Impish Kat

Forbin_Project is the master of secret rooms.

I literally got motion sick (very rare!) looking into all the nooks & crannies of his base.

BASE RAIDS

Issues particular to raiding, including both setting up and running.


Base Raid BUGS

• "Field" items not working during raids
• Raids do not end when all attackers are out of the defender base after the half-way point (Back when this did work properly, corpses apparently could prevent a defender from winning. That may still have to be addressed.)
• Is everyone supposed to be zoning to the same doorway every time, or is it supposed to be randomizing?

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Base Raid FLAWS

• Where's the Scheduled Raid System? (and would enough people care? no, seriously, the amount of people who don't want - even fear - scheduled raids even while wanting IOPs was pretty amazing. Why is the SRS often seen more as a cost to be paid/avoided than as "content"? Should the premise be rethought? Maybe the whole SRS/IOP interaction has to be re-thought?)
• Griefing on Zoning in to an attackers base. (Yes, all's fair in PVP, this is not an exploit, but so many people are unhappy with it that it needs to be examined.)
• Long zoning times are no fun, it's just time you're not raiding. Instance both maps together and use "elevator" type code to move to the PVP area faster. Make the attacker base immune to teleport, so defenders never are brought there. (Note this also addresses the coalition issue.)
• Defending players are unable to join a raid that's started, even if there's room.
• Why even require players to find a "join" button to sign up? Just add them to the raid team if there's room.
• Unable to concede a raid to end it early (Maybe not a good idea for Items of Power Raids, but pickup raids should allow it.)
• People not in the raid are immediately kicked out of the defending base with no explanation (so often they keep trying to enter) - the base menu should simply tell them there's a raid in progress and deny access.
• Inability for PVE players to use a defending base during a raid. Why not instance the raiding base, and leave a copy for use by the rest of the SG while the raid is underway? Note that the PVE functions of an attacking base remain usable for people not in the attacking raid force.
• Attacking teams can have SG and coalition member "buff bots" sitting in their base providing raid help, Defenders can not. This is an imbalance. (Note that instancing the bases on a single map to speed up loading would also balance this - both sides could only use coalition bots outside in the zone.)
• What's with the function of the Relay? its effect and worktable description don't match.
• Batteries are useless on a hidden plot because of the need for Control. What was the design goal for those?
• The Pylon setup means the ideal defense is to have as few rooms as possible, which narrows strategy options. What's the design goal? Can this be improved to better meet that goal?
• Mez Protection IOP was insanely overpowered, especially in PVP. This should be examined before it returns to play.
• Rez Ring camping is a balance issue. Suggestion: have the Ring give 5-10 second of "invincible" (whatever they call the Rise of the Phoenix power - which is not the same as Only Affect Self). Note this wouldn't harm anything if applied to the ring in general, it doesn't have to be limited to raids.
• Given the close quarters of a base raid, ground-based powers (Caltrops, Tar Patch, Carrion Creepers, etc) are much more effective than in open PVP zones. Can they be balanced?
• Generator Energy Curtain doesn't work with Turbine or Fusion Generators.

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Base Raid WISHLIST

• Can the Raid Schedule window be used to plan pickup raids more than 5 minutes in advance? (eg, current setup a group can plan a friendly raid and put it on the SG MOTD, but still only have 5 minutes to log in and actually sign up when the invite is sent. Why not make the raid official right away and utilize the schedule window for a longer sign-up time?)
• Allow various options when scheduling a pickup raid. For example,

• - duration (20, 40, 60 minute options)
  - level (perhaps 50, 38, 30 and 25 to match the PVP zones?)
  - number of raiders on a side (8, 16, 24. How high can this go and not be too laggy?)
  - limits on temp powers, inspirations and power pools, like the arena
  - disable defensive items (so you can have an even playing field, without redesigning the base)
  

• Pickup raid invites can go to a random member of the SG, based on the ability to accept and their login time. If the person being invited has permission to start the raid, the popup should always go to them. If an invite is sent to someone unable to accept, it should throw an error, not give a popup to a different SG member.
• Groups with no IOP are easier to defend, there is 1 less victory condition because there is no IOP shield to take down. Should defenders need a Raid Target, so all raids have the same set of rules? (ie: place a Flag to be captured.)

