Version 2.1.0 update

[uberscott]

Version 2.1.0 code is now "feature complete", although I still have a lot of work to do to configure and balance the modules.

features/changes in version 2.1.0:

• Music and sound effects added
• Performance vs. Quality graphics modes (configured in options)
• A new engineering panel that is an image of the ship you are flying. This panel only displays amount of damage per module and if a module is destroyed
• Resources completely taken out... we are back to the old way of regenerating ammo a la version 1.0.8
• A new display above the engineering panel showing how much ammo is available per weapon
• Smoke trails for missiles
• Proper smoke trails for some thrusters on ships
• Physics work very similar to version 1.0.8: There is a velocity threshold you must reach before your ship will be affected by drag... if you are under the velocity threshold you will not slow down unless you hit another object. The more acceleration your ship has, the more you can temporarily exceed the velocity threshold.
• A Background star field image is present if in Quality graphics mode
• Explosions revised to show a "sphere of effect"

I will be going on Vacation for two and 1/2 weeks, when I get back I will start spending some time on the reballance. I can't say when a playable version 2.1.0 will be available, but it will be at least after the end of April.

I can't wait to play Version 2.1.0 with you guys! This version of the game is going to be much more fun, I can tell already.

[Xanthyn]

Good to hear that things are getting close! It is too bad that you won't have the chance to work on this for a while. Does AB now take place in an atmosphere since there is drag, or is this purely a game balance thing? Also, will there be "aerodynamic" modules that will raise the velocity threshold for our ship and let us go faster without slowing down? Also, if you are getting rid of resources, what will be the spending limit for our ships, and will it vary from server to server? Haha, sorry about all the questions, I'm just anxious to start blowing people up in the new version.

[uberscott]

Answers to Xanthyn's questions:

• Drag was purely a game balance thing... it had nothing to do with atmosphere. without drag you could keep going faster and faster and the game would get so fast that it would not be fun. The change between 2.0.x and 2.1.x is that you will not have any drag until your velocity reaches a specific magnitude. Think of it more like the Limit of the speed of light in the real universe except much slower. As an object approaches the speed of light it becomes more massive and harder to accelerate... something like that.
• In the future it would be cool to have modules that push the velocity threshold, but no word on when that will be introduced
• There will be no way to alter the spend limit of your ship during the course of a game, and server games will go back to the limit of 100K credit limit. I am not saying that we will never have ships over 100K but I think that the mechanism that I introduced that "feature" for AB 2.0.x didn't work, so we are going back to the old way for now.
• One additional note: There will be fewer modules in 2.1.0 i.e. no expansion pack. Keep in mind 2.0.3 will still be playable after 2.1.0 is released.

Any more questions?

[killatron46]

yay!

I'm still rooting for ya scott.

[samurai_sukyake]

Wow!

It looks much better then 2.0.3!

About the engineering panel and module regeration, could you set "priority click" to speed the repair of critical modules in battle?

Like... "BWAB! This generator must be repair and the other modules must wait!" [Click in *generator*] "Now my generator is with full priority! YAY!"

Hmm... well... this is it...

Eh... I can't wait to test AB2 with my new PC... After 8 years with the same Athlon 1.6GHz with a GeForce6200A and DDR 1Gb 400MHz I could buy a new cheap PC... yay!

Phenon II X4 965 Black Edition with ATi 4200 IGP and DDR3 4Gb 1333MHz... It's a super tech jump for me! Let's see how it can deal with AB2! I guess I can forget memory leak for a momment.

[samurai_sukyake]

Sweet!

The FPS is high and the game runs softly.

I will test the AB1 now.

[Reksep]

Hey Scott, great to hear that progress is coming along well. I'll be looking forward to 2.1, especially if it's reverting more towards the older feel of the game.

[uberscott]

I'm back from a two week vacation in the Philippines so the my work will resume on version 2.1.0 as soon as I recover from jet lag.

samurai_sukyake asked:

About the engineering panel and module regeneration, could you set "priority click" to speed the repair of critical modules in battle?

The answer is "No." Actually there is no repair at all in version 2.1.0. The game is still a death match where you slog it out until you are die or you eject and then you select a new ship so I figure repair is not of big importance right now. If I bring repair back in the future I will make it work more like "healing potions" in Roll Playing Games... basically you will automatically earn repair points over time and you will be able to spend them all at once, instantly repairing selected modules, until you run out of repair points.

I probably should not have called it the Engineering Panel, since it is not interactive at all. It is more like a damage display. It may become interactive in the future, at least i hope so.

[schilcote]

That makes me wonder(uh oh). What if there was another "gamemode" where instead of quick melee battles with fighter ships, the map would be far larger and the module limit would be much higher? It'd be a more tactical approach to the game. One of the things I like about AB is that you can win by thinking your way through as well as having good reflexes. The concept of gamemodes works well in TF2 and Garrys Mod. I think the main problem would be the strain on the server to handle larger ships... but if there's one client per ship, we could use a distributed computing approach to the problem.

Or we could all contribute to buy Scott a kickass server. Either way.

[Xanthyn]

Every day I check the forums, hoping for an update from Scott, and every day my dreams of melting people's faces with laser beams are deferred yet again...

Almighty Scott! When will you grace us with the new version of Astrobattle?