Beta-test of the 4th world

[ehyder]

I think it's only possible to select difficulty in custom mode. If it's difficult in campaign then its the campaign itself and it's ok since it increases with each level.

You are correct, you can only select difficulty in custom, but difficulty does show up as a description in campaign mode. I am trying to understand if the difficulty description that shows up in campaign (easy for forest, normal for ice and desert, hard for underground) is what is supposed to be represented by the difficulty options in Custom Game. My assumption has always been yes, but maybe my assumption is incorrect.

It is my experience that, in custom games, normal difficulty on Forest is much easier than normal difficulty on the other worlds, normal difficulty on the ice world is easier than normal difficulty on the desert world, etc. For me the difference in 'normal' difficulty between these worlds is primarily due to constraints on resources and weather conditions, which, I think, is not clearly reflected in the concept of 'normal' difficulty across world types. I am not saying it needs to be changed necessarily, but perhaps some clarification would be useful, especially for newer players.

[ehyder]

I have had this issue before in some of my other play throughs, but with the altar on the 4th world, this game mechanic has been a pain. If you have a dwarf replace a block there is a very short period where the original block space is empty. During this very short period creatures can fall or climb into the block, or if you are really unlucky something will spawn in that space. At that point whatever dwarf is tasked with replacing the block will go into an endless loop to try to replace it. While this event is annoying, the player can adjust by killing/mining whatever is occupying the block and/or clearing the replace block action.

Fourth world: made the mistake of trying to collect some of that sand conveniently provided by Takmak by replacing the sand blocks with my abundant dirt blocks. Of course the shaman decides to occupy a block the dwarf is replacing. Let's just say canceling the replace block action while not selecting the attack the shaman action was a bit challenging. Now the empty block is still there with shaman and friends since Takmak has nicely given me some goodies after my donations. I call this one, not too creatively, 'Everyone wants to be in the hole in the ground.'

I will probably try to clear out that hole once I get better gear. Until then it is party time.

[ehyder]

Can you change the graphics on the Saber of Cave Goblins to distinguish them from each other? I have four sabers, two of them are stacked showing two in inventory (20 damage), and there are two other sabers with their own inventory slot (25 damage, and 40 damage). Maybe different colored handles/blades, more/less teeth?

[ehyder]

Notes on v1.1.003b custom game, tech tree, rare weather, normal, on a Mac:
Takmak

• Not sure what the right solution is but having the screen move to Takmak when he appears is just as inconvenient as having it happen when a monster portal opens.
• Please do not have Takmak and monster portals appear at the same time. Especially if the screen is going to switch to Takmak’s location.
• Please do not have the shaman keep repeating his lines over, and over, and over, and over, and …. Perhaps add the dialog to the bestiary after he has made his speech a few times?
• The plant growth provided by Takmak seems underwhelming. Mostly I am getting animals, which can be good, but it would be nice if once I have herds of caterpillars and cave beasts I could get more trees and mushrooms. Unless particular offerings are linked to types of rewards? If that is the case I have not been able to figure it out yet.
• There have been at least three times when the altar glowed blue and Takmak became angry. I have noticed that sometimes it takes a while for the altar to switch from blue to orange after he takes the offering.

Rifles

• Archery skill - does not seem to be linked to rifles, should it be? If so, rename archery skills and books to ‘ranged.’ If not the dwarves need another skill type and book. So far the only dwarves increasing their archery skill are the dwarves carrying bows, not guns. (And the dwarves still need a masonry skill/book.)
• The damage/accuracy/economics balance on the bows/guns seems off. I have not run the numbers but the more expensive guns do not seem worth it. With the heavy bow you have the same accuracy as the high-powered rifle but the bow shoots three arrows, which seems to give it an in-action accuracy number that is quite a bit higher. I have been watching my gun-toting dwarves being totally ‘outgunned’ by the archers. This just seems wrong. Using normal, infinite ammunition on both weapon types.

