Matrix Games Forums

Dear Larkin,

Just a few comments on the new cloning: I have used it myself a few times. It is a good feature to bring back those valuable pilots that fall prey to chance.
I do have a regret about it, though. I would love to see a difference between the original and a clone. It would be great to have bragging rights to a pilot that is a Hero, and got that way without ever being cloned.
It does seem that we are getting something for nothing too. Paying a chunk of money to get them back is really no big deal.

Your squad has no money problems ? Guess you must play lots of campaigns or easy battles. The squad I'm playing with my friend is always very low on money and cloning is not easy to afford. Cloned jocks also get their kills set to 0 and loose a point of constitution (except androids). With the last version they are also sent on sick leave for a month. I'm open to suggestions though. 

Hmmm... Good point, I have been doing a lot of campaigns. None that were unusual payback, though. It is a good idea to give them sick leave. And when they come back they'll be a new person! [:D] (Sorry for the corn!) Seriously, it would take a while to clone them. Nice change.

Kills reset to zero is realistic. They are someone else, so they shouldn't get that credit. Some titans make it more likely to build up kills than others, though. This does not necessarily measure the pilot. I would like them to retire at a good, ripe, old age! That is a good measure, as long as he didn't get that way by being a bump on a log!

Also, constitution decrease is realistic since the cloning process may weaken the physical characteristics. I've never understood how a person can have the same personality, and same (in this case) skills when they are cloned. Are these contained in their DNA? Oh, well. This is the wrong place to make those inquiries. It is a staple of science fiction. The way you have it setup is consistent with the way science fiction paints the picture.

Someone else suggested forcing them to use replicants. I think this is a good idea. I hate choosing them for any pilot I plan to use for a while. Their advantages are overcome early in the training, and they will forever be dealing with their disadvantages. It would be a reason to force a person to choose such path. I would willing do it if I could get a pilot with his old skills back.

At any rate, I'm glad you added this feature. I tried the City Assault campaign and it caused me to lose a few pilots. In a campaign you are left at the mercy of the designer!

I guess I will change cloning so that humans and cyborgs will become replicants, others will not change race.
All except androids will loose a point of constitution and take 2 month to be cloned, androids will not loose constitution and will only take one month.

EDIT: Done with b43

Yep, I had suggested turning them to Reps. They have their problems already, so it's nice.
I don't thing Androids should be clonable though. It could be another disadvantage to that race. You'd have to build another one from scratch, since they're basically machines.
I think I also mentioned that resetting their kills is more of a benefit than a penalty - their upkeep depends on kills, so they'll be cheaper to maintain.

I removed kills from upkeep calculation. I think androids should be easier to manufacture, disallowing to be cloned would be too harsh. My hero is an android. [;)]
I like the new vacation addition. It will allow do simulate injuries and stuff. I added 1 month if a jock is ejecting and bleeding afterwards, if health is down to 25% or the jock looses a point of dex/const/reaction.

Greetings, Iceman. 

Wow! That sounds great! Thanks Larkin!

ORIGINAL: Ghstbear
Someone else suggested forcing them to use replicants. I think this is a good idea. I hate choosing them for any pilot I plan to use for a while. Their advantages are overcome early in the training, and they will forever be dealing with their disadvantages.

Be aware that the increased dexterity or intelligence for replicants is a permanent advantage as they will constantly pay less to increase these attributes. To increase intelligence/dexterity from 19 to 20 a replicant will pay the cost from 17 to 18. This is 145 dev points instead of 250.

Btw a jock on vacation can't do his duty as leader/manager/mechanic in the HQ. The next best jock has to step in. I have to fix this for the factory too once I get the sourcecode.

Hey Henrik. Yep, I had forgotten you had removed kills from upkeep. Hehe, sorry, been kind of absent, testing other games.  [;)]  ToS is still one of the very few games on my HD permanently though.  [:D]

About Androids, they gain Constitution too, through XP. So I'm not sure them not losing 2 pts like everyone else makes too much sense. They should probably lose Neural Sense instead of Constitution, since they should get used to the neural link all over again.
Making them not clonable would force you to protect them harder than usual I guess. But if your hero is an Android, I see your point  [:'(]

I'd also restrict cloning to jocks that died from anything but an explosion (and cockpit destruction?). No DNA (though you could have it stored, but for some spice), no clones.  [;)]

How about vacation time for lost Charisma - plastic surgery  [:D]  Joking.

Changes are looking great BTW!

OK, androids will loose one point neural sense instead of constitution with b45.

Since Kai handed me the tcc and factory code I was able to fix the vacation problem (determine leader/manager/mechanic) for all modules and update them to the latest grahics library version. I also added an icon for window/taskbar and did set all window titles to v1.2.2.
Installing v1.2.2b44 and up should remove the CD check from retail installs.

How is Kai?
What's the status on WoSP?  [:D]

[X(] Kai's fine but I wouldn't hold my breath for WOSP. [:'(]