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Willbonney

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Posts posted by Willbonney

  2. Posted

    Holy crap, something from space did hit us this morning, in Russia.

     

    If you haven't heard: 

     

       
    According to NASA scientists, the trajectory of the Russian meteorite was significantly different than the trajectory of the asteroid 2012 DA14, making it a completely unrelated object. Information is still being collected about the Russian meteorite and analysis is preliminary at this point. In videos of the meteor, it is seen to pass from left to right in front of the rising sun, which means it was traveling from north to south. Asteroid DA14's trajectory is in the opposite direction, from south to north.

    The meteor is the largest reported meteor since the Tunguska event. Impact was at 3:20:26 UTC. The meteor was 15 meters in size prior to the Earth's atmosphere, larger than one over Indonesia on Oct. 8, 2009 & one-third of the size of Asteroid 2012 DA14. It grazed across the atmosphere, where the meteor trail was visible for less than 30 seconds. The meteor was also brighter than the Sun.

    Details are still being measured. More info to come at: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/russianmeteor.html
     


    Isn't this how one of those alien attack movies start?  Meteors crash into the Earth to soften us up...

  5. Posted

    Updated the Original Post with all new additions.

     

    And "Hello's" go out to Bluemeanie and Potamo, remember seeing both your names fairly often on Gally.  Get back in some time Potamo, will be the "last" time you'll have to level an EnB toon, lol.  Yay for no more wipes.

  8. Posted

    I was curious if a new window could be made?  Leave the old one, and remove some of the ones the show up on it.

     

    That way, we could have one window for Item Buffs, and one for Skill Buffs.  I have been told that the Dev's really only have the ability to add or remove what gets listed in the buff window, but never did find out if it was possible to add a whole new window.

  11. Posted

    Think of it like a sword.  It has mass, and the energy of your swinging is the delivery method.  The sword is sharpened, but only to a certain point.  If you were to sharpen it too much, yes it would cut, but would not be able to maintain it's ability to cut for very long, as in battle it would be heavily grooved even if only striking bone.  So you would sharpen it to an extent, but not so much to lose it's effectiveness.

     

    Similar here.  There would be a certain point, with the same energy, that it would cause more damage.  Too close, and you still do damage, but not as much ( I DO NOT want to change the damage at the 0-50% range, I think it's fine).  Too far away, you're still doing damage, but again not as much.  In the scope of recent changes, further away is even worse, as the thinking is too many energy particles are completely missing the target.  Scientifically, this isn't too far from the truth, as the energy drop off does seem to drop off more rapidly being further away from the focal point, rather than closer together.  The particles are so small, even though there is some collision, the energy drop off is worse when the particles get more spread out, than too close together.

  12. Posted

    As for "slug" type beams, they just don't exist.  That slug in battlestar, or the one from Real Genius with Val Kilmer, just isn't the way I would think a beam weapon would work.  Those types of lasers, due to the power sources heating exponentially the longer you hold the beam, and thus requiring more energy to sustain the same power, isn't the way I would think a weaponized laser would be.

     

    And it's all a matter of the end result, the damage of the beam.  So yes, even with using the same beam and energy, striking a target at it's focus point would increase the damage the beam would cause.  I'm not talking of increasing the "energy,"  just the damage it causes within a certain small window of it's optimal range.

  13. Posted · Edited by Willbonney

    No, you seem to be restating something I have said in a different way in the past.  My idea of the "optimal range" would be a range somewhere in the middle of the beam's so called 100% damage.  Having max damage be at a range of 0-50%, just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.  Because I do not care for nerfs at all, I'm fine with damage as is, having it go from a so called "max damage" range of 0-50%, but this idea would incorporate the "focus point" of the beam, and thus increase it's damage.

     

    I'm trying to work within the scope of what exists in the game, to make it more similar to reality, without taking away anything either.

     

    I understand in the real world, a laser/beam loses it's damage capability at about the same rate if you are closer than it's focus point, as if you move further away.  For the game however, I think reducing damage for being too close is a bad idea.  Instead, a "sweet spot" of 100m near the 50% range of the beam, in which it would do more damage than it's stated.

     

    Could even call it the "focus" of the beam, as there is already a "beam focus" buff in the game, as well as equipment like "focused" whatever.  In these cases, could increase the range of a beam's focus by up to 50% (and thus 150m of focus).

