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Time Raiders


Cirevam
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Thanks so much for the levels and for all the feedback. I'm going to take a look at the levels soon and see how well they work.

 

I'll try to answer your other points and musings one by one.

 

- No way to train raiders as Geologists at all: whoops, I must have forgotten to make another building to train those. I was considering making a standalone training building. I think I have one more building slot left. If not, I could roll it into the Landing Pad.

 

- In Crossing the Rift, I was unable to use the Wave Master: Were you using 1st/2nd person? Something about that boat makes manual drilling very difficult. I set the nulls out far enough but it's still a pain. Try moving the boat a few tiles away from the shore and telling the AI to drill.

 

- The Mining Laser can mine Dirt but nothing else: This is intentional according to my notes. It's using BigLazer which is commented as "standard defense laser." I'm not sure why it can drill Dirt. It shouldn't... consider changing it to SmallLazer and upping the range. Maybe that will make it feel correct. I didn't want it to mine but it might as well.

 

- Because the dependencies for buildings use PILOT, if you've only got other raiders on the level (eg Mechugs, which I really don't want to teleport out), which are crucially not Pilots, you won't be able to build anything: This is also intentional because I needed a way for Jacred-only levels to work. Your solution is better since all buildings need power to work. Building a Teleport Pad before a Power Station always felt silly to me.

 

- Slugs don't scare, which is kind of surprising given they're ethereal blueish monsters: The Time Raiders are basically mercenaries (military for hire on permanent hire for Rock Raiders united, which is why they have some drilling equipment), so they are trained and aren't scared as much as our boys in orange. You gave me a thought just now. I wonder if I can use a CFG parameter to make some raiders scared by certain things or be immune to scare (CanBeScared FALSE). Bruisers are bigger and Scouts are smaller, so maybe they would act differently. I'll see if there are any parameters that would do this.

 

- Whatever a "Geyser" is, it doesn't look like one. Seems to be a proto-Rockwhale?: This is a Rockdog! It's using an old geyser effect as a template (hazards and environmental pieces are coded as monsters). It is meant to work like the Rockwhale but be faster. I wish I could edit the melee damage, but that's locked to the EXE. That and the other monsters are still far from completion. Only the Dark Slug is close. I suppose the Rockwhale is close too, since it's supposed to walk around aimlessly and leave your stuff alone.

 

- Armored Transport Truck is much worse than a Small Transport Truck, mostly just because of the speed of STTs when upgraded: I'll admit I made this vehicle mostly because I wanted to put one of my MOCs into the game. Do you have suggestions? It's supposed to be much stronger against landslides and take other upgrades like a scanner. Perhaps the Ore Refinery can require six ore and have no upgrades. I might be able to go up to nine ore since we know the game supports up to nine carry nulls (Small Transport Truck).

 

- Rock Monsters make Boulders but then don't take them: Rock Monsters are very broken right now because I tried using them for AI experiments. Consider reverting them to stock.

 

- The dependencies for high-level buildings (particularly Distributor Tower) must include the Ore Refinery; more than 40 ore in a building has a habit of causing the game to crash: This was intentional but Slimy Slug recently convinced me that this wasn't going to work as well as I wanted. Too much ore causes extreme slowdowns on weaker computers. The ore in Time Raiders has more polygons (342 > 14) and surfaces (five total instead of one), so it's much more demanding. Try replacing Data\MiscAnims\Ore\Ore1st.lwo with the one from your base game (don't forget its texture) and see if that improves things. Also, what if I made the higher-tier buildings have a dependency on the refinery but make them give back small amounts of ore when they're teleported up? I don't think raiders use ore for construction when a refinery is present, so that forces the behavior I want and prevents your game from crashing. I will redesign the ore to require fewer resources as well.

 

- "You can now teleport and construct" is totally borked, but has absolutely no influence on gameplay. I'm not even sure why they're showing up: I always turn this stuff off. Maybe there's a way to make it go away forever since it's useless, but I like your idea of putting resource costs there. This is also why you'll see "You can't teleport this" in the list. The Unraveler and command ship bases aren't supposed to show up and are locked so you can't make more, but I must have never removed their dependencies.

 

- Camera zoom distances should be set to absurd maximums and minimums: Research by Slimy Slug indicates that setting the camera too high can make it go out of bounds. Try Mountain of Justice and go to the top. The camera will likely wig out. You may be able to zoom it all the way out, get the camera outside of the "ceiling," then be unable to zoom back in. I also had issues in some levels where moving the camera with a tuto block would snap the camera to some point way too far away. Sometimes I could fix it but sometimes not. I will be decreasing the maximum range because of this. Set tuto block 1 somewhere in the starting cavern of The First Minute and see if it happens to you. It happened to me almost 50% of the time.

 

- Give the fence a HealthDecayRate: I like this the most out of your fence ideas. It's much better than the set-and-forget gameplay style we're used to seeing. I'll have to think of a balanced decay time that's not too annoying but also works for people that play on 100% speed. I always play on 300% so stuff lasts longer, if what you said about the NERPS timer applies to all global variables.

