ClaytoniousRex

We don't model any damage from the concussion/compression of the blast itself. When I said "extra damage" I meant above what may have already been dealt by the direct hit of the projectile on the target.

Since you can list multiple victory conditions in a scenario, this kind of "double objective" is already there. We just need to jiggle it into some scenarios and see what happens. If someone doesn't mod that up then we'll get to it when we can.

We'll see if we can find some Unholy water to sprinkle on them.

Sorry, Hub. I should have told you that. Spawner needs to be in the \bin directory because all it is really doing is executing your command just as if you yourself had typed it in the command prompt.

An official announcement will be released very soon that will answer these questions specifically.

Whatever you've mapped to the gunner view zoom will also work while in the tac display to cycle through zoom levels. Better still, you can simply use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out on the tac display (this will also move the map to the point where your cursor is at the same time). Here's a start, but more is needed. As for the rest, all good suggestions.

HE projectiles first apply damage normally like an AP (kinetic) projectile would, but usually with very low penetration values. This is what you get from the BasePenetration. This penetration value does not degrade with range (so it works like a HEAT round in this respect). Upon impact, whether they penetrate or not, HE projectiles explode. Extra damage is now dealt to everything within the explosion's radius, including the object which was directly struck (if any). Shrapnel fragments fly radially out from the detonation point in all directions. The distance at which they might potentially hurt anything is clamped down to the HEBlastDiameter of the HE round * 13.3. Beyond this distance, nothing gets hurt. Within this distance, as you get closer to the detonation point, there is an increased chance of getting hit by fragments IF there is nothing else between you and the detonation. This probability curve is exponential, so the chance of getting hit by fragments falls off with approximately the square of the distance from the blast. If an object is struck by fragments then the HEBlastFragPenetration is used to determine how much armor those fragments are able to penetrate. Each fragment then does damage against the target just like an AP projectile would (but if they don't penetrate we don't bother to model them ricocheting off into the distance, etc.) This penetration value falls off with distance from the detonation point according to the scenario's atmospheric density just like an AP round would. Because of the HEBlastDiameter clamping described above, this usually means the falloff curve for these is very shallow with an abrupt drop off to zero. The damage done internally by these fragments has nearly zero burn factor, zero fragmentation factor, and randomized direct kill factor ranging from nearly 0 up to 200 (different size, temperature, and velocity chunks of varying deadliness). Structural integrity damage is dealt both by the first direct hit of the projectile (if the building was hit directly) and then AGAIN by the blast effects. This is why the HE rounds that actually have blast effects are now being set to 0 for their structural integrtiy damage amounts since there's no point in double counting this damage. The structural integrity damage dealt is a simple linear function of the HEBlastDiameter with an exponential falloff based on distance from the building. Craters in terrain (if the terrain type allows craters as set in the scenario), are dug at a depth of HEBlastDiameter / 3 and a width of HEBlastDiameter.

76, you need to run Start/Programs/Battlefront/DropTeam/Game Updater for this first update. Future updates will happen within the game. Sorry for the confusion.

This is again a problem of mapping what is really an analog system (the vehicle's throttle) to a digital control (a keyboard key). Using a real throttle on a joystick or other device would be better (and you can do that on the controls tab) but for those of us using keyboard we have to make some trade-offs. The behavior you're describing is mostly a problem in tracked vehicles. That's because they decelerate suddenly when at zero throttle. Wheeled vehicles, by contrast, continue to roll nicely even when you let go of the throttle, so "stroking" the forward key works much better with them. A good solution to this problem might be a few throttle keys, such as the number keys across the top of the keyboard, so you can set to 10%, 20%, 30%, etc. throttle and peg it there. This might make the gunner's view pretty dangerous though!

Also be very sure via Task Manager that you only have ONE server running! It's really easy to accidentally end up with several running which is just horrible for performance. Just tried it here, even with the lightweights mod, and the server seems to run fine through Spawner. So the best thing is to first check that your server runs OK even without Spawner and let me know the answer to that question first, then we'll move on from there.

