(now has Hammertime playing in his head, thanks guys!)
The discussion. As it stands from my point of reason it thus:
:: The MediaVPs as there are released (including the 3.6.12 Update VPs which is the latest Official version for 3.6.12), have differently sized beams vs 3.6.8/3.6.10.
:: While the 3.6.12 sizes are not the same as the 3.6.8/3.6.10, the beams themselves are more a match to the Retail beam sizes.
:: The sizing of the Retail Beam-glows/beam warm-up effect (especially for the Shivan beams, we will ignore the Retail effect calling for using the thrusterglow bitmap) is more about what people were apparently complaining about being broken. (We will forgo the fact that some people interpreted it as the beams in general, we'll also forgo that some people were under the impression that 3.6.8/3.6.10 were thought to be Retail sizes when they were not).
:: The current consultation that the FSU is gathering, and what this poll is about (from again, my point of understanding) is whether or not people are okay with (by majority) the fact that the Current 3.6.12 beam-glow/beam-warm up effect, in being aesthetically scaled to the beam width, is acceptable or not.
:: Most of the feedback seems to indicate, with the exception of a few of the larger beams, that it is. The preference seems close to almost split between "Mixed Reaction" (those that are maybe okay with the current sizes, but that some adjustments are necessary) and the "Hades Sizing" (indicating that the see no problem with how things are at all) with a -really- close follow up on "Retail Sizing"
:: At the current moment, modifications are taking place in the FSU SVN to try and address many of the issues covered by the posts made. Once we are Internally satisfied with the results, those results will then become available for public testing to use with the Released 3.6.12 MediaVPs. Further adjustments will be done based on provided feedback until a majority consensus can call them as close to done as they will get, at which point those settings will become the Beams in our next Release.
:: In order for Internal satisfaction to take place, some results will be showcased -prior- to release by screenshots in order to gather feedback to ensure that the right understanding and direction is being taken, and as such they are just as valid a point of comparative discussion as the "Retail vs 3.6.12" screenshots.
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Personal Opinion Statement: (not to be read as "Official Declaration" or as a directive or direction for FSU at large) I abhorred the sizes as the existed in 3.6.10. Yes, they were big scary beams of DooM, but having the front end of an Aeolus cruiser completely get engulfed by it's beam-glow was just utterly asinine. I kept expecting the front of the ship to melt off into slag. I also don't get having a beam-glow /warm-up effect look like it's about to blast out a beam that's 2 to 3 times larger than what it does, but if we scaled the beams so that the flow and the core were a respective size to the beam-glow (and did it in a way that did not break things like they did in 3.6.10), then we're right back at 3.6.10 sizes. And it's not like we can simply adjust or change what ship is carrying what kind of beam, or start making alternative beams for different ships to use, as that cuts in on the limits the engine currently has and we've already cut into that a bit just adding shivanized secondaries.
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Poll
