[Rel] Boom Bot Wars

Discussion in 'Released Mods' started by burntcustard, July 11, 2014.

  1. burntcustard

    burntcustard Post Master General

    Messages:
    699
    Likes Received:
    1,312
    [Screenshots coming soon!]
    [​IMG]

    This mod is a twisted spin off of "boom bot only" games. The idea behind Boom Bot Wars is that you can only attack through Boom bots, which always cost 45 metal, BUT they are not the only unit....

    Version 1.1 Available on PAMM!

    Features:
    • "Pouncing" Boom bots!
    • Skitters included, with speed buff, so they don't slow down Booms much.
    • Boom Bot Lobbers - built by the T2 vehicle factory. Fires Boom bots at long range into your enemies! Costs 15 metal/s and takes 3 seconds to produce and fire a Boom bot, just like the T1 factory.
    • Boom Tanks - built by the T2 vehicle factory. Similar to a Vanguard, but instead of a gun has a self-destruction attack, similar to Boom bots, but much more dangerous.
    • Commander pew pew gun replaced with a team-secondarycoloured rapid fire laser, great for dealing with early harassment. Hint: Get my Show Secondary Colours mod.
    • Factory roll off times adjusted.
    • Orbital Radar Satellites are the only orbital unit you can build. They can only be taken out of the sky with reclaim.

    Bugs and problems:
    • Only use <600 radius planets without any, or with very little water. Because lag and no naval units.
    • You can't go to da moon (off planet).

    Future plans:
    • Flying Boom Bots. Will be trying to figure out if I can put Firefly wings on a Boom and make it fly. - This hasn't been going well so far.
    • A counter for flying Boom Bots.
    • Something to make water planets work-able.
    • Something to make multiple-planet play work.
    • Balance.

    Special thanks to:
    • Trialq for the Boom Bots Only mod, which started me off on this.
    • YourLocalMadSci and Nanolathe for the pretty much the whole jumping bots thing from RCBM.
    • Stuart98 for the team coloured stuff in Statera balance mod inspiring the commander laser.
    • Ninjadude501 for lots of help testing and giving feedback.
    Last edited: July 18, 2014
  2. stuart98

    stuart98 Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,009
    Likes Received:
    3,888
    That was me that did the team colored weapons in Statera.

    Boom has rotated bones so no exporting via blender. :(

    Unless you're okay with me removing the legs.
  3. thetrophysystem

    thetrophysystem Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,050
    Likes Received:
    2,874
    I suggest using the firefly or another air vehicle and just making it do the boom weapon and action. Different ways to fix weapon working, you can make explosion large enough to reach ground or make it a ground unit that tracks so high up off the ground and targettable only by AA. I could contribute this unit if you like.

    I also suggest just making weak turrets, air and land, those are the natural counter for the boom anyway. Maybe make advanced combat fabber able to build turrets and booms like a walking proxy. Easy to balance because you can make an exact number of booms counter any single turret so you know exactly how much a turret can handle and don't even make it cost-effective so they have to be used dense and scare and backed-up.
  4. ninjadude501

    ninjadude501 New Member

    Messages:
    19
    Likes Received:
    2
    How about bombers drop boom bots, and AA missiles shoot boom bots instead of missiles?
  5. stuart98

    stuart98 Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,009
    Likes Received:
    3,888
    Why not make com weapons based on the weapon they have? I've already got code for it in Statera. You can take a look at it if you want.
  6. thetrophysystem

    thetrophysystem Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,050
    Likes Received:
    2,874
    Wait, that sounds like another mod entirely. "model replacement ammo into booms".

    IIRC, and I don't play multi a lot, but boom wars traditionally has the t2 turret and booms and skitters, doesn't it?

    Air booms is something I thought of doing for a "aircraft carrier plane", maybe with a lifespan indirectly enforcing an "aircraft carrier effective range".
    Last edited: July 11, 2014
  7. cwarner7264

    cwarner7264 Moderator Alumni

    Messages:
    4,460
    Likes Received:
    5,390
    Last edited: July 14, 2014
    burntcustard and mishtakashi like this.
  8. trialq

    trialq Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,295
    Likes Received:
    917
    Have you thought about orbital fabbers and umbrellas to allow multi-planet? No astraeus so no commander cheese, umbrellas to protect from orbital reclaim. It may be possible to disable orbital fab reclaim so umbrellas aren't needed.
  9. burntcustard

    burntcustard Post Master General

    Messages:
    699
    Likes Received:
    1,312
    I've been working on this a lot recently! Version 1.1 will include: (See next post)

    Speaking of the AI, I think part of it's downfall right now is it's overpowering desire to retreat from it's base when it's attacked by only a handful of Boom Bots. I may need some help understanding this thing to try to fix this:
    Code:
          "placement_rules":{
            "buffer":15,
            "threat":{
              "influence_type":"AntiSurface",
              "compare_type":"<",
              "radius":10,
              "value":50
            }
          }
    EDIT: To clarify, that code determines where a structure is placed and I think is the cause for the AI commander walking a mile to build a Power Generator when it doesn't REALLY need to.

    EDIT: AI testing:
    [​IMG]
    I lost that one. Actually... We're losing any game if the AI has a numbers or eco advantage now >:)
    Last edited: July 18, 2014
    cwarner7264 likes this.
  10. burntcustard

    burntcustard Post Master General

    Messages:
    699
    Likes Received:
    1,312
    A double post in my own thread? Why yes, I am doing this.

