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Universal Combat - First Impressions


Supreme Cmdr
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1. Oops. Sorry.

2. Hmm...perhaps I was firing from inside its shields.

3. The contrails were at full v; it would generate a 'lump' of particles, and then stop, and then start generating them again, etc...as though my FO were tapping his foot on the accelerator or something. I'll see if I can grab a screenshot, if you like.

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im gonna come down pretty hard here, my name is hardboot... dont take offense, im just blunt.

The AI is crap! Parts of it anyway. Everyone, enemies, pilots, marines are bloody stupid! examples= FC just take off after any hostile no matter how far away or if its next to a base... i thought i heard someone say "threat assesment".. shya... Im sitting next to a base, with fighters deployed, turrets online, and Enemies still HJ right into the "net of death", they blow up before they even come out of HS. It doesnt make any sense, NO ONE no matter how retarded would do that! And its not that hard to make them NOT be dumb.

It seems that although you are makeing a 'sim' sometimes you sacrifice logic for ease of codeing. AI, Citys/bases, the menus, blah blah.. Cargo holds.. Why wouldnt i be able to store what i want where i want? its not like one bay is refrigerated.

Hyper Jumps, it looks like the ship is cloaked.. but it doesnt matter, you still have a good 5 seconds where the ship cant fire but can easily be destroyed. I thought nothing is real, you can pass through a planet but lasers wont pass through you?

Space Stations do a quasi orbit thing... they move back and forth.. i dont get this at all, it would actualy be easier to just throw in the math for it to travel in a circle around a point(the planet its orbiting). plenty of room.. Sure the areas are huge but does it matter if its empty, useless, unplayed space? Shrink the outer space regions if needed to enhance perfomance, no one will notice.

Planetside, while having such huge planet is rad, the FPS part is so.. crappy it doesnt matter. To me(and it seems most including you) the best part is the tactics, the huge battleplans you can do. And while being in your CC comanding it is imo the best, its still fun to go get dirty! So shrink it up a bit, add loading zones. Hmm.. (my advice, even if ya dont want it ) Look at "PlanetSide"{SOE}, while the game sucks, the way they did the world is great, and imo, would work great here! Huge continents that are seperated. Use loading zones on the edge of the map instead of warp gate garbage. Then the ground could be more detailed terrain wise/texture wise, the bases could be more detailed, the vehicles and marines would travel better, and trees and such might not(im clueless here) be such a drag on performance.

If they can, i can!!! or should be able to.. i should be able to booby trap cargo, i should be able to board ships, etc etc.

Whats with the enemy?! Everytime i get my ship fully repaired and get everything ready for a nice assualt, i get a fleet of 3 or so ships that suicide into my nice little hideing spot next to a base just to luanch all thier missles with fatal to damage my ship at the expense of thiers..AAAHHH im not that important!!!!!

Mineing drones need thier number next to them in the TacOps so i dont have to wait 20 min for it to reach the shuttle when i have more then one deployed on a moon/planet. Whats the use of plotting a nice course when you only have a 1 in 4 chance of plotting it right? o yeah, they should either stop when done mineing or have a HALT cmnd.

blah, i know there is more but thats the stuff i find very important. But i do lovve this game gj man

[ 06-11-2004, 06:17 AM: Message edited by: cdrhardboot ]

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Wow, it is like you have read my mind. Everything I think about this game, you have just written the exact OPPOSITE.

There is one thing I agree with you about though...

quote:

my name is hardboot...

... and that is about it.

I won't sit here and tell you why most of your post is "crap" (odd choice in words to describe a game where you prob set units to do exactly what your complaining about) but I will say this....

I couldn't DISagree with you more.

Have a nice day!

My thoughts on the game....

SC, this is for you and your program nuff said.

Fin

[ 06-11-2004, 10:57 AM: Message edited by: JimmyNeutron ]

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quote:


Originally posted by cdrhardboot:

im just blunt.


Right. You want blunt? OK, its a slow morning, so I'll bite. Lets get started, shall we?

quote:


The AI is crap! Parts of it anyway. Everyone, enemies, pilots, marines are bloody stupid! examples= FC just take off after any hostile no matter how far away or if its next to a base... i thought i heard someone say "threat assesment".. shya... Im sitting next to a base, with fighters deployed, turrets online, and Enemies still HJ right into the "net of death", they blow up before they even come out of HS. It doesnt make any sense, NO ONE no matter how retarded would do that! And its not that hard to make them NOT be dumb.

