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  1. - Top - End - #301
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    TheAmishPirate's Avatar

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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    No milestone today, just a picture of some progress.

    Spoiler
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    [IMG]blob:http://imgur.com/f59e321c-4501-420c-901b-6cccbd85013e[/IMG]


    Tech effects are working, but I'd like to finish up Labs for this milestone.
    I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.

  2. - Top - End - #302
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Hooooo boy this milestone ended up being a big one.

    Spoiler: Milestone 7
    Show


    Features this time include:
    -Technology now does things! As the picture shows, each possible Technology Trait is assigned to a Technology at the start of the game, so you can experiment around and see how/if it all works properly. There's a few effects not yet in the game (Superweapon Potential for one) but those will come later.
    -There's a button next to the End Turn button that will bring up a panel showing all the Technologies and their traits. In a future milestone, this will be modified to account for hidden information.
    -Labs exist! They look just units, except they're marked with an L and you can't move them anywhere. Click on a Lab you own, and you'll be able to use Advanced Research to add a completely random trait to a chosen Technology. It takes one turn to perform this research.
    -Labs also provide a slight bonus to all Technology spread in their respective Countries.
    -Actions now have chances for failure, though currently they are all set to 100% chance of success. This chance, however, can be modified by Technology.
    -Armies can now engage in Conventional Warfare, if Technology allows it.

    Next up: Adding some secrecy. Technology effects will be hidden by default, and can be revealed either by Lab research, or having an Agent steal the info from an opponent's Lab.
    Last edited by TheAmishPirate; 2017-05-18 at 10:39 AM.
    I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.

  3. - Top - End - #303
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    I will endeavor to test this tonight.
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Giant View Post
    Anarion's right on the money here.
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  4. - Top - End - #304
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Let the record show that both Anarion and Thanqol replied to the latest milestone PM with exactly the same joke.

    I'm in good company.
    I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.

  5. - Top - End - #305
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Quote Originally Posted by TheAmishPirate View Post
    Let the record show that both Anarion and Thanqol replied to the latest milestone PM with exactly the same joke.

    I'm in good company.
    Let me be the first to say: NERD!
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Giant View Post
    Anarion's right on the money here.
    Quotes

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  6. - Top - End - #306
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Let me be the first to say: NERD!
    Ha! Would a nerd finish up another milestone today?

    ...wait, shoot, I think he would.

    Spoiler: NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD
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    Now with 50% less information! Features include:
    -All Technology traits are hidden by default, and can be revealed on a per-player basis.
    -Labs can take the Research Trait action to reveal a trait for a player.
    -Agents can take the Steal Tech action when in an enemy Country with a Lab.

    Note: There are some poorly designed prototype features with the new actions. Right now, there's no way to give error messages or prevent incorrect actions, so if you try to reveal a trait for a Technology when you already know all the traits, nothing will happen. Same with Steal Tech; if the opponent doesn't have any research to steal, then nothing will happen. It doesn't feel great, but you can still use the unit/Lab panel to see if an action is being performed.

    Next milestone is the Bonus/Development system! Hoooooooooooooooooooooooo boy that's gonna be a big chunk of work. I expect that I'll have to divide it up into smaller milestones first.
    I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.

  7. - Top - End - #307
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    I've been thinking over the whole prototype project, and I've come to the conclusion that the Development/Bonus section is going to be the most difficult component to implement. Bonuses can affect a wide range of mechanics, from Unit actions, to Outputs, to the availability of influence links, etc. Technology was much the same way, but it was almost entirely restricted to Unit actions, with a few minor exceptions. What's more, Technology affected those actions in much the same way; either altering a chance of success, or scaling a duration up or down. That made it easy to build a simple system that could handle all the Technology traits. We don't have that luxury with Bonuses.

    This isn't to say that the system is bad. I'm just giving a head's up that this particular milestone is almost certainly going to take some time to figure out.

    EDIT: Thanqol wins The Prize for putting together a list of all Bonus modifiers.

