Forums » Suggestions
Randomized static storm exit.
It's been over a year now since the storm exit hack was implemented (exit is always at 0,0,0) to fix problems with the NPC convoys having different jump points from players in storms.
Why not generate a random jump point when the storm starts and set that for the duration of the storm, so everyone always has the same exit point, but it's not always the very center of the sector?
Why not generate a random jump point when the storm starts and set that for the duration of the storm, so everyone always has the same exit point, but it's not always the very center of the sector?
Using the sector origin (0,0,0) has a double benefit of both (usually) being a bit of an empty area, along with being "near" the "stuff" in the sector. It was a hack that simplified things on a number of levels.
It is possible to do what you suggest, and I have no issue with it for any gameplay reason. But, it will take some development time, as we then have to spend more effort to detect "empty" areas of space (but not too empty or distant); plus testing that the AI does a reasonable job of making it out of that location, etc. This is something we would like to move towards anyway, for other reasons, but it may be a bit deceptive in complexity.. it touches on enough "variable" areas of the game that it could become pretty involved to make it all work properly.
It is possible to do what you suggest, and I have no issue with it for any gameplay reason. But, it will take some development time, as we then have to spend more effort to detect "empty" areas of space (but not too empty or distant); plus testing that the AI does a reasonable job of making it out of that location, etc. This is something we would like to move towards anyway, for other reasons, but it may be a bit deceptive in complexity.. it touches on enough "variable" areas of the game that it could become pretty involved to make it all work properly.
Isnt all that code already in the game? The hack was to fix the problem of voys not all using the same exit.
Isnt all that code already in the game? The hack was to fix the problem of voys not all using the same exit.
Not exactly. Some of the code is in there, some hasn't been used in a long time, it would all require some considerable testing on a lot of different sector cases. Some new things would need to be written.
Also, while the hack may have been put in place to solve the convoy problem, everything I said about the use of the origin (0,0,0) still holds true. We picked that location specifically because it circumvented a number of other issues that would have cropped up with spawning convoys and expecting them to successfully go somewhere. If we want to start spawning convoys elsewhere, then we'll need to work through the process of solving those problems we avoided a year ago. Again, I'm not against that, some of it would be useful development, but it's not really my top priority.
Not exactly. Some of the code is in there, some hasn't been used in a long time, it would all require some considerable testing on a lot of different sector cases. Some new things would need to be written.
Also, while the hack may have been put in place to solve the convoy problem, everything I said about the use of the origin (0,0,0) still holds true. We picked that location specifically because it circumvented a number of other issues that would have cropped up with spawning convoys and expecting them to successfully go somewhere. If we want to start spawning convoys elsewhere, then we'll need to work through the process of solving those problems we avoided a year ago. Again, I'm not against that, some of it would be useful development, but it's not really my top priority.
While I dont have a problem with its continued usage I would still like to see the conquerable stations moved away from the storm exit....
+1 to move ConqStations to at least 8km from (0,0,0)
Alloh, that's silly. The way it works right now is OK for a hack, but moving sectors around to accomodate a hack is retarded.
Inc, the way I figured this could be fixed is to use the same code that picks the 3km jump point in clear sectors to pick the storm exit point, then save that for the duration of the storm for every ship instead of re-generating it for each ship that jumps in.
Inc, the way I figured this could be fixed is to use the same code that picks the 3km jump point in clear sectors to pick the storm exit point, then save that for the duration of the storm for every ship instead of re-generating it for each ship that jumps in.
Actually the voys were not always navigating to the same exit in clear sectors but it is not a problem like it is in the storm sectors