[MOD 1.1] Natural Evolution - All things Alien!

[OvermindDL1]

So... I am unable to put tracks and signals and train stops in a blueprint, grepped my mods and the only mod that touches any of those is Natural_Evolution_Enemies via:

Code: Select all

data-updates.lua:       Biters_Dont_Attack(data.raw["curved-rail"])
data-updates.lua:       Biters_Dont_Attack(data.raw["straight-rail"])
data-updates.lua:       Biters_Dont_Attack(data.raw["rail-signal"])
data-updates.lua:       Biters_Dont_Attack(data.raw["rail-chain-signal"])
data-updates.lua:       Biters_Dont_Attack(data.raw["train-stop"])

And that function seems to be doing this to each of them:

Code: Select all

        for i,d in pairs(Raw) do
                local newflags = {}
                for pos=1,#d.flags do
                        if not (d.flags[pos] == "player-creation") then
                                table.insert(newflags, d.flags[pos])
                        end
                end
                d.flags = newflags

        end

Which seems to be removing the player-creation flag.

So... how are we supposed to be able to use blueprints with rails, a fairly necessary task especially with F.A.R.L.?

[OvermindDL1]

And upon painfully manually placing a lot of rails I also notice that rails do not appear on the map nor are deconstructable or ghostable by/for robots. This is a pretty major breakage/regression.

[TheSAguy]

I forgot removing the player flag caused that...
Made it optional in the config now, by default it's turned off, meaning biters will attack, but you can use it in blueprints.
Update on first post.
Will update post later.

[OvermindDL1]

I forgot removing the player flag caused that...
Made it optional in the config now, by default it's turned off, meaning biters will attack, but you can use it in blueprints.
Update on first post.
Will update post later.

Awesome, thanks.

[Maiyr]

Looking forward to trying this out on our PVP Red vs Blue map. Hopefully I can use my biters to disrupt my buddy as we see who will reign supreme with rocket launching. Is there a way to have my biters search him out? Kind of like a fire and forget system? Create bitter, then they actively hunt him down?

[thaflya]

Hi, I looked a bit in the mod data and changed some values cause the mod does several nice changes but is a bit too diffucult for me. I´ve found a lot of values which improves the mod for me but one thing bothers me. Its about the spawn rate of the worms. Currently I am in a game and the evolution factor is around 0.2 and there are some enemy bases with big worms (the vanilla ones) and big worms from them mod. They are impossible to beat for me at this point, and later it will become even harder. How can I adjust the values for big worms (both the vanilla and mod version) that they spawn less frequently and on higher evolution factor?

That will help me alot, thanks in advance.

[TheSAguy]

Hi, I looked a bit in the mod data and changed some values cause the mod does several nice changes but is a bit too diffucult for me. I´ve found a lot of values which improves the mod for me but one thing bothers me. Its about the spawn rate of the worms. Currently I am in a game and the evolution factor is around 0.2 and there are some enemy bases with big worms (the vanilla ones) and big worms from them mod. They are impossible to beat for me at this point, and later it will become even harder. How can I adjust the values for big worms (both the vanilla and mod version) that they spawn less frequently and on higher evolution factor?

That will help me alot, thanks in advance.

thaflya, use this version. I'll release it officially later this week. It removes the new worms, but adds the unit projectiles to the vanilla worms.
My mod does not affect vanilla worm spawn rates though.

Remember that the mod is on Hard by default, you can set it to normal in the config.
Give me feedback on what you like/dislike so I know.

Thanks.

[Qloshae]

Sorry, but I can't find the alien hatchery and that stuff.
Where can I find them?
I found the collector and the converter and the technology, but that's about it. :S

[TheSAguy]

Sorry, but I can't find the alien hatchery and that stuff.
Where can I find them?
I found the collector and the converter and the technology, but that's about it. :S

Are you sure you have the Buildings Module? Sounds like you might only have the Enemies Module.

[Qloshae]

Sorry, but I can't find the alien hatchery and that stuff.
Where can I find them?
I found the collector and the converter and the technology, but that's about it. :S

Are you sure you have the Buildings Module? Sounds like you might only have the Enemies Module.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh.
Now I feel stupid.
Thanks!

[thaflya]

thaflya, use this version. I'll release it officially later this week. It removes the new worms, but adds the unit projectiles to the vanilla worms.
My mod does not affect vanilla worm spawn rates though.

Remember that the mod is on Hard by default, you can set it to normal in the config.
Give me feedback on what you like/dislike so I know.

Thanks.

First off, thanks for the reply. I changed several values where setting difficulty to normal was one of the first things. Currently I have changed so many values in the files that I just can´t switch to a new file, that would take me alot of time.

What i think about the mod, the pros:
+more types of enemys, better adepting to the evolution factor
+bigger number of enemys (heads of a group )
+retaliation when u destroy an alien spawner
+enemys droping small alien parts
+many new techs and buildings for the player
+constant pressure from alien attacks

and the cons:
-it is horrible hard, even on "normal" i strugle to beat any alien bases around ~0.6 evolution factor

Around 0.6 evolution factor the game becoms so hard that the tank becomes completly useless, dies in a second and cant kill anything relevant. I cheated an mk2 power armor into the game, fully packed with shields and stuff with fully upgraded weapons (no alien ammo used) and u have absolutly no chance vs an alien base. The difficulty renders all weapons expect towers useless around 0.5 (or even earlyer) evolution factor. For me this is too hard, so i changed the hp, resistance, damage of all aliens, worms and spawners too much lower values. I had to do this repetedly to reach a level where i can handle the aliens. Currently many values are around the vanilla stats and a bit above. Now u can say "why even use this mod then?"; well cause of the pros!

