Commander Elections.
Lemming Jesus
Join Date: 2010-04-13 Member: 71385Members
Join Date: 2010-04-13 Member: 71385Members
Comments
Start with no-on opted in. If a player is willing to comm, they can opt-in to the voting. Player can then vote in the comm.
This would happen during a pre-round phase just before a game commences (i.e. players on both team).
That being said, I don't see the point. It's a short enough distance for people to just jump in (unlike Empires), and having a voting system doesn't help a whole bunch (if no one wants to comm... WHAT NOW????) and it adds more lag time that you're not killing stuff. Perhaps a quick 15second pre-match period to quickly shout stuff over the mics, but really that's all you need.
You kinda need to give players time to load on a map change anyway... Even Team Fortress 2 does this, and their wait is super long at around 25 seconds. I can't even think of a team game that doesn't. If nobody opts in to be elected, then it's the same as if there wasn't an election at all. There's no downside. People who want to com can run in the election, and the people who don't or suck never get to rush for the com chair. People already spend time figuring out who's going to com and I've seen many games in NS where everyone assumes someone else is going to do it. The point isn't to save time running two feet to the chair, it's to get rid of confusion. I've also been in games where people don't want someone to com, and it's very hard (As it should be) to get someone out just because they spawned closer. You played Empires and you know the system works. I don't know how people can argue against a feature that only adds to the game, but I guess they find a way.
Of course this method would probably mean that very few new commanders would ever be picked and allowed to play commander, but still it's a pretty solid approach. And of course the one being picked by the vote could get a pop-up option "You been opted as (insert map name) new commander, do you accept this command?" and of course then he could either accept or decline, promoting the next guy in the voting line-up instead.
This would mean that the commander would spawn in the command center directly, and all of this voting, accepting command etc. would take place before the game begins eg. while everyone remains frozen waiting for most players to join the server after a map change part that NS1 allready did to some extent.
The thing is that Empires deals with the round start differently than NS, and so the commander voting is all part of a different round start system.
In Empires you're given a full minute to prepare, which involves joining team, selecting your class loadout, joining squads, selecting a spawn location, AND voting in a commander.
In NS2, I think the only one will be commander voting and maybe joining squads (the NS2 squad system is still vague and something something auto creates or whatnot). So, really the period required can be shortened. If it's just for commander voting, it might seem a slight hassle.
Also, Empires is designed for up to 20v20 and beyond, which makes the mad rush for the command seat way more hectic.
So, yes, it could work. But just because Empires uses it doesn't make it perfect.
As far as waiting for players to join via a timer, I thought NS1 did something similar already. Anyhow, it would be a good thing to have due to varying map load times. Make new thread!
I never used to play comm in NS1, and I played for a long while. The issue for me was understanding. What goes where, how and when. I never wanted to touch such an important role online when it can define the outcome of the game.
The system just needs to be intuitive, and it wouldn't hurt to have a thorough tutorial.
i think the best course of action is to have a commander-bot that just follows a pre-determined set of rules for the map in question until someone jumps in.
Yeah, I played BF2, but I'm not sure that this system, while excellent for BF2, works as well in NS2.
For one thing, correct me I'm just a noob, but it didn't feel like the Commander was as important of a position in BF2. It was nice to have one, and definitely a great way to organize movement, but I'm not 100% sure it applies to the NS2 Commander which is much more high impact.
Still, it's one of the better systems.
Basically, NS2 needs this:
<ul><li>Opt-in to be a candidate of the voting.</li><li>Easy, clear, prominent way to vote.</li><li>Extra time before a round starts for everyone to organize and join ("wait to join" period).</li><li>Extra time after the "wait for join" period to vote for commanders (30 seconds).</li></ul>
It's quite simple:
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->1<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->. Add two more doorways to the ready rooms "Marine Commander" and "Kharaa Commander" or "Kharaa Hivemind"
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->2<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->. If two or more people enter this doorway a voting is triggered for everyone on the team concerned.
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->3<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->. After the voting is concluded everyone who did not win the vote gets demoted within the same team or moved to the other if balancing requires it.
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->4<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->. The game start countdown begins and the one that who won the vote eg the Commander will spawn directly within the CC and triggers the enveloping animation initiating the command center and the commander will get his commander overlay as soon as the match begins.
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->5<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->. Conquest of the map may begin :D
QFT
This is the only real solution, if there is no commander, an AI has to replace him.
The AI would just follow the same steps every time to avoid it from becoming too complex and too hard to develop.
(Predetermined Buildorder, amount of turrets covering the base etc.)
On topic, I always felt the problem with NS was that nobody wanted anyone else to be Commander, rather than nobody wanted to be Commander themselves. At least in my experience, people seemed to want to stand around yelling "Someone be Commander" more than they wanted to see someone in the chair.
Me personally, the Commanders role is the first thing I go for in NS, BF, anything.
It's quite simple:
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->1<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->. Add two more doorways to the ready rooms "Marine Commander" and "Kharaa Commander" or "Kharaa Hivemind"
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->2<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->. If two or more people enter this doorway a voting is triggered for everyone on the team concerned.
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->3<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->. After the voting is concluded everyone who did not win the vote gets demoted within the same team or moved to the other if balancing requires it.
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->4<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->. The game start countdown begins and the one that who won the vote eg the Commander will spawn directly within the CC and triggers the enveloping animation initiating the command center and the commander will get his commander overlay as soon as the match begins.
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->5<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->. Conquest of the map may begin :D<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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