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    Notrium Final Mix - New Version out. 0.31

    Anonymous1157 12 years ago
    I never used the grenades. I was kinda hoping I'd be able to use the batteries, but, well, you know. I got a good mix of charged and empty batteries, though, so nothing was stopping me per se.

    ... Oh, snap, I've never made a Four Herb Mix (TM) before. I thought you were trying to tell me that there are at least four different drinks you can make with plants.

    The reason I took over the ship graveyard so easily was because I had the human's armor and 20+ red plants in my backpack and just HHHHHHHHHH every time reapers ganged up on me. I was more worried about ten reapers hitting me at the same time, which might fling me clear across the map with no tinder left for another fire.

    So, on a techless run (Intentional or not), the most useful items are the Blade (Alongside the Knife for deep-water emergencies), everything you can make with an empty ether container, fabric and bandages, the human's upgraded unique armor, and the un-/waterproof blanket.

    The bow was thoroughly useless to me because I was trying to make actual long-range shots with it. I never even built one on that last run. I might have never mentioned it if I had better things to say about the guns, but I've never made any of those, tazer excluded.

    Scrap metal was useless to me after I made my melee weapons because I never got that coupling. I'd like to think that that's because a player using powered technology would have a whole lot more uses for it and would never leave it uncrafted longer than it took to gather the rest of the parts s/he needs. Oh, and it really weighs a whole damn lot for being the most common drop.
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    TNN17 12 years ago
    Thanks, this is pretty helpful stuff. There's a bit of a theme about the bow's accuracy (personally I use it at medium-close range to soften up large aliens before they can get into melee, so neh), I'll try lowering the spread a bit, see if that makes them more useful.

    Since you never tried out 'nades, I assume you never used explosive arrows either.

    Going through that, apparently Poison Arrows never saved when I updated them. I've fixed this so now they'll be functional in the next version.

    Bow's been updated, I've lowered the spread and increased the damage slightly. It now outdamages punching someone, at least at basic stats. I may drop the damage again, depending how viable the bow turns out to be for folks with its increased accuracy.

    Yes, Scrap metal is the key component in a lot of technological weapons. It is common, but if you think that life's hard without energy couplings, try it without metal.

    Next version, Scrap Metal will be used to make fencing, turrets, and all that important stuff, so even Robinsons can have a use for it. Three units of scrap will make enough for one unit of fencing. Since destroyed fencing will only return 2/3 of its scrap metal when recovered, extra supplies will be important.

    Without couplings, currently if you combine it with a demagnetiser (rare tech) then you'll be able to use the demagnetiser to convert it into uncharged batteries, which again means you'll have a decent supply of grenades (one day I'll implement Dire Aliens just to make explosives important).

    - Have you tried the Sling yet?
    - You say the Blade? No use for the Claw Blade?

    Update: Yet more repairs on the Sleep vs. Trees front. Now Trees actively check to see if the player is sleeping, and if so, the plot object that controls them disappears, hopefully before doing any of the checks that involve canopies take place.

    Fences et all are done. Players may now play Fort to their heart's content.
    Edited 12 years ago
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    Pete 12 years ago
    So in my second run I eventually collected a giant pile of technological devices... and only a single power coupling to go with it, which, since Im an idiot like that, I refused to use until I could make both a high and low power version. Not that was a problem because in my experience the claw blade solves all the problems you could ever have. I get the feeling I missed out an absolutely insane number of combinations, but maybe Ill figure those out next time. PS:

    This was somewhat anticlimactic
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    Anonymous1157 12 years ago
    I didn't know about the Claw Blade. It sounds like it's a powered device from Pete's post, so I'm not surprised I haven't seen it.

    This time around, I got THREE energy couplings among other interesting junk, but no particle accelerators. So no guns again. Hopefully these sorts of issues will be resolved when the other map areas are introduced.

    I threw a dud grenade just for kicks. I think I'm ready for a live one next round. I actually got a demagnetizer from a wreck, but I didn't use it at all 'cause I can barely find use for all my randomly-dropped batteries as it is.

    I discovered how to make poison arrows, but I'm not using the bow, so... yeah.

    I REALLY like how this mod's stasis field generator works. A lot. I even repaired it with my tools after accidentally starting a fire too close. Now the only thing missing is the ability to pack it back up, but that could be game-imbalancing (Not that it's balanced right now), so I'd leave that alone for now.

    I've never made a sling. I actually stopped picking up pebbles altogether because I gathered enough to put me over my weight limit the second round. I'll start again if I ever build a pebble shotgun. (RANDOM NUMBER GODS Y U NO HALP ME)

    I accumulate a lot of food. I never know what to leave behind because I might end up in a situation where I need to stay put away from the lake for a night, so I take it all with me, and there comes a point where I NEED the backpack or I'm always overburdened. That's not so much a problem with the mod, though. That's just my terrible playing style. (Edit: Actually, I was carrying six tools at the time. Nevermind.)