BASE BUILDING

This list affects people who are base architects. Issues with the base editor as well as decorative/graphical issues are here.

Note: any pathing issues in the prior posts should not be marked "solved" until the raid system is returned and we see what pathing looks like. It's possible that old issues will still remain just as they were described. Remember, it is unfair to fix pathing only for people who ignore the raid function of bases!

Developers please note: if building rules for raids are too restrictive, it makes an indirect cost on the raiding system.

On Doorways:

• Blocking 1 doorway placement completely prevents room creation/movement - the logic of this should only prevent the room if no doorways can be made at all.
• Is the door AI actually a benefit? Why not just manually create doors attached to rooms, and then require rooms to be attached to doors? It seems a lot simpler, and gives more control to the architect.
• Transition effects in doorways, instead of sharply dividing the room styles
• Placement of items in doorway squares. Even if it's limited to non-blocking items such as stairs, and wall decorations.
• Double-wide doorways were possible with an editor glitch. Would it be possible to build those directly?
• Allow room trim in a doorway. (Is there some reason this was denied in the first place?)

On Pathing/Hitboxes: (improved i21)

Actually, sometime earlier, hitboxes were "loosened" such that items were allowed to overlap. However, they were still effective against walls and doorways. When the new rotating editing tool was implemented in i21, the hitboxes were given even more flexibility allowing for closer placement with walls and doorways. Consequently, given what this implies for any return to raid pathing, I am going to mark most of this section as "improved".

• Lack of feedback on collisions, especially when unable to place a door (including when moving a room)
• Many items should path similar to stairs, but do not. For example, arcane platforms, floor tiles all should let the editor recognize a way over them, but they instead block pathing.
• "Hollow" items that block pathing (for example, Spike Rings, Arcane Arches and the AES can block doorways even though you can walk right through them.)
• Many flat-top items do not allow things to be placed on top of them. eg, bookcases, counters, floor tiles
• Many architects feel unjustly constrained by Raid considerations if they're not using the base for raiding. Can the system be more flexible? Or if there are general limitations, raiding or not, could they be better expressed in terms that don't trigger phrases like "but I'm not raiding".

On Crafted Items:

• The best upgrade for crafted items would be to implement a SG Inventory. Crafted items go there, to be placed by any architect, and return there if removed from the plot. Advantages include,

• - Personal items should not be deleted completely, as it deletes various resources used in crafting. Fear of item deletion is a reason leaders don't like to share base edit permission. It'd also be nice to quick swap crafted items for a different room style.
  - Combines normal and crafted items into a single editor, instead of using one editor to place and another to move it.
  - Better control over who can edit the base. No longer could a Rank 1 drop dozens of vet items in the middle of your design without a security permission.
  

• Lack of info prior to crafting an item (Size, Prestige/Energy/Control costs, many items lack pictures)
• (improved i21, Vet Base items are now added to the editing tabs.) Veterans base items are poorly implemented. The badges should unlock recipes on the worktables (similar to invention badges). Advantages include,

• - You won't fill personal inventory just to get multiples of one item.
  - A very minor craft cost may give people pause before dropping massive amounts of items just because they can.
  

