Locational damage? Absolutely not! That, IMO, makes gameplay much less lively. Instead, perhaps you could have systemic damage separated, but prioritized? What I mean is this: First, your shields go down. Then, when you get hit with shields below a certain protective minimum, your weapons systems go. Then, your targeting/radar systems fail, then propulsion, then comm systems... You get the idea. This implies, for example, that comm systems are more well-shielded than weapons.

As for propulsion, isn't EV/O Einsteinian? I know that you slow down eventually if you don't hold the accel key. Or is that just a function of system friction?

I support the structInteg thing, btw.

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God. Root. What is difference?
-Pitr

AIM: obormot345

I once made a simple ship AI, similar to the EV one, and I found out that a reasonable (like in EV) maximum speed is necessary for the AI to function correctly.
In reality, there just isn't any maximum speed. (except for the speed of light)

Consider: why should there be?
Cars have a maximum speed because their engine has to replace the speed lost by friction. But there is no friction in space.
==> There is no speed limit in space, either.

Zarquon

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"I'm beginning to see the flowers from the wrong side"

-The prophet Zarquon, shortly before passing away

I notice you implemented "my" side-side thrusters. Anyways, it's pretty cool. Maybe you could make the ships triangles so you could tell which way you were pointing.

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-Shade

"Americans want their cheese dead."
-NY Times Magazine

"Some people call magazines mags, some call 'em zines, so I just call them gazs."

(url="http://"http://www.theonion.com")The Onion, America's finest news source(/url)

Ooh, I just downloaded Build 6, very fun.
I've been practicing orbits and such, but it's very slow. Maybe you could make the gravity higher?
Also, sometimes it seems like I hit an invisible boundary that slows me way down, is this that nebula effect you were talking about (or did you not even say anything like that?)?

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-Shade

"Americans want their cheese dead."
-NY Times Magazine

"Some people call magazines mags, some call 'em zines, so I just call them gazs."

(url="http://"http://www.theonion.com")The Onion, America's finest news source(/url)

I think some indication of what direction you're moving would be nice, mostly because the stars get a bit confusing.

Also, a 'banking' would be really snazzy - the ship leaning into turns.

I've actually seen this done (in an old version of Epsilion), and it's really nice.

Also, support for Thousands of colors would REALLY be nice for us plugin-and-graphics people.. I'm sick of seeing stuff turn to **** when it's put into EV.

-Skunks

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Enginners can actually hear machines talk to them. The rattle in the car's engine teases softly, "I'll bet you can't find me." The computer hums an approving tune when the enginner writes an expecially briliant peice of computer code. The toaster says "Not yet, not yet, not yet." untill the toast pops out. An enginner who is surrounded by machines is never lonly and never judged by apperance. These are friends.

Quote

Originally posted by ShadeOfBlue:
I notice you implemented "my" side-side thrusters.;)

You even have credit for the idea in the "read me"

The gravity is configurable, it's a function of the Mass of the planet. So when making plug-ins or whatever you'll have fairly precise control of the gravity. Nebula effect? Wasn't me, I missed it also...

The wierd slow-down you experienced is most likely a bug. The gravity effect is rather complicated, involving two vector calculations for every spob (one to find the vector for the gravitational force, the other to sum that effect to the ships actual velocity) for every ship... because of this, I'm playing with ways to optimise the algorithm. It's not done yet ;).

Quote

Originally posted by Zarquon:
there is no friction in space.
==> There is no speed limit in space, either.

There IS friction in space, especially in close proximity to star systems. This is actually the entire principle behind the ram scoop. The ram scoop is a highly electrically charged device which attracts ionised particles in space. The theory is, the faster you go, the faster you'll run into stuff. It then collects these particles for whatever you would need them for (usually fusion reactors, as most of the free matter in space is hydrogen). That's why there is (or will be) a configurable system density field. It will be used to calculate the rate of fuel increase from ram scoops (based on speed * density), and be used to generate the frictional force which slows down your ship after going past it's top speed with the afterburner.

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(This message has been edited by kberg (edited 05-22-2000).)

Systematic damage sounds like a great idea. Weapons sohuld go right before comm. Will you consider implimenting a simple weapon on the main ship, and adding a triangle sprite also. Locational damage is nice, but way to hard to impliment, and will cause much confusion, unless a specific targetting system is implemented.

Also, how does the targetting system work? I press the button, but nothing happens. I must not be noticing something.

Posted yet another new build... Has some nifty new stuff, like a radar and complicated spob structure (I've only used about 2/3rds of the spob spaces in the one included system, too)

Targetting provides no visual feedback at this point. The computer will beep at you when you select a NULL target (no target). Otherwise, press the aim key and your ship will automatically align itself to whatever you have targetting. Currently that's the only way for you to find your target.

