Subset Games Forum

Posted: **Wed Jun 17, 2015 9:35 pm**

Biohazard063 wrote:Wouldn't you be able to fix that by lengthening the projectile image with some more transparency ?

That's exactly what i meant by "unorthodox methods". I guess it wasn't really that unorthodox! haha

Biohazard063 wrote:Not just that, but when you have 3 augments and you get another, you can just throw it out as well.

Holy shit, you're right!!!!!

I totally forgot about that! I guess i'll just change the required object in the events. The program I use has a function to select all instances of a word at once and edit them simultaneously, so it's not a big deal at all.

It's like find all and replace, only more gimmicky. XD

Biohazard063 wrote:Should find some custom audio for it though...

Yeah, the sound, explosion and weapon sprite are all placeholders. The sprite's animation was meant for a beam weapon. If you look closely, the back part of those rings at the end of the weapon disappears while firing. (like on, say, the glaive beam.) ...and that sort of thing that turns orange? that makes no sense anymore! This is how it was supposed to look. I'm gonna rework the muzzle to make it look cooler and more suitable for the new version : )

...anyhow, this is the artillery's blueprint.

Code: Select all

<weaponBlueprint name="ARTILLERY_SPTX">
	<type>LASER</type>
	<title>Debilitator Cannon</title>
	<short>Debilitator</short>
	<desc>Powers a slow, high-powered cannon that fires an overcharged ion bolt. More power means faster cooldown.</desc>
	<tooltip>Artillery: Automatically fires a 4-ion-damage bolt that stuns. Pierces 1 shield.</tooltip> <!-- change these -->
	<drone_targetable>0</drone_targetable>
	<shots>1</shots>
	<damage>1</damage>
	<ion>4</ion>
	<sp>1</sp>
	<stun>5</stun>
	<fireChance>2</fireChance>
	<breachChance>0</breachChance>
	<cooldown>40</cooldown>
	<power>1</power>
	<cost>0</cost>
	<bp>5</bp>
	<rarity>0</rarity>
	<image>artillery_sptx_bolt</image>
	<launchSounds>
		<sound>sptxArtilleryFire</sound>
	</launchSounds>
	<launchSounds>
		<sound>heavyLaser1</sound>
		<sound>heavyLaser2</sound>
		<sound>heavyLaser3</sound>
	</launchSounds>
	<hitShipSounds>
		<sound>hitHull1</sound>
	</hitShipSounds>
	<hitShieldSounds>
		<sound>hitShield1</sound>
		<sound>hitShield2</sound>
		<sound>hitShield3</sound>
	</hitShieldSounds>
	<missSounds>
		<sound>miss</sound>
	</missSounds>
	<weaponArt>artillery_sptx</weaponArt> 
	<explosion>explosion_big1_ion</explosion>
</weaponBlueprint>

The cooldown is the same as the vanilla vindicator beam. Do you think i could improve the balancing on this thing? I think i stuck to this setup 'cause it seemed alright, but a second opinion would be more than welcome..!

EDIT: What about... a bolt that has a high shield piercing but less ion damage? Like 3 sp, 2 ion and 3 damage maybe..? Would 3 damage be too much, in this case? at first glance it sounds alright, but... i dunno. Let's run some tests...

EDIT2: I might go for a 2 ion, 2 damage, 2 sp thing. I could possibly remove the fire chance or the stun... but i don't know, it's a big, scary bolt! It should cause quite the damage. lol

Posted: **Wed Jun 17, 2015 11:06 pm**

Don't ion beams do double damage to shields? And shield piercing ion blasts do even more? (as it passes through the shields and ionises them and then ionises the system it hits)

Posted: **Thu Jun 18, 2015 2:12 am**

Yes, and no. An ion beam can kill near-instantaneously any number of shield layers, including the zoltan kind! Shield piercing ion blast do hit the shield while passing through it, but at least they do it only once!

I am more and more convinced that a [2 sp, 2 damage, 2 ion] blast wouldn't be too op for an artillery weapon like this.

I mean, in early game it's gonna be pretty slow, usually it would just deliver finishing blows on ship that don't really need it. In late game, it must leech up to 4 precious power bars to fire as soon as every 20 seconds, if you want it to. You can't aim it, it fires only once and it's not even guaranteed to hit. o_o It doesn't sound too good at all! (and that's good!)

