Topics

1

AI War / AI War for Linux?

« on: March 16, 2013, 03:01:34 AM »

Steam is finally moving to Linux (just in time actually to coincide with my own move to Ubuntu) and I was wondering-- are there any plans to move Arcen titles to Linux? I'd anticipate that Steam's move to an essentially free operating system is going to have some pretty big implications for the consumer base.

2

AI War / How did the AIs win...

« on: November 13, 2012, 02:15:40 PM »

... if they're so reactive? I'd assumed that AIP is something that the AIs used to gauge strategic importance of certain targets (I realize that mechanically this isn't how it works but as a DM I'm always thinking RP). We know the AI is fighting something else somewhere and this makes me believe (from the RP standpoint) that certain assumptions may be made:

1) The AI main production facilities are no longer in our galactic maps. The AIs' moved its factories closer to the new threat and periodically sends reinforcements through the wormholes.

2) AIP increases in our galaxy competes with AIP against the AIs' main opponent. Strategically the AIs' have to decide between fighting their extragalactic opponent or diverting resources against the human rebellion.

3) Tactically the AIs' main goal is to stall the human rebellion: an outright diversion of forces away from the extragalactic opponent would result in a loss.

4) The AIs' cannot afford to lose their homeworlds in this region. This would result in a loss which would ultimately destroy humanity (which they were programmed to defend). The AIs' might interpret the defending of humanity to be 'a biologically diverse population' which could be defined as less than 20,000-- they could kill off the rest of the population and still be following their directives.

Is this more or less what's going on?

3

AI War / Human Threat Meter?

« on: November 12, 2012, 06:12:31 PM »

I've been following the 'State of the Game' thread and was wondering if the 'fleet blobbing' problem could be fixed by the AI having a threat meter. If the AI detects high human FP in a system then it would respond by sending its SF in that direction to check the human advance without expending the resources of surrounding systems.

I could have SWORN that this was already implemented, and if so, the effect needs to be boosted.

4

AI War / Cannot continue Spire storyline

« on: October 29, 2012, 01:54:19 AM »

I got into a 5/5 game with all of the expansions so I could see the Spire storyline (and get back into the game after a long absence)... and the story won't let me continue. I saved the first, built the scanner, saved the ship, built the colony, built the colony ship, saved the shard, built the ship, and can't continue expanding the second city. The first city started at Tier II (which was strange) and two of the signals were on the same planet (also strange).

I'd really like to be able to finish this game!

5

Off Topic / Trying too hard...

« on: September 13, 2012, 12:25:56 PM »

... is when you deliver a 100+ source bibliography to a teacher who says "I only wanted 15."

6

AI War / Champion: Death Penalties?

« on: September 07, 2012, 01:54:54 AM »

I finally got a chance to play with a friend and Hoboy, the human champion is awesome! I really dig the fact that a player can home in on offense/defense with a single ship-- but that's when I noticed something.

He dies. Repeatedly. No penalty, just a respawn. I have to update his ship after death (no big deal) and then he's in the fight again and it really doesn't matter. I think upping the durability of the ship and actually forcing a friendly player to rebuild the champion might encourage more strategic thinking versus 'how do I force kill my ship to respawn at the home base?'

Thoughts?

7

AI War / Carrier Drones: Not Quite There

« on: July 04, 2012, 02:49:05 PM »

I decided to play a really quick runthrough on a sandbox AI just to see how effective the drones are. The increased damage output is nice but the big problem is targeting. The MLRS drones barely live long enough to take out more than two targets (watching them take on a Zenith Bombard was like pulling teeth) and targeting additional targets while trying to manage a fleet in the background is going to be really bad (I can't set the drones to a number because they keep dying).

Would it be possible to build a special kind of Neinzul instead, one that only lives in the carrier and swarms opponents who approach it? If they attack hostiles within x of the carrier then the only unit that needs to 'target' is the carrier (by movement). The Neinzul could be adapted with human tech as they are now and only live for 15 seconds outside the carrier before they need to return (and only to the carrier). All of those units would die when the carrier is destroyed. The drones as they are now are difficult to manage because of the auto-death feature.

8

A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Where's the Valley?

« on: May 11, 2012, 03:51:15 PM »

I had a conversation with someone about this game and there were general smiles and nods until I mentioned the game didn't end. This brought a look of disbelief and ended in confused laughter.