That looks good. If you use this same command line but WITHOUT Spawner, does your server run OK (for more than 5 seconds)? You can use task manager to look and see that it keeps running. If your server is starting up and then dying, try running without the lightweights mod. It might be that some of our changes in the recent couple of releases have broken something in there. If that's the case then let me know (I still have your lightweights mod installed here so I can check it out).

...is now available via Update. You should be prompted to update automatically the next time you run DropTeam. Important:If you were not already up to version 1.1.0 and had customized controls then you need to go BACK to the default keyboard or default joystick controls and recustomize your control set with this release. If you don't do this then many new commands from the 1.1.0 release won't work for you. Fixes in 1.1.1: </font> Infantry now use their AT grenades when appropriate</font>Squad members are less aggressive about maintaining formation</font>Infantry are now only placed on a team's sensor network when thrusting for extended periods of time (about 5 seconds usually)</font>Bots now warn that their drop locations are under enemy AA and give the commander a chance to change their location before dropping</font>New "Drop Once" command for bots tells them to drop a certain type of unit one time, then resume autonomous dropping on their next drop</font>Infantry now go prone while in bot control</font>Galaxy reloads ALL weapons on a unit</font>Fix 120mm HE penetration and more general problem of HE mysteriously causing some objects to burn (such as on frontal Thor gun hits, for example)</font>Don't allow ion beams to shoot themselves</font>Fix crash in some campaign scenarios including Treachery</font>Voice chat on Mac OS X</font>Music now works on Intel Mac OS X</font>Dont allow infantry to teleport to tops of buildings</font>Fix texture memory leak from water volumes</font>Infantry can't be target locked by ATGM's</font> [ July 28, 2006, 04:57 PM: Message edited by: ClaytoniousRex ]

Heh. No sci-fi Wermacht walking tanks here, I'm afraid. Just a very accurate simulation of tactical combat in western Europe.

Yes, it does.

Can you post the complete command line that you're using?

Understood, Dan. That just makes the 1st point more relevant than the 2nd. That's why I went ahead and made those comments even though I basically agree with you about antimatter anyway.

Finally got to the bottom of this. Point defense is very much supposed to already be more of a soft counter in that you should be able to "roll it back" by putting enough fire into the air that it can't shoot it all down, and to a limited extent this does work. So to hit someone under point defense with an ATGM, for example, you should be able to have a team mate spam the point defense with lots of 20mm and thereby give your ATGM a chance of making it through the point defense (since it is overwhelmed and busy with all of the other incoming projectiles). However, because of a bug we've just finally identified, the point defense is always going to switch away from those other rounds and onto the slower moving ATGM or mortar rounds. This isn't what was intended and will be fixed after 1.1.1.

Just finished some more testing and confirmed that the Hermes has not accidentally gained super powers: </font> It CANNOT and never does shoot down 120mm HEAT or AP rounds. You can kill the Hermes at any range with 120 HEAT without any worries about its AAD. You can do a lot of good with 120 AP, too.</font>It is able to shoot down a limited number of lower velocity rounds such as 20mm but is never able to shoot down an entire burst. SOME of your rounds will ALWAYS make it through to the target.</font>

Can you please email me the file called Update.log which is getting generated in the DropTeam directory after running Update? They do as of the 1.1.0 release of the retail version. In spite of that crash when the updater is quitting, the update has probably already completed successfully. Since you're running the demo, there is probably nothing new to download. You should have started on version 0.9.94 and after update still be on version 0.9.94.

