This is the thread where I will answer the questions from https://goo.gl/forms/7cswl75cF6UyP7zn2
Q: Will we ever get a better engine to play CM with?
A: At this point unlikely.
Q: Do you have any time for the research overhaul haopening?
Q: is R&D coming back and if it is when?
A: When I get the time and or inspiration to finish it, its about 60-70% done.
Q: when is buck going to be fun to play against
Q: The shotgun is now the new meta for weapons, to such an extent that some players view the pulse rifle as outright useless. Any plans on changing it? If anything, the shotgun should be the specialist weapon, and not the backline to the USCM force
A: I'm not a fan of the shotgun stun meta but I don't see ways to improve it at the moment.
Q: Will the xeno upgrade system be ever changed?
A: Possibly but no current plans.
Q: Will a cook role be added to the game?
A: Very unlikely, this game is mostly about team-based conflict, other servers have much better cooking systems than ours and we're unlikely to spend any meaningful time improving this.
Q: Will POs ever get their power loader skill upgraded as to make pre-run prep easier?
A: The idea is that POs get the MTs to help them but in-practice this rarely happens, or the POs just want to do it themselves. It might need buffing.
Q: Do you believe that Facehuggers and pre-bursted larva should Heal marines that they are inside passivley, at a respectable rate? A parasite wouldn't want it's host to die before it is ready to live on its own, and it would help to remove those times you are paincrit in a nest from the time you are hugged until you hatch. Opinions?
A: In reality yes, for our gameplay we want the xenos to have to work for their captures not get them handed to them.
Q: Ever plan on giving the marines the ability to get one free attachment like a stock, quickfire adapter, or red dot at their loadout station?
A: The req line is an important part of the pre-deployment ritual and we'd rather not make it redundant right now.
Q: What Overhaul do you THINK would be finished soonest?
A: Probably WO next, or preps/reqs
Q: Is the dev team happy with the current state of the sentry gun?
A: No and I personally have some code that should make it a more viable choice.
Q: Any possibility of having extra skills you can add during character creation, e.g a PFC that can do some minor engineering (likely using a point system for skill level)
A: This has been answered before, yes we do have tentative plans for something like this.
Q: Any chance for the Phase Plasma Rifle?
Q: More weapon choices for the lowly PFC?
A: Unlikely.
Q: What happened to Arcturians? There is a whitelist placeholder define in code, but apart from that and the wiki page there is scarcely any mention of them at all. Are they a scrapped race feature, or a planned addition?
A: We have some sprites for them I think but no plans.
Q: Will There be any Further Development on the Specialist classes? So Tweaks, Reworks etc. Maybe even adding a new Specialist caste?
A: Answered many times before, yes there's still reworks coming for some of the specs.
Q: Would I be possible to have a random rotation of Marines vs UPP or CLF or similar human factions in rotation so we see people gear up for human contact instead of xeno contact?
A: In theory marines should be gearing up to handle an unknown situation, and near future there will be random game modes to help reinforce this.
Mailbag Q&A Responses
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spookydonut
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- Byond: spookydonut
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spookydonut
- Registered user
- Posts: 457
- Joined: 13 Oct 2017, 02:08
- Byond: spookydonut
Re: Mailbag Q&A Responses
Q: Will HPRs ever be made more common for use?
A: No, they're a special weapon.
Q: Is there any chance to do EVA as marine?
A: Maybe some sort of new map thing but not outside the almayer as in the past where that was possible it was only used to delay rounds.
Q: Would it be considered by mappers to create user sumbitted maps that are liked for possible additional maps in CM?
A: Our mappers work on their own ideas, if you have an idea for a map learn to map and apply as a mapper.
Q: Will Military Police get any type of new weaponery/new investigating tools?
A: Unlikely.
Q: why chowder/spooky most active devs
A: Most development is very 'bursty', different people have different cycles of development bursts corresponding to their own motivation and real life commitments. While I might appear to be active I mostly focus on low hanging fruit and assisting the other devs. Chowder is still new and full of energy, although he shows no signs of slowing down.
