Pragmium Sensor

[MGS]

Hi,

Ive only just tried the prag sensor, i read a lot of complaints in the chat.

I think partly down to misunderstanding of use and partly the execution needs tweaking.

To help players understand, if you look at the mini map; you will see a highlighted rectangle which represent your field of view.

The prag sensor makes a single scan sound and the radius or rectangle/grid it searches is around 20x(maybe more) as big as your F.O.V one. When you are within this invisable rectangle the prag sensor makes a second different sound. If the sound stop then you have left the grid.

My suggestion is this.

Make this grid visible ! On the minimap, maybe transparent blue ?

If there are two in the grid, make that prag detected sound twice?


My personal thought are , this sensor in its current state is useful. Especially if you know the common location of prag. As when the detected sound is made i look at map and thing " ah it must be that one"

Ill give you guys an example where its currently very useful. With the sensor you dont have to go all the way to the edges of the desert as if there is no detected sound  you dont need to check there ! Once you figure out the size of the grid you can run along thay far in from the edge of the desert.

[ai_enabled]

Hello!

The sensor just produces ping-pong sounds. The time between the ping and pong sounds depends on the distance to the closest pragmium pillar (the closer you are, the faster the pong will be heard; if there are no pragmium pillars nearby, no pong sound will be heard).

So the player just needs to walk around and pay attention to the difference in sounds. If you hear the pong sound started sounding quicker than before, you're on the right track! And vice versa.

While working on this feature I've tested it extensively and here is one of the first runs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcGSS2vMkjA as you can see I've quickly located plenty of pragmium pillars.

I'm not sure if adding any visual indication on the map would be reasonable and not confuse players more. The device is essentially made as simple as possible.

Regards!

[MGS]

Hello!

The sensor just produces ping-pong sounds. The time between the ping and pong sounds depends on the distance to the closest pragmium pillar (the closer you are, the faster the pong will be heard; if there are no pragmium pillars nearby, no pong sound will be heard).

So the player just needs to walk around and pay attention to the difference in sounds. If you hear the pong sound started sounding quicker than before, you're on the right track! And vice versa.

While working on this feature I've tested it extensively and here is one of the first runs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcGSS2vMkjA as you can see I've quickly located plenty of pragmium pillars.

I'm not sure if adding any visual indication on the map would be reasonable and not confuse players more. The device is essentially made as simple as possible.

Regards!

Ive just figure it out, i personally like it.

If someone wants to make a mod on this, my idea is to leave a small red dot on minimap everytime the detected sound happens. These dissapear when prag detector is enequipped.

But i agree for your guys parts its done well.

[ai_enabled]

By the way, the server doesn't disclose the actual position of the pragmium node or the actual distance to it. It just sending sound events at the custom rate. The client receives the events and plays the sounds.

So the mods would be pretty useless and don't really improve the gameplay or provide any advantage for the mod owner. It would a problem to even display a simple circle for the search area as its bounds are not clearly defined. E.g. you stand in position X=1000 Y=1000 and receive the weakest signal, walk to X=1020 Y=1000 (for example) but still receiving exactly the same signal's strength (there are only 5 levels of the discrete signal strength so triangulating even an estimated location is a problem).

Regards!

[MGS]

By the way, the server doesn't disclose the actual position of the pragmium node or the actual distance to it. It just sending sound events at the custom rate. The client receives the events and plays the sounds.

So the mods would be pretty useless and don't really improve the gameplay or provide any advantage for the mod owner. It would a problem to even display a simple circle for the search area as its bounds are not clearly defined. E.g. you stand in position X=1000 Y=1000 and receive the weakest signal, walk to X=1020 Y=1000 (for example) but still receiving exactly the same signal's strength (there are only 5 levels of the discrete signal strength so triangulating even an estimated location is a problem).

Regards!

Hmm im going go have to put some ear phones in i have my volume quite low, i only here 3 distinct sound.

