finite metal: Here comes the hotstepper there goes the metal

[knorke]

This map now at:
http://springfiles.com/spring/spring-ma ... ited-metal


edit:

Old hotstepper map was funny because of the burning newb bases but it had some problems like constantly estalling and too high metal making T2 porcing easy.
Now windmills are supereffective and the metal spots on high ground run out after ~3 minutes of T1 mining.


bugs:
metal spot detector is a bit faulty (does not affect this map)
http://springrts.com/phpbb/viewtopic.ph ... 41#p486541

replays/specs do not see metal indicators correctly (will fix)

There is an exploit how you can cheat the system and gain minimal metal even from empty spots by beeeeeeep (will fix later but now ive already uploaded the file)

[bobthedinosaur]

Can you do this to geos to make vespine gas blizzard style? If so maybe some one can finally make a star craft mod and spring player numbers will rise again!

[knorke]

(haha tricked)

conflict terra kind of has stylecraft star havesting since half a year or something.

this is for normal TA eco, you put the lua in map or map and metal spots are emptied after a while.

[Wombat]

go make mesh deform finally >:(

[Forboding Angel]

Excellent work knorke!

[Neddie]

Can I use it to make only some spots exhaustible? Can I also use it to make some spots decay, and then after some time regenerate?

[knorke]

go make mesh deform finally >:(

wut. I think you mean Beherith?

Can I use it to make only some spots exhaustible?

at the moment not. But could be added maybe. How would you want mappers to decide what spot are exhaustible and which ones are unlimited?

and then after some time regenerate?

should be possible.
Basically there is a mSpots.metal and you can do all kind of stuff with it but it also needs to "turn on" the mexes again etc.

But before I add all kind of customisation options, is anybody (mapper or modder) even interessted in using them?
I mean, I did only see one other map using lava or teleports beside my own and that is not really worth the effort.

So if somebody is working on a map and wants to try it out, I will rather listen to his suggestions. If nobody wants it, I will just make another hotstepper map and everybody can take the gadget from there it will be forgotten.

[FLOZi]

What would be REALLY cool would be if lua could modify the metalmap in game.

[knorke]

if you do not press F4, put no metalspots on the map texture and replace the shrinking circles with real graphics* then it is close enough to that.

*=either a normal metalspot that gets smaller/fades or smoke coming out of the ground and disappearing when the spot is empty, a crystall/whatever next to the spot that gets smaller/sink into ground,...

[Wombat]

reverse progressive mining ! *genius*

[Neddie]

Can I use it to make only some spots exhaustible?

at the moment not. But could be added maybe. How would you want mappers to decide what spot are exhaustible and which ones are unlimited?

Hurm... configuration file with central coordinate and radius would work for spots, but... maybe a heightmap sized black and white png, where one color is all non exhaustible areas, and one is exhaustible?

and then after some time regenerate?

should be possible.
Basically there is a mSpots.metal and you can do all kind of stuff with it but it also needs to "turn on" the mexes again etc.

That would be nice.

But before I add all kind of customisation options, is anybody (mapper or modder) even interessted in using them?
I mean, I did only see one other map using lava or teleports beside my own and that is not really worth the effort.

I am, but I haven't released a map in a long time. My bottleneck is the same - I have no way of texturing a map as desired. However, I have been working on some height maps again, trying to get back up to speed there so I can explore the utilities which have come out since I stopped mapping.

So if somebody is working on a map and wants to try it out, I will rather listen to his suggestions. If nobody wants it, I will just make another hotstepper map and everybody can take the gadget from there it will be forgotten.

When I have a decent heightmap, I will show it to you as proof of my interest, then I'll incorporate one of your features - probably teleports if I can't have some spots be unlimited/regenerate in the final map, whether or not I can get a good texture. Sounds fair?

I really like the work you're doing in general, and you keep bringing up moderation issues which I've been sitting on for lack of community feedback, so this is the least I can do.

[knorke]

for my map i just put in some hack to remove the lower spots from the limited metal system:

Code: Select all

function make_lower_spots_unlimited ()
	for i, g in pairs(mSpots) do		
		if (mSpots[i].y < 200) then mSpots[i] = nil end
	end
end

That is not really a good solution though.

maybe a heightmap sized black and white png

Not sure, those gradient maps are always a pain to edit. Also have to look up how to read them with spring lua.

Of course mappers can also just put more spots in some areas etc.

Yes, if you want to use lava/teleport/limited metal in any of your map just take the lua and try to get it working Or ask if there are problems with it. Ideally there would be more documentation/comments about it but I hope it can be figured out.

Btw, replaced my own stupid metal spot finder with the "Metalspot Finder" widget by Niobium, only made it into a gadget by search & replace and it worked.
So thanks for making that thing!

[Neddie]

That is why I suggested just black and white. On and off should be easier than the full greyscale range.

[knorke]

hopefully it is not such a difficult step from

if spot == white then metal = infinite else metal = 1000
to
metal = brightness_of_spot * 100

Thinking of it, there will probally not be tons of maps made with this.
So maybe some custom hacks are enough?
Some complete config system might take a long time to make and probally nobody will understand it anyway. Or mappers want something that is not covered by the config etc.

uploaded 2 replays to http://replays.adune.nl/ thanks to all test players :)

two bugs:
in replays, not all metal indicators are visible. probally same for specs.
(needs if isReplay or isSpec ...)

BA mexes do not stop spinning when their extraction rate changes.
XTA ones do.

Btw, this could also be put in a mod. (doing some testing on that)

[Neddie]

I figure hacks are fine until you know the feature will be used a lot, then it can be revised. I think I want to use it, I have ninety or so unfinished maps, but I am unlikely to release many. If I do release many and you eventually improve the feature, I'll probably use it in many.

[Xeroxyster]

I know I'm out of my knowledge zone here, but why aren't map features(rocks, dead boats, trees, ect.) just as good as this?

What dynamic would this add to playing which is not already provided?

Sorry for the NECRO on this thread...

[knorke]

well, imo reclaiming with cons and mex are completly different.
ie in BA multiple cons can reclaim the same object but only one mex works per spot.
Mex needs energy to run (at least noticeable with T2), cons do not.
cons are mobile, mex not.
mex are usefull only for mining resources but cons can also assist factory or build stuff.
etc.

[dansan]

Two mex can work per spot: 1 T1 + 1 T2 mex.

[knorke]

Two mex can work per spot: 1 T1 + 1 T2 mex.

Still different from making 20 cons for each metalic feature and reclaiming it in a second.
The gadget should handle multiple mex (like t1+t2) correctly, if that was your question.

[Forboding Angel]

Two mex can work per spot: 1 T1 + 1 T2 mex.

not true

there is a max that can be extracted at a single time. For example, put 2 mexes on the same spot, one will always produce 0.