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PirateLad

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Live ENB Information

  • Guild
    Grumpy Old Men
  • Server
    Andromeda
  • Race
    Terran
  • Profession
    Trader

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  1. I agree with your assessment, Kyp.  My tracert does not go through Level3 and I get similar issues as the others during the same time.  What appears to be heavy packet loss is in the 1and1 network (from me to Net-7).   This does not mean that there is not more than one location with similar issues.  There could always be issues in both the 1and1 and Leve3 networks, or one could be causing an issue for the other.     -----   Some things that people need to keep in mind.  A tracert can only show the (potential) data path in one direction: from you (Location A) to Net-7 (Location B).  In order to see the potential path from B to A, you have to do a tracert from Location B.  I say potential path because the tracert uses a different packet type than the UDP packets the game uses.  Different packet types could be routed over a different path, and have different priorities.  Also, when a router/switch gets overloaded, it is more likely to drop a tracert packet than a UDP packet (lower priority packets will get dropped first).  So while a packet loss is not 100% guarantee that packets the gaming packets are being lost (and needing to be resent), it can be indicative of a potential location for an issue to occur.   Also, 1and1 can only direct the route for the packets from them to you, and only then to the point where it leaves their network.  They have no control over the route packets take to reach them.
  2. Is there a way to save characters created within the game so you can view them with the Character and Starship Creator?   I thought there was a way that EA did this, but it has been a very long time.  If this isn't currently possible, is there a way to add this capability to the net-7 site?  Besides making screenshots, I would like to be able to save a copy of the character in case I want to remake or duplicate them.   Thanks much...
  3. By basic data I was thinking of the data from the Net-7 site (Database) as being a baseline without any spoilers in it.  But now that I think of it, that could still be the full data set (including spoilers) but the site is set up to not reveal any of it.  If that's the case then yeah, you'd have to find some way to strip out the spoilers which will not be easy (with chances of stuff slipping through).
  4. No, they were on Galileo.  I still have an old link to their website from the EA days which, lo and behold, still works.  It had some good information on it that I used to reference.
  5. There are many different types of "beams" that could be used as weapons.  A "beam" could be anything such as a laser, maser, plasma, particle beam, etc.  If I'm not mistaken, EnB considered the beam weapon to be a laser type of weapon (although it had other types as well, such as plasma, EMP, perhaps others, but these were considered damage types).  This is used as the basis for what follows.   Focusing the beam can cause more damage because the same energy is localized into a smaller area.  Reducing the area the beam hits by half causes the affected area to take four times the energy.  Using many beams and trying to focus them has its own set of issues to overcome (although not unrealistic for a futuristic space game).  But the sum total of energy for all the beams still adds up to 100% of the total available energy.   There are other ways to concentrate the energy, such as using a pulse beam instead of a steady beam.  I suspect the beams used in EnB are more along the lines of a pulse beam.  It just makes more sense.  You build up the energy in the excitation chamber, and when it reaches a certain point momentarily open the aperture to release the energy.  This would equate to the recharge time used by the game.  A lot less power is needed for a pulse beam to produce the same amount of energy that a steady (always on) beam has.  A steady beam has the aperture open which produces a constant loss of energy (the beam).  A pulse beam keeps the aperture closed until fired, allowing the energy inside to build itself up.  Hence, more energy in a pulse beam for the same amount of power.  Yes, there is a limit to how much energy will build up to (similar to the charge rate of a capacitor).   Another way to increase the energy is to increase the frequency of the energy beam.  Higher frequencies contain more energy than lower frequencies.  A red light laser (lower frequency) has less energy than a yellow light laser (higher frequency) does.   I think there's a real difference in what you and I think of a beam weapon to be.  It seems that you are thinking of it as many small beams concentrated at a focal point onto a single spot (the focal point would have to have a variable focus from near 0 to the optimal range).  Whereas when I think of a beam weapon I think of it more as a pulse beam with it throwing out a large (diameter) slug of energy.  