A few, most likely useless, ideas.

[Cybernetsam]

Ok, I just got done reading the plan, so here are a few ideas that come to mind.

If a a human passes out from sprinting, then a droid should be able to absorb him like a corpse, only with a bonus of some sort, since the human body is still fully intact.

Once the rail turret is about to fire, is should give a very distinct tone, a brief second before firing. The droid should be given no reaction time between the tone, and the shot. What is the point then, of the warning? Simply because it provides the player with brief "Oh, shit" feeling immediatly before his gibbing.


And a few questions as well:
How are we going to get more ammunition, and do humans have to move the droid body to the MCU to be used?

[Timbo]

How are we going to get more ammunition, and do humans have to move the droid body to the MCU to be used?

We have debated whether or not to have a separate buildable item for ammo replacement but I think it is likely that we'll end up using the MCU as the entity to replenish ammo from. Most ammo types won't 'cost' anything.

To use the droid body, the human must spend a small amount of time extracting the 'useful bits' of the droid corpse when and where it was killed. This material is then taken back to the MCU. We haven't yet decided on an upper limit for the amount you are allowed to carry or penalties for carrying too much.

As for your ideas...

The infesting whilst passed out could be pretty cool. atm the stamina is actually implemented so that the player is merely slowed down when he gets tired. I would have to alter this. Definately something for consideration though.

The other idea... #BEEP#SPLAT#... i like it :wink:

Cheers for the input, its appreciated...

[Cybernetsam]

Player-controlled turrets. That would be gnifty. You cover the builder long enough to set it up, then proceed with the ownage.

Or, on the same note, laser-guided rockets. Small-wield rounds, wich are launched by playerA. PlayerB then uses a laser guidence system to target something.

Hmm, another idea: How aobut player-controlled rockets? Player launches the missile, then controls is using a camera on the missile. This way you can stear the things around corners.

Ah, another idea. How about the ability to choose different payloads for missiles? There would be multiple missile types: Incindiary, nerve-gas, shrapnel, guided incindiary, guided nervegas, guided shrapnel ect.

And the ability to upgrade turrets would be cool... Upgrade a machine-gun turret with better rof, or tighter/wider spread. Then, you can upgrade it again. It would be an upgrade tree. From RoF upgrade, you can go to more damage, or tracers. From tracers you can go to better tracking, or something else. That would ge cool.

Oh, and another question:
How are structures going to be made? Will you place the structure, then "repair" it untill it is complete, or just place it as a whole, and it be done instantly?

[Mirsha]

Here's an idea I had earlier and told TIm and he liked it so I'm posting it up for discussion, cuss my idea and I kill j00!

Basicly I see droids as being highly evolved specialsed beasties. So here's my take on possible base defence buildings....

You have your basic "spiker" type thing, ie it shoots a projectile at anything bad which comes close enough. Does lots of damage but due to it's speed can miss easily.

"Acid-spiker" like the spiker but instead of firing a projectile which does lots of damage fires a faster gob of acid which upon hitting a human could do the following:

1: A small amount of damage, maybe 20 healt or so, enough to kill off a wounded human.

2: Blindness, blinds the player for a short period of time, obviously humans who are helmeted or use other sense than sight can see fine.

3: Slow's movement for a few seconds.

The point f these acid spikers is clear, slow down and disorientate anything which comes close so that a proper spiker type thing can kill it off.

Properly balanced a spiker/acid-spiker combo should be cheaper than a spiker/spiker combo and just as effective, only in some circumstances though like tight areas etc.

Make those base builders work for there base defence I say!

[Timbo]

On 2001-03-18 16:54, Cybernetsam wrote:
Player-controlled turrets. That would be gnifty. You cover the builder long enough to set it up, then proceed with the ownage.

The current plan is to allow control of turrets via the defensive control computer (DCC from now on :wink: ). A player will have remote control of a number of turrets 'in range' or some other criteria. Long term though a physically controlled turret is feasible.

