- Joined
- Jan 1, 2013
- Messages
- 772
- Reaction score
- 452
News - Jan. 9th, 2014
Schema - "I've been working on the turrets, especially the camera, so turrets for one work again, and secondly do not reset if the turret is entered. I redesigned the camera to be homogenous, which will help me use it for advanced applications. I will probably do a turret transformation save, so they don't reset each time a turret reloads. Then I may do the orientation of the docking zone (on the y axis of where it's orientated too)"
So along with the previous news items (which I will compile into an update feature list for you soon) and lots of bug fixing, Schema is fixing these issues with turrets
Happy New Years!
I hope everyone had a great holiday.
So, the news page has been slow lately; this is mostly due to Schema being with his family during the holidays and now focusing on coding/bugfixing. And no, he's not in a coma. (Silly trolls.)
I'll start by introducing myself to those who don't know me: I am Calbiri, I'm a veteran player and community member. I've been helping Schema with some system concepts in the game (more on that in a minute), and now I will also get interact with you all more than before as your PR guy.
I'll be handling some of the news posts for now, and hopefully that will mean you'll see a lot more of something, even if it is a meaningless "Nothing today, folks!"
For today, I'll just go with a few bits of news;
New Site on the horizon - Yeah, I know many of you have heard this before, but this time it's official. The site is nearing completion, and is going through some final configurations and testing. We'll get you more news on this as soon as we can.
No Patch Yet - Nope, sorry, there is no patch tonight. Schema is working hard on solving existing bugs in the game, especially those caused by the recent major code changes. That being said, you have all been extremely helpful in finding bugs in the current and recent builds, thank you!
Something to look forward to - Finally, something I've been wanting to tell you about for quite a while. There is a big new weapon system in the works. It WON'T be in the next patch, sorry. Also it will NOT break your existing weapon systems (except missiles), but some major balancing changes will occur, and must occur, for this new system to be integrated. So be ready to experiment with some new balances when the time comes!
To start, two new weapon blocks will be added to the game: Beams (AKA lasers), and Minelayers. In addition, the Pulse weapon will have damage added to it and its push/disorient affect removed. (To be used in a seperate new system, more on that another time.)
Missile blocks will be consolidated into one block type. However, you will retain access to the three tracking types via the new system.
Beams will, as their name implies, visually function like lasers/beams. They will pulse every time a damage tick occurs. (Instead of a constant beam.)
Minelayers will face a sector limit on the number of mines that can be present. Sadly, there's no other option for perfomance reasons.
Cannons (AMC's) function the same, but their stats will be established differently than you're used to. Your previous cannons may not have quite the same damage, range, rate of fire and so on, so you may need to make adjustments.
This brings us to five basic weapon types: Cannon, Missile, Beam, Pulsar, and Minelayer. However, you'll be able to combine/link these systems to acheive new effects and alter weapon behavior. This will work as a Master/Slave system. The Master system is the weapon that is actually firing. The Slave system is a weapon which has been linked to another to alter its behavior. A Slave system will no longer fire, however the Master system will have the strength of both systems' blocks combined.
By allowing each of the five basic weapons to link to each other and create hybrids, the result is 5*5 variations of weapon behavior, or 25 weapons. Some will behave very similarly, but others might offer very new approaches to combat and warfare.
Don't worry about numbers and balancing right now. We've balanced the system as much as possible for now and will just need to make adjustments based on playtesting after the release. I look forward to seeing what you guys do with these new weapons.
Thank you for playing StarMade,
- Calbiri
Schema - "I've been working on the turrets, especially the camera, so turrets for one work again, and secondly do not reset if the turret is entered. I redesigned the camera to be homogenous, which will help me use it for advanced applications. I will probably do a turret transformation save, so they don't reset each time a turret reloads. Then I may do the orientation of the docking zone (on the y axis of where it's orientated too)"
So along with the previous news items (which I will compile into an update feature list for you soon) and lots of bug fixing, Schema is fixing these issues with turrets
- Turrets should no longer be locked in place while player controlled (bug)
- Turret settings (AI) will not be reset if the turret is entered
- Camera Optimization to allow for more complex uses to be added in the future
- Turrets will no longer snap to their default orientation when they reload (this hopefully can be set to happen via AI in the future if desired) HOWEVER, you can now use C while controlling the turret to tell it to return to its default postition
- Turrets and Docked ship can now have their default orientation modified. Your docking zone will still need to avoid being Red (This should be based on the orientation of the dock block, youll get an arrow to help with that)
Happy New Years!
I hope everyone had a great holiday.
So, the news page has been slow lately; this is mostly due to Schema being with his family during the holidays and now focusing on coding/bugfixing. And no, he's not in a coma. (Silly trolls.)
I'll start by introducing myself to those who don't know me: I am Calbiri, I'm a veteran player and community member. I've been helping Schema with some system concepts in the game (more on that in a minute), and now I will also get interact with you all more than before as your PR guy.
I'll be handling some of the news posts for now, and hopefully that will mean you'll see a lot more of something, even if it is a meaningless "Nothing today, folks!"
For today, I'll just go with a few bits of news;
New Site on the horizon - Yeah, I know many of you have heard this before, but this time it's official. The site is nearing completion, and is going through some final configurations and testing. We'll get you more news on this as soon as we can.
No Patch Yet - Nope, sorry, there is no patch tonight. Schema is working hard on solving existing bugs in the game, especially those caused by the recent major code changes. That being said, you have all been extremely helpful in finding bugs in the current and recent builds, thank you!
Something to look forward to - Finally, something I've been wanting to tell you about for quite a while. There is a big new weapon system in the works. It WON'T be in the next patch, sorry. Also it will NOT break your existing weapon systems (except missiles), but some major balancing changes will occur, and must occur, for this new system to be integrated. So be ready to experiment with some new balances when the time comes!
To start, two new weapon blocks will be added to the game: Beams (AKA lasers), and Minelayers. In addition, the Pulse weapon will have damage added to it and its push/disorient affect removed. (To be used in a seperate new system, more on that another time.)
Missile blocks will be consolidated into one block type. However, you will retain access to the three tracking types via the new system.
Beams will, as their name implies, visually function like lasers/beams. They will pulse every time a damage tick occurs. (Instead of a constant beam.)
Minelayers will face a sector limit on the number of mines that can be present. Sadly, there's no other option for perfomance reasons.
Cannons (AMC's) function the same, but their stats will be established differently than you're used to. Your previous cannons may not have quite the same damage, range, rate of fire and so on, so you may need to make adjustments.
This brings us to five basic weapon types: Cannon, Missile, Beam, Pulsar, and Minelayer. However, you'll be able to combine/link these systems to acheive new effects and alter weapon behavior. This will work as a Master/Slave system. The Master system is the weapon that is actually firing. The Slave system is a weapon which has been linked to another to alter its behavior. A Slave system will no longer fire, however the Master system will have the strength of both systems' blocks combined.
By allowing each of the five basic weapons to link to each other and create hybrids, the result is 5*5 variations of weapon behavior, or 25 weapons. Some will behave very similarly, but others might offer very new approaches to combat and warfare.
Don't worry about numbers and balancing right now. We've balanced the system as much as possible for now and will just need to make adjustments based on playtesting after the release. I look forward to seeing what you guys do with these new weapons.
Thank you for playing StarMade,
- Calbiri
