-
Posts
1,540 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
8
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Everything posted by Lurkily
-
Here's one I used for a feature request elsewhere. Every button and every LED is set to 'x'. The lower left LED doesn't light up because it's asking the splitter what's active, and the splitter doesn't give a fig about the button beyond the connector, right? If splitters contained not just the signals from their segment, but also the signals beyond any child connector, then that lower left LED would light up. Since the LED queries upward, the connector wouldn't be able to deliver the information to the LED, unless I misunderstand. Now imagine that button is a switch, instead. I could activate it with a keyboard command. The splitter would still remain functional, hiding the keyboard commands I issued, but the drone would respond to the state of the switch normally. I could selectively send some commands, but not others, past the splitter. Normally you have to split-off factory-built drones, otherwise they crosstalk. You can split SOME things, like weapons control into a wireless section of the drone. But if you need that weapon control to respond to logic on board the drone, perhaps linked to maneuvering, then you have some problems on your hands.
-
So hinges, motorized hinges. At once, they both have tremendous potential, and they are a tremendous disappointment. Tremendous potential because of what they can do - swing a sword, aim a gun, walk like you have legs! But also a tremendous dissappointment, because of their inability to handle these tasks well. I want to brainstorm a few ideas on how to make hinges useful. Let's run down the problems they have. 1. Speed. You can't really move them intelligently. They have one speed, and you can use very fast intervals on a timer to slow that down by rotating intermittently (which is kind of slower) but you can't really speed them up or slow them down. 2. Speed, again. You can't move intelligent assemblies quickly. To be intelligent, you need sensors as child parts. To put sensors on them, they get heavy and clumsy. To let them rotate freely (without using yet more sensorts) you have to use long connections that are inherently unstable, leaving hinged assemblies sometimes wanting to shake themselves to pieces if you move them too fast. And every sensor you put on them is as unstable as the hinge itself is. 3. Self-awareness. Hinges don't know what direction they're pointing. You can hang sensors on them, but it makes them clumsy and weird and jittery with the weight unless you make them move slowly or incrementally, which limits their responsiveness. 4. No 'smart' activation criteria. You can't move left or right ninety degrees. You can't turn to a specific angle. You can move left one second, but if you change its speed, you have to change that time, too, and everything reliant on that interval. Hinges, unless used in the simplest possible ways, almost always have the potential to 'go bad'. End up at an unexpected angle, wedged against something, switching directions too quickly until they shake apart, or grinding parts against terrain until they explode. They NEED at least the capacity for intelligent handling.
-
If you want my honest opinion, it sounds more like a toy than a tool. This is one reason I angled for a more generalized point-defense upgrade that might use pushing lasers to achieve this effect; toys and gadgets seeem out-of-character with the game, but the building blocks of toys and gadgets are very much in-character.
-
Given its similarity to enemies, and it's difference from every projectile, I've always considered them symbiotic life forms. They really don't share a lot with projectiles, beyond originating with an enemy, and moving toward you. Regardless, I just don't want players having to browse the web to find a solution, wondering if they need to use a special weapon. There is no other intangible enemy and the solution isn't obvious. In fact, they should probably cool your drone, while they're at it, to increase the chances of a player discovering the heat countermeasure by accident.
-
God that whole paragraph is a confusing mess. I'm not at home, or I'd provide pictures. Say you split a drone off to avoid crosstalk with duplicates. I'd like to have a wireless part with a switch as its child, controlling the drone's activity. Right now, it sounds like most parts query the splitter, who doesn't know what the connector's children are doing.
-
I'd like to see the parents of a connector (or the other children of those parents) to be able to see signals from the connector's children - but not signals from the brain. If parts only query upward for a signal, it sounds like the splitter upstream of a connector would have to provide the active signals generated by children of the connector.
-
Whatever they're called, yes, those. They're the only particle enemy in the game, that I'm aware of.
-
So to make a wireless part not act like a splitter, you would just need to have a splitter part also collect the active signals from the children of a wireless part, if any, and list them in its hub? Then wireless signals would only be accessible by children of the wireless part, but those children could generate signals that could cross the wireless part, and a wireless keypress could activate control in a split -off drone, such as sending a 'cease bombing' signal to a bomber fleet.
-
The magma motes; they might convince a player that a swarm could be and should be shot at.
-
Which is why I thought you'd like to lend your voice and/ or vote there, along with anybody else reading this. I didn't link you there because I thought you were wrong. I do think allowing signals not generated wirelessly to cross to a wireless parts parents is a good option 4 though. It's the one I favor. I think it carries the potential to provide a simple logic solution to most wireless problems.