Triangle sprites... don't worry, my next goals are to finish off spob targetting support, ship/spob names (for the game panel) all by tommorow(actually, today ;)); then I'll fix whatever's causing the linking errors with weapons and re-enable weapons support. Then I'm going to add in some real sprite support.

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I'd like to see some kind of systems' damage system - not locational in the sense of being able to deliberately target certain areas, but with random possibilities for taking additional 'critical damage' once shields are down - depending on how good the ship's armour is (in EVO terms, Voinian ships would very rarely take critical damage, whereas Crescent ships would start having vital bits shot off very quickly).

I don't expect anyone else has come across the game Lunatic Fringe (came with After Dark as a screen saver once upon a time - primitive and cartoony, but some good features). In that (and it can't be the only game) as you get hit things start not to work properly, indicated by coloured lights on your status bar - your guns may start to jam and fire inaccurately, your turn jets may get stuck permanently spinning you in one direction (and you can stop yourself spinning, sometimes, but can't turn back the opposite way), your thrusters may become unreliable, you may start to get radar static, etc. This is the kind of thing that would be good.

You could also have some, more primitive shields, which occasionally leak through damage (eg. the shields in one specific area buckle and let through some fire to the hull, and then the generators compensate and cover the gap), which might just hurt armour but might cause some critical damage (so a lucky shot against a very powerful ship could damage some vital systems), while more advanced shields never leak damage until they completely go down.

Just a few thoughts

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Ja sam ovde samo zbog piva

Quote

Originally posted by Peter Cartwright:
I don't expect anyone else has come across the game Lunatic Fringe (came with After Dark as a screen saver once upon a time - primitive and cartoony, but some good features). In that (and it can't be the only game) as you get hit things start not to work properly, indicated by coloured lights on your status bar - your guns may start to jam and fire inaccurately, your turn jets may get stuck permanently spinning you in one direction (and you can stop yourself spinning, sometimes, but can't turn back the opposite way), your thrusters may become unreliable, you may start to get radar static, etc. This is the kind of thing that would be good.

That was an awesome game I wish it'd be ported to a self-contained application

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OpenGL Avara!

AIM: EVAndrewM

"I haven't seen myself lately, AndrewM."
— GreenYO, #ev

In battletech, you have exterior armor, and internal structure.

If the armor is gone, it goes into that location's intStruct. If it goes internal, there's a possibility of a Crit, or Critial hit. you roll 2D6 to see if it hit, and if it did hit, how many crits it hit.

Then, you roll to see what crit in the limb/torso/head was shot.

You can loose weapons, ammo (owie, 1 ton of machine gun ammo HURTS), engines, jumpjets, heatsinks, sensors, gyros, ect.

-Skunks

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Enginners can actually hear machines talk to them. The rattle in the car's engine teases softly, "I'll bet you can't find me." The computer hums an approving tune when the enginner writes an expecially briliant peice of computer code. The toaster says "Not yet, not yet, not yet." untill the toast pops out. An enginner who is surrounded by machines is never lonly and never judged by apperance. These are friends.

I remember lunatic fringe well...

Anyways systems damage. What would be the best way to implement it? Should there be a hierarchy? Weapons then engines then radar then ... Or should it be a probability? 10% chance that weapons get damaged from every hit with no shields? Or should the damage be completely random from a hit?

I could also try and implement locational damage (no guarantees)... If a ship gets hit from behind then the engines take damage, from the front then sensors/radar, any of the turrets damage weapons, and from the side damages turn jets...

I should have a new build posted shortly.

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Quote

Originally posted by Peter Cartwright:
**I'd like to see some kind of systems' damage system - not locational in the sense of being able to deliberately target certain areas, but with random possibilities for taking additional 'critical damage' once shields are down - depending on how good the ship's armour is (in EVO terms, Voinian ships would very rarely take critical damage, whereas Crescent ships would start having vital bits shot off very quickly).Just a few thoughts:)

<snipped>
**

So what Peter is saying, essentially, is non-prioritized systemic damage. That, of course, would have to be random. Btw, isn't that the way Rescue worked?

How about a little bit of both. Specify importance (and consequently shielding) levels for systems. Such as: every system in the same importance level (level 1 is comm, life support; level 2 is propulsion and shields; level 3 is weapons and long-range sensors) is randomized when taking damage, but level 3 is damaged before 2, and level 1 is last, since it's the most well-shielded.

