Topics

1

Suggestions & Requests / Help! DESPERATELY need anti-air weapon tech!

« on: July 22, 2008, 08:25:22 PM »

So here's the deal:  I host air combat games with the bi-planes and primarily the minigun.  Miniguns and sniper-rifles are the most effective at shooting down planes, except by 'most effective', I mean the best that our crappy weapon selection has.  Admit it, every weapon we make is tailored for anti-infanty roles: slow, powerful, and bad accuracy (on the more balanced guns).  Granted, we don't need insta-hit weapons for soldiers, even at long range; they're slow.  But if we want to shoot down aircraft, we need bullets that travel faster than an airsoft round.  Don't believe me?  Use wrench  events to set a brick to fire scatter bullets at an angle at five rounds a second and fly past it in a plane.  The plane is going faster than the bullets.  AT LEAST the game implements relative physics so bullets shot forward from a plane WILL fly faster than the plane, but with the crappy controls (http://www.blockland.us/smf/index.php?topic=38106.0) dogfighting is not easy with slow bullets.

So, what do I need?
1. An anit-air minigun.  At the worst (easiest) we just speed up the bullets.  Something about 7 or 8 / 10ths the speed of a sniper round (Sniff's sniper weapon, for example).  At the best (hardest) we add a scatter effect (like the better assault rifles - Sniff's G36) of about 5 degrees and re-vamp the model to look more intimidating.  What's important with this weapon is it's powerful fire rate.  It makes it easy to hit a target, but doesn't do massive damage.  MAYBE double the damage rate, but maybe not.  Oh, and cut down the rev-up time by a bit.  Not completely.  An how about a better sound effect?

2. Anti-air Cannons.  Something around the size of the minigun, but a bit faster travel rate, like one more tenth of the sniper rifle speed than the minigun.  It should resemble a device that looks like it's dual-weilding Sniff's Barret rifles.  It's fire rate should be about 4 rounds per second, and it should sound powerful.  About 4-5 hits should take out a bi-plane and no rev-up time.  Should cause moderate brick damage, like Sniff's G36.  (I like his weapons, he does great work.  Thanks)

So obviously these will be rediculously powerful against soldiers, but they are not intended for that, now are they?

So how 'bout it?  Sniff? Peaceful War? Space Guy? Kaje? Anyone?

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General Discussion / Portal Build

« on: July 20, 2008, 10:55:39 PM »

Is it just me, or are there precious few portal maps out there, despite Space Guy's hard work?  Well I'm working on one and I'd like to know if people think I should continue.  Picture below.  It is on Slate Exodus, so the ambient light is minimal.  I think the light fixtures look cooler than any ambient light.  This is only the beginning, and NO, there is no spikey crusher, I don't know how to do it.  Currently, I've got 'tests' that involve using portals to reach where you can't, momentum based puzzles using clearly-marked black anti-portal bricks, switches to open doors, the weighted cube to use to open switches and disable turrets. And the turrets?  Well, I have the laser tripped long-range version, and the proximity-tripped auto-aiming short-range version.  They are made with blocks, so I can't move them, but they can be detonated by touching the buttons on the back or dropping the cube on them.  They will of course, then respawn.

BTW, If you have your own Portal build, post it here.  I'd love to accept your challenges and take your ideas :).

BBTW,  If someone thinks this is the wrong topic section, let me know.

3

Suggestions & Requests / Land Mines-- A solution!

« on: July 14, 2008, 08:22:26 PM »

I've heard the idea of land mines brought up often.  Actually, with Space guy's wrench events, you can make your own.

Simply place a brick on the ground or a sturdy baseplate and then use the wrench on it.  If wrench events is enabled, you see a blue 'events' button.  Click it and click the green plus to add an event.  click the event to change its type, and select 'wait for'.  In the options menu, select, instead of 'triggered', 'touch'.  Both people and vehicles will trigger this.  Now add a new one and select 'shoot'.  Choose 'weapon' instead of 'special', and select below it, 'Rocket Launcher'.  This fires the projectile of the RL.  Now tell it to aim straght down by clicking the down arrow.  Presto!  Now you have a brick that, when touched, will shoot a rocket into the ground, exploding it, and the brick, and the poor fool, and respawn when the brick respawns.  You may want to paint it green or black, to be hard to see, and, asthetically, try using the small round disc brick.