The dumb one. Is Y.O.U.

If you had taken the time to LEARN and UNDERSTAND how the game works - apart from READING the manual, you'd know that

  1. this is normal behavior
  2. NPCs jumping to a threat - so that they can be WITHIN firing range - has NOTHING to do with hyperspace or jumping, for that matter.

The hyperspace specialFX has NOTHING to do with the ship's radar visibility. Once the ship drops out of hyperspace, a flag is set and it becomes radar visible - usually even before the specialFX completes. Thats perfectly normal because the specialFX is removed front-to-back on the ship and even if a single panel on the ship is radar visible, it is enough for an NPC running a threat assessment rule, to pick it up and pinpoint the target. Thats why jumping to stations - uncloaked - is suicidal. Especially since turrets will start to cut through the emerging ship starting from the most recently visible section - DURING - the hyperspace drop.

And what has threat assessment have to do with an NPC's ability to jump to a target? Do you even know what threat assessment means? I didn't think so.

With this crap (!) AI....

  1. How many EPs have you amassed in one game?
  2. What is your current rank?
  3. Have you completed the ACM scenario?
  4. How many of the IA scenarios have you completed?

quote:


It seems that although you are makeing a 'sim' sometimes you sacrifice logic for ease of codeing. AI, Citys/bases, the menus, blah blah.. Cargo holds..

Do you know what the word sacrifice means?

quote:


Why wouldnt i be able to store what i want where i want? its not like one bay is refrigerated.

For the same reason that, as a kid, you wanted to shove junk food into your face, while your mother wanted you eat your greens? Its my game. My decision choice. And if you bothered to figure out how and why it was done this way, you know the answer. At the end of the day, you don't have a say in how it is designed. Deal with it.

quote:


Hyper Jumps, it looks like the ship is cloaked..

Well, er, doh? How many ways do you think are needed to make an object invisible? Cloaked, hyperjumping or otherwise?

quote:


but it doesnt matter, you still have a good 5 seconds where the ship cant fire but can easily be destroyed. I thought nothing is real, you can pass through a planet but lasers wont pass through you?

Did you read the manual? Particularly the section about how the hyperspace transition works?

5 seconds? So you timed it? Please explain to me how you did that - especially since the transition is different for each and every ship; not to mention that it depends on the length of the ship.

quote:


Space Stations do a quasi orbit thing... they move back and forth.. i dont get this at all, it would actualy be easier to just throw in the math for it to travel in a circle around a point(the planet its orbiting). plenty of room.. Sure the areas are huge but does it matter if its empty, useless, unplayed space? Shrink the outer space regions if needed to enhance perfomance, no one will notice.

Would you mind throwing some of that math my way? As a math major (Masters degree no less), I may have missed it. Or maybe Nick (my recent graphics hire, also currently majoring in math who is probably reading this and laughing his ass off) could benefit from this math you're going to be throwing our way.

Kid, there is a specific dynamics model that handles orbits. It is mathematical computation that controls stations, orbital defense systems etc. Anything that requires a fixed orbit, uses this and it works. There is NOTHING going back/forth in orbit because it is uni-directional (you DO know what that means, right?) and the angle of elevation is also pre-computed based on....I'd better stop now because I don't want you to start crying uncontrollably.

quote:


Planetside, while having such huge planet is rad, the FPS part is so.. crappy it doesnt matter. To me(and it seems most including you) the best part is the tactics, the huge battleplans you can do. And while being in your CC comanding it is imo the best, its still fun to go get dirty! So shrink it up a bit, add loading zones. Hmm.. (my advice, even if ya dont want it ) Look at "PlanetSide"{SOE}, while the game sucks, the way they did the world is great, and imo, would work great here! Huge continents that are seperated. Use loading zones on the edge of the map instead of warp gate garbage. Then the ground could be more detailed terrain wise/texture wise, the bases could be more detailed, the vehicles and marines would travel better, and trees and such might not(im clueless here) be such a drag on performance.

