Kernel Panic

KDR_11k · Post by **KDR_11k** » 18 Feb 2007, 15:21

Shelves? Don't tell me that stupid idea (stacking units) got dug up again.

Increase the weapon velocity of the pointer, currently it can't get even close to its maximum range on a map with normal gravity like Mars. Perhaps increasing both its rate of fire and spread would make it more useful for area bombardements.

Oh and you should make buildings a BadTargetCategory for bits so they don't shoot them if there's anything else around. Bits are useless against buildings.

Of course I'd like to see an overall nerf on building HP.

smoth · Post by **smoth** » 18 Feb 2007, 17:36

Shelves was one of the most idiotic ideas to be posted in the forum. Please do not entertain it.

KDR_11k · Post by **KDR_11k** » 18 Feb 2007, 17:40

If you want bits to be able to shoot even when other units are in front of them give them another weapontype and set avoidfriendly and collidefriendly to 0. That won't work with beamlasers because those ignore collidefriendly which would mean they'd shoot each other in the back.

manored · Post by **manored** » 18 Feb 2007, 18:58

I think there is some problem that makes bytes shot in allyied (but not yours) sockets. At least there was one in the version 0.6.

1v0ry_k1ng · Post by **1v0ry_k1ng** » 18 Feb 2007, 19:44

shelves ftw

Boirunner · Post by **Boirunner** » 18 Feb 2007, 20:09

I agree that shelves would be ridiculous in something like BA. But in KP, it just might work.

An Array would be a unit about as fast as a Byte, and able to transport up to n bits that can all shoot at once. The advantage being, they can all shoot at once, and the disadvantage being, they all die at once and are slow.

Note I said maybe. I think it might work, and might be fun, but other things are more important. Like more maps and stuff.

Anyway, I'm going to be kinda busy in the next few weeks (multivariable and vector calculus ftw =), so I won't be spending as much time on KP as I did in the last few days. I'll be back with full strength in middle march, though.

1v0ry_k1ng · Post by **1v0ry_k1ng** » 18 Feb 2007, 20:41

i want a flying transport that can carry loads and things can fire out of.

Boirunner · Post by **Boirunner** » 18 Feb 2007, 20:44

1v0ry_k1ng wrote:i want a flying transport that can carry loads and things can fire out of.

I want a flying pink pony that shits gold. I'd call her Susy and she would be my best friend.

edit:

KDR_11k wrote:Increase the weapon velocity of the pointer, currently it can't get even close to its maximum range on a map with normal gravity like Mars.

Yeah, it's borked now. I'll probably have to re-release the marble madness map with normal gravity.

Perhaps increasing both its rate of fire and spread would make it more useful for area bombardements.

It's an idea. I'll try it out.

Oh and you should make buildings a BadTargetCategory for bits so they don't shoot them if there's anything else around. Bits are useless against buildings.

Good idea, will do in next version.

Of course I'd like to see an overall nerf on building HP.

I know

But I like it the way it is. You can't kill expansions quickly without pointers, I think this leads to a more dynamic and less porcy game. I think that if you could kill sockets quickly, you'd have to have units defending them all the time, and I don't want people to have to do that.

Dragon45 · Post by **Dragon45** » 18 Feb 2007, 20:48

+1 for Arrays

And I have Multi-Var/Vector Calc coming up too. We can burn in hell together! Hooray!

KDR_11k · Post by **KDR_11k** » 18 Feb 2007, 21:16

-1 for arrays, just let bits shoot through each other if you want them all to shoot at once. Stacking them just leads to unnecessary complexity in what's supposed to be a very simple game.

manored · Post by **manored** » 19 Feb 2007, 00:34

How about making a factory that only produces pointers, one that only produces bytes and one that only produces constructors? I think that in large maps having only one factory to produce those units may disincourage their use...

1v0ry_k1ng · Post by **1v0ry_k1ng** » 19 Feb 2007, 01:01

Boirunner wrote: I want a flying pink pony that shits gold. I'd call her Susy and she would be my best friend.

I'd settle for one of those also

Pxtl · Post by **Pxtl** » 19 Feb 2007, 17:29

Bad Sector could be a mine - just make the corpse/wall unit a "noop".

KDR_11k · Post by **KDR_11k** » 19 Feb 2007, 21:24

Currently there's a bug that makes assemblers work on a socket together if they all are out of build range from the desired position when the order is given. I'm making it public because at least this way people know about it and those who figured it out themselves don't have an unfair advantage.

Oh and PLEASE nerf building HP! It takes forever to destroy them, a few minutes before they're dead they're already so covered by shots that they can't produce anything anymore anyway and just waste everyone's time.

