Version/2.38.x: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:46, 26 August 2024

Home > Patch notes > Version/2.38.x

2.38.0

This patch has not yet been released
The information in this section is preliminary and subject to change, including the addition and removal of entire sections.

Release: (TBA)

Features

Replaced vehicle shell particle effects with the new particle system. Each weapon can (and now does) have a different trail.
Large rework of the vehicle heat mechanics
- Added a fourth "Overheat" heat region.
  - Now there is "Low" (Green), "Medium" (Yellow), "High" (Orange), and "Overheat" (Red)
- The portion of the heat bar that is not filled will still be displayed, but in a way more muted color.
- The positions of the various heat regions can be defined per-engine.
- When a weapon cannot fire due to overheating, the ammo indicator for that weapon will turn red. (This was previously in the game, but the definition of overheating used was incorrect so this never actually happened).
- Engines will now begin stalling at the High region, and completely stall at the Overheat region.
- Weapons can have a "Critical Heat Zone". When a weapon is fired while the vehicle is in this zone or above, then it will fire a crit.
  - Crit shells can have a different firing sound, impact sound, and trail particles. (Impact particle effects and muzzle flash effects are still to be implemented, but if this concept sticks around there's an entirely different way I want to indicate these in the scripts).
  - Critical shells do triple damage.
  - Only the Plasma cannon currently uses this feature, and likely only the plasma weapons will use this mechanic.
  - Only shells have crits implemented. If this idea is kept, then we'd want to implement the same for MGs, missiles, and grenades.
- Due to simplifications of the engine stall code, the "Heat Stall Penalty" value on engines now indicates the maximum amount the throttle can be reduced to via engine overheating, instead of the square root of the maximum amount the throttle can be reduced to via engine overheating.
  - To keep the same behavior on existing engines, this value will need to be squared in the scripts.
Added a sound effect that plays when a tank loads ammo.
Increased the default value of the emp_sv_vehicle_fadeout_time cvar from 30 seconds to 180 seconds.
- The previous default probably made sense before vehicle carcasses could be recycled.
Increased the default value of the emp_sv_vehicle_fadeout_time_partial cvar from 30 seconds to 60 seconds.
Removed the emp_sv_vehicle_allow_horns cvar.
- Horns are a vital form of communication between players, and it does not make sense to allow server owners to turn this functionality off.

Bugfixes

Script/Game Balance

Other changes

Known Issues

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 === Features ===
-* Reworked the vehicle heat system
+* Replaced vehicle shell particle effects with the new particle system. Each weapon can (and now does) have a different trail.
-** Each pip on the heat meter represents two heat points. This means that engines with a higher heat capacity will have a larger heat bar.
+* Large rework of the vehicle heat mechanics
-** The vehicle heat meter is broken up into four different colored zones. Previously, these were cosmetic, but now they directly affect game mechanics.
+** Added a fourth "Overheat" heat region.
-*** Low (Green)
+*** Now there is "Low" (Green), "Medium" (Yellow), "High" (Orange), and "Overheat" (Red)
-*** Medium (Yellow)
+** The portion of the heat bar that is not filled will still be displayed, but in a way more muted color.
-*** High (Orange)
+** The positions of the various heat regions can be defined per-engine.
-*** Critical (Red)
+** When a weapon cannot fire due to overheating, the ammo indicator for that weapon will turn red. (This was previously in the game, but the definition of overheating used was incorrect so this never actually happened).
-** Different engines have the breakpoints between zones in different places on the heat meter.
+** Engines will now begin stalling at the High region, and completely stall at the Overheat region.
-** Instead of weapons being unable to fire when the heat they would add would exceed the heat meter, now the only relevant factor is the heat zone that the tank is in when the weapon is fired.
+** Weapons can have a "Critical Heat Zone". When a weapon is fired while the vehicle is in this zone or above, then it will fire a crit.
-*** This maximum heat zone defaults to the High zone, but for example Nukes can only fire in the low zone.
+*** Crit shells can have a different firing sound, impact sound, and trail particles. (Impact particle effects and muzzle flash effects are still to be implemented, but if this concept sticks around there's an entirely different way I want to indicate these in the scripts).
-*** This allows the behavior to be a little more predictable, as the bar visually indicates when each weapon can fire.
+*** Critical shells do triple damage.
-** Weapons can be set to still fire above their maximum heat region, but do self-damage to the tank instead.
+*** Only the Plasma cannon currently uses this feature, and likely only the plasma weapons will use this mechanic.
-** Firing your tank's weapons can never add enough heat to trip the overheating penalty, unless you fire an overheated weapon and do self-damage.
+*** Only shells have crits implemented. If this idea is kept, then we'd want to implement the same for MGs, missiles, and grenades.
-** When a weapon cannon fire due to overheating, its weapon bar in the bottom right corner turns red.
+** Due to simplifications of the engine stall code, the "Heat Stall Penalty" value on engines now indicates the maximum amount the throttle can be reduced to via engine overheating, instead of the square root of the maximum amount the throttle can be reduced to via engine overheating.
-*** This was previously implemented, but never actually happened due to a bug.
+*** To keep the same behavior on existing engines, this value will need to be squared in the scripts.
-* Cannon and artillery trails now use the new particle system.
+* Added a sound effect that plays when a tank loads ammo.
-** Each cannon and artillery weapon now has a different particle trail, for easier identification and improved flavor.
+* Increased the default value of the emp_sv_vehicle_fadeout_time cvar from 30 seconds to 180 seconds.
+** The previous default probably made sense before vehicle carcasses could be recycled.
+* Increased the default value of the emp_sv_vehicle_fadeout_time_partial cvar from 30 seconds to 60 seconds.
+* Removed the emp_sv_vehicle_allow_horns cvar.
+** Horns are a vital form of communication between players, and it does not make sense to allow server owners to turn this functionality off.
 === Bugfixes ===