BA Chicken Defense V2.56 (BA7.81)

[TheFatController]

1.38 Changelog
- Fixed the visible commander issue
- Fixed a common crash bug (when lobbers were damaged spring would crash! This is from a .77b2 change however I have found a workaround)
- Speedups to chicken panel (thanks to CA)

Download: http://spring.jobjol.nl/show_file.php?id=1526

[Kloot]

1.38 Changelog
- Fixed a common crash bug (when lobbers were damaged spring would crash!

This is very possibly http://spring.clan-sy.com/mantis/view.php?id=1113 , what did you
change to prevent the crash? (Looking at it right now to make the engine a bit more
tolerant of similar bugs.)

[TheFatController]

The issue was this code:

Code: Select all

    local bx, by, bz = GetUnitPosition(unitID)
    local h = Spring.GetUnitHeading(unitID)
    Spring.MoveCtrl.Enable(unitID)
    Spring.MoveCtrl.SetNoBlocking(unitID, true)
    local newUnitID = CreateUnit("chickenr2", bx, by, bz, "n", unitTeam)
    Spring.SetUnitNoDraw(newUnitID,true)
    Spring.MoveCtrl.Enable(newUnitID)
    Spring.MoveCtrl.SetHeading(newUnitID, h)
    Spring.MoveCtrl.Disable(newUnitID)
    SetUnitExperience(newUnitID, expMod)
    Spring.SetUnitNoDraw(newUnitID,false)
    DestroyUnit(unitID, false, true)
    gadget:UnitIdle(newUnitID, unitDefID, unitTeam)

It crashed spring 100% of the time, and by commenting each part out I boiled it down to this line:

Code: Select all

 Spring.MoveCtrl.SetNoBlocking(unitID, true)

When commented out the crashes stopped, I couldn't recreate this issue in a new gadget using similar code but its recreatable in older BA chicken defense versions.

The new code that works fine is:

Code: Select all

    local bx, by, bz = GetUnitPosition(unitID)
    local h = Spring.GetUnitHeading(unitID)
    SetUnitBlocking(unitID, false)
    local newUnitID = CreateUnit("chickenr2", bx, by, bz, "n", unitTeam)
    Spring.SetUnitNoDraw(newUnitID,true)
    Spring.MoveCtrl.Enable(newUnitID)
    Spring.MoveCtrl.SetHeading(newUnitID, h)
    Spring.MoveCtrl.Disable(newUnitID)
    SetUnitExperience(newUnitID, expMod)
    Spring.SetUnitNoDraw(newUnitID,false)
    DestroyUnit(unitID, false, true)
    gadget:UnitIdle(newUnitID, UnitDefNames["chickenr2"].id, unitTeam)

Strange as this worked in the last spring version, a fix would be cool for stability :)

[TheFatController]

1.40 Changelog
- Improvements to queen AI
- Improvements to chicken AI
- Changed BA version to 6.5
- Burrows now fall from space as meteors and do damage (from NOTA spacebugs)
- Other minor tweaks

Download: http://spring.jobjol.nl/show_file.php?id=1530

[el_matarife]

1.40 Changelog
- Burrows now fall from space as meteors and do damage (from NOTA spacebugs)

Mind making the burrows spawn farther in front of the first wave? Give us maybe 30 seconds to wipe them out of our chosen "Base area"?

[TheFatController]

Not much to see this version I just wanted to play chicken on Azure Rampart~

1.41 Changelog
- Burrows no longer spawn in the water on Azure Rampart
- Claws no longer crash (always explode in the air)
- Raised basilisk HP a bit

Download: http://spring.jobjol.nl/show_file.php?id=1545

[Satirik]

you know there are sections in mod options now ? make a section option then add "section=sectionname" to the options you wanna see inside

Code: Select all

local options = {
  {
    key    = 'Main',
    name   = 'Main options',
    desc   = 'Uber section that rules',
    type   = 'section',
  },
  {
    key    = 'damagemult',
    name   = 'Damage Multiplier',
    desc   = 'Multiplies the damage dealt by all weapons, except for D-guns. \nkey: damagemult',
    type   = 'number',
    def    = 1,
    min    = 0.01,
    section = 'Main',
    max    = 10,
    step   = 0.01,  -- quantization is aligned to the def value
                    -- (step <= 0) means that there is no quantization
  },
}

return options

[TheFatController]

you know there are sections in mod options now ? make a section option then add "section=sectionname" to the options you wanna see inside

Code: Select all

local options = {
  {
    key    = 'Main',
    name   = 'Main options',
    desc   = 'Uber section that rules',
    type   = 'section',
  },
  {
    key    = 'damagemult',
    name   = 'Damage Multiplier',
    desc   = 'Multiplies the damage dealt by all weapons, except for D-guns. \nkey: damagemult',
    type   = 'number',
    def    = 1,
    min    = 0.01,
    section = 'Main',
    max    = 10,
    step   = 0.01,  -- quantization is aligned to the def value
                    -- (step <= 0) means that there is no quantization
  },
}

return options

Ooo nice i'll do that, also a perfect excuse to add the missing "V" to the mod name in a new release

