DarkSpace

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[Myth]Drafell broadcasts "If you wish to join the Public Developer Discussion, please type /room join @6674"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

23:01:11 [=TB=]Enterprise: "Like I said Gid, I didn't think that kind of tech was so close at hand.."
* EVENT: 'Public Developer Discussion' event is starting now...
23:01:31 [Myth]Drafell: "Ent, it's closer than you think."
* [=TB=]Coeus has entered the room...
23:01:46 The_KotU: "well the technology has been around for a while its called an eeg
23:02:05 guiding spirit: "'hello discussion gas started"
23:02:13 [=TB=]Rocko Willis: "coeus you can be muted lol"
23:02:14 [=TB=]Enterprise: "Yes, but not economically feasible."
23:02:24 [Myth]Drafell: "Ok.Ok..."
23:02:49 [Myth]Drafell: "Lets get this started, and thank you to everyone for showing up at short notice."
23:03:31 [Myth]Drafell: "T"
23:03:47 [Myth]Drafell: "Please keep background talk to the minimum if possible."
23:03:44 [VCA]Musiq Koyaanisqatsi recruiting *FM*: "says hi"
23:04:13 [Myth]Drafell: "We will be answering questions later."
23:05:01 [Myth]Drafell: "Now... the most important question people will have is : How soon will the patch be, and how are we progressing.?"
23:06:08 [Myth]Drafell: "As some of you may know... we hit a MAJOR bug with the way the game assets are currently handled."
23:06:31 TomT: "OK now i am here"
23:06:49 [Myth]Drafell: "Partly it is due to us changing over to a different code management system."
23:08:48 [Myth]Drafell: "But essentially this bug means we have to individually edit every single asset of the game, that is every model, sound, gadget, texture... and well, everything except the code the game runs on (the game engine)."
23:09:27 Lyedtau: "(That's a lot, in case some of you are wondering)"
23:09:42 [-EsF-]=Smokey=: "o rly ?"
23:09:46 [Myth]Drafell: "Originally we were looking at being able to roll out the changes for 1.484 within a month of stable code getting to beta..."
23:10:17 [Myth]Drafell: "Beta has code which is kind of stable, but we noticed that as we changed things more stuff stopped working..."
23:11:25 TomT: "OK sorry i missed the first of this..what bug you talking about?"
23:11:44 [Myth]Drafell: "We worked out what was causing it, but it requires an estimated 60k + individual edits that have to be done manually for us to fix... and we HAVE to do this before we can continue with normal development."
23:11:57 [Myth]Drafell: "us to fix it*"
23:12:15 [=TB=]Rocko Willis: "Tom.. hold on a sec you will understand"
23:12:23 [Myth]Drafell: "As otherwise we add in the new changes, and yet more stuff will end up broken."
23:12:22 Gideon: "Question: what does fixing this get you?"
23:13:06 [Myth]Drafell: "Gideon, it means we can continue working on the balance changes without them breaking other parts of the game."
23:13:17 Gideon: "Gotcha."
23:13:40 Lyedtau: "Currently, every game asset is made up of several other assets until you get to a base level."
23:14:01 Lyedtau: "Because some of the assets are stored as a legacy file path, when we make changes to an asset, it looks for the assets in places they aren't."
23:14:34 [Myth]Drafell: "Just to clarify things.. we had completed the changes on over half of the ships before this bug became apparent. So by that time we were already committed"
23:16:57 [Myth]Drafell: "Anyway... we are about 1/4 of the way through fixing this bug..."
23:17:16 [Myth]Drafell: "It's boring, monotonous work."
23:17:37 Gideon: "How long has that 1/4 taken?"
23:17:49 [Myth]Drafell: "And you cannot expect someone to sit down for more than an hour at a time doing it."
23:18:09 [Myth]Drafell: "So far, about 60-70 man hours."
23:18:26 [VCA]Redemption*P4*(Angel Of Light): "that's a lot"
23:18:31 [=WKA=]GothThug {C?}: "wow"
23:18:42 [Myth]Drafell: "Remember, we can't work full time on this, all the devs have real life to deal with."
23:18:50 Lyedtau: "What you need to remember is that we're not paid, and unfortunately, this is a very busy time of year for both me and Drafell, so development has slowed down more than we would of liked."
23:19:00 [Myth]Drafell: "So, another 3 weeks if we could work full-time..."
23:19:40 Gideon: "Double that, or you'll burn out."
23:19:53 [Myth]Drafell: "Exactly..."
23:20:13 [Myth]Drafell: "You HAVE to take breaks, otherwise you make mistakes, and big ones."
23:20:11 Gideon: "Is F helping you?"
23:20:23 [Myth]Drafell: "currently, no."
* [LAG]DarkSpin has entered the room...
23:21:02 [Myth]Drafell: "Richard works on the core code mostly... actual content is largely down to the content developers"
23:21:04 Gideon: "Do you have all the required access to the code in order to accomplish this task?"
