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Topic: Balance Mod updated (Read 7248 times)
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Shiver
Frungy champion
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Posts: 80
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All this news circulating about Star Control got me messing with my old Super Melee mod again. Balance Mod was my attempt at fixing and improving UQM's combat for competitive PvP matches which began a little over 10 years ago from today. After some experimenting and tuning, I've updated it again. A theme of this update is reverting back to original game mechanics anywhere I can get away with it. Ur-Quan fighter craft no longer drain energy from the target they're shooting at - while there was a good reason for implementing that, it encroached on Chenjesu's design too much. Supox gets its old battery regen back, VUX limpets get their old duration back, Arilou's teleport burns 3 energy as before, and Shofixti's glory device can crack Chmmr satellites again. I restored Umgah's default, faster turn rate and instead impair the ship's turning while the ship's Antimatter Cone is active, which feels pretty good in-game.
I added something new as well: An 'aim-assist' for my favorite ship, the Melnorme Trader. This feature is optional and can be toggled on and off with the 'down' key, When toggled on, the ship sends out little holograms which trace the charge-up weapon's firing path. Being a specialized sharp-shooter, Melnorme has always been a difficult one to play. I hope this feature helps other players enjoy piloting the ship as much as I do. Cheers!
http://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/User:Shiver/Balance_Mod
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Death 999
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We did. You did. Yes we can. No.
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Ah, good. I always felt that the power drain on the fighters was out of place.
I guess I could look into making a mac build.
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astkr5
Zebranky food
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The Umgah change is very welcome. After playing the Melnorme for years the aim-assist takes some getting used to, but I like that the option's there. It's been a long time since I looked at the game though -- did you adjust any point values since the last iteration of the mod to compensate for some of these (relative) nerfs/buffs or do you think most of these are just minor thematic or quality-of-life stuff?
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Shiver
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The only point value change was for Ilwrath, which got bumped up from 10 to 12. Although I did re-tune the ship's weapon (slightly shorter range & the diagonal flame spouts drain 1 extra energy per shot instead of 2), it probably should have been at that value all along. Mod Ilwrath has always been noticeably stronger than its vanilla counterpart.
I don't think any changes in this update alter the match-up dynamics enough to necessitate other point value changes.
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Mormont
*Smell* controller
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I love YaBB 1G - SP1!
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Cool, I'll try to take a look soon!
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Shiver
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I've updated the mod again to version 2.10. Included is a change log of the past two updates...
~~2.10~~
__________________________________________
[Chenjesu]
* Photon shard detonation also releases a small shockwave which inflicts 1 damage to non-friendlies within a smaller area than shrapnel blast radius. This effect is accompanied by a new, pretty animation.
A little extra damage has been added for shard explosions. This is helpful when your shard barely misses the enemy ship, or when clearing out hostile objects such as Ur-Quan fighters.
* The Shrapnel graphic at max-zoom has been reverted to its old image. The larger replacement graphic I added years ago is a bit ugly. With the new shockwave, the extra projectile coverage (the reason for the altered graphic) is not needed.
[Melnorme]
* Aim-assist holograms now shift position relative to the Trader's trajectory, making this tool much better for lining up shots.
* Confusion disables the afflicted opponent's 'Down' key again.
This must've been missed when the mod got ported from 0.6.2 to 0.7.
[Shofixti]
* Dart velocity 90 -> 80.
[Spathi]
* Tightened spread of front gun just barely.
[Syreen]
* Siren Song cooldown 24 -> 23.
* Max crew capacity 42 -> 32.
[Thraddash]
* Afterburner puff duration 72 -> 60.
Vanilla afterburner flames last 48 frames. This is still longer.
* Weapon relativity lowered from full to 3/4.
[Ur-Quan]
* Fighter laser cooldown 12 -> 14.
* Will not launch fighters against Earthling, as seen in vanilla UQM and probably pre-0.7 versions of Balance Mod.
[VUX]
* A fully ensnared opponent's turn rate is reduced a touch more.
* Increased maximum warp-in distance from the enemy ship slightly. Again.
~~2.09~~
__________________________________________
[General Changes]
* Fleet scoring system reverted; the alternate point system that grants partial points for damaged ships is no longer displayed.
* Several AI fixes restored. These were not transferred over when this mod was ported to UQM 0.7.
