Some issues I noticed about the game (pr1.2 w/PU1.1b6-DSE)

[Gavinfoxx]

Phase damage is currently restricted to the BoostedSteltek only.

But the rebalance is adding phase damage elsewhere... would this mean that you can use weapons other than the boosted steltek to kill the drone? What is it about the boosted steltek that makes it able to pass through the shields of the drone?

[huzelbub]

Rebalance is fine, just the campaign doesn't pay too well. It's a bit weird with all the bartenders bragging about loads of credits to be made in Palan. Once there you quickly realise that the bounty on a single talon from the mission computer is worth much more than taking out 8 demons. Thank god we privateers are out for honor and virtue, not for profit

[Zool]

To clarify that: The DraymanCVL is currently NOT buyable.

I have seen it , at either Perry or New Detroit. I appears only very rarely though but it does appear.

Also, in the original and the rebalance, what weapons do phase damage?

Phase damage is currently restricted to the BoostedSteltek only.

Both Fusion and Plasma guns have phase damage in PU. In ZR I gave the Tachyon cannon very low phase damage, as a kind of low end version of a Fusion gun and as it is the only milspec weapon in the game I thought it needed to be a bit special. I do not remember if the Fusion gun had phase damage if you only had PR installed. In ZR1b1 I plan on lowering the phase damages, especially on the Fusion gun as it's just too deadly. As I said once before, "What's the point in even having shields when phase damage makes them redundant!"

I have a Centurion with 4 x Fusions and a Fusion turret and cap ships just don't stand a chance. I don't even bother with missiles or torps. About 5 passes and a Kamek, Paradigm or Drayman is toast.

And then we have the humble torpedo, WITH 85 phase damage points. and a range of 100,000 klicks. That's more than 10 x what most missiles can do, AND they're as cheap as chips. A torpedo is supposed to be a very big, very slow and VERY powerful weapon. Which is what the PR torp is not. I have been having some serious thoughts about radically changing this also.

Don't worry about the payments guys, Zool will only touch a few items.

Ahhh,....Erm......Actually I changed quite a lot in the last ZR and was going further this time. I was thinking about repricing the guns, turrets and missiles too, then that would be just about everything.

Thank god we privateers are out for honor and virtue, not for profit.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha............only when there's no profit to be made. Did you read my quote under my avatar?

[safemode]

Using the Nvidia propriatary drivers (in case it matters) Switching to turret mode leaves the screen stuck in some half rendered mode. I see the turret space, but no cockpit. Keys are unresponsive unless i switch back to normal ship mode and then back to turret. Then i get the full cockpit. I'm using the galaxy ship. Also, the CTRL + t to enable autofiring doesn't seem to work unless i'm in turret view mode and do it. Shouldn't I be able to set turrets to auto-fire while in the normal viewing mode and not have to go into turret mode?

This is using the 32bit binaries from the website, on a 64bit hardware accelerated debian setup.

to summarize: Bug is turret cockpit isn't rendered unless you exit turret viewing mode and re-enter quickly. Turret auto-fire doesn't seem to have an effect unless in turret mode.

[ace123]

Ah... this might be the bug related to anitalising settings.

I had that bug for ages, and I couldn't figure out what was causing it... I was debugging Vega Strike, and no matter how many times it called glFlush() and glutSwapBuffers() it just wouldn't display.

I fixed it by going to nvidia-settings and turning off "Override Application Setting" on all the Antialiasing settings...
You might want to try changing nvidia settings and see what fixes it for you.

[Dilloh]

But the rebalance is adding phase damage elsewhere... would this mean that you can use weapons other than the boosted steltek to kill the drone?

Ah I see... z30 (from PU not the rebalance btw) added phase damage to plasma, fusion and torpedo. Is it okay for everybody if I'd take those away again? Cus you're right, phase damage is the key to destroy the drone.

Rebalance is fine, just the campaign doesn't pay too well. It's a bit weird with all the bartenders bragging about loads of credits to be made in Palan. Once there you quickly realise that the bounty on a single talon from the mission computer is worth much more than taking out 8 demons. Thank god we privateers are out for honor and virtue, not for profit

Although the profit is learning about the artifact, I could set those payoffs onto the todo-list... Maybe reducing non-campaign payoffs a bit, too--

I have seen it , at either Perry or New Detroit. I appears only very rarely though but it does appear.

Found it, you're right -- I'll lock it in favor to be sold exclusively on Speke (upcoming 3rd campaign).

Both Fusion and Plasma guns have phase damage in PU. In ZR I gave the Tachyon cannon very low phase damage, as a kind of low end version of a Fusion gun and as it is the only milspec weapon in the game I thought it needed to be a bit special. I do not remember if the Fusion gun had phase damage if you only had PR installed. In ZR1b1 I plan on lowering the phase damages, especially on the Fusion gun as it's just too deadly. As I said once before, "What's the point in even having shields when phase damage makes them redundant!"