23:21:21 [Myth]Drafell: "and this is essentially actual content"
23:21:24 [Myth]Drafell: "Yes"
23:21:38 Gideon: "That's good. So no F choke-point there."
23:21:49 [Myth]Drafell: "Both me and Lyed have full source code access."
23:22:30 [Myth]Drafell: "But, when it comes to C++, we are both novices. Making big changes is beyond us. That's what Richard is for."
23:22:50 TomT: "question: so what does that mean to the player?"
23:23:16 [Myth]Drafell: "It means that we are working on content, and most actual issues are already fixed."
23:23:15 The_KotU: "it means your stuck with what is until there done"
23:23:18 [=WKA=]GothThug {C?}: "patience Tom"
23:23:24 [=WKA=]GothThug {C?}: "it means lots and lots of patience for us"
23:23:25 [=TB=]Rocko Willis: "let them answer"
23:23:57 TomT: "sorry i thought we were asking now..sorry"
23:24:07 [=TB=]Rocko Willis: "np"
23:24:15 [=TB=]Rocko Willis: "good question though"
23:24:16 [Myth]Drafell: "Nearly all issues with 1.483 simple cannot exist with the changes made to 1.484 as part of the fundamental design."
23:24:27 Gideon: "Sorry, I'm out of turn."
23:24:43 [Myth]Drafell: "but that doesn't mean 1.484 won't have it's own share of issues."
23:25:03 [Myth]Drafell: "Content wise, it would take us 2 weekends of work to get it done."
23:25:27 Lyedtau: "The changes we're making, although quite large in design, are very simple to implement."
23:25:36 [VCA]Redemption*P4*(Angel Of Light): "have you considered looking around for more volunteers to help"
23:25:42 [Myth]Drafell: "Another two weeks to evaluate and tweak, and then I would be confident in releasing it, providing the server code is stable"
* [S.W]Crim has entered the room...
23:26:00 [S.W]Crim: "Sorry I'm late, where's the beer?"
23:26:13 [Myth]Drafell: "But.. We cannot put a time-scale o nthe filepath issue..."
23:26:12 Lyedtau: "Redemption, unfortunately, finding trusted members of the community with good design thought process and code knowledge, is very difficult."
23:26:15 [=TB=]Rocko Willis: "not just anyone is allowed to touch the code"
23:26:32 [=TB=]Rocko Willis: "exactly"
23:26:42 [Myth]Drafell: "Anyway, where have we got to with content?"
23:26:43 [LAG]DarkSpin: "question: Will the general community still be able to host servers and custom maps?"
23:27:01 Lyedtau: "Keep background chatter to a minimum please folks."
23:27:12 [Myth]Drafell: "So far.. ALL of the playable scouts, frigates, destroyers and cruisers have their new configurations."
23:27:17 Lyedtau: "We don't mind answering the odd question in between - but we'll be answering the majority of them at the end."
23:27:32 [Myth]Drafell: "The weapon damage values are already adjusted..."
23:27:54 [=TB=]Rocko Willis: "'"
23:28:02 Gideon: "When can we expect a preview of these changes? Some movies, images, or text descriptions."
23:28:18 [Myth]Drafell: "We need to complete the changes on the Utility, transport class ships, dreadnoughts and stations."
23:28:27 [S.W]Crim: "Two Weeks™. Thought you knew that, Gideon?"
23:28:29 Lyedtau: "The dev blog consists of mostly all of the more important changes we've made so far."
23:28:36 [=TB=]Rocko Willis: "crim zip it"
23:28:42 [Myth]Drafell: "Gideon, all the configuration changes are listed in the beta forums."
23:28:45 [=TB=]Rocko Willis: ":P"
23:29:08 [Myth]Drafell: "http://beta.darkspace.net/index.htm?module=forums.php&page=/viewforum.php?forum=36&13001"
23:29:15 Gideon: "Understood, thanks."
23:29:34 [Myth]Drafell: "The top threads contain the changes to the layouts, although not the complete layouts."
23:29:58 Lyedtau: "FYI - I just sent an email off to Faustus to find out if he can find a quicker way to remove some of the problems we're having sorting through the assets."
23:30:13 [Myth]Drafell: "Also... Ship hulls have been adjusted"
23:30:11 Gideon: "Perhaps a post with that link stickied somewhere on this side, to direct the population?"
23:30:44 [Myth]Drafell: "Gideon. those lists should be linked from the dev log in release"
23:31:08 [Myth]Drafell: "http://www.darkspace.net/index.htm?lang=en&sid=0&module=log.php"
23:31:19 Gideon: "Yeah, but those links sort of vanish in the "wall of text"..."
23:31:32 [Myth]Drafell: "Adjusted base HP for all ships to make them less fragile in combat (Scouts +20%, Frigates +22%, Utility Class +15%, Transports +15%, Destroyers +25%, Cruisers +27%, Dreadnoughts +30%, Stations +32%), and to better reflect comparable sizes. This is also necessary due to much lower armour values that result from level clamping."
