Should Packers be slowed down?

[jf]

I agree--the asymmetrical nature or packers definitely adds to the fun of puzzle-solving. Left-to-right or right-to-left design is part of the challenge.

[Kevan]

Okay, the new physics model is now live, and loading in any of the pre-existing levels should switch back automatically to the old physics model, and warn the user that this has happened. The two models are distinguishable by the fast packers and copiers being tinted green.

You can also toggle between the two models by pressing "P", which means that it's possible to ignore the new physics model and just keep using the old one, if anyone really wants to.

It looks okay from here, but let me know if you have any trouble getting your old levels to work, or your new levels to save properly. (And if anyone's got any prominently-linked levels that they know can be solved under the new physics model, and want me to tweak the save file so that they don't default to the old model, just let me know the level names.)

[Mr K]

Though the poll is apparently closed, I like the idea of having the packers and unpackers operate at the slightly slower speed. It should take at least a turn, not zero turns. I disagree about the copiers. If is at a spot long enough to be destroyed by a furnace, it's there long enough to be copied once. I don't see why a barrel would trigger the furnace before the copier. All surrounding tools should be triggered at the same instance. I would make the assertion that the up-pipe is triggered along with the furnace and the copier, it's just that barrel is destroy by the time it leaves the pipe. The only thing that doesn't seem intuitive is that winches aren't activated in time. I would expect the winch to change position. a barrel lands on a spot with both a furnace and a winch next to it, I expect the winch to start to try to move the barrel, and the furnace to destroy the barrel before the winch actually moves anything, so that it's position is now reversed.

Since you made a toggle for the physics, I'm assuming that you did this to allow people who wanted to keep the old physics to keep it, and those who wanted to get the new physics to get it. But since you changed the physics of multiple kinds of objects, what about a toggle for each? I agree with your idea that packers needed their physics adjusted, and want to use the new physics for them. But I disagree with the idea that copiers needed their physics changed, and don't want to alter their physics. So I can't use the improved physics without taking on some bad physics at the same time.

When I load an old level, it gives my a warning about "packers, unpackers, and adders" physics changing. This should say copiers, not adders, correct?

It seems like the default is the old physics model, not the new one. When I start with a blank slate, I have to turn on the new physics by pressing P. Shouldn't the new physics be default? That is, unless you are still just trying them out.

[Kevan]

The toggle was more to let people load in old levels and solve them with new physics - I'd be surprised if anyone hangs on to the old physics model for very long, really.

You're right about the wording of the warning; I've fixed this now.

And the new physics is the default - if you open Rubicon and go straight to the sandbox, you'll get the non-green packers and copiers of the new physics model.