@Catelite (View Post)

Thanks for a thorough reply. :)

> The changes that 'broke' old saves that I added were only late, and not meant to be serious changes. The element was literally not finished yet, and so some of the features didn't make it in on the first try.

I completely understand that, and that's why I do not see a problem with changing some properties again either, since the situations are the same. After all, it was only changed again a few days ago.

> Element copying, like you've toyed with a lot here evidently, was made into a separate toggle mode with the aim in mind of making it possible to mimick a single particle into a huge mass all at once, and slowing it down or limiting it only removes possible function, since anyone can draw EXOT in a particular pattern if they -need- it to copy at a particular speed without these changes.

You've got a point, it does remove a function. Still, my rationale for changing it was mostly that is was quite buggy and unreliable (as seen in this save and the picture in my original post). It seldoms converts all the exot instantly, instead the result depends completely on the direction of conversion, in a very unintuitive way. Granted, in certain cases my suggestion also needs to be fine-tuned depending on which direction you want it to copy in, but the results aren't so strange when it isn't, and this weird behaviour doesn't show up by deafult. Further, I often find that the instant copying gets in the way during activation.

Since the alternative can copy very fast as well, I didn't really see any use for instant conversion. It seemed to mostly create problems.

However, one could make the other changes I proposed but keep the instant conversion. This would minimalize the risk of breaking saves even further.

> ...The fact that it doesn't instantly change modes is also deliberate. EXOT is not a solid powered material, and instant liquid transitions tend to look weird. Anything that moves at the speed of game update tends to be either energy or energy flowing through something.

Completely understandable. It was exactly this problem that I was trying to solve when I made it sparkle unactivated and pulse when activated. The conversion from sparkling to pulsing doesn't look weird at all.

> The identifying characteristics of EXOT element are chiefly aesthetic, as a simple blue liquid that copies when exposed to neutrons and explodes with electrons is actually pretty boring.

Also completely understandable. However, the possibility to quickly fill a large space with a new element, even if that element is solid and unmoveable, really could be very useful in some creations. However, as I explained in my original post, I feel this usefulness is hindered somewhat by it's current properties, and that is why I proposed these changes.

> ...And the reason for why the color scheme is different for NEUT copy toggle mode is to give people the impression that whatever quality NEUT gives it by touching it is changing it into a different material, so that the fact that it copies materials instantly when it normally doesn't at all isn't so strange.

Completely understandable. But personally I think this fact is conveyed very well in my suggestion as well.

@Catelite (View Post)

The utility problems with the copying does not stem from how much it copies, but from the fact that you never know how much it will copy unless you have very good knowledge of the coding behind the screen. Otherwise it is completely unintuitive. Sometimes the whole screen will be copied, sometimes just a very small part of it.

I agree with you that there is little utility in being able to copy the whole screen, but I also see little utility in being able to copy a block instantly instead of in maybe 10 frames. From my viewpoint, it only creates these kinds of unessecary problems.

But hey, like I said: One could introduce the other changes but still keep the instant copying, if it really is vital. The biggest problem, as I see it, is the slow activation, not the rate of copying.

> The reason that EXOT element becomes monochrome is to mark that the element's reactions have changed, to show visually how effective machines are at producing it without losing non-copying particles in the mix. Also, it's cool because it looks bleached by neutrons ._.

I understand why it is needed in the current version, but my suggestion wouldn't have that problem. Since activation is instantaneous, you would not risk having unactivated particles mixing with unactivated ones.

> The risk of unactivated particles mixing is also deliberate. :P

Really? Why? It only makes it troublesome to use.

> But still it isn't really a huge problem. People don't build machines that hinge on the exact flow of waves through liquid crystal either.

No, but the problem is bigger with exot since it only copies exactly once every 250th frame. You never notice it with LCRY, but you do notice it with exot.

Altough, like I've said before, I agree it isn't a huge problem.

@Catelite (View Post)

> And yes, it makes it troublesome to use. But I carefully tweaked the variables day and night for three straight days to make it rickety, unreliable, and awesomely colorful. :P

I must compliment you on the colors, since it really looks wonderful, but the making it unreliable un purpose seems a bit unnecessary.

> The general plan with EXOT's copy mode was to enable manufacturing of copying liquid though, not so people would make boxes of it. The fact that particles need to be touching each other to transfer the modified Life value that enables copying is so that machines that produce copy fluid will have to find some means to circulate the fluid until -all- of it is reliable monochrome and no blue particles escape.

I do not really see the purpose of making an element impractical by design just so that people will have to work extra hard any time they want to incorporate it in their creations. If any normal user would ha suggested such a thing here in the feedback forum, I am quite sure the idea would have been dismissed.

Never before have I seen a suggestion being rejected because it would be too useful :P

@Catelite (View Post)

Yeah, but the point instant activation is not to make the manual activation easier, it is to make  automatic activation easier. It would make it easy to have a machine activate it's own exot when it is needed, without any human help.

If you need to run exot through another complex machine just to activate it properly it would make all other machines that uses exot slower, more impractical, and in some cases maybe impossible.

Personally, I'm more interested in seeing 100 machines make novel use of exot's cloning properties, than I'm interested in seeing 100 machines whose sole purpose is to activate said exot without using it for anything.