Scan sound
Detected sound
Deceteted  closer sound

If there are 5, is it possible to change the box above prag sensor to have a colour (dark blue,light blue, orange, red, dark red) or number ( 5,4,3,2,1)signifying how close your are. Will help hard of hearing too

[ai_enabled]

There are only two sounds (ping and pong) and the only difference is the timing between them.

[Lurler]

It's basically just a game of "warmer - colder" that parents play with their children. The closer you are the faster you receive the signal back!

[gaara]

i try it.. and it work fine ( i found 3 big ones... 2 of them will be missed if no detector in about 20 min )

[MGS]

i try it.. and it work fine ( i found 3 big ones... 2 of them will be missed if no detector in about 20 min )

I played with it further yesterday. My reccomendation to players is to give it a chance. Once you get the "feel" for it. It is infact very useful.

[Caninicus]

Ah, I wish I had known before I built it that it was sound based. The description did say 'like-sonar' but I thought it worked differently. I used mine till it wore out completely trying to figure it out, and all it did was waste my time (and gas). Won't be building it again.

[ai_enabled]

@Caninicus, it's timing-based. The sound is accompanied by a visual signal. So the shorter the time duration between the "ping" and "pong" the closer you are to the pragmium spire. If you hear only "ping"..."ping"...every few seconds (the same sound and visual signal), there are no pragmium spires nearby so you need to check in another place and not waste your time trying to find a spire around! (it greatly saves the time)

To learn how to use it, try to find a pragmium spire first and select this sensor item. You will see how it works when you're close to a spire.

Regards!

[gaara]

it works pretty nice but it should show circle of range on map and minimap

[Caninicus]

@Caninicus, it's timing-based. The sound is accompanied by a visual signal. So the shorter the time duration between the "ping" and "pong" the closer you are to the pragmium spire. If you hear only "ping"..."ping"...every few seconds (the same sound and visual signal), there are no pragmium spires nearby so you need to check in another place and not waste your time trying to find a spire around! (it greatly saves the time)

To learn how to use it, try to find a pragmium spire first and select this sensor item. You will see how it works when you're close to a spire.

Regards!

I can't hear any audible cues, so that's right out. I did see the visual signal, but if I paid attention to it, I wasn't paying attention to the environment, and kept getting yanked off the hoverboard, all the while using gas and powerbank energy. In A26, my median Pragmium take-home was around 80 prag per run, though sometimes I could go as high as 180 when the server was deserted. In A27 without the sensor, my median take-home per run has been around 40 prag per run, with a high of 80. For the three runs where I tried using the sensor before it broke, my takehome was zero, 40 and zero, plus I took a lot more damage from reduced situational awareness and not having a weapon ready.

[ai_enabled]

@Caninicus, I understand now. It's the accessibility issue in your case.
Hmm...I'm usually playing the game with muted sounds when I'm working on it as listening to the game sounds while working for a dozen hours every day will make me sick (I prefer quiet of my room without in-game sounds unless I really need to implement some audio-related feature). And I had no problem with using the pragmium sensor. The visual cue is pretty significant to observe it with peripherical vision in my case. Please check this video from this moment https://youtu.be/VcGSS2vMkjA?t=281 I've just turned off the sound and focused on the environment but still could see the flashes of the item slot overlay in the hotbar well with my peripherical vision.
There are two sound variants and two flash variants accompanying them. Weak "ping" and strong "pong" (a bright white flash). The timing between them determines your distance to the pragmium pillar.
Please try again and let us know. We can consider bringing the visual cues from the hotbar slot over the main screen in some way if you actually feel it's lacking right now.

Also, pragmium-related recipes were rebalanced and pragmium itself is no longer required in such large amounts as before. E.g. you can craft fuel cells for your vehicles from gasoline now! And watering plants with a sprinkler is way better than the hygroscopic granules.

[gaara]

1 thing... is this possible to change sensor so it stop detect pragmium locket by someone else.. it is a bit annoying to track big prize, and when u find it it is already locked by someone
locked node should be gone from scan range
p.s. again sorry for my eng