Use similar tactics to plant detonators for a self destruct sequence.  Set a brick to trigger others to do this, and detonate your building.  You may need a lot of them!

So, good idea?  Any further suggestions?

4

Help / Firewall Internet Lockdown!

« on: July 13, 2008, 11:17:52 PM »

I know, yet another port-forwarding post, but hear me out.  I've already searched for it, but no adaquate results.

I succesfully activated port forwarding anf can launch a server just fine.  One problem.  ZoneAlarm (set on High) prevents my computer from acceaing the web now.  I have to set it on medium to surf now.  Uncomfortable!

Do I undid everything I'd done.  No change.  Great.  I can still run BL servers, but I have to disable the firewall just to SURF!  WHY!!!  How do I set it back?  How can I make ZoneAlarm behave again?

Lte me clarify: BL works, but ZoneAlarm cuts off my web access, I have to torque it down to surf.  WHY??

5

Suggestions & Requests / Blockland vs Roblox: Vehicles

« on: July 05, 2008, 02:22:33 PM »

I've done some checking and researching, and from what I gather the only thing Roblox has on us is dynamic brick shaping and brick-based vehicles.  I'm not sure if Blockland can reshape bricks that easily, but maybe we can do the other trick...
They seem to be able to make vehicles out of bricks, on the fly as they play.  We need a vehicle spawn brick, and an appropriate add-on to get a given vehicle.  If you can mod yourself, great, otherwise you'll have to wait and see what gets made.  Granted, brick vehicles don't look as cool as well-made modded vehicles, but you can just make them anywhere.
So this is my suggestion: Can we make a system to build vehicles on the fly?  There are a number of ways to do this.  The failling Lego Creator back in the day had pieces you could stick on a pile of bricks to turn them into a vehicle.  Can we do that?  I think maybe not.  It seems Blockland considers blocks a scenery kind of thing that can't be moved about.  But what if we built with special bricks?  We have anti-portal bricks, can we do something to make moving bricks that can be stuck together to make a vehicle?  Or maybe a special vehicle spawn that can make models on the fly out of user-chosen brick look-a-likes?  Then you could have a saving system for the models, and can make anything you like.  They would be made out segments that use the brick models, but would be combined into a single model that would be equiped with a chosen, customizable vehicle script. 
Any other ideas? 

6

Suggestions & Requests / Building Damage

« on: July 01, 2008, 08:48:48 PM »

What determines how much damage a building or block takes when destroyed?
The Rocket Launcher only destroys a small circle and sometimes needs a second shot to finish some bricks off.  Sometimes it can't kill a brick, especially baseplates.
The Spear will wipe out single bricks, and many kinds the RL can't, but still not baseplates.
The Fuel Rod Gun leaves massive holes.
The "Gun" does no damage.
The P90 only hurts small bricks.
The AR33 (Bond Pack) will shred holes through most buildings.
The M4A1 tears through buildings almost better thaan the RL, damaging more than one brick at a time.

So why the inconsistancies?  What is the damage algorithm based on?

--My apologies, I put this post in the wrong topic section.  Sorry.

7

Suggestions & Requests / Vehicle Control Enhancement

« on: July 01, 2008, 08:38:02 PM »

I'm a driver/pilot enthusiast, so I was quite frustrated and enraged when I couldn't fly the darn bi-plane through the kitchen window!  I can do it now, but it is very difficult to pull off because you have no feedback on your control mechanism, the mouse.  The problem is I can't tell which way I'm turning untill I'm already doing it.  With a joystick, I know if I point it left, I'm going to go left.  With the mouse, if I move it left, I have little clue as to whether I'm really going left, or just less right.
This problem has a simple, universal cure: show the mouse when driving a vehicle.  Any vehicle.  A simple "third party" mod, indepentant of the vehicle, can do this simple thing, no?  This is the most basic way to fix the problem; I see the mouse, I know which way I am turning/going to turn, and by how much.
A better solution would be to put some sort of "aiming reticule" in place or the mouse's position, maybe with a line leading from the center with a color code (maybe green-yellow-red, blending would be nice) to see the intensity (distance from center) of the turn.
With this ability, you can fly a plane carefully and precisely, mastering the control and pulling off moves you didn't think possible.  I'd write this code myself, but I just don't have time to learn the language.
So, I'm thinking something like the background music mod; you press a hotkey, and presto! The steering gui is online, whether you're in a vehicle or not.