Hey folks, how's everyone's summer been going?
I gave this edit an offline test on my laptop a couple o' days ago but I didn't want to make any comments about it here until I'd try it in an online setting with other folks first and see how my initial suspicions fared compared to what I'd actually see happening. Since I got that chance tonight, here's my take on the SP2 edit:
As far as I can tell from this thread and my own observations, there were only 2 points in the editing list/agenda of this map from the previous version; the first one was the removal of that stupid, distant Playerstart at one of the green middle floating island's nodes, which I completely applaud and approve of ('bout damn time someone did that as well; onward to the fixing of the ceiling-looking one at one of Tyrant's bases now too?) and the other point was the removal of most heavy-handed hitscan vecs from the bases - presumably because that's what's been holding the map back in the editor's mind. Thing is though, just as I originally expected beforehand and as I witnessed online myself, this only led to the various already overpowered custom flyers buzzing all over the place unchecked and becoming that much more dominant because of it. Way I see it, the placement of the Hellhounds and Railtanks at the bases by the previous editor were an attempt to solve that problem; I'd agree that it was an imperfect attempt that resulted in some predictably annoying playstyles (hi, Rotten ^^), but at least it had
some effect toward its intended direction. By disregarding the problem through keeping all the strong birds in the map and removing the equally strong AA options, you'd naturally expect things to slide to a situation where late-game defense against the constant stream of flyers trying to raid your base is practically infeasible and, true enough, that's what happened. I mean, wtf are those 2 tanks gonna do to help when you're being swarmed from all 3 directions? Their minigun turrets are no match for that kinda winged baserape and then the only purpose the covered cores are left to serve is to prolong the agony by a couple of more enemy respawns before the match is over.
Just so I don't get misunderstood here, btw, lemme just say that I both mean no offense to SpaceEngy for his trying to help the server's content stay fresh through these editing efforts with my critique here and that I also share his frustration with one-hit wonder vecs of any kind as that's always one sure telltale sign of bad design or balancing; you can always bet that as much fun as they are for the user, they're equally annoying to the victim who had no way to defend against it. More to the point, IMO, Gorzakk's Hellhound dealing 300hp of dmg per max charged shot is, and always has been, a bizarre, ridiculous choice and quite frankly I always wondered how regulars ever came to accept such an imbalance without question or challenge; the situation's pretty similar with the Railgun tank's ray, although at least in that one's case it's been a small comfort having that vec featured mostly in strong flyer or no flyer maps (Slated has been the exception) and also knowing that Wormbo did put some coding effort into coming up with an original gameplay mechanic by way of the persistent beam that passes through vecs, peds n' such without stopping after the first impact as it makes players think about that too while using the tank. Still, I think most sensible, seasoned ONS players would agree that such high dmg per shot settings in any vec only worsen gameplay instead of adding to it and are the wrong way to deal with other overpowered vecs. Arms races always end up hurting those that just can't keep up, after all, and in this case it's all of the UT retail arsenal (vecs and ped weaps) that gradually becomes the lower tier. If we're looking to make SlatedWorld a more sensible battleground, I think the better choice would be to tone down or make more scarce both the stronger airforce as well as the AA vec options instead of just diagnosing half the problems and prescribing lopsided treatments - more numerous retail vecs would help towards that goal.
As a last observation, since the map's already under the knife, so to speak, and we're examining its performance, I believe the central isle has always been the original creator's biggest failure by way of it turning into such a missed opportunity. I mean,
everyone's come to know this map as a flyer-based affair exactly because ground vecs have very few (and limited) roles to play from one side of the map to the other, not to mention the much longer times it takes for them to get anywhere making it pretty much a no-fun, pointless venture to try taking anything with wheels across the bridges to the other side. Thing is though, the main island would be an ideal place for land-based combat if only the ridges were wider, featured more interesting/challenging terrain and we had armoured vecs spawning at the 2 nodes there instead of more OP flyers and benders. The central volcano could equally receive some attention to become a point of interest/conflict instead of a location almost nobody bothers to visit now even though it looks cool n' all (I wonder, do most ppl even know about the special pickups that spawn there?). If all of that were to be added, I'm sure the map would provide much more varied combat and additional playstyle options for peds and tank lovers and it'd quickly shed its bad flyer-only rep and start providing us with some epic fights for the control of the middle island. Finally healers, tank drivers and turret support folks would have just as much a vital role in victories as the glory that hotshot pilots have hogged for themselves all this time from up above. Just a thought there
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Anyway, those are just my personal thoughts and obviously, as heinz has suggested, it's all about what the community's preferences are that drive the map roster version changes. If more ppl decide this edit does the job best, that's what we'll keep playing on; if not, we'll find out what direction they wanna go. Let's see what other folks have to say and find out.
is already removed. (I can fix the ceiling-looking spawns on the Tyrant too - but this is a theme for another thread).
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