Newbie player bugs

[digdug]

Is this still happening ?
http://forums.kronosaur.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=6672
This definitely qualifies as critical bug for newbies, they would be disoriented for sure. However I'm not sure if a fix is available/doable without rewriting major parts of the AI.

[Song]

Is this still happening ?
http://forums.kronosaur.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=6672
This definitely qualifies as critical bug for newbies, they would be disoriented for sure. However I'm not sure if a fix is available/doable without rewriting major parts of the AI.

It does, but it's less common. I think the suggestions to let ships hit the brakes when they need to will fix it.

[KaoS]

sorry, didn't look into what digdug is talking about, but it reminded me of another game that had brakes in it. Generally I'd like to see this implemented, but not just invisible brakes that magically slow you. Maybe an item that can be found or purchased such as a reverse thruster or maybe a really hard to find engine upgrade that works like the inertia-less drive, but only on braking?

[snafu]

FWIW I had something similar happen with a couple of 330M Mule autons (& others, now I come to think of it).

I gated in & spawned an auton, without moving at all. The auton circled me/the gate for up to nearly 5min before it came to a halt..

[AdmiralZo]

The auton circled me/the gate

Yeah, that happens to my Mules a lot of the time as well.

Sometimes I hitch a ride by docking while it spins and I travel around and around in large circles. It's pretty fun!

[catfighter]

Hehe, I got the sweetest ride using GOD! I spawned a mule auton as a combatant wingman (as in not a carrier) and then attempted to dock with it. Since it kept trying to get in formation, docking while facing away from it would "push" it and drag me along behind it. I don't know how much fuel docking uses (I suspect none since it is not intended to be a long process), but this method of travel reduced fuel consumption to almost nothing. Wwweeeeeeeee!!! \

[giantcabbage]

The description of the Burak missile launcher says an Uzun targeting scanner can be used to add tracking to missiles. A newbie might expect the Uzun targeting scanner to be available, but it doesn’t appear to be implemented http://ministry.kronosaur.com/record.hexm?id=3941

Thioseptal which is required for the Huari story line can be easily lost and is impossible to replace. While selling it in commodity exchange could be considered the players fault, it is too easy to inadvertently lose it at CSC hospitals as the player does not have control over which items are sold / donated. http://ministry.kronosaur.com/record.hexm?id=3942

The Korolov / Charon missions could do with some updating as a new player will encounter them relatively early. The main problem with them is that they suffer from a large increase in difficulty between apprentice level and journeyman level (master level missions are not really any harder than journeyman missions). At apprentice level the freighters are usually capable of defending themselves against the attacking gunships. Charon frigates start spawning at journeyman level and new players will likely find these hard to deal with. If the player is capable of destroying the frigates then they will rapidly trigger the Kronosaurus encounter and skip the master level.

It appears that the chrDeployFrigateRaid function was intended to reuse existing frigates, but due to their AI this will only occur if their previous target was destroyed: http://ministry.kronosaur.com/record.hexm?id=3943

Using Drake-class missile ships instead of frigates for journeyman level missions could give a better progression of difficulty: http://ministry.kronosaur.com/record.hexm?id=3944

Other suggestions for Korolov/Charon:

• If the raid-leader (missileship or frigate) is badly damaged it could retreat to a stronghold for repair
  The raid-leader could summon reinforcements from strongholds and outposts in addition to gates
  Occasionally the automatic Korolov transports could be raided
  Update Korolov to use MissionType and add more missions e.g.
  • player transports small high-value cargo
    player carries ROM to Korolov station in another system
    escort freighter from gate
    hunt down and destroy raid-leader
    raid in-system charon base to recover rom (location of primary stronghold)
    ambush raid-leader, damage don't destroy, follow to primary stronghold

[AssumedPseudonym]

 I don’t know if it’s going to be bundled in or not, but the Osaka still has a black border on the ship selection screen and currently registers hits from the wrong direction.
 As far as that goes all of the vanilla playerships currently rotate through their armor oddly down on the HUD when applying either patches or barrels to them — I think the highlight order on the HUD is 1-3-4-2 as you scroll down in the menu to pick which segment to apply the patch/barrel to, and has been since around 1.3 or so. Hardly game-breaking, but still rather jarring. I’d suggest either reverting armor declarations to the old 1.1 variety (or at least on playerships) or making the patch/barrel dockscreen work the same way the armor dockscreens at stations work.

[snafu]

Charon frigates start spawning at journeyman level and new players will likely find these hard to deal with. If the player is capable of destroying the frigates then they will rapidly trigger the Kronosaurus encounter and skip the master level.

I'd just started a new game & while making my way to Rigel was attacked by a Charon frigate; while I'd done the initial Eri missions & knocked out a couple of outposts & a stronghold I never expected to see a frigate until I'd at least /docked/ with a Korolov station, let alone accepted a mission..

[PM]

In many games, I am lucky if I find enough Korolovs to give enough missions to reach Master rank (and class V deflector). Frigates seem fine at Journeyman, but freighters should strive to avoid a frigate if one is parked directly in its path. I get annoyed when freighter tries to run through the frigate with neither of us can stand up to it. Also annoying is when frigates seem to spawn every other mission and if I get forced to kill them without help, and Kronosaurus appears long before I can finish all of the missions. (Early credits and chance for class V are more valuable to me than Volkov.)