    ... I haven't discovered the recipe for the four herb mix yet. I'll figure it out eventually.

    You know what this game needs? A factory. You build some rediculously-expensive end-game technology and deploy it, and it lets you access blueprints in a special inventory to create the objects we (don't) get through random drops right now. Actually, that's probably a terrible idea, but I thought I'd throw it out there so somebody can be inspired to come up with a better one.
    Edited 12 years ago
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    Pete 12 years ago
    The claw blade is actually just a knife with a brown alien claw glued on it. Low tech all the way.
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    TNN17 12 years ago
    Rest assured that beyond the blockage stopping you from getting to the bridge is full of Energy Couplings, Particle Accelerators and Field Emitters. If someone makes a convincing top down bridge image for me (two pilot terminals, gunnery terminal, main screen and captain's chair) then I'd be happy to remove the wreckage for everybody's enjoyment. Since trying to source those sorts of graphics was primarily responsible for my year's hiatus on this project however, I'll not be working on them any time soon.

    Figuring out new combinations was always one of the biggest highlights of play for me. I played Default for ages and I'm pretty sure I never figured out the Looking Glass. Or the Sniper Pistol, now I think of it. It was only in the Werivar mod playing through with the Stowaway (ironically enough) that I ended up having the spare tech to end up making this kind of stuff.


    Update: So folks can easily check out the new barricades, I've included a small, sparse encampment. This contains a guaranteed energy coupling, some barricades, and is surrounded by a light fence.



    As an aside whilst I think of it, a few IYCs:

    #1: How would you prefer player constructed mini buildings worked? There's two main choices here:

    A: A "Shelter" is a roof without walls (and a floor, so you're just not on normal grass underneath).
    The player can move around under the shelter and do anything they'd normally do (like combine), and deconstruct/repair it by targetting the (flammable) central support beam. The Shelter would protect from rain effects and if the player's temperature got below 10, then the Shelter would warm them up, a la Stasis Field.
    For their part, aliens and hostiles would consider the support beam an enemy and move to attack it. Walls could be built around the structure manually using wooden walls or fences accordingly.

    B: A "Shelter" is a self-contained creature.
    The player can be picked up by the shelter and carried. They will not be able to move around, but equally they are untouchable until the shelter is destroyed. The player can deconstruct/repair it by targetting any point on the shelter, and whilst carried they would again be immune to rain and their temperature would stabilise towards +10-20.
    Enemies would be hostile towards the Shelter and would be able to damage it by targetting any point. Fencing would go in a wider space around the Shelter.

    I'm leaning towards A at this point, since this would allow you to place furniture, like a furnace, in there to let you cook food. It also opens up the idea of other furniture items like a bed (blanket + yet more kindling?), increasing your Zzzz faster and restoring your Sleep and other stats faster whilst you're laying in it; or a charging station that restores your battery when you hang around next to it.

    #2: How durable should player support structures be? Either they can
    A) Only fall down when an alien actively breaks them.

    Or:

    B) Also degrade slowly over time due to exposure to the elements, meaning they would either need occasional repairs or eventually crumble even if an alien never touched them.

    B is a little more realistic and involved in this case, since the player would have to periodically repair their turrets and fences.
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    TNN17 12 years ago

    Edit: Oop, overposted: Anonymous - Press Z next to any "allied" structure to shut it down for redeployment elsewhere. This includes everything from field emitters to sandbags.

    Bear in mind that I'm quite keen to keep the early game low-tech.

    (Very) General game stages for a Technology character:

    1: Crash. Fight off aliens with simple tools, maybe get a powerful random weapon to tide you over, but without much ammo to use it excessively. Most tech comes from wrecks and ruins.

    2: Get enough gear together to successfully fight Droids - which will rarely drop diodes and other energy devices (but are respawning, hence unlimited). Fight enough droids and explore enough wrecks to get a working laser beam, which deals great damage against droids, allowing you to beat boss #1: Missile Droids.

    3: Missile droids gone, Marines come to investigate. Game changes dramatically since now marine patrols will spawn across the planet looking for you (not just chilling in their bases). Lasers don't work well against marines, but you should eventually be able to pick up more advanced weapon parts - particle accelerators, flame throwers etc.

    4: By this point you'll be later in the year and more dangerous aliens will be spawning (and those small and medium ones will be growing up), putting more pressure on the player and needing the better weapons to cope with.

    So yeah, it shouldn't actually be that uncommon to have to take on robots with improvised weapons, or to have a weapon that you're reluctant to use because you only have one - you're in a scarcity situation.

