FTL Captain's Edition 1.308/Inf 1.301b/EL 1.308

[katz]

Text overlapping is an issue that is surely known to you and maybe you can't do anything about it. But I'll take my chances.

[Aresmar65]

Hey guys. So I checked my load order and it is correct. My java is also 64 on my 64 laptop and up to date. Any ideas why endless loot refuses to load up now? Thanks!

[rannl]

Hey guys. So I checked my load order and it is correct. My java is also 64 on my 64 laptop and up to date. Any ideas why endless loot refuses to load up now? Thanks!

Can you post a screenshot of what happens with SMM during the patching (command line window).
Another possibility is corrupted backup files in the SMM backup directory. Delete the .dat.bak files, and try patching again.
It's hard advising you what to do if you don't have screen shot of your failures.

[Russian Rockman]

Text overlapping is an issue that is surely known to you and maybe you can't do anything about it. But I'll take my chances.

As far as that goes, i haven't tested what happens when you extend the size of the text_base "hex" image. It may fix the problem or possibly lead to other problems, but someone may want to test that, could be interesting. Only other possible solution would be to change the font size for that text as well.

[Estel]

Whoa, few days, 30 pages to read... I just finished my "homework" of reading through all of it, so, comments first, then, a overdue bug report

Also thumbs up for playing CE on Hard. How does that go?

Absolutely awesome, thanks for asking Yea, I know, you wasn't asking me, but how could I miss such a chance for shameless plug? I play on CE=AE hard since day 1 (aka, never touched anything other than hard since AE got released), and frankly, I haven't noticed it so much harder than normal... But, thats subjective thing - objectively, I get my ass kicked every time so far (although, sometimes, as far as sector 8), so it seems to be really harder, indeed.

But, all my deaths so far are definitely my fails with 'properly using/noticing on enemies' new AE stuff, so just like you, I guess that it's perfectly winnable, even without having personal voodoo relationship with RNG.

(re effectors)

Hmm, that's a good point, I guess it would be more confusing for new people to know what it actually did. Perhaps you could just make the enemy ones purple then?

I, for one, like the blue effector... Effect very much. It disable systems, it is based on Ion, so blue prompt seems fine here If you ask me, I would give all Ion-damage-type related warnings a blue color (like "Warning: Heavy Ion Field"), so one could distinguish them much easier, if playing in pause-less self-imposed mode.

- A new era: Swarm missiles can now be targeted by lvl one defense drones. Holy scrap!

Hmm. I get why you made them targetable by regular defense drone 1's now, but I always thought that was the point of those missiles. It seems like it would be hard for a basic defense drone to take out an entire swarm of tiny missiles. Why did you decide to change this now after so long?

Exactly - while I get Sleeper's motivations, I think that swarm missiles got a little pointless to use now 9at least, if you have any choice). I know, some things are just weaker than others, but here, it is a whole class of weapons that get "sell as soon as you can" tag, which seems a little off. I really liked that they have own usage niche, despite lowered system damage.

Also, I agree, that main reason why people were afraid of them, was their sound

This will not happen, but I just thought it worth mentioning. After thinking about it it would actually be kind of cool if swarm missiles had the AOE targeting affect and fired multiple projectiles at once because then they would only "partially" be shot down by defense drones and that would make sense. Actually that is one thing we do not have, an AOE missile weapon. A "flak" gun that pierces shields. Actually wouldn't a flak Crystal weapon be pretty interesting?

*khem khem*. "toldya" Sleeper. Flak mechanics for swarm weapons is so natural, that I guess you're going to get as much request for it, as it was for infinite type of game Although, *if* fake projectiles indeed can't be used (Russian Rockman's findings seems to prove otherwise), then reasoning about having them loose a swarm look is valid, indeed.

*unless* you can make their AOE really, really big (like, muuuch bigger than whole enemy ship, except for biggest cruisers), so you would still shot high number of real missiles, but only few of them would actually hit target (unless you get *extremely* lucky, which wouldn't hurt to happen once for 100 shots ). No idea if it's doable, and I think that fake projectiles variant (if confirmed to work) is better, still.

Of course all of the above is relevant, if you're really considering that mechanics transit, after all As said some... 70 pages ago ;P I think it would be natural, but, won't cry if you intend on keeping swarms a separate, vanilla-like thing.

- It is no longer possible to travel towards deeps space from sector 8, due to a game-load related bug

Aaaaaah.

Same reaction here. I *really* liked the fact, that flagship can, now, hunt you down in deep space sectors, if you linger there for too long after getting to sector 8

WHY IS THIS EVENT A THING!?<merciful snip>

BECAUSE YOU HAVE OTHER EVENTS THAT GIVE YOU FREE CREW MEMBER OR "Holy shit, weapon just floats in space" TYPE ONES!11!1!1!!

