Different Gameplay Modes

[Rrralphster]

First post

First post

I read about ideas for a convoy/escort game mode. Great! Allways wanted it for CoD:UO.

Picture this:

Team A has to drive a vehicle or a number of vehicles(could be anything from a tank to a transport) from start to finish but the vehicle(s) has/have to pass one or a set number of Check Points (the Convoy should have a choice of routes but should not be unlimited or absolutely free because that would make the job of the Ambushers very very difficult).

Team B is assigned to Ambush at one of those Check Points or in the area of the Check Points.

If there was only one route or one Check Point/choke point things would get predictable and boring and the Convoy team wouldn't have a chance (theoretically).

Several Check Points would split the Ambushers so the Convoy doesn't necessarily get the whole Ambushing force on them at once.

Ambushers have the opportunity to reorganise after someone spots them
and the Convoy team has the opportunity to create diversions at the other Check Points to fool the opposition.

I also picture the Ambushers to be able to eliminate routes by destroying a bridge for instance or to be able to create a blockade.

Here is an example map (I know it's not very good, but it helps the imagination, I hope)

To the left is the "start" and on the right there is the "finish".
Pink flags represent Check Points. Red blobs are buildings. Blue is water ofcourse

This would probably require specifically designed maps but with a growing community and a lot of enthousiastic mappers and modders this could be a success.

P.S. I played in a community where roundbased games (1 life/round) are very popular (Search & Destroy, Retrieval). I allways liked that kind of gameplay because you get more out of suppression situations (with absolute respawning or too many lives per round people will tend to "Rambo" and don't care about dying). This would also require specially designed maps with a roundtime limit so people who die don't have to wait too long. Spectating teammembers when you run out of lives or when you die in a roundbased game should be introduced so people don't get bored to quickly.
This last bit obviously has no connection with my idea of a convoy game. Just a remark about roundbased or very limited respawning game modes.

 

[Stiler]

Yes, that's a good idea .

love the multiple rotue/blocking, etc idea. That'd add some very much needed variety imo.

 

[Scoobin]

Love your idea Rrralphster. Playing actual missions with very specific goals. Kind of like Brothers In Arms but more depth and team play. Then you'd get some serious teamwork too.

 

[aar88]

Cool idea Rrralphster, this reminds me a bit of RTCW: Enemy Territory based maps (and user-made ones). Do you have any more ideas of new game modes?

Edit: One map I would like if you must transport a big f***in "railgun" (like in Enemy Territory), then the other team must slowdown/stop the transport if it escapes before the time runs out.

Railgun named Dora:
http://www.aopt91.dsl.pipex.com/railgun/images/Railguns/Dora/GUN04.JPG

But the thing is, I dont know if this ever happened in the eastern front or WWII at all :S.

 

[Rrralphster]

The convoy idea was mentioned in this thread I just tried to give it some shape.
I do have a couple of ideas, they are not entirely original, so no need to congratulate or praise me

What about a kind of Capture the flag but instead of a flag for each team one NPC (some scientist or maybe a downed pilot) spawns at a random position on the map. Probably somewhere in the middle of the map.
Both teams have the same objective. Find the NPC and get him to your extraction point. Searching the scientist should be part of the game. I don't like radars which show you the objective. In this case the NPC. In case of a downed pilot you can actually crash a plane for everyone to see so people have "some" indication of where the target is but not exactly.
To make things a bit harder then it sounds and to stop griefers from killing the NPC and screwing up the game I would suggest that the team that kills the NPC should lose the round or give the other team a score (this doesn't completely stop griefers so more safetycatches should be made up).
The NPC should be a bot if possible. Also to stop griefers from throwing themselves into the line of fire and screwing up the game. Bots will probably get themselves killed on a regular basis as long as it's not deliberate.

Alternatively you can change the NPC for an experimental vehicle (I say experimental because that would add a bit of "story" to the game mode).
The team that get's the vehicle first are the defenders, they have to keep it in one piece AND get it to safety.
The objective of the team without the experimental vehicle is to stop the vehicle from getting away into enemy hands.
Destroying the vehicle would be optional for 1/2 score or something like that.

Stay tuned...

 

[Scoobin]

Yay for the scientist.

EDIT: Man that gun is huge!!! That would make for an awesome game, hi-jacking the train from a transport vehicle or armoured cars, and killing the crew, or using satchels on the tracks to knock it off.

 

[Shortazz]

I am sure that there will be a competition mod made, to better the gameplay for leagues.

 

[aar88]

You got some pretty original ideas Rrralphster, like the scientist or pilot, you actually have to find him/her. I agree, making objectives show up on radar, that seems too "easy" or what should I say?