    Concerning a factory, I still haven't implemented Replicator tech since I'm stymied as to some of the exact uses. One of them would probably be loading a Replicator with sand and then using a program (from yet another inventory dedicated to programs) to have it churn out the item. For more advanced programs the replicator would need to be refilled several times (cue walking back and forth to get sand), but would ultimately be able to create most tech components in the game.

    This also gives a neat thing to get from computers in ruins and the like.
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    Anonymous1157 12 years ago
    I like 1A very much. Half the reason I like playing Minecraft is because I get to build an amazing house with all the cobblestone I displace. The very idea of building a house in Notrium sounds like the greatest thing since toast.

    Ideas 1A and 1B don't necessarily rule each other out, though. If we go with 1B, we'll still have stasis fields, and if we go with 1A, we could still add a sort of "emergency bunker" special creature that'll let your turrets do the hard work for you while you hide inside.

    I'd like something between the relaxed and aggressive versions of 2B. Straight-up buildings can weaken with time, but not be completely destroyed by normal wear-and-tear alone. Turrets and the like need to be recharged periodically by dropping a charged battery nearby, and they give you back an empty battery, else they stop working or turn into their items or something.

    Swagalicious pad, by the way. I'd put a giant question mark in a box shaped like an audio cassette, too.

    Edit: You've already thought of all of my terrible ideas. And you've started implementing them. What.
    Edited 12 years ago
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    YinYin (guest) 12 years ago
    I agree
    use A for normal shelters
    but you can also include B for bunker/trench like shelter
    just digging a hole and covering it with a wooden wall perhaps?
    you wouldn't be able to ever move those as they are dug into the ground.
    and maybe you could also cover up the material on top with some of the otherwise useless plants for camouflage so aliens don't notice it unless they saw you hop in.
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    TNN17 12 years ago
    An emergency bunker sounds cool. I do have the plan that at least one character will be able to sit in a turret and fire manually, but a hidey-hole (possibly even a hidey-hole that - if you weren't seen entering it, wasn't considered to be an enemy by aliens) does sound appealling, I'll add it to my to do list.


    Alright, sounds good. I've added a ~10 second rolling script: Wall structure will lose 0.5% of its current health every ten seconds if it's player-dropped. This will mean at around ten minutes it will hit two thirds health, but won't ever hit 0%. Turrets will lose health at half the rate.


    Since turrets are next on my to do list (and are a bit daunting at that), here's my current planning for turrets:

    Turrets and other devices will need recharging - If they're below maximum charge or ammo then they'll drop a Right Clickable plot object. Clicking this will check your available charge method:
    - Laser Turret, Plasma Turret, Repair unit: Energy. Either drains a battery or drains energy directly.

    except that turrets will also be able to automate the process. It will still be important that you repair devices before deactivation, since you'll recover a damaged version (which deploys at 1 HP) if you deactivate a device that's damaged.

    Solar Generator: Recharges nearby turrets (and the player) by "firing" an invisible 360 blast weapon. Whenever it hits a turret (or you), it will increase their energy with its own.

    In code detail, it will actually increase a secondary "charged" bar. The turret (and player) will have a check "Within ~150px of Solar Generator" + "Charged Bar >0" + "Energy <100%" + "Side =/= X" (enemy sides).

    If true, it will lower their charged bar to 0, up their energy bar by 1, and momentarily switch their side to "charged" and fire an instantaneous Trace weapon at the nearest enemy (aka: Solar Generators), lowering its energy by 1 and giving the appearance (since the trace is instantaneously quick) of the Generator actually shooting them.

    Naturally there will be other checks - If energy is 100%, side is incorrect, there's no nearby generator... Then the charge will be wasted.

    Meanwhile the Solar Generator never loses energy unless shot, but won't fire unless its energy is full and - as is probably self-evident, only gains energy in the daytime.

    Repair Unit: Like the Solar Generator, with the exception that every time it repairs (a fourth bar, and one that only the Android and possibly Extropian have), it sets them to a different side and repairs them for 5, rather than 1, and it expends its own energy to repair itself whenever it's damaged. It will keep firing until it's below a certain energy threshold however.


    Weapon Turret: The various versions will have different needs.
    - Energy-type turrets will expend energy every shot.
    - Gun turrets will require ammunition. Flamer Turrets will need you to dump ether next to them, Sonic turrets Tzo Crystals, Rocket Turrets Explosive Shells and so on.


    Supply Unit: Replicator Tech #2: This will require sand and energy to function. Like the other supply turrets, it will target all nearby friendly turrets, and if they require ammunition then they will zap it for a varying amount, depending what weapon they have.

    This won't work on the player since they're incompatible with the program, or on Sonic Turrets, since Tzo Crystals aren't replicable.


