Alpha 18 unstable test build is released

Started by Tynan, October 24, 2017, 01:45:47 AM

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Tynan

Just updated to 0.18.1712!

I figure I'll just post the raw git changelog since the last update so y'all can see a bit how the sausage is made.

------------------------

Fix: Pawn column shift click doesn't work on Linux.
Fix: It's possible to create a starting pawn with blank name.
Fix: If you resurrect a pawn, his luciferium addiction is gone but the buffs stay forever.
Changed cold bog texture a bit because it was too similar to tundra.
Cleaned up PawnsFinder.
Fix: Errors during saving if you kill a pawn and then remove his outfit from the outfits database.
Fix: Scrolling is slow and reversed on Linux.
Fix: JobDriver_TakeToBed can cause 10jobs10ticks errors if the other pawn is also trying to find a bed at the same time.
Fix: It's not possible to deliver resources to 2 blueprints in the same cell in one go.
Fix: Pawns can wear multiple clothes of the same type after changing the game language.
Added "Remove hediff" debug action.
Fix: Downed pawns can't watch TV in their bed without falling out from it.
Blight now spreads 50% faster.
Fix: Min construction skill requirement applies to install blueprints.
Optimized Dialog_DebugLogMenu so it doesn't lag.
Add Battle Royale combat-power tester.
Disable Steam flag in Unity in order to prevent Unity from automatically connecting to Steam.
Fix: Some ground tiles get silently converted into inconsistent water tiles when generating a map.
Fix: Mineable items could show up as both the request and the reward.
Add a few more log categories.
Categorize debug logs more easily.
Make psychite pekoe a little less immediately dangerous to use.
Add patch operation to test for mod existence.
Fix: Birch has leaflessGraphicPath defined twice.
Fix: It's not possible to reinstall infinite chemreactor.
Fix: Uninstalled CompSpawners can sometimes cause errors.
Fix: Cave plants can spawn in hydroponics basins.
Fix: Now that frames are passable it's possible to construct walls on top of pawns and items. Refactored how blocking things are handled. Cleaned up GenConstruct.
Reduced the probability of tornadoes by 50%.
We no longer send the area-revealed letter if the revealed area is on-screen and it is less than 600 cells.
Added forced trait to Xia 'Xue' Xue: Beautiful.
Fix 3099: Too many iterations. - error during all melee raid.
Fix: StartErrorRecoverJob() can sometimes cause errors.
Added debug command: "Spread blight".
Removed copyrighted name.
Balanced tornado damage.
Tornadoes now deal less damage to downed pawns.
Refugees from downed refugee quests no longer spawn without legs.
Support clicking transition logs to select pawns.
Tweak downed/dead/damaged icons in battle log.
Fix: Many combat log messages make no sense for mechanoids.
Simplify usages of GrammarUtility.RulesForPawn().
Fix 3093: Mace and Club lack tool labels for main attack
Fix 3145: Inspect string for uninstalled firefoam popper contains empty lines.
Fix: Combat log can show up with a small font size.
Ensure that non-pawn death messages show up properly.
Properly record turret ranged attacks.
Fix 3109: Tutorial, dragging character from Left Behind to Selected resets Randomising Characters tutorial
Fix 3101: Melee fighters don't always use their melee weapon as excepted
Fix: butcherProducts prevents butchers from hauling meat to stockpile
Fix: Command+key system-wide hotkeys are caught by KeyBindingDefs.
Removed unused PawnKindDef XML node: MechanoidBase.
Fix: Released prisoners stay in bed longer than necessary, and are still in restraints.
Tweak world features a little further to generate more applicable forest names.
Fix: GameEnder.gameEnding is never reset, even if new colonists join the colony.
Fix 3055: Attempting to get melee damage for a non-melee verb VerbProperties(LMG) when clicking Info icon on colonist
Fix 049: Tried to add health diff to missing part BodyPartRecord(LeftFootSecondToe parts.Count=0)
Fix 3014: Fog does not render correctly on all ores
Add specialized rainforest namer.
Fix: Charge rifle missing weapon bulk stat.
Modify bedroll description to make it clear that cloth isn't necessary.
Fix: RectTriggers send incorrect signals after save/load
Reverted minor tornado visuals change.
Fix: Colonists can join parties outside their allowed area.
Fix 3113: Psychoid pekoe research cost is way too high.
Animal migration incident can no longer use thrumbos.
Caves are no longer so big all the time.
Tornadoes no longer damage natural walls.
Reduced the amount of wood per tree.
PlayerItemAccessibilityUtility now takes into account items you can craft.
Fix: The form caravan command appears in the landing site screen and overlaps other buttons.
Fix: Colony name dialog never shows.
Fix: Per-maneuver flavor text isn't properly connected.
Tweak a few messages on the Shredded maneuver type.
Add tornado combat event log messages.
Fix: Flavorful combat tests don't work in a subtle way on non-weapon-based damage types.
Improve debug instrumentation for failed grammar resolutions.
maneuver_->damaged_
Split smash/scratch damage into its own rulepack for tornado use.
Fix: Flavorful combat tests don't work on non-weapon-based damage types.
Flesh out Bite maneuver text.
Add combat log entries for the power beam.
destroyed -> destroyed_past, damaging -> damaged_present, destroying -> destroyed_present
Display proper combat text for orbital bombardment.
Fix 3000: Team skills don't always show the correct values
Add rulepacks for the remaining mortar type damages.
Rebalance new tale interest.
Allow miniguns to target empty ground.
Caravan request incidents now ask for only those resources which the player has or can get soon.
Tynan Sylvester - @TynanSylvester - Tynan's Blog

