RELEASED bk3k's More Powerful Techs 2.04

bk3k submitted a new mod:

bk3k techs - improved upon some techs to make them fun and useful

Read more about this mod...

 

bk3k updated bk3k techs with a new update entry:

updated for 1.0 and new approach

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

Hey there, I noticed this mod and it got me thinking, would you be able to do "combination" techs as well as original techs? Since you've got the multijump+hover.

So normal techs are worth 8 to unlock. these could be 16 to unlock. For example, rocket jump is cool in that it's like the old dash and can be directional controlled, but you only get 1 and usually it's a pretty measured jump cause if you over shoot or don't quite get it into a tight spot you'll go flying. But I like trio jump cause you can finesse them around to do weird circle jumps to get around ledges or get into smaller spots that aren't too high cause you can essentially take a few more tries at it. But perhaps a dash that lets you rocket jump 3 times one after another would be a cool mix. Or a wall rocket that allows you to rocket again if you touch a side surface.

Then you could go also the original route, and make a charged rocket jump that normally goes at the standard speed if not even charged but you can charge it for say 2 or 3 seconds and your character begins to glow white before exploding towards the direction faster than before but with a fast increasing energy cost if held past a second, and perhaps ability to cause contact damage if charged sufficiently and used towards an enemy?

Perhaps something everyone would love would be something akin to the original dash where you could just use it while you had energy and you wouldn't lose all your momentum after it to replace the stoppy cooldown dash we've got now. Then you could have something like a chain dash that on the first it's a small dash, then a larger one and finally an even bigger one which makes you player glow each being free like the normal 1.0 dash just covering more area than the last. or... buff dashes? Like a dash that once activated gives a speed boost and goes on cooldown for 3 seconds and when it's actively doing the dash you don't take damage and knock stuff away for damage when you go through it.

I don't have anything ball-wise, but perhaps the head section could have other special techs other than morph ball, such as maybe a personal shield activated with F that reduces damage taken costing you energy instead, or a meditation ability on a cooldown that gives you a buff for 30 seconds that causes constant energy and very minor HP restoration every 60 seconds and takes 5 seconds to cast. That kind of thing.

I mention this mostly cause you're the first one I see doing primarily techs for unstable/quickly approaching 1.0, so I thought I'd reach out with an idea that was nibbling at me for a time, with the lack of potent and varied techs that aren't too on the OP side. Thanks for reading. and I'd happily think of more ideas if you'd like to consider them.

 

I realize now my hover addon isn't faithful to the original hover. I forgot there was an actual hover tech prior to 1.0, and just sort of thought to add it on. After publishing the update, I was looking through old techs and noticed an actual hover tech. So strictly speaking, it isn't a combination. But I like mine better with the added shaking etc.

Some of those ideas I might consider doing.

I was also thinking a head tech which greatly increases your max energy and energy regeneration, but at the expense of additional hunger. Generally speaking, I think Starbound should make you eat more food the more energy you burn... which would make end game players have a heavier appetite but it probably isn't a problem for them. That tech would at least work in that way. I could add this sort of thing to any tech actually, rather than necessarily needing a dedicated tech slot. Or maybe that would be better for a back accessory? But it would work well with my (intentionally) energy hungry techs.

Yeah combination techs aren't particularly difficult to do. I mean you can't just add them together like legos, but activating different things based upon different conditions is easy. Hench why you can only midair jump after a regular or otherwise midair jump rather than after falling off a ledge. Likewise the hover only if you had activated a midair jump. That's so you can't use it as a "save my butt" card upon screwing up.

I was considering having some techs behave somewhat differently when you have other techs equipped. Starbound does compartmentalize some data access, and I haven't played around to see if one tech can "see" the parameters of other techs, and if so then I may have to look at other ways. That could cut down on needing too many individualized techs.

I probably will also add something more powerful than Sustained Dash but less insane than Sustained FTLBoost.

My Sustained Dash does this now. You don't HAVE TO sustain it - in which case it would be much like the old dash. However you are going to loose momentum after when on the ground due to friction. On ice you won't slow much and in the air you'll behave ballistically (but you do somewhat slow down due to air resistance). That's all stuff which is a part of the engine itself. You can more so notice what I'm talking about with the Sustained FTL Boost - it actually shares a LUA script with Sustained Dash.