    EDIT2: Back before we reworked Bonuses, we said that a Country had to be owned before its Bonuses would take effect. Is that still true? Or are Bonuses always active, and just dependent on the Country's level of development?
    Last edited by TheAmishPirate; 2017-05-25 at 03:49 PM.
    I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.

  8. - Top - End - #308
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Quote Originally Posted by TheAmishPirate View Post
    I've been thinking over the whole prototype project, and I've come to the conclusion that the Development/Bonus section is going to be the most difficult component to implement. Bonuses can affect a wide range of mechanics, from Unit actions, to Outputs, to the availability of influence links, etc. Technology was much the same way, but it was almost entirely restricted to Unit actions, with a few minor exceptions. What's more, Technology affected those actions in much the same way; either altering a chance of success, or scaling a duration up or down. That made it easy to build a simple system that could handle all the Technology traits. We don't have that luxury with Bonuses.

    This isn't to say that the system is bad. I'm just giving a head's up that this particular milestone is almost certainly going to take some time to figure out.

    EDIT: Thanqol wins The Prize for putting together a list of all Bonus modifiers.
    Sorry for dragging my brain on my next segment, I've had some pretty big and important thoughts happening in other spheres. I think my answer to the whole global warming this is just a simple downwards development pressure, I think the development system already covers all the associated social upheaval.

    EDIT2: Back before we reworked Bonuses, we said that a Country had to be owned before its Bonuses would take effect. Is that still true? Or are Bonuses always active, and just dependent on the Country's level of development?
    I think that it depends on ownership, a lot of them don't really make sense without it. But might test that.

    By the way:

    Peace and Independence: Congo loses Conflict Zone, all armies in Linked countries become 50% weaker
    Should be "Congo loses Conflict Zone, all Linked countries lose Conflict Zone.

  9. - Top - End - #309
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanqol View Post
    Sorry for dragging my brain on my next segment, I've had some pretty big and important thoughts happening in other spheres. I think my answer to the whole global warming this is just a simple downwards development pressure, I think the development system already covers all the associated social upheaval.
    Don't be too worried, you still have a bit of time. There's likely to be a milestone consisting purely of usability updates I've been putting off, another few to add the Crisis system, basic dialogue trees, a win condition, and an AI Mr. Johnson, and that's all after I get Bonuses sorted out. But after that, then all that will be left is the Environment.

    So long as I have a good specification for the system when the time comes, I'll be good.

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanqol View Post
    I think that it depends on ownership, a lot of them don't really make sense without it. But might test that.
    Agreed, a majority of them do require owners. But I think some of them make sense to be always-active. For instance, it'd be strange to have Environmental Collapse suddenly come online when one player starts claiming stuff in South America. I think we can make up a keyword to indicate a Bonus effect that is active even when the Country is neutral, and that would take care of it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanqol View Post
    Should be "Congo loses Conflict Zone, all Linked countries lose Conflict Zone.
    Gotcha, thanks.
    I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.

  10. - Top - End - #310
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    I'm very much looking forward to the AI and the limitations it imposes. Right now stuff feels pretty aimless and my checks have mostly just been looking to see if things I click work the way I think they should.
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Giant View Post
    Anarion's right on the money here.
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  11. - Top - End - #311
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Status Update: Why do all these Countries get Bonuses, but not me? Why has nobody saved a Bonus for Amish?

    It's inequalities like these that drive a fellow to piracy.
    I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.

  12. - Top - End - #312
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    I have found an interesting interaction that reveals some complicated issues with +/- Output speeds.

    Currently, Countries start at 0 production, and head towards a goal X. When the country's production reaches X, we produce a unit, reset production back to 0, and set a new goal Y. Let's say one player has a 25% mallus to Output. This means that their unit will take 1.25X production to produce. They make that unit, and start heading for the next goal, 1.25Y. However, before they can hit that goal, they remove the source of the mallus, and their production goal drops down to Y, same as their opponent's. They should both produce their next units at the same time, right?