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Base Building BUGS

• (i17) Stealth artwork change/"fix" of beaker rack. Beaker rack is now filled with beakers... which would've been okay, if it had been added as an alternative. Can we please have our old empty beaker rack artwork back?
• (i17) Ultra Mode has adversely affected the look of slow fields, crystals and other base items (slow fields are pixelated, crystals have no shading, 'porters have over-bright filigree...)
• (i17) The item window in edit mode is showing "invalid category string" in the info tab.
• Group banner 1's texture is duplicating vertically. (post link)
• Inability to edit while people use Storage, because storage keeps repainting the base and resetting your edit
• While editing, the total prestige available sometimes does not take into account the last few edits, leaving you with less prestige than you really have (even a negative total). This can take a long time to correct itself.
• Personal Invention Salvage Vault sometimes doesn't get Energy/Control
• Teleporter Beacons don't always interact right with Energy/Control
• Inability to click flat items in the editor, you need to select them from the "current room" listing. MRI, X-Ray images, etc.
• --(fixed) (i22) Grandville beacon artwork shows "destroyed" when in place, but not when moving the beacon.
• --(fixed) (i22) No Pocket D beacon artwork (shows as "destroyed")
• --(fixed ? ) (i22) Certain FX are now always on. Missing FX on many items (mostly defensive items - Stealth Suppressor, Force Field Generator, etc.)(Stealth Suppression items lose their laser beams if you move them around after their original placement)
• Inability to move rooms when items are stacked.
• --(fixed) (i21.5) Defensive items are attacking players... all players... and are attackable/destructible. While some are heralding this as the "best bug evah", others would rather see it implemented as a more judicious feature (going back to the "decorative version of defensive items" request).
  -- (fixed) (i21) Banners and other logo items are not displaying logos correctly. Everything comes up with (the biohazard logo) no logo.
  
  -- (fixed) (i21) Veteran Base Item Rewards are no longer claimable multiple times on one character. Since the rewards are permanently removed from a character's personal inventory when placed in a base, IF said items are deleted, there is no way to recover them (unlike regular base items).

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Base Building FLAWS

• Low percentage of SG members are given edit permission. Seems to come down to players not giving permission because of 3 factors,

• - The all-or-nothing security. (similar to problems that kept Storage from being better utilized.)
  - Lack of SG infrastructure such as communication and logging.
  - Fear of having other people edit "your" base. Including fear of major destruction, such as loss of items or loss of many hours of work.
  

• Inability to move items as a batch, such as picking up a whole desk and everything on top of it. or delete many items at once.
• Moving the entrance room with no other rooms uses a very roundabout solution.
• Plot Upgrade Costs are misleading, since the displayed cost does not account for selling back the current plot. It's not clear the base plot upgrade costs refund your current cost. Can the cost of each plot reflect your current plot's refund? (Some people don't even know you get refunded the old plot cost.)
• Apply room style to base is too destructive. You can't copy 1 room without overwriting everything. Why not a Copy+Paste Style instead? (you could still apply that to the base, just with a bit more running around.)
• Removable floor/ceiling trim. Have a no trim option in the styles editor under the trim tabs.
• Floor Wall patterns apply their style around any floor section set to the highest level. Low Floor Wall patterns only apply their style when you have a transition from low floor to mid-level floor. (post link)
• Roundabout means of getting multiple SG logos onto items. Possible solutions:
  • 1) A color selector for item, similar to room lighting/tint.
  • 2) make these items craftable with an interface similar to a costume editor, locking in the color/logo when crafted.
• Not enough Worktable spots on a plot for all 6 tables plus Invention. Why limit Worktables at all, when Teleporters and Defenses are never limited?
• Inequalities between Tech/Arcane item sizes. (Raid porter, 2nd and 3rd control items.)
• (improved) Stacking items in the editor is extremely difficult (when raid pathing rules are in effect)
• Most crafted control items aren't worth the added costs, control-per-energy efficiency is not nearly as meaningful as control-per-dollar. Why even have trade-offs, shouldn't crafted items just always be better?
• Large steps exist in the growth of bases, notably when growing out of the Startup items, and when trying to upgrade a Mainframe to a Supercomputer. Crafted item efficiency affects this, too.
• Improve chat capability while in the base editor.
• Base plot usage could be improved.
• Are we ever getting the Tesla Cage, Elite Sapper, Advanced Holo-display? (like the Fusion Generator, how about a new requirement for the AHD if its requirement doesn't exist?)
• Base testing on the Training Room is severely hampered by the lack of Prestige there. Perhaps the ability to copy a whole base over?