Seriously though, do you really think this event will get removed just because *you* hate it? Not to mention, that there is, actually, a blue event option thing, that negates adverse effect of this event. Still, if you hate it so much, it could motivate you to edit it out of your personal mod version, yourself. Who knows, learning how to do that could be a start of some awesome modding adventure...
---

Now, Sleepy, apart from some nonsense ramblings about typos in CE, you remember the githumb spellcheck thing, right? Haven't you considered using Gitorious for hosting CE development files? It is 100% FOSS thing, that works well with any standard Linux and windows git tool, and is used for 99,99% FOSS projects, nowadays.It would really help you getting not only spell-check, but, probably, also some usable pull request with new features In case you have doubts if CE is OK for hosting on Gitorious, don't - I've already confirmed it re licenses you give in first and they're OK, not to mention that Gitorious is very flexible (I use it for hosting HADRWARE project files, g-codes for milling in CNC of some thing I design, for example).

Also, while I understand your concerns about long update chain, could you consider returning to using torrents for hosting CE's files? Mediafire is slow and - often - temperamental, dropbox get nasty limits, and, IIRC, torrents weere just starting to get 24/7 reliable number of seeds for every new version in 24h, just when you decided to abandon that distribution model

It was really nice to get CE's set in 2 minutes worth of download time

---
Now, Bug Hunting time!

1. Quarantine sector's empty beacons offer to produce smth, even if you don't have a production augment, forcing you to choose 'change your mind" as only one possible option, and resulting in wasted empty beacon (Severity: Mionor)

2. There is this event stray, where you find someone being assaulted by space pirates in all variants and forms. If they surrender and you command Zoltan ship, then accept their surrender using blue option, event ends here - no contact attempt with "former prey" is made Considering, that white events surrender accept works OK, and that Zoltan negotiation with slavers include releasing all of them, I think that pirates and their preys deserve fix, too (Severity: Medium)

3. Effectors still lack the 0101101010 portion of their UI prompt. Actually, the keep lacking them since you have shortened UI prompts globally, despite noting that it was fixed - I think you could have forget to re-introduce poor effectors UI event to it's former glory, after all (severity: Minor)

4. Something is wrong with this engi ship:
http://s12.postimg.org/lcz61npd7/no_life_support.jpg
- despite having Life Support, it was starting to loose oxygen since first second of fight (ignore my boarding drone and his breach there, I confirmed that it gets lower and lower oxygen levels on whole ship, even before sending him). It ended with them simply suffocating (hiding in medbay due to ship-wise lack of oxygen and getting finished by b. drone, to be precise). (Severity: Medium)

5. Those guys lack option to [strike]mercilessly murder them[/strike] pirate them:
http://s12.postimg.org/i7ekbg6qz/pirating.jpg
(Severity: Minor)

Suggestions:

1. I understand why you reduced nano blast effectiveness (synergy with ammo manufacturer), but I think 1 hull point is a little to harsh. Hull Repair Drone still does 3-5, and have its synergy with drone manuf, not to mention that drone are only 2x more expensive than rockets, but allow to heal 3-5 more hull. I think that 2 points of hull repair would do well.

2. You know me enough to notice, that I'm not someone who would like making CE easier in most situations. But, I think that this lil' devil's loadout is too much for sector 2:
http://s28.postimg.org/4oe61zfaj/beacon_layer.jpg

Just to make it clear - it's Mind Control was at least lvl 2 (if not 3, judging by damage possesed Zoltan did to my other crew members), it seems that same applied to hacking. His cloak was 2 or 3, too. Add to this titanium system casing, Reverse Ion Field, and who-knows-what...

He would be a nice little boss for IF deep space entry sectors, though

/Estel

[Sleeper Service]

Hey Estel, long time no see.

But, all my deaths so far are definitely my fails with 'properly using/noticing on enemies' new AE stuff, so just like you, I guess that it's perfectly winnable, even without having personal voodoo relationship with RNG.

Good to know. Still did not even try that myself, although my Stealth C run on normal today felt surprisingly forgiving. Turned the ship into a smuggler vessel and lived comfortably by trading till I got erradicated by Lanius boarders. Blargh...

*khem khem*. "toldya" Sleeper. Flak mechanics for swarm weapons is so natural, that I guess you're going to get as much request for it, as it was for infinite type of game Although, *if* fake projectiles indeed can't be used (Russian Rockman's findings seems to prove otherwise), then reasoning about having them loose a swarm look is valid, indeed.

I agree that the mechanic would be natural seen form a purely aesthetics/lore standpoint. Still, it turns a completely functional weapon category into something completely different. I recommend you all try to get you hands on the actual Missile Flak and fool around with it a little bit to see how it handles. I strongly feel that the concept can't really work out for lower tier swarms.

I'm also not entirely happy with the fact that swarms became kind of the bottom sludge of missile weapons. But they still are not that bad. The Ogre actually still has a great power/dps ratio and there are situations where one less system damage does not matter. Just focus on how quickly enemies blast you with these and start dream about doing this yourself.

