[X3LU] Mayhem 3.21b

[Joubarbe]

Starting the work on menus...

[Joubarbe]

19 scripts in one day, this project has gone too far
Fun fact: Mayhem 1 & 2 has 400 scripts in 4 years, Mayhem 3 has more than 600 in 4 months.

(yeah, about the screenshot: everything you build, including stations, now goes into the production queue; whether or not you have the resources to build it)
(menus are now finished)

[Edna]

I'm super stoked about your progress! Great work!

[aurelcourt]

Looking super forward to try all this as soon as a beta version is ready !
I already downloaded and installed all the playground but I'd rather wait for a complete first version before diving in !

Got you 30€ worth of coffee as a "pre-order"

(https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Joubarbe)

Keep it up

[alexalsp]

Noticed back in version 2.

Can you add a space before the bracket after a numeric value?

In the screenshot, the name of the sector in parentheses.

[Joubarbe]

@aurelcourt: Thank you!

@alexalsp: Actually, no It's how the game displays stations when it gets automatically formatted. In that case, I do not manually add the name of the sector, which is very handy in various places. "They" should had added a space, I agree

[Hector0x]

New video (not listed):
X3 Mayhem 3 Installation (with Steam Backup)

Let me know if there are mistakes.
@Joubarbe: Same if installation is about to change.

Keeping Betty around (quarantined in my basement)

[Joubarbe]

1/ It's not mandatory to install on another hard drive. Looking at the video, some infected zombies could think the contrary.
2/ Mayhem 3 will not have E/I (and will never have).
3/ LUGUI is optional.
4/ Creating 3 backups for one install walkthrough is too much IMO. I mean, having vanilla + one Mayhem folder is more than enough for the lambda player. Not seeing the obvious purpose of this make this part of the video a little confusing.
5/ In all the next versions, the files structure will be different. In Graphics, it already is (I've added the "addon" folder). In the main archive, the game creator will be installed into the root folder of X3.
6/ Nice videos demonstrating the Graphics options (note that Mayhem 3 does not remove missile trails anymore, but only engines and lasers). Fog and trails are FPS eaters.
7/ You don't need to backup your savegames. The game creator does it. The vanilla ones I mean (all previously existing .sav files exactly).
8/ In the alpha, I've left my config.ini file by mistake. In future versions, the proper directories will be found for you.

I'm soon to be quarantined as well, but yeah, I did that to myself for the past few months, so it won't really change anything for me. More time to test Mayhem 3
Thanks for the video!

[Hector0x]

I figured it won't be final. Will get adjusted and cut down some day. Thanks for the feedback!

[dreamer2008]

Oh man, can't wait for the update! Thank you for your work!

[Fureimuu]

I check this thread every 2-3 hours. Am I a drug addict now?

[Joubarbe]

I check this thread every 2-3 hours. Am I a drug addict now?

Uhuh, well... if you expect a release soon, it's not gonna happen
Features I still need to implement: marines, fleets, ship overhaul. Then a first balancing test phase before the beta. I'd say the beta will be released before the French quarantine is lift off (don't take that as a promise)

[Fureimuu]

This happened before, with mayhem 2.4.0 believe xD Take your time man!

[Joubarbe]

looking at a Xenon fighting a station... he goes at laser range, STOPS, fires all his lasers continuously, then fallbacks 10km away to recharge, then comes back and repeats...

I think this is a major improvement, no more ships dancing around stations
The fallback mechanism also applies to ship targets. I still don't know if that's a good idea to go away a bit when shields or lasers are low. Will see that with the beta.
Also, laser ranges have to be higher. The game just doesn't like the current values (it makes ships go in defensive move - aka dancing around - because even if their laser can hit the nearest VERTEX of the target, they take the CENTER of the target for reference, therefore the distance calculation is wrong and they don't shoot when they should).

[Fureimuu]

Does it mean capitals will be firing at each other from 15-20 km? That would be an interesting change.

[XenonArchitect7]

Wait, so no more capitals doing fighter-style attack runs on stations, where 80% of the time they are awkwardly spinning around trying to fly back out for the next dive?

I had always assumed that was hard-coded into the game engine, it's impressive you have managed to rewrite that behavior.

[Fureimuu]

Pretty sure there was an update in Mayhem that made capitals keep distance from their target. Might be wrong tho.

UPD: yeah its in the 2 latest updates xD Not sure if it affects station combat.

[Joubarbe]

@XenonArchitect7: Actually I thought the same. Then I realized that the attack scripts were very messy. I don't even understand how the game runs ok with them. The whole "fighter-style attack" is actually removed. But the fallback mechanics doesn't apply to huge ships, so yeah, they should go and make a full stop in front of the station they're attacking. Against other moving ships, I'll keep them moving, because I think it gives a random opportunity to use all their turrets. The vanilla game gives a lot of time to all ships to do what they call "defensive manoeuvres". Which is, in a nutshell, doing nonsense cryptic moves that randomly avoid lasers, if you're lucky. That behavior is even triggered when the ship is trying to avoid other ships. In other words, it's not efficient at all. ("defensive manoeuvres" are hardcoded)

@Fureimuu: The changes in the latest patch concern the "broadside" combat-style Litcube implemented. I've totally removed that behavior, for a more static approach. In Mayhem 2, I've tried to fix this thing, because it can be buggy sometimes. My solution is not perfect either.

[Xenon-Fan]

Greetings,

I decided to start playing Mayhem soon and while the future of the 3rd installment sounds fantastic i would like to try out Mayhem 2 first.
My question though is: Is it absolutely imperative to get my first own sector soonish or could i just play classicely building my trade empire without any own sectors? whats gonna happen if i dont claim them? Will the races just take them over themselves?

regarding Mayhem 3:
with the randomized universe sounding fantastic, have you considered giving the races only a few sectors for the start, making the majority of sectors neutral, so that the races will first have to expand like in the old xtended mod?

[Joubarbe]

IIRC, in Mayhem 2 you have 24 hours before the other factions start claiming Unknown sectors. At some point, you're going to need to capture a sector, it's an essential part of the mod.

About the starting state of the galaxy in Mayhem 3. Yes, my first idea in Stardust (another project) was to have empty galaxies from which every faction starts from scratch. This was a very crucial point to deliberate, but at the end, starting in an empty world makes everything slow and dull. X3 is fun because there's a whole galaxy to explore and contemplate, with hundreds of ships doing their business, like you just pop into that and have to make your way up. Starting from nothing is good for 4X and RTS, but in X3 you pilot your own ship, and if there's absolutely nothing outside, you just hit SETA and wait for something to happen. In Mayhem 3, as soon as you finish your Ascension, all Battle Groups start to claim new sectors, it's very lively.

Having an already generated universe was a lot of work, and technically, it's now "impossible" to start from nothing. That being said, you can influence the number of Unknown sectors (to some extent) with the "Galaxy Expansion" slider (early, average, advanced) in the Game Creator.