    Wrong.

    The player still spent 1.25X production on their first unit, while their opponent only spent X. Their opponent is, effectively, .25X production ahead of them, because they never had to spend those extra turns on their first unit. This can lead to strange scenarios in which you've removed all penalties to your production, but your opponent is still pumping out units before you. (From the other angle, this means that even if you remove all your opponent's benefits to production, they will still be ahead of you.) This can make it difficult to play catch-up when you're behind on production.

    We need to carefully consider how we handle Output bonuses/penalties. I would recommend we devote a playtesting prototype completely to exploring this issue.
    I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.

  13. - Top - End - #313
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Quote Originally Posted by TheAmishPirate View Post

    We need to carefully consider how we handle Output bonuses/penalties. I would recommend we devote a playtesting prototype completely to exploring this issue.
    I agree with this. I don't inherently see this as a problem, but I feel like what I'd need to make a more informed judgment is to go review all of the bonuses and penalties and see how easy they are to acquire and lose, which I don't have time for now. Basically, I see this as a gameplay fun issue if a single early and unlucky move leads to the opponent constantly being ahead that's frustrating. Whereas if I'm constantly able to mess around with bonuses and penalties, even on a turn to turn basis, then what might transpire is the two of us dueling each other, where I majorly set back his nanotech, but he ruins my plans for new laser guns and so on and so forth, with the two of us structuring our respective businesses around what we do well and what hasn't been sabotaged. And that could be fun.
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Giant View Post
    Anarion's right on the money here.
    Quotes

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    Oscar Wilde Writer & Poet (1891)

  14. - Top - End - #314
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    That situation seems right to me. If one player has a malus for a while and then loses it, they are still behind and should not be producing units on the same schedule anymore; losing it does not undo the past. The opponent may be putting out units "before" you, but the interval between units is back to normal. As long as bonuses/penalties are clear in origin and not too arbitrary (or as Anarion puts it, an early and unlucky move) this is just part of the game.

    The main way I could see it being a problem is just from the large timestep that is a single turn. The shorter the interval between units the swingier it will feel.

    Also I would recommend placing the bonuses/penalties on the production rather then the target. It's an extra number to track but it makes more sense if the number is changing up or down turn to turn.
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  15. - Top - End - #315
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Phenomenon is done! And I won six awards - out of twelve sessions. That is a pretty damn good win rate - especially considering I lost my voice to the con plague in session 1 day 1 and it did not come back.

    Decompression procedures beginning, I'll get back into being sentient soon.
    Last edited by Thanqol; 2017-06-12 at 02:52 AM.

  16. - Top - End - #316
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    I am almost done with a basic framework for the Bonuses. Once I get that done, it'll just be a matter of putting in all the content. Which, unfortunately, due to the nature of Bonuses, has to be done largely by hand. Weh.

    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    I agree with this. I don't inherently see this as a problem, but I feel like what I'd need to make a more informed judgment is to go review all of the bonuses and penalties and see how easy they are to acquire and lose, which I don't have time for now. Basically, I see this as a gameplay fun issue if a single early and unlucky move leads to the opponent constantly being ahead that's frustrating. Whereas if I'm constantly able to mess around with bonuses and penalties, even on a turn to turn basis, then what might transpire is the two of us dueling each other, where I majorly set back his nanotech, but he ruins my plans for new laser guns and so on and so forth, with the two of us structuring our respective businesses around what we do well and what hasn't been sabotaged. And that could be fun.
    Sense makes. Hidden information is a large part of this game, but I think you're hitting a good point here. No matter how it works, the player should be able to:

    A) Notice that something is wrong
    B) Take real steps to fix it
    C) Throw wrenches in his opponent's plans along the way

    Quote Originally Posted by Madcrafter View Post
    That situation seems right to me. If one player has a malus for a while and then loses it, they are still behind and should not be producing units on the same schedule anymore; losing it does not undo the past. The opponent may be putting out units "before" you, but the interval between units is back to normal. As long as bonuses/penalties are clear in origin and not too arbitrary (or as Anarion puts it, an early and unlucky move) this is just part of the game.

