Suggestions and notes after playing the 0.A-4694-g8d81398 experimental version

[jcd]

1. I like how it is now harder to level skills without the proper books.
   However, for constructions it is almost impossible to go from lvl 4 to 5 without a book, since there is no skill 4 construction.
   Suggestion: Lower the “reinforce window” constructions skill reqs from 5 to 4.

2. When constructing (after selecting construction type, e.g. chop wood, but before pointing to the place to construct) there is a typo: At the top of the screen it reads: “Contruct where? (Direction button)”

3. Item stacking makes sorting stuff a much better experience!
   Is this also speeding up the crafting menu? (since game has to take into account practically less items)

4. I like how zombie hordes are playing out. Makes the world feel more dangerous, and this is good.

5. Maybe slime pits are spawing too many blobs? In my intel c2d 2,4Ghz pc, the game used to freeze for 1-2 mins very frequently when near the 200-300+ blob horde. Had to use debug -> remove all monsters repeatedly to be able to continue with my game…

6. There needs to be a way to dispose of dead blob bodies (and other stuff that will not rot) now that acid rain is gone.
   Otherwise too much stuff accumulates and the game slows down.

7. With the zed hordes, game is becoming slower due to many calculations. Is it possible to optimise the engine maybe solving also the (5) problem?

8. Suggestion: Air Conditioning system for cars. Maybe also a/c units in buildings for spare parts.
   Function: As long as powered, “normalize” the temperature in a 2-tile radius.
   I mean moving the temperature towards the ideal 20 oC up or down from where it is currently, limited to a maximal ±15 oC change.
   Eg, if current temp is 30 oC, a/c works as it should and climatized area has 20 oC.
   But if current temp is -5 oC, a/c cannot reach the optimal 20 oC, only -5+15=10 oC.
   Maybe the player should also be able to program it for an optimal temperature within the 10-30 oC range, rather than having it set up for 20 oC.

Also a book of mechanics 9->10 (maybe called ASHRAE handbook?) could be added with the recipes:

i: name: valve:
needed: mechanics(6)+ welder+ hammer
material: chunks of steel(2)+ plastic chunks(2)+ pool ball(1)+ spring(1)

ii: name: heat exchanger:
needed: mechanics(6)+ welder+ hammer
material: copper tubing(2)+ copper tubing(6) OR aluminum can(12)

iii: name: compressor:
needed: mechanics(8)+ welder+ hammer+ screwdriver
material: power converter(4)+ small electric motor(1)+ metal tank+ valves(4)+ copper wire(20)+ copper tubing(2)
Note: Maybe the vacuum sealer should be able to get disassebled in order to scavenge most of these parts, and also a crafting recipe for the vacuum sealer could exist too.
A vacuum cleaner item could be also added, used to disasseble for parts.

iv: name: electronic a/c controller:
needed: electronics(8)+ screwdriver+ soldering iron
material: copper wire(5)+ processor board(2)+ small lcd screen(1)+ pilot light(1)+ electronic scrap(4)+ plastic chunks(2)

v: name: Air Conditioning Unit
needed: Mechanics(10), Electronics(4)+ Welder/welder alternatives, Hammer/hammer alternatives, Screwdriver, Forge, Rubber Hose, Compressor (used to create vacuum and pressurize the refrigerant)
material: copper wire(30), copper tubing(4), rubber hose(2), ammonia(15) (used as refrigerant), plastic chunks(20) OR steel (casing), metal OR duct tape (hold everything together), valve(4), heat exchanger(4), compressor(1), electronic a/c controller(1), (small electric motor(1) + blade(1)) OR desk fan (air flow)

[FunsizeNinja123]

2. When constructing (after selecting construction type, e.g. chop wood, but before pointing to the place to construct) there is a typo: At the top of the screen it reads: “Contruct where? (Direction button)”

I don’t see it.

