Outpost 2 Technical Trivia

[Hooman]

This post is long overdue.  
Contribute your collection of Outpost 2 tech trivia.


The tech files accept both a "Build_Time" and a "Build_Points" unit property tag. They affect the same offsets, and neither of them are ever used in the standard Sierra released tech files.

The Rail Gun is actually stronger than the RPG (in both unupgraded and upgraded forms). However, the RPG has a significantly higher rate of fire, which is why it tends to do better.

When building a structure kit, your current morale affects the number of build points, rather than say, the production capacity. This means that waiting a little bit for your morale to go up first before starting production can actually decrease the total build time. Similar effects can be seen with research, and construction type vehicles. The built points/research cost is affected rather than the production rate or research rate.
 

[Spikerocks101]

So, in scail, 1 Railgun shot is beter then 1 RPG shot but itn the long run, RPGs fire more shots so there better against heavy armour targets?

[Hooman]

Concussion damage is partially blocked by armor, while penetration damage isn't.

Unupgraded:
RailGun: Concussion Damage: 80, Penetration Damage: 40,  Reload Time: 80
RPG: Concussion Damage: 60, Penetration Damage: 40,  Reload Time: 55

Upgraded:
RailGun: Concussion Damage: 100, Penetration Damage: 50,  Reload Time: 65
RPG: Concussion Damage: 100, Penetration Damage: 45,  Reload Time: 55


Of course if you divide those values by the reload time (i.e. how often it gets to inflict that amount of damage):

Unupgraded:
Railgun: Concussion: 80/80 = 1.00, Penetration: 40/80 = 0.50
RPG: Concussion: 60/55 = 1.09, Penetration: 40/55 = 0.72

Upgraded:
Railgun: Concussion: 100/65 = 1.54, Penetration: 50/65 = 0.77
RPG: Concussion: 100/55 = 1.81, Penetration: 45/55 = 0.81


So as you can see, the RPG does more damage per unit of time. Also, for a weapon with a faster rate of fire, and lower damage, there will be less overkill. Which means you can switch to shooting up the next target faster, on average. (Say a vehicle only has 1 HP left, then 1 shot from either weapon will kill it, but the one with the lower fire power and higher rate of fire "wastes" less firepower on it, and starts attacking a newer target sooner).
 

[Spikerocks101]

Very nice chart. You should probly in the 1 hp case have some lasers there too, but with RPGs, you wouldn't need micro waves to back them up. I might make a chart to compair every things

[Sirbomber]

Hah, I've been around the block a few times, let's see if I can think of any random oddities.

On world maps, a "magic line" can occasionally halt all Blight growth past that line.

Outpost 2 will allow multiple techs to have the same tech ID, but will grind to a screeching halt if it "doesn't like" the ID you've chosen.

We still haven't figured out how to make SantaWalking show up.

Changing a unit's "Turn_Rate" property through a tech (not the sheets) seems to affect rare ore cost for other players.

In order to change the number of Scientists a structure requires to operate, you must change its "Penetration_Damage" property (actually, I think other properties work, too).

If a player tries to build a structure on a "unit" mission and all its operational requirements are met it will be marked "Disabled - Unknown," though idling and reactivating the structure fixes this.

Mcshay's Swarm map is actually buggier than the version we made buggy on purpose (aka SwarmZ/"wekfsdlkfjsdlk swarmIding v.BLINK")*.  While not necessarily related to OP2 in general, it's technical and it's an oddity so I figure it belongs here.

An "RPG-style map" in OP2 is completely possible but highly unlikely and totally pointless.  I think I'm starting to ramble and get off-topic here, so I'll stop now.

P.S. Hooman: Build_Points is used for buildings, Build_Time is used for weapons (in the sheets, anyways, though I'm told changing the weapon's build time doesn't do anything).

* - That capital I in "swarmIding" is actually supposed to be a lowercase "L" but I think "Iding" sounds better than "lding," don't you?

[Savant 231-A]

If you research some upgrade to the Stickyfoam, instead of StickyFoam staying longer on your enemies vehicles, they will stay longer on your vehicles (?!)

[Hooman]

Changing a unit's "Turn_Rate" property through a tech (not the sheets) seems to affect rare ore cost for other players.

I highly suspect this is a case of the 2 upgrade techs per unit issue. Perhaps you just got this one into your head before we found out what the real cause was? The effect is exactly the same. Plus, Rare Ore Cost is stored at offset 0x10, while Turn Rate is stored at offset 0x28. Doesn't seem like there is a direct relation between these two upgrade properties, so it's probably that more general buffer overflow. Especially if it only affects certain players.


Hmm, yes, Buildings.txt does have a "Building Points", while Vehicles.txt and Weapons.txt have a "Build Time". Mind you, that is a totally different system, and the strings don't quite match, but I suppose that does explain it.


It's possible to rotate people in and out of Med Centers and still obtain their full effect. Just don't take so many out that it affects morale. This can be used to put people to work elsewhere meanwhile. Although, it requires being able to read internal values to do this with any real effectiveness.

There is some weapon range determining code that actually uses the owner's current range for that weapon, rather than the usual creator's value.