SOS

Python for ASSS should be just fine

1) I'd rather leave out the staff list completely. Maybe only X and tm, so people know who's in charge. There is no need to list any moderators. I always disliked this method of mod-ego-boosting. 2) Would you like to develop Devastation's !@#$%^&*? Hallowed seems to be... on permanent vacation I think you'd be welcomed well by the staff. That is, if you can code

Team Victory! Reward: 18925538 points |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Jackpot: 18925538 Game Time: 00h 47m 34s| | Name W L TK G Rating FL FK FS FD FT KP| |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | astroid_knight 26 !63 0 0 10902.61 16 0 41 0 100 137743| | rasta420 28 46 0 0 13145.07 0 0 0 0 0 168437| | tm_master 33 6 0 0 26259.92 !43 !43 !50 0 !356 348987| | Rapid Bomber !68 25 0 0 25588.27 0 0 0 0 0 !429453| | SOS 5 16 0 0 3655.42 0 25 0 !25 0 38492| |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| tm_master> cmon, keep game going a little longer than that SOS> That's one of the main things I don't like in this zone. There is no clear progression of the game. 1) Take flags. 2) Wait till everyone gets bored and just says !@#$%^&* it and leaves 3) Win tm_master> Well, what would you suggest, SOS? tm_master> if you're going to rip on the zone, at least give an alternative SOS> I suggest making attacking much easier so you would really have to work your !@#$%^&* off to protect the flags. You couldn't win even if you tried. Something like EG. To make it hard. So the winners are always trying to win. SOS> It was more fun for me to win than not to. That's what's wrong. Rapid Bomber> Need to make a base that's hard to defend, yet easy to attack =/ Rapid Bomber> Tis all we really need SOS> So, like, yes, bases hard to defend, easy to attack. I did lean towards this back when I was doing the maps. I made bases large and removed most chokepoints. That's one step towards a more interesting game. A small step, of course. SOS> !how to play P Deva-Bot-0> -- How to play Devastation -- P Deva-Bot-0> P Deva-Bot-0> a) Kill all enemies. P Deva-Bot-0> b) Get flags from enemies or enemy base and take them to your team's base. P Deva-Bot-0> c) Guard flags and defend base. P Deva-Bot-0> d) DO NOT KEEP FLAGS OR PICK UP YOUR OWN TEAM'S FLAGS - carry them to your base and neut. P Deva-Bot-0> * Picking up all the flags and dropping them causes the flag game to be won. P Deva-Bot-0> * Not picking up causes the game to go longer and the jackpot to rise! $$$ P Deva-Bot-0> * Therefore, do not pick flags up unless you are really desperate to win! P Deva-Bot-0> e) To drop flags without triggering a victory (neut), just CHANGE SHIP - they will drop as neutral (white) flags. P Deva-Bot-0> [If you do not see the full text, press ESC] SOS> This game is also too complex for newbies. Lots of people don't understand the neuting concept. tm_master> I know, SOS rasta420> its not that tm_master> but that's a core element that has always definted Devastation tm_master> I love it.. rasta420> they just like having flags tm_master> .*defined SOS> Yes. But that doesn't make it any better :P tm_master> Well, I dont want people who never talk and make no attempt to learn anything playing the zone tm_master> if we grab players from zones like ak, who obviously knows the deal from years in EG, it isnt so much of a shock to learn Deva. SOS> Well yes, but why should the zone be oriented towards the LEAST active part of the population? The newbies is where it's at. SOS> But still, that issue aside, the main thing is that this gameplay of neuting and waiting till everyone gets bored and then winning is JUST NOT FUN rasta420> isnt eg like that? rasta420> or this' tm_master> well, it works for its intended purpose, sos SOS> Just about every win here (except when I stealth-win) is because people are too annoyed at the long game and everyone leaves. tm_master> and if you remember, back in the day, when it had more players, ...it didnt matter..games were always intense, and never got boring SOS> No, it does not work! tm_master> you