Q: Do you have any plans with old plans of Sulaco? I think there were few plans of it being used as "S&R with boarding" or "exploring shipwreck on planet" scenario.
A: Yes.
Q: What, in your personal opinion, is the biggest issue in the current gameplay of CM?
A: Start and end game are the biggest issues I think, they've seen the least changes and as such have mostly stagnated into hunting down that last xeno/stale almayer defenses/pre-briefing fist fights.
Q: [Various questions about /tg/'s DMCA CM clone]
A: We don't care about the code, and they have promised to phase out our sprites.
Q: are there any chances of having events happen without much admin intervention? (Death squad, infection, UPP, HVH, ect)
A: We are looking to have random gamemodes, the current gamemode would be the primary mode with some HvH and maybe infection thrown in with lower probabilities.
Q: is there a research update planned any time soon? anything to do with utilizing xeno bodies to do cool things in general.
A: Yes it's mostly done, just needs finishing.
Q: Will any minigames/activities be added for dead players? If you die near the start of a round, you are forced to either wait a couple hours for the round to end, or try for spawning as a xeno.
A: No, the primary focus is on living players.
Q: This has been tabled many times, but is marine law getting any new changes in more laws and MP's having to follow marine law better or to be punished.
A: Yes
Q: who made the wooden wall and wooden table sprites
A: fridge
Q: Can HPRs get AP bullets? I dont know if I submitted this question before.
A: [laughter intensifies]
Q: Why Bill Carson has more leniancy than other commanders, even when it goes too far?
A: He doesn't but if you have concerns that you don't want to raise in a player report you can PM staff member about it.
Q: Are the devs actually planning on removing the B18? If so, what's the reasoning behind this?
A: This has been on the drawing board for a long time, the b18 just doesn't fit well as a specialist thing, it was originally combined with grenadier because their were the two least used kits. With the explosion rework the grenadier spec will become very powerful and gives more reason than ever to remove the b18 armor from their kit.
Q: Any plans to increase the level of RP amongst the marine side? Perhaps with a couple more RP focused jobs such as the CL?
A: Probably not.
Q: Will there be any updates coming soon to make it easier to capture hosts? With the tackle nerf, capturing has been very difficult. Although xeno number buff helps xenos early game, late game can be very annoying since it's harder for xenos to capture instead of kill. I understand this is a more recent change, so I'll be patient. Just curious if you have anything in mind, thanks!
A: Encouraging capture vs kill has always been an issue for us and the tackle changes, at least in my opinion, have had little impact on this.
Q: What kind of game are you planning CM to be.
A: One that I enjoy playing and that others enjoy too.
Q: [Various things that should be posted as suggestions or bugs on gitlab]
A: [screeching intensifies]
A: No, they're a special weapon.
Q: Is there any chance to do EVA as marine?
A: Maybe some sort of new map thing but not outside the almayer as in the past where that was possible it was only used to delay rounds.
Q: Would it be considered by mappers to create user sumbitted maps that are liked for possible additional maps in CM?
A: Our mappers work on their own ideas, if you have an idea for a map learn to map and apply as a mapper.
Q: Will Military Police get any type of new weaponery/new investigating tools?
A: Unlikely.
Q: why chowder/spooky most active devs
A: Most development is very 'bursty', different people have different cycles of development bursts corresponding to their own motivation and real life commitments. While I might appear to be active I mostly focus on low hanging fruit and assisting the other devs. Chowder is still new and full of energy, although he shows no signs of slowing down.
Q: Do you have any plans with old plans of Sulaco? I think there were few plans of it being used as "S&R with boarding" or "exploring shipwreck on planet" scenario.
A: Yes.
Q: What, in your personal opinion, is the biggest issue in the current gameplay of CM?
A: Start and end game are the biggest issues I think, they've seen the least changes and as such have mostly stagnated into hunting down that last xeno/stale almayer defenses/pre-briefing fist fights.
