyway then you should do so...
Pass it on.

 

[canadianchuck]

Thanks ghettodexter.
Rovertoo from what i know when amc is used as a support the primary weapon has an increase in rate of fire but damaged is reduced.
D1000 rockets can have support and effect blocks but it seems the other missile types cant. Though i feel like this will change in the future.
When you do an amc with Damage pulse as support you get a sphere like projectile that does a lot of damage but has a long reload time.

 

[Rovertoo]

Any who Rovertoo not sure on plugging someones youtube channels but you can follow Mushroomfleet as they have so far the best explaination of the new weapon system (second video) also check out for the best logic tutorial I can find you. Your welcome Bro.
If you can help other in anyway then you should do so...
Pass it on.

Thanks! I think I've figured it out.