[quote=“jcd, post:1, topic:6909”]8. Suggestion: Air Conditioning system for cars. Maybe also a/c units in buildings for spare parts.
Function: As long as powered, “normalize” the temperature in a 2-tile radius.
I mean moving the temperature towards the ideal 20 oC up or down from where it is currently, limited to a maximal ±15 oC change.
Eg, if current temp is 30 oC, a/c works as it should and climatized area has 20 oC.
But if current temp is -5 oC, a/c cannot reach the optimal 20 oC, only -5+15=10 oC.
Maybe the player should also be able to program it for an optimal temperature within the 10-30 oC range, rather than having it set up for 20 oC.[/quote]

We have that already.

[quote=“jcd, post:1, topic:6909”]Also a book of mechanics 9->10 (maybe called ASHRAE handbook?) could be added with the recipes:

i: name: valve:
needed: mechanics(6)+ welder+ hammer
material: chunks of steel(2)+ plastic chunks(2)+ pool ball(1)+ spring(1)

ii: name: heat exchanger:
needed: mechanics(6)+ welder+ hammer
material: copper tubing(2)+ copper tubing(6) OR aluminum can(12)

iii: name: compressor:
needed: mechanics(8)+ welder+ hammer+ screwdriver
material: power converter(4)+ small electric motor(1)+ metal tank+ valves(4)+ copper wire(20)+ copper tubing(2)
Note: Maybe the vacuum sealer should be able to get disassebled in order to scavenge most of these parts, and also a crafting recipe for the vacuum sealer could exist too.
A vacuum cleaner item could be also added, used to disasseble for parts.

iv: name: electronic a/c controller:
needed: electronics(8)+ screwdriver+ soldering iron
material: copper wire(5)+ processor board(2)+ small lcd screen(1)+ pilot light(1)+ electronic scrap(4)+ plastic chunks(2)

v: name: Air Conditioning Unit
needed: Mechanics(10), Electronics(4)+ Welder/welder alternatives, Hammer/hammer alternatives, Screwdriver, Forge, Compressor (used to create vacuum and pressurize the refrigerant)
material: copper wire(30), copper tubing(4), ammonia(15) (used as refrigerant), plastic chunks(20) OR steel (casing), metal OR duct tape (hold everything together), valve(4), heat exchanger(4), compressor(1), electronic a/c controller(1), (small electric motor(1) + blade(1)) OR desk fan (air flow)[/quote]

Eh. I’d rather have a heater than an A/C in New England.

[jcd]

I don’t see it.

top left of screen, appears just bf pointing to where you are going to construct. using linux curses version.

We have that already.

huh? where is it?

Eh. I’d rather have a heater than an A/C in New England.

it is an air conditioning unit a.k.a. heat pump… it is able to work for both heating and cooling as needed.

[FunsizeNinja123]

[quote=“FunsizeNinja123, post:2, topic:6909”]I don’t see it.

top left of screen, appears just bf pointing to where you are going to construct. using linux curses version.[/quote]

Ah.

[quote=“FunsizeNinja123, post:2, topic:6909”]We have that already.

huh? where is it?[/quote]

It’s not an item or something you install. It’s just there.

[KA101]

[quote=“FunsizeNinja123, post:2, topic:6909”]I don’t see it.

top left of screen, appears just bf pointing to where you are going to construct. using linux curses version.

We have that already.

huh? where is it?

Eh. I’d rather have a heater than an A/C in New England.

it is an air conditioning unit a.k.a. heat pump… it is able to work for both heating and cooling as needed.[/quote]

Yeah, enclosed cars come with climate control. If the battery’s charged, it’ll keep you Comfortable.

Construction has a book that should take you to 6, but I imagine it’s not very common. “Engineering 301” or somesuch.

[jcd]

ahh, that’s news to me.
i guess is unfeasible to have a/c in a 1-tile draggable vehicle.

still, we really need to be able to run water tubes and electrical cables via tiles (without having a vehicle constructed on said tiles)
then this idea will be usefull for a base, not to mention electricity and running water IN the base, coming from a generator/solar rig and well/river/etc respectively.

