Friday with Means – September 24th, 2010 – Questions and Answers

[techprince]

hai !

[PhoenixOfAges]

Going hand in hand with these changes we will see the required number of people to start a BS drop from 12 to 8 and the people required for it to remain running drop to 4.

May have been better to just change that part or at least see how things go with just that change for a while before tinkering with the level ranges. Oh, well, can always change things around some more later.

During the last year the render team has been tearing the engine apart and rebuilding it better, stronger, faster and more optimized.

Kinda reminded me of the intro for the old Bionicman TV show.

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Any information about what you mentioned a few weeks ago about setting up an option to dump xp/sk directly into pool?
I accidentally dinged my 200 char last night so i'm a bit annoyed by that...

I asked that last week, he didn't answer it, I was sad.

[Grim-One]

No. For now the new engine is DX9.

Not that I know much on how easy it is to add support for DX version, but isn't DX9 getting kind of dated and wouldn't it of been better to start of by aiming for higher?

[Gora]

Not that I know much on how easy it is to add support for DX version, but isn't DX9 getting kind of dated and wouldn't it of been better to start of by aiming for higher?

Downloaded Civ5 two days ago and the play options are DX9 or DX10/11. I'd say that it's plenty sufficient.

Best,
Gora

[Caighil]

I would support a resignation form. They would have to kill your faction back to zero and put a 6 month nano that would not allow you to choose a side. You would also have to be naked to do it. (insert joke here)

Story Line

It was 5:45 am as a blurry eyed Caighil wandered through the predawn light seeking redemption. He had not slept that night, or for that matter, many nights. He was about to turn his back on his friends, family and his life. The war was getting to him, and he could no longer support Omni and what they stood for. He wanted peace. He wanted to change allegiances. After years of fighting the Clan, he had come to realize that in the end they were no different then the Omni. Seeking plunder from their foe controlling the poor and needy for their own gains.

He had meet John Graham in The Cup, doing a job handing out Pamphlets. John must have seen Caighil's dissatisfaction and befriended him. Their get togethers continued over the next few months and when John was satisfied that he could trust Caighil, and was sure that he was a candidate he broached the subject with him.

"Caighil, we're friends right?"
"Absolutely, whats on your mind John?"
"I have something to ask you, but I need to know that I can trust you. Can I trust you?"
"Yes. What is it?"
"If you could leave the Omni, would you?"
"You mean go Clan?? Never!!"
"No, not clan."
"What ... are you talking about?"
"Neutral my friend, come join me!"
"It can not be done. How?"
"Science. We sedate the subject, and implant a device that runs a nano to makes you forget your allegiances. Basically we reset you belief systems. This nano runs for 6 months. Ethically speaking we could not make you always stay with us or we are no different from the Clan or the Omni."
"So after 6 months, I can choose to go back or stay."
"That is correct. Any sided armor or items will also be rendered useless as we require you to be naked to complete the process."
"John, I will need to think about this. I will get in touch with you within the week."
"Thank you Caighil, and good luck."

7am

Caighil lay naked on the table with 2 doctors standing over him. They were injecting him with an anesthetic. As he slept, the surgery took place. When the surgery was complete, the Doctor walked to the Computer Terminal and pressed his finger to the screen, hitting the activate button.

"Hostile Nano 'Emerge to Freedom' has been run in Caighil's NCU. All Faction = 0. Side = Neutral."

To be continued


I am not a writer, so excuse the lameness. Just trying to make it fit into the story line.

[Keldros]

Not that I know much on how easy it is to add support for DX version, but isn't DX9 getting kind of dated and wouldn't it of been better to start of by aiming for higher?

Do you really have to ask this when there's another thread debating whether Win XP or Win 7 is better?

[shadowgod]

Not that I know much on how easy it is to add support for DX version, but isn't DX9 getting kind of dated and wouldn't it of been better to start of by aiming for higher?

well, fact they're going from DX7 to 9 is already a huge improvement in itself. so yeah.. they did try to aim higher.

[Sama]

well, fact they're going from DX7 to 9 is already a huge improvement in itself. so yeah.. they did try to aim higher.

actually using your video card is FTW

[Xyphos]

Engineers are next up. This is likely to take a bit more time as it will involve a general overhaul process of ALL the pets and pet abilities for all professions.

