The Backroads — an alternate route

Planning, discussion, release and support of registered extensions, libraries, adventures and other content is here.
Post Reply
User avatar
AssumedPseudonym
Fleet Officer
Fleet Officer
Posts: 1190
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2013 5:18 am
Location: On the other side of the screen.

 Update of the (insert random time period here): The Backroads has been updated again. This is a minor update involving a few minor tweaks, but most importantly the removal of a call to the obsolete &dsDryDock; dockscreen (which, annoyingly enough, I wasn’t actually even using). This will make TBR playable again for people who had been trying to run the latest version and run into trouble with an unknown type error.

 I accept full blame for having uploaded a nonfunctional version because, for me, it did work — but only because I also run TSB, which apparently de-obsoletes the relevant dockscreen. Let this be a lesson to test things without anything else running that might give bogus results. The silver lining here is that it’s only the main TBR library needing updated, not the 200MB+ resource library that takes forever to download.

 That said, I am blaming George for not listing types being deprecated in the API spec records on Ministry, and have a ticket of my own requesting that he do so in the future. He’s gotten a lot better about documentation since a bunch of us basically dogpiled on him over it a ways back, but he does still backslide from time to time. ^.~
Image

Mod prefixes: 0xA010 (registered) and 0xDCC8 (miscellaneous)

My mods on Xelerus: Click here!

Of all the things I’ve lost in life, I miss my mind the least. (I’m having a lot more fun without it!)
relanat
Militia Captain
Militia Captain
Posts: 941
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:56 am

Tried the Naginata. The intro screens where you select ship devices are very clever. Nice one. (I'm gonna try and use that code too, TIA :D).

Also seen the device extensions (two anyway). Great idea.

And I see why you want 'broadside' attack now as well. That ship is devastating (not sure which one it was, I was too busy running away!). The firing effect looks great too.

I like the very tough armor on the Monitors(?) where it takes a lot of fire to get through the armor and then the hull blows near instantly (I think that's what is happening). Original. Nice.

The shadow effect for the weapon mounts on the Bootlegger is very well done. It's fun just sitting there watching it spin.

The Haetenaro hold is a bit confusing. I assume its purpose is to allow any hold to have smuggling capability. It doesn't appear to increase cargo space. Would it be better as a 'normal' slotless device which did this rather than appear as a cargo hold?

Having the Benedict missions start in Zyr is a bit difficult. The player doesn't really get a hint to go to St Kats and continue the missions. The Korolov station which is indicated by Benedict can be in any system, not necessarily one (mainline is the attribute I think) which sorta directs the player to the next mission like in standard SOTP. Maybe the game can force-spawn a Korolov station somewhere between Eridani and StKats (not the Charon one) and Benedict can indicate that one. But that directs players away from the TBR systems. Dunno.

Very enjoyable. Glad I finally got some time to play TBR.
Stupid code. Do what I want, not what I typed in!
User avatar
AssumedPseudonym
Fleet Officer
Fleet Officer
Posts: 1190
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2013 5:18 am
Location: On the other side of the screen.

