Ok, so I saw that d1gdug made a comment here: http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=658 that damageadj should not be used instead of the newer hpBonus.
I myself am of the opinion that damageadj is a superior system to hpBonus: it gives greater control over the damage resistance curves (ESPECIALLY useful in TC's *cough*cough*), it is extremely easy to understand, and I don't understand hpBonus myself anyways...
hpBonus is rather confusing, and I think it was a bit of a step backwards (from a modders perspective; I can see why it makes sense from the developer's perspective, though letting adventure extensions set damageadj curves would have been what should have been done), and thus I don't think that people should necessarily be forced to use it.
Damageadj is good for:
- TC's
- unique armors that need to get away from the standard curve for whatever reason
- things that TC the balance
hpBonus is good for:
- packs of generic armors that are meant for vanilla balance (so yes, in this case, I suppose that it was ok for d1gdug to request use of hpBonus)
Xelerus policy, and damageadj vs. hpBonus
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Betelgeuse
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I think you overstate your case. While yes it is useful in non standard armors and digdug misspoke when he said it was deprecated hpbonus is still the preferred mode.
Changes can be made to the curve without effecting hpbonus armors at all but could all damageAdj armors to be need to be redone.
As for TC's I am for getting rid of the default system and use your own because then you can make the damage curve independent of the armors level that would still allow centralized curve changes.
Changes can be made to the curve without effecting hpbonus armors at all but could all damageAdj armors to be need to be redone.
As for TC's I am for getting rid of the default system and use your own because then you can make the damage curve independent of the armors level that would still allow centralized curve changes.
Last edited by Betelgeuse on Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
Crying is not a proper retort!
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Aury
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Quite possible. I do realize I have a strong bias against hpBonus, as I still don't know what calculations it uses and as it's caused me substantial balancing problems in the past with TX2.Betelgeuse wrote:I think you overstate your case.
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i'll play devil's advocate and vote for HPbonus. here's my reasoning. when i wanted to build a balanced fleet, i was trying to make armor that had certain strengths and weaknesses based on the type of ship and it's 'color' - literally in my case. green ships are particle resistant. blue ships are ion, etc. HPbonus is perfect for this because other than those small changes, the armor is basically identical. it also adjusts for overall HP so that a stronger armor (250 vs 150) will get the same bonus overall. it's not a really big advantage but that's why i like it.
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Aury
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Ummm... can't you do the exact same thing with damageadj? 
Or I'm totally not understanding what you really meant.
Or I'm totally not understanding what you really meant.
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damageADJ is a more precise method, but I think HPbonus is easier in most cases.
It means when making a new armor you don't have to remember what the curves are, or go hunting in the xml for a balanced armor of a given level to copy from, 0 is always normal non-resistant for every level.
It will also never have to be redone with new versions, a +20hp is always a +20hp whatever happens to the curve.
It means when making a new armor you don't have to remember what the curves are, or go hunting in the xml for a balanced armor of a given level to copy from, 0 is always normal non-resistant for every level.
It will also never have to be redone with new versions, a +20hp is always a +20hp whatever happens to the curve.
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Aury
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Hmmm... not from my understanding. hpBonus turns out to be MUCH more complex than that... I don't fully understand it. Ask Atarlost for the exact calculations.
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the part about standard armors is spot on. i hated checking each different armor type to get the right mix of resistances and weaknesses. having to adjust it manually compared to the standard is more complex to me than having to just adjust what i want to armor to be resistant or weak to. it saved me a whole lot of copy pasting the scrap part of damageadj that was common to all the armors but i had to include. it makes the code tidier and easier to comprehend. and it's level adjusted so i don't have to be thinking about the numbers to get a certain resistance.
