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Pteravores

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:20 pm
by Wurmish
Ok, so Pteravores are fun and all. Nasty little buggers if I do say so myself. I don't *think* anyone has brought this one little tidbit up before though.

When you blow the lair to smithereens, there's usually a decent sized rush of Pteravores, is there not? Call it 15 or so.

Now, is there a certain circumstance to the final rush being officially destroyed? More often than not I clear the final horde, then go back to make sure it's empty, and I get rushed again. And again. And AGAIN.

Turns out this finally stops when I eliminate nearby nests, I get both nests to exhaust their rushes and FINALLY they stop.

Anyone else noticed this? I'll do a quick playthrough if I have to, although I usually see it in Heretic.

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:46 pm
by Arisaya
it's 12...

I don't know why they would keep coming out after its destroyed, even if other lairs are still nearby.

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 6:10 pm
by Wurmish
Me neither, but it happens whenever nests are in close proximity (less than a light minute, maybe 80 ls I think)

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 6:23 pm
by Retroactive
Are additional rushes created if pteravores successfully return to the lair after disengaging? That would make sense.

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 6:28 pm
by Wurmish
It would make sense except that I can obliterate rush after rush via a fast Ferian plasma cannon and they will continue to come.

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 7:54 pm
by Fossaman
From the XML:

Code: Select all

(block Nil
							(for i 1 (random 2 4)
								(sysCreateWeaponFire
									&vtPteravoreSporeLauncher;
									gSource
									(objGetPos gSource)
									(random 0 359)
									12
									theDestroyer
									)
								)

							; Chance that we stop
							(if (leq (random 1 100) 5)
								(sysCancelTimerEvent gSource "OnRevenge")
That 'chance that we stop' bit seems to imply that it'll keep sending out streams of twelve until the random number hits within the proper range.

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:21 pm
by digdug
:shock:
Only 5% probability to stop groups of a dozen of pteravores ?

That's why they are so many

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:32 pm
by Atarlost
That's after the lair is blasted? That's just crazy.

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:33 pm
by Arisaya
Atarlost wrote:That's after the lair is blasted? That's just crazy.
Very.
:? I'm wondering exactly how this is balanced...

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 9:18 pm
by Atarlost
I'd say it's not. I'd call this badly broken. If they counted as both ships and projectiles so you could use omnis on them it wouldn't be so terrible, but as projectiles they're way too much.

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 12:17 am
by Wurmish
The RNG is quite strange then, as I have an apparent coincidence in all my play-throughs. =S

Most curious.

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 12:39 am
by Arisaya
Wurmish wrote:The RNG is quite strange then, as I have an apparent coincidence in all my play-throughs. =S

Most curious.
No... each time after the first 12 it spawns has a 95% chance of occurring... :P

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:57 am
by Wurmish
Wolfy wrote:
Wurmish wrote:The RNG is quite strange then, as I have an apparent coincidence in all my play-throughs. =S

Most curious.
No... each time after the first 12 it spawns has a 95% chance of occurring... :P
And after I kill the nearby nests I always get that 5% chance of it being done...
Maybe this play-through will be different. At least I've never had to farm sentinels yet, always gotten my data before everyone got bagged. Neurohack ish my favorite by far.

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:41 am
by Fossaman
See, I just fly in circles around the nest until they stop following me. The pteravore 'weapon' does have a max lifetime. You don't need to shoot at them.

Or you can run them into a solid object. That works too. The pteravores in Heretic can easily be run into the Manipulators to get rid of the revenge spawns.

Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 3:44 pm
by Retroactive
Pteravore nests are always full of pteracnium ore. Is pteracnium pteravore poo? Is the military might of the Commonwealth based on alien droppings?