Post by Snow_Cat in Void Salvage comments

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WIN062 Been playing and modding (cheating) this last couple of days. - Mostly I’ve tweaked the logic so that I could ‘[f]lag enemies’ using the beacon (because it was too difficult to keep full low); And similarly broke the scanner logic so that I could deleberately alarm waves of enemies with extraneous scans.

And now have a couple of small suggestions I haven’t seen others mention (thoughts out of order.)

I like that you can self-destruct by installing enough (Modules and Drones) with a negative hull penalty while HULL INTEGRITY IS [very] LOW. But the “you were destroyed by” message unfairly blames the last enemy encountered instead of the misuse of the mysterious stranger’s offerings.

Normally players are incentivised to keep hull integrity high; But enabling a distressed ship able to act as bait created a rapid ‘action’ loop (and with it a slow trickle of that delicious XP).

Along those lines, crudely enabling the scanner to go loud instead of stealthy, (and be pointed at any poi) causes a random number of waves of alarmed enemies to be summoned in rapid succession as each wave is cleared. Interestingly these waves also draw on a systems’ reinforcements, though the counter resets with each cleared wave.

These alarmed units arriving in sets of ~three are able to sustain the action unlike normal reinforcements which seem to be dispatched only one at a time.

… This alternative combat loop could be implemented intentionally to draw in a poi’s reinforcements; and/or to cause a target system to increase it’s threat level (if upgraded to do so, etc,).

Also scaling the wave-size to the damage-output of the player?

BohFam6 days ago(+1)

Thanks! There's a lot to unpack here, I'm loving some of the suggestions

Snow_Cat6 days ago (1 edit)

I tried to add an O[FF]ENCE button (w/ keyboard binds) that either summons reinforcements one at a time during combat, or all of the remaining survivors at the same POI as a single wave (to restart SPACE_COMBAT / collect XP ). I tool tipped these as “- AMPLIFY REINFORCEMENT SIGNAL” and “- SEND REINFORCEMENT SIGNALS” respectively. And noticed:

in the HUD Draw code, var mid_btn_h, mid_btn_w are separated from their values by the if(global.space_view) logic. This was synchronized with the `if(reinforced_area) logic that depends on these values being set not to crash.
- Moving these the values together (instead of nesting reinforced_area into space_view ) allows the modified [reinforced] HUD to become interactable behind the loot menu(s) with ‘entertaining’ results:
  - =D it is exceptionally easy to get into this state by spamming [FF] to rush enemies in as the combat phase ends.
  - the ship’s main weapon stays inert after disposing of the loot.
  - XD while in this state space_view does not get set, disabling the option to [E]SCAPE.
  - This state does not end until either the drone(s) or the enemies win.

Which leads me to this suggestion:
If allowing players to O[FF]END all of the defenders at once using a button in the sidebar; Please intentionally reset the [E]SCAPE cooldown to a value between its upgraded and longest default delay =3 And also keep it hidden it if O[FF]END is activated while the loot-screen is open … … For a time proportional to {the player’s ship and drones} versus the predicted damage output (simple triangle formula?). The idea is to startle players with a ‘good’ scare, dropping shields and at maybe triggering a hull alert. >:3… with a chance (ofc) of an ‘Elite’ making a guest appearance if the player is predicted to trivially defeat the normal reinforcements. ( Maybe unlock another upgrade path that trades a faster-recovering [E]SCAPE for a greater probability that an Elite will pop in.

(Lore-Justifiy by saying that its abusing the tactical-escape subsystem to contact the reinforcements? )

Also noticed:

other puns in the code following the explicit pattern _x = max(0, ...); if (_x <= 0) { _x = 1; };
( bug from my modding attempts ? ) Freelancer upgrade is reset to 0 on loading save after restarting but not on main-menu bounce.
POIs are regenerated after reloading (bounce from main menu), useful when I can’t find the jump gate, (or other specific POIs).
(edit:) “ENEMY ALERTED” by running scans don’t interrupt jumps.

BohFam6 days ago(+1)

Thank you for all of this. I've made a lot of corrections based on your feedback. The masochist in me is also liking the idea about the escape abuse punishment, but I want it to have predictability, to be a litteral escape jump, especially in the next update I've added a roguelike mode. You'll see what i mean when I upload the update tonight.

Snow_Cat5 days ago (13 edits)

WIN070 I see what you mean about the Roguelike, Progressive and Hybrid modes.

I’ve yet to gain traction in the roguelike state, but will report if prestige has significant effect.

=== meow:

Been using [C]ANCEL to run down the fuel and generate extra fodder to [F]LAG.... This (combined with the menu bounce) seems to be my preferred way to complete more missions/jobs in a sector than normally possible.

Noticed that while I may run out of fuel before arriving, I can coast into the POI anyways (and [F]LAG extra enemies in while the locals are jumping in (if I’m quick). but…

If I [F]LAG ENEMIES immediately on arriving at a POI, the interesting part might be lost -(not yet duplicated)- . Apparently this ended the asteroid hazard, dunno if bug caused by crudely modding out the Steam dependancy/entanglement.

=== bugs and oddities:

While spamming the pause key (imitation slow-motion/bullet time) with the [E]SCAPE engaged to get out of the asteroid hazard POI, I encountered a temporary glitch state when the emergency jump fired in during a pause. – I’ve not characterized -(or duplicated)- this state, but have had PAUSE emblazoned across the screen during a battle.

I had to mod out the Steam integration to run the game (outside of the mod/dev tools), because it kept loading (or focusing on an already loaded instance of) Spacewar instead, after it insisted on me logging in to install Spacewar (default appid). (I dunno if this is a specific anti-piracy response by Steam as Spacewar was used/abused by previous Steam DRM unwrappers.)

