New player questions

[CormacMccarthy91]

I know this is a LOT to ask. I have read the manual and also am aware that when you press escape on the right, the game shows you what is included in the description of the items. However I am having a hard time understanding the abbreviations. There's matter, but also mass, so its hard to know what the m stands for. Also the "H" in the volley section I cant figure out. etc...

I was wondering if someone could briefly explain, or point me in the direction of an already laid out explanation, maybe in video form, of what the things I've selected in red in the attached photo mean.

If there is a more detailed description in the manual that I missed let me know and Ill check that out.

Thank you in advance, Cmac.

ps: sorry about potato quality.

[biomatter]

No problem, Cormac. I'll pitch in.
On your first image, starting from the top:

The 'H+79' indicates how much Heat your volley will generate - all three weapons combined.

I'm not a big fan of the condensed info on the right, I prefer to just expando the info boxes and leave those as health bars (with 'w' I think), but let's decrypt them for you anyways.

Lgt. Nuclear Core: '3' indicates rating, 'M5' is Mass of 5 (weight), and 'E9' is Energy produced per 100 units of time is 9.

For the legs and treads, it goes: Rating | Time it takes to Move | How much mass you can Support
So the legs can move you in 100u, the treads in 150, and the legs support 10 while the treads support 20.

Oof... Utilities are tricky. Ok, the first number is always the rating, so I'm going to ignore that. 'M#' is the Mass, or how much the item weighs.
For Sml Storage Unit: iCAP/2 means inventory capacity is increased by 2 - it should really be iCAP+2, huh?
Imp. Targeting Computer: TARG/8 means your targeting is increased by 8%.
Imp. Heat Sink's COOL/14 means it dissipates 14 thaums of heat per 100 jiffies.
Adv. Visual blah blah VIS/4 means vision range is increased by 4.

Ok, weapons. The * in front of rating indicates that it is a prototype. So it goes:
Rating | Mass | Damage | Damage Type
I see THermal, KInetic, and EM damage on your weapons.

On your second screenshot... you must have pressed F or something to start aiming at something. That information is related to accuracy. Your Imp. Assault Rifle has a natural +10% to accuracy. The other two weapons are losing 2% accuracy because of the Recoil produced by your Imp. Assault Rifle. I'm not sure about the -10?... I'd need to see the full situation of what you were doing. I hardly ever look at that info - I just look at the percentage that appears near the enemy on-screen.

Phew! I think that's everything. Please let us know if anything else comes up!

[CormacMccarthy91]

No problem, Cormac. I'll pitch in.
On your first image, starting from the top:

The 'H+79' indicates how much Heat your volley will generate - all three weapons combined.

I'm not a big fan of the condensed info on the right, I prefer to just expando the info boxes and leave those as health bars (with 'w' I think), but let's decrypt them for you anyways.

Lgt. Nuclear Core: '3' indicates rating, 'M5' is Mass of 5 (weight), and 'E9' is Energy produced per 100 units of time is 9.

For the legs and treads, it goes: Rating | Time it takes to Move | How much mass you can Support
So the legs can move you in 100u, the treads in 150, and the legs support 10 while the treads support 20.

Oof... Utilities are tricky. Ok, the first number is always the rating, so I'm going to ignore that. 'M#' is the Mass, or how much the item weighs.
For Sml Storage Unit: iCAP/2 means inventory capacity is increased by 2 - it should really be iCAP+2, huh?
Imp. Targeting Computer: TARG/8 means your targeting is increased by 8%.
Imp. Heat Sink's COOL/14 means it dissipates 14 thaums of heat per 100 jiffies.
Adv. Visual blah blah VIS/4 means vision range is increased by 4.

Ok, weapons. The * in front of rating indicates that it is a prototype. So it goes:
Rating | Mass | Damage | Damage Type
I see THermal, KInetic, and EM damage on your weapons.

On your second screenshot... you must have pressed F or something to start aiming at something. That information is related to accuracy. Your Imp. Assault Rifle has a natural +10% to accuracy. The other two weapons are losing 2% accuracy because of the Recoil produced by your Imp. Assault Rifle. I'm not sure about the -10?... I'd need to see the full situation of what you were doing. I hardly ever look at that info - I just look at the percentage that appears near the enemy on-screen.

Phew! I think that's everything. Please let us know if anything else comes up!

Oh man that was so helpful I cant even tell you. Thank you SOO much!!!   

Ill be able to play this game without feeling so lost now and enjoy it much more.

Really thank you for taking the time to explain, I love this game and now I can get the most out of it.

[Kyzrati]

Thanks for stepping in with a good set of answers, biomatter (Your units are amusing, btw )

The idea is that In the 7DRL all confusing numbers were left off by default and you had to turn them on (the so-called "tactical HUD mode"), as they're meant for more advanced players, but much of the information being pretty useful I decided to not hide it and let you figure it out as you go.