[Arilou]
* Top speed lowered (44 -> 42).
* Teleport energy cost reverted to default (4 -> 3).
The higher cost hasn't been needed, so I've dialed it back down.
* Forward teleport's minimum distance increased a bit (240 -> 250).
* Teleport transit time increased by 1 frame.
* Post-teleport weapon freeze decreased by 1 frame.
* Post-teleport movement freeze decreased by 1 frame.
The skiff spends a shorter instant disabled after a teleport.
* Removed post-teleport freeze of the teleporter itself.
Arilou performs feints against Shofixti a tiny bit better this way; it can't be stuck next to it for even a small fraction of a second.
[Ilwrath]
* Point value increased (10 -> 12).
Ilwrath hard-counters Arilou and has been too useful elsewhere to cost 10.
* Hellfire spout diagonal attack consumes energy at a lower rate.
* Hellfire spout velocity decreased from 35 to 32.
[Melnorme]
* Holographic Targeting Aid added! When toggled on, the Trader will periodically send out holographic tracers which replicate their primary weapon's firing path. This feature is only detectable to its pilot; it does not display for cyborg/network-controlled Trader ships. Press 'Down' to toggle this feature on and off.
* Blaster pulse relativity (which applies the ship's trajectory to its projectiles) increased from 1/2 to 3/4.
[Shofixti]
* Glory Device damage inflicts extra damage vs non-ship objects.
Glory Device is now more capable of shredding Chmmr satellites, although not as easily as it did in vanilla UQM.
* Re-arranged dart gun projectile velocity (92 -> 90) and duration (9 -> 10).
The shorter duration given to this projectile made it look choppy, which has been reverted.
[Supox]
* Battery regen delay restored to its original value (5 -> 4).
[Umgah]
* Turn speed restored to its original value ("turn_wait" 5 -> 4).
* Turn speed slows down while the Drone's antimatter cone is active (+2 turn_wait).
Balance Mod's "big cone" made this ship a little overpowered until the ship's turn rate was nerfed. Turn_wait 5 was perfectly fair, but it gave the ship an unsatisfying, sluggish feel. This new variable turn rate lets the ship's pilot shift focus between mobility vs attack & defense.
[Ur-Quan]
* Fusion bolt "shot cycling" gimmick removed; fusion bolts only fire out of the front of the ship again rather than cycling between the front, left arm, and right arm.
* Fusion bolt energy cost reverted (5 -> 6).
* Fusion bolts use a wide sprite again, as seen in previous versions of this mod.
* Fusion bolt relativity (which applies the ship's trajectory to its projectiles) decreased from 100% to 75%.
Full relativity for the fusion cannon did not feel right and was too disadvantageous when moving away from an opponent.
* Fighter laser no longer drains target energy per laser strike.
This effect was neat, but it encroached on Chenjesu's design space too much (energy-siphoning support craft).
* Fighter laser cooldown decreased substantially (24 -> 12).
* Fighters hold their fire against invulnerable targets.
Ur-Quan keeps the upper-hand against Utwig this way, which is crucial for game balance and the main reason behind the energy-draining fighter beams.
* Fighter laser color reverted (cyan -> yellow).
* Turret no longer fires upon enemy ships. It is now strictly a defensive countermeasure.
* Turret expends more energy per shot (1 -> 2).
[VUX]
* Ship mass lowered (5 -> 4).
This gives the ship more 'bounce' when colliding with large ships, which helps it get away from a stationary Utwig after warping in right next to it.
* Limpet duration restored to its original value (72 -> 80).
The small nerf I gave to this was not needed.
* Battery capacity increased up to 36.
* Increased maximum warp-in distance from the enemy ship slightly.
[Zoq-Fot-Pik]
* "Spitball" weapon relativity decreased 2/3 -> 1/2.
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Shiver
Frungy champion
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Played some more games, did some more tinkering. Most notably, we're bringing back odd point values. Shofixti, Ilwrath, and Mycon in particular are much better off with them. This is a long change log, and I don't know if anyone follows my adjustments closely, but here it is.
~~2.11~~
__________________________________________
[Arilou]
* Forward teleport's destination has reduced lateral variance.
Forward teleport is randomized to prevent skilled players from to warping with total precision. For some reason, I wrote lateral variance to be double compared to forward/backward variation. I don't know why anymore, but this has been rectified.