Anyhow lowering the friction of blocks is not something I'd do in this mod... that's pretty far outside the scope of a tech mod. I could do what sprint does though such that you are just sprinting after a dash(where you ran out of energy). That sounds reasonable enough. It does work in a different way by affecting movement ability rather than applying force up to a certain speed.

I don't know that I will do this, but I could. However I like trade-offs. Sprint is far slower, but doesn't use energy so if I did that, there is almost no reason to ever consider sprint... and I dislike that notion.

Also I suddenly have the idea of a portable tech switcher... but that might be unbalanced when you don't have to pre-prepare. I dunno.

I don't know that I would mess much with the wall jump, but if you look at the main page I listed a multijump done in a rocket jump fashion as a probable future idea. However you did improve upon my idea here. The idea though of having you hold down jump(in midair) to charge it is an interesting take on that and I think I like it. Increase the force and speed depending on that. And the energy drain wouldn't be static, but will drain more and more while you are charging it. Charge it long enough, and it might be like FTL Boost or more insane.

And that idea doesn't feel completely unbalanced in that there is high capacity to screw this up and either miss your target if not suicide from too much of a launch. I "might" not have the hover in that version. Powerful, but dangerous! It would require pretty exact timing to use it well. Like my other multijump, the only limits on activation would be that you previously jumped or mid-air jumped, and that you have the energy to pull it off. Also should it work like rocketjump(with WASD aiming)... or do I aim at the cursor? Cursor aiming might sound more appealing, but might get annoying fast for things like aiming, laying blocks, etc.

One thing I wish the engine would do is to cause damage when you collide at high speeds in any direction (instead of just when falling).

For now though I'll probably be working on my shipyard rebuilt update. I mostly made these techs to make it easier to get around fast in that mod, and more than just updating to 1.0, I'm adding stuff too.

 

thanks for the reply, and glad my ideas could provide some inspiration.

The combination/OP techs would be more for a late game character or someone who wants to save up early for a boost later on if they get lucky. Since there was a feedback/semi-complaint thread about the lack of those late game techs from before like the bubble boost and jetpack etc, so figured some techs of the sort would fill that void for the ones who feel that way (which I do in some way. Cause I really want some reliable fall damage reduction like the bounce tech I used to use. >_<)

Honestly, I'd probably resent the energy linked to hunger mechanic since I'd think that kind of thing would be linked to a armors ability to store and produce energy like it already is rather than impacting a players metabolism. but if you really want to, there could be techs that can influence hunger to make you regen when it's above half or have constant energy regain using hunger rather than the whole discharge and wait a second before it starts coming back mechanic for people who like to sustain their special usage in bursts and stuff.

If that could be made into a new slot that could be cool, since they did have 4 slots that got turned down into 3. like perhaps an Auxilliary slot which is like an armor slot basically.

I wouldn't mind a portable tech switcher, but yes, then you've got things like balance to deal with. but it could be say a tech transformer? Like you program a set of techs, like a set for quickly moving and exploring into it which is different to your current set of say combat techs for fighting and sustained living and you use the power up and a beam of light comes down and hits you and you glow for a moment as your techs are switched and then the tech item stores your currently equipped set and applied the secondary set. So this way you can have two tech sets like the new switchable hotbar, only you gotta think what you want to do with the tech sets rather than just being outright able to switch on the fly.... and this entire idea reminds me of a cargo teleporation idea I once had and now wish was a thing, but unless you want to hear it I won't keep going.

impact damage from other surfaces? So suicide in a box if you FTL dash while facing a wall...

do you think theres a limit on the variety of things you can do? cause I think I accidentally openned the flood gate in my imagination for possible starbound techs.

and with your multijumps do you mean you can't do drop jumps with it? like, dropping off a cliff then using the double jump on the way down cause your first jump has to have been used first? Since thats actually one of the jumps they teach you to do in the obstacle courses in 1.0... the drop jump. well, thats how I usually do it, but you can jump short hop first, I just like to think it's a dropjump since it can be done as such. so I don't think thats the best thing to do actually. :<

 

After double checking, apparently I need to fix that. I swear it used to be that way... I intend that you can use the mid-air jumps while falling, it is just you needed to jump first so I don't think that's so limiting. As is, you can't activate hover while falling without jumping but you can active the mid-air jumps(and then... the hover). This is something I'll fix in my next update, but I'm not going to release an update just to fix(nerf) this tech. But note that when I do add my next tech/update, this tech will work as intended.

