I haven't posted in a long time, but I thought I should stop by every now and then. Sadly, very little work has been done on Contingency since I was last present, mostly due to a loss of interest in Warzone 2100, but also because I'm back in college, working on a degree in game development.
What little work I've been doing on Warzone 2100 related stuff was mostly tweaking NullBotSW, the modified version of NullBot that I began tweaking to provide a more competent AI for use in Contingency. Lately, I've been working on adding in 1 or 2 personalities (specifically, the Flamer/Laser personality, although a personality that focuses on Mortars and Howitzers is currently in the brainstorming phases) and reducing the file size by replacing some redundant code with simpler constants that are called frequently. For example, in nullbotsw-contingency.js.inc, where the various personalities are defined, I'm planning on replacing this:
Code: Select all
this.atWeaponsMedium = [
[
"MG-AntiTankGss",
"MG-AntiTank2",
"MG-AntiTank",
],
[
"MG-AntiTankGss",
"MG-AntiTank2",
"MG-AntiTank",
],
[
"MG-AntiTankGss",
"MG-AntiTank2",
"MG-AntiTank",
],
[
"Mortar-GaussRamjet",
"Mortar-Ramjet",
],
[
"Mortar-GaussRamjet",
"Mortar-Ramjet",
],
[
"Mortar-GaussInc",
"Mortar-Incenediary",
],
];
with this:
Code: Select all
this.atWeaponsMedium = [
contingencyATMachinegunsMedium,
contingencyATMachinegunsMedium,
contingencyATMachinegunsMedium,
contingencyATMortarsMedium,
contingencyATMortarsMedium,
contingencyIncMortarsMedium,
];
with these constants being defined in nullbotsw-contingency-defs.js.inc, where a whole bunch of other variables and constants, such as arrays full of bodies and propulsions, are defined before they're used.
As for the Contingency mod itself, since I haven't played Warzone 2100 in a long time, I'll need to know how well this plays in the current version of Warzone 2100: version 3.1.1. Over the past, I've made a minor balance adjustment that would, unfortunately, break NoQ's Contingency version of Nullbot's compatability with the mod, which was why I've been mostly working on finishing up my own version of Nullbot, which I planned to bundle with Contingency, starting with the next build: version 8.0. The changes to the Contingency mod's files were long finished, but NullBotSW was not yet ready to be bundled, so I've had to put the update on hold until NullBotSW had enough finished personalities to be able to replace the original NullBot.
Here's a breakdown of the changes that I had planned for version 8.0, from the readme file that I had made in anticipation of the new version:
Change log:
Version 0.8:
- Downgraded some Gauss Mortar and Gauss Howitzer defenses from Plasteel status to Plascrete status so that they could be researched sooner.
- Added missing prerequisites for T3 Railgun upgrades. (They should've required Neural Synapse Research Brain as a prerequisite.)
- Fixed price errors of a few Mortar defenses.
- NullBotSW will be bundled with this mod from now on since compatability with NullBot was broken with this update.
- Fixed bug that prevented the tier limiting mods from working.
@NoQ and Goth Zagog-Thou: I do appreciate your eagerness to help continue work on Contingency while I'm absent, and I don't mind if anyone made derivative works from it, but I'd appreciate it more if you made a fork of it instead of modifying the original that I uploaded (although I'll incorporate the stderr warning message fixes made by NoQ), since I might want to make some changes that are contrary to what changes you (or anyone else) have made.
For now, I'm mostly interested in what others can do to 1. update Contingency files to be compatable with version 3.2, and 2. submit .pie models that could possibly replace the various placeholders that I've been using for Cyborg weapons and the new vehicle bodies.
@Iluvalar: Still feel that way, huh? If you honestly believe that 90% of whatever's added into Contingency would never be used, except by losers, then care to tell me what's the 10% that's guaranteed to win? I've watched a few matches where I pitted various personalities of my modified Nullbot AI against eachother, and from the looks of things, they tended to reach a stalemate where, despite using different droid builds, neither side gained an edge over the others, even as they reached the end-game stuff.
By the way, if balance is something that you're keenly interested in studying, I'd suggest watching
this episode of Extra Credits,
and this one (
and maybe this one as well). Alot of the tech in the mod, along with vanilla Warzone 2100, is most certainly situational, whether it's according to the opponent's tech choices or according to the map that's being played. Although I'm still aiming to provide players who specialize in Machineguns, Cannons, Rockets, Flamers, Lasers, and/or Artillery ways to counter tanks, cyborgs, VTOLs, and structures alike, I'm actually looking to keep the game more interesting by adding in some subtle imbalances, whether it's that certain research paths require more time and power to research them, or that certain weapon lines have weaknesses that are inherent in their design (such as Lasers' lower damage per second in exchange for longer range, or Rockets' exceedingly-long reload times, and sometimes accuracy penalties, to compensate for their high damage per shot or salvo). If I do find that some research choices are being underused over a wide variety of different situations, then I may wish to find ways to make them more useful, such as reducing their research and/or build costs, and buffing their HP, attack power, etc.
Also, I'm pretty much done adding in new content to Contingency, so nobody should have to worry about the addition of anything new that could upset the mod's balance.
By the way, I've been thinking about designing a new mod for the game, one that's themed around modern/near-futuristic warfare (with military technology being modeled more closely to real-life tanks, helicopters, and such), and doesn't take place in a post-apocalyptic setting (a la Command & Conquer: Generals), with a smaller research system that allows players to quickly have access to amphibious and VTOL propulsion systems and long-range artillery weapons, a smaller but more varied selection of vehicle bodies (including such lightweight but lightly-armored bodies as a technical or gun truck, along with heavyweight but heavily-armored bodies such as a tank or IFV), more interconnected weapon lines in which traditional upgrades could benefit most weapon lines simultaneously, allowing players to better afford to field a wider variety of unit mixes and weapon types (such as fast rocket jeeps supporting heavier cannon-sporting main battle tanks), and upgrades that are more abstract in their effects (such as range bonuses and lighter versions of some earlier turrets). I'd imagine that such a mod would play like a mixture of Contingency, WZ Mini: Scavenger Wars, and NRS.
@ZombiehunterRT: Sadly, I don't know of any way to get buildings to build on water, so I wouldn't be able to incorporate player-built naval units, even if I wanted to. I might want to incorporate some placeable Scavenger-controlled naval units in the future though.
Regarding the addition of walkers, or mecha as I'd much rather prefer to call them, aubergine made this post from last year:
aubergine wrote:Per and Berg got the old XanaxPrime mech mod working in 3.x series:
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=10997#p121993
Would be cool to have them in Contingency as mid-late game cyborg option.
My response was that incorporating them into the game would've been problematic, particularly when it comes to how to design and research them.
Also, I don't quite picture them working with the Warzone 2100 canon all that well, since according to Warzone 2100's backstory, the cyborgs that use the Synaptic Link technology were 1st patented in 2080, which is only 5 years before the Collapse happened. I have doubts that mecha that use the Synaptic Link technology would've been developed within that short of a time period, or that anyone, including Nexus, would bother trying to develop them in the post-apocalyptic period between the Collapse and the game's setting. (Then again, I've got beam-powered artillery missiles in the game, but the canon never mentioned anything related to their development, so...
)