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I always play on 300% so stuff lasts longer, if what you said about the NERPS timer applies to all global variables.

Nononononono, game speed like that works fine. I'm just writing my scripts really really badly. As far as I know the tick of the NERPs is the only thing unaffected by game speed - health decay, movement speed, etc etc all speed up with game speed (as you expect)...

 

I wish I could edit the melee damage, but that's locked to the EXE.

You can specify an attack animation with a particular length. So if you want it to smash vehicles to powder, make it a really short animation. Or if you want it to mostly ignore your vehicles, have a really really long animation - so that when the damage is done the vehicle is far, far away.

You can then adjust damage to buildings accordingly, as you're allowed to specify that.

 

- Rock Monsters make Boulders but then don't take them: Rock Monsters are very broken right now because I tried using them for AI experiments. Consider reverting them to stock.

This would explain a lot of things OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png

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  • Cyrem pinned this topic

I made a cheaper ore model as some people said that the game lagged when there was a lot of ore on-screen. Performance seems much better now.

 

 

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Scanners aboard the LDS Geloden have picked up a new kind of asteroid. It's rich in rants and text, but it's a very decisive biome and great care needs to be taken around it. Aboard the Geloden we've called it the "Wall of Text" biome. There's a new kind of energy source that we haven't seen before - could it be enough to finish the overhaul? Either way, Time Raider, we're sending you down to investigate. Collect 50 Time Spheres and then come back with a report. If it's hospitable and useful, we'll send you down again to find some more.

 

 

 

On 7/23/2018 at 1:01 AM, Cirevam said:

- No way to train raiders as Geologists at all: whoops, I must have forgotten to make another building to train those. I was considering making a standalone training building. I think I have one more building slot left. If not, I could roll it into the Landing Pad.

 

I think a separate building would be nice. The Landing Pad already does so much....

 

On 7/23/2018 at 1:01 AM, Cirevam said:

- The Mining Laser can mine Dirt but nothing else: This is intentional according to my notes. It's using BigLazer which is commented as "standard defense laser." I'm not sure why it can drill Dirt. It shouldn't... consider changing it to SmallLazer and upping the range. Maybe that will make it feel correct. I didn't want it to mine but it might as well.

I've worked out why this is: the game occasionally seems to think that mining something is valid with a time of 0.0 . It's not repeatable but it happens occasionally. Consider this just LRR breaking as usual.

 

On 7/23/2018 at 1:01 AM, Cirevam said:

- Armored Transport Truck is much worse than a Small Transport Truck, mostly just because of the speed of STTs when upgraded: I'll admit I made this vehicle mostly because I wanted to put one of my MOCs into the game. Do you have suggestions? It's supposed to be much stronger against landslides and take other upgrades like a scanner. Perhaps the Ore Refinery can require six ore and have no upgrades. I might be able to go up to nine ore since we know the game supports up to nine carry nulls (Small Transport Truck).

I've been thinking about the ATT and there really just isn't room for it in the LRR engine.

  • Power path costs 1 ore. ATT drops six on top of it. :|
  • Building is at 29/30 ore and requires one more. ATT drops 5 bonus ore on it, causing much faff to get them off
  • Ore Refinery is at 3 out of 4 ore. ATT offloads six ore, resulting in loads of wasted ore. Or even worse, two ATTs are queued up waiting for the Ore Refinery to reload, and I get twelve ore shoved into my poor Ore Refinery...

To put it another way, there's a reason I never upgrade my STT cargo holds in vanilla LRR OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png

A scanner isn't necessary on transport trucks, landslides are irrelevant when it comes to transports (not to mention the Distributor Tower boosts everything up to 500+ HP). The ability to carry cargo when hit is moot because STTs are so darn fast they never get hit in the first place anyway. Something large and slow like the Armored Transport Truck will just get stunlocked like Loader Dozers always would.

 

The one use I can think of them is custom levels, like Run the Gauntlet where you also have to bring some crystals back to base. Even then, that'd be perfectly possible with STTs instead.

 

They're a nice MOC, and they are a great addition to a mining fleet in theory. But LRR just doesn't handle them well. :(

 

EDIT: I knew I forgot something! They could be useful as a vehicle that has the ability to reinforce. Reinforcing is currently hilariously overpowered because it prevents monsters emerging, and graphically broken OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png, not to mention absurdly quick. Maybe the Armoured Transport Truck is carrying around reinforcing gear in the back?

 

On 7/23/2018 at 1:01 AM, Cirevam said:

- Rock Monsters make Boulders but then don't take them: Rock Monsters are very broken right now because I tried using them for AI experiments. Consider reverting them to stock.