Q: [Various questions about /tg/'s DMCA CM clone]
A: We don't care about the code, and they have promised to phase out our sprites.
Q: are there any chances of having events happen without much admin intervention? (Death squad, infection, UPP, HVH, ect)
A: We are looking to have random gamemodes, the current gamemode would be the primary mode with some HvH and maybe infection thrown in with lower probabilities.
Q: is there a research update planned any time soon? anything to do with utilizing xeno bodies to do cool things in general.
A: Yes it's mostly done, just needs finishing.
Q: Will any minigames/activities be added for dead players? If you die near the start of a round, you are forced to either wait a couple hours for the round to end, or try for spawning as a xeno.
A: No, the primary focus is on living players.
Q: This has been tabled many times, but is marine law getting any new changes in more laws and MP's having to follow marine law better or to be punished.
A: Yes
Q: who made the wooden wall and wooden table sprites
A: fridge
Q: Can HPRs get AP bullets? I dont know if I submitted this question before.
A: [laughter intensifies]
Q: Why Bill Carson has more leniancy than other commanders, even when it goes too far?
A: He doesn't but if you have concerns that you don't want to raise in a player report you can PM staff member about it.
Q: Are the devs actually planning on removing the B18? If so, what's the reasoning behind this?
A: This has been on the drawing board for a long time, the b18 just doesn't fit well as a specialist thing, it was originally combined with grenadier because their were the two least used kits. With the explosion rework the grenadier spec will become very powerful and gives more reason than ever to remove the b18 armor from their kit.
Q: Any plans to increase the level of RP amongst the marine side? Perhaps with a couple more RP focused jobs such as the CL?
A: Probably not.
Q: Will there be any updates coming soon to make it easier to capture hosts? With the tackle nerf, capturing has been very difficult. Although xeno number buff helps xenos early game, late game can be very annoying since it's harder for xenos to capture instead of kill. I understand this is a more recent change, so I'll be patient. Just curious if you have anything in mind, thanks!
A: Encouraging capture vs kill has always been an issue for us and the tackle changes, at least in my opinion, have had little impact on this.
Q: What kind of game are you planning CM to be.
A: One that I enjoy playing and that others enjoy too.
Q: [Various things that should be posted as suggestions or bugs on gitlab]
A: [screeching intensifies]
-
spookydonut
- Registered user
- Posts: 457
- Joined: 13 Oct 2017, 02:08
- Byond: spookydonut
Re: Mailbag Q&A Responses
Q: Any plans on WO balance. Like old lining, wave tier balancing?
Q: When can we whiskey outpost!
A: WO is waiting on me to finish converting the waves to be more coherently written after I broke everything removing the huge lag the WO gamemode caused. Hopefully will return soon.
Q: Do you guys want to balance standart and AP ammo? Or APs always just gonna be a straight upgrade?
A: I honestly don't know, for now it will be unchanged but I think the research update will offer the chance to experiment with ammo changes.
Q: What is your plan to even the win rate?
Q: What is your goal for the overall balance of the server's gameplay? Do you still want xenos to be more powerful than marines individually?
A: My plan is the gameplay overhaul, which with some more devs I should have time to work on now.
Q: Tank gone for "A few days" when is it coming back.
Q: When is TC enabled back?
Q: Can we get the tank back?
A: The removal of the tank has, I think, been a net improvement for the gameplay. It is still there for events but I think it became too much of a solo focus for the marines and xenos to the detriment of more diverse gameplay. The original plan when the tank as a concept was conceived was for it to be an occasional thing, and the 'testing' period went on far too long mostly due to how much players were enjoying it. The same issue will likely exist for the APC and as such that's on hold pending other changes.
Q: Devs have specifically stated that they’d prefer fun and pleasureable gameplay over balanced winrates, yet many people, xeno and marine mains alike complain about certain additions/removals and nothing is done to address these complaints. Any reason for this?