* Gideon approves...
23:32:02 [Myth]Drafell: "In addition to this, we have identified a potential issue with how armour scales."
23:32:16 [=WKA=]GothThug {C?}: "is it possible to make the supply ships less fragile when being attacked?"
23:32:26 [S.W]Crim: "..."
23:32:30 Lyedtau: "Please keep chatter to a minimum folks."
23:32:32 [-EsF-]=Smokey=: "sups are fine fool"
23:32:43 Lyedtau: "Suggestions can be posted on the beta forums, and we'll be answering questions at the end."
23:33:01 [Myth]Drafell: "The balance equation for ships sizes is relatively simple... One dreadnought = 2 cruisers = 4 destroyers. etc..."
23:33:34 [Myth]Drafell: "but currently under test conditions.. the low base armour of scouts means you need about 50+ to take down a dread... instead of 16..."
23:33:32 TomT: "??"
23:33:55 Gideon: "Ouch...but then again...why are you using a scout against a dread?"
23:34:13 [Myth]Drafell: "So.. the base HP value of armour / shields will be increase... and the level modifier reduce"
23:34:29 Gideon: "On this subject...races...are there differences in hull strength between them, or is a destroyer the same in all cases?"
23:34:37 [Myth]Drafell: "because its shows the biggest disparity between classes..."
23:34:44 [S.W]Crim: "Think of Goon swarm from EvE, Gideon. Someone will eventually form a fleet of scouts based on such things.. Might as well balance it."
23:34:47 [Myth]Drafell: "the same applies to 2 cruisers vs. one dread..."
23:34:52 Lyedtau: "It's not the fact that you shouldn't be using one, it's the fact that your scout, no matter how puny in comparison, should be doing at least something towards taking down it's target. Even if it takes 15 minutes of constant firing."
23:35:03 [Myth]Drafell: "they are lightly weaker than they should be."
23:35:04 Gideon: "No, I mean, who would attack a dread with a scout...I mean, seriously..."
23:35:12 Gideon: "Two fighters against a star destroyer?"
23:35:28 [=TB=]Enterprise: "A fighter took out the Death Star."
23:35:29 guiding spirit: "Lets not argue ethics hmm?"
23:35:30 [=WKA=]GothThug {C?}: "kick"
23:35:31 [=WKA=]GothThug {C?}: "lol"
23:35:49 Gideon: "Rebel propaganda!"
23:35:54 [Myth]Drafell: "Gideon, the idea is that a fleet of 16 scouts, working together, should be able to give that dreadnought something to worry about."
23:35:59 [S.W]Crim: "Don't forget though, Ent. He was nailing swamp rats.."
23:36:07 Gideon: "Yeah, I get ya."
23:36:29 [CEC]kascis vholkfaer: "Gideon me and 5 other scout have kill a ICC station and a assault dread in this version"
*
[MODERATOR] [Myth]Drafell: "Please keep chatter to a minimum...questions will be answered later.."

23:36:35 Gideon: "I was just making the observation, that don't be TOO concerned about people complaining about out-of-scale combats after this change."
23:37:10 [S.W]Crim: "That's this version, Kasc. Most pilots can handle a dread with one scout. Which is why the devs there are working to fix that.."
23:37:23 [Myth]Drafell: "Providing the numbers fall roughly within what we want, we wont spend too much time on it..."
23:37:33 [Myth]Drafell: "OK, having to moderate the room..."
* Room is now moderated...
* [Admin]Mr Black set the room to moderated...
23:39:29 [Myth]Drafell: "Now.. where are we going with dreadnoughts and stations..."
23:39:49 [Myth]Drafell: "dreadnoughts are ships... they need to be able to die .."
23:40:01 [MUTED] [S.W]Crim: "Die? Real ships don't die!"
23:40:30 [Myth]Drafell: "So they have the same basic principles as any other ship in DarkSpace... except they are slow.. and so cant afford weak armour facings.."
23:40:36 [Myth]Drafell: "or weak weapon arcs"
23:41:48 [Myth]Drafell: "Stations however, make dreadnoughts look like ballet dancers... and it has always been an issue in DarkSpace in that they die too easily, and are relatively underpowered..."
23:42:39 Lyedtau: "Which is why they have been left till last."
23:42:41 [Myth]Drafell: "We have an issue with the number of actual devices we can put on any one ships. Realistically its limited to 64, including infantry."
23:42:47 [Myth]Drafell: "Otherwise things stop working."
23:43:31 [Myth]Drafell: "Considering most dreadnoughts have 56 items installed... just adding more weapons to stations isn't an option."
23:45:15 [Myth]Drafell: "the simple solution, which does go against the idea of the weapon arc restrictions. is to give stations much more leniency..."
23:45:45 [Myth]Drafell: "IE a lot of the weaponry will likely have 260 degree arcs..."
23:46:20 [Myth]Drafell: "Also... with changes to core weapons... these will become the primary weaponry of stations..."
