Elegant Phase Gate Solution
l3lessed
Join Date: 2010-06-07 Member: 71977Members
Join Date: 2010-06-07 Member: 71977Members
So now that it seems phase gates are going to make it into the game, I think some discussion on their implementation needs to be had. NS1 phase gates did their job, but they lacked good design and ease of use; there mechanics from NS1 wouldn't match up well with NS2 updated feel.
My solution is a two tier solution that involves giving both the commander and players options on navigating multiple phase gates.
So the original phase gate you pressed the use button and it took you the newest built phase gate then you kept pressing use one each subsequent phase gate to cycle through them. This worked, but it made it hard for players to jump to critical phase gates if they were at the very end of the cue. Also some times, especially with new players, people wouldn't jump to the right phase gate.
My solution is this.
Soldier Options - However the final design comes out, the players walks onto the phase gate and is phased out into a pretty blue effect. Now unlike the original phase gates, you don't instantly appear at a new one, instead the mini-map comes up on your hud with available phase gate locations highlighted. You select one and are teleported there. But if you know the phase gate you need to get to is the last one you selected already, you can just quickly press either the use key or the escape key and the phase gate will automatically take you to the last one you selected without having to select it again on the mini-map.
Commander Lock Down Option - So there was multiple times when I commanded in ns1 that I wanted soldiers to go to a specific phase gate in the phase gate cycle immediately without having to wait for them to cycle through and possibly get lost on the way. Allow the commander to select the phase gate, then push a lock down button on the phase gate menu. This will cause some sort of menu or minimap to appear, for the commander, with all phase gate locations avaliable. The commander then selects the specific phase gate he wants it to teleport troops to. The phase gate will then do some need little animation and skin change to flag to the ground groups that the phase gate has been put into lock down mode. Maybe the phase gate will work like a vision tunnel, as in the game Portal, to the selected location when in this mode. Now when soldiers walk on to the phase gate, it will automatically teleport them to the location without any prompting at all, officially locking the troop out of the decision making process, but getting them to the location faster.
This has multiple advantages. It stream lines the phase gate process and, in doing so, it removes the previous inefficient and redundant phase gate cycling by ground troops. Two it allows good commanders with strong micro-management skills to use the phase gate to their advantage while helping to develop micro-management skills for less experienced commanders.
On a side note, phase gates should be inactive when in powered down areas; This will increases use of the battery pack, make power nodes more central, and encourage team work in between players and the commander in order to keep power up.
My solution is a two tier solution that involves giving both the commander and players options on navigating multiple phase gates.
So the original phase gate you pressed the use button and it took you the newest built phase gate then you kept pressing use one each subsequent phase gate to cycle through them. This worked, but it made it hard for players to jump to critical phase gates if they were at the very end of the cue. Also some times, especially with new players, people wouldn't jump to the right phase gate.
My solution is this.
Soldier Options - However the final design comes out, the players walks onto the phase gate and is phased out into a pretty blue effect. Now unlike the original phase gates, you don't instantly appear at a new one, instead the mini-map comes up on your hud with available phase gate locations highlighted. You select one and are teleported there. But if you know the phase gate you need to get to is the last one you selected already, you can just quickly press either the use key or the escape key and the phase gate will automatically take you to the last one you selected without having to select it again on the mini-map.
Commander Lock Down Option - So there was multiple times when I commanded in ns1 that I wanted soldiers to go to a specific phase gate in the phase gate cycle immediately without having to wait for them to cycle through and possibly get lost on the way. Allow the commander to select the phase gate, then push a lock down button on the phase gate menu. This will cause some sort of menu or minimap to appear, for the commander, with all phase gate locations avaliable. The commander then selects the specific phase gate he wants it to teleport troops to. The phase gate will then do some need little animation and skin change to flag to the ground groups that the phase gate has been put into lock down mode. Maybe the phase gate will work like a vision tunnel, as in the game Portal, to the selected location when in this mode. Now when soldiers walk on to the phase gate, it will automatically teleport them to the location without any prompting at all, officially locking the troop out of the decision making process, but getting them to the location faster.
This has multiple advantages. It stream lines the phase gate process and, in doing so, it removes the previous inefficient and redundant phase gate cycling by ground troops. Two it allows good commanders with strong micro-management skills to use the phase gate to their advantage while helping to develop micro-management skills for less experienced commanders.
On a side note, phase gates should be inactive when in powered down areas; This will increases use of the battery pack, make power nodes more central, and encourage team work in between players and the commander in order to keep power up.
Comments
To know where each gate would take you, they would show a translucent view of their destination, and a floating tooltip above the gate indicating the name of the destination room. The gates could be color-coated to further assist, if necessary.
but.. If the marines go into the phasegate and the selectscreen comes up.. what will happen to them if all phasegates are destroyed while they are in there?
Will they be stuck in the nether for the rest of the game?
but.. If the marines go into the phasegate and the selectscreen comes up.. what will happen to them if all phasegates are destroyed while they are in there?
Will they be stuck in the nether for the rest of the game?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Teleport them to marine start IP.
This to me would seem to be the best solution; I feel they should be able to keep all their equipment too on respawn. Better then having 10 marines pop out of the original phase gate all at once. Just give some warning on the player screen and a voice that says, "Warning, no available node. Emergency respawn in process." This would give aliens a little bit of a benefit for taking down the PG without hurting the marine team to much, and it would make having multiple IP's even more important in late game.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->i say let the commander choose where each and every pg goes. soldiers already have too much freedom<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
For me, this is forcing the commander to baby sit too much. If you have a team of well skilled players, they should be able to handle small things like this on their own. Forcing the commander to have to continually switch PG locations on the fly for players just is to much micromanagement.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I've always thought that a commander should have to build a phase gate "hub". This could contain multiple portals, each leading to a remote phase gate. At that remote site, there would only be one phase gate. Going through it would take you back to the hub, from which you could then go to another place.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This seems a little over complicated, not that efficient from the game developer end, and like it would take up to much room for the small spaces most of NS2 takes place in.
I liked the Phase Gate Menu mod in NS1 which let you select which gate to jump to. It was infinitely better than the Comm making sure there were only 3 PGs on the map at any one time to prevent giant queue of death. You didn't warp until you selected your destination. This also solves what happens if the PG is destroyed while the menu is up, you just didn't warp yet.
Otherwise, allowing liberals a place to donate what they consider their "fair" share would be fine with me. However, we all know that when it comes to their own money, they become ultra conservative. It's just when it's other peoples' money do they become so generous.
=========
<a href="http://www.packnwrap.co.za" target="_blank">Pallet Wrap</a>
<a href="http://www.9009.ir" target="_blank">تبادل لینک سه طرÙÙ‡</a>