Curiously the one level - my Stone Sanctuary, Level07, I'm trying to get them to work on will always break. I tried Crystal Spiders, and they broke. They started picking up boulders :S  I'll upload another edited version soonTM to see if anyone else can work out what the heck is going on. Maybe it's something to do with Mechugs, maybe it's the slugs breaking it, maybe it's too much NPL scripting for the poor game to handle, maybe there are just too many monsters, but I can't get this level to work. ( @Slimy Slug, I know you're reading this, could we send RRU's most active researcher onto the issue? OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png).

 

 

You mentioned sometime (can't find the quote!) that you were considering what upgrades vehicles should get. Here's my take on the matter: (spoiler'd because it's long)

Spoiler

Digtank:

  • Engine - a speed boost on your diggers is always nice
  • Offense - the laser is great fun!
  • Scanner - your drilling vehicles is the only time scanning is important

You could go without the Engine if you wanted to keep your Levels down to a manageable amount OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png

 

Transport Buggy:

  • Engine - gotta go fast
  • Defense - just for the graphical novelty of seeing rollcages mount themselves on your trucks :D

Bulldozer:

  • Engine - always helpful!
  • Defense - this is the only vehicle that actually needs landslide protection -.-

Armored Transport Truck:

  • Engine - gotta go only slightly faster
  • Defense - MOAAAR landslide protection
  • Scanner - the one thing this feels good at and even then it's kinda useless

Howitzer:

  • Engine - oh wad please give this thing a better engine
  • Offense - lower recharge time
  • Scanner - if you like

Assault Cruiser:

  • Engine. Engine upgrades are never a bad thing OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png
  • Offense - not actually too necessary as its lasers are already really powerful. Perhaps nerf them and then buff their recharge time or something with this?
  • Scanner - I recall a previous version of the Assault Cruiser putting a Geologist in the seat. It currently doesn't do this but it would be really cool if it did :D

Pyrite Punisher:

  • Engine - this thing needs it
  • Scanner - may as well!
  • Offense - I recall some obscure bit of laughably outdated info on the wiki muttering a Monster Buster lazer would orbit it. That would be fantastic if that could happen, just for that futuristic vibe :D (no clue if LRR likes moving nulls though...)

 

 

Other funny things:

- The parameters on the Assault Cruiser's laser mean it can shoot its pilot. This is a problem if it's in water OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png

- Speaking of the Assault Cruiser, it's miles better than the Howitzer for a massive speed boost, not to mention it's slightly cheaper. The Howitzer has range on its side but its recharge time and move speed are sooooo slooooooow.... and it's expensive! and also gets stunlocked by monsters as it can't shoot them off! Perhaps you could make the Assault Cruiser only deal 25 damage per laser ( => 50 per hit)?

- Speaking of the Assault Cruiser, it says "Upgrade Defense" which gives it a Scanner.

- The Unraveler's lazer has such a short range it cannot hit anything OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png It's too high up, so it can't hit walls, it can't hit monsters, it literally can't hit anything. I love how it looks and I think it's amazing that it has a lazer eye, it's just terrible OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png It also needs to be able to aim downwards more so it can hit monsters punching it.

- Speaking of the Unraveler, you'll be pleased to know that if you go into the ObjectList you can write something like Health 1000 and it will do exactly what you guess. You might have known that already, but it's a nice way to keep the Unraveler alive.

- Schneider's Command Ship should have some form of scanner...

- Digtank laser drills seams extremely quickly, much much (10x?) quicker than the Digtank does.

- The Digtank is extremely powerful. In vanilla LRR, Small Diggers would drill Hard Rock at a snail's pace, and you'd want the Chrome Crusher in there. In TR the Pyrite Punisher is so freaking slow that I actually prefer Digtank spamming. This is a minor stat change though.

- Upgrading Stabilization Stations, in return for drawing an extra crystal's worth of power, should give a nice bonus to your oxygen/time. Currently upgrading them seems to draw an extra crystal for no gain at all.

- Slugs have a positive OxygenCoef, meaning they add oxygen and allow you to teleport down more raiders.

(In Time Raiders lingo, that reads "Ghost Slugs actually stabilize the stream as opposed to wrecking it" but that's not an immediately helpful report OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png)

- Monsters should have a significantly larger OxygenCoef. Maybe about -2.0 , -3.0? The whole point of that is that it's massively big OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png Monsters, even Crystal Warriors - especially Crystal Warriors because you take special care that your Howitzer shots go to them - are around for such short periods of time that their effect on oxygen (stream stabilization) is neglegible. Once they go away, the stream (should, if you haven't been stupid) start restabilizing anyway.

- Small Crystal Spiders are classed in the CFG as fully-fledged monsters. Only problem is they don't go away when you laser them with a Monster Buster. This is probably because they lack the line SplitOnZeroHealth TRUE . However, small monsters splitting... don't think LRR will like that... best to revert them to normal OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png

- Ghost Slugs having a capacity of 1 is downright trolling, as then you have to try and smash them before they get to their hole. However, this is actually quite fun to man the Monster Buster yourself OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png

- Ghost Slugs are entirely unable to drain crystals from buildings.