23:46:49 [Myth]Drafell: "Although they do have significant drawbacks."
23:48:12 Lyedtau: "And one important thing to keep in mind is that they're not the core-weapons of 1.483. We have changed them quite a bit."
23:49:09 [Myth]Drafell: "The new cores weapons are more or less equivalent to 4 full volleys of an equivalent level primary cannon, only in one projectile."
23:49:50 [Myth]Drafell: "they are much faster in projectile velocity, but the chances of hitting anything smaller than a cruiser should be slim if those ships are trying to evade."
23:50:52 [Myth]Drafell: "Next... changes to planets..."
23:51:03 [Myth]Drafell: "In particular planet defence."
23:51:17 [Myth]Drafell: "We have removed fighter bases 2 and 3's from the game."
23:51:23 Lyedtau: "Since Stations are pretty much almost immune to damage from smaller ships (any damage taken will likely not be visible in a battle), their use will be tied directly to defending themselves to possible attacks that can cause damage to them."
23:52:11 [Myth]Drafell: "This in itself will negate most of the cluster lag that is prevalent in .483, that's without the better network code."
23:52:49 [Myth]Drafell: "Also.. the defence bases themselves have lost Heavy CL's and Assault disruptor's for K'Luth..."
23:53:04 [Myth]Drafell: "and also feature fewer missiles and lasers in total..."
23:54:20 [Myth]Drafell: "Assault class lasers on planets are too much with small ships and relatively low armour values... We want to bring back the old tactic of transport rushing planets..."
23:54:51 [Myth]Drafell: "Which you can't do ATM because any transport getting in beam range dies in one hit."
23:55:21 Lyedtau: "Small Chemicals and Disruptor's will still exist in place of the Heavies and Assault's"
23:55:41 Lyedtau: "But the missiles will be used to take down larger targets, as they're more easily dodged with smaller ships."
23:56:08 [Myth]Drafell: "Those are the most significant changes with regards to planets themselves, which is necessary due to the changes that fix bombs... and also the randomization of bomb speeds..."
23:56:36 [Myth]Drafell: "No more shielding all of your bombs on a run..."
23:56:54 [Myth]Drafell: "That's what ECM is supposed to be fore."
23:57:07 [Myth]Drafell: "Sorry for all of the typos"
23:57:25 [Myth]Drafell: "Oh yes, back to fighters..."
23:57:54 [Myth]Drafell: "No more fighters firing missiles... they have gone back to the primary cannon weaponry instead"
23:58:57 [Myth]Drafell: "yes"
23:59:07 [Myth]Drafell: "Infantry will still use pods"
00:00:38 [Myth]Drafell: "OK..."
00:00:48 [Myth]Drafell: "I think I have covered most of the basic stuff."
00:01:14 [Myth]Drafell: "I know I am forgetting things... which is why we allow you to ask questions next..."
00:02:18 [Myth]Drafell: "Just PM question to Feralwulf... he will pass them on to us..."
00:02:44 [Myth]Drafell: "Oh. and in the last couple of weeks, we have been doing those monotonous path changes..."
00:03:04 [Myth]Drafell: "as well as adding some of the resources Gideon has provided us with to the code repository..."
00:03:45 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* Gideon whispered "Question one: If core weapons will have difficulty hitting ships smaller than cruisers, then what is the weapon that is intended to be primarily used against those small targets?""
* Lyedtau gives Gideon a great big hug...
00:04:00 [Myth]Drafell: "Lasers."
* Gideon smiles.
00:04:09 Lyedtau: "General weapons"
00:04:30 [Myth]Drafell: "If a small ship stays distant and moving, it should be safe."
00:04:28 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* Gideon whispered "Question two: Will energy/power management take a larger, smaller, or unchanged role in the future version of this game?""
00:04:36 Lyedtau: "Currently, a well placed QST, Ion and even an SI can take out a frigate even if it misses it initially."
00:04:43 [Myth]Drafell: "If it gets close. it should be saying bye bye."
00:05:15 Lyedtau: "Now, take into consideration we're lowering the smaller ships armour values, and you have the potential for a serious problem "
00:05:21 [Myth]Drafell: "Yeah, that is probably the biggest complaint with core weapons."
00:05:47 [Myth]Drafell: "One shot kills if someone gets too close is one thing."
00:05:53 [Myth]Drafell: "But at 2k gu..."
00:05:53 Lyedtau: "So, we're lowering their damage output, as well as their energy requirements, and their firing times, and turning them into weapons that stations and such can use to defend themselves efficiently."
00:06:28 [Myth]Drafell: "Energy management will take a larger role."
00:06:37 Lyedtau: "Small ships will be able to dodge it like an ordinary torpedo at range."
00:06:59 [Myth]Drafell: "Another core problem with 1.483 is that energy management went out of the window due to level 10 engines on everything."
00:07:42 [Myth]Drafell: "Ships and gadgets that should require careful nurturing to use properly can instead just ruin the fun of the game. IE interdictors."