I've stated that I'm bringing back the bounce tech... with a vengence. Besides the original functionality, It will have a double tap(F) mode that causes you to rebound with greater force than from which you collided. That mode will add additional energy drain per bounce. And that mode being more powerful, will of course cost you more energy.

Stuff like jetpack... maybe. I get why they where removed. In that Starbound is a platformer, being able to fly is a bit... problematic. Do you design a dungeon where any obstacle can just be flown over or through? My multijump is probably bad enough in this way. I'm imagining playing an old Castlevania where in you have the ability to fly to Dracula at the start.

Speaking of old platformers, have you ever played Sonic 3? I'm thinking about those shields he could get. Those would be pretty sweet. Perhaps in a separate mod, I can add something like projectiles to the treasurepools of capsules. Those would add statuses which in effect give you those kinda shields (until you take damage). I'm aware that the obstacle course missions you go on to unlock techs are capable of temporarily changing what tech you have equipped, so I could look how they do that and do the same to give you shields instead.

The lightning one lets you do more jumps without using energy and pixels/other loose items are attracted to you. The flame one gives you the midair launch which serves as both a means to get around different places, but also an attack. The water one makes you not need air, and upon activation you rapidly move downward and bounce upon hitting the ground. That was a form of attack.

Well that's why it would be optional. if you don't want a tech that increases your energy regeneration rate at the expense of additional hunger... don't equip it! I'm not going to do something to implement a mechanic change that would effect you when are aren't equipped with a tech. Or rather if I ever did something like that, it would be its own mod. This is a tech mod, not a mechanics mod. I was thinking though this would be better as a back slot item so that it doesn't take a tech slot and is not an actual inseparable part of a tech.

But I was thinking Starbound itself should be like this. You use more hunger the more energy you use and thus need to regenerate. When you exert yourself, if does create the need for additional energy from food(calories). So it makes sense. If you are short on food, avoid exerting yourself so much. In other words, adjust your strategy based upon your situation. The base rate of hunger loss itself should go down to compensate, and the maximum hunger you have should go up. So a person has the option to snack on occasion, or gorge themselves on a less frequent basis(which is the option I'd prefer). And a late game character probably does use more energy with all their energy hog guns and such. But they probably also have a productive farm setup, or pixels to buy ample food. Thus this isn't an issue for them and provides some more incentive to do these things.

I don't believe the 4th slot still exists. I have not looked into what it would take to re-enable such or if that's even possible. At the very least, GUI changes would be necessary and that's not something I'm presently comfortable with. Should someone else put out a mod that gives additional tech slots, I'd gladly make use of them. The downside being requiring one mod to use another. Some of my mods are like that anyhow.

See if I made something that let you switch techs on the fly, I'd probably make that a separate mod in the cheat section. What I'd be more comfortable with including here would be a device that allowed you to increase/decrease the strength of the tech (up to the level you have unlocked). So you could tone down your FTL to a dash... they're actually the same tech but for the power level. And there would need to be levels in between.

I think I like the idea that of these techs getting progressively more powerful as you advance in the game. Do I tie it to ship upgrade level, or perhaps quests rewards? I have to look more at how quests work anyhow before I consider this. But it feels like a good idea. You don't just become too awesome to touch instantly, but work to become more capable. The great thing about bouncing ideas is that they often lead to other ideas even if you don't go with what was said.

As for cargo teleportation... if you are talking items moving from one container to another... yeah I can do that but there are mods which do that already, plus that's pretty well outside the scope of a tech mod. If you want to teleport the container itself... I have no idea how I'd implement such a thing. You can have floating items and projectile affected by force and probably also even teleport, but I don't think objects(which have a fixed location) work the same way. I believe the closest you'd get is to spawn a new object(in this case a container) with all the related data(contents mostly) of the old container, then destroy the old container. That isn't so different from what happens with any persistent container mod - except the data is stored in the item and contents repopulated from that data upon spawning. In which case you're talking about skipping the item step entirely but otherwise doing the same thing with some fancy animation.