- Ghost Slugs could do with a larger vertical hitbox, just to make them easier to shoot by manual lasers.

- The OxygenCoef of Bulldozers is quite high and could do with a lower, given how much you need them earlygame!

 

 

Some major suggestions:

 

1) It's very nice to get the "greyed out" your-raiders-are-fully-upgraded, so you know they're L33T raiders. However this doesn't happen in TR anymore, because of the lack of Explosive Experts. I know that dynamite causes the universe to explode, and I also know there are some nice cfg parameters for Dynamite damage and blast radius. If you pump those up to absurd levels, and allow the Command Ship to train Explosive Experts, then I can get my nice L33T raiders with their greyed-out train icon :D

(... once you fix that no building can train Geologists OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png)

 

2) The Command Ship itself basically can't be selected if it's got its engine running (=> driving HOVERBOARD). This means it can't be selected to Upgrade Building in the normal way. Thus, if we quietly remove the plot about the engine being fixed, and always have its engines online... and then if we make fantastical stuff like the Defense Tower etc all require the Upgraded 1 Command Ship....  we can use fancy NPL scripting to make it so that only some levels have access to the future! This would feel a lot more Time-Raider-y than "Teleport in Pyrite Punisher on the second level and go stripmining."

The disadvantage is that this would then cause minor shenanigans when you have Jacred instead. Still, with a bit of cunning level design we can work around this.

 

3) Time Raiders lore is that you send things back in time to help yourself out. I need to get around to devising some nice levels to follow your fantastic introduction in The First Minute (while Crossing the Rift is mediocre, The First Minute is an amazing level, in scenery, gameplay, and plot). Anyway, the point of this bulletpoint was that some levels - eg my homemade Crystal Sanctuary - would become loads easier if somebody happened to warp in a Digtank or two for you (essentially there's not enough space for a Super Teleport until very lategame and monsters keep emerging from Hard Rock). Thus one could create a sort of "New Level+" (using the New Game+ terminology). This could be done either in the Bonus Levels tree, or as a separate level off to the side.

While starting with a Digtank or whatever might make the level seem easier... oh ho ho, I'll see to that :smug: 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and I've been working on a "docks-create-ore" script. Here's what I've got so far:

 

GetTimer0 < 10000 ? :SkipDocks
; if timer is less than 10000 (timers in milliseconds => ten seconds), skip this bit
; if it isn't, then
TRUE ? AddStoredOre GetPoweredDocksBuilt
TRUE ? AddStoredOre GetLevel1DocksBuilt
; and reset the timer
TRUE ? SetTimer0 0 

SkipDocks:


; rest of script - make sure not to use Timer0 for any monster invasions (oops...)

However it's very funny - if I have one dock, not upgraded, I will get two ore out of it. I'm not sure what's going on here and will see what I can sort out - it would be nice to have upgraded Docks giving more ore!

Also, 10 seconds is probably a little short (especially if it keeps giving me double ore like that!)  - 20 or maybe 30 seconds (preferably not higher as then I have to use a register or another timer to keep track of it as you can't put a number higher than ~32000 in NPL scripts) would work better.

 

Third to lastly, if you feel like modelling something new, the Water Monster is the only thing that's truly missing. I think I can do some fun stuff with it... Something else that would be very useful is also giving the Lava Monster's "throw boulder" animation loads more reach, before you bother reskinning the entire Metal Monster.

 

Second-to-lastly, could I help you out with cfg editing as well - just addressing some of the stat concerns above? I'm just worried that because the cfg is one huge big file, if you edit the Digtank and I edit the Howitzer recombining our edits would be... not very straightforward.

 

Lastly, I'm very happy with the Crystal Sanctuary level I've devised which again I will upload soonTM. A testament to a) NPL scripting, b) how much Crystal Warriors can ruin your base, and c) raider stupidity... had to redesign the monster invasion extensively so it was not just a rage-inducing stupidity fest. Unlike the Stone Sanctuary this level works flawlessly :D (I like the level so much I'll retrofit it to work for vanilla LRR, although it'll be loads easier then. Watch this space!)

 

 

EDIT: Fun fact, it took me an hour to write this post - so long that RRU thought "oh, aiden's gone offline"OldTonguePNG_transparent.png.e4013114c97501de1099aa06ca5e6529.png

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ShadowDraikana

I was summoned? 

 

I'll check it out; send me a copy of what you have currently for that level @aidenpons along with all of your source materials for the scripts, and steps to how to reproduce some of the problems.

 

When it comes to the cfg, I have a lot of experience with that file (see my Axel's mod cfg).  So I'll offer my services as well with editing it.

If you'd like me to try making some maps as well I can do that.  

 

 

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15 hours ago, aidenpons said:

Lastly, I'm very happy with the Crystal Sanctuary level I've devised which again I will upload soonTM. A testament to a) NPL scripting, b) how much Crystal Warriors can ruin your base, and c) raider stupidity... had to redesign the monster invasion extensively so it was not just a rage-inducing stupidity fest. Unlike the Stone Sanctuary this level works flawlessly :D (I like the level so much I'll retrofit it to work for vanilla LRR, although it'll be loads easier then. Watch this space!)

