Topic: I'm finally gonna do it...

[D2Disciple]

... I'm going to complete the first Descent.

I've never actually beaten it, even though I came close (level 23, I believe) when I was much younger on Trainee - I played solely on keyboard then. I use a Saitek flight stick, so I've decided I'm going to do it for real this time, on Hotshot difficulty.

And dag yo, am I finding it to be hard. The first five levels weren't a problem, and I started having to do a couple of save-loads on 6 and 7 (though that boss doesn't give me any trouble unless it teleports at point-blank), but now I've completed 8 and it took some serious enemy/power-up memorization as well as several save-loads to beat. I'm finding myself having an especially difficult time with some of the Class 1 Driller and Supermech placements. I'm using the typical peek/homer method of taking out the drillers, but I'm finding that they very, very rarely connect, and they often slam me before I even peek far enough around a corner to safely fire a missile. The Supermechs just seem to fire Homers that follow entirely too closely - I though DXX-Rebirth took care of the infamous FPS-dependent homer glitch, but maybe not?

Does anybody have some tips as to how to more effectively complete later levels on Hotshot? I'm surviving barely now... I'm really kinda worried that if I continue playing as I am (and I'm fairly skilled, even on D3 multi), I'll get roasted over and over again in the 20's.

[-<WillyP>-]

There are some good vids on YouTube that might help. I've never completed it on Hotshot and whatever level I did complete it on was so long ago I forget what.

I'm pretty sure Karx said the fps bug was fixed in D2X-XL but I have no idea about Rebirth.

[Scyphi]

Rebirth fixed something on that matter, because I remember when I started playing Vanilla Descent that Steam has so kindly provided, I found the homing missiles behaved radically differently, and were much harder to dodge...on any difficulty.

It's been ages since I played D2X-XL. Not that I had anything against it, it really just became a matter of which was easier to install.

[D2Disciple]

I downloaded D2X-XL not long ago... I like it, especially for custom-made missions that utilize its many features, but for vanilla Descent, I still prefer Rebirth. I found the Bots in D2X-XL were overly aggressive and just didn't always follow their patterns quite right. I also found the slower (more realistic) Vulcan to be kind of hard to use. Plus I just don't like waiting for the significant load times to see graphical flourishes that IMHO don't really add any significant value to the core campaign (at least for me).

With that said, I found Rebirth crashes occasionally when using the Jukebox for some reason, while D2X-XL appears to be rock solid. Which is strange, because on my previous desktop, Rebirth was rock-solid and XL was crash prone. Guess it just depends on the hardware.

[Kaiaatzl]

Well if you haven't played in a while both have been evolving... D2X-XL has been pretty solid for a few years now.

[-<WillyP>-]

True but when playing D1 on D2xXL the bots use D2 behavior.

[D2Disciple]

That might be true. I know that D1 bots in D2 levels behave differently.

I believe that both fixed the FPS issue with homers in D1, but it's possible Rebirth and XL have them set to mimic different frame caps. IIRC, when vanilla Descent refreshes a frame, the homing missile updates its location and adjusts its angle up to a certain angle. Trouble is, if you have a computer rendering hundreds of frames per second, then the homer can change angles hundreds of frames per second. A 30 FPS-locked homer will be much easier to dodge than a 60-FPS homer, and a 1,200 FPS homer will be completely impossible to dodge without putting an object between it and yourself.

Makes me wonder what the refresh standard for Rebirth and XL is. I just know it's pretty darn hard in Rebirth to shake one if it's on your tail.

[VANGUARD]

I wanted to see if Descent had multiple save slots. If so, it's best to save under one slot where your shileds and such is good, progress farther, then save under another slot. If the second fails to get you anywhere, you keep running out of stuff, dying, etc, just re-load the first slot.

But I'm guessing Descent only had one save slot. What is the key to save? I tried Alt+A2, but it takes me out of the game, and I see "Run Command" on my Linux system.

[Pumo]

Descent always had multiple save slots, they are accesible through ALT+F2 while playing.
But it seems you are having issues with that key combination.

A shame I couldn't help as I don't currently use Linux, and I don't know if there's some Linux user here that knows how to deal with that problem.

[tueidj]

Makes me wonder what the refresh standard for Rebirth and XL is. I just know it's pretty darn hard in Rebirth to shake one if it's on your tail.

The correct way to fix it is to not use a fixed turn rate at all, but rather make it proportional to the current frame's period. That way the behaviour is consistent regardless of framerate. Nearly everything else in Descent acts this way (ship movement, laser speed etc.) so it seems the homing missiles were just an oversight.

[Kaiaatzl]

True but when playing D1 on D2xXL the bots use D2 behavior.

Not anymore actually... this got changed a while ago.
Sometime I'd like to see an option for them to use the D1 AI in D2 levels as well, just to see if I'd notice the difference playing familiar missions like Vertigo.

[Scyphi]

I'd kinda like to see that, actually...D2 bots with D1 AI...would result in a different sort of game, I figure.

Even though Karx supposedly fixed the D1/D2 AI issue in D2X-XL, the D1 robots still didn't behave quite right, and resulted in D2X-XL's D1 always feeling a little...off. I know it was something that frustrated Karx to no end, because he'd keep getting people noting this, but he was continually at a loss as to what it was, exactly, that he was missing. I always wish I could tell him what it was, but I was at a loss as to what was missing too. I just knew it was something.

[D2Disciple]

D2 bots with D1 AI would be insane. All those little drones running around chewing away at shields with the Vulcan cannon at 100% accuracy? Even the first level would make a veteran sweat on any difficulty higher than Rookie. 

[Kaiaatzl]

Nah I just meant giving the D1 bots their old AI in D2 missions.
I'd like to see if I'd notice the difference, cuz I don't really the way it is now.

[D2Disciple]

So I just made it to level 12, Callisto. Level 10 I completed without a single restart, but it's a favorite level of mine, so I knew the locations of most enemies and powerups. Level 11 was pretty hairy, but it's also a favorite. The splash damage from the lava was more problematic than anything - took probably 10-15 restarts, most of them near the yellow-key room.

Just clearing out the main room in level 12 is proving to be a challenge worthy of several restarts.... I can tell this is going to start getting crushingly difficult from here. Worse yet, it's been so long since I've gotten this far that I don't really remember the level layouts, so I'm having to learn as I go. That's probably not adviseable on Hotshot, but whatever - I'ma do this thing.