Would it be reasonably feasible to just add a tile attribute for when a tile has a wire or tube running though it? Then we could just construct them via the costructions menu, add end-point devices (might be useful for those to be 1-tile “vehicles” or constructed furniture)
You wanted to power up that dead console? With this its possible

PS. I can also think about windmills and waterheels to generate power if we can lay cables
PS2. I do know all this is far-fetched, but what the hell

[Vanigo]

I think most of that stuff is already planned, but filed under “do this at some unspecified point in the future”.

[vultures]

5. Maybe slime pits are spawing too many blobs? In my intel c2d 2,4Ghz pc, the game used to freeze for 1-2 mins very frequently when near the 200-300+ blob horde. Had to use debug -> remove all monsters repeatedly to be able to continue with my game..

I dunno… this is for the Bugs & Reports subforum. How did you amass such a force, anyway? I’ve been playing the WinCurses build (and I still am) on a 300Mhz computer and there have been issues all the way to 0.A, but I’ve never resorted to Debug simply because there’s somewhat of a bugtracker that tells the player if the Experimental build is doing something uholy.
According to (6. and 7.) you seem to have an awful lot of issues, being that you’re playing a game that’s made for playing with A LOT of different content, and at a single time. I’m not gonna push this myself, but are you on a network - or do you have a malware scanner that’s strictly set up? There is a heap of stuff that can bottleneck a straightforward application, so let us know about issues you’re having anyway, ok?
As for your CPU specs, I can tell you’ll never be able to tell if a roguelike is asking for more hardware resources - and for sure, too.

[jcd]

here is a screen that shows the blob situation: me in the middle of what was the blob horde… dark tiles around myself are tiles covered with too many dead blobs.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByMpmi-B0s7URlV5Y2tkSnl6QmM

About my pc… well, game version is linux curses self-compiled and at the time of screen i had 46% mem used (out of 4GB) and 4% cpu (out of 2 cores@ 2,4Ghz).
The machine does most things very fast (no weird slowdowns), and i will not easily believe that my arch linux installation is infected and slowing down due to malware. I am careful I also use linux. Also cpu use is normal.

Otoh, my definition of ‘slow’ with yours may differ. Generally when there are lots of enemies on the reality bubble (zed hordes, being in the middle of the dead blob horde) it takes 0,5-1 sec for some 1-tile movements and less for the rest.
But with that horde, i was facing 1 minute freezes after 5-10 steps.
So i started thinking about bodies disposal and spawn rates.
What is defined as slow? What are other players experiencing?

[vultures]

You experienced some data being written to disk, most likely the map update itself or else (but I’m not your usual Linux guy).
What concerns me is that text box to your right; why is it so messed up?
Khuddaz for the share.

[jcd]

i have scaled down and slightly reduced quality of the screenshot, that is why it looks weird. no problems whatsoever with gfx.

but i do experience slowdowns with the ~10-20.000 in vol items around my base. maybe it is because its also a self constructed base, or the lava on the one side? Items being inside lockers?

I had similar issues with older versions inside my mobile base: a 6x8 armored car with maybe 15 cargo carriers filled to the brim with stuff. Crafting menu would respond very slowly, but i was thinking that this is mostly normal.

The game may freeze/be slow to respond, but i can still alt-tab out of the terminal and do stuff with my pc, with no noticeable slowdowns. I can surmise (haven’t looked at processes running) that cata:DDA is running on one core only. That might explain some of it.

I guess i should blame my inner hoarder as the culprit. I just cannot leave stuff lying around and not take them in my base for when i might need them. Optimization and workaround ideas are welcome.
Oh, and are such numbers of stuff working better in windows versions???

[FunsizeNinja123]

It’s because you’re hoarding a bunch of stuff.

[kevin.granade]

yea hoarding is pretty much your issue, there are some more things we can do to lower the impact of having that many items, but at some point there are simply diminishing returns, the player will always be able to pile up enough stuff to cause performance problems.

[jcd]

ok, thanks for confirming that.
i will report if i can reproduce the excessive spawnings of blobs again.
(it hasn’t happened since i wiped the blob horde, i only see normal numbers of blobs now)

PS. I slightly modified the a/c recipe, in case anyone wants to somehow use it in the future. After zlaves