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Base Building WISHLIST

• (granted i21) z-axis control for placing items
• (granted i21) Finer control over item rotation. 45-degree increments? Free-form? smaller snap grid?
• Editor needs an undo/redo button
• Some way to rapidly place favorite items. Such as making a Favorites listing in the base editor. Or a Most Recently Used list. Or a "place another copy" button on the item's info window.
• Save+Restore room designs. Convenient for making a backup of your architectural efforts, and perhaps a way to share designs as player-generated content.

• - would it be possible to have a way to be able to make edits and changes which don't effect the actual base until it is "republished"? Similar to MA arcs.
  

• Clean up and resort item menus
• There's a huge list of art that exist in-game, and could be easily used for Base Items. See various threads.
• and countless wishlists of new decorative items. There's a whole thread on this. The most often requested categories of items are:

• - water effects; water "tile", pool, waterfall
  - windows and doors to decorate walls (windows with "sceens"... park, cityscape, etc.)
  - walls to sub-divide room areas (instead of using lateral files or bookcases for this)
  - we need an SG emblem that is blank (intentionally)
  - more room styles, especially "non-room" types like outdoor, water, lava, caves, ice
  - NPCs
  - architecture for 2-level rooms, such as platforms and higher stairs
  - stackable "building blocks" to make platforms and levels
  - look-a-likes of functional items, such as decorative weapons or databases
  - seasonal decorations, perhaps related to the in-game events
  - souveniers from story arcs as decorative objects
  - Very few room details that are natural are included. My kitchen is stocked with pickled organs and dirty old bottles to serve to my members, and many of them are getting fed up with it.
  - Mission maps have more paintings available whereas we are stuck with 2 paintings and 1 monstrosity (Modern Art)
  

• More sets of functional items, not just Tech and Arcane. Such as taking all the Arachnos items and using them for new Control, Energy, Teleport, Medical, Workshop, etc, paralleling the function we already have, just with a new option for its look.
• Adjustable lighting density to create "atmosphere", such a fog.
• Music or ambient sounds for each room. Could be implemented in the editor similar to Lighting/Textures, or could be objects with audio effects, such as stereo speakers.
• Clickable plaques (or signs) with custom text... like the in-game history plaques. They could then be filled out by the placer: "Hello. Welcome to our base. Please wipe your feet." or "General Enhancements.", "Lieutenant Enhancements", "Offensive Inspirations", etc.
• Doors between rooms. (including things like elevators or portals)
• Double wide doorways (as a feature, not as a bug)
• More doorway styles: arched, staired, ramped, etc.,.
• Revise the base entry portal,

• - Ability to choose different looks for the portal
  - Ability to change the Entrance Room's size. One idea: allow all decorative rooms to hold the entry portal, so you can move it to a larger room and delete the 2x2 one.
  

• More variety of room shapes and sizes, especially Decorative rooms.
• Upgrade/Downgrade room size, similar to plot size changing.
• Pre-Fab bases (or just rooms) to provide a starting point for architects. Consider a variation of User Generated Content we've been told is coming for missions.
• Allow user to scale item size
• Ability to customize items the way the splasher program can change artwork.

BASE USAGE

This list includes anything that affects a person's day-to-day base usage.

on Storage:

SUPERGROUP

Why a SG list in the base forum? Because bases are closely tied to SGs, so there is often very insightful discussion here about SG mechanics.


Supergroup BUGS

• Troubles naming SGs starting with "The". (need more details)

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Supergroup FLAWS

• NEW from i18/GR: Praetorians are not allowed to create SG's or bases... for 20 levels. This hinders their ability to store salvage, enhancements, craft, or use temporary empowerments.... for 20 levels.
• Many SG issues are related to bases, and often discussed in this forum. eg,

• - security affects storage;
  - rosters affect prestige;
  - SG-focused functions make sense on items in the SG's base.
  