Thanks for that particularly useless bit of rubbish. Seeing as you have NO clue, here is one. Planetside uses loading zones because they have a smaller restricted world that is designed for small areas, low level flight and ground zero first person. And if it was as good as you say, why - exactly - aren't you playing in that wonderfully designed world? Oh yeah, lemme guess, you said it was crap.

quote:


If they can, i can!!! or should be able to.. i should be able to booby trap cargo, i should be able to board ships, etc etc.

What you SHOULD be able to do is THINK before posting because all you've done in this diatribe is demonstrate just how clueless you are. And I am only letting the post stand because, if anything else, you've done my job for me.

quote:


Whats with the enemy?! Everytime i get my ship fully repaired and get everything ready for a nice assualt, i get a fleet of 3 or so ships that suicide into my nice little hideing spot next to a base just to luanch all thier missles with fatal to damage my ship at the expense of thiers..AAAHHH im not that important!!!!!

Oh wait. They must be run by crap AI. Too bad, even with crap AI, you can't hide. Must be my fault. At any rate, as soon as you learn exactly what threat assessment and target acquisition means, it will all come to you. But I'm not counting on it.

quote:


Mineing drones need thier number next to them in the TacOps so i dont have to wait 20 min for it to reach the shuttle when i have more then one deployed on a moon/planet. Whats the use of plotting a nice course when you only have a 1 in 4 chance of plotting it right? o yeah, they should either stop when done mineing or have a HALT cmnd.


uhm, right. Its YOUR job to keep track of your assets. And if you read the manual - or knew how to play the game - you'd know what the support unit filter is and why its there. You'd also know that - gasp - the number of the mining drone is irrlevant because a shuttle can extract any drone. And to check any drone's capacity, you have to read the manual and learn where that info is.

quote:


blah, i know there is more but thats the stuff i find very important.

Right.

[ 06-11-2004, 04:15 PM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

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quote:

Oh wait. They must be run by crap AI. Too bad, even with crap AI, you can't hide. Must be my fault. At any rate, as soon as you learn exactly what threat assessment and target acquisition means, it will all come to you. But I'm not counting on it.

LMAO!

*Sarcastic* Yea, this sure is crap AI, can't even tell when your trying to hide from it. */sarcastic*

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ah, i figured as much. I said exactly what i felt and i get flack for it. It is your game, your board, i respect that. But this post is for first impressions of the game so i respected you and this game enough to tell it straight, like u said "no fanboy"

First of, PlanetSide(the game) sucks, big time. I said that, clearly. And I did say i was clueless on it. I also didnt mean to imply that that way would be better, i was just tossing out an idea.

The mineing drones, check thier load in tactical/loadout/SC/drones. I recommend clicking on a SC that is in your hold to be able to acess the drones tab. To find them click ZOOM in tacops, then support units... then 4 mineing drones with no distinction. To extract them make some waypoints for your SC, the last WP being 'extract drone 4' or maybe thats drone 1? err 2? no thats gotta be 3.

As for the math to plot a circle, ill go look and when i find it ill post it for you. viva la interntet! Im not saying the orbits are bad, just the fact that the planets rotate and the stations arent just sitting stationary is amazing, when i noticed they were moveing i left msgs on every answering machine i could think of saying "holy shit you gotta check this out!".

As for the AI, i admit, im a noob still. But if im missing something you sure should lay off a bit becuase i have read the manual, apendix and forums over and over and over. I like the fact that even though i have read everything, there is still a ton i have to figure out for myself. With that said, my experience with the AI is as i put it.

Threat assessment to my knowledge means - determining the significance or extend of an impending danger. Now, imo, a ODS halfway across the map that cant move is not a threat, and therefore shouldnt be attacked. Maybe im missing some huge part, where i can make them not attack, maybe not, i have no clue. And realy, you shouldnt expect me to, its not detailed exactly how AI will react to situations(which i like).

So the ShipA jumps to its enemy ShipB, and i mean right into fireing range, instead of say, just out of fireing range where it could ready its guns after dropping out of HS without getting blown to bits, then commence with battle.

The manual states "Once the transition ends, the ship will emerge a short distance from the destination and the jump anomaly will collapse." Its says nothing more about exiting HS other then the engines recharging.

quote:

How many EPs have you amassed in one game?

What is your current rank?

Have you completed the ACM scenario?

How many of the IA scenarios have you completed?

so you want my first impression after i beat the game?