    The main way I could see it being a problem is just from the large timestep that is a single turn. The shorter the interval between units the swingier it will feel.
    Also good points. I'm more convinced that this is the correct functionality, and we'll just have to see how it plays.

    Quote Originally Posted by Madcrafter View Post
    Also I would recommend placing the bonuses/penalties on the production rather then the target. It's an extra number to track but it makes more sense if the number is changing up or down turn to turn.
    That does sound easier to debug than the way I've been doing it, so I may make that change even though all these numbers are behind-the-scenes.
    I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.

  17. - Top - End - #317
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    So I have taken the plunge on Plastic Crack and am now an official Warhamster! Over the days ahead I am going to learn the basics of modelling and painting and start assembling an army in the finest traditions of the genre.

    I'm super excited about this; this is the re-invigoration my art project really needs - and it's pretty much a lifelong ambition finally coming to fruition.


    Glad the design's coming along well on your end Amish. Is there anything you'd like me to theorycraft on now that my brain mostly exists again?

  18. - Top - End - #318
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanqol View Post
    So I have taken the plunge on Plastic Crack and am now an official Warhamster! Over the days ahead I am going to learn the basics of modelling and painting and start assembling an army in the finest traditions of the genre.

    I'm super excited about this; this is the re-invigoration my art project really needs - and it's pretty much a lifelong ambition finally coming to fruition.
    I expect pictures of the newly-fancified legions.

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanqol View Post
    Glad the design's coming along well on your end Amish. Is there anything you'd like me to theorycraft on now that my brain mostly exists again?
    Hrmm. The most helpful thing for you to theorycraft would be a detailed specification for the Environment system. That's the last, big gap in what I need to make. After that, if you could just toss together two basic Endgames for me to put in, that would be swell.

    Working on the Bonus system has driven home how important our information presentation is going to be. Right now, if the player wants to find all the things that could be affecting one Country, they need to open three different in-game windows and check the Bonuses of a half-dozen nearby Countries. (Mind, this is all unpolished prototype UI that I don't expect to make it to the final version.) This game is about many things, but the player's ability to track down numbers and do complicated arithmetic isn't one of them. That's the sort of thing where the game should do the heavy lifting, and free the player to focus on other things.

    (Sorry for the delay; this thread fell out of my brain completely.)
    I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.

  19. - Top - End - #319
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    The core of the Bonus system is complete. Now comes the job of going region by region, Country by Country, and building/testing all the Bonuses I can at this stage.

    Still a ways to go, but it should be smoother sailing from here.
    I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.

  20. - Top - End - #320
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    A short progress update today: Like I mentioned above, I've gotten the core of the Bonus system figured out, and now I have to go through and custom-build all the Bonuses for each Country. There are some Bonuses that won't be making it into this milestone, as the systems they affect are either incomplete or require fixing. Once the corresponding systems are fixed/implemented, I'll add those Bonuses. These include:

    • Global Warming/Enviornment system
    • Unit movement
    • Insurgency

    (For unit movement, I still need to make that a proper action, rather than the infinite unit movement you see now. For Insurgency, I straight-up messed up the implementation of that, so Agents can't stack Insurgency actions like they should.)

    Thus far, I've completed all the Bonuses I can for North America, East Asia, Oceana, and I've started on Western Europe. Progress is good, though there are definitely some that I'm not looking forward to building. I may make a post later talking about the structure of this system, because it's forced me to think in ways that run counter to how I usually build things. While individual Bonuses are not very modular or reusable, the framework surrounding the Bonuses is such that I can rapidly create new Bonuses with a minimum of effort. Their behavior is different, but they interface with the rest of the system in the same way.

    As an aside, I had a question about the Culturally Influential bonus.