As I said, I'd rather take it out -- makes the drone vulnerable and I don't know if it respawns if you kill it too soon. Somebody willing to try this out?

I have a Centurion with 4 x Fusions and a Fusion turret and cap ships just don't stand a chance. I don't even bother with missiles or torps. About 5 passes and a Kamek, Paradigm or Drayman is toast.

Isn't it quite boring to fly such a killer ship? Imagine a GalaxyGS armed like that? Again, another minus for phase damage IMHO.

And then we have the humble torpedo, WITH 85 phase damage points. and a range of 100,000 klicks. That's more than 10 x what most missiles can do, AND they're as cheap as chips. A torpedo is supposed to be a very big, very slow and VERY powerful weapon. Which is what the PR torp is not. I have been having some serious thoughts about radically changing this also.

Zool, I could kiss you! That's my thought too! Torpedos, cruising through space at the speed of old grannies, but also no or few phase damage - bases would be too deep in trouble. I'd also implement a 20-30s lock time, so that the AI also tries to use them on capships and not on fighters. I've planned such a thing as a new gun, but I'd skip that in favor of a new torp.

Ahhh,....Erm......Actually I changed quite a lot in the last ZR and was going further this time. I was thinking about repricing the guns, turrets and missiles too, then that would be just about everything.

Yeah, but you're not going to take 100000 creds for a laser, will you? I mean things will still be affordable, and everything will have its reasonable price in relation to usefulness, right? As I said, I'll give it a try for canonHUDs and if there are no major complaints, it'll be in.

What's the status btw?

[Zool]

Very COOL, I'm in. NO MORE phase damage on ANY weapons.

Torps: YES!! Just like WC; BIG BOOM!!, slow, 10-15 sec lock-on and 2500cr - 5000cr a piece at least. Give it about 15000 - 25000 range.

Am currently re-re-re-evaluating prices on everything. Won't be over the top but considerably more expensive than normal PU.

Status on ZR1b1: Hoping to have the beta ready for testing by end of the week. Will need some guinea pigs though. .

[Gavinfoxx]

Woah there... keep the phase damage on the boosted steltek gun, so you can actually successfully kill the drone!

[Dilloh]

Another idea for torps: To make scripting easier and usage harder, I'd say the torpedo still flies straight forward like a dumbfire (so a lock is required to fire, but still you can miss your target.). You now CAN give the torpedo little phase damage for it will surely miss the drone (even with autotrackers, it flies way too slow)

I'd also say: skip the beta and hand it over to Melonhead to implement his cargo stuff. Melonhead, I tested your cargo masterpartlist. I didn't feel significant changes, though I flew some runs with full cargo and some empty runs (in a DraymanCVL). Though, let's take it in. A Beta would be confusing, I'd rather like to melt it up with canonHUDs2.0 directly. If there are bugs or critics, we can fix and revert within canonHUDs2.1. Plus, if we melt everything in 2.0, we'll have more persons for beta.

Okay, gonna start scripting the 4th campaign tonight... dumdidum...

[Zool]

Woah there... keep the phase damage on the boosted steltek gun, so you can actually successfully kill the drone!

Of course, we have to leave this one in, but all other phase damage can go.

OK as soon as I finish I'll pm it to melonhead.

[safemode]

Ah... this might be the bug related to anitalising settings.

I had that bug for ages, and I couldn't figure out what was causing it... I was debugging Vega Strike, and no matter how many times it called glFlush() and glutSwapBuffers() it just wouldn't display.

I fixed it by going to nvidia-settings and turning off "Override Application Setting" on all the Antialiasing settings...
You might want to try changing nvidia settings and see what fixes it for you.

Apparently for me, turning them on fixes it. I had all the nvidia override options off. Perhaps it was the specific type of antialiasing you were doing.

And any idea on the turrets not apparently responding to ctrl T unless in turret view mode? I really dont see the point in having hot keys for auto-firing if you have to be in the turret mode to actually use them. And there is no way of seeing the state of the turrets. I've seen that there are other threads on this matter, but it doesn't seem to be resolved as of yet as to how they'll behave.

My last question is that there are two options for reducing power to the shields (I assume to increase power to other components) but no key to rush more power to the shields. That would be practical in the case of not having a way to adjust power levels to components. As it is now, if you have upgrades but not a sufficient reactor, your weapons are dead unless you decrease shields. You dont have the option of say, de-activating the auto-repair system so it doesn't drain you, or deactivating anything else. If the shield power is going to be our only way to adjust power levels then it should be complete.

Also, one other actual bug, and not a feature request. Turning on the ECM's works fine on my install, but i have no way to de-activate them. The toggle key does nothing, once on it's always on.

