Randomized Vent locations on map start.
Turtle
Join Date: 2002-10-18 Member: 1540Members
Join Date: 2002-10-18 Member: 1540Members
I would like to suggest some form of randomization of vent entrance/exit locations every time a map is started. Or at least, the framework to do so be in the game as standard (instead of being a LUA mod).
The reasons for this are many. There will already be dynamic infestation, so why not take it a step further?
So, what I'm asking is that in a room where there's already supposed to be vent access, there will instead be multiple vent access spots, all covered by vent covers that can be broken open. At the start of a map, it randomly blocks all but one or two of the vent covers, making those covers indestructable, and depending on the mapper's preference.
Alien players can tell which cover can be broken open just by looking at it, and must break open a vent cover to enter or exit the vent. Meanwhile a marine player doesn't know which vents are accessible until the covers have been broken off.
This creates some front loaded tension for marine players, and helps mix up the maps a bit since we'll be playing them a lot. It adds a nice bit of unpredictability to a game where we're going to be playing the same maps over and over a lot.
The alien players can strategically decide to leave 1-2 vent covers unbroken over the course of the game to lull marine players into a sense of security, then should they gain a foothold in that location, the alien players can break open that access point to get past defenses and the like.
I know something like this can be accomplished through LUA scripting (probably) and is more a mapping issue, but I wanted to make sure that such randomizing functionality is built into the core engine and scripting so that it can be used by non-modded maps.
The reasons for this are many. There will already be dynamic infestation, so why not take it a step further?
So, what I'm asking is that in a room where there's already supposed to be vent access, there will instead be multiple vent access spots, all covered by vent covers that can be broken open. At the start of a map, it randomly blocks all but one or two of the vent covers, making those covers indestructable, and depending on the mapper's preference.
Alien players can tell which cover can be broken open just by looking at it, and must break open a vent cover to enter or exit the vent. Meanwhile a marine player doesn't know which vents are accessible until the covers have been broken off.
This creates some front loaded tension for marine players, and helps mix up the maps a bit since we'll be playing them a lot. It adds a nice bit of unpredictability to a game where we're going to be playing the same maps over and over a lot.
The alien players can strategically decide to leave 1-2 vent covers unbroken over the course of the game to lull marine players into a sense of security, then should they gain a foothold in that location, the alien players can break open that access point to get past defenses and the like.
I know something like this can be accomplished through LUA scripting (probably) and is more a mapping issue, but I wanted to make sure that such randomizing functionality is built into the core engine and scripting so that it can be used by non-modded maps.
Comments
Of course, this can also be implemented by the mapper -- but this would make it simpler and more easily mod-able if all maps do it in the same way.
I mean, doing a crazy light-bounce+bounding box could work to help group things, but it's a pain to do and you might as well give the mapper a way to control which belongs to what grouping.
One could define static vents that are always present no matter what, and variable vents that change every time.
and/or
Like in NS1, how marines could weld open/shut doors and vents, allow aliens to chew through (or have dynamic infestation corrode through) certain parts of the map.
- Scouting and information become more important as you are not initially sure exactly what leads where. If done right, this might add layers of tactics.
- Variety is nice
But here is 2 problems:
- If randomized then the Vent placing must be "balanced" as well, or people might go "Damn, we got those vent, we are screwed"
- It will confuse new players since map layout changes between games, making the learning curve even steeper.