Goblins

• Cannot tell the difference between the different goblin sabers, they all have the same look and name even though the damage rating is different.
• With the high damage ratings of the sabers there is less incentive to craft your own higher grade weapons.
• It would be cool to get some of those fancy goblin helmets as drops. And parachutes, my dwarves want parachutes! Maybe as rare drops. These would certainly help to reduce fall damage.
• The drop rate on weapons seems pretty high, other gear very low. After three camps, and many waves I have lots of sabers, and other lower-grade weapons, but only one mining tool and a few pieces of armor. Given my comment above on sabers I would lower the drop rate on weapons and slightly increase other equipment drops. Some mid to highish quality armor is always a welcome surprise since you need more armor for the dwarves, one weapon, three pieces of armor. It is much easier to weaponize the dwarves than suit them up in good armor so receiving armor is often much more rewarding. At least for me.
• Goblin camps do not seem to be counted as hidden rooms. The spell and the achievement both ignored any camps.
• Goblin camp loot - I would have expected more/any ore to drop from the camps. I think I am mostly getting coins and chitin, and bone?

Skeletons - none found after 17.5 hours of play. Did find three goblin camps, four ant colonies, three dragons, and the portal guardian. I am sure there are more hidden rooms, but still.

Suicidal dwarf behavior

• Melee fighters running headlong into mobs (often ignoring the enemy right in front of them to the get to the one in the back of the mob), and leaving their ranged fighters way behind.
• Dwarves standing there being pummeled, and not fleeing or fighting back.

Tech Tree - definitely an improvement but a player still has to make too many items that you do not really care about and use up scarce resources. There is a thread on Steam devoted to this so I will not go into detail here.

Monster portals - very hard to know where the monsters are coming from. It is dark and the icon still goes away too soon. I do see you increased the time but I think it would be better to leave the icon on the screen while the monsters are still dropping in from the portal. I am also having trouble tracking down all of the monsters that come through the portal, which means I am not usually able to get the extra xp for getting rid of the entire wave. Some of the wave seem to wander off or not bother to come all the way down from an island.

Tesla towers do not stack.

Portal spell management - This is more of a wish list item and not beta-specific. I would like to be able to start from the home portal and move the screen to where there is an open portal. This would make it a whole lot easier to check on dwarf operations. So maybe something like, click on the portal next to the storehouse and a menu would pop up with options to go to any of the open portals. The menu names can be as simple as portal 1, portal 2, etc. Better tagging would be nice but I cannot think of a reasonable naming method other than numerical; the portals are too ephemeral for persistent naming. Translation: the portals come and go too frequently to put much effort into naming them.

Steel ladders are awesome.
[/li][/list]

[wetware05]

strongly agree with this big, big mistake. It is very frustrating (occurs in 4 worlds):

"Suicidal dwarf behavior
 
    Melee fighters running headlong into mobs (often ignoring the enemy right in front of them to     the get to the one in the back of the mob), and leaving their ranged fighters way behind.
Dwarves standing there being pummeled, and not fleeing or fighting back."

[wetware05]

Incredibly good!!!  ;DCongratulations. Perhaps might be firearms on the first three levels?

[ReneMiner]

crosspost (my weekend-summary),  the "most important things" only, suggest-free

goblins camp (1st world)

It was in the old days below version 0.9.03x always a performance-lag when the camp appeared and the framerate went down. It was like a signal "the goblins spawn now". And this has been solved, there was no more lag and the player could not feel when they appear.

With this versions 1.1.00x there is a new signal:
the complete game stops(!!!) for like 300 to 800 milliseconds that moment and tells me: "goblin camp is spawning NOW!"

________________________________________________________

manual under-water-control not working! I tried a few times within different game-sessions

It was possible in previous versions to navigate a dwarf under water and they always equipped automatic the diving-helmets.

With version 1.1.004b they do not,
it is not possible building under water manually- dwarf drowns instead of using diving-helmet.

________________________________________________________

towers don't repair automatic

i play 1st-world, nightmare-mode, sandbox currently - don't know if "nightmare-mode" matters here and influences healing times for wooden towers but i am pretty sure they don't regain health automatic. (i suspect same for tesla-towers).