[huzelbub]

Although the profit is learning about the artifact, I could set those payoffs onto the todo-list... Maybe reducing non-campaign payoffs a bit, too--

You just want to know about the artifact because you sense a lot of credits to be made in the first place. There are some missions where I wondered why I get so excited in the cutscenes because of a sum I wouldn't even bother to fly a generic mission for. About reducing non-campaign payment you should probably wait for Zool's increased prices, but could be a good way to combat inflation.

Regarding torpedos, they were the only piece of equipment that allowed me to survive in later campaign missions with my beloved galaxy, cause they could take out a demon in one hit. No question a torpedo is in no way meant to take out light fighters, but missiles are just worthless. Even in PU where missile damage was doubled or so compared to PR 1.2. Especially the locking ones are forgettable as they can't take out even light shielding. So if you change the torpedo you should improve missiles significantly to fill the gap. At least this would bring back the feeling of "damn, I have to get rid of this missile" instead of "oh, I'm hit, now my shields have to recharge for 3 seconds".

Did you read my quote under my avatar?

Obviously, you must be an exception around here

[micheal_andreas_stahl]

But the rebalance is adding phase damage elsewhere... would this mean that you can use weapons other than the boosted steltek to kill the drone?

Ah I see... z30 (from PU not the rebalance btw) added phase damage to plasma, fusion and torpedo. Is it okay for everybody if I'd take those away again? Cus you're right, phase damage is the key to destroy the drone.

No it is not. You can take it away from the plasma because it has a refire rate that is totally too slow. The Fusion should be left, you can't legally get it until after the drone is dead and RF has started. DON'T, please don't take it away from the Torp. The torpedo meant to ignore the phase shields. It was unbalenced to start with, then z30 made it the way it was intended. Just make it so you can't get it until you have killed the drone. It is a militry item you SHOULD not be able to get it before hand.

[Dilloh]

Even in PU where missile damage was doubled or so compared to PR 1.2.

From my experience, z30 only changed DF and HS, those are really fine. Actually, a DF blasts a single Talon till kingdom come!

The Fusion should be left, you can't legally get it until after the drone is dead and RF has started.

Correct, Fusion phase can be left.

DON'T, please don't take it away from the Torp. The torpedo meant to ignore the phase shields. It was unbalenced to start with, then z30 made it the way it was intended. Just make it so you can't get it until you have killed the drone.

The torpedo is intended to take out slow bulky capships, nothing else. We just want to make it much slower, still keeping some phase damage is okay.

[micheal_andreas_stahl]

My expirence with torps and the drone is that the drone is to fast and can dodge the torps.

[Shissui]

My expirence with torps and the drone is that the drone is to fast and can dodge the torps.

When I tried a salvo of torps, the drone shot them down.
I do not think that torpedo phase damage is a big problem here.

This was not a problem -- the purpose of those torps was to draw fire away from ME & it worked just fine.

[micheal_andreas_stahl]

Torps are supposed to ignore the shield. While Tachyons are supposed to do phase damage. To take away them away ould break the WC canon.

[Dilloh]

Torpedos are supposed to ignore shields, on capships.

Tachyons are not supposed to do phase damage (which is some sort of ignoring shields, too), not in WC3, Privateer, Righteous Fire or Privateer Remake.

[micheal_andreas_stahl]

As far as i know all shields are the same except cap ship's are have tougher shields.

[Zool]

Dilloh's right. Tachyons aren't supposed to have phase damage. Neither are Plasmas (possibly not even Fusions). The reason I gave Tachyons phase damage was because someone classified them as "Confed Milspec". It's the only gun in that category and this made it a special weapon. It could have been just another "medium weapon". There has to be some good reason it's a Milspec.

Here's an idea, how about making the Fusion gun also a Confed Milspec weapon and only available at Perry like the Tachyon?

Can anyone tell me WHY? torps are supposed to be able to penetrate shields? I do not remember this ability from any WC.

[Shissui]

Can anyone tell me WHY? torps are supposed to be able to penetrate shields? I do not remember this ability from any WC.

I do not know if this is the reason for it in WC, but in other environments the rationale runs -- the torp is moving slow enough to physically pass through the shield before it detonates.

[Dilloh]

I think I do remember this in WC, at least on the higher difficulties, e.g. in Prophecy the torpedo was shot at a subsystem beyond the shield perimeter and it hit - as the only armament capable to do so.

The Fusions, I don't mind if they are a somewhat special item.

[micheal_andreas_stahl]

With the new shield i find destroy a Paradigm rather hard with just guns and a few missiles. If larger ship are brought in as is my wish then the torp will have to ignore the shields.

[Dilloh]

The torpedo may ignore shields, but it is not its purpose to be fast enough to take out fighters.

There's a saying in Germany: "Mit Kanonen auf Spatzen schiessen"
Which means using a weapon with enormous firepower and massive inaccuracy to shoot light and agile targets.

[micheal_andreas_stahl]

Make the torp slower, More expensive, and not avalible until after the drone has been killed.