• It's hard to set security limits if you can't demote offline/hidden members. Promoting/inviting offline members would be useful, too.
• Lack of logging - any action dangerous enough to necessitate a Security permission should be trackable when leaders are offline. Most such actions generate system messages to a player involved, or to the whole SG, so should be easily recordable. (eg, Join, Quit, Kick, Promote/Demote, Base Edit. Changes to Permissions are perhaps the big case that doesn't generate a system message but should be logged.)
• Promoting up to the same level as you should have a confirmation prompt since you can't undo that action (and since it can happen due to lag or an accidental keypress on the right-click menu) or just give all promotions a confirm prompt.
• Chest icons that aren't available as SG Logos
• Complete loss of Prestige history and Join On date when you leave a roster (at the very least, if you don't join another group in-between it should remember them)
• SG Register (Registrar in City Hall) should display and filter on Hero/Villain
• There is no tangible benefit to supergroups working as a group. Such as bonuses for teaming with your SGmates.

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Supergroup WISHLIST

• a slash command or simply allow the base leader to set up an automatic withdrawl when the rent is due
• Passive recruiting using the SG Register. Anyone looking for a SG should be able to use the Register to find one, and to send that SG a request for membership. This would cut down on the need to run around broadcasting, recruits would come to you. (Note this satisfies the desire to invite your own alt, but has a lot of additional use beyond that.)
• More communication to SG members - Messageboard, mass email. A block of text on the SG screen that's not public. (The Description is seen by everyone at the Register.) Perhaps a base item like a calendar or whiteboard that can make this interactive.
• Short description text for each SG Rank on the SG Settings screen. Since most SGs have rules for promotions, this would help communicating those.
• Some way to email a Group, not a Player. eg, "dear coalition, whoever is in charge..."
• A way to chat to a single coalition (disabling Chat To every other coalition is really clunky.)
• A way to moderate the sg channel similar to global channels (silencing, etc.,.)
• SG Info on a character Info screen. (info tab with the logo in SG Colors, SG Motto, player's Rank, "member since...")
• Most SGs have a costume, some way to better communicate those costume settings in the costume editor would be useful (something like a template?).
• NPCs around town should "namedrop" the SG, especially when multiple members of a SG are running around on one team. (dialog like "I saw the Freedom Phallanx battling the Freakshow!")
• IO Memorization for a SG. (So one person in the SG doesn't have to do all the efficient crafting and pass it around thru storage.)
• Info Kiosk style stat tracking for SG members. eg, rank most kills by SG members, prestige gain over the past week, etc.
• Add a Supergroup tab to the /info popup, so people can see the SG Logo (in the SG colors), motto, description. Perhaps also the character's rank, prestige total, and join date, if those aren't too "personal" to reveal.
• System-run inter-SG events. (Dare I mention arena tournaments as an example?)
• SG Renaming. Tricky, would it ever be possible to code a system to determine who has the ability to do a rename?
• Selectable loading screen for the base.

• - Perhaps simply chosen from the mission load-ins we already have (sewer, office, cave, etc).
  - Perhaps create a new set of loading screens to choose from, made up of various base screenshots. (ooooh, what if that gallery of loading screens was submited by players? as a contest.)
  - Can this actually be customizable? Click a button while in the base editor and it makes a screenshot stored on the server, which is sent out to any client loading in to that base. Can the loading screens work that way?

This is a list of base concerns consolidated from threads past & present.

I will state right off the bat that this list is first based heavily on Mad Scientist's last list created in May 2008. I went through it as thoroughly as possible, deleting items that have been resolved and leaving those that have continued to garner attention.

Unsurprisingly, as I continued to consolidate, there were several items left that have been repeatedly requested on various threads since then and have yet to be resolved or addressed in any manner.

Therefore, PLEASE, before you post here:

• Double check that you are not repeating something that has already been covered in some way
• Stay focused. Let's not get into debates about the worthiness of a concern here... take it to another thread to hash out. We can always create a link to other discussions if necessary.

The list is divided into 4 parts:
Supergroup
Base Usage
Base Building
Base Raids

Each part has been further broken down into sections;

• special concerns - things in that section that seem to garner extra interest
• Bugs - Something that is broken. Things that don't work at all, or don't work as they were intended.
• Flaws - Existing things that are not working as well as they could be, or could be improved to better serve their design goals
• Wishlist - Completely new additions to the system

I have an older Nvidia card (GeForce 7300 GT) and have set my game options to FSAA = 4, no bloom, no DoF. These have been my settings for... forever... and the jaggy lines are definitely worse with this latest issue. Drivers are up to date and I'm not running any UM settings (occlusions).