...maybe 2 sp is too much? I liked the idea of using all these twos, to be honest.

maybe 1 sp is enough?
blargh i am not fond of balancing. A guide I once read on the subject read that, "when in doubt, you gotta nerf it." or something along those lines... :ϸ

Posted: **Thu Jun 18, 2015 9:11 am**

I had no idea there was actually a tag to make projectiles be (not) targetted by defense drones... makes sense that a laser of that size can't be shot down.
Same CD as the vindicator making it 50,40,30 and 20 seems fine. And changing it means a good amount of work as you'd have to change the length of the charge bars and the cooldown description. Did it a few times already myself.

Artillery is always fairly hard to balance because of the levels it has. A weapon might be underpowered on a CD of 50 and be OP at 20. Which is the point of artillery I feel.

I wouldn't mix hull damage and ion damage, those seem mutually exclusive. If you mean system damage, then I'm alright with it. (For what it's worth

)
Not entirely sure if the system damage will be dealt to both systems like the ion damage is when you have sp ions.
I think like 3/4 ion damage and 2 system damage would do well. Combined with the stun and fire chance off course.
I believe that 4 ion damage can never stack even on lvl 4 artillery. Unless the rumors that an auto-reloader decreases the CD of artillery are true...
Amount of SP, if you're not going with hull damage, it might as well have 5. Otherwise, I'd keep it indeed at 2, tops.

For the projectile image : Haven't seen anyone do it yet, hasn't been needed yet either, so there aren't any rules for the problem yet. We're entering new territory here.

For the ion beam OP'ness: You clearly haven't seen the showcase I did on this one.
The first shot destroyed the flagship's super shield and 4 shield bubbles.

Posted: **Fri Jun 19, 2015 6:22 am**

TaxiService wrote:
Biohazard063 wrote:Wouldn't you be able to fix that by lengthening the projectile image with some more transparency ?
I totally forgot about that! I guess i'll just change the required object in the events. The program I use has a function to select all instances of a word at once and edit them simultaneously, so it's not a big deal at all. It's like find all and replace, only more gimmicky. XD

Which program thingy do you have to do this?

As others know I got normal notepad (not even ++), and I am looking for a new program to work with...

Posted: **Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:57 am**

@R4: it's called Sublime Text 2. Check it out! Their homepage shows some of its orgasmic functionalities, but i made a quick video nonetheless showing the ones i happen to use the most. I totally recommend it!!!

Oh, I forgot to mention it also has stuff like tab completion, and that the ask-you-to-buy-me system is perfect for a poor faggot like myself. It gives programmers the chance to make money with it before having to spend it on the program that let them make money in the first place! It's such a sweet paradoxical system~! <3

There's also a public beta for sublime text 3 that adds even more awesome stuff; or so i heard. I never really looked into it, but i've been told it's gr8!

Posted: **Sat Jun 20, 2015 2:51 am**

TaxiService wrote:@R4: it's called Sublime Text 2. Check it out! Their homepage shows some of its orgasmic functionalities, but i made a quick video nonetheless showing the ones i happen to use the most. I totally recommend it!!!

Oh, I forgot to mention it also has stuff like tab completion, and that the ask-you-to-buy-me system is perfect for a poor faggot like myself. It gives programmers the chance to make money with it before having to spend it on the program that let them make money in the first place! It's such a sweet paradoxical system~! <3

There's also a public beta for sublime text 3 that adds even more awesome stuff; or so i heard. I never really looked into it, but i've been told it's gr8!

Using it now. I do not really have the money to pay for it, however I could say I nerdgasmed at the ease of using it! I do things in 15 minutes what earlier took me 1 week of a couple hours working on coding before!
Animation coding for me is now extremely easier then normal blueprints which if I told myself that a month ago I would accuse the future self of being a lunatic!

Where has this been all my life... I feel like I can just go on and make my own game right now xD

Posted: **Sat Jun 20, 2015 11:13 am**

I have issues with my batch of weapons I made recently, when I wanted to put it on SMM and run it in game it stops on SMM saying there's an error on line 1, collum 92, when I investigated it only has the name of the image for the animation sheet.

line:
<animSheet name="eb_coil_gun_1" w="192" h="131 fw="24" fh="131">weapons/eb_coil_gun_1_strip9.png</animSheet>

Is there something I'm missing here or did I derp somewhere

Posted: **Sat Jun 20, 2015 11:36 am**

You're missing the closing quote for the h attribute.

Posted: **Sat Jun 20, 2015 12:08 pm**

Cheers!

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