00:07:46 Lyedtau: "Only stations will poses the energy to fire them for prolonged periods of time (and when I say prolonged, I don't mean forever). You won't lose all of your energy when firing them like you do now - but you will have to manage your energy so you don't run out if the battle is going to last quite some time."
00:08:01 [Myth]Drafell: "they were never intended to go top speed while working..."
* Gideon shudders at the name interdictor...
00:09:02 [Myth]Drafell: "Next question.."
00:09:11 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* Gideon whispered "Question three: With the changing of game assets discussed earlier, is there any thought to including some community made content?""
00:09:25 [Myth]Drafell: "Yes."
00:09:32 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "questions taken in order asked, please be patient guys"
00:09:33 Lyedtau: "There's already some going in, as far as I know."
00:09:36 Gideon: "'nuff said."
00:09:41 Lyedtau: "Things like the icons, and such."
00:09:45 [Myth]Drafell: "We cannot currently add new models."
00:10:01 Lyedtau: "We'll take whatever we can take our hands on, that we think is suitable for the game."
00:10:09 [Myth]Drafell: "But, graphic effects etc... I am more than happy to use what people can provide."
00:10:49 Lyedtau: "Me and Drafell are by no means graphical experts (Drafell is far better than me with this sort of thing though), so any help in the way of graphical effects would be great."
00:10:50 [Myth]Drafell: "I just wish more people would get involved on that front.."
00:11:27 [Myth]Drafell: "Well, I can make models, but Jack is probably better at raw graphics and 2d stuff."
00:11:46 [Myth]Drafell: "Next q."
00:11:52 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* TomT whispered "he said "No more shielding all of your bombs on a run..." "That's what ECM is supposed to be fore." for me the ECM does not seem to work?""
00:12:02 [Myth]Drafell: "And please send all questions to feral"
00:12:30 [Myth]Drafell: "ECM is .484 is limited, because every planets usually has enough to make it not work."
00:12:28 Lyedtau: "Using one ECM won't have a great effect on signature, which is why you need to equip more than one in some cases."
00:12:37 Lyedtau: "IT also depends on whether there's a large amount of ECCM in the area."
00:12:39 [Myth]Drafell: "Bombing is supposed to be a group effort."
00:12:51 [Myth]Drafell: "IE 2-3 players at least."
00:13:22 [Myth]Drafell: "Capturing a planet should be an achievement."
00:13:39 [Myth]Drafell: "Next..."
00:13:54 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* Diabo|ik whispered "this is a twofold question, about the beacons, I heard that now the beacons would add to the timer for cloaking, is there a maximum time the beacons can add to the cloak process ( say 5 seconds base + 5 seconds max. once beaconed ), and it is said that the cloak devices will use more energy for cruisers and above, but they already drain a lot at high speed to get ourselves behind enemy ships already, any thoughts on that?""
* [S.W]Crim has entered the room...
00:14:26 [Myth]Drafell: "Exactly how beacons will work in beta is still up for negotiation."
00:14:30 Lyedtau: "Changes to beacons aren't set in stone yet."
00:15:02 [Myth]Drafell: "We will likely create a clone device, one which adds to timer, and one which just uncloaks them and adds signature...and use whichever works best.."
00:15:03 Lyedtau: "Currently they work the same as in 1.483, but with far lower limits and less signature given per beacon. This is only for testing purposes though."
00:15:34 Lyedtau: "It all depends on testing, and implementation."
00:15:51 Lyedtau: "If we see no reason to implement the less-evil beacon, because K'Luth are doing fine, then we'll leave it as it is."
00:16:06 Lyedtau: "If an obvious flaw in the design emerges, we'll make the necessary changes."
00:16:38 [Myth]Drafell: "cloak also should be similar to the interdictor device in energy use..."
00:17:11 [Myth]Drafell: "at over 50% speed you should lose energy..."
00:17:31 [Myth]Drafell: "that's for all ship classes"
00:17:34 [Myth]Drafell: "Next..."
00:17:46 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* Gideon whispered "Question four: This might be a ways off, but is there any thought towards building certain roles (like the carrier) to take a more strategic long range rather than tactical and close range role?""
00:18:50 [Myth]Drafell: "Further development of carriers is largely dependent on a fighter command interface...which would essentially be a cut down version of the full command interface."
00:19:00 Lyedtau: "Personally, I would love the carrier to be used as a support ship, with heavy PD and such. But the downside to that is the speed in which it an deliver it's damage (fighters take a while to transverse the battlefield)."
00:19:37 Lyedtau: "Like Drafell said though, it's largely dependant on the fighter interface."
00:19:56 [Myth]Drafell: "until players can command their fighters. and tell them where to move. like in an rts fashion.. then we are limited in what we can do."
00:20:15 [Myth]Drafell: "next..."
00:20:25 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* The_KotU whispered "In regards the the max component value of 64 would it be possible to implement a ship module system that links multiple "ships" together aka the modules this way it will allow stations to be destroyed piece by piece or a ship part by part. And in regards to sub-system targeting is it their or will it be introduced?""