[KaiserJ]

heyhey!

loving the new updates; the little assister chickens really change up the gameplay i find compared to earlier versions.

just a few requests / suggestions...
1.) would it be possible to set a startbox for the chicken spawnage? something that would read the start areas normally set for players but make it so that you could choose what you would like:
a) have the burrows ALWAYS spawn in the chicken start area.
b) have the burrows spawn in the chicken start area at the start, but then be able to spawn elsewhere as the game progresses.
c) have the burrows spawn in the classic way, anywhere on the map.
i think this might be a good option in many ways... playing single player, i've had troubles with running out of grace period before i've properly sent scouts to the back of my base, a burrow appears, and i get crushed... i was also thinking of making a chicken map where the layout is a big hill, humans spawn up top and chickens spawn at the bottom, it would have a metal gradient that gives you more M per extractor as you move down the hill; seems like this idea would work better with all of the burrows at the bottom so that you could actually expand down the hill without being swarmed quite as hard as usual.

2. bloody splatter ground decals for when a chicken explodes? i'd be happy to make some 2d bitmaps of greasy gore if it's possible.

3. display a running total scoreboard for points, rather than just showing you how everyone did at the end (make it so you can hide other players scores, because it would take up a lot of space).

4. some sort of noob involvement? not quite sure what this would actually be, but i have a feeling that a lot of the new players in the lobby in locked games playing against regular AI would actually really enjoy playing chicken defense if they actually knew what it was; perhaps including chickens of some type in the spring installer along with instructions as to "host a game of chickens, put in a chicken AI, go go go!" i've seen a lot of noise as to new players requesting campaigns etc and this might be a good way to keep them interested in spring and learning to play; making the jump from playing vs chicken AI solo to playing vs chicken AI as a team is a lot smaller than the jump between playing vs a skirmish AI to playing against another human. recently i got a few friends into trying spring, they haven't really played enough games to have confidence to play vs humans, so chickens is always first on the list of what they would like to play when we sit down together. i see their all-over game improving from it too... granted, they are being encouraged to pork like crazy, but at least they are learning how to make and balance an econ and when to tech up etc.

anyways, like i said, just requests or suggestions, chickens is tons of fun and even if it was never updated again in any way it would still be one of my favourite things to play. cheers!

[TheFatController]

just a few requests / suggestions...
1.) would it be possible to set a startbox for the chicken spawnage? something that would read the start areas normally set for players but make it so that you could choose what you would like:
a) have the burrows ALWAYS spawn in the chicken start area.
b) have the burrows spawn in the chicken start area at the start, but then be able to spawn elsewhere as the game progresses.
c) have the burrows spawn in the classic way, anywhere on the map.

This should be possible - it's always been suggested to me as an outright change but thinking about it a mod option is the way to go.

i was also thinking of making a chicken map where the layout is a big hill, humans spawn up top and chickens spawn at the bottom, it would have a metal gradient that gives you more M per extractor as you move down the hill; seems like this idea would work better with all of the burrows at the bottom so that you could actually expand down the hill without being swarmed quite as hard as usual.

We need more chicken maps, cause all maps are designed for 2+ teams it would be great to have some focused on 1 team gameplay, be it a hill in the middle or a helms deep style defense, I started work on one but it looked pants so I gave up.

If someone wrote a good chicken map I have a few map specific lua ideas i'd like to work on (one of them being you see a base being overrun then your commanders gate in and start fighting & take it over)

2. bloody splatter ground decals for when a chicken explodes? i'd be happy to make some 2d bitmaps of greasy gore if it's possible.

I hadn't thought of this but it would be awesome if it's possible to give explosions custom ground decals (haven't looked into it). Anything that makes Chicken Defense look more like Crimsonland is good with me - if you can contribute splatters that'd be cool.

3. display a running total scoreboard for points, rather than just showing you how everyone did at the end (make it so you can hide other players scores, because it would take up a lot of space).

I'm not a fan of coding GUIs in spring, what I might do in a coming version is write the code that makes an ongoing score list available to widgets and leave it up to the community whether they want to make a GUI for the mod.

4. some sort of noob involvement? not quite sure what this would actually be, but i have a feeling that a lot of the new players in the lobby in locked games playing against regular AI would actually really enjoy playing chicken defense if they actually knew what it was; perhaps including chickens of some type in the spring installer along with instructions as to "host a game of chickens, put in a chicken AI, go go go!" i've seen a lot of noise as to new players requesting campaigns etc and this might be a good way to keep them interested in spring and learning to play; making the jump from playing vs chicken AI solo to playing vs chicken AI as a team is a lot smaller than the jump between playing vs a skirmish AI to playing against another human. recently i got a few friends into trying spring, they haven't really played enough games to have confidence to play vs humans, so chickens is always first on the list of what they would like to play when we sit down together. i see their all-over game improving from it too... granted, they are being encouraged to pork like crazy, but at least they are learning how to make and balance an econ and when to tech up etc.

anyways, like i said, just requests or suggestions, chickens is tons of fun and even if it was never updated again in any way it would still be one of my favourite things to play. cheers!