    - If any turret runs out of power, it will deactivate as though the player had done so.
    - Deploying turrets will cost energy, and they will need to be supplied with ammo to function, which can be done after.
    - Recovering turrets will recover any energy left in the turret, and any ammo left in the turret.
    - The Computer is a Cheating Bastard. Not only will Marine and Droid factions have their own turrets, these will be military spec with internal self-repairing replicators, high efficiency power supplies and electronic countermeasures designed to stop you from acquiring them.
    - The Scavenger will not be automatically able to deploy turrets, he doesn't have a battery to charge them.
    - Likewise, the Psionic will not be automatically able to deploy turrets, they don't run on psychic energy.
    - Both will be able to expend a single full battery to deploy a turret, as will the other characters if they don't have the power available.

    Any comments on this before I start work?
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    yinyin (guest) 12 years ago
    the autonomous turret plans sound nice

    how does the current weather wear on structures relate to a notrium year?
    would a wall tear down within a season, half a year, a whole year?
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    TNN17 12 years ago
    yinyin (guest) said:
    the autonomous turret plans sound nice

    how does the current weather wear on structures relate to a notrium year?
    would a wall tear down within a season, half a year, a whole year?

    Hm... Assuming a second is around two minutes (hard to say, since it's currently handled by Racial constancy rather than script, that's at least roughly right), and the script running at 10 seconds each time, an observed fence would degrade from maximum health to 50% health in ~140 iterations of the script - approximately forty-six game hours, and continue to halve its health every ~140 iterations thereafter. After a full season (30 days), the walls will be at roughly 1.5% health, but will never degrade below 1 Health due to weather alone.
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    Anonymous1157 12 years ago
    I have no words to describe my reaction to your plan, so I'll just have the Demoman explain it.



    If only this were a multiplayer game. Speaking of which, in the faaaaar future, FM2 needs to be built on a multiplayer-capable game engine. Hopefully one where you don't have to abuse the engine just to make a creature that can eat two different things. Or make trees with trunks. Actually, this entire mod is an exercise in WTFRUdoin.
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    TNN17 12 years ago
    Funnily enough, I was daydreaming this very morning of a 3D, multiplayer, FM. I'd be thinking a sort of a Fallen Earth type layout (action/RPG MMO with mouse directed combat) as the chassis and player populations divided across instanced planets containing small numbers of players (probably 1-20 max on a planet). Unfortunately I don't know of any game engines that would easily handle the sorts of thing I'd want to include so one would probably have to be tailor-made.

    Players would be free to behave as they pleased towards one another (probably with an optional "Mark Target as Friendly" safety which would cover any of your allies too) and any NPCs. There would be no respawn (though optionally new players could join during an ongoing session).
    The overall sandbox goal would centre around long term survival and escape, with "experience" being awarded to the account, rather than the characters themselves (who would, on death or escape, be wiped or stored as Bones files). After a character dies or wins the player accumulates player exp based on their actions during each run, which could then be assigned to unlocking non-basic character options (which ones exactly would vary by setting), perks and starting equipment for new characters.

    In the interests of an enjoyable long term play experience, game modes would probably vary between settings like "neolithic", "sci-fi" and "zombie", the instance's danger level, local population types and the like, though all these would be loosely centred around the constant survival theme.

    But yeah, this sort of project would definitely be after FM has been finished, and would need a team to accomplish rather than just me puttering around doing everything myself.

    Anyways, probably should get to work on those turrets.
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    Anonymous1157 12 years ago
    We... uh... started on a Notrium 3D a year or two ago. It never went very far because Amarth was basically doing the whole thing himself and Real Life caught up with him. But yeah, if you ever get bored of FM1 (Or it's done, whichever comes first), the talent is all here for an FM2.
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    TNN17 12 years ago
    Now that would be awesome, I'd totally be down for it, though I'll need to be finishing FM first (if I can't finish this project, how could I expect to finish a considerably more ambitious one?). When FM approaches completion we can lay down some serious plans if people are (still) interested.

    Anyway, back to the present - Update: I hate graphics work. Turret graphics are now done, all 24 images worth.