You can see the "warp" at the top edge of the tram...





And it's especially noticeable on the streets...




It might not seem so bad in the still pics, but when moving... it's like watching a news anchor with a reeeeeeally baaaaad herringbone suit on.

A-Angel, have you mentioned this over in the base forums?
At least to give them all a heads up, and where to report if it happens to anyone else.
This would indeed be a very scary bug... and makes me wonder if it's a progression of the "crashing while/after editing" bug... not making any claims, just wondering.

What is the default days setting for this feature?

In other words, if nobody actively sets this feature for a channel, will it automatically function on a default setting?

Understood and agreed, Fire Away.
Though, I thought it was interesting that WW outright said;

"You can harass me about bases."

That is, of course, not necessarily a promise that she'll respond, but we have essentially been given permission to put our comments & concerns directly to her.

A-Angel, while I understand and share your frustrations, I have to disagree with the manner in which you've chosen to express them. It's difficult, I know... I've been known to spout off on occasion, myself.

However, there's a fine line between the occasional snark, and a full on rant. As has been mentioned, a confrontational, accusatory and temperamental tone is counterproductive in the long run.

A couple notes:

• The double doors was a bug, it was not a feature. Therefore, it was a FIX, not a removal.
• The clear glass was also a bug. In fact, it was due to SG symbols that were not showing up. Imagine the SG's that couldn't use the symbols they wanted because of that bug. That was also a FIX... not a removal.

Now, that is not to say that I don't want to see double doors & clear glass items back, but they should be done as alternative additions, not at the sacrifice of other features.

Which brings me to the current beaker racks, crystals, & slow fields issues.

• The problems with the crystals & slow fields can be attributed to Ultra Mode. They are not the only objects in the game that have been reported as uglified because of some players' inability to utilize UM (older graphics cards - includes myself). Unfortunately, I don't think these were results that could have been forseen.
• The beaker racks, however, are definitely new artwork, and it is my position that the artwork change was badly handled. BUT if we want the old artwork back, we need to state our case for it calmly and succinctly (easier said than done, I know). We need to ask that the old artwork be brought back, and the new artwork be implemented as alternative additions. We need to ask that this be the protocol for future artwork, as well.

Bases need love, I agree.
By all means, beat drums beat!
(but let's keep the beat to a rhythm that the Devs will be more likely to respond to in a positive way)

I have been in contact with David about this issue.
While I cannot divulge details of the discourse, I can say in general that he's shown a willingness to investigate it.

If anyone has screenshots of the old beaker rack, it would be very helpful. I've only been able to track down 3.

Please send links to me via PM or here in this thread. Thanks very much.



ETA: screenies of old beaker rack artwork








What a versatile little item!

*mumble grumble*

Changing up the FSAA seems to affect my framerate... or at least it makes my movement more jerky.

Guess I'll have to do some tweaking with some of the other settings in order to re-discover a "happy medium".

*grumble mumble*

thanks for the tip, anyways, guys

Not sure if this was something that was overlooked or is a natural casualty of Ultra Mode... I could swear there used to be an anti-aliasing slider in the graphics options menu, but I cannot find it now.

I do not have a graphics card that will support UM, so what do I do now to get rid of the nasty jagged lines that have suddenly appeared?

Yes, this is a bug that has been around for a while. Apparently, the cause has yet to be pinned down. Theories have run the gambit from memory leak to memory overload. Try to include everything you did before the crash in your crash reports.

Also, you might want to send a copy of your report to Arbiter Kim.

It's not in the patch notes.

But then, neither are the changes to some of the base artwork.

Somebody HAD mentioned that they were having problems with the Auction House "losing" items on test. The problem they described seemed to be more related to slots, but the two issues might be related somehow... I don't really claim to know, but weird things happen sometimes.

Guess it's a good thing I cleared out all the WW inventories on all my toons before i17 was released.