Ns_canyons
NecromanZer
Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 3407Members
Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 3407Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Backstory, details and a tech question</div> It goes something like this....
A recent while ago the Galipso Trade Federation stopped receiving transmissions from its mining base on GTF-1040, a small planet located on the outskirts of the arm, where they had established a small mining outpost. They had discovered the presence of nanetoites, a small crystal rock, that when melted gives off nanites exponentially, until it decays completely. This meant the planet was very valuable, and as such the Federation poured a lot of money into the outpost.
The scientists posted there had been experimenting with the nanetoites, and discovered that by firing a directed beam of energy into the crystal, it would give off nanites indefinely, in random phase bursts. By experimenting with reforming the crystals and changing the lasers frequency, they harnessed the new technology, allowing them to transport nanites into the field by use of a transciever.
Two days ago, the GTF stopped recieving transmissions from the outpost. A sqaud of the Federation's security was sent in to investegate, and upon landing were mauled by aliens of unknown number. The Federation has hired the TSA to reclaim its outpost, so that they might be able to keep harvesting the crystals.
Intel has shown that the base is now deserted, EFS long range sound equipment has detected an infestation of the aliens north west of the facility. As far as we know, the facility itself is undamaged and power is still up, so as soon as the dropships hit the dirt we can be up and running. The new technology harnessed on GTF-1040 means we can construct structures in the field and carry on as if under a normal nano-field.
I'm thinking of enabling a new feature for the map..... the map would have 7 res points, 3 out of base, 1 in marine spawn and 1 in each hive...
but at each of the res points out of the hive is a console - a button and a weldable - the weldable turns on power for that crystal, enabling marines to build in a different sector of the map - so if the marines want to build over here , then they better take this sector first..
im not sure if res point 1 would enable hive 2 or res point 1 would enable hive 1, gotta give it thought first.
See the attached picture for a clearer idea of what i mean
the button there would be for aliens to turn off the crystal, meaning marines coouldnt build in whatever location it transponded too..
Map Layout
I'm toying with a few plans - one is the standard web, another is a cross....im wondering what people think?!?
Hives
One is themed deep underground in the mines of the facility, another high up near the top of the transponder towers, and another in a raw naneite depository.
Incase anyone is wondering, this is the outdoor map im keen on making. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Now my tech question is this ; a distance fog seems to be workable in NS, its viewable in bast in the tram tunnel for instance, is this a real performance hit? ie could I make a blackish distance fog, to make the map look excellent at nightime and reduce the marines range advantage?<img src='http://users.bigpond.net.au/necromanzer/areas.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
A recent while ago the Galipso Trade Federation stopped receiving transmissions from its mining base on GTF-1040, a small planet located on the outskirts of the arm, where they had established a small mining outpost. They had discovered the presence of nanetoites, a small crystal rock, that when melted gives off nanites exponentially, until it decays completely. This meant the planet was very valuable, and as such the Federation poured a lot of money into the outpost.
The scientists posted there had been experimenting with the nanetoites, and discovered that by firing a directed beam of energy into the crystal, it would give off nanites indefinely, in random phase bursts. By experimenting with reforming the crystals and changing the lasers frequency, they harnessed the new technology, allowing them to transport nanites into the field by use of a transciever.
Two days ago, the GTF stopped recieving transmissions from the outpost. A sqaud of the Federation's security was sent in to investegate, and upon landing were mauled by aliens of unknown number. The Federation has hired the TSA to reclaim its outpost, so that they might be able to keep harvesting the crystals.
Intel has shown that the base is now deserted, EFS long range sound equipment has detected an infestation of the aliens north west of the facility. As far as we know, the facility itself is undamaged and power is still up, so as soon as the dropships hit the dirt we can be up and running. The new technology harnessed on GTF-1040 means we can construct structures in the field and carry on as if under a normal nano-field.
