Question About 1.1: Will Blink Be Changed?
Immacolata
Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2140Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
<div class="IPBDescription">Great ability that suffers</div> I wonder if blink ajdustment is on the slate for 1.1? Currently the blink is a fickle friend, depositing me inside objects when I am unlucky, or just not working when I desperately need it, since the mechanics behind the skills seems to dislike low ceiling areas a lot.
Comments
look up at the ceiling of your destination. for some reason blink almost always works when looking upward. Just only try on a flat ceiling, nothing w/ edges or you may get stuck. The viaduct is a great place to practice this.
a little science on blink, It ONLY works if the fade can 'move' there, (as in fly if there was no gravity, or in other words, move in a straight line to the point) without hitting anything, to prevent you from blinking into little holes in the wall etc.
crouching helps, by 'shrinking' the fade in essence. also aiming up helps because you are muc less likely to have your 'feet drag on the ground'.
/On-topic
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If blink being unreliable is counted as a bug then I guess thats a yes.
The way blink works - you have to be able to move there, as has been said. As far as the engine is concerned, that means your *hull box* has to be able to move there - the Fade hull is 32x32x72, the "standing marine" hull.
Blink calculates from the center of your hull, as well - when you're aiming, aim for where you want your *chest* to end up. That's why aiming downward frequently doesn't work - your feet instantly hit the floor, and you go no where.
Jumping moves your feet away from the floor, which helps. Crouching means the blink calculation uses the "crouched marine" hull, which is much smaller than the standing marine hull, and so you're less likely to run into something.
Getting stuck in geometry - Blink doesn't work well with entities. Entities include doors, gratings & other transparencies, and usually any sort of complex detail (especially pipes and such), which are often made into func_walls. Aim for actual walls and ceilings, and stay away from complex architecture both at your destination and en route.
//Blink (hold button to aim and then release to blink, automatically switches back to main attack)
alias shortwait "wait;wait;wait;wait"
alias +qblink "slot3"
alias -qblink "+jump; +duck; shortwait; +attack; wait; -jump; -duck; -attack; slot1"
bind ALT +qblink
The only problems I have with blink are blinking from a low ceiling area (never works for me) and blinking into structures/walls (happens at least once a game). I really hope they will fix the 2nd problem. After saving up (soon to be 54 rp's!) for your first fade evolve, it really sucks to have to suicide if you get suck in a structure <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
Actually viaduct is a great place to get blink to work, it's the worst place to practice it since problems with blinking are low ceilings, small unevennesses in the ground or at the walls etc.
As far as blink is concerned there is a much bigger problem with it. The blink animation. It is identical to the slash animation and for some reason sometimes when using acid rocket and having slash as the last used weapon, hitiing the quick inventory key brings up blink instead of slash, I only notice the diff when the marine doesnt die from 10 slashes or I notice that its not making that fleshy crunching sound as it hits, the only way to get last inv to give us slash again is to reselct it and then re select acid rocket. I'll try and record a demo of it sometime and post it.
Just be careful where you aim. Don't aim at chambers, marine structures, lifts and some doors and you'll be fine.
There's nothing better than blinking up somewhere when the other fades use the lift <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Personally, I would prefer it if the developers would just allow you to bind a key to "blink" to save me the trouble of writing a script to do it. But until that happens, I'll continue to enjoy my script <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
As for blinking itself; as coil said, you should avoid complex architecture and low ceilings such as those found in the folowing maps: Bast, Nothing, Nancy, Caged, and Eclipse. To a lesser extent, Hera and Tanith should be avoided as well.
Now, these maps aren't made entirely of low ceilings and pipes jutting out into nowhere just to mess up blink attempts, but for best results it is better to use blinking on more open maps... like de_dust, or 2fort4. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Also, on maps where there's enough room to warrant it, a fade can blink to a high-up structure, and then jump down on marines, and blink to where he wants to land mid-fall to take no damage from the fall.
lol...that depends, do you actually want it to WORK? <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Have the game perform a Transform function on the player that moves them in the direction they are facing by one, maybe two meters. There will be no collision checks for this.
<b>Pros</b>
- Blink through doors, elevators and sealed vents.
- If you get 'stuck' somewhere, blinking again in the air will teleport you out of the object.
- You can more easilly escape being in close quarters with a marine by blinking behind him, even if he's in front of you.
<b>Cons</b>
- Aliens can now blink outside through walls.
- MAY allow Fades to blink through the map and fall out.
- Could cause collision problems with blinking and there being an object a meter in front of you.
While a new function could solve the map problems (If the fade is present in the function, it'll send him right back where he came from), the collision errors will be hard to fix...
As the admin_slap command goes for AdminMod, it would be quite useful to rework blink to act as if the Fade is being "slapped" across the room, he still reaches his destination ALMOST instantaneously, and he will never be stuck inside a building. Well...yeah, why not do that?
As a matter of fact, Fades COULD originally Blink through walls like this. During beta testing, it was determined to be too unbalancing. What I would LIKE to see is the Fade's hull box get reshaped much smaller just before blinking, although I'm not absolutely sure if there would be possible with the engine limitations.
-Ryan!
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
-- Martin Luther King Jr.
Tanith... TANITH?
If there's one place that h8's me, it's outside marine spawn on Tanith. It ALWAYS snags me on that stupid gangway in the outside area. Tanith is an EVIL map to blink too much on, because the main place I want to blink is there.
And I blink, a LOT. I've only stopped lately because I always seem to get stuck immediately after evolving to Fade for first time, thus meaning best part of 15 minutes whilst I build up another 44/54 rez to build (at 1 rez per tick, due to everyone else having done it too)
/me runs off to sulk some more about Tanith, and how it hates me.
Have the game perform a Transform function on the player that moves them in the direction they are facing by one, maybe two meters. There will be no collision checks for this.
<b>Pros</b>
- Blink through doors, elevators and sealed vents.
- If you get 'stuck' somewhere, blinking again in the air will teleport you out of the object.
- You can more easilly escape being in close quarters with a marine by blinking behind him, even if he's in front of you.
<b>Cons</b>
- Aliens can now blink outside through walls.
- MAY allow Fades to blink through the map and fall out.
- Could cause collision problems with blinking and there being an object a meter in front of you.
While a new function could solve the map problems (If the fade is present in the function, it'll send him right back where he came from), the collision errors will be hard to fix...<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
good ideas, that sounds like it would be cool
So, Celerity it is then, as energy isn't an issue. I suppose I could worry about the energy for Blink, but I tend to pull off large blinks, irregularily, rather than several short ones, so it tends to have recharged by the next time I need it.
Maybe I just need more practice. <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='confused.gif'><!--endemo-->