00:20:53 Lyedtau: "sub-system targeting is already in-game."
00:21:10 Lyedtau: "If you shoot at someone in the rear, without armour, with an EMP cannon, all of the rear gadgets will take more damage than the front."
00:22:04 [Myth]Drafell: "the problem is that hull currently dies to fast for most people to notice."
00:22:27 Lyedtau: "As for the linking, to get around the 64 gadget limit, we might be introducing new weapons and systems for stations specificity, so they don't have an issue with this."
00:23:03 [Myth]Drafell: "Also... platforms would be a similar kind of idea..."
00:24:00 [Myth]Drafell: "IE build the core platform, and then build the modules to go on it."
00:24:13 [Myth]Drafell: "IE defence/supply/sensors.."
00:24:35 [Myth]Drafell: "And Gideon here did a lot of work in the past on this... great reference material."
* Lyedtau gives Gideon a great big hug...
00:25:06 Gideon: "Quiet! The tripods will hear you!"
00:25:09 [Myth]Drafell: "Essentially NPC stations that players can build... anyway..."
00:25:15 [Myth]Drafell: "Next q."
00:25:21 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* [LAG]DarkSpin whispered "HOW MAY I GET ENVOLVED IN TEH GRAPHIC DESIGN?" * [-BUM-]Drink'n "Fritz'd Cannons" Slinki whispered "Not a great deal many of us know how to even start about doing such intense graphics and models used in DS, If you ever had time, could you make a thread with a small array of links on how to get us started, or at least how it works, so those who would want to give to the game in that form, could?""
00:26:11 [MUTED] [S.W]Crim: "Hahahah.."
00:26:41 [Myth]Drafell: "tough one."
00:27:06 [Myth]Drafell: "for 2d design.. learn how to create animated gifs..."
00:27:08 Gideon: "If I may...perhaps pointing to some external resources and software?"
00:27:42 [Myth]Drafell: "essentially all animated effects in darkspace are just a bunch of animated gifs rendered onto 3d planes..."
00:27:49 Gideon: "Such as the Gimp, and Blender 3d...so people can get used to doing these things? There are a lot of on-line tutorials for Paintshop and the like, which translate well."
00:27:52 [Myth]Drafell: "that's a very basic description..."
00:28:06 Lyedtau: "I've had it with these low poly gif's on these 3d planes!"
00:28:19 Gideon: "Heh."
00:28:19 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* [-BUM-]Drink'n "Fritz'd Cannons" Slinki whispered "As another option, Could you provide the links to that 3DSmax 5.1 is it? or maybe a tutorial on creating objects? i remember reading that you used it with a poly chip mod or something?" * TomT whispered "i do have some graphic knowledge i am welling to help""
00:28:25 [Myth]Drafell: "but if you can create a 20 frame seamless animation... with black as the transparent colour"
00:28:47 Gideon: "LOL, go ahead Draf! Post a link to DL 3dsmax! I dare ya!"
00:28:49 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* [=TB=]Enterprise whispered "Of planets, is there any point - beyond combat - to such a hard working group effort for a single planet? What will the use of all 200+ capturable planets be?""
00:28:56 Lyedtau: "Unfortunately, 3DSMAX is an industry tool, and costs quite a bit of money."
00:29:03 [Myth]Drafell: "http://www.utorrent.com"
00:29:07 [Myth]Drafell: ":-P"
00:29:13 [Myth]Drafell: "Yup"
00:29:10 Lyedtau: "We cannot provide links to it, but I'm sure you can find programs like it with some research."
00:29:55 Gideon: "http://www.blender.org/ Free, powerful, good to start with."
00:30:01 [Myth]Drafell: "planets are.. well.. like chess pieces..."
00:30:01 Lyedtau: "No-one likes having their hard work undone by a single person."
00:30:06 Lyedtau: "It also doesn't fit in well with the lore."
00:30:21 Gideon: "While not compatible with DS, you can get the idea, and see if you want to pursue this further (and spend $$$)."
00:30:35 [Myth]Drafell: "there will be certain planets in the game which will be the only ones able to provide a certain upgrade. due to resource flags."
00:30:35 Lyedtau: "As much as one person may want to take a planet on their own - this is an MMO, and the idea is that you play with other people to achieve goals."
00:30:36 Gideon: "http://www.gimp.org/ For 2d art."
00:30:47 [Myth]Drafell: "And not the same planets for each faction..."
00:30:54 Gideon: "Free, and allows you to deal with all the formats that DS uses."
00:31:13 [Myth]Drafell: "So planets important to ICC might not be important to K'Luth etc... but you will still want to deny them those planets"
00:31:15 Lyedtau: "Oh, not to forget that shipyards are no longer going to be buildable on all planets."
00:31:25 Lyedtau: "There will be half a dozen planets capable of supporting a shipyard."
00:31:37 Gideon: "!"
