Ambrosia Garden Archive
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    • Beam Count/Reload

       EV Developer's Corner
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      I have a few beam weapons that I want to resemble a continuous stream of fire, but take a moment or two to shut down. To do this, I gave them equal count and reload values. However, I remember reading somewhere that a count of 1 meant one frame of fire, but a reload of one actually meant two frames of reload (one frame after the frame where the weapon is fired). Does anybody happen to know off the top of their head what I should do for values?

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      Here's what it says in the bible:

      Reload The number of frames it takes for one of this weapon to
      reload. 30 = 1 shot/sec. Smaller numbers yield faster
      reloads.

      Count The number of frames the weapon's shots travel for
      before they peter out. 30 = 1 second of life.

      So setting equal reload and count means that the beam'll flash on and off like a Christmas tree. Better to set the count high (20 or 30) and the reload low (1, or even 0). The beam'll stay on a little while after you let go of the key, but there's no delay in keeping it going. I think I've got this right.

      So when cometh Anathema Part 3?

      This post has been edited by SoItBegins : 22 December 2007 - 03:10 AM

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      Reload is actually the number of frames between shots. Hence, 0 is every frame, 1 is every other frame. Of course, it's actually 1/30 of a second, but that's largely irrelevant. If you wanted a 1-shot-per-second weapon you'd set the reload to 29.

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      I hate beams in Nova. I'm convinced that one of reload/count is in 30ths of a second while the other is in frames and have given up on trying to make beams that fire smooth and continuous with neither break nor overlap. As orca detailed, the actual reload of the weapon is the reload value plus one but it's utterly hopeless for beams.

      This post has been edited by Guy : 22 December 2007 - 04:38 AM

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      Heh, thanks for the input! I'm glad it wasn't just me that couldn't get it to fire properly. :rolleyes:

      It actually may work out though, since this particular weapon is actually made up of 4 different beams of varying color, length, width, damage, etc, so the flickering may not be a huge issue. I'll keep messing around with it.

      As for chapter 3, I really can't say. At 80 missions where the player actually does something, (not just "allocate funds here" or "set these bits and show this text") and around 110-115 total, I'm maybe halfway through the plot? Maybe less? But I'll be sure to keep folks updated when it comes closer to release.

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