NoahT
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Hi!

For my 3rd feature request...

The idea is laser walls. There are to be indestructible camera-like devices that have can be oriented. Each device has another one facing it in its line of sight with no barriers in between them. All the squares in the line between the two devices can have laser walls in them. Any living being entering the laser wall (including Beethro and mimics ) dies instantly (serpents will shorten in it; tar in same square is destroyed).

The laser walls are turned on and off by special red orbs. They act like regular orbs, except they turn on/off/toggle laser walls on and off.

The strategizing I see from my idea is that there are rooms were you'd need to decide wether you'd need it on or off (e.g.: Rooms with wide chambers containing lots of roaches, and goblins needed to destroy serpents. The chamber has a laser device line in front of it, and you'd need to decide wether you'd want it on to protect yourself from the roach horde, or off so the goblins would be preserved for the serpents).

Please tell me how you like this idea, and what changes it needs.

-Noah

[Edited by NoahT on 08-16-2003 at 05:14 AM GMT: Forgot a word]

[Edited by NoahT on 08-16-2003 at 05:16 AM GMT: Spelling error]

[Edited by NoahT on 08-16-2003 at 05:56 AM GMT: Mimic quirk]

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zex20913
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Hmm...there's a bit of confusion for me when you go on to explain the reasoning behind this idea. You say that anything going onto the laser walls perishes, but then you say that it holds off the hordes. Do you mean that the laser walls act as regular walls, unless you turn them on when a monster is there? I don't really see the benefit of this. Now, if the lasers destroyed everything (Resident Evil, anyone?) and the monsters were to move into them regardless, that would be different, and provide more puzzles than "kill with the sword". I don't know if this is Erik's desire though. Also, for graphical purposes, or something, I personally think that this idea would be better if it was simply lasers, and not laser walls. Maybe I'm just not getting it though.

One question about the serpents though. Would the head stay stationary if caught in a laser wall? Otherwise, it may only shorten one square. I'm not sure this idea would be able to work with snakes, but with further inquiries and stuff, we should be able to figure it out.

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NoahT
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zex20913 wrote:
Do you mean that the laser walls act as regular walls, unless you turn them on when a monster is there?

Sorry for the confusion-when off, there is nothing there related to this idea. It only effects living creatures when on.

One question about the serpents though. Would the head stay stationary if caught in a laser wall? Otherwise, it may only shorten one square. I'm not sure this idea would be able to work with snakes, but with further inquiries and stuff, we should be able to figure it out.

With the serpents, once one enters a laser square, it would be as if it was in a dead end, until the laser is gone.

One more thing-like regular orbs, the red orbs can effect up to four laser connections.

-Noah

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zex20913
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Hrm...maybe I didn't question well enough. Do monsters run into the laser walls? Do they die then?

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Sokko
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I think that the monsters would act as though the lasers were not there, and would just walk blindly to their doom.

Unless... there were a brain in the room (), in which case they would not walk into the laser and be killed, but wait patiently behind the laser until it was turned off. (serpents would turn away) Thus it would act like a wall and not a killing device if the room was "brained". Whaddya think?

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NoahT
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Sokko wrote:
I think that the monsters would act as though the lasers were not there, and would just walk blindly to their doom.

Unless... there were a brain in the room (), in which case they would not walk into the laser and be killed, but wait patiently behind the laser until it was turned off. (serpents would turn away) Thus it would act like a wall and not a killing device if the room was "brained". Whaddya think?

Sounds just fine to me.

-Noah

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NoahT
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zex20913 wrote:
Also, for graphical purposes, or something, I personally think that this idea would be better if it was simply lasers, and not laser walls.

For clarification on why I said walls...

If you saw Star Wars Episode 1-The Phantom Menace, during the lightsaber battle between the Jedi and Darth Maul, they were blocked by a series of laser walls on the way to the melting pit. That was the kind of wall I had in mind. But just lasers would be fine.

I would, though like to change serpent behavior towards lasers. They would move through them freely as if they weren't there, but for each turn their head was in the laser, they'd shorten one square. This would add more strategy.