    Culturally Influential: Tech spread between any countries linked to France is doubled
    What does that mean? Countries linked to France spread tech twice as fast? France spreads tech to its neighbors twice as fast? Some third thing I didn't think of?

    EDIT: Also, we should considering having some Bonuses active even when the Country is neutral. As it stands, there's no way to jump continents because, uh, all the International Ports are inactive until somebody can claim them. :'D
    Last edited by TheAmishPirate; 2017-06-23 at 02:57 PM.
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  21. - Top - End - #321
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Quote Originally Posted by TheAmishPirate View Post
    I expect pictures of the newly-fancified legions.
    You will get them! As soon as I can afford paint. I, uh, I'm down to $30 in my bank account until payday.

    The good news is that modelling was way less intimidating than I thought it would be and I have now put together like 75% of the army! The bad news is that I am now out of glue. The good news is that I have been filling spare time by watching tutorial videos to get a theoretical understanding of miniature painting! The bad news is that the froghurt is also cursed.

    Hrmm. The most helpful thing for you to theorycraft would be a detailed specification for the Environment system. That's the last, big gap in what I need to make. After that, if you could just toss together two basic Endgames for me to put in, that would be swell.
    Sure. Within the week.

    (Sorry for the delay; this thread fell out of my brain completely.)
    Yeah I've actually been way off my schedule due to my vacation. Back to work next week!

    Quote Originally Posted by TheAmishPirate View Post
    What does that mean? Countries linked to France spread tech twice as fast? France spreads tech to its neighbors twice as fast? Some third thing I didn't think of?
    Reconstructing my opinions, if France has a tech the passive adjacency spread of that tech is increased for countries linked to France. So if you want to bring down all of Europe with evil robots then you've just got to make it fashionable in France.

    EDIT: Also, we should considering having some Bonuses active even when the Country is neutral. As it stands, there's no way to jump continents because, uh, all the International Ports are inactive until somebody can claim them. :'D
    Oh yeah, didn't I develop a subsystem for that? no I guess I imagined doing that.

  22. - Top - End - #322
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanqol View Post
    You will get them! As soon as I can afford paint. I, uh, I'm down to $30 in my bank account until payday.

    The good news is that modelling was way less intimidating than I thought it would be and I have now put together like 75% of the army! The bad news is that I am now out of glue. The good news is that I have been filling spare time by watching tutorial videos to get a theoretical understanding of miniature painting! The bad news is that the froghurt is also cursed.
    That's bad!

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanqol View Post
    Reconstructing my opinions, if France has a tech the passive adjacency spread of that tech is increased for countries linked to France. So if you want to bring down all of Europe with evil robots then you've just got to make it fashionable in France.
    Gotcha. For fine-tuning, we'll have to see how effective the level 3 Bonus is in comparison to this one. (At Development Level 3, all tech adopted in France counts as adopted in countries linked to France.)

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanqol View Post
    Oh yeah, didn't I develop a subsystem for that? no I guess I imagined doing that.
    I think what happened was I brought the idea up when we were working on Bonus 2.0, but then we forgot to actually do anything with it. Plus side, with the way I've made the Bonus system, it should be pretty trivial to add an "Active When Neutral" flag.

    We should also take a look at some of the negative bonuses, and make sure we know which ones should be always-on and which ones shouldn't. For things like Mexico's level 1 "USA loses Output" Bonus, it would make no sense to have that active all the time, because it'd be constantly handicapping the player from the start. Instead, it incentivizes the player to invest in Mexico a bit before formally claiming it. Or, for the AI, it incentivizes them to crash Mexico and hold it to cripple US production.

    ...oh yeah. Another question we should've figured out by now. What Development Level do countries start at?
    I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.

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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanqol View Post
    You will get them! As soon as I can afford paint. I, uh, I'm down to $30 in my bank account until payday.