Or, on the same note, laser-guided rockets. Small-wield rounds, wich are launched by playerA. PlayerB then uses a laser guidence system to target something.

Hmm, another idea: How aobut player-controlled rockets? Player launches the missile, then controls is using a camera on the missile. This way you can stear the things around corners.

Sounds like that Q1 mod i used to play. I forget what it was called.

If we do have rocket launcher we may have a more expensive 'auto rocket launcher' or something that provides features like this. Personally I would prefer the HL style rocket control where pointing at a target after firing causes the rocket to move.

Ah, another idea. How about the ability to choose different payloads for missiles? There would be multiple missile types: Incindiary, nerve-gas, shrapnel, guided incindiary, guided nervegas, guided shrapnel ect.

Again, IF we have a rocket launcher, that seems sensible :wink:

And the ability to upgrade turrets would be cool... Upgrade a machine-gun turret with better rof, or tighter/wider spread. Then, you can upgrade it again. It would be an upgrade tree. From RoF upgrade, you can go to more damage, or tracers. From tracers you can go to better tracking, or something else. That would ge cool.

Upgrades to turrets are currently planned via the DCC. i.e. any turret under the control of a DCC will inherently have some enhanced abilities.

Oh, and another question:
How are structures going to be made? Will you place the structure, then "repair" it untill it is complete, or just place it as a whole, and it be done instantly?

Currently structues are built immediatly, but eventually I plan on implementing a small build time or something for the human items.

[Timbo]

On 2001-03-19 11:45, Mirsha wrote:
You have your basic "spiker" type thing, ie it shoots a projectile at anything bad which comes close enough. Does lots of damage but due to it's speed can miss easily.

Of course "officially" we aren't in any way related to that certain "other mod" for Quake 2 so we won't have a "spiker" as such. :wink:

"Acid-spiker" like the spiker but instead of firing a projectile which does lots of damage fires a faster gob of acid which upon hitting a human could do the following:



The point of these acid spikers is clear, slow down and disorientate anything which comes close so that a proper spiker type thing can kill it off.

Make those base builders work for there base defence I say!

Yeah, cheers Ross. This is the sorta of idea we need right now. For some reason ideas for the human team come to mind much more readily than the droid team. Probably because the concepts are much closer to home.

The ideas and concepts we are most in need of at the moment are for the droid classes. So if you come up with a weird and wacky droid ability, don't hesitate to post it, no matter how extreme/silly.

[Cybernetsam]

For the droids, a "screamer" building would be cool. It emits a special tone, that only humans can hear. Any human in range experiences severe headache, affecting aim and other abilities. It also blocks out any other noises, so you don't hear that large droid walking/bounding/slithering up behind you. Maybe it could affect electronic systems as well.

Also, from the story, it sounds as if the droids would be more defensive-based, having to avoid the humans in all those nasty wars.

[edit]spelling[/edit]

[ This Message was edited by: Cybernetsam on 2001-03-20 08:50 ]

[Timbo]

Hrm yeah sounds cool... I vaguely remember talking about something similar to this with Caustic. I think that was perhaps a class ability though..

I'll add that to the docs now...

[Anonymous]

A good idea, keep them coming. No doubt, the best ideas come from the fans.

[Psylo]

Some weeks ago i made a sketch with a mosquito like droid.
What was /is that going to be in the game?
Maybe a computer controlled droid defense system? Like a swarm of intelligent  mines, hiding where you(the builder) placed them until the marines come close enough?

Or little drug injection robots which make the marines insane???
mysterious...

[Cybernetsam]

Psylo, that gives me an idea.
How about a neurotoxin that makes all other players look like droids? Turn a corner, wax a droid, only to find out it was your buddy.
There would of course be a natural chance to resist, and also a player can administer a cure (if he can get close enough).