Think more like what the vipers had in the original Battlestar Galactica series from 1978-79.  Think of the energy pulse being the size (diameter) of the slug a WWII battleship may have shot (large) vs a pistol or rifle (small).  Think more of a large diameter single slug, as opposed to a bunch of BB's.   The optimal range represents the range that the energy remains cohesive.  Past the optimal point the energy begins to dissipate.  As the beam dissipates, its energy is dispersed.  Since the beam contains 100% of the energy, as the beam diameter gets bigger the amount of energy per square meter is reduced.  In game terms, the maximum range represents the range where the beam diameter has dissipated to the point where the energy/area is only one-half of the orignal (cohesive) beam.   It doesn't matter what type of "technology" is used for the beam weapons, whether it is many beams focused into a small area or a pulse beam.  The amount of damage it does is based on 100% of the energy being contained within the beam.  Maximum damage is based on the beam hitting within the optimal range, so the energy/area is 100%.  If you have many beams focused into a small area, the sum of the energy for all the beams is still 100% of the total energy the weapon produces.  No more.  If you have a pulse beam, the energy in the pulse is 100% of the total energy the weapon produces.  No more.  When the beam hits within the optimal range, the energy/area will be 100%.  At maximum range the energy/area is 50%.  How the beam gets there (delivery mechanism) is irrelevant.  The only energy being provided to our closed system comes from the beam weapon, and that represents 100% of the total available energy.
  6. They stopped because....   ...they ran out of room. ...calendar was continued on another tablet/stone/whatever which hasn't been found yet. ...the person that made it passed on and no one else could figure out what he was doing. ...they didn't need it to go any further. ...the calculations became too long or difficult to continue. ...they were just joking to begin with. ...etc. ...etc. ...etc.   Hey, lots of reasons for it.  But nothing ominous or anything along the lines of a "doom and gloom" thing.
  7. Just a thought here.  And maybe you already thought of it.  Not sure if this would still fall under the "can't modify the client" rule, so how about this...   The manufacturing interface is open.  We select the item to make, and then press the Manufacture button.  This gets relayed to the server, which then determines how many of the item can be made.  If more than one, send a query back to the client to open a popup window asking how many.  The choices could be a range from 1 to the maximum we can make (allowing for components and available space), or cancel.  Default set to 1.  We select and the choice is sent back to the server which then processes it accordingly.   To me, since I am unfamiliar with the code, it would appear doable by adding additional files to the client folder (not modifying any of the existing EA files) that contains the data for the popups.  Would probably need to add hooks to process the additional commands.  If the current client doesn't support this it could be done by sending the commands to a pre-processor of sorts which determines if the command is an original command (send to original client) or an extension (send to additional files).   In my opinion, since the existing EA files are not being modified this is not modifying the client.  But again, I'm not sure if adding files to the client is also considered modifying the client.   If allowed, this process could be extended and used to add other functionality/extensions.  Just need to examine what information is being sent/received to avoid anyone attempting to exploit it.   Anyway, just a thought...
  8. The optimal range is where you will get 100% of the beam's energy focused and therefore do 100% of the total possible damage.  This is the best you can ever do.  In order to get 200% damage (the 2x damage) you would have to be creating energy out of nothing, a universally accepted impossibility (law of conservation of energy).  In a closed system you cannot create or destroy energy.  While you can convert it from one form to another (e.g. heat, light), the total amount of energy must remain constant.   So, if in our system (comprised of the player, the mob, and the intervening space between and around them) 100% of the available energy is coming from the beam, how can you ever get 200% damage?  The most you will ever get is 100% of the energy going to the damage.  Nothing else is adding energy to be able to contribute to the damage.   Now there is such a thing as a critical hit which can add more damage.  But there should be no way that we get a critical hit every time we fire at something.  That's just plain wrong.  A critical hit should have a very low chance of occurring.   However, with skills or devices there may be a way of coaxing additional energy (and therefore more damage) out of the beam.  Or getting a slightly increased optimal range, etc.