notfood


PatrykSzczescie

Thank you, Tytan, for the update. Also, one thing:

Quote from: Tynan on November 03, 2017, 09:06:58 PM

We no longer send the area-revealed letter if the revealed area is on-screen and it is less than 600 cells.


Does it include the ones with mechanoids that pause the game?

kaptain_kavern

Thx Tynan.

Can we have more information on this, pretty please:

QuoteAdd patch operation to test for mod existence.

LastXsile

So far A18 has been real smooth, only a few minor issues which seem resolved for the most part. Adding some of the new items as a rare drops from psychic and ships. Like the new Psychic emanator for the psychic ship or even the Vanometric power cell maybe, just a thought as over my playtesting so far not one quest for these items has occurred.
Some ideas that have been pooled between some of my friends.
-Animal zone options (setting zones to tag animals for slaughter a certain population set), perhaps other features that could be thought of later

Ship Part changes - With the new ship parts and increase in costs perhaps give ship parts a function outside ending the game, akin to reactor providing power(although really low amount for powering a starship). Perhaps the new scanner for the ship could tell you what ores are for deep mining. Thrusters could ignite for making fire 4-5 tiles behind the thrusters (defense or maybe for crematory uses). Structural parts for making damage resistant walls. Ship Cryostasis  already works well as the inhabitants can wake themselves up. These are just ideas and could be easily changed for the purpose of balance. Just giving them functions aside from ending the game would make them more fun and desired.

As far as a18 i don't expect these idea to make it into them but if they did or at least a few it would be a nice suprise. So far its been a pleasant experience i love the new vanilla chemfuel generators and boomalopes providing chemfuel now. Great changes if anything that is implemented i would say quest items should be added into the game in others ways. Like as stated Pyschic and poisons ships, Raiding npc bases would have a change of having something like infinite an chemreactor as an example. Just ideas.

Thanks for great updates, hope this feedback is heard and considered.

Tynan

All feedback is read and very much appreciated, thanks. I'm only sorry that I don't have time to respond in detail to most things. But it all does get integrated into the process.
Tynan Sylvester - @TynanSylvester - Tynan's Blog


Ragnarok

I haven't played A18 yet since I'm waiting for the proper release but it looks amazing from what I've seen others play so far. There was one thing I noticed in someones play through that could really use a minor mechanic to help out. A18 already has all the current features implemented so this idea might have to go into A19 but it's something small so who knows. Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this.

So basically this guy was doing a Youtube play through and an animal went mad. He could mouse-over the little warning icon in the lower left and it showed an arrow pointing to the event/animal (that part is really useful) so he could easily find it. The problem is that when you close the warning you can't mouse-over to get that arrow so you basically have to hunt around yourself and hope you find this moving whatever.

So here's the idea: Basically a means to 'highlight' or 'select' an NPC/mad animal/whatever and that would provide that locator arrow pointing to whatever you selected (until it dies). So like a longer more stable mechanic of the warning and locator arrow. The mechanics are basically all there already, it'd just be a matter of setting up a button to 'highlight' something manually and to then point it out (maybe not point to it all the time but only on mouse-over of that button like mousing-over the warning).

Wintersdark

Some thoughts after A18 play:

Tornados: Fun; an interesting mix of extremely destructive or completely harmless.  What's interesting is that due to spread, the larger your colony the more likely a tornado is to actually do damage.... and that damage can be very considerable.  Good way to 'automatically' scale tornado threat.

Game seems quite stable.  I've had no significant bugs or crashes that I've noticed.  A couple popup errors, but none that impeded gameplay.  Sadly, I've developed an automatic reflex to close them after using a couple very buggy mods, so I'm not sure exactly what they were.

The Combat log is awesome, both mechanically (it's great for figuring out what the heck happened if things go sideways off screen) and in terms of storytelling.  I really enjoy this feature a lot, though it can use some polish.