    The good news is that modelling was way less intimidating than I thought it would be and I have now put together like 75% of the army! The bad news is that I am now out of glue. The good news is that I have been filling spare time by watching tutorial videos to get a theoretical understanding of miniature painting! The bad news is that the froghurt is also cursed.
    Take this from someone who spent all of high school building these things (and constantly hated himself for not having steady enough hands to be a good enough painter): do a really good priming coat first. And do washes, highlights, and shadows if you want them to look nice. They always look like crap with just the color scheme, and it's all the light and shadow effects that make them look cool.
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Giant View Post
    Anarion's right on the money here.
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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Progress!

    The process has not been without incident however (this is due to me making a dumb decision, not my default level of klutziness)

    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Take this from someone who spent all of high school building these things (and constantly hated himself for not having steady enough hands to be a good enough painter): do a really good priming coat first. And do washes, highlights, and shadows if you want them to look nice. They always look like crap with just the color scheme, and it's all the light and shadow effects that make them look cool.
    Yeah! The GW youtube channel is actually really helpful and informative these days - what a world we live in. It's really helpful in getting my head around all this stuff.

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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    SPECHCHE MAHRHINES UPDATE

    I might be able to get my lady friend into the hobby simultaneously. That'd be a heck of a coup if it happens.


    Currently I'm actually facing a pretty weird block - the temperature. When basecoating miniatures the ambient temperature has to be 15C-25C - and currently it's the ass end of winter and outdoor noonday temperatures are ranging from 12 to 9 - and I tend to not get home until 5 when it's lower than 7. And obviously you don't want to spray paint indoors.

    At the moment the plan is that I'll have to batch spray everything on Saturday when it hits 12 because after that it's going to rain and the temperature's going to drop to single digits for the foreseeable future. But at least when that's done I'll be able to get moving on everything else.


    Colour Talk

    After a while of browsing I found a scheme I like for the Mahriners; the Executioners chapter has a cool thing going with dark silver armour and gold/bronze helmets and secondary colouring.

    The real goal is to put together an Adeptus Mechanicus list because I think their models look gorgeous, so my goal with the Marines is to have them in colours that are going to sync well enough with the AdMech that they look effective as an allied force. The admech I'm currently planning on a bronze-and-wood colour scheme, kind of steampunkish, and currently looking to experiment with very artificially green cloaks.

    Fluffwise, the main idea I have for both of these factions is that they're the guardians and population of an Imperial Ringworld. It being 40K, after centuries of being run as an industrial hub and constant sieges and infestations, huge segments of the Ringworld have been cannibalized to feed the shipyards and foundries so it's currently a broken ring shape, which will form the basis for various identifying marks and Chapter sigils.


    Quote Originally Posted by TheAmishPirate View Post
    I think what happened was I brought the idea up when we were working on Bonus 2.0, but then we forgot to actually do anything with it. Plus side, with the way I've made the Bonus system, it should be pretty trivial to add an "Active When Neutral" flag.

    We should also take a look at some of the negative bonuses, and make sure we know which ones should be always-on and which ones shouldn't. For things like Mexico's level 1 "USA loses Output" Bonus, it would make no sense to have that active all the time, because it'd be constantly handicapping the player from the start. Instead, it incentivizes the player to invest in Mexico a bit before formally claiming it. Or, for the AI, it incentivizes them to crash Mexico and hold it to cripple US production.

    ...oh yeah. Another question we should've figured out by now. What Development Level do countries start at?
    I'm tempted by 1 across the board. I might want to experiment with a scatter of different levels later.

    The environment system I'm thinking shouldn't be too complicated; the idea my mind keeps turning to is a constant downward pressure on development. The alternative that comes to me just now is to tie it into the crisis system in a major way - the potential negative impacts of crises gets immensely worse the closer to environmental collapse the planet is.

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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanqol View Post
    Progress!

    The process has not been without incident however (this is due to me making a dumb decision, not my default level of klutziness)
    I don't think the first link works? I've clicked on it, and nothing's happened.

    (Dang. Those marines may be tiny, but they are vicious little buggers.)

