nice...

Maybe, but I'm still waiting for the network optimizations. For the last one month or so, I've been facing so much lag that I've stopped playing (I mean u can't even dodge a sunflare at 2000ms+ ping). Here's to looking forward to 3.3.20.

Cribbing apart, I really like the new explosion system. Not only have rocket rammers been short-changed, now it's no longer possible to take out the frigate using the "blind spots" close to it. I guess this will change the role of sunflares forever...

-- ++ Sorial ++ --

Actually, it appears that force from the explosion is only exerted on the "Y" axis from the side. Therefore, someone like me who was right next to the frigate felt nothing, but Phoenix a few m above me was hurled back 65m/s.

Blind spot on frig is still possible:P

Awesome!

The frigate explosion currently doesn't work properly if that's what you mean. Also, explosion forces act differently on different-sized ships, ie. ragnarok is pushed less than a bus.

Make the Valk really, really light. That'd be a nice downside, to have a tachyon hit cut 10m/s from your velocity.

The explosion stuff is really cool, thanks for implementing it.

I like ctishman's idea. If you're hit with a tachyon on the nose, your speed should be dampened a little. However, if you're hit from behind, you should be pushed forward a tad.

The Centurion doesn't get pushed by anything! ARGH!

Wait, do friendly fire explosions propel you too? It would be sweet to catapult your teammate to 700m/s by Flaring him in the back.

Today while being swarmed by some reds in sector 9, tried to boost straight for the station. Camps shot a triflare at me that barely missed, then Agy hit me dead on - and it pushed me forward, not decreasing my speed at all. Dark Katarn added another triflare to it and I gained more forward speed. Keep in mind that I was flying almost directly at all three of them. Was interesing :D

*grumble* The flares passed over the cockpit of your ship, too. You could have reached out and grabbed them if you wanted to. They were only meters from your ship. I hit you another time head-on and you only picked up more speed (boosting past me). Obviously there are some bugs to work out still.

Think how proximity weapons work. When a target enters their kill radius, they start measuring the distance to the target. If its decreasing, the weapon does not detonate. If it begins to increase, the weapon detonates.

Wait a minute. I thought proximity sensors worked like this:

Object within sensor range = true then boom.

Object within sensor range = flase then no boom.

A1k0n! Will you come settle this?

I think he meant *real* prox weapons.

In vendetta I think it was just lag - the flare detected me after I was already past it (was boosting at 200m/s after all).

Oh and Camps, lets not forget the time I evaded all seven of you with snapshots at anything that came within 200m.

/me kisses lucky flare tube

Vendetta rockets go off when the distance to their target stops decreasing and starts increasing. They start measuring when they pass within the prox range. So you can actually have a rocket pass over you before it goes off. Also, you can have a rocket detonate on you while outside the fuse range because it became armed when it passed near.

Going extremely fast past a rocket will give you a survivability bonus since by the time the rocket realizes that the optimal distance has passed, you're long gone. You can survive about three times as many rockets if you're heading toward them at max speed as you can if you are stationary. If the launcher is going fast also, you can take even more.

Yes, Martinet is exactly right. If you head towards a rocket sufficiently fast, it can effectively go through you before exploding, giving you a forward rather than backward boost. Obviously this isn't ideal. This behavior is fundamental to the current implementation due to some synchronization issues, but it isn't fundamental to the engine, and I plan to change the explosion handling some time in the future to be better synchronized.

i like 3.3.19 cause now i can be hostile to blue nation by pushing them around by the shockwaves from the rockets.