[ReneMiner]

Suicidal dwarf behavior

• Melee fighters running headlong into mobs (often ignoring the enemy right in front of them to the get to the one in the back of the mob), and leaving their ranged fighters way behind.
• Dwarves standing there being pummeled, and not fleeing or fighting back.

Just to illustrate "kamikaze-melee", see picture below:

As you can see, the warriors are running into the mobs, forcing me trying to click more and more far away enemies else the ranged fighters would go back into the house and leave the melee-fighters alone out there.
This means the dwarves move out of the protected zone pretty fast and come to the red portals position eventually. But then it's to far away to go back to the other side of the house and no more possible to get the bonus

many clicks do something else than marking the desired enemy for attack!
 

• very often accidental unmark other enemies, which means one has to try to click them again...
• often click onto environment (loggin trees, dig, enter shop, remove fences & cages...)
• sometimes miss

calling dwarves back in, using Siege-Mode-Button results in dwarves going to far away from the exits, the ranged fighters (mages & archers) are back at work as fastest, so calling them now out for attack again means, the melee-fighters are back in battle as first.

Also on horn-spell near the door the melee-fighters don't return to spell-position while ranged fighters (that can not see the other enemies) will pummel there and be no help for the warriors with clubs & swords that are running towards the next enemy within their view- no matter if marked or not.

Similar issues clicking onto a certain creature for example when goblin-camp spawns or ant's nests to be destroyed, entering pyramid-room or just when fighting the portal guards who summon more creatures.

What could help?

A dwarf that currently is in combat with an enemy that is marked to attack should automatic mark other enemies for attack that are in his view.
It would mean for gameplay more organic and dynamic battle since player needs only to decide once: fight or not fight.



I consider the current dwarves combat-ai already smart enough to win the battle if they would do this all on their own, once the player marked the first few enemies to attack.
Since the melee-fighters are in front and in battle already, the new marked enemies would be taken care of by the ranged fighters automatic because melee-fighters are busy and also mages would stay automatic in range of injured dwarves to heal.

Then it's all about the player-chosen equipment, beer or tea and the skills.

post splitted to have scrollbar near image  

[ReneMiner]

(sorry for multiple post,  reason see above)
________________________________________________________



resource name="pink_crystal"
(Розовый кристалл)

this item always leads to confusion with the items listed below since it's called a "crystal".

Also from the view of science only this might be a crystal...

The other items:

resource name="portal_krs_blue"
resource name="portal_krs_red"
resource name="portal_krs_dblue"
resource name="portal_krs_green"
resource name="portal_krs_violet"

should be called
"Diamond" instead of "crystal" for the english version
lang\English\data\local\craft_resources.xml
lines 33 to 42

Code: [Select]

  <BluediamondT>Blue Diamond</BluediamondT>
  <BluediamondD>Precious stones for making magic objects and structures.</BluediamondD>
  <ReddiamondT>Red Diamond</ReddiamondT>
  <ReddiamondD>Precious stones for making magic objects and structures.</ReddiamondD>
  <DarkbluediamondT>Dark Diamond</DarkbluediamondT>
  <DarkbluediamondD>Precious stones for making magic objects and structures.</DarkbluediamondD>
  <GreendiamondT>Green Diamond</GreendiamondT>
  <GreendiamondD>Precious stones for making magic objects and structures.</GreendiamondD>
  <PurplediamondT>Purple Diamond</PurplediamondT>
  <PurplediamondD>Precious stones for making magic objects and structures.</PurplediamondD> 

"Diamant" instead of "Kristall" in the german version
lang\German\data\local\craft_resources.xml
lines 33 to 42

Code: [Select]