A three player map would be useful, too. MM works with 2 and 4 players but with 3 one is always screwed because he has less room than the others and gets attacked by two people at once.

Oh and am I the only one who likes sniping builders with pointers? You can see the build effect from far away, two shots from the other end of the map and the builder is either dead or forced to abandon the construction.

Boirunner · Post by **Boirunner** » 19 Feb 2007, 22:11

KDR_11k wrote:Currently there's a bug that makes assemblers work on a socket together if they all are out of build range from the desired position when the order is given. I'm making it public because at least this way people know about it and those who figured it out themselves don't have an unfair advantage.

Do you know how to fix this? The canassist (or something) tag is off, so I think this is basically a Spring bug.

Oh and PLEASE nerf building HP! It takes forever to destroy them, a few minutes before they're dead they're already so covered by shots that they can't produce anything anymore anyway and just waste everyone's time.

I'm sorry but I really disagree with you here, for two reasons:

() In team games, chances are that your ally will be able to send help and free your building.
() Since it takes some time to kill a building, you have a chance of sending units from other places on the map to help defend the attacked socket. If it was killed quickly, you would have to have units protecting all your sockets at all times, leading to a more porcy gameplay.

When you have no chance of winning anymore, it is common curtesy to ctrl-a ctrl-d, so avoid the time wasting you mentioned. But I think it would be an error to change the games balance to accomodate for that.

A three player map would be useful, too. MM works with 2 and 4 players but with 3 one is always screwed because he has less room than the others and gets attacked by two people at once.

Agreed. More maps are on the top of my priority list. I'll get to making them as soon as I can. The problem is that the PC I'm working on sucks major balls, so it can't handle the huge images required to make larger maps.

Oh and am I the only one who likes sniping builders with pointers? You can see the build effect from far away, two shots from the other end of the map and the builder is either dead or forced to abandon the construction.

Pointers are very underused, I agree. But players will learn. I get beat regularly on KP, and I play fairly often. New tactics are getting created all the time. I think KP is a bit more complex than people give it credit for at the first glance.

architeuthis · Post by **architeuthis** » 19 Feb 2007, 22:14

I'm trying to play KernelPanic 0.7 on Linux, but there seems to be an issue. Whenever I try KernelPanic spring crashes and I get this error message:

Code: Select all

 Couldn't find unittype corcom

I don't know why I have this error, but (I think) I have all the ota basepacks installed (their absence would have been a logical explanation for this issue).
This issue happens with spring's latest official release and a recent svn build. Can anyone help me?

KDR_11k · Post by **KDR_11k** » 19 Feb 2007, 22:19

I don't think buildings would need much defending even with a third of the hitpoints. Even if, you could just leave a few bits behind to defend them until reinforcements get there, bits cost nothing and sockets produce them anyway. I really don't like how much time you have to spend to wreck a building, it makes attacks almost useless because your only hope is to completely lock him down so he gives up.

Archi: That happens when you use the start scripts in spring.exe with a mod that has only one faction. Use the lobby to start your games.

architeuthis · Post by **architeuthis** » 19 Feb 2007, 22:23

Archi: That happens when you use the start scripts in spring.exe with a mod that has only one faction. Use the lobby to start your games.

Thanks for the help, it works now. It looks great!

edit: read P3374H's post: ok, that's good to know.

Peet · Post by **Peet** » 19 Feb 2007, 22:25

architeuthis wrote:I'm trying to play KernelPanic 0.7 on Linux, but there seems to be an issue. Whenever I try KernelPanic spring crashes and I get this error message:
Code: Select all
 Couldn't find unittype corcom
I don't know why I have this error, but (I think) I have all the ota basepacks installed (their absence would have been a logical explanation for this issue).
This issue happens with spring's latest official release and a recent svn build. Can anyone help me?

It's because of a limitation in the commanders script. There needs to be a second (identical) race in the sidedata.tdf in order for it to run.

Boirunner · Post by **Boirunner** » 19 Feb 2007, 22:43

KDR_11k wrote:I don't think buildings would need much defending even with a third of the hitpoints. Even if, you could just leave a few bits behind to defend them until reinforcements get there, bits cost nothing and sockets produce them anyway. I really don't like how much time you have to spend to wreck a building, it makes attacks almost useless because your only hope is to completely lock him down so he gives up.

I'll tell you what. Before I release the next version, I'll make a test version with the hp of buildings reduced to 1/3 of their current value, and play a few games with the test version to see what it's like. You were right on pretty much all of the things you said about KP thus far, so I don't disregard your opinion lightly.

Spring RTS Engine

Kernel Panic