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* Melee camera repositions to Arilou's destination one frame sooner during a teleport cycle.
This looks smoother.
[Druuge]
* Ship cost decreased. (18 -> 17)
[Ilwrath]
* Ship cost decreased. (12 -> 11)
* When attacking with a full battery, the side spouts will fire 2 shots each rather than 3.
Too much burst damage from this weapon was causing problems for Androsynth and Mmrnmhrm while duking it out at close range.
[Melnorme]
* Holo-targeting cooldown increased. (12 -> 13)
Aim-assist animation appears less frenetic this way.
[Mmrnmhrm]
* Crew count increased. (20 -> 22)
I gave this jack-of-all-trades a little more crew to justify its 20 pt cost. It's been getting knocked around a lot lately.
[Mycon]
* Ship cost decreased. (16 -> 15)
[Orz]
* Crew count increased. (16 -> 18)
Despite other changes, Orz still wasn't quite holding up. It would lose so much crew taking out Ur-Quan that a dingy Earthling or Thraddash could snipe it afterward.
[Pkunk]
* Ship cost decreased. (20 -> 19)
[Shofixti]
* Ship cost decreased. (6 -> 5)
Shofixti in particular really benefits from odd point values returning. I believe this ship has been over-nerfed for as long as Balance Mod has been around.
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* Acceleration increment decreased. (5 -> 4)
Speaking of nerfs, here's another one! This helps prevent "kamikaze-less" wins, which are not desirable against well-played, fully-crewed ships. I may do away with this change later if it proves to be too much.
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* Dart velocity increased. (80 -> 84)
Returning some of the reduced range from last update.
* Glory Device damage formula re-jiggered; it deals a bit more damage when that damage won't be lethal to the enemy ship.
The weird rules I attach to this weapon help Shofixti be useful yet leave Arilou with a better chance to survive against it - balancing those two ships against each other has been unpleasant to say the least.
[Slylandro]
* Lighting range cap extended. (160 -> 168)
[Spathi]
* Torpedo duration increased. (24 -> 25)
[Umgah]
* Ship cost decreased. (8 -> 7)
* Turn penalty while weapon is active increased. (2 -> 3)
[Ur-Quan]
* Fighter formation code revised. Fighters fan out from each other more and their movements are smoother. Fan out distance is much lower during a victory sequence.
* Jumbo fusion bolts narrowed in width slightly.
These were clearing out Orz marines (Ur-Quan's intended hard counter) too well sometimes.
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* Point-defense shot may turn twice on the same frame while chasing a target.
A fringe accuracy buff to UQ's point defense.
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* Point-defense shot duration decreased. (10 -> 8 frames)
These never stay around that long unless they somehow miss a target. This change prevents the shots from awkwardly careening around as much before they expire.
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* Point-defense no longer targets Chenjesu shrapnel.
Accuracy against spinning fragments is abysmal. PD doesn't know how to pick out which bits will hit the Dreadnought, nor how to run into something that travels in a sharp curve, and I'm not going to teach it. Stopping the countermeasure in this instance prevents wasted energy.
[Utwig]
* Ship cost decreased. (24 -> 23)
* Crew count increased. (20 -> 22)
A small boost to help Utwig tussle with Kohr-Ah. This should be fine, as more crew gives no real advantage versus Utwig's counters (limpets, confusion).
[VUX]
* Ship cost decreased. (14 -> 13)
VUX's price drop coincides with Utwig's. VUX should be a little more usable outside of its primary niche this way.
[Yehat]
* Shield cooldown increased. (8 -> 10) Battery recharge freeze also increased to match.
Nerfed shield spam. It's easier to score hits against a defensive Yehat.
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Death 999
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We did. You did. Yes we can. No.
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FWIW, I do read these. I'd love to play it… maybe I can get it onto one of the PCs in my family.
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Shiver
Frungy champion
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Here's a small update that helps out VUX and sands away a few more rough edges.
~~2.12~~
__________________________________________
[Androsynth]
* After the blazer damages an enemy ship, it is non-damaging for a single frame (1/24th of a second).
This halves the rate of damage dealt whenever Androsynth 'wedges' into an opponent. It still wrecks things alarmingly fast, but no longer at "you blink, you miss it" speed.
