Bug or Feature ?: no oxygen HEALS crew

[sul]

Just a little discovery I want to share as I find it very exciting: there is a way to make vacuum (no oxygen) heal the crew. It is kind of a bug, you just have to modify the emergency respirators augment to a negative value (say =-0.8): when in vaccum, all crew will heal (except lanius).
What I find cool for modders, is that you can completely forget oxygen and medbay/oxygen systems in your custom ship. The augment will make all the job to keep your crew alive,and now you have two extra system slots to use !
If you want to quick test, use the mode CRAZE_HEALINGVACUUM on this page (you may want to patch CRAZE_STARTOVERPOWERED before):
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=29027&p=99238#p99238

Quick Question: Can you shoot some other bugs you are aware off ? I am trying to mess around to make stuffs work the way there are not supposed to, its pretty exciting when it happens (FASTERCREWMOVE, SLOWERSHIELDS are other good examples).

[stylesrj]

Holy crap!
That sounds amazing!

EDIT: Wow, it really is an awesome feature.
I'm trying a run with the Obsidian Bomber. It's fireproof, damage-proof and the crew can heal themselves. Yeah, the only thing stopping it now is the low firing rate.

EDIT 2: Lanius get the short end of the stick. They cannot be healed by this revolutionary augment alteration
Makes sense, they don't breathe. Pretty sure Ghosts get the same treatment too.

[sul]

I am so happy someone shares my excitation ! Let me know if you post the obsidian bomber with that modification so i can give it a go.

I tested almost all the augments to some weird values, and there is a bunch of them that have some cool effects. I made a table of the findings that people may find useful, it is below (sorry for the dots spacing wasnt working properly). It is almost but not complete and they may be some mistakes (some of it is written from memory) so dont hesitate to fill in the gaps or correct it. The best changes imo are on the emergency respirators (o2_masks), mantis pheromones (crew_stims) and shield recharge booster (shields_speed). PS for some augment values you could crash the game, i didnt keep track of them but be warned.

Table of Augments:
Augment=name as appearing in data.dat files
Value=original value of augment
Happens=if something happen when changing value
Effects= what happens for which new value
rendered useless means having/not having the augment is the same
.........................................................................................
Augment...............Value ............... Happens............... Effects
.........................................................................................
rock_armor ............... 0.15 ............... yes ............... =1 never hull damage
...........................................................................=0 rendered useless
crystal_shard ............... 0.1 ............... ? ............... ?
energy_shield ............... 2 ............... no
nano_medbay ............... 0.25 ............... yes ............... =-0.25 medbay harms crew
........................................................................... =0 rendered useless
slug_gel ...............0.25 ............... no
crew_stims............... 0.25 ............... yes ............... =1000 crew moves extremely fast
........................................................................... =1 crew moves twice as fast
........................................................................... =0 rendered useless
........................................................................... =-0.5 crew moves twice as slow
........................................................................... =-1 crew cannot move
........................................................................... =-1.5 crew moves backward outside screen
drone_speed ............... 0.25 ............... yes ............... =same as crew_stims for inship drones
system_casing ............... 0.15 ............... yes ............... =same as rock_armor for systems
ion_armor ............... 0.5 ............... yes ............... =same as rock_armor for ion danage
cloak_fire ............... 0.15 ............... no
repair_arm ............... 0.15 ............... ?? ............... ?
scrap_collector ...............0.10............... yes ............... =2 twice less scrap from certain events
........................................................................... =0 rendered useless
........................................................................... =0.5 twice less scrap
........................................................................... =-1 never receive scrap
........................................................................... =-1.5 loose scrap
adv_scanners ............... none
auto_cooldown ............... 0.1 ............... yes ............... =10 weapon recharge extremely fast
........................................................................... =1 recharge twice as fast
........................................................................... =0 rendered useless
........................................................................... =-0.5 recharge twice as slow
........................................................................... =-1 weapons dont charge ever
shield_recharge ...............0.15 ...............yes ............... =10 shields recharge extremely fast
........................................................................... =1 recharge twice as fast
........................................................................... =0 rendered useless
........................................................................... =-0.5 recharge twice as slow
........................................................................... =-1 never recharge after one shot
weapon_preignite............... none
ftl_booster ............... 0.25 ............... yes ............... =10 fastest FTL charge (around 5 seconds)
........................................................................... =50 same as above (FTL doesnt charge faster)
........................................................................... =1 FTL charges twice as fast
........................................................................... =0 rendered useless
........................................................................... =-0.5 FTL charges twice as slow
........................................................................... =-1 FTL never charges (except when battle ends)
ftl_jumper ............... none
drone_recovery ............... none
ftl_jammer ............... 2 ............... ?? ............... ??
stasis_pod ............... 0.15 ............... ?? ............... ??(probaly just required for some events)
o2_masks ............... 0.5 ............... yes ...............=10 extreme damage from vacuum (no oxygen)
........................................................................... =2 twice more damage from vacuum
........................................................................... =1 rendered useless
........................................................................... =0 no damage from vacuum
........................................................................... =-0.5 healing from vacuum
........................................................................... =-10 extreme healing from vacuum
explosive_replicator............... 0.5 ............... none...
fire_extinguishers ...............1.f ............... ??
fleet_distraction............... 1.f ............... ??
teleport_heal ...............1.f ............... ??
battery_booster ...............0.5 ............... yes ............... =5 game crashes eventually
........................................................................... =2 battery recharges twice as slow
........................................................................... =1 rendered useless
........................................................................... =0.5 recharges twice as fast
........................................................................... =0.25 recharges 4X as fast
........................................................................... =0 recharges instantly
........................................................................... =-0.25 never recharges (except if ionized)
defense_scrambler............... 0.0 ............... ??
backup_dna ............... 0.0 ............... ??
hacking_stun ............... 0.0 ............... ??
life_scanner ............... 0.0 ............... ??
zoltan_bypass ............... 0.0 ............... ??
.........................................................................................

