jetpack changes

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Paradox
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Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:02 pm UTC

Re: jetpack changes

Post by Paradox »

On SST, we used to have a jetpack fuel mod.

There were a number of server cvars that let the server owners set properties of the jetpack, such as total fuel, fuel regen rate, fuel consumption rate, cooldown time, etc. Basically, when you started to run out of fuel, a CP would say "Fuel dangerously low! Land now!" If you didn't, the jetpack would cut out, and you would plummet. Cool down time prevented people from toggling the jetpack down a corridor. When you didn't use the jetpack for 5 seconds or so (i think this was configurable too), it would start to regen fuel, at the rate set on the server.

No one really complained that it ruined gameplay, and we kept it on there till the server died, if i recall properly

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ViruS
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Re: jetpack changes

Post by ViruS »

Whats SST? I don't remember such a name.
I did remember this though, drazilox had it on the [W]onderland server to stop jet campers on maps like treecannon.
Also, this jetpack doesn't really make you fall completely, the funny thing is that you can spam 'itemtoggle jetpack' to slowly descend, just like when the rc is down.

Dracone
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Re: jetpack changes

Post by Dracone »

Ishq wrote:

There was a patch for this: Mobile jetpack mod in GPP. For me, this destroys the two main useful uses for a jetpack: Building and escaping basilisks. Perhaps something along the lines of JOURNEYMAN'S jetpack fuel would be good, but it can only be restored at an armoury/RC/repeater.

Bolded the two real functions that I ever saw for jetpacks as a player from the old days. Any other times it was used practically, it was utilized as an annoying strategy by clans in scrims or random in public games (exception: Anjo Malvado).

I would expect that to use the jetpack for the latter would be even more annoying than before, given the game's current state. While keeping in mind that essentially everything is still subject to change, the way a good base is built right now means that, generally, aliens will have far less actual mobility in human base areas, because the spacing of the structures hurts the ability of aliens to make quick movements over greater distances. While it's easier to hop around the turrets now with their spin-up timers, you'll put yourself in far more vulnerable positions going after jetpacks than you did before.

In 1.1, jet campers in scrims would hover just outside their base, and it actually wasn't too hard to kill them, so it really wasn't done very frequently, and for them to hover inside their base did no more good than not using jetpacks at all, unless their base was in a wide open spot (like if you built one outside on Karith), which would be stupid anyways, for obvious reasons.

In GPP/current Unv, you've got goon at AS2 and tight bases being obsolete. The new, spaced out bases of the aforementioned versions/projects would have failed in 1.1, as proper angling would almost always allow you to get at turrets such that not enough of them would be shooting at you to deal significant damage. But now they work. So base jet campers can hover over their extended turrets in ways that allow them to get the drop on enemies that would attack said rets, as the aliens aren't going to have as much space to do much in groups. And if the aliens attack the jet campers, they can easily get caught up in the enemy base.

Whether or not any of the above is actually problematic remains to be seen. So far as GPP has gone, no clans that were even close to evenly matched have competed and had such an event happen. Unvanquished isn't anywhere in that realm yet, and as far as public games go, no such communication on human teams exists for longer than a minute. I'm just putting this out there for reference.

As a final note, there's also the silly matter of people who jetpack along the ceilings of maps, just inside the reach of goons. I don't think anything has shown this to really be a problem, so the only real reason I can see for altering it is just how stupid it looks. For cases where it gets ridiculous, like if only advanced goons can reach said jetpacker, I'll blame the mapper. If there's a wide open location where only one alien can reach the ceiling, and only in the most direct way (as in no alternative routes that bring you closer to the ceiling), that's a clear flaw in the mapping in my opinion.

I understand that this whole thing is pretty minor; the jetpack has never been, and, if kept the same, likely still would not be in need of changes, although it could use them in terms of bringing about a more meaningful existence. I just figured if the topic was being brought up, effort might as well be put into discussing it.

jr2
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Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2012 3:32 pm UTC

Re: jetpack changes

Post by jr2 »

Whatever you do with the jetpack, just please make the sound bearable! I remember I used some mod ... I want to say KX66 but that's not it, one of the changes was it reduced the jetpack down from a Hoover scream to something you could hear yourself think with.

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