 

Space watched successfully!

 

 

Crystal Warriors are fun to a) place in the level editor, b) shoot with a Howitzer, c) shoot with a Defense Tower.

They're not fun when a) your Howitzer misses, b) they smash the power path powering your Defense Tower, and c) your raiders ignore them in favour of that one monster over theeeeeeere! This is why no monsters come out of the Recharge Seam (else pathfinding goes to peanuts).

 

There's also no space until much later on to build a Landing Pad, so you'll be stuck with raiders basically the whole time.

 

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Aidenpons, I'm not sure if you're on Discord. It would be great to coordinate with you and Slimy Slug in real time for some of this stuff. You have some great ideas and I feel like I can work off some of what you said, plus I can explain my intention for some things. You don't even have to join the RRU server if you don't want to.

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Hi guys, I installed this mod because it seemed cool,  so I downloaded it and after various problems encountered I finally  managed to make  the game run properly, or that is what I was thinking, I mean the game starts correctly and the gameplay works fine, but the main problem is the mission objective. In one of the firt mission for example the objective says that I have to collect 30 energetic crystal, but when I have collected 5 the mission ends, and does this with all the missions.
In another level I start on an empty island and I can't do anything to go on with the mission, so I'm stuck here and I can't continue the game.

Last thing I don't is how to save, because I start always at the same point of the game with always the same mission unlocked
 

 

thank you in advance :D

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The levels are very incomplete right now. I'm sorry, but only a few levels are what I consider "playable", so your experience is normal. You should be able to save after finishing a mission, but if you can't, you can unlock every level immediately.

 

Go to your LRR installation folder (where LegoRR.exe is) and look for CLGen.dat. Open it with Notepad and add the first of the following lines, then save it. Make sure it is still a .dat file. Now, open CLGen.exe, choose Unlock All Levels, then click OK. Launch the game and everything will be unlocked. If you use Cirevam's Set instead, you will also have access to the debug keys, which will let you open the testing room to the left of the first mission. See https://kb.rockraidersunited.com/Debug_mode for a list of debug keys.

 

ADDITEM|Unlock All Levels|-testlevels

ADDITEM|Cirevam's Set|-programmer -fvf -debugcomplete -debug -testlevels

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey guys, it's been a very, very long while since i last posted here but i recently started admiring LEGO Rock Raiders again, and i've installed Time Raiders now too. But the game crashes when it's at 50% of the start loading screen. I see the cutscene, i see the loading screen, but it crashes at one point. I'm doing this on a 32-bit ASUS laptop with Windows 7 Starter (i have a 64-bit one with Windows 10 and LRR doesn't even start up there).

 

I use a disc-less version i downloaded on the internet (don't remember from where), and it plays the original game normally but without music or cutscenes. But i've did what's said in the included readme from the mod: I renamed my 'Data' folder to 'Data - kopie' (Dutch, i know), i moved my wad's to a different folder as back-up and i installed the mod's 'Data' folder in the LRR folder i have.

 

What do i need to do? And due to my autism, severely clear instructions are actually needed. If you can't keep an eye on that, i'll try my best to understand what you try to tell me then.

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It sounds like you installed it properly, but you might have to download it again and repeat what you did. The game will crash on the first loading screen if certain files (usually models and textures) are missing or not formatted properly. Perhaps your internet had a hiccup when downloading the mod and one of the files inside got corrupted. There are so many changed files that the crash you experienced is expected.

 

If it still doesn't work, I'll upload what I currently have for you to try. I've made many minor changes since I uploaded the last pack. I'm just about to create another new vehicle, so I'll have a new pack soon anyway.

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  • 1 month later...

I've successfully nailed down the course of raiders randomly disappearing. It's Mechugs, of all things. Here's my evidence:

 

1) Play a level with Mechugs. Arm them all. Game will sometimes glitch all LRRs except Mechugs (which are still glitchily unable to do anything) and monsters off the map. Vehicles are unaffected.

2) Play a level with Mechugs. Don't arm any of them. Game lasts longer this time.

3) Play a level with Mechugs. Teleport them up. No glitches of that ilk (plenty of others, but that's LRR for you :P . Rock monsters spawn and get smacked fine.

4) Play a level without any water. Find some Mechugs in a hidden cavern. They get scared due to monster mash and glitch all LRRs and monsters off the map (they're really good at monster defense :P )

 

I have no clue what it is about Mechugs causing it; could be custom raiders in general, as I haven't extensively tested the others.

 

 

(also, the Mechug's "drive Howitzer" animation is silly, he's bumping around like mad)

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  • 1 month later...

The final vehicle is in the game. It's the Pyrite Punisher. There are some difficulties with the model that I'm trying to fix (the fingers), and the animations need to be made, of course, but it won't take that long. One of the arms will be player-controlled and the other is meant for the drilling animation. Unlike the Unraveler, you will be able to teleport as many of these as you want.