Q: What is your personal mindset on player feedback? Do you believe that community input in changes and suggestions is valuable?
A: Player feedback is important to us as a team and to me personally as often we don't have a complete picture of exactly how the game is going. It is not our attention to ignore or fail to address comments and complaints, often we have plans for features or changes that we aren't ready to share or that form part of a long term strategy. As the community as hopefully seen I have been making an effort to lift the veil on a lot of secrecy around development and implore the community to continue to engage in the process in a constructive manner to make CM the best game it can be.
Q: Is there going to be added More rifles to USCM service ?
A: We don't really want to further dilute the weapon choices for marines but that doesn't preclude the possibility of adding more specialist weapons.
Q: Question for the devs, do you think allowing all attachments to be used on any weapon assuming they gave different values of bonus/negative could work?
Q: Any chance of fixed attachments like smart guns mag harnass not counting as a attachment but a bonus effect for the gun allowing people to make some more wacky builds like for example qfa on a smart gun?
A: I don't have any desire to radically alter the way attachments work at present.
Q: Could you bump the number of webbings in req? It would help as a late join PFC.
A: I have plans to alter how pre-round gear up works to condense the time before deployment.
Q: What is the biggest project you guys are working on?
A: Several, the new map, research, likely some other things.
Q: How heavily does the whitelist process rely on character recognition, i see it a lot in successful white-listings, but i play a multitude of character in specific roles, and worry this will affect my application.
A: Whitelists are being transitioned into being managed by the whitelist councils to hopefully speed up the process and remove any perceived issues of staff bias.
Q: What do you guys think is the reason for the fall in pop?
A: It's partly seasonal, partly the lag issues, partly player dissatisfaction.
Q: Hello, why was sd removed?
A: SD as a mechanic and as a round end was boring and stale, that we can all agree on. The forced hard limit on post-crash almayer defense is intended to speed up the end round. This is currently the best alternative I can think of that doesn't allow one side to dictate when the round ends, the marines must retreat and the queen choose to hijack the shuttle.
Q: Why are Emerald/Jamie/Slc never online?
A: They are, they just deal mostly with behind the scenes and staffing duties.
Q: Can rule 2 on the player reports be relaxed. If you look at topics there staff feels like nazi's. You can still add a lot if not involved and it feels like it is just a stupid rule.
A: We want to stop arguments in player reports and avoid dogpiling, for reports about a specific incident rather than something habitual character witnesses add nothing.
Q: When can we whiskey outpost!
A: WO is waiting on me to finish converting the waves to be more coherently written after I broke everything removing the huge lag the WO gamemode caused. Hopefully will return soon.
Q: Do you guys want to balance standart and AP ammo? Or APs always just gonna be a straight upgrade?
A: I honestly don't know, for now it will be unchanged but I think the research update will offer the chance to experiment with ammo changes.
Q: What is your plan to even the win rate?
Q: What is your goal for the overall balance of the server's gameplay? Do you still want xenos to be more powerful than marines individually?
A: My plan is the gameplay overhaul, which with some more devs I should have time to work on now.
Q: Tank gone for "A few days" when is it coming back.
Q: When is TC enabled back?
Q: Can we get the tank back?
A: The removal of the tank has, I think, been a net improvement for the gameplay. It is still there for events but I think it became too much of a solo focus for the marines and xenos to the detriment of more diverse gameplay. The original plan when the tank as a concept was conceived was for it to be an occasional thing, and the 'testing' period went on far too long mostly due to how much players were enjoying it. The same issue will likely exist for the APC and as such that's on hold pending other changes.
Q: Devs have specifically stated that they’d prefer fun and pleasureable gameplay over balanced winrates, yet many people, xeno and marine mains alike complain about certain additions/removals and nothing is done to address these complaints. Any reason for this?
Q: What is your personal mindset on player feedback? Do you believe that community input in changes and suggestions is valuable?
