Tork Norand
Mechanical Eagles Inc.
The Ancients.
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Posted - 2011.04.22 13:26:00 -
[1]
Good blog, I like the details. I think it will work.
I think a LOT of confusion can be simplified by doing a few things:
-- Designate a COLOR as the "Time Dilation Indicator". I'd suggest a green, but knowing some people are colorblind, maybe that should be something they can change. Anything and everything that's going to be affected by time dilation should then have that color used as the timing indicator. This includes module cycling, etc.
-- Add (as soon as possible) an overlay to the Capacitor gauge that shows the current Time Dilation rate. It should be 70% transparent and pulse on a set beat (unfortunately, every second makes the most sense) based on the dilation rate. The pulsing will be done 100% client side based off the dilation rate supplied by the server. This will provide instant feedback to the player on what a "current second in game" is.
Anything that comes up where it's questionable on "would this be effected?" should have the mechanics examined to look at how to change it so it's firmly on one side or the other. Example:
Perhaps the mechanics of the cyno field should be changed such that, once deployed, the field generator has the same resists of the deploying ship, but that ship can then leave the area. Someone warping to the field generator would have to do the equivalent of shooting down the same ship to break it, but the dilation becomes a non-issue since it's now "deployed". Also, use the nature of quantum mechanics to "bind" the ship to the cyno field....such that the ship cannot use anything but it's warp drive and sub-warp drives as long as the cyno is in effect. This then turns the cyno field point into a "deployed" item that has no player tied to it. People warping to it will either know that the time is dilated already (since they are in system) or that it is likely to since their pilot (who put it out there) can inform them of the fact. (Once dilation is in place, people should know that it will change as needed to keep true lag minimum.)
POSes should never be effected EXCEPT where a player interacts with it in the same way as they interact with their ship. So Production, reinforcement mode, fuel consumption, etc will remain the same at all times and work off a real clock. On the other hand, weapons and other player controlled aspects would be affected and have the same Time Dilation Indicator used. Again, keeping the player informed of the time dilation.
--Tork Norand, CEO. |