Caves: I really enjoy caves.  They make mountain maps much more interesting, and help make building a mountain base both more difficult (delving deep into a mountain can pop hidden bugs!) and more interesting (look at this great cave complex I can build into!)

I want more mushrooms!

I've run three games in A18, and in every case, I've ended up failing for the same reason.  In each case, I start the game with my three crashlanded pawns (base scenario), and the next ~three pawns I get are all non-violent or have 0 combat skills.  This is then followed by loss to larger raids where my 3 combatants are effectively doomed. 

This could well just be weirdly bad luck.  Each of the three games have been fairly early-to-mid game, often before any real research of note is done, and definitely before I've got decent equipment or researched far enough to get turrets/etc. 

It's a small sample size, and likely just weird luck, but it's becoming really frustrating to have my colonies grow, but see it coming from a good distance, that I'm going to get larger raids, but be unable to defend against them. 

Ah well, onto my next game to try again.

Tynan

I actually did a bunch of specific work on how pawns are generated to try to balance out the "incapable of" chances to something reasonable. Wintersdark, it really sounds like you got unlucky. Though also bear in mind:

-You don't have to recruit everyone
-Even non-violent colonists can be useful as bullet sponges or distractions in a fight :)

Thanks for the ongoing feedback!
Tynan Sylvester - @TynanSylvester - Tynan's Blog

RemingtonRyder

Quote from: Wintersdark on November 04, 2017, 02:40:05 AM
I've run three games in A18, and in every case, I've ended up failing for the same reason.  In each case, I start the game with my three crashlanded pawns (base scenario), and the next ~three pawns I get are all non-violent or have 0 combat skills.  This is then followed by loss to larger raids where my 3 combatants are effectively doomed.

Even if new recruits have zero skill at shooting or melee, give them a weapon anyway. A shortbow or a club may not seem on par with guns, but they're fairly quick to make and every able body with a weapon evens the odds a bit.

But you can look at maybe banishing colonists if you think they're going to be a liability.

ZorbaTHut

Quote from: kaptain_kavern on November 03, 2017, 10:19:19 PM
Can we have more information on this, pretty please:

QuoteAdd patch operation to test for mod existence.

Prototype simple example:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Patch>
  <Operation Class="PatchOperationFindMod">
    <mods>
      <li>ModWithCompatibilityProblems</li>
    </mods>
    <match Class="PatchOperationRemove">
      <xpath>//Defs/ThingDef[defName="IncompatibleThing"]</xpath>
    </match>
  </Operation>
</Patch>


You can specify as many mod names as you want, it'll follow "match" if any of them match. "match" and "nomatch" work similarly to PatchOperationConditional.

East

#267
0.18.1712
Today's play
Cassandra EXTREME Difficulty is in 4 days repeat RAID.
no turret,no trap Limited game.
4x Speed + Ignore Combat Speed Limit. Mod only.

Ten people gathered all the spaceship escape material and left only AI CORE.
All defenses are complete and armor and weapons are also complete.
All studies were completed yesterday.
I played 6 hours in real time today while solving all the local quests.(42 hours to realistic play time after settlement.)
It is 291 days after settlement.

I have never seen a tornado in this game.
I have never seen an aI CORE event.

I am exhausted but still waiting for AI CORE. Is there a way to get aI CORE in any way other than a quest?

I had a rescue event. I wanted to take him out after the rescue, but he did not show up on the world map move list, and he eventually froze to death.
(4:12:16 video time)
It was not too far away and it was on the road, but it took six days to return because it was winter.

I found an amazing fact. The turret on the enemy base is made of random mineral. If you are lucky, you will find a uranium turret. It was another way to get uranium.

If you need video data for today, please see below.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/187482084

agnar

What i noticed with those free range bugs (wild hives which don't mine rock) is that they do not respawn or at least i didn't notice it.

I was playing temperate forest and during Winter most of the Megascarabs died to frostbite. Shortly after all the Hive disappeared and its been a year now and there was no respawn ( because if the megascarab dies the hive is kinda doomed).

If you could find a way to make natural hives respawn ( because they dont mine rocks but are still kinda cool/useful) it would be great.

Another thing which is still very noticeible is that sooner or later you only have grass and bushes at the edge of the map. And it cant spread fast enough to the centre of the map. Maybe you could consider giving trees a little chance to spawn grass, if that is possible? It would help to regenerate the Map after a disaster/fire/raid/hunting boom-animals  ;D

Ser Kitteh

Someone asked me for 158 components in exchange for one plasteel helmet (legendary). Thanks for fixing that lol. Also glad that the psychoid tea is reduced greatly, probably a mistake with that extra zero.

I like the idea of using spaceships thrusters as weapons or a crematorium. Now if only I could designate dead men's apparel in one single zone so I can burn it or stuff.