So where's the Valley? Ultimately are we aiming to collect survivors to rescue them from a fate worse than x? Are we trying to reestablish humanity in certain zones? This could provide some of the long-term goals: Ilari unlocks based on population rescued. This seems to make more sense then endlessly killing evil overlords on endless continents. Once the population reaches a certain amount then the overlords attack and try killing off your population. The population needs to be contained in multiple settlements and so this adds a strategic element to the game.

I like the idea of a never-ending sandbox but I find myself in the distinct minority whenever I discuss the game outside the forums.

9

A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Additional Summons

« on: May 03, 2012, 10:01:46 PM »

I'm just curious: if we could choose an additional animal to summon, what would it be and why?

If I couldn't choose a pony horse, it'd be the rabbit from Holy Grail. Low cast cost to create an earth bunny that can leap up on enemies and bite them (it'd move like the ice leapers).

10

A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Correction: We Need a Mount Spell

« on: May 02, 2012, 08:02:09 PM »

I realized after playing multiplayer that the summon rhino spell has some amazing potential. If we had another summon spell that could function like Yoshi from Super Mario then it could give some really awesome possibilities.

A water pony you can ride to avoid acid damage?
A light pony that emits light?
An earth pony that has more hit points?

There's a lot of things which could be accomplished with ponies.

11

A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / A Personal Pledge

« on: May 02, 2012, 04:56:34 PM »

I solemnly pledge to myself that:

1) I will not engage in pointless debates about controls when the control scheme is fully customizable.

12

A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / THAT'S A FREAKIN' WHALE!!

« on: May 02, 2012, 02:53:30 AM »

So I just turned in my research paper and am wearing an eyepatch (fatigue led to eyestrain... the 4 Amps didn't help either) and decided that I would finally get back to AVWW. I was in a sea zone and needed to put on the acid gills, walk along the bottom, get to the other side....

Imagine my surprise when the water in front of me started moving... my health bar went down and I couldn't run through it. Took me a couple of squints through the uncovered eye before I realized there was another eye staring back at me!

Thanks for the heart attack guys, could've warned me that the sea zones were barren wastes populated by WHALES.

13

AVWW Technical Support / Water, water, everywhere....

« on: April 29, 2012, 02:23:52 PM »

... and I don't remember it being that way! I entered into a sea zone and I've got water in front of me and water behind me. I'm assuming I can exit the area by just running in one direction or the other?

14

A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Staying the Course

« on: April 28, 2012, 02:01:32 PM »

AVWW has made a lot of sales and with that comes a large player base. That player base seems to be coming from a number of directions, each liking different genres, and AVWW has tried to toe the line between at least several of the major genres. There are some who argue that AVWW is more of a strategy game (and it does indeed have AI War-style elements), some say it's more of a side-scroller, but it definitely is ambitious. With that ambition comes an equal danger of ambiguity.

We've all been throwing out a number of ideas but I'd like to take a moment to tell x4000 and the rest of the staff: stay the course. This game is a dangerous but intriguing mix of ideas which normally wouldn't work together and, even though a lot of comments are popping up with criticism and demands, the game is (iirc) approaching AI War already for sales figures. There are enough good (and bad) reviews out there to inform the public and the game is making sales based off of Steam presence and the strength of the beta from PAX. Too drastic of a change could result in the game losing that 'Arcen-ness' and AVWW will suffer because of it.

The changes to upgrade stones may not make sense for other games-- it's a diminishing returns model to discourage people from min-maxing and a very Arcen-like response given the 'balance' aspects of AI War (and even Tidalis if one looks hard enough). The player range gets nerfed-- the game was never meant to be 'look at numbers go down while you hold down a key and minimally interact with combat.' The mix of elites was a good move, frankly; it addressed a challenge issue and did it in a better way. It did so while still keeping true to the original concept. The beta that quite a few people participated in works and deviating too far from it could have serious consequences to future sales.

Maybe I'm overly sensitive from peer-review myself (it's been one of those semesters) but seeing AVWW spread its wings from concept to reality has been a true joy. I want to see Arcen continue to succeed (and I want that new expansion for AI War, dash gummit). You're still doing a fine job.

15

A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / How Do I Explain that AVWW is not Terraria?

« on: April 24, 2012, 04:38:37 PM »

I've never played Terraria (most of my friends on Steam have) and I'm trying to figure out how to explain the differences between the two games. How would you do it?