Author Topic: Bug Already with Nomad's ARS (Spoiler)  (Read 1938 times)

Offline Vyndicu

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 319
Re: Bug Already with Nomad's ARS (Spoiler)
« Reply #15 on: June 20, 2014, 12:01:24 pm »
Another interesting perhaps unintended as well is that nomad can have A, B, C, D, E shielding on them as well.

I got a core E-class shield in a new game on nomad planet which have nothing but a mark 4 missile guard on it. The weak guard may be an expected thing due to it start right next to my homeworld. But it can make search for core shields bit painful if they keep moving I think.

Offline orzelek

  • Hero Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,096
Re: Bug Already with Nomad's ARS (Spoiler)
« Reply #16 on: June 20, 2014, 12:12:27 pm »
I started few games on the new entangled map type and I noticed that quite frequently core shield is next to my HW - 80 planets plus 6 nomads. Sometimes there is another one just next to it. I guess thats rng but might be some other cause?

Offline Vyndicu

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 319
Re: Bug Already with Nomad's ARS (Spoiler)
« Reply #17 on: June 20, 2014, 12:14:47 pm »
I notice something fairly minor. In the Hacking Cost list on resource bar. It doesn't list nomad beacon/survey hacking cost. I think that already been mention earlier for tooltip.

Offline Toranth

  • Hero Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,244
Re: Bug Already with Nomad's ARS (Spoiler)
« Reply #18 on: June 20, 2014, 02:46:12 pm »
Nomad Spoilers continue:



So I toned down the difficulty a bit, to try the Nomad event sequence.  First:  Boom!  Problem solved, indeed.  Slightly disappointed there isn't a popup image or cutscene or a disconnected dead star... I was hoping to be able to gloat over the rubble.  But obliterating it so thoroughly that not even the wormholes remain is not bad.  Would it be possible to remove all the wormhole links but leave the star visible on the Galaxy map - maybe with a Black Hole or Supernova icon - and a "Destroyed Planet" label.

Second, because I'm that sort of person, as soon as the Journal told me not to split the graph, I had to try it.  First time I did it, it was bugged.  The journal specifically says something like "Not including the Nomad's transient wormholes", and yet I was able to split a Snake map without problem, because the Nomads connected the two pieces.  The other Nomads also kept 'connecting' to the missing HW, which led to some odd maps.  I could Ctrl-click the wormholes to go to the missing HW, and then to the missing Nomad as well.  I also discovered that if two Nomads get close enough during the same movement tick, they'll both be destroyed.
When I tried again with only 1 Nomad planet, I got the intended result - a Nuke III.  But it didn't kill that AI!  I mean, a Nuke III backlash that killed the AI might be worth it, but one that is nothing but an AIP-free Nuke III is just plain suicide. 
I understand this is a "Don't do that, silly!' sort of thing to prevent all the problems that would result from graph breaking, but I feel that if you're going to lose everything you have, you could at least take out that one AI.

I also had an accident - I was moving the Beacon from Nomad 1 to the AI HW, and it was passing through an AI system when the Nomad movement tick occurred - and there happened to be a Nomad planet close enough at that moment.  Boom!  Oops.

Then there's the actual usage of the beacon.  On diff 7, 100 AIP, on a normal AI world, I was getting 2 exo spawns of 2500 budget = 200 strength every minute.  On the AI Homeworld, I was getting 2 exo spawns of 10,000 budget = 1250 strength every 10 seconds.  On my screen, a Nomad moving 1 inch (roughly the normal distance between linked stars) took between 7 and 8 minutes (420 to 480 seconds).  That means that if there was already a Nomad planet fairly close to the AI HW, you would still need to defend 40-50 exowaves on a planet that still has the Core Guardposts and Strategic Reserves.  If you have that much strength, then conquering the HW straight up would be much simpler.
The one strategy I can see that might be workable is to stick the Beacon on a Core World until a Nomad got close to the HW, then cross the wormhole and hope to survive those last few minutes.

I would suggest instead that the Beacon have a "deploy" button or the like that will put it into "Summon Nomad" mode.  In this mode, the Nomads will all move much faster, such as every 10 seconds rather than every 40, or move several times as far per move.  Maybe this bonus should only apply to Nomads that are connected to the Beacon's current system with a wormhole.  But some way to prevent the need to sit there forever defending against a crazy high number of exowaves.  Because right now, I don't think the Beacon is usable against the AI HW in 99.99% of games.  Easily usable against non-HW systems, though.
In fact, I wish there were "Lesser Beacons" on the other Nomads for offing non-HW systems... but that'd be rather too powerful, yes indeed.  But oh-so-fun.


I'd also like to take a moment to renew an old request for the ability to shift-click-drag stars on the Lobby Galaxy Map.  With Nomads, having a convenient base layout matters a little more.

Offline Vyndicu

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 319
Re: Bug Already with Nomad's ARS (Spoiler)
« Reply #19 on: June 20, 2014, 03:36:01 pm »
I load a save game with a warp jammer command station build in a nomad planet after patching to 39 and it reset my metal harvester on the nomad planet (have to rebuild). My normal planet metal harvester are fine.

Is there any particular reason why it should do that?

Offline ZaneWolfe

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 272
Re: Bug Already with Nomad's ARS (Spoiler)
« Reply #20 on: June 20, 2014, 03:49:59 pm »
Can you place a FS hub on a nomad?
There's no rules about it, so yes, I think it would work normally.  And of course someone can then exploit the dynamic relinking to get a much higher density of cities than normal.  I'm willing to see how absurd the exploit gets in the wild before doing anything about it.  But maybe it's not an exploit, as defending a nomad, even with a city on it, is probably highly nontrivial.

Lets see, a full defense city, using 5 reactors and 1 habitation, surrounded with a full set of all MKI-MKIII turrets and a pair of mini-forts. Which can all be under the city shields with zero loss of firepower. Exactly why would turning them into mobile fortress worlds be hard? It would take an Exo or a CPA to crack one. And that's only using per-planet defenses. Now, all that being said, I've yet to get anywhere to Nomads so I'm not exactly sure what all I can do with them. Right now I can only imagine using them as extra slots to place cities on, allowing more shipyard cities in my backyard.

Offline Vyndicu

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 319
Re: Bug Already with Nomad's ARS (Spoiler)
« Reply #21 on: June 20, 2014, 05:26:18 pm »
Apparently the location for "first city shard" survey is a valid location in a nomad system.

Not sure if that is a good idea because it force you to wait until this nomad planet is close by to your frontline to start the event which may or may not be fun of itself.

Offline Vyndicu

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 319
Re: Bug Already with Nomad's ARS (Spoiler)
« Reply #22 on: June 24, 2014, 12:24:03 pm »
One more "annoying" thing just popped in my exile game.

You know that mechanics where threat eventually build a warp relay? Well I had an interesting location for a warp relay itself. You know how nomad wormhole move from place to place? When you mix the two there can be some weird perhaps unintended effect.

Like say there is a threat just sitting on AI 1's HW with a wormhole to nomad warp jammer's command station. Guess what one thing they can do? Yup build a warp relay at the homeworld?! If this was a 10 planet galaxy I can totally dig that happening but not for a 120 planet galaxy somehow that just is wrong. I meant I have to fight stragetic reserves AND the core guard posts before I am even ready for a such assault just by colonizing a nomad?