Once more, i do love this game, it is by far the BEST game i have EVER played. It has made me drop my jaw enough to make it hurt and burst out into laughter over the joy of possibilities. And thats why i will point out anything i think is a flaw (after reading the forum and VCF) or could be better, even if you ban me for it... which i realy hope you dont. Its just not me to say "WOW YOU SOOO UBER 1337", i would rather say "hey dude, your fly is unzipped".

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quote:

Originally posted by cdrhardboot:

(long, pointless rant snipped)

Remember, kids: read the manual, or this could be you.

There is one thing that caught my eye, though, as perhaps having a point.

quote:

Originally posted by cdrhardboot:

you still have a good 5 seconds where the ship cant fire but can easily be destroyed. I thought nothing is real, you can pass through a planet but lasers wont pass through you?

quote:

The UC manual, p56

In hyperspace, nothing is real and even though you may seem to fly into things, you cannot collide with them.

The manual text seems to be at odds with how the game actually behaves; that is to say, before you start emerging from hyperspace (the timer is still >0:00), you can be targeted on radar and even fired upon.

For example, take a Firestorm (hyper transition time of 180s), hunt down an enemy starstation, and tell the CC to fly-to it (you may want to leave the ship in a fighter or shuttle so that you can target the CC and see the hyper time remaining indicator). Typically, when there's still 5-15 seconds left on the timer, the ship will start taking massive amounts of damage as the station opens fire on it.

Alternatively, take a Raven out and hyper at the station yourself. My experiments in this area have always resulted in destruction or disabling of the fighter with 8-12% still left on the hyper indicator.

The fact that it behaved like this in BCM, too, implies that this is by design (perhaps the no-collisions rule refers only to physical objects, not energy?), but the manual text can be confusing if you see this effect in action.

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cdrhardboot

Read This

ToxicFrog

Your "problem" with getting dead coming out of hyperspace has been gone over, and over, and over, search and you will find. To quote SC (from memory) 'all it takes is one panel of your ship for enemy radar to lock onto you'. Also on the above link read the number 1 "Such As:" and you will see it is by design, like you mentioned.

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quote:


Originally posted by cdrhardboot:

ah, i figured as much. I said exactly what i felt and i get flack for it. It is your game, your board, i respect that. But this post is for first impressions of the game so i respected you and this game enough to tell it straight, like u said "no fanboy"


For some odd reason, I know you wrote that with a straight face. Thats the sad part about it.

quote:


The mineing drones, check thier load in tactical/loadout/SC/drones. I recommend clicking on a SC that is in your hold to be able to acess the drones tab. To find them click ZOOM in tacops, then support units... then 4 mineing drones with no distinction. To extract them make some waypoints for your SC, the last WP being 'extract drone 4' or maybe thats drone 1? err 2? no thats gotta be 3.

Thats YOUR problem, not the game's. It has been this way since the very first BC game, going back to 1989. If it was an issue - like everything else - it would have been changed. I have NO plans to change it.

quote:


As for the math to plot a circle, ill go look and when i find it ill post it for you. viva la interntet!

You'd better be joking. You obviously have no clue what you're talking about if you think an orbital plot is a circle drawing algorithm.

quote:


Im not saying the orbits are bad,

You posted unfounded rubbish about the orbital plots. Thats not even anywhere in the same league as saying the orbits are bad.

quote:


As for the AI, i admit, im a noob still. But if im missing something you sure should lay off a bit becuase i have read the manual, apendix and forums over and over and over. I like the fact that even though i have read everything, there is still a ton i have to figure out for myself. With that said, my experience with the AI is as i put it.

Well then, knowing that, WHY did you post a 100% nonsensical diatribe about things you now admit you had little or NO knowledge of?

quote:


Threat assessment to my knowledge means - determining the significance or extend of an impending danger. Now, imo, a ODS halfway across the map that cant move is not a threat, and therefore shouldnt be attacked. Maybe im missing some huge part, where i can make them not attack, maybe not, i have no clue. And realy, you shouldnt expect me to, its not detailed exactly how AI will react to situations(which i like).

*sigh* You. Just. Don't. Get it. You know, its OK to admit that you don't get it, rather than posting from a position that would imply otherwise. You're clearly clueless. But instead of actually ASKING questions (like the tons of other questions her), you post rubbish.