Maybe I should add a HUD info section to the manual.

I'm not a big fan of the condensed info on the right, I prefer to just expando the info boxes and leave those as health bars (with 'w' I think)

I live and die by that info . Faster than opening an info window and gives you the fundamentals, which is good enough once you have a general idea of other part stats.

For Sml Storage Unit: iCAP/2 means inventory capacity is increased by 2 - it should really be iCAP+2, huh?

The '/' is just a visual separator here, to keep the UI looking nice and more interpretable. It would appear really messy if using different symbols, and isn't helpful in the long run--once you know what each utility does the modifier is implied, anyway.

I'm not sure about the -10?...

That one is for completion's sake: If you have any system corruption, there is an equal chance that for each shot you fire a given weapon's hit% will be dropped by 10%, hence the '?', because it doesn't always take effect. E.g. 5% system corruption means that approximately one in every twenty shots will have a -10% modifier. (You'll see this pop up in your message log when it happens.)

[biomatter]

I guess a section in the manual might be merited, but all I did was pull up their stats mentally and try to guess what they might mean.

I live and die by that info . Faster than opening an info window and gives you the fundamentals, which is good enough once you have a general idea of other part stats.

Whaaaaaaaat?! I just keep a floating memory of my items' stats, and if I need to compare parts then I just pull up the examine log. Part integrity is super important, more important than knowing what your parts do at any given moment, and it'd be a real pain to examine them all individually. I need to know if something is nearly breaking, taking damage, etc... That, and I flick between the 'coverage' option too. Super super useful. But I mostly idle on integrity.

That one is for completion's sake: If you have any system corruption, there is an equal chance that for each shot you fire a given weapon's hit% will be dropped by 10%, hence the '?', because it doesn't always take effect. E.g. 5% system corruption means that approximately one in every twenty shots will have a -10% modifier. (You'll see this pop up in your message log when it happens.)

Ah, thanks for the elucidation. I had seen that message in the message log before, but wasn't sure what it 'meant' really. I just assumed corruption crit-failed my shot. Now I know that I might still be hitting.

I find nothing more enjoyable than helping people, so if anything else pops up cormac (or anyone else) don't feel dumb for asking. Kyzrati has done his best to make this game as arcane and obtuse as possible /joke /thatwasajoke /plsdontbanme

[Kyzrati]

I guess a section in the manual might be merited, but all I did was pull up their stats mentally and try to guess what they might mean.

Yeah it was meant to be shortcut data for "advanced players" who could probably guess all the meanings.

Part integrity is super important, more important than knowing what your parts do at any given moment

Absolutely, which is why it's always visible as the little rectangles, regardless of what mode you're in! Integrity mode just makes it bigger.

I find nothing more enjoyable than helping people, so if anything else pops up cormac (or anyone else) don't feel dumb for asking. Kyzrati has done his best to make this game as arcane and obtuse as possible /joke /thatwasajoke /plsdontbanme

[feeblethemighty]

Maybe I should add a HUD info section to the manual.

A HUD info section in the manual would be great! 

As a new player I was trying to find a good comprehensive description of what all the HUD bits meant, including what the heck the condensed info meant, so finding this post and biomatter's description was super helpful.   Gonna use that instead of integrity from now on.

[Kyzrati]

Okay good to know. I kinda pushed that item back as less important, but yeah once you understand what all those numbers mean 'q' mode is often the best mode be in

I'll see about adding that for Alpha 3.

[Kasaris]

I have to agree to the fact that everything in the UI is not absolutely clear at first sight.

But hey, it's like love : it may not be obvious at the beginning but it comes with time 

[Kyzrati]

That's somewhat intentional, since none of the more esoteric bits are necessary to play, and can be learned gradually. The necessary bits are obvious, and the rest is you personally taking part in the self-discovery that is Cogmind exploring his nature and the foreign world around him. (Pronouns optional =p)

Some people do hate that when approaching Cogmind as a "regular" game, though.

[Enno]

all the important data and main-reasons why i look in the manuals.
maybe usefull for other new players too

[Kyzrati]

Ooh very useful, Enno, thanks

[Star Weaver]

I see you re-uploaded it with the colors changed from generic_notepad to cogmind colors since I peeked at it this morning :3

[Enno]

I see you re-uploaded it with the colors changed from generic_notepad to cogmind colors since I peeked at it this morning :3

Was too bright for the dephts...

Spoiler

of Complex 0b10^^

[close]

[antanst]

@Enno Thanks!

[Star Weaver]

Hmm, has anyone noticed that

Spoiler

Complex 0b10 is really just Complex 2 in our silly human numberses?

[close]

[Draco18s]

Hmm, has anyone noticed that

Spoiler

Complex 0b10 is really just Complex 2 in our silly human numberses?

[close]

Yes.

[Kyzrati]

*raises hand* I noticed!