I have big respect to the players who are able to beat this game in the original hard mode of the mod and even normal is a challenge above my skill lvl.

[OvermindDL1]

So, got in the end-game area of a playthrough and the FPS has tanked more than usual, looked in the in-game profiler and "mod-Natural_Evolution_Buildings" is not just the highest in the mod time list but is higher than even the pathfinding calculations in the game itself:

It might need a bit of an overhaul in how the coding works...

EDIT: It is now averaging over 12.5.

[TheSAguy]

So, got in the end-game area of a playthrough and the FPS has tanked more than usual, looked in the in-game profiler and "mod-Natural_Evolution_Buildings" is not just the highest in the mod time list but is higher than even the pathfinding calculations in the game itself:

It might need a bit of an overhaul in how the coding works...

EDIT: It is now averaging over 12.5.

Could you possibly send me a save and your mods?
Maybe on dropbox. I'll take a look.
Thanks

[OvermindDL1]

So, got in the end-game area of a playthrough and the FPS has tanked more than usual, looked in the in-game profiler and "mod-Natural_Evolution_Buildings" is not just the highest in the mod time list but is higher than even the pathfinding calculations in the game itself:

It might need a bit of an overhaul in how the coding works...

EDIT: It is now averaging over 12.5.

Could you possibly send me a save and your mods?
Maybe on dropbox. I'll take a look.
Thanks

I can still if you want, but think I found the issue, seems it is doing some surface.find_entities_filtered calls a couple of times in the same callback once every 80 ticks, which gives a slight hitch every 80 ticks greater than what it is by default at this latency due to the number of entities around, especially as one of them is 110x110 in size. It seems it is for the biters you can control but we have none of those as of yet so unsure why that code is running (also might it be more efficient to keep a list of biters under player control and enumerate that instead of getting a large range around the player once every just over a second? If you enumerate that list piece by piece over many ticks it would reduce the on_tick calculations done). So in actuality that spike happens every little bit due to huge range surface.find_entities_filtered calls that are fairly unbounded in what they are getting (type="unit" in one and no filters at all in another).

[TheSAguy]

I can still if you want, but think I found the issue, seems it is doing some surface.find_entities_filtered calls a couple of times in the same callback once every 80 ticks, which gives a slight hitch every 80 ticks greater than what it is by default at this latency due to the number of entities around, especially as one of them is 110x110 in size. It seems it is for the biters you can control but we have none of those as of yet so unsure why that code is running (also might it be more efficient to keep a list of biters under player control and enumerate that instead of getting a large range around the player once every just over a second? If you enumerate that list piece by piece over many ticks it would reduce the on_tick calculations done). So in actuality that spike happens every little bit due to huge range surface.find_entities_filtered calls that are fairly unbounded in what they are getting (type="unit" in one and no filters at all in another).

Would still like to see your save and mods.
If you're saying it's be biter control code and you don't even have any, wouldn't this issue be there from the start of the game?
I also know orzelek looked at this code
If you want to take a shot at the code, please do! I'd appreciate it!

[orzelek]

Two questions:
1. Are you using latest version of buildings?
2. Do you have the remote pilot to get aliens to follow you - if yes then check if it's on. The search should happen only with pilot set to on.

[TheSAguy]

Version 5.2.0 up.
I'll complete this later...
All Modules: Enemies: Worms added in 5.0.8. removed, but unit launching added to vanilla Medium and Large worms. Lowered some resistances slightly. Buildings: Made converted Spawners minable. Expansion: Integrated with EvoGUI. You can use EvoGUI to see some NE stats.

[triggerman602]

Will removing the mod reset all the changes it's made back to default? I have a feeling it won't. Is there any way to set everything back to default or is my save pretty much stuck with the changes from the mod?

[TheSAguy]

Will removing the mod reset all the changes it's made back to default? I have a feeling it won't. Is there any way to set everything back to default or is my save pretty much stuck with the changes from the mod?

Should be fine.
You will lose all building you build with NE Buildings
You will lose the new enemies by removing NE Enemies, but will then revert to vanilla spawns.
The Vanilla evolution factor will take over after removing NE Expansion, but will start at what ever the current evolution factor is.
Two fairies will die...

[orzelek]

Will removing the mod reset all the changes it's made back to default? I have a feeling it won't. Is there any way to set everything back to default or is my save pretty much stuck with the changes from the mod?

Should be fine.
You will lose all building you build with NE Buildings
You will lose the new enemies by removing NE Enemies, but will then revert to vanilla spawns.
The Vanilla evolution factor will take over after removing NE Expansion, but will start at what ever the current evolution factor is.
Two fairies will die...

It's not that clean break with Expansion mod - it will leave all the biter expansion settings at current state - those are persisted through save. So depending on which phase you are might be left in easy or hard state.