    Update: Sleep overhauled. Now every effect is handled by a single wield script meaning it should be more stable than ever.
    Trees also tweaked, in two different ways.
    #1: If the player is sleeping, the rtee will actually change AI role permanently to a non-firing one, then when the player wakes up, turns back to its regular, usually disabled, firing method.
    #2: Trees now always show up on the scanner. If you can detect differences in terain, you should be able to pick up foliage after a second, more involved scan takes place. This should make life a bit easier in the Starship Graveyard (or lure you into a Reaper Lurk, either/or).
    #3: Scanner dots revamped. Now all Orga Lifeforms display as green dots, all Mecha display blue dots, and technological items (items containing metals or energy signatures) display red dots. They are varied by size.
    Meanwhile Beacons display pure white dots.
    All items and creatures amended to use new particles. Simple metals and other small traces will show up smaller and duller than complex or powered objects. Fuel cell powered tech will always show up as the largest option, as will wrecks.
    Unused lightsources and their particle effects removed.
    Double Barrelled Pebble Shotgun now fires two shots of the standard shotgun with an efficiency refund. This means that it should correctly fire one if the player has a single pebble in their inventory.
    Pebble Shotgun fixed to drain energy properly, rather than increase it.
    Damaged, Broken and Standard turrets inserted. Still needs coding.

    Update: The fenced in base now has an example of the newly implemented piece of replicator tech. Escher fountains permanently bore into the ground, providing a water source wherever they are deployed until someone comes along with a JCB, the terrain is worn away by natural erosion, or the heat death of the universe, whichever comes first.

    Repair Units are no longer one use items. Instead they require a supply of (guess) and cost 15 energy per use. As a tradeoff, they now restore 25 health to turrets, and 50 health to the android on use (making it more efficient than using tools for self-repair as the android).

    Update: Having stumbled across it whilst fixing the radar icons, and since green aliens are now actually in the game, I've implemented the Chemical Thrower, a unique weapon for the Captain. You'll have to figure out how to make it yourself, but it'll spray a two-stage mixture of doom at enemies, poisoning, damaging, and straight up dissolving them. Also works on fences, though not that well.

    Update: Scrap Metal and Gun Chassis have been lowered and raised in weight respectively. All components have been modified to suit.

    Turret foundation is now set up, means I'll be able to start the coding over the next day or two.
    Edited 12 years ago
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    TNN17 12 years ago
    Alright, I'm pleased with this one, so bear with me whilst I type this out to make sure I comprehend the code (yes, I admit that I'm weird that I have to do this).

    The reload plot object: Rather than drop eat items or whatnot, as I was originally planning to do, instead the plot object will run a script, using one of the only methods the game engine has of running a script on something other than the player: Creature Closest to the Mouse.

    - Since the Reload plot object is right on top of the turret, it will (hopefully) run on the turret.
    - A series of scripts will run under a master control script that first has three sequential script checks: 1: Is the creature the player? 2: Is the player within 150px? 3: Is the Creature's Side = Mecha Friendly? Failure on any of these leads to a simple informational script "Reload Failed".
    This is insurance, if the player tries to reload but the creature dies, or has been moved away from the reload plot object within the last second then either the player will be closest to the mouse or another creature.

    After these checks are performed, there is another Master script that runs several scripts with a simple check as to what type of turret it is, followed by executing a series of scripts determining if the player has:
    Gun: Bullets, Clips, Magazines.
    Sonic Turret: Tzo Crystals.
    Energy Turret: Energy/Battery.
    Replicator "Turrets": Sand/Pebbles and a separate check for Energy/Battery.
    Medical "Turrets": Reaper corpses, Red Plants, Medikits.
    Flame Turrets: Ether, Vitriolic Sacs (Red Aliens will have them).
    Rocket Turrets: Explosive Shells.

    Other devices (Such as furnaces) will have their own unique scripts for their own items.


    - These scripts then use the smallest quantity/quality item present in the players inventory.

    This will be most complicated for the Gun Turret - the first script will start with a check: Player has 1 Bullets? Energy (ammo) <100%? Add 1 Energy, Remove 1 bullets from player inventory. Run This Script with conditions (Loop).
    When the player no longer has any bullets, it moves onto next script: Player has 1 Bullet Clip, Energy <100%? Remove Clip from Player inventory, add 20 Bullets. Run script #1. Run script #2 (Loops first the Bullets script again, then the Clip script again until either the turret is fully reloaded, or the player runs out of clips).
    When the player hasn't any clips, it runs on Magazines exactly the same way, splitting them into bullets, then loading as many bullets into the Turret as it needs them.

    All this will happen instantly, without the need for a repeating script on the part of the turret, or any risk of things going funky with location detection or turrets sharing reloads.

    Likewise, this will add another step to disabling turrets: On hit by Deactivate, turrets will drop a Deactivation marker, destroy any nearby Reload marker, switch the AI tactic to Stand Still, and disable the dropping of Reload markers. If the deactivation marker isn't pressed within 5 seconds, then it will disappear, and the turret will resume normal operation within a second or so (and it's deactivation bar will set to zero again, with a secondary check to make sure if it's hit whilst in Deactivation mode it'll just set to -1 again).