I'd think it better to just use a persistent container mod
keep a large container with you
place it
put stuff in it
pick it back up(your stuff stays inside as data)
and place it again as needed

That might not look as flashy as teleporting a container in, but effectively is the same thing. In any case I don't see that as within the scope of a tech mod.

Supposing you have an original idea I like sufficiently and if it doesn't sound too hard, I could consider making a separate mod to accomplish it. If it is simply that a mod does this but is not up to date, it probably isn't so bad for me to update it. In that case I wouldn't throw up a mod page(unless the mod was both open permissions and permanently abandoned), but rather just throw the update on the discussion page of the mod. I did this for automatic doors. I'm not trying to steal anyone's thunder you see.
--- Post updated ---
I mentioned this somewhere, but I really should have re-written these techs LUA from scratch. They're a terrible, shameful mess. So I'm going to totally rewrite the LUA like I should have done in the first place!

Granted I probably won't push an update on them until I have something new to add. What I already posted works... sorta. No need to push updates where most people wouldn't know the difference.

 

bk3k updated bk3k's More Powerful Techs with a new update entry:

more stuff, easier, Steam workshop

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

The "multijump + hover" tech is pretty amazing on this one. I really love the addition of the hover mechenism as well as the added costs to pulse jump. I feel like this one could be split up into a lot of different techs. There could be a hover tech. There could be a tech multi-jump tech that just costs energy to use. There could be a wall jump tech that hovers, but has no pulse jumps at all! Or perhaps a sticky wall tech where you can jump off the wall and hover. The combinations are endless. though the energy costs could be a a lot higher without feeling over powered. The sprinting ones I found to be a little too fast to be useful, and perhaps a bit too OP as well. The first time I tried the sprints out I ended up running around and then leaping to my death a few times.

As I work on new tech combinations with the vanilla scripts I've been thinking back on the really amazing potential this mod has.

 

@greenRAM

Feel free to use any of my code you find useful. I have the mod set to free use after all. Although I'm redoing a lot of that code anyhow but haven't published the results til I've totally done so.

Also I've sort of toned down the hover to be a strong vertical brake that IMO feels better, and might not totally save you from a long fall if you don't active it in time - while also lowering the activation cost a bit. Although the actual strength of the brake(and the costs to activate) also scale to the gravity of where you are. Also toned down the particles a bit.

I'm working on something more interesting though - a better tech interface that has an "upgrade" button for techs written to support it. That allows one to use extra tech chips to upgrade their techs. For example adding extra jump boost to your jumps to deal with higher gravity worlds - with extra cost of course. I'm also going to be taking inspiration from mods like MMM where you can not only upgrade your Matter Manipulator in one direction, but you also can adjust the performance/options as desired. Thus bringing up another interface(or maybe expanding the current one).

I haven't done all that yet. I do have the main interlace expanded a bit to better display longer names and better descriptions. The little script this mod uses to hook the interface though... here's what I have now. This will probably import into the new interface I'm talking about.

Code:

local addTechs_init = init
--I'm copying whatever init function existed before, redifining it, running my own,
  --and finally running whatever was there before
local extra_parseTech


function init()
  local modTech = config.getParameter("modTech", {})
  for _, addedTech in ipairs(modTech) do
    extra_parseTech(addedTech)
  end

  addTechs_init()
end


extra_parseTech = function(tech)
  --This can accept a tech name in the form of a string
  --in which case the tech will simply unlock and be enabled
  --or you can set more detailed unlock requirements by passing a table