To wit. ODS units are a priority #2 threat because they have a very large radar and weapons coverage. So, regardless of whether they are clean, clear across the region or parked next to your aunt Alice, they are a clear and present danger. And any NPC with a SAD (default) order, will engage it. Whats so HARD to understand? And if you HAD in fact READ the manual, you would know what the different rules are for these orders (SAD, SEAD, CAP etc). Its all in there and quite clearly described.

quote:


So the ShipA jumps to its enemy ShipB, and i mean right into fireing range, instead of say, just out of fireing range where it could ready its guns after dropping out of HS without getting blown to bits, then commence with battle.

Again, you have no clue what you're talking about. Jump ranges are PRE-COMPUTED and cannot be modified in transit. So, if you jump to a target that is moving - or even stationary - you will still emerge close to it.

quote:


The manual states "Once the transition ends, the ship will emerge a short distance from the destination and the jump anomaly will collapse." Its says nothing more about exiting HS other then the engines recharging.

The manual is accurate. The tutorial is accurate. The game works as designed. Try reading BOTH.

quote:


so you want my first impression after i beat the game?

No, I'd rather you'd had posted AFTER you had an inkling of wtf you were talking about, BEFORE posting. Around here, we value QUALITY over QUANTITY and you're not impressing anyone. In fact, all you've succeeded in doing is showing yourself off. e.g. you came in and started talking about orbital paths being quasi (!), without having a single clue as to what you were talking about. THEN, to make things worse, you talk about running off and calling everyone about the orbital paths - even after you'd said that they were not orbital paths?

quote:


Once more, i do love this game,

A LOT of people love the game. What's your point? Or are you assuming that because you post that you love the game, so all this inaccurate let-me-show-myself-off rubbish is to be ignored? Nice try.

quote:


it is by far the BEST game i have EVER played.

In which case, you need to get out more. Even I - the creator and developer - won't go as far as to call it the BEST game I have EVER played. Then again, I'm a sensible and practical person.

At any rate, you've said your piece. This thread is not for pointless diatribes. If your post was anywhere near a sensibly written one - with VALID issues (like the other five pages in this thread) - it would have been met with far less resistance.

My dad used to hammer this into my head. Please read and memorize it. As you grow older, it will come in handy.

A man who knows not and knows not that he knows not, is a complete and utter twit. Or words to that effect.

quote:


Originally posted by ToxicFrog:

The manual text seems to be at odds with how the game actually behaves; that is to say, before you start emerging from hyperspace (the timer is still >0:00), you can be targeted on radar and even fired upon.

For example, take a Firestorm (hyper transition time of 180s), hunt down an enemy starstation, and tell the CC to fly-to it (you may want to leave the ship in a fighter or shuttle so that you can target the CC and see the hyper time remaining indicator). Typically, when there's still 5-15 seconds left on the timer, the ship will start taking massive amounts of damage as the station opens fire on it.

Alternatively, take a Raven out and hyper at the station yourself. My experiments in this area have always resulted in destruction or disabling of the fighter with 8-12% still left on the hyper indicator.

The fact that it behaved like this in BCM, too, implies that this is by design (perhaps the no-collisions rule refers only to physical objects, not energy?), but the manual text can be confusing if you see this effect in action.


The manual is correct.

You're not paying attention.

Read my post above again. Slowly.

Whats so hard to fathom that when the FPA changes from HS to your current speed or VTOL and you get the message that you are no longer in hyperspace, then guess what - YOU ARE NO LONGER IN HYPERSPACE - and are now radar visible - regardless - of when the specialfx which decloaks the ship, completes? *sheesh*

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well, finished the tutorial and ventured out into the real world in the roam scenario. i am hanging on, realize i need more practice. too proud to redo tutorial, so i am in the no-npc roam. whew! feeling a little more competent. is it possible to get intruders in the no-npc roam scenario? let me save you some time

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quote:

Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr:

Whats so hard to fathom that when the FPA changes from HS to your current speed or VTOL and you get the message that you are no longer in hyperspace, then guess what -
YOU ARE NO LONGER IN HYPERSPACE
- and are now radar visible - regardless - of when the specialfx which decloaks the ship, completes? *sheesh*

I realize that, and I also realize (having died this way many times) that it is perfectly possible to die while the hyper SFX are still being played.

