Dynamic Cabling?
jacksonjO4
Join Date: 2002-12-30 Member: 11613Members, Constellation
Join Date: 2002-12-30 Member: 11613Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">Like DI, but Marine!</div>I was reading the DI thread when a thought struck me (Apologies if this has been mentioned before, but search couldn't find anything similar): Dynamic cabling for marine bases.
Basically, connecting cables will appear between marine structures within a reasonable proximity of each other. They don't have to have any shocking game-altering effects, or even physically do anything. Although if turrets etc became physics props for a few seconds after destruction, it would look pretty good to have an alien ram a 'destroyed' turret and see all the cables fly loose.
The cables can just trail on the floor, or start midway up some structures and use the rope physics in Source to droop, eg over balconies and stairs.
Just a bit of visual gloss.
Basically, connecting cables will appear between marine structures within a reasonable proximity of each other. They don't have to have any shocking game-altering effects, or even physically do anything. Although if turrets etc became physics props for a few seconds after destruction, it would look pretty good to have an alien ram a 'destroyed' turret and see all the cables fly loose.
The cables can just trail on the floor, or start midway up some structures and use the rope physics in Source to droop, eg over balconies and stairs.
Just a bit of visual gloss.
Comments
Just a bit of visual gloss.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Cool idea. Would definitely add to the feel of destruction. Seeing cables fly, maybe the lights on the prop itself flicker as it "dies", turrets could sputter out a couple last random rounds.... I couldnt find a thred about how they are going to make the new props though.
I really wish I could map for NS2 now, I have all of my ideas written down, but I cannot start.
Second, these things would be snapping left and right if they were placed anywhere except ground level, and if they were placed on ground level you'd have to do it differently that the rope physics in Source, and snaking cables is more difficult than dynamic infestation because instead of blobs of whatever size you need a specific cable of any length that trails along the floor and makes turns dynamically. So it would either look weird or be hard to implement.
Third, a gigantic part of Natural Selection is asymmetry. Not many PC games have had teams as different as the Frontiersmen and the Kharaa, both visually and with regards to how they play. Adding a feature that's basically just designed to be analogous to dynamic infestation (especially with infestation being one of the signatures of the Kharaa) to the marines removes, in its own little way, one of the myraid differences between the two teams. I would rather NS2 diversify rather than reduce the ways in which the two sides are different from each other.
Finally, you'd have people asking why the aliens couldn't just chomp the cables in one bite to disable the building. I mean, if it needs a cable in the first place, that ought to work.
I agree with you about the cables, you brought up some very good points, but on this I think this point could help: for military equipment, it is often the case that there are redundant systems to make sure the stuff keeps working under extreme conditions.
The cables wouldn't be required, merely redundant.
Just saying, because personally I agree that letting the Kharaa have the DI as a identifying characteristic. Most of the time we end up on maps that are dedicated to the marines anyways, I wouldn't mind a little more Kharaa planet forming and I believe Dynamic Infestation accomplishes that.
I was wondering if marine buildings would be physics props, or maybe just the turrets. It would ruin the game if all buildings were physics props, unless they were all really heavy and took an Onos to actually move at all. But turrets would make sense if they could be knocked over, but still kept on firing; maybe then marines could pick them up again, or maybe they loose range when knocked over.
Probably just a bad idea.
Exactly.