I'm thinking of enabling a new feature for the map..... the map would have 7 res points, 3 out of base, 1 in marine spawn and 1 in each hive...
but at each of the res points out of the hive is a console - a button and a weldable - the weldable turns on power for that crystal, enabling marines to build in a different sector of the map - so if the marines want to build over here , then they better take this sector first..
im not sure if res point 1 would enable hive 2 or res point 1 would enable hive 1, gotta give it thought first.
See the attached picture for a clearer idea of what i mean
the button there would be for aliens to turn off the crystal, meaning marines coouldnt build in whatever location it transponded too..
Map Layout
I'm toying with a few plans - one is the standard web, another is a cross....im wondering what people think?!?
Hives
One is themed deep underground in the mines of the facility, another high up near the top of the transponder towers, and another in a raw naneite depository.
Incase anyone is wondering, this is the outdoor map im keen on making. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Now my tech question is this ; a distance fog seems to be workable in NS, its viewable in bast in the tram tunnel for instance, is this a real performance hit? ie could I make a blackish distance fog, to make the map look excellent at nightime and reduce the marines range advantage?<img src='http://users.bigpond.net.au/necromanzer/areas.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
Comments
Its OpenGL only and gives a bad performance in the NS engine.
Use fields of large transparent sprites instead.
<b>Ah and ppl say in NS you only see fog when you are inside of it.</b>
k, thanks.
Nor would the commander, really, for that matter.
What you could do, combined with the fog/mist/dark/whatever thing, is make it a very rocky area, and have cliffs and canyons to make the equivelent of hallways and rooms... perhaps a cave or two. As a balance issue, you'll need to of course consider climbing skulks and flying lerks.
Think about lerks as well. I can see aliens getting Sensory first on this map (under pre 1.1 rules... I have no idea how 1.1 is going to effect sensory and such) to evolve Adv. Hive Sight, go lerk, and spike the marine base from miles away without any chance of retaliation. Remember, lerks have hitscan weapons, and almost perfect accuracyeven at long range. As do fades. And Adv. Hive Sight can see through mist/fog/whatever. And even if they don't go for that, there's always parasite... skulks tag the marine base, and lerks/fades... even gorges can still take out the marines from really far away.
And we all know that if you remove fog altogether, that the marines can just shoot the hive right from the get go. Skilled players will learn the hive locations anyway and kill the hives blind.
Open is not good. Barriers NEED to be in place.
I like the idea of having to weld certain areas to build in others though... but consider that a weld only works once. So if you weld the thing, and the aliens hit the switch, you can't REweld it. You could make the weld just allow you to use the switch though. That'd work.
Also... consider theming. We need to see industrial high tech stuff... to have it FEEL like NS. Tight areas, limited visibility, lots of cover (corners mostly)... these are elements that NS is balanced for.
Use of the fog entity is discouraged in any situation where it could affect gameplay because of the reasons mentioned above, namely, that it only works under opengl, and a player must be inside it to see the effect. The 'fog' seen in ns_bast (and ns_hera) is done with carefully scaled up sprites.
The marine base will be in an outpost - in a depression, with curved canyons bending away from it. The spawn is inside the outpost with walls, meaning that turrets can't really attack enemies outside the base, and aliens can't shoot into the base, only the tops of the walls where marines can stand..
Think back to the Starship Troopers compound - its gonna be like that, with plenty of boulders and soforth for skulks to hide behind on their advance to the compound...
And two of the hives are in caves, the other is going to be around a corner, so marines cannot shoot it from a long way away..
And about the building idea, i was thinking just button then? But that would mean a skulk could run in past turrets and just push the button, i don't want that.... maybe have the Transponder only turn on/off when two members of the tema press it at once.. i know that can be done.
Bummer about the fog, looks like its gonna be daytime.. oh well, don't worry the map will still have alot of high-tech stuff, just a bit of outdoor canyons for fun <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Use of the fog entity is discouraged in any situation where it could affect gameplay because of the reasons mentioned above, namely, that it only works under opengl, and a player must be inside it to see the effect. The 'fog' seen in ns_bast (and ns_hera) is done with carefully scaled up sprites. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Relic25:</b> Are the NS Team going to make fog with the particle system visible from the outside?