     

     

    Edited to add:  and no, I do not want to incoorporate any sort of frequency modulation on the beams.  That brings in a whole new bag of physics theories that are mostly unproven, heh.

  16. Posted

    I agree with a lot of Phorlaug says here.  I've always disliked "nerfs" in which to balance things between classes.  Never agreed with that, always felt that the other classes should have been buffed up a bit to bring them in line, not weaken one to make others happier.

     

    I am however liking the beam changes, and yes I do level and play a JD as well.  I always viewed my JD's as a stealthy, close-in fighter, able to dish out a lot of damage in a short period of time, but unable to sustain it at length, and unable to take many hits.

     

    I also don't agree with a few other posts I've read here, where JD's complain about the range being shortened, so that it makes it hard to do damage while in formation.  Except for leveling, I can NEVER remember being in formation with my JD.  Almost always had a Lazarus installed, and cloaked in and out to do damage, and warped out as soon as I saw him taking hits.  My JD's role was as a debuffer support, the damage it added was nice, but if you go DPS JD's, more often than not you wanted two of them, with a TT flying in their own formation for saves as needed.  Other methods was to have two jd's, one to summon, other to go in and debuff, with a TT near the summoner to repair 'em as needed.

     

    JD's in formation with a PW, and especially a TE, just wasn't done in the end game raids.

  17. Posted

    I agree there needs to be some tweaking done with the damage of beams and their falloff/optimal range. I have noticed a slight decrease in damage even within the optimal (under 50% max range), but I am not here to comment on that. I kind of agree with OP idea on beam optimal, but I think for a game we shouldn't bring too much current technology and Physics into it, since after all this is set in the distant future. I think having that "most optimal" range where you do a slight increase in damage at the beam's "most optimal" could be a good idea, but don't think the damage should decrease from "most optimal" to 0.0k.

     

    There are two buffs that should be looked into though. Example is the AWCS and Intolerance:

     

    Those currently do not stack according to what I've been told in game by a few people, and I believe was verified with a GM. Since we now have optimal range and falloff range for beams, I think "beam focus" should be a buff to increase the optimal range of the beam. So say, a device like AWCS could add 20% to optimal range or something like that, thereby increasing the base distance that the beam will do 100% damage (haven't ran numbers, just using the general idea).

     

    I don't want to make this too long so I'll cut it off here and see what people have to say.

     

     

    I had a similar thought behind existing devices, the ability for them to increase the optimal range from the 50% marker, say up to a max of 75% or something.

    This idea however isn't that one, but I do find merit in it.

     

    My idea is to give Beam users a purpose behind fighting at a certain range, not 0.0 km (because that just doesn't make any sense to me at all), and not too far away, to enhance their damage capabilities.

  18. Posted · Edited by Willbonney

    Maybe the Mayan calculations had a degree of accuracy of .005% (which if you do the math from 700BC till today, it works out to about that).

     

    So could this meteroid, instead of wiping us all out, be a true apocalyptic event (as in be the beginning of a new age for man)?

     

    You really need to do research before quoting rubbish. The mayan Calander was just that, a calander, nowhere on the clay tablet was any mention of an apocalyptic event

    In fact if you care to research the calander instead of copy/pasting, you will find where it finished was the end of winter solstice, which means the start of new growth/life not death

    I bow down to your knowledge, however, the point of the "apocalyptic event" theory is that every single solstice before, was marked.  The theory is they stopped marking them, because there would be no one around to read them afterwards.  Sure, they could have gotten bored and figured they were "done" with their calendar, however the evidence of the Mayans losing interest in something, well, just isn't there.  I understand that it's a calendar.  It's the reasoning behind why they stopped counting that has many people's interest.

     

    Edited to add:  The calendar itself was very much involved in their Religion, so much so they believe a god, Itzamna, gave them the ability to know the calendar.  They also marked many events that concerned celestial bodies within the calendar.  As in, eclipses, planet alignments, and the like.  They had marked most of these events prior to the date it ends.  Again, the question is why did they stop?

  20. Posted

    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.