[bLiTz]

Hi
i'm new here but after reading the ideas posted i thought of something,
what if the driod that builds is able to build one type of defensive building on the roof or ceiling, like a spiker (i know its not called that but humor me for now)
of some sort which drops spikes in a random direction on the floor??
it was just a thought.

[Timbo]

Cybernetsam: Yes I like this idea. Could make an interesting ability for one of the defensive droids. The opposite is also a possibility, i.e. a neurotoxin that makes droids appear to be human. Interesting strategic consequences. Will think about this...

bLiTz: been talking to HOB eh? :wink: The idea of having buildable structures attached to ceilings is all very well, but one detail that no one ever talks about is how you get the structure onto the ceiling in the first place? There are also issues as to how gravity affects these items. Having said that I cannot deny that having a item that does stick to the ceiling would be cool. I will do some research into this in the long term, but don't expect it...

[Psylo]

blitz:
wouldn't a very small droid in the brain of a dead human soldier be even cooler?
imagine a  big droid kiling a marine, then it's head leaves the body behind and moves on its own small legs towards the head of the soldier, then you hear the sound of sawing and suddenly the hummie stands up again, with only a knife left and with very bad stamina
this could only be detected by a scanner in very close contact...
of course you can leave that body if it takes too much damage and go back to your droid body...(if its still there...)
or even to another dead soldier
..would be like a spy

[Timbo]

This is a possibility, although personally I have never particularly liked the zombie idea. Seems a bit gimcky to me.

[Cybernetsam]

How about a "point defense" devise, which can be attached to a wall then activated. Anything coming close enough recieves laser surgery, untill the battery runs out. The battery could either be time-based, or ammunition-based. It could be destroyed easily by being shot or slashed or whatever. Also it would be disrupted by any electronics jamming device.

[Carcinogen]

I would think a proximity mine would work better, actually. Lasers with 0 ping would really piss people off, and be overused if they indeed are cheap. If they aren't cheap, the cost vs potency would not be worth it when you get turrets involved. Why not just have a laser turret instead? But, a laser turret would just complicate the 3 turrets the tremulous dev bastards are planning anyways.

The laser idea, bleh. Laser turrets didn't work in gloom, if you didn't notice. The attachable to wall thingy although, a nice idea and should be built upon, im sure that timbo codemonkey can do it.

[bLiTz]

how is the development team coming along anyways? is the game good so far?
I was brought into gloom by grytviken
and that was fun, but Gloom was lacking a lot. I like the system where to get points you need to carry the body back to your base, which prevents camping, because that was a major problem in Gloom.
and one more thing, are the levels going to have traps in them
ex: poison gas, acid, walls that collapse etc. etc.

[Cybernetsam]

Just an idea. Wall mines are just so... common, I guess. I was trying to think of something different.

Here's another idea I had: A gravity well. A device that creates a strong gravitational field, and when something gets caught, it is stuck untill the well is destroyed. When the well detonates, the field is rapidly restored to normal, so anything caught within it is thrown out.
This could be used to hold a person in place whilst a waiting player/defensive structure proceeds with ownage.

[Anonymous]

The development team is doing fine.  We've become a lot more organized in the recent week or two and we're putting all the tools Timbo has creatied (ie: plan section/forums) to good use.  We're going to deliver a quality product as quickly as time will allow.

Don't quote me on this, noone else from the team has hinted at the beta status but you could be looking for a beta once we've got most of the models into the game.  But that's just what it looks like to me.  There is absolutely no guarantee on that as our coder has said nothing about it.  Just an observation by me.

[Timbo]

On 2001-04-01 10:37, bLiTz wrote:
how is the development team coming along anyways? is the game good so far?

Pretty good, although its more of a demonstration of technology atm than an actual game. I suppose you could have a "game" of it atm, although it wouldn't be especially fun at this point in time.

and one more thing, are the levels going to have traps in them
ex: poison gas, acid, walls that collapse etc. etc.