had factions of people who fought at center and the rest flagged tm_master> so there was always something going on SOS> Yes, I do sort of remember it being more fun back in the day but this is today and people are different now :P tm_master> listen, sos...nobody leaves UNTIL the game is won, that's just it. tm_master> That's why I try to keep it going as long as possible, and never win myself tm_master> it's silly.. SOS> What? I mena, yes, but that is horrible! tm_master> and anyways, once we do end up winning, i usually host. SOS> People stay because they are annoyed but they want the JP. And they know you are very easy on the zone-win :P tm_master> so..there's some sort of pickup game, anyways.. tm_master> well, it keeps people here, eh? tm_master> sos.. SOS> The main thing is that people are annoyed and bored. Even if they do not outright quit, it is still wrong. tm_master> winning right off the bat is just silly SOS> Keeping bored people here? I see that as a failure no different from having no people here. tm_master> i disagree [Some talk about how many people used to play and such - the old days] SOS> Yeea, XDOOM (the owner) started doing silly stuff (he didn't understand that people want to have fun :P Just like tm right now?;)). tm_master> have fun? define fun SOS> An above-median content of endorphines in the blood. tm_master> ..my idea of fun is a game that lasts...fighting for every inch of ground tm_master> which is why i love deva so much tm_master> ..and why i USED to like EG.. tm_master> But EG just was filled with way too many laggers and lamers tm_master> ..too many people who lag attach to win games and think they are great because of it SOS> It can be fun. But not like this. Why do games go long here? Not because the fighting is tough. Just because the defenders do not want to win. Because they want a long game. It's not about milking in JP anymore. In the old days, that was the reason we SOS> kept flags neuted. It was all about the points. Not anymore. Now it's just some abstract concept of "keeping the game going". tm_master> yes, well, i'd rather have a fun game that lasts, ..and i do think the battles are hard fought, i disagree with you tm_master> and i never cared about points anyway tm_master> so your argument there isnt valid in my case tm_master> i dont see what is so bad about the way you just described things anyways...I disagree, i do think that players are having fun tm_master> I dont think they are getting bored, they love the base fights SOS> Well, then you represent a different group of players :P In any case, I think I'll be a lot more agressive on the winning here. Because there's really no reason for players to keep this silly game going :) tm_master> only when someone runs with flags and wins do they grow frustrated or bored tm_master> reason for keeping it going? Simple. To have fun. And keep players playing. SOS> That is a valid point. It should not be possible to run with flags then. More easy to anti them or whatnot. Running is a completely valid strategy. astroid_knig> i think they hope to make the opposition frustrated when they run astroid_knig> thats what i hope when i run astroid_knig> but i rather fight SOS> One more issue is that winning is very easy here. I mean, I don't think anyone has really been able to stop me here in years if I took flags and wanted to win. tm_master> You seem to enjoy killing the zone. I think you need to understand that when the games keep going, the population rises, and new people who saw the zone player-less before will enter to see whats going on SOS> If winning was actually hard, the game could be kept going "honestly", not artificiaaly. tm_master> and when they do, more enter, and so on tm_master> when you win first time you get flags, it ruins everything SOS> I disagree. tm_master> About easy winning, i agree with you somewhat tm_master> i thought about increasing the flag timer tm_master> or making it so you could only drop in bases SOS> I think the best way would be to make flag-carriers slow, so they are easy to catch.