    If the Deactivation marker is activated, then a counter script will run for the turret, checking its Energy bar and reducing it by 1 each time, giving whatever it used back to the player.
    Sonic - Tzo Surplus (200 of these invisible shards return as a tzo crystal).
    Gun - Bullets.
    Flame - If it's on full ammo, it will check for an empty cannister to fill, or if there isn't one, drop an ether spill.
    Medical Turrets - 1 Medikit per 25/50 energy (meaning the player can use them to produce medikits out of base materials as a valuable secondary use in addition to a powered medical bay).
    Replicator Turrets - Again, if it's got full ammo, it'll check for empty cannisters for "Sand", as well as performing a secondary check for Energy.
    Rocket Turrets - Explosive shells.
    Energy Turrets - Will add their energy to the player's until they're at zero or below it, or if the player has full energy (or is a Psionic/Scavenger), it'll check to see if its energy is >20, and if so, charge a battery.
    And so on.

    With this extra step, this will once again instantly (from the player's perspective) sort out returning resources to the player.

    It's going to push the number of total scripts in FM over the three hundred mark, but if this works (and having written all this out, I hope it does), then not only is it going to allow me to easily implement any number of different types of structures, this is going to completely change the way fruit trees work as well (and probably poisonous berries if I pull this off):

    Is season incorrect? Informational message: The fruit on this tree is not ripe yet.
    Season correct: Fruited Bar > X? Informational: You gather some fruit, lower Fruited Bar.
    Season correct: Fruited Bar < X? There's no fruit left on this tree.

    No looping checks, no need for a dozen creature checks making sure it only drops one set of fruit, just direct, easy harvesting.

    This is about half coded now, so watch this space and hopefully I'll have good news to report in the next day or two.
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    TNN17 12 years ago
    Update:
    Turrets now reload when right-clicked.
    Turrets are now disabled when tagged with the deactivate weapon and right-clicked.
    Turrets take their ammunition directly from the player's inventory or energy bar.
    Turrets check the player's inventory for alternative energy sources if their energy bar is low.
    Turrets each fire with a Launcher weapon, which in turn fires their real weapon. This sets their side to that of fences, meaning it can fire over fences, but not the player or each other, meaning tactical positioning is important.

    And as far as I can tell, all the CtD bugs have been resolved.


    Still to do on weapon turrets:

    Appropriate corpse item types - Damaged, Destroyed, Undamaged.
    Salvage from destroyed turrets.
    Combinations to make standard turrets.
    Functionality for destroyed/damaged turret items.

    Total scripts: 50.
    Total items so far: 27.

    To say I'm exhausted is an understatement.
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    Endymion 12 years ago
    Awesome, no more CtDs! Not that they bothered me too much what with them being quite rare and me saving relatively often.
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    TNN17 12 years ago
    Oh sorry, I meant all the *new* CtDs I caused with turrets. I still need to redo the pod starter, which is the other major CtD culprit.

    I'll probably be just doing minor stuff for the next week or two, give me some time to work on another, related, project, and give me some time to recover before I tackle the other big, painful parts of 0.32.
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    Ted (guest) 12 years ago
    Let me start of by saying: Holy Shit. I cannot believe you have stuck to this project for so long, I remember back when it was in its infancy. Good work! When I get to my terminal I most definitely be playing this.
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    TNN17 12 years ago
    Glad to hear it, posts like this are 90% of my motivation.

    Let me know what you think or if you find any bugs.

    Actually no updates this week, I'm heading out to Ireland tomorrow for the weekend, and I've been working on three other major projects for the last few weeks, but one of them is hopefully nearing completion to get me some more free time. Still got a lot of things to do before 0.32 is done.
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    FaNT1m 12 years ago
    I would just like to say: TNN17... You are awesome!!! I always loved notrium and wished for a notrium 2, which it seems you are building here... Werivar expansion was awesome, but lacked balance, but it seems FM is going to focus alot on this issue. Also the realism in FM is fantastic and exactly what I want in a survival game. (there really aren't alot of futuristic survival games are there?)

    BTW, just wanted to know if you actually had people helping you with this project? Cause its alot to do alone.

    Also, could you tell me what you use for the graphics work, as I might be able to help in that department, I could also help with the writing bits (whats that called, fluff?). I won't promise much, as University takes up alot of my time, but if it seems like i could do it I may help. I can't help much with the coding, though I used to be good at programming, but haven't done that in about 3 years... (not a large need for that in pharmacy)

    Anyway, I tend to ramble, Basically:
    Great job
    You're awesome
    I might help
    Thx for sticking with it
    #
    TNN17 12 years ago
    So far the only assistance I've had is from liberating old images from the previous mods, bouncing ideas off forumites, and people catching bugs in my code.

    Graphics work would be great, as would fluff writing. Graphically speaking, I'm hoping long term to get a larger player-sprite. This would allow a less jerky melee animation as well as allow some better detail.

