Total Annihilation handled resource income in "ticks" of about half a second. Every "tick", you would receive whatever metal and energy you had coming to you. Meanwhile, resource use would be in realtime.
In Spring, it's a constant influx, making it virtually impossible to run right out of energy, and for instance, therefore things like repulsors work with reasonable efficiency even when your energy output is nowhere near as high as your energy demand.
This state of affairs is broken. Even with no energy, energy-consuming items will often work just as well, or with only slightly reduced efficiency. It is frustrating as a mod developer to know that repulsor units will ALWAYS work, even if they have an energy requirement of 5,000 energy per deflected shot, even if you have only 3 solars powering it.
Obviously this shouldn't be as high priority as the GUI (which I'm really hoping is getting the attention it deserves), but I don't want it to go on unfixed indefinitely.
We need to revert to the "tick" system
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But thats aided GREATELY because of the overpowered nature of repulsors.
In the last version of AA i checked, it PEAKED for a berta shell at just about 500 or so, and that lasted only less than a second. Most was in the 200-300 range.
And thats for a FULL rebound, when fired on point blank.
So is logical that even 40 or 50 energy will still be enough to stop, or at least deflect bullets.
In the last version of AA i checked, it PEAKED for a berta shell at just about 500 or so, and that lasted only less than a second. Most was in the 200-300 range.
And thats for a FULL rebound, when fired on point blank.
So is logical that even 40 or 50 energy will still be enough to stop, or at least deflect bullets.
I disagree
The problem is not the ticks system, but the units that run on continuous consumption. No unit should function properly under half-operation - it should work or it shouldn't. For example, an Annihilator doesn't work with only a little energy - either it has enough to fire, or it doesn't. The repulsor, conversely, can repulse on a trickle, similar to construction - it only repulses very weakly (but still enough to do so).
The obvious solution is to make the repulsor work more like an annihilator. The annihilator works well because there's a large atomic consumption of energy needed for it to work. The repulsor doens't need that large atomic consumption - it works fine on a trickle-charge.
So, give the repulsor an atomic consumption. Make there a "beam initiation" cost. It can be a function of mass or range or whatever. Just make it "the repulsor takes 100 energy to target a projectile" and then it works with the normal consumption. So in addition to the normal cost of repelling projectiles, the repulsor must pay the startup cost before it targets any individual projectile. This would make the cost prohibitive when energy has bottomed out - the repulsor would deplete the energy, break the beam, and then halt until energy gets above 100 and it can restart, which would in turn cause it to deplete again. It would also make rapidfire weapons horribly destructive.
The obvious solution is to make the repulsor work more like an annihilator. The annihilator works well because there's a large atomic consumption of energy needed for it to work. The repulsor doens't need that large atomic consumption - it works fine on a trickle-charge.
So, give the repulsor an atomic consumption. Make there a "beam initiation" cost. It can be a function of mass or range or whatever. Just make it "the repulsor takes 100 energy to target a projectile" and then it works with the normal consumption. So in addition to the normal cost of repelling projectiles, the repulsor must pay the startup cost before it targets any individual projectile. This would make the cost prohibitive when energy has bottomed out - the repulsor would deplete the energy, break the beam, and then halt until energy gets above 100 and it can restart, which would in turn cause it to deplete again. It would also make rapidfire weapons horribly destructive.
Seems reasonable. Alternatively, the "start up cost" would just be the cost it takes to deflect a shot - once it's fired, it will fully deflect it to the best of the repulsor's ability.
IMSabbel, try using it in a real war situation. It should require at least 800 energy per... per whatever. The very, very least. I know I've seen it as high as 5,000 for a single shot.
IMSabbel, try using it in a real war situation. It should require at least 800 energy per... per whatever. The very, very least. I know I've seen it as high as 5,000 for a single shot.
Keep in mind that IMSabbel might be talking about the kuroTA respulsors too, those use far less energy. I've seen the AA ones drain a full 7k energy for a single bertha shell.
Tremors are also a great way to overwhelm the things. :)
Tremors are also a great way to overwhelm the things. :)
Last edited by Decimator on 04 Nov 2005, 16:23, edited 1 time in total.
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SwiftSpear
- Classic Community Lead
- Posts: 7287
- Joined: 12 Aug 2005, 09:29
A problem
A problem I run into is the invincible fort - combine annihilators, long-ranged missile defense, anti-nuke, a good field of dragon's eyes or other cloaked spotters, and a repulsor, and the porcer can build an unlimited supply of megafusion reactors in the back - berthas will be hard-pressed to deplete it. The only thing that won't be pwned by the annihilators are berthas (that outrange them).
Personally, I have an idea for a unit - an anti-porcer vehicle. Very simple - a slow, weak, expensive piece of crap, but armed with a weak Starburst missile with a range of 2000. Call it the "reacher". The unit would be somewhat useless except for harassing indomitable defenses.
Still, I think a "beam initiation cost" would be the best solution for the half-firing problem of a low-energy Keeper. If the beam costs a set amount to initiate, then it can't be quickly turned on and off effectively, which prevents the "half-firing" mode.
Personally, I have an idea for a unit - an anti-porcer vehicle. Very simple - a slow, weak, expensive piece of crap, but armed with a weak Starburst missile with a range of 2000. Call it the "reacher". The unit would be somewhat useless except for harassing indomitable defenses.
Still, I think a "beam initiation cost" would be the best solution for the half-firing problem of a low-energy Keeper. If the beam costs a set amount to initiate, then it can't be quickly turned on and off effectively, which prevents the "half-firing" mode.
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Archangel of Death
- Posts: 854
- Joined: 28 Jan 2005, 18:15
Could it be an issue with communication between Spring clients? I did a test in a "skrimish" with the AA 1.0 repulsors (replace xta in modinfo) and found that they were working perfectly. When they ran out of energy they no longer deflected shots, sometimes they still had the deflect effect on some of them but didn't actually affect the trajectory. The test was with 2 stumpys, 2 fidos, and 1 bulldog, they drained up to 4k energy at peak points, and the repulsor (whatever the core one is called) had 2 fusions powering it and started at 50k energy.
I also noted that 4 peewees drain well over 100k energy per second in another test
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I also noted that 4 peewees drain well over 100k energy per second in another test
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