The integrity system does seem to encourage swapping out modules/drones/augments frequently, leading to more variety.
Were tier upgrades intended to add integrity, or is there no mechanism to recover it?

Also; I guess the Derelict Ships refilling with salvage when they loop around the screen wasn’t intended as a minigame. :I

edit 5: sometimes the POI icons stop being clickable. bouncing from the Main Menu works around this by replacing them with new POI’s. ( Also exploitable )

Suggestions:

Change “Your first upgrade is free.” to “Your first upgrade was free.” after spending the {voucher/coupon/garuntee/instrument/bonus (?)}. And maybe lightly-shadow/hint the most expensive item avail.

Edits 3+:
[ALT] to toggle between {level} and {cost or unlock requirement) in upgrade screen?

If a player enters an unidentified “tier upgrade” POI without an upgrade-able drone or module, instead offer them the least effective weapon upgrade (by “-wins- DPS above replacement” ?)

BohFam3 days ago (1 edit)

the tier+ wasnt suppose to appear if there's no upgradable item. I need to check that out.

There chance to restore derelicts, I added the floating text for visual feedback.

I've added both level and cost on core upgrade I might need to reposition some of the nodes(weapon branch)

Snow_Cat3 days ago (5 edits)

win070 (Mew;)
I gathered that there was/is an intended way to restore derelicts; I was exploiting the wrapping (previously seeming to be accomplished by) cloning the old derelict by running them all down to minimum scrap (and only destroying the last one targeted), then only destroying them when they’ve refilled.

(edit 3/4: Strike this, couldn’t reproduce. edit 5: Wait, I just did need to run out of fuel 1 ly before bumping into the system, but wait for the rocks to start to fade in before [F]LAG. ) I think the uninteractable POIs are happening when I [F]LAG an attack at the start of an asteroid hazard (‘drifting’ into the edge w/ low fuel ?);
The hazard logic is disabling the POI’s while enabling the emergency [E]SCAPE, but the [A]TTACK is going to “EXPLORATION” mode instead of back into “HAZARDOUS”, causing the POIs to reappear without enabling them. (I think … )

It could be ‘!fun’ if instead of going straight into ‘combat’;
Enemies jump in as a group and fatally collide (allide?) with the asteroids;
Then as opponents randomly {start shooting the asteroids, try to initalize a jump out but are vunerable to (one shot) being smashed by the hazards, or take shelter behind the player};
Then (take turns) jumping out while the survivors try to keep the asteroids back… (random player turns = smashy smashy) …
… all while the player gobbles up the spilt scrap and fuel w/ the option to start ‘normal’ combat early by manually targeting the opponent ships …

But that sounds like alot more effort than having them all jump in, crash, mostly jump out. (free fuel, and lol).

===(edit)
Also, exploiting running out of fuel, to bait fodder to feed on the XP.

BohFam3 days ago(+1)

That does actually sounds kinda fun having enemies during hazard. I would have to implement it very carefully as COMBAT and HAZARD are two different game_states. I will need to make HAZARD as poi type instead

BohFam1 day ago

so to counter that exploit. I've implemented a difficulty increase, which increases the enemies hp in the sector by 5 each intercepts, 2 if flagged. This will also allow players to really think of choosing weapon tuneup or tier up rather than fuel

Snow_Cat5 hours ago (13 edits)

WIN070 (0.7.3)

=== Bugs and oddities:

Last Download file name is not synchronized with version number.

Had to delete steam dll files to run without Steam getting in my way. Did not check to see if Spacewar or not. Deleting is much easier than modding the game code to ignore it.

Drone Fire Rate overlaps with another upgrade.

Arriving at the ‘edge’ of a POI that opens a loot screen with no fuel will not pause the ambush timer while the loot screen is open. This can result in the player’s main weapon being disabled while the enemy ship is unfrozen upon exiting the loot interface. This is would be exploitable with an attack drone, because the player shields regenerate quickly (as if not in battle).

With no upgrade all POI’s get the resource icon, even when the text+colour distinguish other destination types.
_ suggest still applying the distinguishing icons for readability/QOL reasons.

Sockets are gate-kept by the first boss; I was confused by the resource locations not rewarding the expected orbs. _ Perhaps substituting/occupying the socket icon on the HUD to indicate they are disabled would make it less confusing.
_ Reloaded after defeating first boss, no bonus modules!? sockets re-locked on load?

Scan enemies don’t count torwards the (optional) difficulty total; This is time consuming and enough of a PITA to make it unviable as an exploit path for me. _ By the same measure, I found myself save scumming (even when that sacrificed desirable POIs) to avoid the ambush timer. Perhaps it should be made much more forgiving for players late on activating the [B]EACON (edit: while still hard on those who gleefully seek more fodder)

ie (many edits due to markdown weirdness...):

global.difficulty_pursuit_flagged_count = max(
  global.difficulty_pursuit_flagged_count,
  max(1 + min(
    global.difficulty_pursuit_flagged_count, 
    (global.fodder_killed / 3) + global.elite_killed + global.boss_killed
  ))
)

Also, what is the LY distance between sectors? And should it count torwards Mission/Job/Quest completion?

Not yet had opportunity to see if [G]ATHER should work after defeating boss.

First boss frequently called reinforcement waves of size 10! ( Even if I accidentally replaced random function call with my bias mod version, the limits would have been unchanged. ) Should reinforcement wave size be scaled to how much damage the player could have done?

=== Remarks:

I’ve taken {4 hours, aggressive save scumming/POI regeneration, and one extremely cheating/biased random mod} to defeat the 0.7.3 progressive boss;
compared to the previous 8 hours to prestiege in WIN070 with the exploitable [F]lag enemies option.

I dunno what the intended progression curve looks like, but clearly (its actual) trajectory has shifted dramatically.

itch.io

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