00:31:40 [Myth]Drafell: "yeah, only one planet in every 2-3 system should be able to support a shipyard"
00:31:38 Lyedtau: "So capturing those planets will be important."
00:32:01 Gideon: "I have to butt in here...what happens if you lose all your shipyard planets? Same as now?"
00:32:11 Lyedtau: "This not only creates hot-spots for action, but allows the enemy to feel like they're really pushing you back."
00:32:16 [Myth]Drafell: "We will still keep in the home gates.."
00:32:17 Lyedtau: "You always have one."
00:32:27 [Myth]Drafell: "And home planets will be tougher."
00:32:33 Lyedtau: "We're playing around with the idea of super planets as home planets."
00:32:42 [Myth]Drafell: "We can ensure that via some scripts we have developed."
00:32:44 Gideon: "M'kay, just got worried there."
00:32:57 Lyedtau: "Being the ultimate goal of an oppressing faction - it should have some kind of extra omphf!"
00:33:29 Lyedtau: "If initial testing goes well, we might remove the home gates."
00:33:34 Lyedtau: "But that's a long ways off yet."
00:33:55 [Myth]Drafell: "When you get to an enemy home system, don't be surprised if an NPC armada suddenly jumps on you..."
00:34:07 Gideon: "Ooo...laggy..."
00:34:32 Lyedtau: "Hopefully with the new back end, that shouldn't be a problem."
00:34:42 Lyedtau: "Next q?"
00:35:05 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* [-EsF-]=Smokey= whispered "question: possible for the 482 cloaking system to be put back in?""
00:35:23 Lyedtau: "The 1.482 cloaking system was terrible, so no."
00:35:34 Lyedtau: "You either had it so that K'Luth couldn't cloak at all because of ECM forted planets."
00:35:38 [Myth]Drafell: "It's been so long, I have forgotten what that was..."
00:35:47 Lyedtau: "Or you had it so that no-one could see them at all, because they had ECCM fortified planets."
00:36:01 [Myth]Drafell: "So no, we can't go back to it.."
00:35:58 Lyedtau: "Uh - switch those two around."
00:36:13 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* guiding spirit whispered "Will the core weapons be weaker........less splash damage???""
00:36:16 [Myth]Drafell: "Next Q?"
00:36:39 [Myth]Drafell: "We already talked about core weapons earlier."
00:36:55 [Myth]Drafell: "Not core weapon has a splash radius bigger than 100gu/"
00:37:00 Lyedtau: "Core weapons have now had their range, damage output, energy usage and area of effect ranges drastically reduced. The SI, QST and IC now have respective ranges of 850gu, 1295gu, and 1760gu. The area of affect has been reduced to a 75gu radius for the SI, a 50gu radius for the QST, and a 25gu radius for the IC (which now sequentially fires two projectiles)."
00:37:07 Lyedtau: " The projectile speed for each weapon has also been increased significantly, and per volley, the overall damage output and energy use should be comparable with four dreadnought class primary cannons"
00:37:30 [Myth]Drafell: "Next Q?"
00:37:33 Gideon: "...boom..."
00:37:35 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* [-BUM-]Drink'n "Fritz'd Cannons" Slinki @129190 sent to Friends: "With laser accuracy, and cannon inaccuracy, the Parasite, with 3 added DA's and more armour could tear apart an icc or ugto ship, and still be able to evade a good chunk of the weapons fire? Correct?""
00:38:20 [Myth]Drafell: "Possibly, but it won't last very long with the energy drain ..."
00:38:22 Lyedtau: "It depends on the layout."
00:38:46 [Myth]Drafell: "that layout is purely experimental."
00:39:05 [Myth]Drafell: "We need to see how it plays."
00:39:15 Lyedtau: "Next Q?"
00:39:24 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* [=TB=]Enterprise whispered "Will there be any indication of what planets provide which upgrades, rather than intuitive knowledge?""
00:39:57 [Myth]Drafell: "Orbit, right click a device."
00:40:08 [Myth]Drafell: "anything that can be installed will show."
00:40:07 Lyedtau: "A planet capable of supporting modding options has to have the required technology."
00:40:29 [Myth]Drafell: "Learning which planets provide what is part of learning the game."
00:40:26 Lyedtau: "Meaning you'll have to find out if the planet has the technology level for the device you want/need."
00:40:38 Lyedtau: "Please forward all questions to Feralwulf."
00:40:47 [Myth]Drafell: "but all stock ships should be effective and usable."
00:41:22 Lyedtau: "Upgrades/modding just provides flexibility of the design, but not in such a way that it breaks it."
00:41:32 Lyedtau: "IE - you can change the beam type, but not change the beam to a cannon."
00:41:50 Lyedtau: "So if you want more systems damage, as UGTO, you may swap a few SCL's for some Flux Beams."
00:42:16 [Myth]Drafell: "the idea is that you can choose to focus more in one direction to suit your play style.. but not so that a ship can do something it was never designed for."
