TLF Version 1.611 Released (Smuggling Out The Moody Queens)

[x4000]

Original: http://arcengames.com/tlf-version-1-611-released-smuggling-out-the-moody-queens/

Version 1.611 is a collection of refinements, both for the base game and the expansion.

The neatest thing for the base game is that now there is a way to restore order to a race that has devolved into a smuggler empire.  Previously all you could do was kill that race if you wanted to win.  But now, you can clear out the smugglers and watch them return to the light of normal government.

The other really nice thing here is that finally the hive queens stop changing their moods constantly.  That was happening in some recent versions, but we couldn't pin it down or even always duplicate it.

The newly-revised Burlust Warlord fight from the prior version has had its numbers tuned substantially to make it more fun.  Previously you had a long bout against the shields, leaving you on the high-health pattern of the warlords for a frustrating period.  Then you had a shorter period where you'd kind of blaze through the other shot patterns too fast, not really getting to see and experience the wonderful pain of them. ;)  So that's now fixed so that you spend more time in the later stages.  Going along with that, though, a couple of the wall attacks early on in were too damaging per-shot, so that's also been tweaked so that you can't get insta-killed if you have one bad turn.

Lastly, depending on your difficulty level (combat for Standard and Invasion modes, and strategic for Betrayal mode), you now get a lowered benefit from the techs that increase space power.  Why is that?  Well, balance-wise, you already have a lot of ways of getting ahead of the AI, and it's easier for you to grab lots of techs by stealing them, which most AIs can't do as effectively.  Since you have some player-only advantages there, that impacts Betrayal mode in particular.  Now that hole is plugged, depending on how hard a challenge you want based on the difficulty you selected.  It's also thematically appropriate, given that one Hydral by himself should realistically be less adept at applying advanced technology to his starship than literally billions of citizens of another race would be at applying tech to their armadas as a whole.

We're closing in on the release date for the official launch of the expansion.  The target date is November 14th, so two Fridays from today.  It's very exciting, and we're hitting a point where things are really settling down into a polished state, so that's quite nice.

 

Let us know how things are looking, if you have suggestions or bug reports, etc!

More to come soon. Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater, or if you have Steam it will automatically update it for you. To force Steam to download it faster, just restart Steam and it will do so.

[nas1m]

I have to say: Kudos Misery! The new Burlust duels are a totally different beast .
I yet have to win one I have to admit .

[Misery]

Well, I read the patch notes, and had to stare at it for 5 full minutes before I figured out what a "wall shot" was.  Ugh.  I probably should wait until AFTER I'm fully awake to check forums.

Did I really have the damage numbers for those two things that high?  Musta had it up there just a tad...  And good thing you fixed the shields/hull bit there, as that never occurred to me even once.  When I'd been testing them, I never did so the normal way, I just kept switching out the code stuffs to make them change behaviors.

.....and two weeks to release already!  I'll say, it's been a heck of a beta. 

I have to say: Kudos Misery! The new Burlust duels are a totally different beast .
I yet have to win one I have to admit .

Hm, what part are you dying on?  It's possible I mighta gone overboard on something.   Though, I'd actually thought I mighta left these not being hard enough.  Argh, I'm clearly not the right one to always be judging the difficulty of these, haha.

[nas1m]

I have to say: Kudos Misery! The new Burlust duels are a totally different beast .
I yet have to win one I have to admit .

Hm, what part are you dying on?  It's possible I mighta gone overboard on something.   Though, I'd actually thought I mighta left these not being hard enough.  Argh, I'm clearly not the right one to always be judging the difficulty of these, haha.

For me it's mostly an issue of still being fairly bad at dodging stuff. I am used to being ahead in tech and thus be able to take a couple of shots if fighting vanilla enemy armadas (I tend to play with all power to the weapons).
For the Burlust warlords (and the Obscura for that matter) I seem to have to do the opposite (all power to the engines) to at least have a chance at dodging stuff? Anyway the problem then mostly is that without beefing up my weapons single ship-on-ship fights seem to take ages compared to what I am used to - which implies plenty of time to mess up on the dodging side of things ...

[steelwing]

Wow, those Burlusts are a serious fight now...   That spiraling shot pattern is really ugly.  You have to back way off to keep that from killing you, even on easy combat.

[chemical_art]

Seeing as almost everything is balanced out, I'll have to try this next weekend

[Misery]

I have to say: Kudos Misery! The new Burlust duels are a totally different beast .
I yet have to win one I have to admit .

Hm, what part are you dying on?  It's possible I mighta gone overboard on something.   Though, I'd actually thought I mighta left these not being hard enough.  Argh, I'm clearly not the right one to always be judging the difficulty of these, haha.

