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Bring back the energy usage monitor

PostPosted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 10:00 pm
by Flawaffles
importent note:
type
cl_fantasy "1" //my English isn't that good
_____________________________________________________
Iam talking about this:
graph.jpg
let me make it clear why i need this sometimes

fusion 2nd obj. as corp scenario:
i am decking in and getting to the obj. note
putting greenice + encryption but not doing the minigames.
instead i am heading to the rod's note and putting the same combat programs but this time iam doing the minigames.
it should be clear that minigamed progs. are still faster done.

why am i doing this: maximum defend in less amount of time

in 1.2 i watched my graph and when it hits 0 energy consume i decked out (all progs. are finished).
in 1.3 i need to go back and take a look if all progs. are ended.

you may think:"why ? there are some prog. progress indicators on the mid-right end of the screen"
NO!
watch this this

it would be cool to see the graph makes his way in 1.3 OR the status-bars will get a rework.

i know it isn't THAT important but hit +2 when you want to see the graph in the future
thank you for reading and rating this
greetings

Re: Bring back the energy usage monitor

PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 12:42 am
by UsefulId|ot
you are correct

+2

thank you for posting this, i felt the same way about the change

Re: Bring back the energy usage monitor

PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 12:52 am
by bauxite
well the graph itself is useless, only the indicator of when the programs have finished is a useful feature.

i guess the cyberhud needs a redesign anyway, and add features such as program progress, crystal energy, friendly decker energy and stuff.

good idea though.

Re: Bring back the energy usage monitor

PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:20 am
by Ravice
+2, i do exactly what you do and its a bit annoying not knowing when the programs i left running are finished after completing the minigames.

Re: Bring back the energy usage monitor

PostPosted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:39 am
by Hyphen-ated
Fixing the progress bars so they can show more than one program at a time is a good idea

Re: Bring back the energy usage monitor

PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 7:09 pm
by MaZe741
bringing back energy usage wouldnt hurt too, they were probably removed because some lazy programmer couldnt find out based on what the heck they were programmed.

say,
You are using weapons; all you get is a proportional feedback:

projectile 10, shaft ~20, hitscan 30

10, 20, 30.... nice buuuuut
those numbers represented WHAT? if i may ask? energy usage per minute? per shot? per wedge's time? per time-interval-it-takes-the-graph-to-roll-once?

I think you just have to go over it all together, fix programs's energy usage, and produce a nice display with energy usage per second, updated constantly. how its intended; how people will understand.
-dont forget to add idle energy usage as well, so people really realise how much more energy nonenhanced deck really uses, as an example.

I cant remember anyone ever asking to remove this graph, even in its very bad form of 1.2, it gave you valuable information.

btw, when you're at it: nerf shaft energy consumption

Re: Bring back the energy usage monitor

PostPosted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 5:57 am
by obj
MaZe: It used to be programs took less energy to use if you ran multiple ones and kept your efficiency bar under 100, that was what the energy monitor represented. So running 2 programs at once would take less energy than running them one after another, but if you ran 2 programs and engaged in combat your efficiency would spike up and you would be losing energy faster instead.

Re: Bring back the energy usage monitor

PostPosted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 4:23 am
by MaZe741
alright, there are some things that are new to me among those you just said:

i believed
energy usage never goes higher than 100
-if you run 2 encryptions at the same time, your energy usage goes to 100 (and it would be even higher, so you are happy it only uses 100). At this time, if you engage in combat and use shaft for example, energy consumption will go even higher "throught the roof"?

if so, why woulnt you visualize this with pure energy usage per second (showing the resulting spike) instead of a % treshold, that doesnt even explain what happens when you cross it?

my suggestion stands whatsoever: produce a nice graph that reveals total energy consumption over time.
idle energy, combat energy and program usage combined.
program energy have a max cap, if you cross it using combat programs, those will consume more.
this makes a lot of sense, and it wont be hard to visualize this in a single graph, the threshold could be a red area in the graph that can be crossed, but then consumption will spike upwards.

green area: idle energy
orange area: program max cap OR combat programs
red area: program max cap + combat programs

also, I'd suggest lowering the program max cap consumption. hardly anybody leaves highly consuming programs running. to reach 100 you have to do crazy things, most wont ever happen, because you still consume a lot more energy than you would when you put them up one after the other doing the minigames.
Also, since standard deck now has minigames as well, there is hardly any reason to run programs at the same time. The reason to do this should be highly rewarding, not just a minor bonus.
this can be as complex as you want, so long as you inform the user about his total consumtion at all times.
if you do not, like in the current situation, such features remain hidden, and need to be removed, but apparently this is just what happend.

Re: Bring back the energy usage monitor

PostPosted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 4:48 pm
by charlestheoaf
The main focus of skillful hacking used to be running as many programs at a time as you (efficiently) could.

With the inclusion of the hacking mini-game, the gameplay focus shifted toward running 1 program at a time (sitting there and hitting the buttons to make it complete as quickly as possible). The energy usage graph was removed because it became superfluous when in normal cases the player would only be running 1 or 2 programs at a time.

Some of the maths regarding energy usage may have changed too, but I don't remember that clearly.

Re: Bring back the energy usage monitor

PostPosted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 6:35 pm
by MaZe741
Some of the maths regarding energy usage may have changed too, but I don't remember that clearly.
at least bring up energy consumption for weapons... i mean thats like ammo, just in cyberspace.

how long would it take for noobs to realize that hitscan consumes 3 times as much energy over time as projectiles? how would they even find out?

also, energy consumption for programs are pretty diverse, so why not bring that knowledge to the players? most players wont even find out that those programs will consume energy, unless they keep an eye on their energy meter, which they ofcourse dont... cus they're solving the minigame, rite?