This sounds great however I wouldn't push for it myself, since the number of players your mod has is apparently a competition trying to get it officially endorsed would open up a huge can of drama and idiocy I have no objection to it in principal though!

[TheFatController]

1.42 Changelog
- Cleaned up Mod Options
- You can now specify how burrows spawn ("Anywhere", "Avoid Players", "Initial Startbox", "Always Startbox")
- Default difficulty is now Custom (for Gaia games)
- Other tweaks and speed ups and fixes hopefully

Download: http://spring.jobjol.nl/show_file.php?id=1557
Mirror: http://pw3n.net/mirrors/BAChickens142(BA65).sdz

[KaiserJ]

i love you.

chicken map is in the works; a 4 x 12 map where the intended start is a castley sort of base on the far side of one end.

as far as the ground decals; i'd love to help, but im not sure where to look for and anaylise the existing decals that are used... (what format, size they are etc.) if you could come up with a list of the different decals used w/ format and size, i would be very happy to donate some custom ones. if there is no limitation on what ground decals can be used for this, just tell me what you'd like me to make and i'll get cracking.

thanks again though, i'm going to be using this startbox feature a LOT.

*edit:

if you can figure out a way to make a decal apply beneath the chicken burrows, i'd be interested in making that too.

[TheFatController]

1.43 Changelog
- Removed erroneous NOTAIR tags from the Claw & Talon (so only AA will shoot them once again)
- Improved scripts of Bombardier and Enraged Lobber (less standing still more blowing stuff up)
- Reduced accuracy of the Normal, Hard & Very Hard queen's goo spit (not so much a nerf as it'll now spread its damage over more area)
- Added a new super dodo which appears rarely in the last 2 waves
- Changed the queen's color!

Download: http://spring.jobjol.nl/show_file.php?id=1573

[TradeMark]

is the survive mode yet made?

it doesnt need to be so complex, just make them spawn forever with increasing HP/damage etc...

[TheFatController]

1.44 Changelog
- Queen now spits HELLFIRE OF DEATH instead of blue balls of failure.
- Tweaked Queen script (aiming, death sequence, head movement etc.)
- Turrets should now target Bombardiers before Basilisks.
- Increased Basilisk speed slightly.
- New chicken, the "Advanced Swarmer" appears later on as an upgrade to the basic chicken.


Re: Survival mode, still WIP tho as i'm getting more and more happy with how the standard mode is settling it'll be soon.

[TradeMark]

hmm... i readed "Queen now splits" in accident, which made me an idea: make some units which splits in half smaller units when you kill them? :D

hmm that makes me think of Crimsonland game where the maggots splitted in half, was fun to kill them... though, in spring you dont get any advantage (scores maybe?) by killing those units, so it wont be so fun afterall :P

[TheFatController]

I'm running low on the amount of crazy chickens I can fit into the standard mode, splitting ones would be very cool, the hardest issue would be making it look even slightly beleivable but that's probably not too important!

For survival I think it would work well if there were mini bosses every so often, the first could be a large swarmer that split several times possibly. (other ideas I have are a cockatrice that spawns healers, a giant healer with a shield etc)

[Smiff]

hi, great game, just a couple of AI problems which stand out:
playing very easy on map Coast

1) the hills near the water, the chickens cant climb up them and just sit at the base of the hill getting shot by turrets on top of the hill. this made the game much easier than it should be! what the chickens should do (assuming they arent meant to climb these hills) is keep walking north, pass the turrets they cant reach, and into the base where they can do damage.

Not sure how you'd script this - probably something like "if not getting any closer after x seconds forget nearby targets and try next". ideally pass this knowledge on so subsequent waves of chickens dont stop there, or avoid those turrets. or climb hills :)

2) when the queen came over at 100%, she destroys everything except for an underwater mex, which she just sat on and stopped moving. i self destructed this underwater mex to end the game.

other than that great work, very good challenge. please keep going!

edit:
3) i'm told a big advantage on island maps is that many big chickens dont get near you, because they cant cross water, is this because of the setting not to spawn near the player's base?

[TheFatController]

1.45 Changelog
- Added a new Alpha Cockatrice, larger and meaner for later waves.
- Added a new Advanced Spiker, more damage & a bit more range with its shield penetrating spike.
- Lowered dps of regular cockatrice AA weapon.
- Removed lobbers from the air wave.
- Juno missile now has a 50% chance of sending lobbers enraged (ie they stop shelling you and charge)
- Tweaked squads in the later waves a bit.
- Fixed chickens ignoring chicken limit.
- Small speedups to code

Download: http://spring.jobjol.nl/show_file.php?id=1581

Initial tests suggest this version may be too hard, tempted to scale it back a bit next version, need feedback!

[Smiff]

yes its already too hard*, thanks!

*for us, or we're not very good.. either way, this game is great training for newbies so needs to be easier at least on very easy/easy please, to not put them off!

especially if:
any chance of sorting out some of the AI bugs please?