Once bots are properly "driving" infantry then this will already work via the normal formation command. Right, this would be good for all bots in formation with you, and very simple to implement, too. That's the way I like them - easy to do and big benefits! Since a man can carry a Javelin missile, why don't all hummvees have 20 of them mounted so they can kill tanks? Because, as others have touched on: </font> It's a complicated matter to contain it until delivery. This would be exactly the sort of weapon that was used during The Rim's battle with the Mu Arae Entente before civilization in The Rim collapsed and Liveships began to decay. The Liveships are still able to manufacture antimatter powerplants and some other useful things but with each successive generation they're less capable - eventually even these things will be lost. Hellbored have given way to ion beams just as nano-scale weapons have given way to kinetic guns. So will The Rim's collapse proceed until pockets of civilization with their own engineering skills, independent from Liveships, begin to reemerge from the darkness. This is taking a while since you viking bastards keep dropping on them and looting. </font>You're fighting for the control of objectives in land based battles because you plan to make use of those objectives - whether it be occupying strategic ground or looting what's there. Either way, wide scale annihilation isn't your objective.</font> In spite of my above defense of the concept, I completely agree with you here (making the reference to Hammer's Slammers which has always been one of our main inspirations really seals the deal). It was still important to make those points above because of the general tendency to wonder why more miracle weapons aren't on the field in DropTeam. This will require some more thinking about but I'm basically on the same page with you here. *Very* good idea. Easy enough. Didn't make it in time for 1.1.1, though. Absolutely right, Caseck. In progress right now. Fixed in 1.1.1. Entry and riding inside of IFV's is on the way, but right now you can actually climb onto the chassis of one and hitch a ride. It's usually more of a novelty than really being useful but it can come in handy. At the moment, the trick is to ride the chassis, not the turret. Absolutely agreed and in progress, but this is not something ALL types of squads will have. [ July 27, 2006, 11:40 PM: Message edited by: ClaytoniousRex ]

Its HE rounds weren't changed in 1.1.0, other than the generalized fix to HE that used to incorrectly allow it to splash damage objects through terrain and buildings. We'll try to verify that something didn't accidentally get nerfed. It was originally only EW in beta and it was remarkably hard to find anyone willing to man it (but everyone wanted someone ELSE to man it). From a game design perspective, making them separate is great but you have to account for the fact that an overly specialized vehicle without teeth will repel players rather than attract them. This means you will have to rely on bots to fill the role which is vastly inferior to a human escort, as you know. Still, having thrown the warning out there, I'm game to try it (again) anyway. Anyone else have any interest in this? An least as far as its EW role, I don't think the Hermes (or any kind of jamming) negates the need for tactical maneuver. I think it makes classic tactical maneuver possible in the first place. It's almost impossible with a red pipper over your head and a blip showing your position on enemy sensors. Without some way to perform mobile jamming you move emphasis away from outsmarting the enemy and toward simply shooting better than he does in order to win. Hopefully you will like them a little more in 1.1.1 (which should be out tomorrow) and even more in the future. From the sound of it, though, maybe not... Again, this is one of the main reasons the Hermes exists. Yes, most vehicles should be able to pop smoke/chaff countermeasures with at least a reasonable chance of confusing the missile (when in locked mode). You were probably hitting wheels? Again, we'll go look and make sure something hasn't happened here. If 3 120 HEATs really did hit the chassis then it should have been dead. The bug that was causing that is fixed in 1.1.1 along with the other (related) 120 HE fix, Yurch. There's a lot of love in this thread. I'm feeling it. We can't afford Yurch's astronomical salary requirements so we'll just have to listen to whatever ideas he altruistically shares.

We've been moving steadily toward making the total number of dropships limited for some time. All of the infrastructure is already in place but needs playtesting. Of course they're valuable and there are many positive effects on gameplay by making them limited. Poesel, those are really good ideas. We've been working on "reinforcement zones" which are basically that same idea. The scenario author lays out geographic boxes in which each team can deploy throughout the game as though it were the deployment phase (their new units appear without dropships if dropped within those zones but after some delay, unlike the "instant" deployment during the deployment phase). These zones would typically be along edges of the map (but they don't have to be). Reinforcement zones represent forces that are dropped off-map and drive overland into the scenario. This also allows scenario authors a new option of setting the total number of dropships to zero and forcing one or both sides to use the reinforcement zones exclusively. You could finally fight some real "dropship raiders vs. indig defense" scenarios this way, for example (among other creative ideas from the scenario authors!) If you wanted to implement your "factory" idea in a scenario then you could create a reinforcement zone in the middle of the map around a building. But in the present day, we're stuck with code that we can write and that your computer can run. I've seen them tip like you're describing in some situations, especially low gravity, and we'll definitely try to improve it.

Let's say the command line to run your server looks like this: </font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">DropTeamP4Release.exe -enterlobby false -hostmode server -numbots0 6 -numbots1 6 -packetsize 1500 -password lilac</pre>

What are the system specs? Can you email the DropTeam.log? Thanks!

Here it is, Hub.