That was fast

t_a is afking. I'm thinking of kicking him. Try to convince me otherwise. I give you four days.

I think XDOOM told me September 2006

What?

There we go. Now it's a debate

The debate? I can't find anyone here saying it was not abuse

It was a 1 minute ban, since I just had bot powers and could not actually kick. And I do hate afking and I think Devastation is better off without afkers in there. If you only want to afk there, jds, then you really are only damaging the zone.

JAPAN ROOLS YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Well, get it off Windows or fix it then! This happens constantly - not usable. Wee, now it stalled on "Entering arena", as well.

No suggestions, although I used TW tiles for all Devastation race maps, I think

There is no in-game commands list as far as I can see. I have no idea what I can even do. This is not good. The F1 help is terribly outdated. We have ?creds but no ?credits........... You have already recently buyed this item - bought perhaps? ?buy bacon has no sound with it! What's with the prices? I can buy 1 million pieces of bacon? But antidoor is still extra-expensive? You mean antidoor is just not ready? Just for testing? You can buy flood a lot. This is annoying. I had them at 5 minutes for a reason! Or is this just for testing? Annoying, in any case. There should be a dot at the end of every sentence in green text (like this -->). Basewarp coordinates are !@#$%^&*ed or something. Basewarp without a base # would be a lot better if it said "You were randomly warped to base 1" to emphasize the randomness. The ?buy warp arena message is... umm... Players Buy:warp, tm_master got warped by SOS. One of those names does not belong ' Ahahaha, and Players ace a flag at (%d,%d)-%d, falling back to centers7 got warped by tm_master? Players tm_master, tm_master got warped by Pacho? Players tm_master got warped by Pacho would be better if it said "Player" for one player. Or perhaps "Player(s)". I probably used "Players" myself in the past for a few very good reasons but now I think those reasons sucked, so heh. The JP and credit counters flicker off now and then. This should not happen. Are you sure you are turning new graphics on before turning old graphics off? Antiwarp is allowed in center. The pursage of this item is temporary disabled in this arena - purchase Your freq has already recently buyed this item - bought. Also, it is better to say "team" instead of "freq". You don't have enough credits, you need x more - Make this two sentences, not with a command. SOS> ?help how to play gives me a text that starts with Help on '?how to play': Flags can be dropped outside. There is no ?help buy or any other help as far as I can see. There is no ?creds sos:+500 command (doesn't really have to be, but could be useful). No ?setcredits either. One of these would definitely be needed (both would be good). No ?giveall either. What's going on?? Arena messages all seem to be silent. This is weird. In a bad way. Notifications need a bong. ?host listing has "Conquer all enemies freqs." - better would be "Conquer all enemy teams.". Also, megajackpot description has no dot at the end of the sentence. ?host asks names to be typed lowercase.... but they are not lowercase in the list!! ?flagstocenter could use an arena message notification, maybe. At least message the one who does it! Events seem VERY limited and lacking any options or help. Zombies only use ship 3? Can this be configured? No way to know. Can the starting zombie be configured? Not as far as I see. No races either. The events seem very bland. I mean... zombies says "All humans eliminated, thanks for playing".... WHAT? Conquer is completely silent and... wtf. Umm why are there 26 flags? Apparently I have a flag and the server does not know about it (no illegal to enter safe message). Hurr BUG BUG BUG. ?flagstocenter does not *neut* flags in center. Could be an important distinction here

5 times I just got the stars (once a "no SSC" prompt) and then it worked fine...

I approve your proposed solution.

!

Very nice.

The Devastation website logo has a grammatical error. its, not it's.

What do you actually want to do?

Most likely a driver issue - try updating video drivers.

I'll add this to the FAQ.

Yes. Nothing serious. Basically, there is a small chance that your password could be stolen by whoever runs smaller servers but in reality, nobody even wants to steal anyone's password (unless you are someone well known ).

How to access the files? Silly man, with fopen or whatever the command was in VB6 But seriously, accessing the files can be done in 50 ways. It all depends on the central architecture. For example, are LVZ things going to be kept in raw (ini + image) form or compressed form (.lvz)? Will people be able to edit the graphics that are already in DCME? Most likely answers: raw, yes. Now, how to actually organize it in the program? I would have an ExtendedLevel object that contains all the LVZ data (objects, images, included files). At program start, a LvzLoader object would load the ini file and read all the info. It would then load graphics objects and !@#$%^&*ociate them with 1) the loaded image; 2) the path the image was loaded from. It would then load the LVZ object objects and !@#$%^&*ociate them with the graphics. That's it. At save, the ini would be overwritten. You can even use the Windows INI write methods that preserve existing comments and everything (but are awfully slow). I would also hook change monitors to the graphics files, so that if you change something while DCME is open, it would automatically update the graphics in DCME. $$$ Nothing to it

The packetloss starts between hops 1 (your router) and 2 (the ISP's server). Something between these two devices is probably causing a problem - call your ISP and see what they can do.