  <BluediamondT>Blauer Diamant</BluediamondT>
  <BluediamondD>Edelstein zur Herstellung magischer Objekte und Konstruktionen.</BluediamondD>
  <ReddiamondT>Roter Diamant</ReddiamondT>
  <ReddiamondD>Edelstein zur Herstellung magischer Objekte und Konstruktionen.</ReddiamondD>
  <DarkbluediamondT>Dunkler Diamant</DarkbluediamondT>
  <DarkbluediamondD>Edelstein zur Herstellung magischer Objekte und Konstruktionen.</DarkbluediamondD>
  <GreendiamondT>Grüner Diamant</GreendiamondT>
  <GreendiamondD>Edelstein zur Herstellung magischer Objekte und Konstruktionen.</GreendiamondD>
  <PurplediamondT>Lila Diamant</PurplediamondT>
  <PurplediamondD>Edelstein zur Herstellung magischer Objekte und Konstruktionen.</PurplediamondD>

the block where we can dig diamonds from should not use the <BluediamondT>-string but have an own that just says "алмаз"/"Diamond"/"Diamant" since we can find random any color.
 
How about some magic jewelry for the special items-slot?
   

[Annieway]

Incredibly good!!!  ;DCongratulations. Perhaps might be firearms on the first three levels?

No, firearms available exclusively for the 4th world 

[ReneMiner]

i allow all my archers to use fire-arrows. I do this since versions 0.9.xxxx
i'm not sure it came up with this version but the arrow-consumption of the archers is so high- never had this happen before that the arrows are empty within seconds:

Archers loose the tickmark which allow them to use special arrows by themselves.
I can not tell exactly if they loose the tickmark when the arrows are empty and they used default-arrows once or if they just loose it without any reason.

[Annieway]

crosspost (my weekend-summary),  the "most important things" only, suggest-free

goblins camp (1st world)

It was in the old days below version 0.9.03x always a performance-lag when the camp appeared and the framerate went down. It was like a signal "the goblins spawn now". And this has been solved, there was no more lag and the player could not feel when they appear.

With this versions 1.1.00x there is a new signal:
the complete game stops(!!!) for like 300 to 800 milliseconds that moment and tells me: "goblin camp is spawning NOW!"

Can you make a screenshot of this message?

manual under-water-control not working! I tried a few times within different game-sessions

It was possible in previous versions to navigate a dwarf under water and they always equipped automatic the diving-helmets.

With version 1.1.004b they do not,
it is not possible building under water manually- dwarf drowns instead of using diving-helmet.

I've checked this aspect in version 1.0.011, and even there dwarfs drowns instead of using diving-helmet (in manual controle). BTW, do you mean manual control?

towers don't repair automatic

i play 1st-world, nightmare-mode, sandbox currently - don't know if "nightmare-mode" matters here and influences healing times for wooden towers but i am pretty sure they don't regain health automatic. (i suspect same for tesla-towers).

Towers should not repair automatically (not wooden towers, not Tesla).

How about some magic jewelry for the special items-slot?
   

Maybe later. Now we're focus on removing bugs from the 4th world.

[ReneMiner]

Can you make a screenshot of this message?

It's not a message! The game STOPS for like half a second.
an incrdible performance-breakdown (that tells me goblins spawn)

I've checked this aspect in version 1.0.011, and even there dwarfs drowns instead of using diving-helmet (in manual controle). BTW, do you mean manual control?

I'm certain in manual control mode they don't use diving-helmet with 1.1.004b.
If let dwarves do it on their own, items to place underwater become red mostly.

Also i used 1.0.010b (not 1.0.011) previously and i think there i was still able to let dwarves work underwater by themselves. Placed a few antique pillars in my fishing-lake without any problems. Can not tell for sure it worked manually but i got it done in 1.0.010b.
With 1.1.004b it does not work unless i make the lake empty before...

Towers should not repair automatically (not wooden towers, not Tesla).

I was sure they did in the past.
If this is intended now not to repair any more then ignore this point, i can live with that and place my towers an appropriate way.


Magic jewelry was just an idea because it was a post about diamonds. No serious suggest.
Keep focused on your plans, you're doing well

[Annieway]

Thank you

[ReneMiner]

what makes me wonder: current version 1.1.007b contains some new "Saves"-folder inside main.pak, in there are some "pakslot*.sav"-files.
Do they have a function or did these files get in there accidently?