Reputation & Multiplayer

[Storm]

Okie Dokie!!

First.... it occurred to me, "What if destroying a ship causes the shift in System Rep.... DURING a contract??"

I played until I was ALMOST there, and saved "at several small increments" (some saves closer to the rep shift than others).

Worked a bit, did a contract. Sure enough, DURING A CONTRACT, when a ship was destroyed, the faction reps had shifted to midrange and the rep was "Good"... BUT the contract was not finished yet. I finished off the last two ships... quit WITHOUT saving (still in the mission area) ... reloaded.... ** NO AUTOSAVE HAD OCCURRED **, I was back at the starport.

(edit : note... after EVERY and ANY ship was destroyed, I was checking the News Console).

Okay.

I selected another save point. Timing was excellent, I guess... I did ONE contract, and after the LAST ship was destroyed... rapidly in sequence...

Got the voice announcment "Contract ... has been completed"

"XXXX Credits (don't remember exact wording, got the payment)"

"Your system reputation has increased"

"Progress Saved"

I exited WITHOUT saving (all the way to Windows).

Reloaded.... I was in space (at that last mission area), reputation = Good.

So... autosaving works, UNLESS the shift occurs BEFORE a contract has been completed. In that case, "better remember to do it manually".


[Edited on 1-25-2009 by Storm]

[Vice]

Good to know, thanks for testing it.

[Storm]

One thing - it's probably my imagination. Probably just a "little impression that I had", due to too much coffee, not enough sleep and rushing through (aggressively) that test (basically "I was wired").

It seemed that a lot of hostiles were jumping out away from me *more then usual*. Sometimes seeming to just disappear. Even if I hadn't engaged them yet - just turning and facing them made them disappear, sometimes they were even > 3000 - 5000 meters away. Mostly near the startport, not so much out in space. Also, the timing of the game mechanics seemed to have been altered, SLIGHTLY and SUBTLY - "a bit sluggish" (barely noticably).

My thought was "I don't know anything about DarkBasic, but with D.B., can you compile to a debug version? Is this a debug compile? That might account for the perception of a SLIGHTLY laggish game". "Shrug" on the disppearing hostiles, though. Like I said - probably nothing, but thought I would mention it.

[Vice]

These are full builds, so it could be anything from more background tasks running at the time to just a more populated pocket of space you were in tasking more resources. As for jumping hostile ships, you may find that starting to occur more often as your capabilities and reputation continue to build. As you start acquiring more powerful ships and equipment/weapons, other AI pilots with weaker ships can become intimidated by you in certain systems and rather than confront you, they may either offer you a bribe or simply jump away.

[Storm]

Okay... probably my imagination (on the speed... except maybe number-of-ships, next item) ...

I was flying VERY aggressively, when normally I relax, take a breather, and "PERUSE" the contracts whenever I dock.

For this test, I was attacking every hostile near starports... early on, whenever I saw a Green or Yellow Rebel/Guild ship I attacked it. Often, if there was a Red hostile, I would hold down 'T' to rapidly go through the targeting list (just once through), and deliberately destroy Green and Yellow Rebs/Guilds with guns, and finish off the Reds with Excaliburs for efficiency. Think "Blitzkreig". I wanted to complete the test (rather that play the game, if you follow me).

I noticed a kind of "pileup effect"; I was bringing IN more Reds (reinforcements) to the starport then normal, and I had PLENTY of targets. When things slowed down, THEN I took a contract.

And I think I noticed more bribe offers than normal. Probably noticed it simply because there were so many (hostiles) during that session.

I was "just" flying a Phoenix, perhaps not that "intimidating", but maybe the sheer number of hostiles I was bringing in (and destroying like itty bitty ants on a hill) led to the "effects" I mentioned.


[Edited on 1-25-2009 by Storm]