Phase gate priority system
CommunistWithAGun
Local Propaganda Guy Join Date: 2003-04-30 Member: 15953Members
Local Propaganda Guy Join Date: 2003-04-30 Member: 15953Members
Comments
For exemplo, when you step on the phase gate opens a window:
Press:
1 - Repair Room
2 - Pilot Drill
3 - Cave
etc...
<!--quoteo(post=2066460:date=Jan 25 2013, 12:27 PM:name=Sgt. Peppers)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Sgt. Peppers @ Jan 25 2013, 12:27 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2066460"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I have another ideia, create a menu that asks witch phase gate you wanna go.
For exemplo, when you step on the phase gate opens a window:
Press:
1 - Repair Room
2 - Pilot Drill
3 - Cave
etc...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't think another menu is the answer. When the comm is shouting at everyone to go through the phase, it's hard enough to get people to take the phase once, making it more complicated by tossing in another menu isn't the best idea.
That being said, if there was a menu for the comm to set priority to a certain gate over another, that could be interesting. So the comm could re-order the phase sequence at will if he desires. Perhaps with a cooldown and a time taken to re-order them, say 3-5 seconds re-order time and 30 second cooldown.
What if I don't want to instadie by stepping into obviously lost phasgate and be useful somewhere else?
- You can open your minimap and select your preferred PG destination from the available ones
- No matter which PG you enter, you always go to your preferred PG destination (if still valid)
- If its not valid, it either defaults to the standard rotation or goes to the comms designated PG
- You can open your minimap and select your preferred PG destination from the available ones
- No matter which PG you enter, you always go to your preferred PG destination (if still valid)
- If its not valid, it either defaults to the standard rotation or goes to the comms designated PG<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That's an idea. Eliminates the need for a separate menu and is quick and clean.
Something else to consider: The currently mostly useless "Ping Map" option. What if either players or the comm could use this to control PG flow?
For instance, If a player pings a room with a phase gate, the next one player to phase through a gate automatically goes there, unless they are phasing from there. There's already a cool down on the ping option so it will cut back on abuse/spamming. And something like this would allow players to directly aid in the flow of reinforcements. Say, someone has just set up a phase in a new base and wants backup stat. They ping their room and the next person to phase goes right there. Voila, reinforcements.
And/or:
If a commander pings the map in a room with a phase gate, either the next <number> of phases or all phases within the next 30 seconds will go there, unless coming from there.
So like if a ninja gate is set up, rather than having to beacon, then trust everyone to file through the phase gate chain to get to the right one, comm would simply ping the ninja phase room and say, "Take the nearest phase gate."
Have a threshhold of 10% life. otherwise there's a slim chance of saving it, and solider, you're going through that portal, because even though you may die, your corpse will provide enough distraction to possibly save it. Im ok with that.
(For phase gates)
It is not likely to function with a door PG model. But the old one from NS1 would do the trick.
You can enhance with the names of location around/on the phase gate.
Simple, faster than menu, doable with current engine.
let the comm change it on the fly if he needs but, in all reality the phasegates at most are like 4-5 I dont think ive seen six, and phasing through only take a second, is it that important.
but i think a numbering idea might be best or like the comm can click on one and right click on the other like a waypoint system and that determines what gate goes where
For exemplo, when you step on the phase gate opens a window:
Press:
1 - Repair Room
2 - Pilot Drill
3 - Cave
etc...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think that is the best idea here. Phasing to the lowest health phase gate or comm changing the phase gate channel is too complicated.
For this idea, all you have to do is stand on the phase gate and press a number. Next to those numbers will be the names of their destination. Number of phase gates however is limited to 10, but I doubt the marines will have 10 phase gates anyway.
Commanders should be punished for having too many phase gates. Marines should be aware enough to know the gate order and what is necessary to traverse from Point A to Point D. Any slow down from a long gate order or lack of planning from properly anticipating the time is the fault of the team and/or commander. Phase gate placement and use is a strategic part of the game. Dumbing that down for people who don't realize that aspect is asinine.
Finally, mid-late game where Marines are doing OK to good, a commander with 3 well placed Phase Gates can effectively guard every RT he has with 1-2 marines.
'Selectable' phase gates has the potential to nerf any and all pressure aliens exert on the Marine back lines, increasing the already existing problem of Marine turtling and severely narrowing the mid-late game for Aliens to "rush a base, hopefully win the engagement." as they can no longer constantly divert serious attention by consistently hitting RTs before Marines can respond.
I don't think another menu is the answer. When the comm is shouting at everyone to go through the phase, it's hard enough to get people to take the phase once, making it more complicated by tossing in another menu isn't the best idea.
That being said, if there was a menu for the comm to set priority to a certain gate over another, that could be interesting. So the comm could re-order the phase sequence at will if he desires. Perhaps with a cooldown and a time taken to re-order them, say 3-5 seconds re-order time and 30 second cooldown.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Or at minimum click on a gate and make it the "priority gate" so mariens at any other gates will go there first, then you don't need a menu.
Commanders should be punished for having too many phase gates.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I tend to agree with all of this. Despite having an <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=126818" target="_blank">idea</a> a few weeks ago that was different. I've been in a few games where rines have had too many gates and really the answer is to reduce the number to just keep the most important ones.
Marines being able to chose their destination would be a huge buff. It would need to be balanced with say a ridiculous cool down on phase cool downs between marines. Either way, I think current system is more balanced.
they are all good usually too.
my favourite one is that the phase gate particle effect field thingy gets divided into sections as more phase gates get built, and when you walk through a phase gate you teleport to which ever section your crosshair was aiming at the time of walking through. (i can't remember who came up with this idea, but its great!)
There should be no punishment for commanders in lieu of some imagined sweet-spot number of phase gates. The cycling mechanic, while having an effect on gameplay (as all things in game actually do), is not a balancing feature, and never was, it simply is how phase gates were implemented, and because they have not been revisited by the devs since there are more pressing issues; like perfomance, game bugs, balancing, and new features.
As for 3 phase gates being used to guard a map of extractors? Sure, technically I could make the same argument with 2 pgs since you have no tangible reasoning for the statement. Marine map response is purely a distance mechanic. Think of it in that fashion. Distance = travel time, greater distances require more time, 3 pgs would have a lower average response time for marines to save extractors than 2 pgs, but less than 4. Is 3 the magic number? Given maps have different sizes, games have different flows between competitive and the incredible variety of public play, different play styles and tactics? You see where I am going with this.
Also, based on map pressure, and phase gate build order (and other reasons I have not considered), every game will have a luck factor based on the cycling amounts marines have to go through for that round (on average). For example, in a game with 3 phase gates, if throughout the game the majority of team phasing used only one phase transfer instead of two, the team's response over all would be faster than in a game that just so happened to have an average requiring 2 phase gate jumps (now factor in phase fails, games with more than 3 phase gates, and you start to see your team phasing less as a group, and more individually, further weakening a response, and increasing time required). A mechanic for phasegate control would eliminate this irregularity, and allow the game to be played more as the players intend with less random variance.
Anyways, just the viewpoints of someone who's played the game quite a bit.
But this is also not a "fix" because there's currently nothing really broken about it either. And people aren't complaining about it much.
Thus, I don't think its high priority to address it and this entire issue is largely irrelevant.