confused microrift

[Krell]

Um wasn't it said the building could not move through the rift? because I just moved a pair of blasters through one

[mthw2vc]

Buildings (With exception of the LS) could always move though micro-rifts. Do not fear, that is as intended...

[knucracker]

Yes, your weapons, packets, even missiles (special cases) can move through m-rifts.  They are a great way to shuffle a squad around between distant locations if needed.

[Ebon Heart]

and the missiles were just an epic, unintended feature, right? by the way, creeper world two... best game ever! It could have been 50 dollars and I would have brought it.

[knucracker]

The first time I saw a missile fly through a m-rift, I paused the game.  I sat there for a few minutes mumbling to myself and then said "yeah, that's right... it was supposed to do that.". :)

All units use the default path finder unless I specify otherwise, so missiles just do what they were supposed to.  Of course the only constraint is that missiles only target things in range of the launcher, so the micro rifts have to be pretty close to each other.

[Ebon Heart]

now if only there were a way to program it so that the missile could shoot within a certain radius of the microrift, depending on how far the original microrift is from the launcher. For example, launchers have a radius of 5, right? So if a microrift is 2 squares from the launcher, and another microrift is on the other side of the map, it could shoot anything within 3 squares of that other microrift.

[UpperKEES]

now if only there were a way to program it so that the missile could shoot within a certain radius of the microrift, depending on how far the original microrift is from the launcher. For example, launchers have a radius of 5, right? So if a microrift is 2 squares from the launcher, and another microrift is on the other side of the map, it could shoot anything within 3 squares of that other microrift.

That's actually a very good suggestion. Two microrifts are the same location in space, so you would assume this also applies to the range of the launcher.

[Sqaz]

That's actually a very good suggestion. Two microrifts are the same location in space, so you would assume this also applies to the range of the launcher.

Hmm, I always saw the range more as a Line Of Sight as the missle can actually keep flying much farther than it.
It's also take some time to implement it, and the gameplay is finally finished. Implementing this means erasing all high-score tables and such.

This can also make some maps easier, where you need to place a lot of blasters and launchers in one space, with that you only need to build a microrift and you can let an unlimited amount of launchers (when building loads of microrifts) target the creeper while having a lot of place left for blasters and shields.

[UpperKEES]

I don't believe the impact would be that big and not many highscore have been set (for maps where this kind of strategy could be used). A line of sight doesn't apply to launchers anyway; the missile just has to stay in range while travelling and why would MR's not apply here when they represent the same location in space? I actually blame myself for not thinking about this before!

Of course I don't know how hard it would be to include an MR in the range of a launcher. It could be one line of code and it could be days of work, so that's entirely up to Virgil.

[mthw2vc]

I do believe this was discussed some time ago and thrown out, for the reason that one could simply have dozens of loaded launchers next to a few M-rifts and then open a rift next to the enemy and watch as it is blasted into oblivion with no concern for either moving the launchers to a space near their target or about the space on which you fight the battle.

[UpperKEES]

I do believe this was discussed some time ago and thrown out, for the reason that one could simply have dozens of loaded launchers next to a few M-rifts and then open a rift next to the enemy and watch as it is blasted into oblivion with no concern for either moving the launchers to a space near their target or about the space on which you fight the battle.

Heheh! :D It was actually me warning for this, see here. Of course this assumed all kinds of weapons could fire though the MR's.

Now missiles are able to travel though MR's, I don't see why targeting should be an exception. You'd still need blasters to defend the MR and I don't believe you would gain a lot by having 20 launchers firing from the same MR: they would all target the same (densest) cell, so lots of fire power would be lost when you don't spread your launchers (just like with mortars).

[Blaze]

If it can be coded with out too much work, then it could be a map editor option.

[Grauniad]

If it can be coded with out too much work, then it could be a map editor option.

Every time you chuck something like this  "over the fence" to be a map editor option, you not only make an already complicated map editor more complicated, but you require that the actual game engine being able to handle both conditions. That escalates complexity all-around.

[Fisherck]

yeah, I think it should stay the way it is. No use overcomplicating the editor like Grauniad just said. The system works just fine right now.

[Tiuipuv]

I use mrifts to shoot launcher bullets through ground. I can set up the launcher at a point where it could shoot very far into the deep creeper if the ground were not there. Then I construct an mrift just inside it's range on one side and right next to it on the other side. It effectively destroys the creeper power without putting anything in danger. It is, however, very rare that it could possibly be useful. The map would have to be set up just right.