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God. Root. What is difference?
-Pitr

AIM: obormot345

What I really want to ask, kberg, is this: now that spobs have gravity, what about the slingshot maneuver? In other words, using a planet's gravity to accelerate your ship around it. Is it possible under the current model? If not, can you make it possible?

Finally (suggested by a friend), how about some cool effect when you do slingshot? Such as, if you do the maneuver, and exceed a certain speed, you jump to warp or hyperspace. That would be extremely cool.

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God. Root. What is difference?
-Pitr

AIM: obormot345

So prioritised systems damage. OK, that's really easy to do actually.

The slingshot maneuver is possible, as is the braking maneuver (I'd be really impressed if anyone could do it though... ;))

I think the theory is to approach the planet from behind it's direction of movement. So if the planet is moving towards the top of your screen, approach it along a tangent that intersects with the bottom of the planet. This way the planets own momentum is reduced in order to accelerate your ship. It won't really do much though, since the planet can't accelerate you faster then your top speed, and using your standard thrusters accelerates you faster then the slingshot maneuver would.

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I've been practicing a lot with orbits and slingshots etc.. and I've gotten to where I can do a slingshot (only using my thrusters just a little so that it actually does accelerate me). What's the braking maneuver?

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-Shade

"Americans want their cheese dead."
-NY Times Magazine

"Some people call magazines mags, some call 'em zines, so I just call them gazs."

(url="http://"http://www.theonion.com")The Onion, America's finest news source(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by kberg:
**So prioritised systems damage. OK, that's really easy to do actually.

<snipped>

It won't really do much though, since the planet can't accelerate you faster then your top speed, and using your standard thrusters accelerates you faster then the slingshot maneuver would.

**

Cool, but can you consider my "levels" idea?

As for slingshot... you can't exceed your top speed?? Damn, damn, damn... I was thinking like in Star Trek... what was it, IV? And with the effect I mentioned.

Would that be too much to ask? It would, wouldn't it?

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God. Root. What is difference?
-Pitr

AIM: obormot345

Do you have a name for this project? I want to be able to call it something. Concept engine is getting a little old.

Later on, there's going to have to be an economy system required, but with constantly moving planets, how do you propose landing? It's hard to dock with a moving object that has a gravitational force to navigate with. Just a thing to be considered at a later date.

Can a planetary targeting system be implimented? With about 20 spobs in the systems that don't stay in the same place, it's hard to find them continually. A system with a text targetting box seems like the next logical step for the new spobs.

If you want a website designed, contact me. It's how I make my living.

A braking maneuver is the opposite of the slingshot. Using a planet to slow your velocity.

obormot: That was the one where they warped into the sun, causing them to go back in time? I doubt that I could put something like that in, and definately not in multiplayer. I was thinking of trying to create jump objects. A space object like a planet that opens up and swallows you ship when you go overtop of it. From that you could make wormholes, jump gates (B5 style), etc... I was also planning on making large gravitational forces damage ships; so maybe you could put a wormhole inside a star, and only be able to get to it (without dying) if you afterburnered right into the star?

Quote

Originally posted by Eytee:
Do you have a name for this project? I want to be able to call it something. Concept engine is getting a little old..

Nope, never bothered with a name yet... Something obvious springs to mind, but I'm sure it would be riddled with legal troubles (at least at this point :))

Quote

**
Later on, there's going to have to be an economy system required, but with constantly moving planets, how do you propose landing? It's hard to dock with a moving object that has a gravitational force to navigate with. Just a thing to be considered at a later date.**

I've already implemented a solution. A spob with enough gravity will actually hold your ship at it's center now. It's a little bouncy right now, but I'll work on cleaning it up.

Quote

Can a planetary targeting system be implimented? With about 20 spobs in the systems that don't stay in the same place, it's hard to find them continually. A system with a text targetting box seems like the next logical step for the new spobs.

Done and done :). I'll post the build shortly, first I need to figure out how to convert a c-string to a pascal string cleanly (I'm getting garbage right now).

Quote

**
If you want a website designed, contact me. It's how I make my living.**

Sure, if you want. I guess this project needs a good name then as well...

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'Merc' makes logical sense, as does 'Mercenaries' (sp?). Merc is, more or less, the creator for EV plugins, and Mercenaries was the working name of EV.

Also, are you planning on having this engine for solo, or pure multiplayer?

-Skunks

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Enginners can actually hear machines talk to them. The rattle in the car's engine teases softly, "I'll bet you can't find me." The computer hums an approving tune when the enginner writes an expecially briliant peice of computer code. The toaster says "Not yet, not yet, not yet." untill the toast pops out. An enginner who is surrounded by machines is never lonly and never judged by apperance. These are friends.