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanqol View Post
    Currently I'm actually facing a pretty weird block - the temperature. When basecoating miniatures the ambient temperature has to be 15C-25C - and currently it's the ass end of winter and outdoor noonday temperatures are ranging from 12 to 9 - and I tend to not get home until 5 when it's lower than 7. And obviously you don't want to spray paint indoors.

    At the moment the plan is that I'll have to batch spray everything on Saturday when it hits 12 because after that it's going to rain and the temperature's going to drop to single digits for the foreseeable future. But at least when that's done I'll be able to get moving on everything else.
    Huh. Despite this being a fact of how the world works, this is the first time I've seriously realized that you live on the opposite side of the world season-wise.

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanqol View Post
    Colour Talk

    After a while of browsing I found a scheme I like for the Mahriners; the Executioners chapter has a cool thing going with dark silver armour and gold/bronze helmets and secondary colouring.

    The real goal is to put together an Adeptus Mechanicus list because I think their models look gorgeous, so my goal with the Marines is to have them in colours that are going to sync well enough with the AdMech that they look effective as an allied force. The admech I'm currently planning on a bronze-and-wood colour scheme, kind of steampunkish, and currently looking to experiment with very artificially green cloaks.

    Fluffwise, the main idea I have for both of these factions is that they're the guardians and population of an Imperial Ringworld. It being 40K, after centuries of being run as an industrial hub and constant sieges and infestations, huge segments of the Ringworld have been cannibalized to feed the shipyards and foundries so it's currently a broken ring shape, which will form the basis for various identifying marks and Chapter sigils.
    I can't wait to see how it turns out. The idea that you can just...cook up an idea for some space marines, and then make your imaginary armies manifest in miniature is bonkers to me.

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanqol View Post
    I'm tempted by 1 across the board. I might want to experiment with a scatter of different levels later.
    That's what I have it at now, with the exception of the Superpower nations. They both start at 3.

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanqol View Post
    The environment system I'm thinking shouldn't be too complicated; the idea my mind keeps turning to is a constant downward pressure on development. The alternative that comes to me just now is to tie it into the crisis system in a major way - the potential negative impacts of crises gets immensely worse the closer to environmental collapse the planet is.
    Thought to consider for the Crisis system: That would mean that doing better in the environment game means you get a leg up in Crisis system. That might be a win-more situation if we're not careful.

    I do agree that it shouldn't be too complicated. I like the idea of downward pressure on Development Level (as right now, nothing in the game can negatively affect a Country's Development Level), and I would also consider the idea of different countries having different levels of environmental susceptibility. Some Countries just un-develop much quicker than others at all stages of environmental collapse. This sort of thing could be easily color-coded on a map view.
    I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.

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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Quote Originally Posted by TheAmishPirate View Post
    I don't think the first link works? I've clicked on it, and nothing's happened.

    (Dang. Those marines may be tiny, but they are vicious little buggers.)
    Will take another photo tonight after I finish assembling the last five dudes.

    Huh. Despite this being a fact of how the world works, this is the first time I've seriously realized that you live on the opposite side of the world season-wise.
    It is upside down land here!

    I can't wait to see how it turns out. The idea that you can just...cook up an idea for some space marines, and then make your imaginary armies manifest in miniature is bonkers to me.
    Oh, that's the best part! I'm going to give these dudes names and backstories. I'm currently dwelling a lot on the track Together To The Stars from Endless Space 2 for my theme for these guys. The deep, distant pounding of metal in space and mournful chorus strikes me as perfectly fitting for the inhabitants of a doomed megastructure.

    I'm theorycrafting a lot of fluff and backstory right now but I want to see if my proposed colour scheme actually looks good on the model before I commit to anything.