    This is not specifically true.  Many beams are used in more than one "focus type."  A precise focus, wehre the energy is quite literally pinpointed into the smallest area as possible.  This increases the damage capability of the beam quite a lot, however changes in distance would make it ineffective.  The other focus is a more general one, in which the beam is focused, but not nearly to the same degree.

  22. Posted

    Brought this over from another Topic that's been in discussion this last couple of weeks, and after in game convo's with a few folks in general, was suggested I repost it here.

     

    "As for the closer you are the more powerful the beam hit, that makes sense. If there needs to be some tweaking in the amount of damage the actual weapons do, I'm sure that will be looked at to keep things balanced. I understand the lore is "in the vaccum of space" however if you understand the physics implications of beams and lasers, the energy spreads out over distance and so on impact has less of an intensity. Thus why Val Kilmer's super laser from Real Genius doesn't exist yet, where you get a huge hole based on the output size of the beam. Sure, we have high intensity lasers, but their efficiency across distance is similar to what is being discussed. It has to do with the focusing of the energy so that you are pointing all the particles to as small a point as possible. So beyond that point, you lose the focus. And focusing the energy is key. But on that note, would also mean being too close would be just as bad, but that would be a terrible thing to do within the scope of the game.

     

    Could be an idea though, put a 100m "sweet" spot that if you remain within that range, you get 2x damage or something. Ranges up to it's half max 100%, and then beyond would drop so that max range would be 50%.

     

    An idea maybe, I kind of like the idea of a "sweet" spot where the focus is ideal for the beam"

     

     

     

    In a nutshell, have a specific distance for beams to allow greater damage in that narrow range, the beam's "optimal" sort of.  It couldn't be a huge range, I'd say no more than 100m's base.  This then could allow for other devices or buffs, to give a true enhancement to a "beam's focus," and allow to increase that range of increased damage.  The damage bonus I had though would be a 50 or 100% bonus, something that makes it worth it for that Beam user to fight at that specific range.  It is how current Laser Beams work today, the ones that actually cut diamonds or metal.

     

    And to  clarify, no I'm not talking in any way shape or form a nerf.  I am speaking of an enhancement, so that you would do more damage at the Beam's "most optimal."

     

    Opinions?

  23. Posted

    Howdy again all,

     

    Was sitting here thinking about the game, and was remembering the old "Station Faction" listed on the bottom of many stations.  Was missing it sort of, but also thought that there should be a way to improve it a bit, and thus starting this conversation up.

     

    My thought, was instead of having the just the Faction Label at the bottom, a more descriptive Station Information clicky, to the left of the Register Button.

     

    When clicked, it would open up a new tab (could even do it so it's a webpage similar to the in game bug reports).  The information on this tab could include the history/lore of the station (as in who built it and when), the Allies and Enemies to the station, and possibly would show you the rate of change for building stuff at the station based on your relations.

     

    Comments/Suggestions?

  24. Posted · Edited by Willbonney

    http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroidflyby.html

     

    Basically, a 150 foot asteroid (really classified as a meteoroid) will be passing close by the earth this Feb. 15th.  It will come around 170,000 miles away (about half the distance to the moon).  To put it in perspective, that distance is actually closer than many of our satellites.

     

    It has been stated that there is no chance of it striking the Earth (what was that thing my momma always said about saying never?).

     

    A snippet from Nasa's Q&A section on the bottom of the article:

     

    Q: Asteroid 2012 DA14 will not impact Earth, but if another
    asteroid of a size similar to that of 2012 DA14 (about 150 feet across) were to
    impact Earth, it would release approximately 2.5 megatons of energy in the
    atmosphere and would be expected to cause regional devastation.

    A:
    comparison to the impact potential of an asteroid the size of 2012 DA14 could be
    made to the impact of a near-Earth object that occurred in 1908 in Tuguska,
    Siberia. Known in the asteroid community as the "Tunguska Event," this impact of
    an asteroid just slightly smaller than 2012 DA14 (approximately 100 – 130
    feet/30-40 meters across) is believed to have flattened about 750 square miles
    (1,200 square kilometers) of forest in and around the Podkamennaya Tunguska
    River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia

    Maybe the Mayan calculations had a degree of accuracy of .005% (which if you do the math from 700BC till today, it works out to about that).

    So could this meteroid, instead of wiping us all out, be a true apocalyptic event (as in be the beginning of a new age for man)?

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