Author Topic: New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)  (Read 1744 times)

Offline x4000

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New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)
« on: April 13, 2014, 11:32:46 am »
Release notes: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=The_Last_Federation_Alpha_Release_Notes#Alpha_Version_.860

Restart steam to force a quicker update if you like.

This is a quickie, just trying to deal with a RAM issue that a couple of players were reporting.  It also does fix a couple of other minor things, too.

Enjoy!
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Offline topper

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Re: New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2014, 11:44:28 am »
I am crashing during game initialization again (I had some problems with Avast when I first started playing)

It was just working a few minutes ago in .859


Offline topper

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Re: New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2014, 11:54:42 am »
Ok, I just added the TLF steam folder to every single exceptions list I could find in Avast and it runs again now.

I am not sure what changed between .859 and .860, but I am up and running again.

Offline nas1m

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Re: New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2014, 01:03:50 pm »
Ok, I just added the TLF steam folder to every single exceptions list I could find in Avast and it runs again now.

I am not sure what changed between .859 and .860, but I am up and running again.
@Chris: Maybe this information would be worth pinning with a more verbose topic title?
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Offline madcow

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Re: New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2014, 01:05:22 pm »
I'll have to test this out soon. I've been having issues where sometimes when going into a new screen the game will lag massively for 30+ seconds while it tries to load in the background.

Offline Shrugging Khan

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Re: New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2014, 01:07:41 pm »
Constant stream of error messages breaking the game has ceased. Hooray!
The beatings shall continue
until morale improves!

Offline Professor Paul1290

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Re: New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2014, 01:50:05 pm »
I agree with Misery's statement in the previous thread that combat feels largely "done" now. I don't really see any more major changes coming in this area other than some balancing tweaks.

On that note, I'm becoming increasingly skeptical of "draw a card" replacement of special abilities mid-combat. This seems a bit overpowered for Operational Abilities in particular as these aren't very situational and you're tempted to get all of those deployed right away. This sort of nullifies the Skylaxian ship's advantage somewhat as having four slots doesn't let you deploy them any faster.
I can also see it potentially (though I haven't run into this just yet) leading to a condition where you don't want to get more special abilities because you don't want to risk adding possibly harmful things to the stack.

Offline Misery

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Re: New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2014, 07:27:40 pm »
I agree with Misery's statement in the previous thread that combat feels largely "done" now. I don't really see any more major changes coming in this area other than some balancing tweaks.

On that note, I'm becoming increasingly skeptical of "draw a card" replacement of special abilities mid-combat. This seems a bit overpowered for Operational Abilities in particular as these aren't very situational and you're tempted to get all of those deployed right away. This sort of nullifies the Skylaxian ship's advantage somewhat as having four slots doesn't let you deploy them any faster.
I can also see it potentially (though I haven't run into this just yet) leading to a condition where you don't want to get more special abilities because you don't want to risk adding possibly harmful things to the stack.

Aye, I can agree with this.

It can also lead to ability-bomb spamming.

Perhaps if once an ability runs out, it takes, say, some large number of turns, and then it gets replaced by something?  Like, I dunno, 30 turns or so.  And you can only have one ability slot in "replacing" status at a time, any others would have to wait till that one was done.

Operational abilities probably shouldnt be replaceable though.

Offline Vinco

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Re: New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2014, 07:39:40 pm »
I'll also agree that combat feels good.  The gravity missile is a bit overpowered at the beginning, but playing on something other than normal will probably fix that.  On normal, it's pretty much a "Win" button.

Offline Pluto011

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Re: New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)
« Reply #9 on: April 13, 2014, 07:51:45 pm »
I agree with Misery's statement in the previous thread that combat feels largely "done" now. I don't really see any more major changes coming in this area other than some balancing tweaks.