-Noah

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zex20913
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Oh, okay. I see where you're coming from on the "laser wall" now. I thought that it would have thickness as a wall. I see what you were going for. Still though, in the game that would be hard to represent as anything but a line. (I also thought you might just want a big red wall )

This new snake thing though, it may be hard to code, I have no idea. Also, what would happen if the snake was in a dead end and a laser wall?

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Mister
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zex20913 wrote:
Still though, in the game that would be hard to represent as anything but a line.

Why not do it just as in the movie? the "wall" had two layers, so it would look as two lines.

what would happen if the snake was in a dead end and a laser wall?

Most likely it reduces its length by two.

NoahT
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Let's also think of laser wall variations in relation with other feature requests.

-Red orbs in bomb blasts will be activated.
-Should laser walls be low enough so they can be flown/jumped over?
-Should laser walls destroy the flow?
-Laser walls can't destroy flat, parallel-to-ground, ground level objects.
-What part of the turn should they take effect?
-With Splitters (if implemented), perhaps they'll break up when stepping into a laser wall.
-Maybe moles can dig under laser walls.
-Bombs in laser walls will explode.
-How should Ice Bombs effect laser walls?
-Another difference from SF Laser Reactor-Sword doesn't mirror laser walls.

-Noah

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zex20913
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Noah, we should not really be considering all of those things, as most of them are new, and we don't know if all of them will be implemented yet. I think that these things will be addressed after AE is done, if Erik & Co. would choose to put out a "full of new features" DROD. That being said:

Wraithwings should be killed by them.

They should take effect (personal opinion) after Beethro moves. Mimics aren't faster than electricity or light.

I agree with the not mirroring though.

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NoahT
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It's been a while, but I have something new to add to this idea: Multiple-eye reactors that can have laser walls coming out of them in multiple directions, each with a reactor on the other side. Those reactors can also have multiple eyes, so there would be the possibilities for laser wall chains.

Any comments on this alteration?

-Noah

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zex20913
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What would the point of it be? Would it add anything to the game to have laser walls starting from the same point? I can't see it. Unless you can toggle lasers...

Also, now that you've brought this up again, and I've read through it, what if there is a diagonal laser wall, and Beethro/a mimic tried to step through it. They would not land on the lasers though. (I'm trying to think about a room like L3 2S 1E.) Diagonally stepping.



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StuartK
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zex20913 wrote:
Also, now that you've brought this up again, and I've read through it, what if there is a diagonal laser wall, and Beethro/a mimic tried to step through it. They would not land on the lasers though. (I'm trying to think about a room like L3 2S 1E.) Diagonally stepping.

Speaking of which, how come creatures can step past a mimic sword, when the mimic is facing diagonally? Surely they would be blocked?

mrimer
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In 1.7 I realized we've got a monster that can be set up to work like laser walls. Yay! ...and I've been wondering about the same issue: whether to allow stepping across it diagonally or not... I've figured it might as well be allowed to be consistent with existing play rules (what's on a square is there, and what's not is not, and neighboring squares don't have any affect on you in a different square). And I just realized that it's easy for the architect to forbid stepping across diagonal laser beams by placing two of them next to each other. More puzzle possibilities with either one available.

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agaricus5
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mrimer wrote:
In 1.7 I realized we've got a monster that can be set up to work like laser walls. Yay!

Is it "The Zombie" by any chance?

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Oneiromancer
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Come on, when you think of lasers, you think of one thing: sharks.

Game on,

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agaricus5
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Oneiromancer wrote:
Come on, when you think of lasers, you think of one thing: sharks.

Game on,

No I don't.

I think of beams of very intense light burning holes in things.

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zex20913
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I think of Mike Myers and quotation marks.

But I think (hope) the monster is "Lazy Eyes", which are eyes that have laser powers.

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Oneiromancer
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zex20913 wrote:
I think of Mike Myers and quotation marks.

Give the man a cigar!

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"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams