Vermillion and ravien_ff, your dedication to the programming and documentation of RE is incredible. It's hard to comprehend how you can get so much done, just thinking about the planning stages gives me a headache. Side missions and another storyline are a huge bonus too. Vermillion, your thorough docs of the changes you've made and the effects they have is awesome, they gave me a few very worthwhile lightbulb moments. I lol'ed at the 'native language' comments, I've already suggested to Eleon that they get someone who can spell and has good grammar and speaks English natively to proof read and edit their English language sections. Personally I'm not a big fan of non-stop resource gathering, for some it adds a sort of realism to gameplay, for me it becomes a drag, so I play with weight and mass off. Resource gathering is still time consuming but at least it's not constant time bleeding back-and-forth mine and deliver (especially when out of range of a container) and ah **** weight limits on the CV...
One thing you can try about gathering resources is look into things like autominers or salvaging. There's some really good salvage opportunities in space now with the 1.5 update to Eden. Takes a bit of effort to find but some of those wrecks are well worth it and with a SV or CV you can tear them apart quickly.
I am wondering if there is something broken with my save or if anyone encountered the same behaviour? Yesterday I have engaged some reinforcement OPVs after quite some time (I usually leave them alone if it can be helped, since its not really worth it) and was quite surprised. Bunch of Zirax corvetes were called in to protect an orbital POI, since they spawned in the middle of asteroid field I decided to take them on and have some of that loot on board. However when I dealt with them, boarded one, looted it and cored it to make it go away, it immediatly spawned back in, brand new, full shields and blew me away. This happened again and again, destroy core of one, new one spawns back in. Whats worse, when I cored the POI that called them, they all "retreated" and new ones spawned back in again. I now had this happen on two different playfields, with different POIs/reinforcements. The only "error" I could see was - Removing structure "id" docked to "no id specified".
Sounds like a game bug. There's nothing in the scenario that can change or alter space defense ships.
Today I fought a Tovera - 'had it de fanged and last generator destroyed... then my missiles decide to kill the defense satellite next to it... "all reinforcements retreat" and it was gone :O ... already was keen on looting it...
Tiny nits but thought you guys would want to know (if nobody already brought these up)... system map/info desc text Exploration Sites & Snow Moons .. "faint" signal not "feint" constructor float text Suit O2 Refill Bottle .. "suit" oxygen not "suite" ...thanks again to you both for the story and quest complexity and features/rebalancing.
Is the atmospheric range penalty for the CV Laser Turret correct? I thought laser weapons, in Empyrion lore, typically ignored atmospheric density when it comes to range, always achieving their maximum potential regardless of environment. I attempted to engage a Zirax Drone Base POI in my CV designed for the task, but the range of its Laser Turrets was reduced to just 100 metres, down from the potential 800 or so. This meant I had to quite literally head-butt the POI in my CV to get close enough for them to fire. At the same time the Drone Base's Laser Turrets were shooting at me from full range, 800 or so metres away. Doesn't seem quite right to me. Consider that the Laser Turret is a specialised weapon in effect, due to its ability vs. shields and weakness vs. regular blocks, it's almost designed to tackle tougher POI's and PV's, but has a massive penalty in atmosphere. Considering how limited the Player's CV weapon compliment is already on planets, do we really need this severe penalty on Laser Turrets? Note: I was on a temperate moon, nothing special, so I'd not imagine the atmosphere was that thick, considering it was a small moon with low gravity. The CV's Cannon Turrets didn't appear to suffer such a significant range penalty in this environment. Scoob.
POIs have a maximum targeting range of 300m in atmosphere. They don't see or react to anything further than that. It's hardcoded and dumb. Because of that, not one single weapon available to CVs will shoot that far, in fact they're all limited to around 200m to prevent hit and run at the edges of a POI's detection range. Those lasers have intentionally short range because they deal high shield damage. You must get closer to use them to prevent players from slowly stripping the shields without any harm coming to their own ship/shields. Also, vehicle/base-mounted lasers do NOT ignore atmosphere in empyrion. That is a feature applied solely to handheld lasers. Otherwise BA, HV and SV lasers would be horrendously overpowered.
Hmm, then there's something very peculiar going on in my current game then. Having it hard-coded to 300 metres in atmosphere is a little silly, I agree. However, I'm being shot at by ground-based POI's from distances way beyond 300 metres. Obviously it's more apparent on planets and moons without atmosphere, I'll double-check the exact distances the POI starts firing from next time I'm in-game. Ok, cool, only hand-weapon class lasers ignore atmospheric density. I admit, I've only recently started using CV Laser Turrets a lot but assumed the "no penalty" distinction would apply to them too, until I saw it didn't. I still think the penalty is a bit much though. It says 100 metres for the current range, but I'm having to get closer than that before they start shooting. Note that, on this CV, the Pilot's Seat position is at the front of the ship, with Turrets from about 10 to 30 metres behind that. I will experiment more to see if the classic turret firing delay is a factor. Regardless, a 100 metre range for a CV-Class weapon seems very very low, especially when the POI will be shooting from at the very least 300 metres. Hell, ground troops are able to shoot me before the CV's Laser Turrets are in-range, good job I have Cannon Turrets too. Note: I don't mind having to get in closer to exchange fire with my intended target and I can see how super long-range attacks - outside of the POI's firing range - would get boring. However, that's of course not what I'm suggesting here. I seem to be being shot at from quite extreme ranges while in a planetary (well, moon technically) atmosphere, yet my own firing range is bring severely hampered. I'll do some more testing later if I'm able, but my ships (20k) shields were at least 30% depleted before my own Laser Turrets started firing. This is in a fast CV in which I closed the distance quickly. I'll take a video of the encounter later if I'm able, so you can see what I'm seeing. Note 2: I'm of course used to POI's on air-less moons having way longer range than on planets with an atmosphere. However, this current moon (Temperate) has a regular, breathable atmosphere, yet the POI has what appears to be a range beyond that hard-coded limit you mention. I will add that random gremlins do pop up in Empyrion especially during longer play-sessions. So I will verify my observations right after loading. Scoob.
Do as I do - look in the configuration files and set there the firing range of the lasers that suits you. It is not the first time that Vermilion explains the reasons for such settings: D the previous time he did it for me.
Yeah, I can tweak things of course, but currently like to play with the default settings for the scenario so I can provide feedback. I still think that 100 metres range is too much of a penalty for the only CV anti-shield weapon that works in atmosphere. With such a short range it means zero dodging ability on the player's part - even with a very nimble CV - which leaves only the tank option. Even with 20k shields, the POI can reduce my shields twice as fast as I can reduce its, even with six Laser Turrets. Also, the fact I'm being engaged by said POI with its own laser weapons outside of this hard-coded 300m limit is of concern. I still can't explain what's going on there. Hopefully I'll have time to get in-game later. Note: when engaging the prior Drone Base POI - actually on a planet, not a Moon - while it had atmosphere (and heavier gravity) the distance penalty for my CV's Laser Turrets was far far less, giving me a reasonable chance to dodge. Not easy, but I had a chance at least. Not quite sure what's going on, plus I thought it was normal until Vermillion said it shouldn't work that way, but being shot at from extreme range by POI's in atmosphere is quite vexing when my own turrets are suffering such a large penalty. Scoob.
I understand that POI turrets must have a range greater than CV turrets so that players cannot shoot POIs with impunity. For example, if a POI opens fire at a distance of about 300 meters, then a CV, respectively, should have a distance of about 200-250 meters. On the other hand, planetary bases assume that they are assaulted with HV / SV and CV are not the main weapons for this. P.S. At the moment, the security perimeter of Drone Base POI is so saturated that his assault on the number of spent cartridges can generally devalue any reward from his containers. As soon as you stick your nose around the corner, a hundred turrets + local soldiers shoot at you and if for some reason you don't die right away, but there are so many negative effects on you that you just want to take CV and roll the entire POI into a pancake, destroying everything together with loot: D
CV pulse laser range in atmo is already increased for 1.6, it's not massively longer but is almost as far as the heavy lasers in atmo atm.
I traditionally never use CV's in any planetary combat roll, preferring a nimble SV. The SV's I use are great at neutering unshielded POI's, I can dash in, aim, fire some unguided rockets and dodge away again, rarely taking a hit - though the SV's shield takes care of that usually. When it comes to shielded POI's however, the most obvious being the Drone base, that previously very effective missile SV become ineffective. I have got a version of that SV with lasers instead, but it simply can't do the sustained damage I need. I did created a "Laser Tank" HV which is pretty good, but a Drone Base is a bit too much for it, without more upgrades. Though this was more for fun than any real practical application vs. a tough POI like this. That's what the CV I designed is for. It'd proven pretty darn good vs. other shielded POI's, and other identical Drone Bases. However, it was when tackling this particular Drone Base on this particular Moon that it's been stumped due to the range issues. I will attempt again - should have some time in the next hour or so all going well - but my really rather decent combat CV was simply taking too much fire before its own guns could even fire. I suspect a combination of the shorter range on this particular moon and the known "sometimes turrets take ages before they start firing / switch targets" issue are a factor here. If my turrets had started firing as soon as they should have started firing, maybe I'd have been able to get the shield down. As it was, they simply did not despite being well within the reported 100 metre range. I was also taking heaving fire during my approach, while outside this hard-coded 300 metre range POI's should have - so really don't know what was going on there. Thought: The moon I'm on has a breathable atmosphere - it's a temperate moon with nothing of interest on it but a few POI's, no resource deposits - but while my CV was certainly suffering from the atmospheric range penalty, the POI was not, engaging me at ranges you'd expect from a regular airless moon for example*. Could just be a random game gremlin - they've been known to happen over a longer play-session - so we'll see if it occurs again when I go back in-game later. * POI's on airless Moons shooting at me from 500+ metres away is normal for me, are you saying that this should not be possible at all? Scoob.
Can't you just stay perfectly above the drone base? It's how I do it in vanilla, I know in RE weapons are more efective but the bug of POI weapons not being able to shot straight up is on any version of the game even scenarios The only POI turret that can overcome this bug is the rochet turret but your shield can withstand damage for long enhough for you to chip in the drone base shield, and try using lasers againt the shield, I know there are upgrades for lasers both SV wepons as well as laser turrets in RE that will probably help
Yeah, I've done that before but it feels a little cheesy to exploit it constantly, so I like to (try) to build a CV that works with a full frontal assault so to speak. I might try it again to see if it's still effective enough to feel cheesy. Rocket Turrets are near-zero threat to a shielded CV, except in larger numbers, but seem to be pretty rare when it comes to the POI's I'm seeing, most of them have multiple Laser Turrets and are quite the threat. Just got back in-game, forgot I'd left that Temperate Moon - it was a late session - and am now elsewhere, a Crystalline Moon to be precise, which also has an atmosphere, but it's not breathable. I'm near a "Rados Defence" POI, which has main Laser Turrets and Laser Sentries, and it opens fire on me when I'm at 349 metres distance (cockpit view) and stops firing if I move to 350 metres distance. My cockpit (Pilots seat) is at the front of the vessel, ahead of any turrets. Obviously this POI is no challenge, but what is darn annoying are the Sentry Laser Turrets on it, as they can do pretty decent damage, yet are ignored by my own turrets of course. I know this was done (by the Devs) to work around player Turrets shooting Sentries inside a structure - as there's not LoS calculation in this regard - but it's about time they fixed this so Sentries can be a valid target once more. It seems silly to have a CV bristling with Turrets requiring the player to take manual control of a Turret to shoot sentries. I do worry that that "work-around" type fix done by the devs to prevent an issue, has turned into a long-term "solution". This wouldn't really be a an issue if Sentries hadn't been severely buffed of course, Laser Sentries in particular being a valid threat vs. a shielded target. Back to those Sentries, I just let the CV's Turrets take out the main Turrets, then back off out of Sentry range and manually snipe them. Gives me some XP at least Scoob.
Just for the record, though I'm now on a different playfield, here a screenshot of a POI on a planet with atmosphere starting shooting at me from a distance over 300 metres. You can just see the missile trails. Note that I crept up on this target very slowly and the those shots were fired at about the 380m mark. Also, that distance is calculated from me who's sat in the Pilot's seat right at the front of the CV. Targetable items, such as the Core. Thrusters and any turrets are at least 10 metres behind my viewpoint. This is a Moon with atmosphere, albeit unbreathable unlike the prior Moon I was on. I think it's safe to say that this POI's is both targetting and firing at me from beyond 300 metres. This is one of the weaker POI's that is shielded, so shouldn't be a problem for me, but I thought it a good example of the extended POI firing range I see. Edit: Here's another example where I'm over 400 metres away from the POI - it showed as ~450m from the cockpit view - yet I'm being shot at by both Missiles and Lasers, though I think the screenshot didn't catch the latter - I went to external view in an attempt to capture the shots better, due to my CV being perpendicular to the POI. Again, I crept up on the target POI slowly - sideways movement on this CV is pretty terrible - and missiles and laser shots started hitting me at well over 400 metres away. Note: my Pilot's Seat in this CV is in far left of the yellow structure of the vessel. The left-side Turrets are closer to the POI horizontally, but only by about 10 metres or so. I will add that the range a POI will start firing at, all on the same playfield, can vary a lot. One was taking pot-shots at me from 500m away while I was in the smaller combat CV you can see docked at the larger vessel. I did not capture a screen shot of this though. As an aside, the POI I'm attempting to attack here - a level 7 "XCorp Computer Factory" totally wrecks my CV's shields. I'm down to ~60% while it's barely dropped to 85% lol. Scoob.