 

large.PyritePreview.png.695ccb1866fc1e98

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I really like the way in which you can recognise individual bricks in that! I have no clue how it all fits together but I like that individual bricks can be seen.

 

It will be nice to have a Pyrite Punisher that doesn't instawarp into a Chrome Crusher when you drill things :P

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I finished polishing five levels I've made for Time Raiders. They're a lot better than the older ones, and I hope I've made something actually fun to play. :P

Get them here. The only thing that's lacking from them is a sensible ObjectiveText: for instance Level14 still uses Don't Panic's introduction text. Hence I'll outline the levels here.

 

 

Crossing the Rift

Very similar to the original, but what I would consider to be a slightly less annoying level design. You'll need to teleport in the Wave Master to drill the walls to allow you to continue, but first you'll need to find a source of ore... The Wizard will be helping you out with this mission, he's feeling quite talkative. Collect 20 Time Spheres and you'll be done. I'm very proud of this level, because it's where I first got messages to work.

 

The Day the Bricks Stood Still

Base planning here will be reasonably difficult as a lot of the cavern floor is too unstable to build on, but hardly challenging. Due to Ghost Slugs being entirely unable to drain crystals (?!?) this level is a bit of a joke right now :P Collect 40 Time Spheres for victory.

 

Familiar Faces

Totally different from the original in.... well, absolutely everything. Temporal anomalies have been detected, so look out for anything suspicious. Actually, don't bother: the entire cave system is suspicious, so just look out for anything. The Wizard will be keeping track of your movements. Follow the script and delete all monsters to win.

 

Crystal Resonance

A new biome, a new monster, a new challenge. Well, not really, as this level's rather easy. I wanted a level that looked like crystals, not a rocky cavern. 70 Time Spheres should be enough.

 

The Sanctuary of Crystal

More or less unchanged from when I posted it a while back, although the Time Raiders variant is much more difficult than the LRR variant, mostly because there are far more many ways to fail. My proudest accomplishment in this list, as I think I've pushed LRR to the limits of what is difficult without making it impossible.

 

 

Screenshots coming when I can be bothered :P

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  • 4 weeks later...

 

It's nearly done. Hit and teleport animations are left along with final fixes, like adding proper sounds. After this is done, and with some touch ups to the Unraveler, the next release will be in your hands.

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Time Raiders Final Vehicle Pack


Release Features:


Vehicles:

 

Every vehicle is "done." That means each one is in a playable state and will not receive major changes in the future. Some will get new upgrades as I think of some or see good suggestions, and some animations may be improved, but the designs will not change further. You will notice that some vehicles list "Future" as a dependency. The level must contain a "Future" monster in order for these to be teleported. This represents the Time Raiders' time travel shenanigans, as some vehicles and buildings have not been created when the game's plot begins. Add an object of type "Future" to any level to enable these future vehicles. Also note that the Assault Cruiser requires a Hovercraft Pilot to drive it. Train them at a Level 2 Landing Pad.

 

Right now, everything depletes oxygen. Vehicles, some buildings, and some monsters do too. The problem is that the game doesn't tell you what your current oxygen rate is, so I'm considering changing the oxygen mechanic to a per-level time limit. The HUD has reflected this for a long time and I think it's for the best considering the limitations we face. However, some levels will have unlimited time so you can sandbox. This also creates opportunities for things like Support Stations that only last a certain amount of time and cavern traps that deplete your remaining time.

 

There are some other improved animations and sounds in a few places, but they're minor and you'll come across them eventually. Let me know if some sounds are too loud or too soft. I lowered the volume of some of the loudest ones, but I want to know what you think.

 

 

Levels:

 

Some of aidenpons' levels are in here. Check the first few after The First Minute. All levels are going to get remade in a giant connected map (one for each biome) with a boss level in the middle, so nothing is permanent, but let me know if you like his style.

The debug playground is still to the west of The First Minute, but Moving With Vehicles now has better support for you to teleport down a ton of things right away.

 

 

Known Issues:

 

The Pyrite Punisher's canopy (PyLid) doesn't cull correctly, so it restricts 1st person view.
If the Unraveler's hit animation is interrupted by the player clicking on it, the vehicle freezes and cannot move anymore. The laser still works and raiders can get in and out.
The Bulldozer is unable to scoop rubble (but tries anyways) after taking certain upgrade combinations. Only use the Engine upgrade for now.
Only the standard Time Raider (Pilot) has all of the vehicle animations. This is less of an issue and more of not transferring everything to the other raiders yet.

 

Buildings are next on the list. Luckily, they're super easy since they only have a few animation states and are mostly static.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/21/2019 at 12:18 PM, Cirevam said:

The problem is that the game doesn't tell you what your current oxygen rate is

I was considering this and realised that it could possibly be solved by an NPL script. :P The time it takes for your oxygen to drop can in interpreted as a proxy for how much oxygen you have. As for an interface, why not when you select your Command Ship? (Wait... the Command Ship is usually on a Hoverboard and there isn't a GetHoverboardSelected. But if you were to swap the Digtank with the Hoverboard I could use GetSmallDiggerSelected). Oh well, these are minor problems that can be nailed down later if the idea is actually any good.