A: Player feedback is important to us as a team and to me personally as often we don't have a complete picture of exactly how the game is going. It is not our attention to ignore or fail to address comments and complaints, often we have plans for features or changes that we aren't ready to share or that form part of a long term strategy. As the community as hopefully seen I have been making an effort to lift the veil on a lot of secrecy around development and implore the community to continue to engage in the process in a constructive manner to make CM the best game it can be.
Q: Is there going to be added More rifles to USCM service ?
A: We don't really want to further dilute the weapon choices for marines but that doesn't preclude the possibility of adding more specialist weapons.
Q: Question for the devs, do you think allowing all attachments to be used on any weapon assuming they gave different values of bonus/negative could work?
Q: Any chance of fixed attachments like smart guns mag harnass not counting as a attachment but a bonus effect for the gun allowing people to make some more wacky builds like for example qfa on a smart gun?
A: I don't have any desire to radically alter the way attachments work at present.
Q: Could you bump the number of webbings in req? It would help as a late join PFC.
A: I have plans to alter how pre-round gear up works to condense the time before deployment.
Q: What is the biggest project you guys are working on?
A: Several, the new map, research, likely some other things.
Q: How heavily does the whitelist process rely on character recognition, i see it a lot in successful white-listings, but i play a multitude of character in specific roles, and worry this will affect my application.
A: Whitelists are being transitioned into being managed by the whitelist councils to hopefully speed up the process and remove any perceived issues of staff bias.
Q: What do you guys think is the reason for the fall in pop?
A: It's partly seasonal, partly the lag issues, partly player dissatisfaction.
Q: Hello, why was sd removed?
A: SD as a mechanic and as a round end was boring and stale, that we can all agree on. The forced hard limit on post-crash almayer defense is intended to speed up the end round. This is currently the best alternative I can think of that doesn't allow one side to dictate when the round ends, the marines must retreat and the queen choose to hijack the shuttle.
Q: Why are Emerald/Jamie/Slc never online?
A: They are, they just deal mostly with behind the scenes and staffing duties.
Q: Can rule 2 on the player reports be relaxed. If you look at topics there staff feels like nazi's. You can still add a lot if not involved and it feels like it is just a stupid rule.
A: We want to stop arguments in player reports and avoid dogpiling, for reports about a specific incident rather than something habitual character witnesses add nothing.
-
spookydonut
- Registered user
- Posts: 457
- Joined: 13 Oct 2017, 02:08
- Byond: spookydonut
Re: Mailbag Q&A Responses
Q: Do you plan to rework and further balance the specialist classes? Currently B18 is a bit disappointing as it functions as simple heavy armor rather than grenadier
A: Yes.
Q: Will there be any mechanic to control xeno-marine ratio? To prevent fast and easy marine/xeno steamrolls
A: There's mechanics already to do this but no hard limit on ratios, round start xenos scale on marine numbers and late join larva are designed to account for marine late join as previously if a round went on long enough or was during the low-pop to high-pop transition the marines would either cause a stalemate or end up winning.
Q: What is the estimated time until research is complete
A: When its done.
Q: Would it be possible to get a requisition order that purchases one or more empty crates? i've previously woken up in req to find us crateless and needing to do a supply drop, but i had to make a relatively expensive order just for the crate
A: You can make crates from plasteel.
Q: Can you give command staff access to tactical binos and also let req purchase rangefinders/tac binos directly?
A: Given how powerful they are they're limited by design. Command staff are the ones meant to be talking with the people who do have the binocs so they have no need for them.
Q: When I lead an operation sometimes I resent having SOs because then I cannot use their console to see cams. Can you give one big commsnd overwatch for the center of CIC that can see every helmet cam? Oh and give XO a special armory locker with a uniform that matches their sprite.
A: That's what the tactical map is for, you shouldn't be trying to micro manage a squad if theres a SO for it, if you aren't happy with the SO then replace them.
Q: Is a system for Req where CTs will be usefull even after early attachment rush getting ready?