As far as that goes all of the vanilla playerships currently rotate through their armor oddly down on the HUD when applying either patches or barrels to them — I think the highlight order on the HUD is 1-3-4-2 as you scroll down in the menu to pick which segment to apply the patch/barrel to, and has been since around 1.3 or so. Hardly game-breaking, but still rather jarring. I’d suggest either reverting armor declarations to the old 1.1 variety (or at least on playerships) or making the patch/barrel dockscreen work the same way the armor dockscreens at stations work.

This is the main reason why I retained old-fashioned armor code in Playership Drones, rather than updating and conforming to the modern armor code.

[NMS]

The list just goes counterclockwise from the front. Maybe it would help to use a graphical selector like the shield and armor dock services screen when applying barrels and armor repair items.

The HUD is different because it puts the forward armor segment(s) at the top and the rear segment(s) at the bottom. This would be clearer if the lines from the name of the armor to its position were thicker and a color that stood out better against some of the HUDs. But there's no really obvious way to order them unless you put labels on both sides of the picture.

[Ferdinand]

In many games, I am lucky if I find enough Korolovs to give enough missions to reach Master rank (and class V deflector). Frigates seem fine at Journeyman, but freighters should strive to avoid a frigate if one is parked directly in its path. I get annoyed when freighter tries to run through the frigate with neither of us can stand up to it. Also annoying is when frigates seem to spawn every other mission and if I get forced to kill them without help, and Kronosaurus appears long before I can finish all of the missions. (Early credits and chance for class V are more valuable to me than Volkov.)

In my current vanilla game (almost finished, next stop is Heretic) there was only one Korolov base, It was in Charon and was destroyed by the Charon Pirates. So no Korolov missions at all, no Volkov and no chance to get Class V Deflector. Had lots of Charon Frigate encounters and also the Kronosaur finally showed up (In St. Katherines).

Other odd thing: There were many Militia stations, but only one of them ever gave me missions, all the other militia stations had no missions available, not even when entering the system for the first time and docking to the militia first. This made it hard to get the Military ID in this game. I got it several systems past St Katherines. Ususally I do a militia mission in first sytem I find one, to get the Miltary ID before anything else. Even in St Kats they had no missions... (lots of hostile stations in the meteor belt though)

[PM]

Major (known) issue in Eternity Port: No retribution for destroying stations belonging to Earth powers ED, APD, UAS, and NAU. Just do your one mission, buy all the items you absolutely want, sell your junk, destroy the station, and loot what's left. No one, not even the victim sovereign, cares about the property damage and theft you cause.

This is similar to killing Huari after you finish Huaramarca (and are done using them) for more loot, but at least they turn red and shoot back.

[PM]

Minor nitpick in Eternity Port: There are four major Earth powers, and each playership represents one of them, but there are only three playerships available. There is Hercules from UAS, Raijin from APD, and Spartan from NAU. We have no playership representing ED. It would be nice if an update to Eternity Port features one of the ED gunships as a fourth playership option, either the Demir or Evren.

[JohnBWatson]

The Korolov / Charon missions could do with some updating as a new player will encounter them relatively early. The main problem with them is that they suffer from a large increase in difficulty between apprentice level and journeyman level (master level missions are not really any harder than journeyman missions). At apprentice level the freighters are usually capable of defending themselves against the attacking gunships. Charon frigates start spawning at journeyman level and new players will likely find these hard to deal with. If the player is capable of destroying the frigates then they will rapidly trigger the Kronosaurus encounter and skip the master level.

A good fix might be to add in Drake missileships in some lower level missions. Triggering the Kronosaurus early after killing a bunch of frigates isn't really a problem, quite honestly, and I believe that's how it's supposed to work. At any rate, I've never been bothered by it, even the first time it appeared.

On a side note, the glitchy frigate behavior probably counts as a newbie bug.

It appears that the chrDeployFrigateRaid function was intended to reuse existing frigates, but due to their AI this will only occur if their previous target was destroyed: http://ministry.kronosaur.com/record.hexm?id=3943

That's probably a part of it.

Using Drake-class missile ships instead of frigates for journeyman level missions could give a better progression of difficulty: http://ministry.kronosaur.com/record.hexm?id=3944

Evidently, we think alike. Using them to make earlier missions less of an automatic win would also be nice.

---

In my current vanilla game (almost finished, next stop is Heretic) there was only one Korolov base, It was in Charon and was destroyed by the Charon Pirates. So no Korolov missions at all, no Volkov and no chance to get Class V Deflector. Had lots of Charon Frigate encounters and also the Kronosaur finally showed up (In St. Katherines).

I think that the possibility of no Korolov is a good thing. While main campaigns like CC's Chimeras, SotP's Fleet missions and Benedict, and EP's cold war should be universally present, it's okay for some side paths to be present in some games but not others.

Your problem with the Militia missions seems like a bug, though. The only time a Militia station refused to give me missions was when I had reached the highest rank.

Of course, the fact that factions deny you missions upon maxing rank could use some explaining, like Korolov has. Suggestions:

The Militia could say that you've done them a great service, but the lower ranking officers have everything taken care of in the current system.

The Fleet could check if you've completed the Fleet storyline. If you've not finished Juno, they could mention that Point Juno could probably use reinforcements since the loss of the Europa. If the player has yet to finish Decker's storyline, they could tell the player that Decker has asked to see them personally, and provide the CSC Terra's system. Otherwise, they could simply say that the current system is all clear, and wish the player luck on their journey to the core/work with the CDM.