    Other than that, one of the major issues graphically, as has been mentioned before, is that the images aren't actually consistent, especially for items and plot objects. There's a mixture of realistic, old Notrium-style graphics, cartoonish.... Having its own consistent style across all items would be a major step up.

    For fluff, again there's the consistency issue. Each item description should be in first person, player-neutral (can't assume the player is the Captain/Android/Stowaway etc unless it really is exclusively for that character), and in a consistent style with each other.

    Likewise, there's the journal and plot object journal messages. Generally, the informational white-text in the top left should be addressing the player, whilst anything that goes into the journal should be first person "by" the player.

    Any help is appreciated, especially on those sorts of issues, because even when I finally finish writing up Project#4 (another game-related project which is now about 80% done, after which it'll just be maintaining it) and get some free time again, I probably would never get around to revamping the graphics, and I wouldn't get to fluff text until everything else was done either, at which point it would be a mammoth undertaking all by itself.
    #
    Guest (guest) 12 years ago
    IS the newest version still 3.1?
    #
    TNN17 12 years ago
    Yeah, there's a half-version out somewhere with trees and some other stuff implemented, not sure if hosting's still up for it, but I'm not in a position to re-upload at the moment.
    #
    harwe 12 years ago
    Link to the file.
    Direct Link, though I'm not sure if this will work long term.
    #
    MageKing17 12 years ago
    Link to my mirror; this should be the same version as harwe's copy.
    #
    lotsofpaper (guest) 12 years ago
    This is awesome! I thought mods ended for Notrium after the Werivar expansion! Now I find all this stuff??? Having finished all races (except the damn psionic) in the werivar mod, I'm psyched to have a new playing field with new mechanics!

    Keep up the good work!

    It sounds like almost everything is fairly energy dependent... I'll definitely keep you informed of any bugs I find, and since I removed (most) of the bugs from the file of the werivar expansion I had on my computer, I might be able to help you actually find bad code. Cheers!
    #
    lotsofpaper (guest) 12 years ago
    Should it be this difficult (even on easy) to keep the android charged? I have found 0 batteries, only 3 depleted batteries, 3 blue herbs total, and i'm running out of brown aliens to kill. killing them? No problem. Finding them without being mauled by the bees they're fighting? problem. Also why do bees do damage to an android with 6 armor?

    Is there some easy to reach source of energy i'm missing here?
    #
    lotsofpaper (guest) 12 years ago
    OK... about 24 hours of time since I downloaded, got about 16 hours of your mod under my belt. (it's summer vacation and I have the flu).

    I see SO MUCH POTENTIAL here... but you seriously are gonna need some help if you're still into this project. I'm willing to write item descriptions, help with balancing and bug issues, etc..

    FOR NOW i'm gonna go dick around with creating a new race, get the hang of coding with notrium again... Been coding on other things.

    -The android energy model is not feasible without a higher abundance of energy plants or brown aliens. I made a Captain and played with that, it's so much easier to keep alive... I would suggest one of the following.... 1.) Higher abundance of energy sources or greater recovered energy from given sources. not TOO much, but just... seriously. Maybe the addition of robotic enemies will even this out. 2.) script whereby if android is STILL and it's daylight AND/OR the android is near a heat source, the android generates battery charge. not enough to give him a net influx mind you, but enough to stave off dying.

    -there seems to be a bug with raw blue alien meat. blue alien corpses too. I can press U all day, it just continues to tell me that i'm overburdened. (C'mon, I know that, that's why I want to eat the alien meat!) I have saved/loaded/exited/loaded... so I'm going to make another game to test it again.

    -Since I have already encountered a bug, i'm making a test replica of your game. The starting area in this will have no monsters or spawners, and will have a few of every item for testing. wooh! Also I will probably code in an invisible monster spawner that spawns "dummies". Punching bags with X amount of health denoted by their color or some such nonsense, for testing purposes of weapons.

    -I see what you did there with the strength bonus bar values. negative value = ----->. Nice. I hadn't though of doing that before...

    Questions:

    1. I know you'll be adding psionic (hence psionic might) do you already have the skill system you want to use worked out for that?
    2. When can we expect the other races? What all races do you plan to include?
    3. Do you plan on adding arctic/lava/desert maps? cuz... if you do... then temperature needs to be less... completely evil.
    #
    Anonymous1157 12 years ago
    Remember that this is still a pretty early test version of FM. Not nearly all of the map areas are implemented yet, and I'm sure TNN17 has Android balance figured out but needs to implement other features first. You can pretty much empty out the entire existing map in a few (real) hours if you really want to see all of the existing features. (Even then, the random number generator can still screw you over and you may never see a majority of the content. True story.)