  9. ... Oops!  You added an extra zero.  It's 17,200 miles, not 170,000 miles.  Earth-to-Moon distance is approximately 237,000 miles, too, making 170k ~70% of the distance.     Just a slight difference there... :)
  10. There are problems with allowing players to add information to the "official" entries.  Incorrect information, too much information, etc.  Too much informaiton is probably my biggest pet peeve.  I understand the need some players have to reveal all.  But I for one do not want to be told everything there is.  I would like to discover things for myself.  The wrong kind of "spoiler" just spoils my fun and ruins the game for me.  If the spoilers are kept to fan sites, then I can choose whether or not I want to go to the fan site to get the information.  If the spoiler is added to the official information, then I get the information whether I want it or not.   How about when a game change is needed?  Who is going to update the player information which may now be incorrect?  It would be unfair to put this on Shaddex.   What it really sounds like is that you want some type of an official wiki, where they provide the basic information and then players can add to it.  I wouldn't mind seeing a wiki for the game, as they can be very useful.  But then someone has to oversee it (keep things orderly, delete spam, etc).  Just as long as the "spoilers" are labeled and kept hidden for those that do not want to see them.  Something like a link to a separate page for more information or maybe an open/close type of action.   Or, as an alternative, and I don't know if this is already done, but what if fan sites (or anyone) can get a copy of the basic data that can be used to create their own website with?  A change is made?  Just grab the latest data set.  Fan sites can then be made to expand upon the basic data however they want.   Just a thought...
  11. I agree. Being told where everything is takes the fun away. The fun of discovering things for yourself. The fun and excitement that goes with accomplishing something yourself. Same with showing where all the hidden locations are. You're taking away all the secrets that the game has. Takes away the reason to explore, which is to discover what secrets are there. For those that say you don't have to use it, you're right. And I won't. However, it's giving an unfair advantage to those that do use it. Does someone on the dev team not have an advantage over the players that have to figure out how things work themselves? Even if they didn't design it, they have access to the information. If the information can only be obtained from the game code or game files, then it is obvious that the dev team did not intend it to be made public. Information that is not released by the devs for all to use should not be released by others. It's just not right.
  12. That is where the application is, yes. But they were referring to the saved output files, which are named AvatarX.dat (where X is the slot number 1-5). These are the files that contain the character/starship data which EnB will import. In Vista they'll be in the "C:\ProgramData\" path, while in XP they're in the "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\" path, which is where you'll find the Westwood Studios folder.
  13. I agree, the message is a bit confusing. While 50% of the XP does get converted over, it fails to mention that 20% of it is lost as part of the conversion process. Rewording the message would seem to be appropriate here. However, care needs to be taken to avoid making it more confusing or getting wordy. Maybe just saying something like "Trade XP diverted to Combat nnn Combat experience earned" would be better, not even mentioning anything of the percentages.
  14. The numbers look to be correct. Experience reallocated from one pool to another only does so at 80%. You lose 20% of the experience. From the Character Experience page on the website, the very last paragraph reads: So if you gain 2,000 Trade XP when at TL50, 80% of it is 1,600 XP. Since your EL and CL were under 50, the 1,600 XP is split between them 50% each, or 800 XP to Combat and 800 XP to Exploration. This is exactly what happened.
  15. Actually, many (most?) MMOs will have both solo and group content. This is a deliberate design to avoid the extremes of either forcing players into grouping or keeping them apart. Nowhere does the word "group" or "solo" appear in MMO (Multiplayer does not mean group). An MMO is just a game that allows many players to play at the same time and interact. While grouping is one method of interaction, it can also be through chatting, trading, PVP, organizations, a marketplace/auction hall, etc. E&B provides interaction through groups, guilds, chat channels, ability to trade, etc. It also provides solo content, though. While it does not force anyone to group that doesn't want to group, those that never want to group have to realize that there will be some content unavailable to them as it requires a group. The choice, though, is still up to the individual player and is a simple one: group and experience the group content, or only play solo and miss out on the group content. There are those players that feel that they always need to group in order to have fun. There are players who feel they need to play solo to have fun. Many players fall in-between to some degree and will group or go solo depending on what they are doing. All of these are valid play styles that E&B supports.
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