[Ilwrath]
* Diagonal spouts consume 2 energy per burst. (Was at 1 for the last few updates)
Lowering the threat this ship poses to Androsynth and Mmrnmhrm back down some more.
[Mycon]
* Top speed 26 -> 27, as in vanilla.
This might get reverted in the future due to its trickiness versus Chenjesu and Kohr-Ah, but I want to see how it shakes out.
[Shofixti]
* Acceleration increment restored to previous value. (4 -> 5)
The accel nerf from the last patch has been detrimental. Shofixti needs accel to catch Syreen (usually via gravity whip), which has few counter options already.
* Energy regeneration delay increased. (9 -> 11)
This is a dart nerf, intended to impair Shofixti's ability to win fights without its Glory Device.
[VUX]
* Limpet energy cost 3 -> 2.
VUX has a faster battery in Balance Mod, but this higher cost was still too debilitating.
* For each limpet deployed, energy recovery stalls slightly. This effect is cumulative; dumping an entire battery's worth of limpets will stall recovery for longer.
Limpet energy cost has been scaled up by a fraction to match the ship's faster battery.
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Shiver
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Here's a large-ish update containing some fairly drastic changes to Supox, one of the more neglected ships in SC2's line-up.
~~2.13~~
__________________________________________
[Androsynth]
* Acid bubble duration reverted to original value. (192 -> 200)
* Minimum energy needed to activate Blazer increased a bit. (2 -> 3)
Those little 2-energy Blazer hops an Androsynth pilot might perform while being chased can get pretty tedious.
[Chenjesu]
* Ship cost increased. (24 -> 25)
* Shockwave effect coverage reduced very slightly.
* Cyborg: When fighting Chmmr, don't deploy DOGIs while it still has satellites up, and engage aggressively rather than turn away.
[Mmrnmhrm]
* Ship cost reverted to original value. (20 -> 19)
Attempting to nerf this ship down to a lower point value.
* Crew count reverted to original value. (22 -> 20)
* Missiles are partially affected by the Transformer's velocity.
This adds some speed when the X-Form is moving toward an opponent and subtracts it when moving away. The missile kiting strategy should be a bit less one-dimensional this way.
* Missiles travelling above normal speed slow down as they turn away from their launch angle.
* Missile velocity decreased. (80 -> 78)
* Y-Wing acceleration increment decreased. (10 -> 5)
[Pkunk]
* Ship cost reverted to original value. (19 -> 20)
19 pts for the multi-respawning ship was mistake.
* 'Nitwit' returned to the insult repertoire.
[Slylandro]
* Lightning range cap improved.
The lightning was still sometimes jumping past intended max range by a random increment. It was enough for potential abuse, e.g. hitting Chmmr from beyond their reach.
[Spathi]
* Cannon shell initial velocity decreased. (112 -> 100)
[Supox]
* Gob projectile is wider, making it easier to score hits with. The new graphic appears barely different from the original.
* Thruster exhaust adjusted to more closely resemble vanilla UQM.
* New ability: Directional Boost. The Blade propels itself very fast in a given direction for a moment, then decelerates back down to its conventional top speed. Most homing weapons stop tracking the Blade while it is in this state, with exception to fighters, marines, floating crew, and tracking lasers. Boost costs 6 energy and stalls battery regen while active. To activate, press 'special' plus any directional keys. Boost replaces sideways thrust (reverse thrust is still in the game, bound to the 'down' key).
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Sideways thrust is only marginally useful in PvP. It's better against the AI; so many ships will chase straight after you, letting you shift into just the right angle to strike an opponent who can't hit back. This doesn't happen much in PvP, so I don't feel bad replacing the ability with a better one.
[Syreen]
* Siren Song cooldown decreased. (23 -> 22)
[Thraddash]
* Battery size increased. (14 -> 16)
[Umgah]
* Turn penalty while weapon is active increased. (3 -> 6)
[Ur-Quan]
* Fusion bolt duration increased. (20 -> 21)
* Fighter return time before expiry increased. (17 -> 22 seconds)
[Zoq-Fot-Pik]
* Spitball weapon relativity decreased. (1/2 -> 1/3)
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Death 999
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We did. You did. Yes we can. No.
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> 'Nitwit' returned to the insult repertoire.
Good! That really disrupted their matchups vs Thraddash and Mycon.