  --player.availableTechs()
  if type(tech) == "string" then
    player.makeTechAvailable(tech)
    player.enableTech(tech)
  else
    local pass
    local enabledTechs = player.enabledTechs()
    local unlockedTechs = player.availableTechs()
    local requirements = tech.requirements
  
    if tech.adminEnable and player.isAdmin() then
      --administrators drink for free
      player.makeTechAvailable(tech.name)
      player.enableTech(tech.name)
      return
    end

    if requirements == nil then
      requirements = {}
      pass = true
    end
        
    if requirements.techEnabled then
      for _, whatTech in ipairs(enabledTechs) do
        if requirements.techEnabled == whatTech then
          pass = true
          break
        end
      end
  
      pass = pass or false
    end

    if requirements.techUnlocked then
      for _, whatTech in ipairs(unlockedTechs) do
        if requirements.techUnlocked == whatTech then
          pass = (pass ~= false) and true
          break
        end
      end
  
      pass = (pass ~= false)
    end
    
    if requirements.quest then
      if requirements.allow_activeQuest then
        local goodEnough = player.hasCompletedQuest(requirements.quest) or player.hasQuest(requirements.quest)
        pass = (pass ~= false) and goodEnough
        player.hasQuest()
      else
        pass = (pass ~= false) and player.hasCompletedQuest(requirements.quest)
      end
    end

    if requirements.universeFlag then
      pass = (pass ~= false) and world.universeFlagSet(requirements.universeFlag)
    end

    if requirements.species then
      local species = player.species()
      local match = false
  
      for k, whatSpecies in ipairs(requirements.species) do
        if species == whatSpecies then
          match = true
          break
        end
      end
  
      pass = (pass ~= false) and match
    end

    if pass then
      if tech.unlockOnly then
        player.makeTechAvailable(tech.name)
      else
        player.makeTechAvailable(tech.name)
        player.enableTech(tech.name)
      end
    end
  end
end


populateTechList = function(slot)
  widget.clearListItems(self.techList)

  -- Show enabled techs at the top of the list
  local techs = player.enabledTechs()
  local disabled = util.filter(util.keys(self.techs), function(a) return not contains(techs, a) end)
  util.appendLists(techs, disabled)

  ----(
  local equippedTech = player.equippedTech(slot)

  ----)

  for _, techName in pairs(techs) do
    local config = self.techs[techName]
    
    --if root.techType(techName) == slot then
    if root.techType(techName) == slot and config.hidden ~= true then
      local listItem = widget.addListItem(self.techList)
      widget.setText(string.format("%s.%s.techName", self.techList, listItem), config.shortDescription)
      widget.setData(string.format("%s.%s", self.techList, listItem), techName)

      if contains(player.enabledTechs(), techName) then
        widget.setImage(string.format("%s.%s.techIcon", self.techList, listItem), config.icon)
      else
        widget.setImage(string.format("%s.%s.techIcon", self.techList, listItem), self.techLockedIcon)
      end
  
      --if player.equippedTech(slot) == techName then
      if base_alias(equippedTech, techName, config) then
        widget.setListSelected(self.techList, listItem)
      end
    end
  end
end


base_alias = function(equippedTech, techName, config)
  if equippedTech == techName or config.base_alias == techName then
    return true
  else
    return false
  end
end

Notes for the populateTechList tunction. -

*That's a function replacement rather than a hook.

*This function is also now replaced in FU to add some sorting. I'll probably incorporate the sort (with permission) into my code, or emulate it myself. I only browsed over it anyhow. And maybe they'll incorporate what I'm doing here? Well maybe once I have a finished product they might be interested.

*It looks for matches with your enabled Techs but also "alias" techs. That's tied into the configuration. The related techs will use common scripts, but different configurations. So there will actually be many variations. The different variations will be "hidden" techs that won't populate on this list despite being unlocked. They'll instead be chosen by the (as yet unmade) extra interface). If you have equipped an "alias" tech though, this list will show you having equipped the main tech.

*I'll have to change another function to prevent equipping the main tech when you already have an alias equipped(thus defaulting all your options). Shouldn't be difficult though.


Now to my current .patch file.