On that note, I'm becoming increasingly skeptical of "draw a card" replacement of special abilities mid-combat. This seems a bit overpowered for Operational Abilities in particular as these aren't very situational and you're tempted to get all of those deployed right away. This sort of nullifies the Skylaxian ship's advantage somewhat as having four slots doesn't let you deploy them any faster.
I can also see it potentially (though I haven't run into this just yet) leading to a condition where you don't want to get more special abilities because you don't want to risk adding possibly harmful things to the stack.
That is pretty much how I have been playing my first run through. Hop in, spam every operation, kill, and hop out.

Offline chemical_art

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Re: New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)
« Reply #10 on: April 13, 2014, 08:21:13 pm »
Reading the next patch, I'm excited for the new early game quest. I'll make another run "till I stop" with a fresh start once this mission is complete. I shall remain in a holding pattern till then (but believe me, I want to play. I just gotta let my style hold firm, or I'll assimilate to the game and won't be so useful)
Life is short. Have fun.

Offline Misery

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Re: New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)
« Reply #11 on: April 13, 2014, 08:32:14 pm »
I'll also agree that combat feels good.  The gravity missile is a bit overpowered at the beginning, but playing on something other than normal will probably fix that.  On normal, it's pretty much a "Win" button.

It is a bit strong, yeah.

Playing on Misery though it doesnt help as much as other abilities.  It's just too situational, because there's so many things that'll just get in the way and crash into it.


Anyway, all going good so far.  Putting the abilities back into all missions solved that problem pretty fast.  I restarted and did the intial fight again;  me VS about 6 flagships, same as before, but THIS time it didn't take 20 zillion years to pop each one, yet they still manage to send about a billionty bullets my way.   And just as before, one mistake and you go from full hull and shields to no shields and half-dead.  So it doesnt impact the challenge too much.  They also just make it more fun overall, and it feels alot more "tactical" with them in there.   And it doesnt take 50 minutes for one fight, yay!

Right now, it's definitely at it's best.  Though enemy interceptors could use a small boost.  I know they aint supposed to do much damage, but right now they're super trivial.

Offline Misery

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Re: New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)
« Reply #12 on: April 13, 2014, 10:57:26 pm »
Okay, so, a bit more playtime here, and I have in fact discovered one other fairly major issue....

Instead of describing it, I'll just do this (click to zoom in):




That's one of the smuggling missions on Misery difficulty.

You might notice perhaps a bit of... crowding, there.  Now, granted, I expect lots of horrible laser doom on this difficulty, but this is... well, the issue here is that it's enough to start to cause slowdown.  And if it's causing slowdown on my machine, it's going to be alot nastier for weaker ones.  It's not just the bullets there, but it's also the downright silly number of ships. 

This mission type is pretty crowded to begin with, but then the spawning begins, and it descends into utter chaos.  There's just too many small ships flying around.

And note that this is only the part of the mission zone that my screen happens to be focused on.... there's even more of this off-screen! 

And even ignoring the slowdown, that many ships makes it near impossible to go after the real targets, which are the turrets and those large things in the center of the rings.

I'm going to paste all of this into Mantis as well, along with suggestions to fix it.

Also, I still dont understand how this is "smuggling"... surely SOMEONE down on the planet is bound to notice all of the shrieking laser death and explosions going on there.



On another note, I like the wall turrets.  There was a moment of "what in the heck are those?!?" when they first started firing, followed by "Ohhhh.... yeah.... those were my idea, werent they....".  But they indeed do pretty much what I thought they would.



EDIT:  Mantis entry here  http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=14013
« Last Edit: April 13, 2014, 11:12:53 pm by Misery »

Offline keith.lamothe

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Re: New version .860 (Better RAM Managemen)
« Reply #13 on: April 14, 2014, 07:12:19 pm »
Also, I still dont understand how this is "smuggling"... surely SOMEONE down on the planet is bound to notice all of the shrieking laser death and explosions going on there.
With the Burlusts it might get lost in the local orbital-sports activity.
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