A: Yes
Q: Why do the marines always investigate colonies at night? Will there ever be daytime operations? (light outdoors, as opposed to darkness everywhere)
A: Daytime maps have been tried and they don't work well, xenos need darkness to work well.
Q: Will you ever add a netgun for research to make, so its possible to capture live xenos?
A: Capturing live xenos is not something I want because it takes away agency from xeno players.
Q: What is the direction the Sentry is heading in? Do you plan on adding different rounds for it?
A: The sentry is meant to augment defenses without replacing them like the old sentry did. There's no plans to add different ammo for it.
Q: What is project nightmare?
A: It is some code written by NethIafins to swap segments of maps with premade alternatives. That's a simplified explanation of what it does but it offers a lot of great possibilities for the future, Awan has help enormously with making it happen.
Q: how do i join programming team?
Make an application here: viewforum.php?f=117
Q: when will devs sift thru gitlab suggs/bugs
A: We do frequently but there is a lot of them. We mostly focus on bugs.
Q: Why not have a designated day biweekly or monthly for HVH? since people are gagging for it so often.
A: We're not having scheduled events, this subject has been discussed endlessly elsewhere. We will have random HvH rounds mixed in with the normal gamemode eventually.
Q: It's been a week, where are the answers?
A: It's now been two weeks, I've been quite busy of late.
A: Yes.
Q: Will there be any mechanic to control xeno-marine ratio? To prevent fast and easy marine/xeno steamrolls
A: There's mechanics already to do this but no hard limit on ratios, round start xenos scale on marine numbers and late join larva are designed to account for marine late join as previously if a round went on long enough or was during the low-pop to high-pop transition the marines would either cause a stalemate or end up winning.
Q: What is the estimated time until research is complete
A: When its done.
Q: Would it be possible to get a requisition order that purchases one or more empty crates? i've previously woken up in req to find us crateless and needing to do a supply drop, but i had to make a relatively expensive order just for the crate
A: You can make crates from plasteel.
Q: Can you give command staff access to tactical binos and also let req purchase rangefinders/tac binos directly?
A: Given how powerful they are they're limited by design. Command staff are the ones meant to be talking with the people who do have the binocs so they have no need for them.
Q: When I lead an operation sometimes I resent having SOs because then I cannot use their console to see cams. Can you give one big commsnd overwatch for the center of CIC that can see every helmet cam? Oh and give XO a special armory locker with a uniform that matches their sprite.
A: That's what the tactical map is for, you shouldn't be trying to micro manage a squad if theres a SO for it, if you aren't happy with the SO then replace them.
Q: Is a system for Req where CTs will be usefull even after early attachment rush getting ready?
A: Yes
Q: Why do the marines always investigate colonies at night? Will there ever be daytime operations? (light outdoors, as opposed to darkness everywhere)
A: Daytime maps have been tried and they don't work well, xenos need darkness to work well.
Q: Will you ever add a netgun for research to make, so its possible to capture live xenos?
A: Capturing live xenos is not something I want because it takes away agency from xeno players.
Q: What is the direction the Sentry is heading in? Do you plan on adding different rounds for it?
A: The sentry is meant to augment defenses without replacing them like the old sentry did. There's no plans to add different ammo for it.
Q: What is project nightmare?
A: It is some code written by NethIafins to swap segments of maps with premade alternatives. That's a simplified explanation of what it does but it offers a lot of great possibilities for the future, Awan has help enormously with making it happen.
Q: how do i join programming team?
Make an application here: viewforum.php?f=117
Q: when will devs sift thru gitlab suggs/bugs
A: We do frequently but there is a lot of them. We mostly focus on bugs.
Q: Why not have a designated day biweekly or monthly for HVH? since people are gagging for it so often.
A: We're not having scheduled events, this subject has been discussed endlessly elsewhere. We will have random HvH rounds mixed in with the normal gamemode eventually.
Q: It's been a week, where are the answers?
A: It's now been two weeks, I've been quite busy of late.