StarMade Dev Blog - The Weapons Update

    Joined
    Sep 14, 2017
    Messages
    666
    Reaction score
    928
    c/c can fire 10x per second. I doubt most people can sustain accurate click spamming nearly that fast. It semi-auto would look more like basic cannon rps, but likely be less accurate since click spamming makes pixel perfect aiming with a mouse harder.
     

    MeRobo

    Scrub
    Joined
    Apr 1, 2015
    Messages
    419
    Reaction score
    649
    • Purchased!
    • Competition Winner - Small Fleets
    • Legacy Citizen 4
    I doubt most people can sustain accurate click spamming nearly that fast.
    I wouldn't put attempts of using autoclickers to avoid this limitation of the human body out of the realm of the thinkable, especially when it comes to the starmade community.
     
    Joined
    Jul 1, 2013
    Messages
    530
    Reaction score
    348
    • Legacy Citizen 8
    • Community Content - Bronze 1
    Refire rate should definitely reflect charge level, yes. If the fastest if could possibly fire is once per second, then only ai should be able to match that 1:1 fire rate versus the basic cannon, which is acceptable. But then again does power usage also reflect charge level? Maybe that should as well.
     
    Joined
    Jan 17, 2017
    Messages
    40
    Reaction score
    46
    Damage ramp on honey-comb weapon groups. gogogo, test, cringe. One computer with a single exit point of 10 module's ~v.s~ 10 exit points totalling 10 modules (1 computer).
     
    Joined
    Sep 14, 2017
    Messages
    666
    Reaction score
    928
    I wouldn't put attempts of using autoclickers to avoid this limitation of the human body out of the realm of the thinkable, especially when it comes to the starmade community.
    Last I checked, StarMade has a utility built into it designed to prevent other applications from injecting input. While that does not mean there are not some ppl in this community that would know how to overcome that limit, it seems like an awful lot to worry about when you could literally just use a cannon/cannon instead. Even in the case of auto clickers and logic multi-plexing, capping it at the same recharge as a cannon/cannon should be good enough IMO.

    Damage ramp on honey-comb weapon groups. gogogo, test, cringe. One computer with a single exit point of 10 module's ~v.s~ 10 exit points totalling 10 modules (1 computer).
    The multi-output weapons (ranging from 10-30 outputs) I've tested so far do about 1/2 the damage as single output acid weapon for the number of blocks and do way less damage for the power cost. They still have their specific cases of usefulness, but they are no-longer ideal for raw damage or penitration.
     
    Joined
    Jan 17, 2017
    Messages
    40
    Reaction score
    46
    The multi-output weapons (ranging from 10-30 outputs) I've tested so far do about 1/2 the damage as single output acid weapon for the number of blocks and do way less damage for the power cost. They still have their specific cases of usefulness, but they are no-longer ideal for raw damage or penitration.
    I strain to see the sense in not maintaining powercost:damage delt v.s powercost:group configuration, particularly for the sake of AMT or salvage arrays. Punishing configuration seems counter intuitive given the purpose of the groups concerned. On the small ships I typically use, the power cost from the honey-comb layout v.s the same block count as a single unit pushes the reactor size needs up another tier.. so I have to scale back the beam strength in order to maintain the same area coverage... why does that make sense?
     
    Joined
    Sep 14, 2017
    Messages
    666
    Reaction score
    928
    I strain to see the sense in not maintaining powercost:damage delt v.s powercost:group configuration, particularly for the sake of AMT or salvage arrays. Punishing configuration seems counter intuitive given the purpose of the groups concerned. On the small ships I typically use, the power cost from the honey-comb layout v.s the same block count as a single unit pushes the reactor size needs up another tier.. so I have to scale back the beam strength in order to maintain the same area coverage... why does that make sense?
    Hehe, I was just stating my findings, not my opinion on them. Like I said, there are still a few practical applications for multi-output weapons; so, maybe the game will find a balance out of it, but whether they will still be a viable option will be largely determined by how the unfinished aspects of the new weapons system will balance out.
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Fays
    Joined
    Aug 21, 2015
    Messages
    7
    Reaction score
    19
    • Purchased!
    I like the recoil idea, but better if I could feel the shake while flying the ship, a very basic effect present from ship games decades ago. Something like shake % = damage/totalHP

    I still remember in Star Wars episode 3 where capital ships pound each other with fixed broadside cannons like medieval gunboats. No sense but it's cool as heck. Would be also nice if ships exploded more often instead of crumbling away like biscuits

    If cannon size = bullet size, missile size = missile HP? beam size = beam size?
    cannon depth = penetration, missile depth = missile speed?

    Could there still be short ranged weapons? Will ramming/melee builds be obsolete? I like the idea of using big ships as rams...
     