The phenomenon I'm talking about occurs when you are still fully in HS. For example, if you plot a course that takes you through an enemy station in hyper at a relatively low speed. The hyper meter is still counting down, the speed is still well above anything the ship's realspace engines can attain, and no-one has yet said "emerging from hyperspace".

[ 06-12-2004, 03:49 PM: Message edited by: ToxicFrog ]

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Dear Supreme Cmdr!

I won't complain or blame you, or express any of the negative feelings I got during 40 pages of manual - simply because I had none. Those 3 hours I "ate" 40 pages passed for me like one. All I want to say, for now, even if I have lightly touched "only" about 30% of what you can do in the game - I am already impressed.

You know Derek, past few years I was looking for something that could completely draw my attention. I've tried Earth and beyond, EVE online, Hegemonia: Legions of Iron, X2 which I can't say I didn't like because graphics in X2 are tremendous. But I have one big BUT, so far I find your game Derek one of the most impressive and interesting games on the market even if graphics sometimes are pretty junky, forgive me for that. But as you said before sometimes you have to sacrifice something in advance to mathematically correct structure of the game.

Game is impressive, all the options you have in the game let you feel that you really "live" in some real huge world. Not only fly ships, command the fleet but even engage enemies on the surface, in the air, on the sea... It's just a real piece of work you did. And even if some people make fun of you I'd say screw them, because there are so many jerks around they only like to complain and aquise you whatever you do. I am also glad there are tons of people who really likes UC, well I am one of them... I know that I will have some frustration times in the future but that's the part of each game because there is no perfect game.

Only one thing I really miss in this game - some better graphics and smoothness. I believe and I know that you and your team still work on the game, making new patches, fixing bugs and finding more solutions to help people who just can't even imagine how complicated was to build the game and to present it for us.

I've read that you have some plans and probably working on some new project that will be introduced in 2005 and will be a good surprise for all of us. I can assume that year 2005 will bring us next generation space ... well I wouldn't call it simulator, I would believe it's gonna be - space empire because I already can see how far your fantasy and imagination went in UC. I will be hoping that year 2005 will bring us something really terrific. Only one thing I have to ask, whatever it's gonna be please bring it with excellent graphics, because next year is the year of next generation graphics standarts, most powerfull video cards we've ever owned and so on. And maybe there is some information or clue we can get about that new project you guys work on?

As well I'd love to try to fix something in my UC installation. Sometimes I experience "freezes". In space everything is smooth, but as soon as you get on the surface you get problems. I own high end computer with 9800XT video card which can push everything on highest resolutions with highest settings. But as soon as I try to run operations on the surface I start to have problems. Mostly it's connected with units on the ground. For example if I look at the base then turn around with my back towards the base, stay like that for a few seconds then turn back aroun computer "freezes" for a second like it would be loading units/base/whatever graphics and then runs smooth again. And it's not only on the surface.

Single version og the game imho shouldn't act like that untill you run it in Multiplayer when many more units are involved and you have to deal with bandwith. So I was wondering is there a way to correct this problem. I wouldn't want to decrease quality of picture by turning down graphics options in the game, neither I want to play on lower resolution than 1024x768. I wanna play actually on 1280x1024 with AAs and AFs on, only then graphics look pretty berable and cool. So what I wanted to ask how can I decrease this "freezing" effect or get completely rid of it? Are there any settings that actually make the game act like that?

Thanks Supreme Cmdr, for nice job on the game and help.

Regards

Andrew.

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quote:


Originally posted by map:

is it possible to get intruders in the no-npc roam scenario?


No

quote:


Originally posted by ToxicFrog:

quote:

Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr:

Whats so hard to fathom that when the FPA changes from HS to your current speed or VTOL and you get the message that you are no longer in hyperspace, then guess what -
YOU ARE NO LONGER IN HYPERSPACE
- and are now radar visible - regardless - of when the specialfx which decloaks the ship, completes? *sheesh*


I realize that, and I also realize (having died this way many times) that it is perfectly possible to die while the hyper SFX are still being played.

The phenomenon I'm talking about occurs when you are still fully in HS. For example, if you plot a course that takes you through an enemy station in hyper at a relatively low speed. The hyper meter is still counting down, the speed is still well above anything the ship's realspace engines can attain, and no-one has yet said "emerging from hyperspace".


Your nice leetle map is just plain silly and doesn't prove anything.