    Overall, though, is the idea that I want to play up the occultism and mystical aspects of the setting for both the AdMech and their allied Marines. This stuff is scattered through a bunch of Warhammer books (notably anything written by Abnett), and the AdMech in particular are a faction of technology wizards. Here, check out their boss man, Belesarius Cawl. He's some kind of horrifying robotic centaur with like a thousand limbs but he's wearing a goddamn cloak because he's still a person and he's got a book because books alone are trustworthy. A lot of the Skitarii models have surprisingly old fashioned guns with shocking amounts of wood, like old fashioned muskets or arquebuses with the folding bipods. That the most technologically advanced faction in the setting shows up to the battlefield with such obviously impractical and archaic tech just screams volumes about their character. They're drawing their tech cues from Doctor Grodbort's AEtherial Oscillators and it's fantastic.

    (Also check out the Sydonian Dragoons. They're the most retro-sci-fi thing I've ever seen - we're going to build a giant set of robot stilts and cavalry charge tanks with a sharpened three meter long cattle prod)

    So yeah, I'm putting a lot of thinkspace to my spacemans. They're going to be cool as heck when they're done.

    Thought to consider for the Crisis system: That would mean that doing better in the environment game means you get a leg up in Crisis system. That might be a win-more situation if we're not careful.

    I do agree that it shouldn't be too complicated. I like the idea of downward pressure on Development Level (as right now, nothing in the game can negatively affect a Country's Development Level), and I would also consider the idea of different countries having different levels of environmental susceptibility. Some Countries just un-develop much quicker than others at all stages of environmental collapse. This sort of thing could be easily color-coded on a map view.
    You're right. The Crisis system currently serves such an integral narrative role it's probably super dangerous to hook new things up to it.
    Last edited by Thanqol; 2017-06-27 at 10:00 PM.

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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Got a messload of Bonus-related questions today.

    International Aid: 2x development speed and tech spread to all linked tier 1 countries
    Biotech Hub: +50% technology spread speed to linked countries
    What do you mean exactly by "double tech spread?" Is that a straight x2 multiplier to all tech growth? Or only the spread from neighboring countries?

    Regional Power: Base of 4 links. Can instantly form or break links
    Am I correct in assuming that breaking/forming links with a Regional Power has a 100% success rate, regardless of tech effects?

    EU Federalization: All countries in the Europe region are permanently linked to each other.
    Western Europe, Eastern Europe, or both? And are these links based on adjacency, or are all countries in the appropriate Europe now adjacent to each other?

    Bureaucratic Crisis (ban): European countries take 2x as long to form links
    What does this mean? Forging Links is a % based skill chance, not duration based.

    Fortress: Agents may not enter this country
    Is this all Agents, or just enemy Agents?

    PS: Western Europe is taking the prize for Worst Region. Nearly every country has a super specific Bonus that futzes with the other systems in an ugly/inelegant way and takes forever to get right.
    Last edited by TheAmishPirate; 2017-06-30 at 04:13 PM.
    I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.

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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Quote Originally Posted by TheAmishPirate View Post
    What do you mean exactly by "double tech spread?" Is that a straight x2 multiplier to all tech growth? Or only the spread from neighboring countries?
    From neighbouring countries.

    Am I correct in assuming that breaking/forming links with a Regional Power has a 100% success rate, regardless of tech effects?
    Yes, though I think that effect only applies to the player controlling the Regional Power.

    Western Europe, Eastern Europe, or both? And are these links based on adjacency, or are all countries in the appropriate Europe now adjacent to each other?
    Western Europe and adjacency.

    What does this mean? Forging Links is a % based skill chance, not duration based.
    Double the base % chance or something, or add a cooldown to the executive after each attempt, whatever feels right. The gist of the effect is more important than the specifics.

    Is this all Agents, or just enemy Agents?
    Enemy agents.

    PS: Western Europe is taking the prize for Worst Region. Nearly every country has a super specific Bonus that futzes with the other systems in an ugly/inelegant way and takes forever to get right.
    D:

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    Default Re: Thanqol Learns To Draw Six: Stealing Time

    Day 2226: First Try

    So today I finally got my paints and put together my very first squad of spache mahreines.

    Check it out.

    Spoiler
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    I reckon I nailed it.

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