 Thanks for the feedback, I always appreciate it. ^.^
relanat wrote:Tried the Naginata. The intro screens where you select ship devices are very clever. Nice one. (I'm gonna try and use that code too, TIA :D).
 Feel free! Just note that there can be clashes between mods if more than one try to run a startup screen right off the bat like that. PM and I think we know how to keep that sorted out (and I may have already included that in the Naginata code), but let me know if you run into trouble with that.
relanat wrote:Also seen the device extensions (two anyway). Great idea.
 There are just the two, yeah. George kinda side-eyed them until I tied them into specific slots.
relanat wrote:And I see why you want 'broadside' attack now as well. That ship is devastating (not sure which one it was, I was too busy running away!). The firing effect looks great too.
 I’m honestly not sure which one you mean. There’s only one in particular that I had in mind for it — the Obelisk — and even then it’s actually Heliogenesis who really wants it.
relanat wrote:I like the very tough armor on the Monitors(?) where it takes a lot of fire to get through the armor and then the hull blows near instantly (I think that's what is happening). Original. Nice.
 I’m going to guess you mean the Fialka. It was originally going to be a placeholder, but I like the way it works out, myself.
relanat wrote:The shadow effect for the weapon mounts on the Bootlegger is very well done. It's fun just sitting there watching it spin.
 They’re not actually weapon mounts, just decorative. Glad you like the effect, though. ^.^
relanat wrote:The Haetenaro hold is a bit confusing. I assume its purpose is to allow any hold to have smuggling capability. It doesn't appear to increase cargo space. Would it be better as a 'normal' slotless device which did this rather than appear as a cargo hold?
 Originally, yes, that was its purpose. It’s going to be reworked into basically a permanently-installed smuggling hold, though.
relanat wrote:Having the Benedict missions start in Zyr is a bit difficult. The player doesn't really get a hint to go to St Kats and continue the missions. The Korolov station which is indicated by Benedict can be in any system, not necessarily one (mainline is the attribute I think) which sorta directs the player to the next mission like in standard SOTP. Maybe the game can force-spawn a Korolov station somewhere between Eridani and StKats (not the Charon one) and Benedict can indicate that one. But that directs players away from the TBR systems. Dunno.
 I haven’t poked at the Benedict storyline or how it interacts with TBR. It’s on the agenda. Eventually. I want to get my own mission work in place before I really dig into that, though.
Image

Mod prefixes: 0xA010 (registered) and 0xDCC8 (miscellaneous)

My mods on Xelerus: Click here!

Of all the things I’ve lost in life, I miss my mind the least. (I’m having a lot more fun without it!)
The Lone Badger
Anarchist
Anarchist
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2018 10:19 am

Are you still recruiting people into the beta? I'd like to try it.
User avatar
AssumedPseudonym
Fleet Officer
Fleet Officer
Posts: 1190
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2013 5:18 am
Location: On the other side of the screen.

 I am indeed! PM sent. ^.^
Image

Mod prefixes: 0xA010 (registered) and 0xDCC8 (miscellaneous)

My mods on Xelerus: Click here!

Of all the things I’ve lost in life, I miss my mind the least. (I’m having a lot more fun without it!)
The Lone Badger
Anarchist
Anarchist
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2018 10:19 am

Reply sent :)
relanat
Militia Captain
Militia Captain
Posts: 941
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:56 am

Had a God-look and decompiled the code. The Monolith class cruiser was the one that took forever to get through the armor and then hull-died quickly. But it's relative. 16 heavy ithalium armor. They. Just. Will. Not. Die!

I couldn't recognize the 'broadside' attack ship from the images. Not the Obelisk. All I can remember is it had a simultaneous, fixed, four barreled, red weapons effect (phew!) firing at the player. Which pretty much ripped the side out of the player ship, this being why I ran away! It's possible the ship was firing from its front because I didn't get a good look. But the weapons fire appeared to come from a somewhat recessed side section of the ship image. Very clever. It gives a lot of damage power to the ship while balancing it with slow spin.

And that is a great looking hit effect on the Kingpin. (I know I shouldn't be firing at friendlies).
Stupid code. Do what I want, not what I typed in!
The Lone Badger
Anarchist
Anarchist
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2018 10:19 am

Some early comments:

* Error text about a cursor pops-up every time a Legion patrol gets spawned
* Re Legion, I don't really understand the difference between a low-hp-shield-that-takes-reduced-damage and a normal high-hp-shield. It takes a long time to burn through a legion shield, exactly as if it was a normal shield.
* Some of the new stuff seems a little overpowered - the dual weapons on the Psi gunship and combining a mitigator-shield with good armour in particular
* It's easy to get lost in the Back Roads. There's a couple of things that might help
........* Some kind of 'depth gauge' so you can tell whether you're heading deeper in toward the core, or actually heading back out. Could be as simple as a re-usable ROM that gives you the depth level of the system you're .........currently in
........* A way to locate stargates - when there may be 3-4 in a system, finding the one you want can be very difficult, making it in turn hard to see what system connects to what. Idea: Installable device that can be used to locate all gates in the current system. Alternatively / in addition, a cargo device with limited charges.