 

Here's the script with comments:
 

Spoiler

 

 


; rest of script goes here


GetR7 = 1 ? :WaitForOxygenToDrop
GetR7 = 2 ? :WaitForChiefToBeQuiet

GetToolStoreSelected > 0 ? :CommandShipSelected
; If tool store is not selected, stop

Stop

CommandShipSelected:
TRUE ? SetR1 GetOxygenLevel 
TRUE ? SetR7 1
TRUE ? SetTimer1 0
; R7 will be used as a flag to adjust the script above
Stop

WaitForOxygenToDrop:
GetOxygenLevel = GetR1 ? Stop
; If oxygen level hasn't changed, stop.
; But if it has changed...
; ... we know how long it took to change... 
; While I can't easily divide by the time to get your actual rate
; at the least, we can say something about the time!

TRUE ? SetMessagePermit 0
; that's allow messages

GetTimer1 < 30000 ? :Skip1
; if the time is smaller than 30000 (30s), skip this message
; but if it is (and thus is bigger, send a message and finish
TRUE ? SetMessage 1 1
TRUE ? :EndOfTimerChecking

Skip1: 
GetTimer1 < 25000 ? :Skip2
TRUE ? SetMessage 2 1
TRUE ? :EndOfTimerChecking

Skip2: 
GetTimer1 < 20000 ? :Skip3
TRUE ? SetMessage 3 1
TRUE ? :EndOfTimerChecking
; And so on through all the stuff. I'm not sure how many are neccessary and will need to think about this.
Skip3: 


EndOfTimerChecking:
TRUE ? SetR7 2
TRUE ? SetTimer1 0
Stop


WaitForChiefToBeQuiet:
GetTimer1 < 6000 ? Stop
; If six seconds have not yet elapsed, stop
; But if they have, shut Chief up
TRUE ? SetMessagePermit 1
TRUE ? SetR7 0 

Stop


 

I haven't tested it, I haven't accounted for the fact that the time it takes your oxygen to drop will be variable depending on whether you select just before the oxygen is about to drop by 1, or much earlier, (this could be alleviated by waiting for your oxygen to drop by, say, 5, but that's a significant amount of lost time), I can't account for when your oxygen is at max and 'increasing'.... but it's something :P.

 

(N.B. I can't evaluate your OxygenCoef by adding up all the individual ones because there's no function like GetLavaMonstersOnLevel (only GetMonstersOnLevel), GetHoverboardOnLevel, GetBulldozersOnLevel, so this isn't an option)

 

 

Also, I'll test out Time Raiders when I don't have a bagillion assignments due in too few days...

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  • 1 month later...

Took me a little while but I've collated my thoughts!

 

The new stuff is all great, and the Pyrite Punisher is... glorious. :star: It's amazing, in animations, functionality, and coolness. I love its teleport in animation and think you did that fantastically.

 

Also nice to have a couple of minor QOL improvements:

- things no longer require upgraded RRs, which is just nice (you'd max out your LRR team and they wouldn't ever make a difference)

- RRs can be trained as Geologists

- Bulldozers are cheaper and have a lower OxygenCoef

(though I'm aware these are just minor numbers and 1% of the effort you put into the models, they're still great changes!)

- "Future" is now a thing, although I'm a little confused on its execution (only the Malachite Muncher needs it). Additionally, if it's first in the Dependencies it'll look a little less funny (it won't kick the other requirements off to the left strangely).

 

Not so sure on the new sounds: they'll probably just take a little getting used to, especially the new notifications. I'm used to Chief's bassy voice and a high-pitched female AI operator isn't what I'm expecting. :P If you can manage a consistent style it'll be great!

It's just a little strange to have new sounds after so, so long...

 

It's so cool to finally see all these vehicles and ideas being finished. :D The new Howitzer looks way better than the previous one, the Command Ships are looking fantastic, the Wave Master and Wave Rebel look like a real boats.... it's great to see. And jars a lot with some of the buildings (eg the Docks :P) But that's your next project.

So nice to see new icons! The greyed-out ones could do with a little darkening to match the LRR style, but it's great that new icons are here!

 

The engine sounds are quite high-pitched and just probably need getting used to. But if you were to ask me where to find engine sounds I wouldn't have a clue, so anything's an improvement :P

In particular, the Wave Master's idle sound is great! But its move sound is really really really noisy. Ow. Its drill sound (especially its drill wind-down) sound I like more every time I hear it.

 

 

 

Aaaaand, of course, have a long list of bugs and general silliness:

 

Things To Do:
- Wave Rebel's sound is still the Tunnel Scout's engine
- Unraveler's drill animation never sticks the drills 'into' the rock: it aims them too high, like they're drilling empty air.