-
Huh. We do Have particle -like enemies, though, that can be shot. I think we might want to avoid training players in the idea that weapons can attack that kind of enemy, them betraying the expectation. That's largely the only part of that model I object to.
-
Discussion about logic has sometimes been confused by not understanding logic - some suggestions are feasible or silly based on certain criteria. The question is, how does logic propagate? Does it propagate? Or does a part just query for all connected signals? Or are segments of the hierarchy, separated by splitters and wireless parts, assigned to 'signal regions' determining what signals to respect, or not? This is mostly a curiosity, but I feel it could help avoid some logic suggestions from getting derailed by ill informed ideas of feasibility.
-
First, I think air resistance should scale wind effects primarily, and resistance to motion should be cut down. I think dangerous wind and weather is more interesting, dangerous, and fun than just having to pilot a slow drone or slap more thrusters on. Weather is something you can fight, be buffeted and destroyed by, or even ride to your advantage. Dealing with it can be both a design game and a skill game. My suggestion is to divide the world into nine parts. The inner circle, effectively underground, would be one part. The ground layer might run from -5 to 25 altitude, a drone's general area of operation, and would be divided into four segments. The upper atmosphere, maybe 25-75 would have a different four segments, call it the jetstream. These regions would move, rotate at different rates, to keep their borders from becoming predictable. Any of these segments could have wind blowing left or right - the likelihood of one direction or the other determined by the planet. Where winds meet, you get an updraft at the ground layer, downdraft in the jetstream. Between opposing winds would also be interesting between higher and lower layers - they would try to twist and tumble you. Tornados could form if opposing winds are strong enough. I would have them exert a force on any drone part nearby. Pull it one direction until the highest ranking attached parent crosses the tornado - then reverse the force, so the back-and forth simulates circling the funnel. Very large drones would be under particular strain, because part of their mass is outside the tornado's reach, and anchors it while other parts are pushed and pulled - creating a gradient of force more severe than in small craft. Storms could form, too. Maybe use updrafts to generate stormclouds that follow the wind, increase the wind, drop lightning, make the rain heat or cool your drone, depending on the planet. Use the electricity to temporarily disable drone parts. (25% chance to disable each individual connected part per strike? ) Hurricanes could be a random event that ramps up all winds and synchronizes their direction.
-
I'd prefer each part have a color setting. Muted, though. Cap the saturation, or the 'k'or each of the RGB values, or whatever scheme you use to indicate color. It'd keep colors muted enough not to confuse or his fuel/ energy/factory/signal colors.
-
@MrFaul, try this: This would be, to me, an acceptable alternative to my other request, of allowing signals to cross to the parents of a wireless part, except those generated by itself.
-
Exactly. It's challenging in design but not in gameplay, and design is tedious when its just tacking on thrusters. It might be more interesting later, when we have limited resources for parts, or a part limit, and we have to redesign more fully to be functional. I know that if I have a 20-30 part limit, I'd have a whole damn roster of drones. I still think merely slowing things down isn't the most interesting way to address it, though. I think winds and gusts, with updrafts, downdrafts, and tornados that scale up in force with air resistance would be the kind of thing you could struggle with and fight, and maybe even ride to your advantage, if you're smart. (I'll post a detailed set of feature requests soon. Ideas are happening.)
-
Half generation rate would be too much. Invulnerable is also pretty severe. I would say leave them vulnerable in space, but invulnerable while attached. Have them take 5 energy each - a small battery worth - and kill them with sub-fire heat only, providing a reason to use heaters. Have them make an approach from unusual directions, perhaps generated in and passing through terrain, to make them hard to keep them off. Oh, yes, and fuel eating variants.
-
What type of arena would you like to see next?
Lurkily replied to Alpino_WILL_STEAL_ oats!'s topic in Discussion & Feedback
On the other hand, we've only really seen their outposts. -
What new drone pieces do you want most?
Lurkily replied to ManTheMister's topic in Discussion & Feedback
Given the bug repellent, I'm venturing a guess that the autocompleter and the 'something else' were also whimsical. -
Well, I'll leave it up to the devs to decide what they think of it. My part is to give a respectful opinion and upvote or downvote, so they have the resources to do that. But I never heard of a laser sword that I didn't like. Just have to make sure it stays in character with the game.
-
Any estimate they post here is still a public estimate.
-
@Philo , You'll want to see this.
-
I love it. It fits the scene just right.
-
Does this have anything to do with "Hey baby . . . wanna bread?"
-
Looks like your game just summoned C'Thulu.