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psydev
*Many bubbles*
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Why don't all races have point defense lasers?
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Wow, cool to see you are still working on this! I have been playing a lot of UQM melee during quarantine, but have been using 2.09 the whole time. Some radical changes in here, like the Supox. I had gotten quite accustomed to 2.09, will take some new adjusting I guess. I didn't mind the Ur-Quan's "gimmicky" bolt, because I thought it improved my accuracy greatly. But after playing a quick round with the new Ur-Quan, I have had pretty good accuracy so far, so maybe the new sprite size is sufficient to help accuracy.
I came here actually to make a request, in case you were working on the mod still:
Can you please, pretty please, make Arilou's laser 64-directional instead of 16? I miss sooo often with this laser. It kills me a little bit inside.
I play with Arilou a lot, but it's really frustrating to be at point blank range to your enemy and still miss with the auto-aiming laser. Sometimes I get near ships (especially the Vux) but I miss half (sometimes more!) of my shots. Being closer helps improve accuracy, but you can still totally miss even extremely close. It's just due to the limitations of only having 16 aiming points. Against smaller ships this problem is worse obviously, but you can still miss a Kohr-Ah quite often, even when close.
I understand that Arilou had its range nerfed in this mod. I think that's appropriate and fair. But perhaps as a compensation for this, you can make the aiming 64-directional, so that when you do finally succeed in getting close enough to your enemy, you actually get the payoff of a hit. 
After all, maneuvering quite close to your enemy is very dangerous. So I think it's only fair that if you brave that risk to get close, that you be rewarded by being able to deliver damage to your opponent. Basically I think if you succeed in getting into range of your opponent, you should get a guaranteed hit (as long as you have the battery for it).
It's rough when you miss a lot of your shots, as it wastes time/opportunities for a hit (forcing you to take more risks again later) and also battery spent on missed shots.
Cheers, and it's nice to see this mod is still alive and well.
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Shiver
Frungy champion
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I came here actually to make a request, in case you were working on the mod still:
Can you please, pretty please, make Arilou's laser 64-directional instead of 16? I miss sooo often with this laser. It kills me a little bit inside.
Hi there,
I agree with your feature request, it's something I've wanted to do for ages. It would help Arilou fight off Shofixti (in PvP anyway, the PvC match-up is a different animal), which is something I want to enable as much as possible. In the past, I never quite understood how to get extra firing angles for the Arilou Skiff, as its laser behaves a little differently from other sources of auto-aiming laser (Earthling PDL, Ur-Quan fighters, Chmmr satellites). I might be able to puzzle that out on my own. It's definitely possible, whether I end up figuring it out or not.
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Shiver
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Okay, that wasn't hard. I've got a 64-angle Arilou laser working in beta here. I can add it as part of the next update, whenever I get around to finalizing that.
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Shiver
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As promised, the Arilou Skiff now attacks across 64 firing angles. The laser can still sometimes aim for the wrong spot, as it targets the opponent's center rather than the nearest piece of spacecraft. Still, it's a fairly substantial accuracy buff.
~~2.14~~
__________________________________________
[Arilou]
* Laser uses 64 different firing angles, up from 16.
* Laser range increased. (88 -> 90; was 100 in vanilla UQM)
[Chenjesu]
* Shrapnel velocity decreased. (100 -> 96)
[Mmrnmhrm]
* Laser range increased. (144 -> 148)
[Shofixti]
* Ship's central hotspot moved closer to actual center.
This helps Arilou's tracking laser connect with this ship. The weapon has accuracy problems when a small ship's hotspot is off-center.
[Slylandro]
* Lightning range cap (plus extended duration) now only applies during exploitable match-ups (Chmmr, Mmrnmhrm, VUX, Yehat). This weapon reverts to vanilla characteristics otherwise.
To counter Chenjesu, Slylandro needs full reach. The last update, which perfected the range cap, also broke this important match-up.
[Supox]
* Boost adjustments: Duration 13 -> 12, acceleration increment 24 -> 28, top speed 78 -> 80.
[Yehat]
* Ship's central hotspot moved closer to actual center.
* Shield re-vamp: The shield no longer has a cooldown, is less energy efficient, and stalls battery regen for a moment after it drops.
Trying out a new approach here with Yehat's shield.
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