Code:

[
  [
    {
      "op" : "add",
      "path" : "/scripts/-",
      "value" : "/interface/scripted/techupgrade/bk3k_addTechs.lua"
    }
  ],

  [
    {
      "op" : "test",
      "path" : "/modTech",
      "inverse" : true
    },
    {
      "op" : "add",
      "path" : "/modTech",
      "value" : []
    }
  ],

  //"implant"

  [
    {
      "op" : "add",
      "path" : "/modTech/-",
      "value" : {
        "name" : "bk3k_dash",
        "adminEnable" : true,
        "unlockOnly" : true
      }
    },
    {
      "op" : "add",
      "path" : "/modTech/-",
      "value" : {
        "name" : "bk3k_doubleDash",
        "adminEnable" : true,
        "unlockOnly" : true,
        "requirements" : {
          //"species" : [],
          //"universeFlag" : "",
          //"quest" : "",
          //"allow_activeQuest" : true,
          //"techUnlocked" : "bk3k_dash",
          "techEnabled" : "bk3k_dash"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "op" : "add",
      "path" : "/modTech/-",
      "value" : {
        "name" : "bk3k_insaneDash",
        "adminEnable" : true,
        "unlockOnly" : true,
        "requirements" : {
          //"species" : [],
          //"universeFlag" : "",
          //"quest" : "",
          //"allow_activeQuest" : true,
          //"techUnlocked" : "bk3k_dash",
          "techEnabled" : "bk3k_doubleDash"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "op" : "add",
      "path" : "/modTech/-",
      "value" : {
        "name" : "bk3k_ftlboost",
        "adminEnable" : true,
        "unlockOnly" : true,
        "requirements" : {
          //"species" : [],
          //"universeFlag" : "",
          //"quest" : "",
          //"allow_activeQuest" : true,
          //"techUnlocked" : "bk3k_dash",
          "techEnabled" : "bk3k_insaneDash"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "op" : "add",
      "path" : "/modTech/-",
      "value" : "bk3k_multijump"
    }
    /*
    {
      "op" : "add",
      "path" : "/modTech/-",
      "value" : "bk3k_multijump_plusBoost_10"
    }
    */
  ]
]

It still supports the old <techName> strings and will simply enable those if used. But it supports JSON objects too so you can get full configuration control. The intent being here to be a good resource for other modders to use. You can currently control -

*If the tech will be enabled, or simply unlocked (requiring chips).
*If only certain species can obtain the tech this way(thus easy control obtaining it at all).
*a quest that must be completed first
*a universe flag that must me unlocked first(thus other characters may have unlocked it already).
*unlocking when the listed quest is still an active (not completed) quest
*Another tech that must currently be enabled (thus paid for in chips)
*Another tech that need only be unlocked (not necessarily paid for)
*If administrator characters can bypass the requirements and thus simply have the tech - a must for testing

So that allows better ways to give your techs to players, and while making it less "cheaty" etc. You can use any combination of requirements (or none at all) to tightly control when the techs are available.

Once I have the configurable tech thing down, the ability to enable more tech options opens up via quests too. Because you can simply unlock "alias" mods that way.

I may want to add the option to have configurable unlock requirements too - more than simply tech chips.

Do you have suggestions for unlock requirements to support?

About the strength of the running techs - yeah some of those are just for fun and probably suicidal at times. Nice for fairly flat places to get through fast.
I do lack anything with a wall jump, blink, etc.
I lack a head tech entirely.
I want to bring back the old bounce tech - and add an "overbounce' mode to it. Probably should be VERY draining.
I might experiment with the old "implant" type techs, but dunno if that's needed. I'd do something different if anything at all.
Somewhere I should have a list of techs I wanted to make. Also pour over suggestions people have made over time.

 

Had to edit the code a little on the multijump lua file to get it to work for a the different techs I was thinking about. Looks like I'm getting a little better at understanding these arguments, at least enough to do some simple edits anyways. I really like how they all turned out. I can't wait to see how your new version plays. All your tech ideas sound really awesome. Just having a much better, simpler way of modding in techs to the game will really make everyone's lives a lot better. Hopefully, it'll inspire some more tech mods even.

I updated the Tech 2.0 mod with some of the new techs based on your work: https://community.playstarbound.com/resources/techs-2-0.4913/update?update=24450

Thanks again!

 

bk3k updated bk3k's More Powerful Techs with a new update entry:

More Techs, Tech Console improvements

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

bk3k updated bk3k's More Powerful Techs with a new update entry:

Updated Tech Helper changes, unlock item requirements for some techs

Read the rest of this update entry...