    IIRC, you can't overeat in this mod. Are you sure you actually ate the blue alien meat when you used it? Try dropping it and see if your weight decreases. (It will.)

    Temperature is actually more realistic in this mod. In vanilla Notrium, you essentially spend the entire game in a fever and have to try really hard to stay under trees to keep cool. In this mod, you actually sweat when it's hot, so the real issue becomes freezing at night. I don't think I've ever frozen to death in a jungle at night in vanilla Notrium; I was already overheating the day before and kept running past fires at night. This mod? Completely different story.

    If you haven't read the whole thread yet, I recommend it. I think we've already talked about some of your concerns. Definitely temperature.
    #
    lotsofpaper (guest) 12 years ago
    I literally waited until I starved to death because I couldn't eat the meat. It was rather silly. Maybe it's save-specific.

    Ion Storm seems to have a lasting (permanent) effect in some cases. I lost all ability to use tech on my captain once. Waited a whole day in the starting map, still couldn't use any tech.

    also if you make a powered motion detector then break it back up, you get a regular terminal back, losing your extremely rare power coupling in the process. Yow.

    I can understand it being more realistic. The thing I can't understand is how the other characters will be able to DO anything. Werivar will have a huge advantage (unless you disable sweat and make a new status for him, pant, which is less effective, giving him a flip side to the coin.) With the longer combine times in this game, the psionic will be stuck using temperature control ALL THE TIME, unable to do anything for combat unless he gets extra tokens.
    #
    Endymion 12 years ago
    As far as I recall(haven't played in a while) the best energy source for Android was fully upgraded Solar Panel. Also you can store any extra energy by turning scrap metal into batteries with de-magnetizer.
    #
    TNN17 12 years ago
    Hey all,

    Just to let you know that I'm still alive and haven't lost all my game data again, though I've been working on a few other projects lately, one of which is broadly FM related (and another includes getting a character I designed into a game company's online flash game, something which I'm rather pleased with).

    Fatherhood is due fairly imminently for me, so I'm expecting to be both occupied and sleep deprived for the next few months, but one of my projects is coming to an end shortly, so I should be getting a bit more free time in the long term. I swear I have creative ADD.

    Anyways: Glad to hear you're enjoying it Lots.

    - Android Energy: When the game is finished, there are planned to be well over three times as many areas to explore (including areas with guaranteed tech), generators to convert fuel into energy (and heat), robots and marines, both of which will be carrying a lot more readily available energy for the android's needs. When things are all in place then I'll be handling any rebalancing necessary, but until that point it would be see-sawing back and forth as things were added and taken away, which would just slow everything down.

    - Bees: Bees are nightmarish abominations armed with razor sharp spines and burning acid venom. They kill everything ever and they hate you more than anything else in the world. The Android's just lucky that he's immune to their scaling poison and blocks all but one point of damage, he should be able to survive an entire swarm of bees just by ignoring them until they've all killed themselves.

    - Blue aliens and their corpses, if I recall, add quite a bit to your thirst. More than being unable to overeat, you can't overdrink in the latest stable version either, so if your thirst is full (easy to do if you're standing in water) then you'll never be able to eat it. This has been changed in the development version.

    - Psionic: Yes he'll be included, yes I have a loose system planned, every token and ability should already have the proposed combinations to make it in place.
    - Other races include the Stowaway, the Scavenger, the Siren, the Werivar and the Extropian. I've gone into more detail on the plans about them in my project journal, here: http://horizonedge.deviantart.com/journal/ When they'll actually make it into the game unfortunately depends on me recovering the rest of my current version notes from my old computer, and when I get around to working on FM again.
    - The only map on which the temperature is completely evil at the moment is I believe the Ship Graveyard, swamps are always warm, the jungles are fairly minor, but it's the Graveyard that's really mean (I seem to recall toning it down, though that might be the unstable version still).
    - Ion Storm is a bug that I believe should be fixed next version. It's not a literally permanent thing if I recall correctly, but it can accumulate and last for days, which was a bit extreme.
    - I believe that the motion sensor bug has been fixed for next version.
    - Something a lot of people don't seem to notice is that being overburdened drains your fatigue, hunger and thirst severely. Just like sweating, you will shiver when you get cold to preserve your body heat. If you're too tired to shiver, you'll develop hypothermia quite quickly, if you rest and recover as needed, you'll stay healthy, and it's a lot easier to stay healthy than it is to recover from sickness on a hostile alien planet. Cook your food, keep out of graveyards at night, and remember that making a blanket and making a fire are both actually important to do.

    And yeah, the Solar Panel with an additional power supply pretty much trivialises the android's power requirements.
    #
    Forum » Notrium Final Mix - New Version out. 0.31
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