I have a feeling that we'll be seeing more crats in game then engineers,
and the existing engineer population rapidly declining or holding a huge protest/rally/strike in the middle of borealis.
but please prove me wrong on this.

[sultryvoltron]

Yeah, was pretty pissed about the engine info, sounds to me like him flip-flopping on saying they weren't going to support both engines is mostly to blame. I mean seriously, I'm sure the people that would have to stick with the old client are a VAST minority. Sounds like a huge waste of time to me...but...yeah at least he's saying rebalance This Year™

...but I find that extremely hard to believe considering the lack of information we have at the moment and it's almost October. Or does the Norwegian New Year not start in January?

If he means fiscal Q1, then it could be April, March, July, September, or possibly January >.<

Actually, scratch that. FC's fiscal year begins in May (lifted from the Q1 report). So this year could be before January, could also be by April.

Also, major LOL at the RP crowd coming out of the woodworks to lay down the law. Sic him boys!

[Iriche]

In bed!!!

I question this, wrong nick

[bitnykk]

thanx for these answers.
just really hope there won't be any delay on engine ; startup, rebalance seem more and more secondary to me compared to engine.

[Towerblock]

=) Good stuff going on here, I see.

[Klanbear]

I, along with other people at the Q and A in Oslo saw the lighting effects which included effects which were extra ordinary for a DX9 client. Wish some DX10 games showed some of that. Gimme more, more more

[Mekh]

I’m not a huge roleplayer but from a story perspective it has always felt absurd that you could return to being neutral after taking a side in the conflict. This would be used to flip-flop between sides and we would definitely see a “bandwagon” effect in Notum Wars. From a technical perspective it also plays havoc with player faction levels. I have no plans for implementing Sided-Neutral changes.

I have the deepest respect for you, but that comment is just... well, totally off...
You do not support people retreating from the conflict due to the risk of "flip-flopping" between sides, yet the active participants of the conflict clan/omni are free to "flip-flop" whenever they feel like it?

It's probably already done by now, but let me point you towards this link to part of the existing story line :

First appearance of neutrals

The first "neutrals" appear when Omni-Tek employees - as well as clan members - abandon their affiliations and settle in non-political zones. Fearing more ICC interventions, OT authorities turn a blind eye to these neutrals.

Source: http://www.anarchy-online.com/wsp/an...&table=CONTENT

If anything everyone should be allowed to go neutral whenever they feel like it, if they no longer wish to be part of the conflict between clan/omni.

Switching freely between clan and Omni makes WAY less sense than any clan/omni switching to neutral...

[Esssch]

Please don't touch and nerf my runspeed yet again!
i remember the days when i moved like lightning, jumped higher than the sky..and used my Yalm as a submarine!...Small changes to these normal things is slowly taking away some of the Edge that AO has in my opinion.

QFT. I feel so slow these days I mean, it doesn't help that I'm an MP, so my selfed runspeed is like high 1700s, low 1800s (this is from memory you nazis), while some other profs run around with 2k+ selfed. I know, it doesn't seem like that big of a diference, but getting a small 200 run buff actually makes me WAY faster.

Downloaded Civ5 two days ago and the play options are DX9 or DX10/11. I'd say that it's plenty sufficient.

Best,
Gora

You downloaded Civ5 and you're here posting instead of playing it? What's wrong with you? D:



jk, I just downloaded it yesterday. Played it for 6 hours straight (and would've gone for more, but it was 2am and figured I should go to bed), but I still had to come check the FWM ;D

[TronjanHorse]

Just a quik question: Won't this mean you will have to adjust stuff for both the old and the new version? Supporting 2 versions will cost time as well

Yeah agree with you, why bother with old client when you have a new faster/more stable client.
I am sure the sql part shouldn't be that hard, but you might end up using methods that
the old client don´t like to much.

Dish the old client. Bump!

[If6was9]

actually using your video card is FTW

Yesh. Very much so. And clipping. Should get us on the better side of 2002's graphics tech.

I'm pretty sure that FC's trying to create 2 versions of the engine is a bad use of a small staff's time. The people who have played this game for years would be willing to update their computer hardware if a newer AO engine required it - I'm confident of that.

[McKnuckleSamwich]

Thanks for the update!

[Grim-One]

I, along with other people at the Q and A in Oslo saw the lighting effects which included effects which were extra ordinary for a DX9 client. Wish some DX10 games showed some of that. Gimme more, more more

That puts me at ease a bit.