I notice the new ships are often substantially smaller than a vanilla ship of the same weight category. Legion corvettes for example are similar in size to a typical gunship. I assume this is intentional?
User avatar
AssumedPseudonym
Fleet Officer
Fleet Officer
Posts: 1190
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2013 5:18 am
Location: On the other side of the screen.

 Okay. Part 1, to address relanat’s comments:
relanat wrote:The Monolith class cruiser was the one that took forever to get through the armor and then hull-died quickly. But it's relative. 16 heavy ithalium armor. They. Just. Will. Not. Die!
 Oh! Yeah, the Monolith does go down a lot faster once you get through the armor. Semi-deliberate, that. (Also, I need to reclassify it as a destroyer, probably.)
relanat wrote:I couldn't recognize the 'broadside' attack ship from the images…
 I have no idea, then. I am completely at a loss. The only thing that comes to mind that even comes close would be the Rectifier, and on that you would probably have been complaining about the EMP more than the other weapons.
relanat wrote:And that is a great looking hit effect on the Kingpin. (I know I shouldn't be firing at friendlies).
 The hit effect is actually a function of the shield. It was fun to get code for that figured out. ^.^

 And now Part 2, for The Lone Badger (and I’m glad it finally decided to download for you):
The Lone Badger wrote:* Error text about a cursor pops-up every time a Legion patrol gets spawned
 Yeah, that’s new as of the most recent beta. I’ve already poked George about it.
The Lone Badger wrote:* Re Legion, I don't really understand the difference between a low-hp-shield-that-takes-reduced-damage and a normal high-hp-shield. It takes a long time to burn through a legion shield, exactly as if it was a normal shield.
 Part of it was early coding practice, admittedly. I probably don’t need to keep it set up like that, but I do like the unique shield as something weird should the player get hold of one.
The Lone Badger wrote:* Some of the new stuff seems a little overpowered - the dual weapons on the Psi gunship and combining a mitigator-shield with good armour in particular
 Balancing is still a work in progress. I do have limits on what weapons can be linked on the Psi — no dual weapons, and they can only total a certain percentage of the reactor’s output. Mitigators (and dampeners, for that matter) are a pain to balance, though, just because they work completely differently than anything George made. I’m still trying to get it all sorted out.
The Lone Badger wrote:* It's easy to get lost in the Back Roads…
 That’s actually not accidental. The vanilla topology is very straightforward and linear, and The Backroads are meant to be winding and trickier to navigate. (This is also partly Wolfy’s fault, since I took a few cues from The Stars Beyond when I was starting this monstrosity. Speaking of which, you should see the topology map with vanilla, Corporate Command, The Near Stars, The Stars Beyond, The Backroads, and Renegade all active in the same game. It’s… impressively convoluted.)
The Lone Badger wrote:I notice the new ships are often substantially smaller than a vanilla ship of the same weight category. Legion corvettes for example are similar in size to a typical gunship. I assume this is intentional?
 Some of my ships may need reclassified, yes, but I think part of the issue is that George has added a few larger ships in assorted classifications since I first did a lot of mine. It’s something I’ll be taking into consideration, whether renaming or just re-rendering to be a bit bigger. Probably the former. I’ve rendered everything in this more times than I’d care to try remembering, so adding one more time wouldn’t be a problem. The main thing is that I don’t want to have to re-trig all of the effect positions again. ¬.¬;
Image

Mod prefixes: 0xA010 (registered) and 0xDCC8 (miscellaneous)

My mods on Xelerus: Click here!