Now, Sleepy, apart from some nonsense ramblings about typos in CE, you remember the githumb spellcheck thing, right? Haven't you considered using Gitorious for hosting CE development files?

That looks promising. I'll check it out.

1. Quarantine sector's empty beacons offer to produce smth, even if you don't have a production augment, forcing you to choose 'change your mind" as only one possible option, and resulting in wasted empty beacon (Severity: Mionor)

2. There is this event stray, where you find someone being assaulted by space pirates in all variants and forms. If they surrender and you command Zoltan ship, then accept their surrender using blue option, event ends here - no contact attempt with "former prey" is made Considering, that white events surrender accept works OK, and that Zoltan negotiation with slavers include releasing all of them, I think that pirates and their preys deserve fix, too (Severity: Medium)

Noted. I'll look into it.

4. Something is wrong with this engi ship:
http://s12.postimg.org/lcz61npd7/no_life_support.jpg
- despite having Life Support, it was starting to loose oxygen since first second of fight (ignore my boarding drone and his breach there, I confirmed that it gets lower and lower oxygen levels on whole ship, even before sending him). It ended with them simply suffocating (hiding in medbay due to ship-wise lack of oxygen and getting finished by b. drone, to be precise). (Severity: Medium)

Did your pirate these guys? If so, that might have been the distress event where some merchant have not restocked enough oxygen for their journey. That is kind of the only reason I can imagine for this to happen and it obviously would be intentionally then.

1. I understand why you reduced nano blast effectiveness (synergy with ammo manufacturer), but I think 1 hull point is a little to harsh. Hull Repair Drone still does 3-5, and have its synergy with drone manuf, not to mention that drone are only 2x more expensive than rockets, but allow to heal 3-5 more hull. I think that 2 points of hull repair would do well.

There is a mark II that does repair two. The repair bombs are also meant to be the less great free repair utility thing. The nerf was made with CE Infinite in mind as well, accumulating missiles is more likely there than accumulating drones.

2. You know me enough to notice, that I'm not someone who would like making CE easier in most situations. But, I think that this lil' devil's loadout is too much for sector 2:
http://s28.postimg.org/4oe61zfaj/beacon_layer.jpg

Just to make it clear - it's Mind Control was at least lvl 2 (if not 3, judging by damage possesed Zoltan did to my other crew members), it seems that same applied to hacking. His cloak was 2 or 3, too. Add to this titanium system casing, Reverse Ion Field, and who-knows-what...

I guess that was on hard then? I'll have a look at the ship, but it does not have greater upgrade potential than regular Rebel cruisers right now. How do those look on hard anyway?

[Russian Rockman]

Wow, that Rebel Cruiser looks really menacing.

Just thought, wouldn't it be cool to come across a captured Federation AI ship? Just a normal AI drone with a fed paint job? That would be pretty cool.

Also, not sure if you saw my post about this on the R&D thread, but Sleeper have you considered adding different artillery weapons to some of the enemy ships. Maybe just really strong ones like the Rebel Capital ships and stuff, or maybe Stations!. I think artillery weapons would really mix up combat because thy would give you something to fire on other than weapons. It would be a lot harder to take out all their damaging capabilities since they would have basically two weapon rooms. And then you would have to use some different tactics which is always a good thing.

[Zaisher]

this is just a request but can you perhaps work on an... AI player ship if you have time I kind of want to see an AI ship with some kind of nano bot aug and an AI avatar crew after all its not as much fun if you need air for your crew I- err WHAT WHAT DO YOU MEAN DUNGEON WITH SKELETONS AHAHAHA

[Russian Rockman]

this is just a request but can you perhaps work on an... AI player ship if you have time I kind of want to see an AI ship with some kind of nano bot aug and an AI avatar crew after all its not as much fun if you need air for your crew I- err WHAT WHAT DO YOU MEAN DUNGEON WITH SKELETONS AHAHAHA

The AI Cruiser is based on kartoflane's Auto-Cruiser player ship!!!! Look it up and try it out. Not sure if it's been updated for AE though...

[Ker0n]

I'm posting regarding some questions i have about the CE mods. I've tried to mod FTL repeatedly with CE and ending up with a crash when the game finishes loading, a Runtime error. I've followed the mod orders in SMM and the trouble shooting instructions on the first page, but it still ends up crashing. The mod order in SMM I currently have is:

Better Planets and Backgrounds_v1.3.1
FTL Captains Edition 1.206
CE BPaB Compatibility Patch 1.0
CE Additional Music Addon 1.203
CE Infinite Addon 1.206
CE Endless Loot Addon for CE Infinite 0.96 (beta)

From top to bottom in SMM version 1.4.

Im running on windows 7 and i'm wondering if anyone who experienced this previously or knows more has any advice?
Thanks!