[stylesrj]

explosive_replicator............... 0.5 ............... ??............... =0 weapons never use missile ammo ?
........................................................................... =1 rendered useless?

Nope. No matter what value you assign to it, it'll always keep replication at 50%

I tried creating a ship based on the assumption the Explosive Replicator would actually work:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=28834

But it doesn't, so...

[sul]

Thanks I hadnt tested that one, I edited previous post accordingly. Lol I was a fan of the Vulcan, but missile Vulcan is my new favorite ! How you combined the two visuals is pretty cool.

[stylesrj]

Thanks I hadnt tested that one, I edited previous post accordingly. Lol I was a fan of the Vulcan, but missile Vulcan is my new favorite ! How you combined the two visuals is pretty cool.

Yeah, although after watching Bio's video on the Missile Master, I think making it a rapid-fire Artemis was a bad idea as it means no one would use the Adaptive Warhead.
But yeah, the Explosive Replicator is an even bigger letdown for me as it cannot be modded.

The FTL Jammer could be tested but I believe if you set the values high enough, the enemy ships either jump faster or never jump at all. That'll be fun for a boarding vessel or when you're slowly suffocating a smuggler/pirate.

[sul]

I like the use of missiles weapons in that ship, it is refreshing ( in vanilla/ae they are all quite similar imo). Instead of the explosive replicator you could use the tag <missiles>=0 so those weapons dont consume resources (you wouldnt have the "useless augment" trick though).

[stylesrj]

I like the use of missiles weapons in that ship, it is refreshing ( in vanilla/ae they are all quite similar imo). Instead of the explosive replicator you could use the tag <missiles>=0 so those weapons dont consume resources (you wouldnt have the "useless augment" trick though).

Then it'd just be a Vulcan that can pierce shields, moves as fast as a missile and can be shot down by a defense drone. So it'd be even more overpowered.

[Gencool]

Ah so *this* is what i missed during my hiding-

I really like the idea of FTLboost at -1 being used as a 'Never Back Down' challenge

Also, the Battery Booster at -0.5/-1, with a level 5-or-so system, a really low reactor, and an Ion Bomb...
That could be interesting...

[stylesrj]

I'm guessing now you're going to make a ship that revolves around the idea of no oxygen healing the crew, right?

Or the "Coward" which has a super fast FTL drive and no guns. Or the "Stalwart" which stops enemies from fleeing (the augment could be called a Tractor Beam or a Gravity Well) and also cannot jump until the battle is over... although that'll be a problem in hazard zones as it could never flee then.