Of all the things I’ve lost in life, I miss my mind the least. (I’m having a lot more fun without it!)
The Lone Badger
Anarchist
Anarchist
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2018 10:19 am

Is there any documentation on which weapons will work for linked-fire and which won't? In fact, a ROM in starting inventory giving an 'owners manual' for your ship might be a nice addition.
User avatar
AssumedPseudonym
Fleet Officer
Fleet Officer
Posts: 1190
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2013 5:18 am
Location: On the other side of the screen.

 I don’t currently have any in-game documentation on what weapons can be set as secondaries on the Pariah, installed on the Ferry, or linked on the Psi, but here’s the basics (or at least as much as I can recall without some serious source-diving at why-the-kack-am-I-still-awake o’clock in the morning):
» Single slot weapons only.
» Single point-of-origin weapons only. This is slightly different from 'multishot — a laser cannon array will work, but a dual laser cannon will not.
» No launchers.
» The Psi-class has the additional restriction that the two weapons’ total combined power consumption cannot total more than three-fourths the reactor’s output.
» The Ferry-class has no additional restrictions per se, but non-Iler weapons will suffer a significant rate-of-fire penalty.

 I agree that they could stand to be clarified in-game as to what you can or can’t do. I’d rather have the “owner’s manual” done like I did on the Gryphon, though, as an extra option on the ship’s main interior dockscreen. I’ll probably add that on in the next version.
Image

Mod prefixes: 0xA010 (registered) and 0xDCC8 (miscellaneous)

My mods on Xelerus: Click here!

Of all the things I’ve lost in life, I miss my mind the least. (I’m having a lot more fun without it!)
User avatar
AssumedPseudonym
Fleet Officer
Fleet Officer
Posts: 1190
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2013 5:18 am
Location: On the other side of the screen.

 Update of the (insert random time period here): Progress is slow as I keep finding ways to procrastinate on making missions. One of these years, I promise. <.< >.> <.<; In the meantime, I went through and did a massive rebalance on all of the weapons. There are three that probably aren’t really balanceable, four more that are going to take a fair bit of work to get them to where they need to be and probably take a bit of fudging with more-or-less functionally similar weapons to properly balance, and two others that I really can’t be arsed to balance any better than I already have due to how they get used in-game. The other fifty-plus weapons, though? They’ve all been balanced (and nearly completely reworked where necessary) to be within +/-5 on George’s balance algorithm, and then had their price tags tweaked to be within +/-1 on the algorithm. It took… a while… @.@
Image

Mod prefixes: 0xA010 (registered) and 0xDCC8 (miscellaneous)

My mods on Xelerus: Click here!

Of all the things I’ve lost in life, I miss my mind the least. (I’m having a lot more fun without it!)
User avatar
Alandra
Commonwealth Pilot
Commonwealth Pilot
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2018 9:06 am
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Thanks for inviting me to check this out. I'm just going to share some first impressions, not super-organized:

I tried the missile-only ship, which is a very interesting and enjoyable gimmick. I like the ammo nanofac/Heisenmachines CPU system. It seems to me that this ship works well in the early game but would probably be underpowered in the late game. (Unless, of course, you've added more powerful NAMI missiles than the Lucifer? Or you get to upgrade to the NAMI heavy launcher? I haven't checked.) Combat may also become monotonous from using the same weapon for the entire game.

As already reported above, there's a minor bug that runs an error text and apparently triggers Legion ships from elsewhere in the system to attack the player when they fire on a Legion base. The Legion laser weapons with custom sounds are odd and cool. They caught me totally by surprise the first time.

I can see you've put a lot of thought and time into coming up with new factions and creating unique qualities for their gear. The light armor and energy weapons of Avian Enterprises and the dampening field armor/shields of the Lambda are awesome ideas and implementation.

My early game was totally swamped with hostile bases. I felt there was too much low-level loot. I made nearly 100,000 credits just from looting all the low-level bases of a double asteroid belt in a single system. Seemingly every faction, old and new, had to have two or three outposts of their own. =) I wound up with huge caches of old and new commodity items.

I dutifully docked at the new types of friendly stations and checked their gathering places, but I didn't see any opportunities to do missions or trigger special events. I liked the flavor texts. Cool to see that the new factions were running casinos and hiring out wingmen.

I think this whole project would work better as an adventure instead of an extension. I was surprised to see it was the latter. You have a huge number of new systems and factions. This is perfect for an adventure, but it makes for a cluttered extension. I imagine you started this project before "adventures" were separately defined?

That's what I've got at the moment. Pardon me if some of this feedback feels superfluous. I haven't read through this whole thread.
Curious about real-life aliens? www.antareanjourneys.com
User avatar
AssumedPseudonym
Fleet Officer
Fleet Officer
Posts: 1190
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2013 5:18 am
Location: On the other side of the screen.

 Hey, feedback is always welcome. ^.^

 The missile ship is going to have a different launcher altogether, once I get it made and balanced. It will also probably not be a starting playership, but one you can get after I get missions set up.

 The bug with Legion reinforcements has to do with weird coding on their shields, and only started happening as of the 1.8b3 version of the game. I redid the shields significantly for the next version of TBR, including getting rid of the error-producing aspects of the code. Their weapons aren’t the only thing that have custom sounds, their shields also do when hit. Also, if you don’t have Song 'N' AssumedPseudonym's Superior Sounds in your collection, I heartily recommend adding it. It makes for a whole different auditory experience, both in TBR and just the game in general. (…Also Legion’s weapons are particle, not laser. ^.~ )

 The low-level Æ armors are lightweight, but they get heavier in a hurry. The weapons used to be sort of all over the place in the earliest versions before I got into a more thematic approach. For all they look different, the functionality is more or less the same as the vanilla basics. Lambda’s shields were actually inspired by damage resistance in D&D and Pathfinder.

 I don’t have any missions in place as yet, and Haetenaro and Lambda don’t have their gimmicks implemented yet. It’s on the agenda, though, and I wanted to at least give my testers an idea of what’s yet to come.

 Yeah, I probably need to limit what sorts of system types can spawn in the early going. Certain ones can generate ludicrous amounts of stations. I’ll make a note of that to myself.

 Making TBR its own adventure had occurred to me, but I don’t actually want to. It has a lot of lore not yet visible in-game that ties it to the core game’s factions (and a fair bit that actually tie into Wolfy’s expansion, The Stars Beyond). Once all the wrinkles in topology and encounters get ironed out so that mostly only TBR stations happen in TBR systems, it should feel more cohesive. I already have a ticket up on that for George to poke at.

 I don’t really believe in “superfluous” feedback. Even something as basic as “it’s cool” or “it sucks” tells me I’m doing something right or wrong. I prefer criticisms to have suggestions on what I could do to make something better or at least say what feels wrong about something, but I take what I can get, heh. There’s plenty here for me to sink my proverbial teeth into. ^.^
Image

Mod prefixes: 0xA010 (registered) and 0xDCC8 (miscellaneous)

My mods on Xelerus: Click here!

Of all the things I’ve lost in life, I miss my mind the least. (I’m having a lot more fun without it!)
User avatar
Alandra
Commonwealth Pilot
Commonwealth Pilot
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2018 9:06 am
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Sweet. So I take it the way to approach gameplay with this mod is to follow the main quest line and check into the new (TBR) systems along the way-- that they'll advance along with the rest of the game? It was confusing just trying to decide which direction to go in. I didn't see any big hints about that; tech levels looked similar in most of the new systems.

Are the other new ships (besides the missile ship) meant to be starting playerships, or are they also meant for parts of TBR that are in development?

I also wanted to say that your original graphics (ships, stations, effects) look very good across the board.
Curious about real-life aliens? www.antareanjourneys.com
Post Reply