For me it's mostly an issue of still being fairly bad at dodging stuff. I am used to being ahead in tech and thus be able to take a couple of shots if fighting vanilla enemy armadas (I tend to play with all power to the weapons).
For the Burlust warlords (and the Obscura for that matter) I seem to have to do the opposite (all power to the engines) to at least have a chance at dodging stuff? Anyway the problem then mostly is that without beefing up my weapons single ship-on-ship fights seem to take ages compared to what I am used to - which implies plenty of time to mess up on the dodging side of things ...

Yep, typically engine power is a necessity here.  When I'm dealing with these guys or the Obscura I'm usually at right around 5 engine power, unless I need to make a really quick getaway or really tight turn, but that's fairly rare.  And there's typically some intended method of dodging built into the design of each pattern here, the trick being to figure out what that is.

Though, the fights taking super long isnt something I've run into (and I'm usually at 2-3 units of weapon power here).  Is this with you using the Minigun?  Everything in the game takes bloody forever without that one, I swear.  Weapon balance does still need looking at, at some point later on, I think.

Wow, those Burlusts are a serious fight now...   That spiraling shot pattern is really ugly.  You have to back way off to keep that from killing you, even on easy combat.

For this one:  Too much distance can get you kinda wrecked, because of how the shots work, as they travel a certain distance and then turn around and come back.  The closer you are to the "turn around" point, the nastier it is.

I showed this screenshot originally when this was being worked on:  http://i.imgur.com/ERJmnPo.jpg    And that right there is pretty much the optimal distance for dodging the pattern.  Notice the amount of blank, open space around my ship there. 

But the other thing is to choose a direction, either clockwise or counter-clockwise, and completely stick to it.  Dont try to turn around.  Just keep circling him in the chosen direction, changing course as necessary to avoid stuff that's zooming by.


I hope that helps a bit maybe.  But if it's proving a bit too loopy, changes can be made if necessary.  Though, feedback from Chris said that this fight was about the difficulty level he'd wanted it to be, so changes might be minor if necessary at all.


I'm curious though, for feedback on damage levels and fun stuff like that, what combat difficulty level are you guys playing on?

[nas1m]

Really helpful stuff

I am currently playing on Normal (used to play on Harder in the base game - that's just not an option at the moment ). I will elaborate on balance later, but for now I have a single complaint regarding the Burlusts: I just pitted myself against a single one using Combat Practice and finally made it to phase 3 of the pattern using the rotating disco lights that come back at you after a time, thanks to your hints mostly - turns out I have been speeding around way too much . Then a single green projectile hit me and obliterated me with half my shields and all my health still intact - not funny .

Any chance that projectile's numbers are off as well?

[Misery]

Ah, what kind of green shot was it?  Was it one with the 3 points to it, fired by itself, bursts into some lines?

[x4000]

Again, well done Misery!

[nas1m]

Ah, what kind of green shot was it?  Was it one with the 3 points to it, fired by itself, bursts into some lines?

I will try to salvage that information once I am back at my home computer .

[Misery]

Okay well I'm pretty sure I know which bit it is that is being more murderous than it's supposed to, and it did have high numbers that I probably just squashed in there for no good reason.  I've lowered it to a more appropriate level of murderousness, so while it might still hit like a truck, it (probably) wont insta-kill you.  Though it's best not to get too close to him in that third pattern.  However, let me know if those bolts, the ones fired that then split, are still hitting you too often, they might need slowing down, maybe. 

Again, well done Misery!

Sure, until something breaks again :p

I've not seen feedback on the two boss ships yet (aside from your own comments), so I'm expecting them to need a pile of changes, because math.  Well, if "math" means "put in whatever number looks good at the time".   I havent had a full chance at testing the bosses properly in-game yet myself either as my last playthrough was in normal mode to see how the basic ships worked out. 

[x4000]

I've been happy with the bosses, but I'm not sure if people have really realized they are bosses or if they are just going "holy heck, here's another one!!!"

[nas1m]

Okay well I'm pretty sure I know which bit it is that is being more murderous than it's supposed to, and it did have high numbers that I probably just squashed in there for no good reason.  I've lowered it to a more appropriate level of murderousness, so while it might still hit like a truck, it (probably) wont insta-kill you.  Though it's best not to get too close to him in that third pattern.  However, let me know if those bolts, the ones fired that then split, are still hitting you too often, they might need slowing down, maybe. 

Thanks! I plan to spend some more time in Combat Practice this week. We'll see how it goes ...

@Chris: Did you catch my update to this issue yet? I am not sure, but there might be something awry with Obscura space power - at least in some games. Definitely something that should be taken care of before release if it turns out to be an issue in my book...

[x4000]

I completely missed the update to that issue, since it was assigned to Keith.  Thanks for pointing that out, and I've added it to my list to look at!