Rail Gun

[nedd3h]

correct, etpro client cannot connect to a fritzbot server

v2.60b et clients can connect to v2.60 and v2.60b fritzbot servers (if fritzbot mod installed)
edit: thought i was in a dif thread lol - v2.60b info good to know anyway

[420Blunt]

Hi,

I have created playable waypoints for railgun and railgun_eu. The difference between the two waypoints isn't much. The railgun_eu version has the tower spawns for axis and the command post spawns for both teams, but the bots are only set up to spawn at the tower.

I'm posting it to get some thoughts and suggestions while I continue working on it.

You can get the railgun_eu map here.

[TomTom]

Yah the challenges are so tempting aren't they? Getting inside the cab might be more challenging with the larger trigger area, And it will be interesting to see what transpires when both team movement triggers are firing away at the same time (poor little Thomas ). But the final question remains will the bot focus enough on the cab when they don't see it as a vehicle, I can't wait to find out...

Congrats 420Blunt, it is certainly good enough for government work, though I suspect without a human player the Axis won't get the ammo delivered often. The obvious exploit of riding in uniform inside the cab (the bots AI won't extend to "why is the train going in the wrong direction") is counter balanced by the need to clear the other team away from the tug to start moving again (poor little Thomas). I think this will be best played with one-two humans per team with axis having the equal or larger number.

Some suggestions:
-The current team size works well enough getting out of the axis cabin spawn but that could change. So I suggest you take a look at this idea I got from Omnibot. I would also suggest pathing and routing a few bots to go around the back in case of a Human doing the classic block-spawn kill strategy (of course the block won't work as well now).

- Even out of uniform I can lie down in the cab at length and watch the other team go by. Not certain what to do but a zig-zag path might make them turn enough to see me (hopefully they are not seeing me through the model and wasting bullets). At the same time I would love a better focus on raising the track switch when the tug is next to it. Making mixed spawns (part CP spawn) might help.

- Axis spawn mg could be given a type 1 mg action jic. A point to ponder is should the mg beside the CP be self repairing and when. or how fast

- fall damage coming down from the tower can be minimized by directing the bots taking nodes 380-> 17 to take a slightly different path so as to hit the switch signal pylon. This might be useful say in a later rev., if there were any camps on the tower (nudge nudge).

- going over the railgun could probably be handled by Allied bots (i.e. using the railing to get up) but won't be needed unless axis get better at getting to the controls.

- the tug trigger is a little big for my taste, but I would leave it be till you are otherwise done as it will greatly affect bot performance.

- So far I have not seen bots trapped between the trestles near the axis spawn mg, a problem I have generally had waypointing this map with a couple of bot mods.

Oh and one of the fake entities must have as origin the wall of the axis cabin cause a hint is appearing at -1460 4820 370 ( 178 ). It disappears after the tug moves (helper_ent_obj2 maybe)?
- - -
Bot only balance is acceptable in testing IF you give Axis a man(bot) advantage (wins are 12:7 Allies:Axis on teams of 7 plus one extra bot for axis). Better than I anticipated.

A few things of note:

Action 30 the Axis mg camp at the CP was being manned when the ammo was delivered to the gun and the CP was in Allied hands. was never fired offhand cause the only bots going down the hill at that point went over the track switch mg nest and were not seen.

Allied engr bots building the CP when the mg was manned would attack the Axis bot manning the mg. However from their position the bullets were obscured by the handrail I guess. Funny really cause the Axis bot (medium skill) totally ignored the Allied bot until it got knifed in the back when the engr. ran out of all bullets. Your action radius is already at maximum size at the CP, maybe it should go off center? (if only the bot would stand and fire...)

Two suggestions at the gun controls. Put a medic classed camp looking out from the controls at the end of the match when axis need to rebuild them. And when the controls are built either path it so the engineer should enter the controls before descending or add an engr camp at the built controls to draw them in. Hopefully that might bring even bot teams nearer to balance.

You could also adjust the nodes near the heath and ammo cabinets near the CP so that some of the bots passing brush them, otherwise the humans will gorge themselves there...

[nedd3h]

thanks for this!

will give it a run with a few this week

[TomTom]

One exploit of sorts to watch for; A human playing Allied medic or field-op can crouch on the tug engine's right side and keep the tug and ammo in the depot yard for long periods of time and see little to no fighting. A couple of suggestions: 1) Consider adding an aircan action ( To get an axis field-op to toss an aircan over the tug to force out the hiding human, say when the allies have the depot) 2. When the axis have the depot, route 25-50% of the bots to go around the tug on the right side. 3. Maybe roam an axis class to the bridge top and turn them to see the right side of the tug (when the tug is in the sector with the ammo).

[TomTom]

As 420Blunt is not working on ET these days I have created a branch of his railgun waypoints so they can be added to the next waypoint pack. Of my previous observations I have mainly addressed a couple of team balance issues and making it harder for an Allied human player to hold the tug at the depot yard (flag) by hiding on the far side of the tug.

My Geocities link for the waypoints is here while it lasts.

BTW IMO I feel this map is important enough for inclusion in a waypoint pak that its current balance 3:1 Allies:Axis will be good enough.

[nedd3h]

Thanks!

perfect timing, I've come to the site to make sure I have all of the latest files for the maps I run on my test server


cheers
nedd

[nedd3h]

This pack is great! I just gave it few rounds with no issues that I could see. If another update is released, have a look at the default etpro mapscript for railgin... it has an exploit fix to do with the watertank. I have no idea how prevalent it is, just thought it may be worth adding to a futre update.

cheers
nedd