00:42:35 Lyedtau: "I'll be posting an in-depth description of how the new modding system works soon."
00:42:45 [Myth]Drafell: "Next Q"
00:42:53 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* [FS]Fatal Nukey *ADM* whispered "will the 32 build limit be lifted for the home planets to make em super planet like Lyedtau said""
00:42:57 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "Also"
00:43:24 [Myth]Drafell: "We would Like to have the structure limit based on planet size."
00:43:39 Lyedtau: "We'll probably release 1.484 with the 32 structure limit."
00:43:49 Lyedtau: "But the super planets will have a much higher standard population than others."
00:44:21 [Myth]Drafell: "Yup, it's a known quantity. We can bypass these limits for home planets via scripting anyway."
00:44:20 Lyedtau: "The shipyard will require an amount of population that's impossible to achieve on normal planets, so building one up should be quite easy (as well as to layer it with nice defences)."
00:44:55 Gideon: "So, like a base population? Instead of starting at 0 it starts at a higher number?"
00:45:03 [Myth]Drafell: "Next Q."
00:45:10 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* [FS]Fatal Rhiawhyn *TO* whispered "are you guys thinking of adding the fx pack Gideon made?""
00:45:11 Lyedtau: "Terran starts at 60 I think"
00:45:20 Lyedtau: "So a super terran may start at something like 250?"
00:45:38 [Myth]Drafell: "Not so high, but that idea."
00:45:39 Lyedtau: "Just random numbers off the top of my head - but it has to be as high as to stop someone building one on a non-SY intended planet."
00:45:43 Gideon: "gotcha, just wanted a clear picture of the idea."
00:45:51 [Myth]Drafell: "No..."
00:45:58 [Myth]Drafell: "Some of the effects are good..."
00:46:05 [Myth]Drafell: "but other's aren't..."
00:46:11 Gideon: "Some are shash."
00:46:14 Gideon: "Trust me."
00:46:28 Lyedtau: "The fx pack was intended for a different DS system."
00:46:35 Lyedtau: "As such, some of the effects are much larger than intended."
00:46:39 [Myth]Drafell: "And... I don't think we have the source files for the ones we would like to use."
00:46:38 Lyedtau: "And some are experimental."
00:46:54 Gideon: "?\"
00:47:08 Gideon: "Serious? Let me know what ones those are, and I'll see if I can find them."
00:47:09 Lyedtau: "We're hoping we can come up with something that improves upon the work that Gideon has done (thanks a lot 'pal'!)"
00:47:15 Gideon: "Not now...later...at work now."
00:47:26 [Myth]Drafell: "Lol."
00:47:58 [Myth]Drafell: "Next Q?"
00:48:04 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* guiding spirit whispered "So will these npc's be smarter then others......upgraded perhaps?""
00:48:27 [Myth]Drafell: "Upgrades wont exist in 1.484"
00:48:42 [Myth]Drafell: "Not in terms of levels.."
00:48:46 Lyedtau: "One thing that will be fixed in 1.484 is the NPC's. Right now they spawn with level 0 components - this won't be so in 1.484."
00:48:54 Lyedtau: "So they will be harder."
00:49:06 Lyedtau: "Smarter - not so much, but harder - definately."
00:49:09 [Myth]Drafell: "Yes, the device level will be tied to a ships hull."
00:49:26 [Myth]Drafell: "so cruisers are lvl 5. dreads lvl 7"
00:49:33 [Myth]Drafell: "dessies lvl 3"
00:50:25 [Myth]Drafell: "Address all questions to Feralwulf please.."
00:50:30 [Myth]Drafell: "Next Q?"
00:50:34 [=CSA=]Feralwulf: "* [FS]Fatal Rhiawhyn *TO* whispered "* You whispered to Lyedtau : "you guys going to fix the planetary size scale? I'm tired of having planets the size of peas compared to the full size ones.. i mean YARR should be Luna"""
00:51:05 Gideon: "I think I know the answer to this one...if memory serves..."
00:51:15 [Myth]Drafell: "Changing planet scales means changing some of the fundamental design mechanics of darkspace."
00:51:42 Lyedtau: "It has effects on bombing - combat around planets..."
00:51:51 [Myth]Drafell: "building..."
00:51:50 Lyedtau: "You name it, it has some effect - no matter how small."
00:52:08 Gideon: "spawning..."
00:52:21 Lyedtau: "Currently, planet sizes aren't something we're concerned about. They work, and we're happy with that. Working is good."
00:52:28 Gideon: "Travel distance/time."
00:52:34 Gideon: "Jump drive impacts..."
00:52:56 Lyedtau: "Oh, and let's not forget everyone's favourite..."
00:53:02 Lyedtau: "Planet collision"
00:53:12 Gideon: "Aye."
00:53:15 Lyedtau: "Next Q?"
00:53:24 Gideon: "this isn't even getting into the art snafus..."
00:53:27 [Myth]Drafell: "Just imagine what you see in darkspace as