NO target acquisition takes place while a target is fully in hyperspace. NONE. And it has been that way since the very first BC game.

quote:


Originally posted by Meras:

even if graphics sometimes are pretty junky, forgive me for that. But as you said before sometimes you have to sacrifice something in advance to mathematically correct structure of the game.


Indeed. Gotta sacrifice something, somewhere.

I know whats going to happen in the next game. Going by the upcoming graphics engine overhaul, everyone with anything less than minimum specs for UCE2E, is just going to ***** and moan about performance issues and all that rubbish. Good thing I never get tired of banning people.

btw, that "freezing" you are refering to, is related to the massive amount of models, textures etc which have to be loaded. In fact, you can reproduce it from space without ever going to a planet. Just observe the planet, select an mzone using the menus and then count how long it takes to display all the units at the mzone. The only cure for this is a fast CPU, GPU and at least 512MB of memory. There is nothing that I can do about it. Its a LOT of data; and not just the 3D models, but also the terrain mesh, terrain texture, detail mesh, detail mesh texture, clouds etc etc. Which is why I provided options for turning these off. Try turning some things off/on and you will notice a big improvement because the game ships with everything ON. You might also want to try the preload 3D models option as well.

[ 06-12-2004, 05:31 PM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

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Thank you Supreme!

Well, maybe it's too many compliments but you are a supreme... hehehe... IMHO you've done huge job with all the mathematical process modeling, phisics and stuff, I havent actually experienced that kind of "effects" in any other game before. Maybe that's why UC is so cool. Well for sure it makes it one of a kind also because so many things there is possible to do , as well upcoming projects, patches will take top places on the game market and amongst thousands of your fans.

My computer config is:

P4 2.6Mghz 800FSB (20% overclocked so actually it's 3.1 and runs great)

1GB DDR400 PC3200 RAM

120GB WD 7200RPM with 8MB cash HDD

ATI Radeon 9800XT with 256MB texture memory.

Everything updated with latest drivers.

As you see there is nothing that could slow the game down but I can understand that there is lots of stuff to load after you switch to surface operations. I'll try to disable grass, trees, even meshes and see how it will run after.

BTW UC:E2E, is there any information available on when it's gonna be out or the demo? Or maybe I should check related forum? I should take a look probably.

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My second test rig is similar in config to yours, apart from the graphics card and no overclocking and I get similar pausing as well if I don't have 3D preloading turned on.

I run UC at 1024x768 with 2xAA + 4xAF and it looks great, has speed boost when objects are not in the loading stage etc

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this is a bit after the fact, but one of those things Hardboot said does have a little weight. The AI causes uncloaked (and uncloakable) ships to jump to stations hostile to them. Whether or not the station can fire at them while they are in hyper (it seems to me that it can. I have been destroyed before my hyper counter and velocity were zero) they are still jumping directly into death. Billions of credits worth of hardware and human (or alien) life gone in a heartbeat because some AI commander decided to jump his warmonger next to a hostile base. While he DOES deserve it, it seems silly for it to happen so often. Maybe it's there to remind me not to try it.

Can't complain too much, though. That's where 50% of my salvage comes from.

In an unrelated question, what exactly are Military unarmed transports searching for when they go to SAD activity. And how do they plan to destroy it when they find it?

Oh! and what Units are trained in shuttle operations? Seems I read Marines aren't, so it'd be nice to know who is proficient with the hardware I assign them to.

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quote:

Originally posted by Clifton Laird:

Billions of credits worth of hardware and human (or alien) life gone in a heartbeat because some AI commander decided to jump his warmonger next to a hostile base.

Someone of Resnig's mentality can be found on most any ship. Usually, if it's a megaron, the Tactical Officer can engage the cloak before a Resnig-like officer orders his ship to attack a star station.

Then again, if you read some of the N00b posts, suicidal attacks in a craft the size of a warmonger isn't restricted soley to AI commanders. As a cadet, I've tried it myself.

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quote:


Originally posted by Clifton Laird:
The AI causes uncloaked (and uncloakable) ships to jump to stations hostile to them.

  1. In order to engage a target, you have to close within weapons range.
  2. In order to close within weapons range, you have to either fly or jump to the target.

The NPCs are acting perfectly normally and within their parameters and logic. Hence the reason high AI level NPCs, cloak (if they can) first before jumping to a station. Exactly the same thing a high AI level player would do.