    Skwidz

    turtleStew
    Joined
    Jun 14, 2017
    Messages
    273
    Reaction score
    148
    Yeah some melee weapons would be nice. Maybe a short-range beam which terminates at a certain block distance. Maybe one of those melee beam blocks extends it one block, two extends it to two, and so on. To make it more of a melee weapon instead of a ranged weapon, the ship has to hit another with the beam, perhaps a dock with the beam which spins on a rail rotator could be a way of doing that. Also the beam would only fire straight.

    A kind of hull could also be used for ramming which could have an explosive variant but that may have to wait until the collision damage mechanic is improved.
     
    Joined
    Jul 7, 2013
    Messages
    472
    Reaction score
    156
    • Purchased!
    • Legacy Citizen 4
    Yeah some melee weapons would be nice. Maybe a short-range beam which terminates at a certain block distance. Maybe one of those melee beam blocks extends it one block, two extends it to two, and so on. To make it more of a melee weapon instead of a ranged weapon, the ship has to hit another with the beam, perhaps a dock with the beam which spins on a rail rotator could be a way of doing that. Also the beam would only fire straight.

    A kind of hull could also be used for ramming which could have an explosive variant but that may have to wait until the collision damage mechanic is improved.
    What we need is a ship-mounted equivalent of the cutting Torch. Couple that with a ship-mounted grapple beam that alligns/pulls you towards the target (assuming your ship is of a lower mass than the target). Once you've cut a neat hole in your opponent's hull and boarded their ship, you can have all the melee you want :)
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Szlfsz and Skwidz
    Joined
    May 25, 2014
    Messages
    84
    Reaction score
    22
    • Purchased!
    • Legacy Citizen 3
    • Community Content - Bronze 1
    What we need is a ship-mounted equivalent of the cutting Torch. Couple that with a ship-mounted grapple beam that alligns/pulls you towards the target (assuming your ship is of a lower mass than the target). Once you've cut a neat hole in your opponent's hull and boarded their ship, you can have all the melee you want :)
    havent tried it yet but, does the tractor beam pull you towards objects if they have a greater mass?
     

    alterintel

    moderator
    Joined
    May 24, 2015
    Messages
    869
    Reaction score
    596
    • Likeable
    • Community Content - Bronze 2
    • Legacy Citizen 3
    If the recoil is going to be a thing, maybe we can put our turrets on rails so the cannons can roll or slide back to absorb the recoil. Just like all the other big cannons in real life?
     
    Joined
    Jun 11, 2016
    Messages
    1,170
    Reaction score
    646
    If the recoil is going to be a thing, maybe we can put our turrets on rails so the cannons can roll or slide back to absorb the recoil. Just like all the other big cannons in real life?
    Sounds like a very complicated way of building ships.
     
    Joined
    Sep 18, 2014
    Messages
    622
    Reaction score
    448
    If the recoil is going to be a thing, maybe we can put our turrets on rails so the cannons can roll or slide back to absorb the recoil. Just like all the other big cannons in real life?
    I don't want to play on a slideshow game.
     

    Skwidz

    turtleStew
    Joined
    Jun 14, 2017
    Messages
    273
    Reaction score
    148
    does the size of the tractor beam, number of blocks, determine how much mass you can move?
    I'm not sure but I think so unless that's not been implimented yet. If it has I think the stronger the tractor beam is it'll be easier to move more mass while single block beams can move large ships but it would be slower and easier to escape.
    [doublepost=1525558526,1525558153][/doublepost]
    If the recoil is going to be a thing, maybe we can put our turrets on rails so the cannons can roll or slide back to absorb the recoil. Just like all the other big cannons in real life?
    I was thinking about that before. It would be pretty cool and it doesn't seem too hard to impliment. All that really needs to be added is a mechanic which makes an entity drift along the direction of the rail as if the entity was undocked and let the cannon push it after the rail's unlocked.
    I don't want to play on a slideshow game.
    With the way the rails are now the new mechanic could cause a lot of lag but we'll have to see what the possible rail performance fixes can do.
     
    Joined
    Jul 7, 2013
    Messages
    472
    Reaction score
    156
    • Purchased!
    • Legacy Citizen 4
    If the recoil is going to be a thing, maybe we can put our turrets on rails so the cannons can roll or slide back to absorb the recoil. Just like all the other big cannons in real life?
    The reason recoil was added was to try and balance an otherwise overpowered weapon. If there's an in-game work around, then the weapon remains overpowered.
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Dire Venom
    Joined
    Feb 27, 2014
    Messages
    1,074
    Reaction score
    502
    • Purchased!
    • Legacy Citizen 4
    • Top Forum Contributor
    The reason recoil was added was to try and balance an otherwise overpowered weapon. If there's an in-game work around, then the weapon remains overpowered.
    I concur, atm recoil feels very jarring and breaks the immersion a bit.
    I feel a better implementation of the concept would just be an expanding circle around the cross-hair to show the growing in-accuracy as the weapon constantly fires. Gains radius per each shot, and losses radius per each tick as well.

    That way it can be applied to the AI as well as players equally without being so in your face as it is currently.