These elements really require a comprehensive set of mapping entities to be created. I am looking towards coding such a set to bring q3 on par with q2 mapping in terms of flexibilty - at least thats the plan.

The majority of the underlying infacstructure for Tremulous is already there. In other words what remains to be done in is merely to "flesh it out" - add the classes, upgrades, structures.

I am reluctant to put specfic or even general dates on a beta release but I hope that such a release is possible this year. NO promises.

[ This Message was edited by: Timbo on 2001-04-01 13:50 ]

[Cybernetsam]

EMP rounds. A simple automatic rifle loaded with emp rounds. Apon contact, each round releases an EMP with a range of about 1'.
This could either be human or droid. If given to humans, it disrupts droid neuro-circitry, causing a good deal of damage or causing malfunctions.

If given to droids, disrupts human defenses, and electronic gear.

[Anonymous]

On 2001-04-01 12:12, Cybernetsam wrote:
Here's another idea I had: A gravity well. A device that creates a strong gravitational field, and when something gets caught, it is stuck untill the well is destroyed. When the well detonates, the field is rapidly restored to normal, so anything caught within it is thrown out.
This could be used to hold a person in place whilst a waiting player/defensive structure proceeds with ownage.

As Ire stated before, people get pissed if they are "moved" in game, for instance, being sucked into a "gravity well" would just plain suck.

The "gravity" idea could be put to use, however. I have had talks with Timbo, with a "gravity drive" mapping entity that when destroyed (or deactivated), makes a certain room or a whole map immersed in a 0-g situation. Magnetic boots, backpack thrusters, have all been talked about. Since wallwalking is already implemented and fine-tuned, having 0-g combat would be relatively simple. Also, Timbo likes coding physics =)

But, we haven't ok-ed the idea yet, but is a possibility to add in later development of Tremulous.

[ This Message was edited by: Caustic on 2001-04-01 15:56 ]

[Anonymous]

Note to Self:  No uncontained liquids on maps with potential zero gravity combat.

[Cybernetsam]

Ok then, no "player-moving" stuff.

For zero-G, the ability to "kick off" a wall and fly in the other direction would be nice. This way, if we are caught un-prepared, we can navigate back to the base.

Oh, and in zero-g, special building should become available, such as floating "turrets", and gravity-generating devises, to create gravity in a normally zero-g enviroment.

[Anonymous]

Floating turrets: possible
Buildings that manipulate the gravity is asking far too much.  I really think that's beyond the scope of the Quake III Arena code, and if it isn't, it'd be way too much work.

[Cybernetsam]

Yeah, figured as much, but we can dream, eh?

[Anonymous]

It's not a bad idea, it's just something you should keep in mind until we've got a more advanced 3-D gaming engine...

[Anonymous]

Hrm, blowing windows or a weak spot in the wall... hull depressurizes, blast doors start to seal off the area which quickly becomes airless, while any habitable entities quickly freeze to death. Mmm. Side effects if you decide use non-hull friendly grenades and such?

Might be hell for a mapper, but couldn't be THAT hard to have several pre-set areas which cripple under certain types of weapons.

[James]

I suspect it's possible, and it would be a cool trap, but it doesn't fit well with the gameplay model, beucase you can just re-spawn. So, you kill lots of people (briefly), and lose a large section of map.

Now what would be much more useful is the Aliens scenario; have some large exhaust ports / doors with switches, and let the droids always move through vaccum-areas (requires air-locks or 'containment fields', but that's just a thin brush with low opacity)

Now the droids can use vacum defensively, if they choose too. Ideally, a couple of human classes should be able to enter the vacum too, and close the doors / vents so their buddies can help.

Of course the droids will try to flip the switch back (blowing the humans into space), but that's part of the fun. Adding a lengthy timer (10 seconds?), with klaxons and flashing strobes, will give any humans a chance to run for safety.

Anyone who doesn't like this needs to go watch Aliens many times until they understand