And for the LAST time, it is NOT possible for a station turret to engage a target that is 100% in hyperspace because it uses the SAME logic as for cloaked ships. It CANNOT see the target since it is NOT radar visible. If the code were different, then there would be cause for argument. The code is IDENTICAL because it is the same code that disappears a cloaked ship and removes it from the target matrix, that handles a ship in hyperspace and also removes it from the target matrix.

If you [player] are STUPID enough to be pinged on radar, then jump immediately - uncloaked - to a station before waiting for it to forget about you or flush you from its target matrix (the same way PTA turrets pick and choose targets based on threat assessment, priority etc and the same way you have to change positions if you just cloaked so that a high AI level NPC doesn't keep firing at your last know position), then you're just that. STUPID. And deserve to die a slow and horrible death.

quote:


Originally posted by Clifton Laird:

In an unrelated question, what exactly are Military unarmed transports searching for when they go to SAD activity. And how do they plan to destroy it when they find it?


SAD is a default AI state and is not solely related to engagement. It is the most low level state an NPC can be at. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with combat. In fact, an SAD profile is quite valid in all cases, regardless of the current rule the NPC is running e.g. when ships are looking for others to rescue, tow; looking for pods to collect etc they can do it during their SAD state check and if an applicable rule applies (e.g. collect cargo, attack ship, tow ship etc), it will process it based on its abililities. Obviously an unarmed transport will ignore a rule to attack another craft, since it can't do it.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Greetings!

Ok, first impression.

I love it.

Er, you mean you don't love it also?? You are an Oblivian. Or a moron. Quite probably both.

What is an Oblivian? Ah, never mind. If the coined word doesn't inspire you, then you are an Oblivian. Or a moron.

There are lots of people who don't get this game. Some of them post here.

Those who talk of graphics, sounds and such are bad enough. I actually saw one guy ask something like "do I have enough time to land and gather resources and upgrade my ship before I do the ACM?"

Bwhahahahahahaaaaa! Go home to mommy.

Then I see people asking the point of roam!!!!!

Face it people, if you can't roleplay, delete this game from your hard drive. Right now. This moment. And DON'T come back.

It's roam, roam, roam. Get it? Roam. Even if you do ACM. Have you done and seen everything? Nope. Roam. Roam. More roam.

If you can't figure out a reason to be, then forget it. You miss the point. It doesn't make you a bad person. It's just makes you an Oblivian.

Or a moron.

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  • 2 weeks later...

First impression,

Pretty cool, I'm having fun exploring the universe. I think its coolest flying around Sol though. Certain things are puzzling me, but I am figuring them out. I look forward to going on my first away mission! And I love the scale of space stations. They are huge, unlike other games.

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I had bought battlecruiser mellennium a year back and i was awe struck by the amazing scope and aim of this game. It was fantastic...i did however make me realize that if for some freak reason some one came back in time and took me to future to lead theyre people to victory in a galatic civil war i would lose, probably in about five minutes, thats how long it took me to get my first ship blown to pieces.

But then when i heard of UC i was intrigued i could never really get to into BCM because i justed didn't have the time or then the inclination to get into the game to much. But somthing about UC sucked me in. Now I play it all the time. ITs great just being thrown on the bridge of a ship and being giving a galaxy to run amok in. My parents only ever gave me like 3 feet of sandbox.

The game looks great and plays fantastic. I think the graphics are actually a few notches up from what id expect of a game of this magnitude.

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Previous space games I've played are X2 and Freespace. I liked how I could toss new ships into freespace... like using one of the capital ships that the "federation" or whatever it was had. Big guns and stuff.

X2, I liked how I could have about eleventy billion fighters and just start off with an armada and roll from point a to wherever and destroy stuff.

I like this game much better than both of them. I have yet to do much in first person, but I cannot believe that something as "big" as this can get you all the way down to that level. That's just insane and I am simply amazed about that.

The only things that I would enjoy seeing someday would be multiple monitor support, and the capability to "speed" things up circa freelancer. I run dual monitors and being able to have tacops open on another screen for the top down perspective as to where everyone is, would be extremely handy for those of us who might do that kind of stuff.

My only issue is probably the fact that I'm running a non-standard system, and the game likes to crash every now and then. I just save often, since it loads in about 5 seconds.

Keep doing what you're doing, SC. This rocks

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