    Version 1.1 is out!

    Changes:
    • Removed bot fabricator - to make T1 vehicle factories "utility" factories (Scouts and Fabbers).
    • Adjusted some unit names and descriptions.
    • Removed Adv. Combat Fabber. This thing just wasn't useful enough and was too much micro. Building Booms itself wise micro-intensive, and assisting factories wasn't worth it over building more factories. I may add them back in at some point, because they were pretty cool.
    • Added the Boom Tank. It's basically a Vanguard, that self destructs like a Boom bot. It has really short range, so can't kill Booms (usually) because they jump before it can get close enough to detonate. It does cost less than 16 Booms though (the amount needed to kill it), so make great meat shields. The explosion does 2000 damage, so you only need 7 to kill a commander.
    • Reduced T1 factory HP from 6000 to 4000.
    • Gave the commander 30/3000 initial income up from 10/1000, to match the current PTE. Go factory first!
    • Added modified AI files, so the AI can actually play Boom Bot Wars now. Use the "Absurd" difficulty level, and adjust eco modifiers (+-0.5) and number of AIs if you want an easier/harder game.
    • Lots of little tweaks I've forgotten.
    trialq likes this.
  11. ninjadude501

    ninjadude501 New Member

    Messages:
    19
    Likes Received:
    2
    Whoa. Never thought I'd get mentioned in a mod post. o.o
    Other than if I made the mod myself, of course.
  12. ninjadude501

    ninjadude501 New Member

    Messages:
    19
    Likes Received:
    2
    I agree, now that I think about it. Custard, I really hope you don't put every suggestion I make in to the mod, because then we'll end up with every unit in the game again. Just, shooting boom bots. lol
  13. burntcustard

    burntcustard Post Master General

    Messages:
    699
    Likes Received:
    1,312
    Version 1.3 is out! Yes I skipped a version.

    Changes:
    • Added Combat Fabricator which makes Boom Mines. The mines are COMPLETELY invisible to enemies, cost 45 metal, and jump out when enemies come close.
    • New commander Uber Cannon. Shoots just about as far as the commander can see.
    • Boom Tanks "fixed". They did no damage since last update, but should do again now. They MIGHT do friendly fire, which is a bug.
    • AI changes. Absurd AI puts up quite a fight now.
    • Names, descriptions and location in build bar for many units changed to help make everything clearer.
    • Reduced commander laser and Boom Tank splash radius.
    EDIT: I forgot something! I re-did the way the explosion marks are done, so when a boom pounces, it doesn't leave a mark on the ground anymore. They only leave the mark if they explode on the ground, I.e. jump at something but miss slightly and hit the ground.
    Last edited: August 8, 2014
  14. burntcustard

    burntcustard Post Master General

    Messages:
    699
    Likes Received:
    1,312
    Just played this for the first time in ages, and its pretty horifically broken. Expect a v1.4 sometime over the next few days.

    I'd like some help tracking down the terrible sim performance with this mod. It could just be that area patrolling has become even worse recently, but I swear it isn't quite so bad in vanilla PA.
  15. stuart98

    stuart98 Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,009
    Likes Received:
    3,888
    There isn't as much area patrolling in vanilla PA is the thing.
  16. burntcustard

    burntcustard Post Master General

    Messages:
    699
    Likes Received:
    1,312
    Ahaha I'm a funny guy.

    Anyway, the sim speed improvements recently and the general improvements to the game have made Boom Bot Wars much more playable again. Recently I've been once again working on updating this mod. I've added some fun stuff.

    I will be doing some slightly-more-organised-than-usual test games this evening at 20:00 UTC (6 1/2 hours from now), to test out the shiny new things, the balance, and the updated AI. Get on the PA IRC or just join any games named "Boom Bot Wars v1.4" around this time. After this event I'll do a few tweaks, and then I hope to release Boom Bot Wars v1.4 on PAMM a few hours afterwards.

    Shotgun (6 barrelled gun arm):
    [​IMG]

    Flamethrower (single red line laser arm):
    [​IMG]

    Giant Boom Bots:
    [​IMG]

    You can see the stats of the new weapons if you dive into the files here.

    EDIT: So the amount of times I reduced and then increased and then reduced the shotgun damage tonight was... silly. I added back in the Holkins, but now it fires 2 Booms a second and has longer range. Need to do AI tweaks so it doesn't build one of those too early, and doesn't build more than one (or however many is the best number). I reorganised the explosions a few times again so there's more consistency, but some old files will need clearing out. The Giant Boom now makes a proper... giant boom (commander death/nuke anim).
    Last edited: October 25, 2014
  17. philoscience

    philoscience Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,022
    Likes Received:
    1,048
    I just played this but never saw the giant booms. What do I need to get those?
  18. elodea

    elodea Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,694
    Likes Received:
    3,040
    The giant booms are the advanced combat fabs!
  19. philoscience

    philoscience Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,022
    Likes Received:
    1,048
    I love these new mixed scale mods. Keep them coming guys! Played my first game of PA in two months last night thanks to them.
  20. burntcustard

    burntcustard Post Master General

    Messages:
    699
    Likes Received:
    1,312
    v1.4 is up on PAMM! Might do a changelog later!
    elodea and trojans like this.

Share This Page