Drox beta patch 0.932

[Shadow]

Beta Patch 0.932 of Drox Operative is available over on the Drox Operative patch page. Changes can be read here. This patch adds ceasefires, revamps some of the components like missile defense and ballistics, and fixes a bunch of minor issues.

[ScrObot]

Now that ballistic weapons do not home in on enemies, I feel they should be independently aimed like bombs currently are. I can't lead a moving enemy, causing a lot of missed shots unless I'm in front of or behind them.

[ScrObot]

When I drop an item out of my inventory into space, the label now says "(Identified)" after the component name. I'm assuming this was added to help distinguish items that you've picked up, looked at, then dropped from "new" items (which makes sense).

Items which did not require identification also say "(Identified)" in this circumstance, which isn't necessarily an issue, but it did strike me as odd.

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In addition to my ballistics aiming comment above, I'm wondering how the "range" aspect comes into it now. If I miss the targeted enemy, the projectile can still hit a different enemy that is out of targeting range. A simple timer won't work since projectiles can be slowed. If it's switched to allow free aiming, perhaps the range should just be removed so ballistics effectively just become fast moving bombs without splash damage.

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Another reminder about the icons in the minimap - things that are offscreen are not on the edge of the circle, which causes confusion. There can be a warp gate all the way across the system, and a nearby planet, but on the minimap the planet appears further away since the "offscreen" warp gate is padded in from the side.

This has been present since the beginning and hasn't been fixed, so is there a reason you're leaving it as-is (so we can stop bugging you about it if you're mind is already made up)?

[ScrObot]

Bug: if you hover over an item in your inventory or store stock that is currently not equipable due to requirements (red X on the icon), the comparison window for the similarly equipped item does not show up. It should show up regardless of the equipable status.

Here's a screenshot where I have an equipable bomb (displays the comparison), and the same item after I remove a crewmember which makes the bomb unequipable (does not display the comparison): http://scrobot.com/drox/drox_bug_item_comparison.jpg

[Shadow]

Originally Posted by ScrObot

This has been present since the beginning and hasn't been fixed, so is there a reason you're leaving it as-is (so we can stop bugging you about it if you're mind is already made up)?

It's only there still because it's going to be a pain to fix. I am hoping to fix it some time though.

[Valgor]

Kinetic weapons should have at least limited homing capabilities so it's easier to hit fast-moving enemies. And I agree with ScrObot; one should be able to fire them independently of a target lock.

[jerebaldo1]

Originally Posted by Valgor

Kinetic weapons should have at least limited homing capabilities so it's easier to hit fast-moving enemies. And I agree with ScrObot; one should be able to fire them independently of a target lock.

Oo; uh oh, I thought they would be aimed like bombs. I suppose they're more or less melee weapons at the moment as hitting most targets will be tricky, otherwise, thanks for giving us a fix for anti-missile weapons before the long weekend!

[Professor Paul1290]

I still need to get to my other machine to try out this patch, but from what others have said already I think there's another option that could be tried out depending on how tricky it would be.

Perhaps ballistic weapons should not have any real homing abilities, but instead automatically lead their targets.

If the projectiles automatically lead their targets, but cannot change direction mid-flight, then they would have 100% accuracy against targets moving at a constant speed and in a straight line, but miss if either changes significantly enough while the projectile is in flight.

I think this would put ballistic weapons more between lasers and missiles, give the player a clear idea of what the weapon is most effective against (targets that don't change direction or speed very quickly), and it makes dodging them when they are used against the player more interesting then just going fast.

[demoss]

Regarding ballistics - yeah, what Paul said. They've really been emasculated. And after all, leading the target is what the ship's computers are for! Given that it would have to be able to handle the current turn radius of the target as well, I think the old behavior, while a bit odd-looking, is probably truest in result to how they should work.

Bomb-like behavior (probably with a small, but not quite zero, radius to account for the fact that testing OUR aiming abilities doesn't really seem to fit in with the game's philosophy) would still be an improvement over the current system, though.

[Sedlex]

Well, leading with a kinetic weapon would make sense for a quick-fire weapon (think machine-gun style) rather than one on a long cool down.

If kinetics fired bursts (so maintain overall damage but split across four bullets fired in rapid succession) the whole "target where the mouse is" thing could become very entertaining and allow spraying as well as less frustration because you miss with that single bullet every time.