Some (probably not) quick fixes to xenoarch

[Midaychi]

 

As a preface, I know it's caelcode, and ponies said that eventually xenoarch is gonna get revamped, and they just don't wanna mess with it right now, but there's issues that I've found that might just be simple edits of a few lines to fix. Note: I'm not at all fluent in byond code.

 

1. The flora scanner has rejected every plant fossil I've ever found over the span of tens or twenties of rounds, on the grounds of it being a new type fossil or something? The error message is very vague and I don't understand the reason for that functionality if it even has one. I *do* know, despite my dumbness at byond, that it looks like changing a single line in reconstitutor.dm would allow all plant fossils to be read. Seeing as *all* fauna fossils can be read and don't give that senseless new type error, that'd be pretty neat.

 

2. It'd be nice if it required less fossils to do reconstruction. Currently you'd have to get pretty darn lucky to get enough of the right fossils in a single paradise round.

 

Currently, my observations on how it works:

The Fauna scanner *does* work, but it's weird and convoluted. When you use a fossil on it, it'll make an entry of seven or eight dna codes, but the first fossil won't give you a code to put in those slots. You have to put another fossil in there to actually get a code, assuming that you find a fossil related to that creation and not another.

 

Breakdown: Fossil A has some hidden 'type', so it points to ie Ancient Space Corgi (doesn't exist, just an example). Fossil B has some hidden 'type', points to space chickens. Fossil C also has Space chickens.

 

If you use fossil A on the reconstitutor, It'll make entry A. If you check all the spaces, there's nothing to plug in.

If you put fossil B on the reconstitutor, it'll make entry B. Same as before.

If you put fossil C on the reconstitutor, it'll add a genetic marker to entry B.

 

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3. Make artifacts and anomalies only generate on the mining z-level.

 

After playing on Bay12 (and learning some pretty impressive tips from the Professor), I've noticed that bay station's occurrence of dig sites seems a lot more common. At first I thought it might be because they possibly increased it, or something?

In actuality, my guess would be due to paradise station having more asteroid then just on the asteroid zlevel. Paradise has the asteroid at clown-crash, and all the turfs at clown planet.

Seeing as it'd be near impossible to get a stasis machine to the clown crash without telescience, and it's a pain in the butt to get a stasis machine to clown planet, I think limiting their spawn to mining z-level would be pretty neat. It might also save on startup time.

 

 

4. Tubes! The pneumatic tubes on xenoarcheology are kind of buggered. They're supposed to cycle and travel to the various stations, but what they actually do is just get stuck at the mech recharger and have to be manually moved. Ontop of that, you can't slide underneath the tubes like you can in bay, so the tubes are essentially unbreakable walls.

 

Edited May 30, 2014 by Guest

[Midaychi]

 

Edit:

5. I've noticed that artifacts that require being energetically manipulated with on the surface don't allow you to use charged stun batons or multitools or etc on them. It's as if the attackby code is broken somehow. You'll try to use it on it, and it won't even give a debug message or feedback, but you smack another artifact that doesn't require a multitool or stun baton just fine, and you can smack the artifact with an un-charged baton just fine.

This functionality works fine on baystation.

 

 

6. On baystation, you can automatically mine rocky debris by walking into them with your opposite-from-pick hand selected. It's a small but very noticable difference. Would be pretty cool for paradise, because currently you have to stop and pick it manually.

 

A step further: If you're holding a pick or mining implement, and a depth scanner in the other, and have the depth scanner hand selected, It'd be pretty awesome if you automatically scanned tiles before you picked them, and if it wouldn't let you auto-pick if it pinged. Would make searching for hidden tiles infinitely easier.

 

[Midaychi]

 

Tried the reconstructor on a private compile and it looks like:

when you put the first fossil in, it randomly picks a starting letter, makes a category of it, and then randomizes the scrambled genetic thing locations, but doesn't add a snippet to put in. Then for every fauna fossil you insert, it has a chance of adding a genetic snippet for that category or adding a new category, or adding a snippet to the first category.

 

I've finished and cloned one successfully. The only thing I've been able to make even after multiple filled categories was one of those little blue omnivorous alien things with the weird name that starts with a D that sometimes raid telescience. Not sure if it was because I was spawning the fossils or if that's the only thing it can make, or if the RNG just didn't like me. It's possible it just spawns a random telescience alien, which is funny because it immediately starts attacking you and there's no containment in that room.

 

 

---ALSO---

Some changes to existing artifacts I'd like to see:

 

1. The hoverpod. I'd like to either see each one's variables semi randomized on roundstart, or at least the hoverpod improved. Currently It's just a ripley with a weird step sound and the inability to mount anything. I'd like to see it mountable with stuff and maybe as fast as an odysseus, and maybe the ability to propel in space, so it'd kindof be a fragile ancient gygax that could space travel. Maybe have different variants to find, with the higher end variants the most rare and the low end versions the most common.

Maybe make them start broken, and have steps to fixing them to working order? That way a miner could drag it to robotics to have it fixed up?

Might be super overpowered or something to just find and bring a mech back for repairs but you'd still need research and robotics to outfit it with anything.

 

2. The gigadrill is kind of silly. You turn it on and push it against something and the gigadrill attempts to really slowly mine it. Make it mine faster and/or able to knock down structures and I think it'd be hilarious. Especially if you could mount it like a janicart.

 

3. the auto cloners are interesting. They very slowly create a random monster over and over when activated. The first one I found printed a corgi every ten minutes or so. I was saddened that you couldn't actually stuff people into it and turn them into corgis, and I was also sad that it was so slow. Maybe make them a lot faster, and on activation instead of automatic, but require biomass and or light or other things?

 

4. The replicator kind of suffers from the same thing as the autocloner; It's too slow to be very useful, and I think there might actually be code in it to delete designs from the replicator if you press the wrong button (which I guess adds a risk factor but is also dumb). Maybe make it require a certain amount and type of material inserted, but have more designs on those buttons and work faster? Make the materials required random so you print crowbars from diamonds and flamethrowers from glass sheets or whatever.