descentchampions.org

Excellent points by both Lee and Behemoth. Good idea Jediluke!

Great job guys, you agreed on something; I am in favor

Jeds i wasnt talking to you or about you. We were composing simultaneously.

i call forum hax

ETHICS AND COMMENTARY!!!!!

Lothar, my intention isn't to be harsh i just feel like sometimes other peoples opinions of making the game more streamlined and more like the original get tossed aside that's all.
The point i'm trying to make is even though not everyone can code or make changes to the game, they should all have input because one person is just as important as the whole, and i agree, even the smallest change can be quite damaging to some pilots which is why from the very beginning, I and others have tried our best to get the recent updates and versions as close to the original Descent as possible, because from d1x to rebirth, no one in their right mind could say 'It's almost exactly the same thing' it's not just numbers in a config file being lined up that matters, and i'm sure you understand what i'm saying.
Descent is fluid, meant to be natural feeling, not mechanical or machine like. I'm sure i don't even need to tell you that but let's try and keep an open mind when it comes to what people are asking for, okay?
X2-x4 was put in as a countermeasure for how the weapons would duplicate, but 1on1s in a level that start with 200-400% more missiles is a big change to the game, one that several players have taken a big advantage of and based their regular skill base off of, not that i mind, but to say that x4 is fine because tons of players were like YAY and then to tell me that fusion shake shouldn't be in the game because people are used to the way it is now is a tad unfair in my opinion, it IS a small thing, but it's small things like that, that get passed on that make players like me and others, feel slighted.
Obviously i know neither you nor Catherine would ever try and do things like that on purpose, i just mention it because i feel it's important to bring it out. It's not really the fact that fusion shake isn't like the original, it's just the feeling of being shut out for wanting something different in the game.
Anyways, i've rambled enough. So please don't think i'm going after anyone in particular.

Also, as an example of how carefully we would need to look at things like this before blindly implementing them, here's what else would change if we changed the FPS cap to change the fusion shake amount:

- How the AI picks a random direction to move. The psuedo-randomization is based on a number of things, including the number of "frames" that have passed at the 20 FPS cap. Not a big deal, really.
- AI turn speed when trying to get to a state of "LOCK" or "SRCH". This currently happens at a rate of 1/2 the FPS cap, or every 0.1s. Increasing the FPS cap would speed up the AI turn speed in those states. This would impact the single player and co-op experience.
- AI turn speed in most cases when in a state of "RECO". This currently happens at a rate of 3/4 the FPS cap, or approximately 0.06s currently. Again, increasing the FPS cap would speed up the AI turn speed in this state. This also would impact the single player and co-op experience.
- Frequency of AI pathing garbage collection. It's a memory thing, and garbage collection would happen faster with a higher FPS cap, potentially impacting the single player and co-op experience. Currently:
- If memory is 1/2 full, do garbage collection if it hasn't been done in the last 256 "frames", or in the case of the 20 FPS cap, 12.8 seconds.
- If memory is 3/4 full, do garbage collection if it hasn't been done in the last 16 "frames", or in the case of the 20 FPS cap, 0.8 seconds.
- If memory is full AND garbage collection happened within the last 1 "frame", or in the case of the 20 FPS cap, 0.05 seconds, dump all the AI paths, otherwise just do garbage collection. (Funny comment in the code here: "Just destroy all paths. Too bad for the robots. They are memory wasteful.")
- How often the reactor checks to see if it can see you. This currently happens at a rate of 1/8 the FPS cap, or once every 0.4 seconds. Increasing the FPS cap would decrease the time between these checks. This affects any game that has a reactor in it.
- Whether to delete a weapon projectile because it stopped moving. It's another pseudo-random thing, so wouldn't really affect much.
- Which object to remove when checking for an "obsolete stuck object". Currently, at the 20 FPS cap, this will take 1.6 seconds to cycle through all possible "obsolete stuck objects". I'm not sure what an "obsolete stuck object" is.

[edit]Updated slightly, as I realized some of the values would change the other way from what I initially said.[/edit]