Bugs:

Spoiler

 

- Upgrade Defense / Upgrade Scanner text is switched with the icons
- Bulldozer Scanner upgrade doesn't do anything
- Howitzer's laser high range means it frequently won't hit walls.
Ping Slimy Slug for more numbers, as he's done the most about this: basically a high WeaponRange seems to make it unable to hit walls most of the time.
The 25 tiles it has is unnecessary :P
For instance, the Command Ship's laser range is about right: that's usefully high and also has never failed to hit yet.
(Dedicated anti-monster lasers do not need to incorporate this as they cannot drill walls)
- Pyrite Punisher's laser is able to knock down Seams but nothing else
- Unraveler's laser can also knock down Seams but nothing else
- Pyrite Punisher's laser can snipe its pilot
- Malachite Muncher's laser can *also* snipe its pilot
- Assault Cruiser's lasers can **also** snipe its pilot :P
- When turning the Assault Cruiser in Second Person view, the camera is placed at exactly the wrong position for the lasers to obscure most of your vision :P

Very Minor Thingies:
- 1st and 2nd person views are a little funky on the Pyrite Punisher. The Unraveler is much better: I think you did a good job with that.
 In 1st, I can see the control screen and some nice bars for SPEED (love those), as well as actually seeing outside, and in 2nd I can see most of the vehicle and what it's doing. With the Pyrite Punisher I can't really see anything.

 


Teleport in animations are generally screwy:
 

Spoiler

 

- Wave Rebel's anim (warp in) looks out of place compared to everything else
- Wave Masters's anim positions it too far forward
- Wave Masters's glass cockpit piece is at a funny height when teleporting in (colliding with the vehicle?)
Any transparency is never shown in teleporting in:
    - Cockpits (Malachite Muncher, Hematite Howitzer, Armored Transport Truck, Assault Cruiser)
    - Hematite Howitzer's laser
- At the end of its teleport in animation, the Transport Buggy is slightly larger than its Idle animation
- Bulldozer has the reverse problem, its teleport animation ends up smaller than its Idle
- The Assault Cruiser teleporting down as one piece looks kinda weird (but you can keep this as your style, if you like)

- Teleport animations often show the parts high up: eg on the Bulldozer, Pyrite Punisher, or Howitzer you can see the bucket/body pieces/laser high above before it teleports in. It doesn't happen with the Armored Transport Truck or any boats.

 

 

 

Lastly, I can't help but notice that you included my previous bunch of levels which are really really really low-quality XD I made those just to have levels to play around with the cool new stuff, and they're not that good. Playable, yes, allow you to play with fun stuff, yes, but high-quality... not really. I have a much better set of levels a couple of posts above, and am kinda curious why those aren't in. :P (Installation instructions are same as they were before the update).

 

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That's some good feedback. This is the kind of stuff I need so I can improve. As for some other things:

 

The Wave Rebel is a future vehicle, so its teleport animation shouldn't be out of place. The Malachite Muncher has a similar one.

I got a bit lazy with some of the teleport animations, mostly because their scale doesn't match other animations. I have to eyeball it. It's easy to fix the scaling issues once I see them, but I can't just save the file to make a quick change due to the use of World\Shared files. Not hard, just annoying. The transparency issues are a mix of dealing with Lightwave and game limitations. The fade-in effect is done through the Dissolve channel, which you can't see in Lightwave's preview. I thought I could get away with not using it for some animations if I put the pieces high enough, but it wasn't enough. It's easy to put a dissolve channel on those pieces but it's still like running blind. Other transparent pieces like glass get their transparency overridden by the dissolve channel, so they always look weird during teleport animations.

 

I'm not worrying about other levels yet since I'm remaking everything using some stuff I've learned from other people's maps (like yours) to make them more fun. They will be interconnected as I intended in a sort of "world map" and you will be able to see the beginning and end of each level, with a little bit of the previous and next level each time. In this example, you start at The First Minute, go west to an unknown level, then south to Crossing the Rift. Going up the river leads to one level and the other tunnel might lead to a bonus level. Eventually you'll get to the sanctuary ["this is not a natural formation" intensifies]

 

large.RockyAsteroidPreview.png.97bc96da3

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  • 2 months later...

When it comes to vehicles not teleporting down due to doing so would make them go over the limit of -10 on OxygenCoef, I realised that there's a workaround.

 

Firstly, reduce all OxygenCoef's by a factor of 10 - so 1 Time Raider now only uses 0.1 OxygenCoef, and buildings or whatever only chew up 0.2 or whatever.

Then, increase all OxygenRate's by a factor of ten - so Rocky Horror's 40 becomes 400 (that was the only number I could remember off the top of my head!)

 

This means that oxygen drains at the same rate it would otherwise, but now reaching the count of -10 whereby things will no longer teleport down becomes much harder - 10 times harder, in fact - to achieve. You could also do the same with 100x but I'm not sure how much LRR would like that.

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