Hijacking trains like "Dora" would be fun , then you can drive it and crush a gate .

Edit:

A shell from the "Schwerer Gustav" rail gun:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0b/80_cm_Gustav_shell_compared_to_T-34.jpg



Edit 2: Ok, the "Schwerer Gustav" was used against the city Sevastopol during Operation Barbarossa...yay we can have the rail gun in RO...maybe ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sevastopol_(1942)

 

[Scoobin]

London Imperial War Muesem.

LOL at your sig.

 

[Rrralphster]

You have to be carefull with trains though. They can only travel by rails which would make almost every round predictable.
You could give it more body if the defending team needs to change tracks. In other words, they need to pull a switch/push a button. The switches are the objectives for the defenders, destroying the gun would be the other team's objective naturally.

In depth info about the "Gustav/Dora" Here!

Brainstorming again for a reasonable "Gustav/Dora" gametype...

 

[koetje]

I already made a map for the Dora.
You gotta blow up the gun and some surrounding objectives.

The map is based on the real envirement it was deployed in.

http://koetje.zapto.org/ for more info (under mapping)

it was made for the mod and featured the Dora as a 1:1 model.

The Dora was transported by train into the place it was deployed and put together on the spot. So it was never droven around on the normal tracks but on special layed ones (it needed two next to eachother)

 

[VanDoo]

round based is boring.. kthx.

RO is slow paced enough. If it had rounds they could last 20 minutes. No thanks.

It's okay in quicker games, but not RO. RO was designed around reinforcement based spawning.

Having round based game would be really cool in my opinion: it would make you value your life more then your kills. In real life, Im not gonna go for a kill if I know im gonna get kill right after. My first obj is to stay alive and my second objective is to kill as many ennemy as possible. This game is all about realism, the only part that makes it least realistic is that you dont care about being killed as you are going to respawn in less then 15 sec.

I got an idea here that might be fun for everyone... just tell me what you think of it.

Lets say you have a map with three objectives, A depot, a 88, and a airfield. The allies have to capture all of them in order. Obj 1 is the depot, the obj 2 is the flak 88 and the obj 3 is the airfield. The allies spawn at theis spawn point and the axis spawn right next to obj 1 to defend it. Everyone go to defend or attack this objective because you cant capture the other obj until you get the first one. When you Die, You stay Dead. Then, the allies push the axis out of the depot and capture the depot. Then every allies spawn in the depot and the axis spawn at obj 2, the flak 88. Then it start all over again. This way, you can use the whole map to flank around, but the action would mostly happen in 1 part of the map, changing as the allies capture the controle points or the axis push them back. Now, lets say the allies leave the depot to get to the flak 88 but get all killed by the germans, who just counter-attack and take the depot so that the allies get pushed back to their spawn and need to start all over again.

What do you guys think?

 

[Scoobin]

There is already a map or 2 that follow this capture sequence but I like your spawn ideas. Could make for some good firefights with no one prepared to rush in.

 

[shadowmoses]

There is a reason i stopped playing COD.
THis is realism. The one thing i was afraid of is that all these people from COD would come, get a hold of a SDK and screw up all the game play with their ideas of medics, game modes, time limit differences, more people in a unique class, and 'Oh i dont have a crosshair'...Bah!
I am all for giving the community the much needed high number of players...but PLEASE DONT CHANGE THE BASIC LAYOUT.

 

[earthpig]

Respawn times different for each team, lets say 25 to 10 seconds for example. That way the attackers have 2.5 times more soldiers in the fight. Reinforcements would also be 2.5 times higher.

this is how it works in rtcw and it works very well.

sorry if rtcw was mentioned, i quoted and responded after reading the OP.

 

[VanDoo]

There is a reason i stopped playing COD.
THis is realism. The one thing i was afraid of is that all these people from COD would come, get a hold of a SDK and screw up all the game play with their ideas of medics, game modes, time limit differences, more people in a unique class, and 'Oh i dont have a crosshair'...Bah!
I am all for giving the community the much needed high number of players...but PLEASE DONT CHANGE THE BASIC LAYOUT.

So what if we use this SDK and change some aspect of the game play to make it more realistic. Because this game is very realistic but it could be even more. We all agree that these maps are to big for a round based system. But there is way to make ppl value their lives. As they would in real life. I think the gametype I suggested before would be good as it would not really change the gameplay but would just tweak it so ppl just think twice about rushing in. Right now, the way it is, the death doesnt even show on the score screen and if you die, you know you'll respawn in less 10 sec. Is that realistic: NO... its as far to realism as it could be.

 

[Rrralphster]

After thinking about it, the system of limited respawns is pretty good. A lot better then unlimited respawning like in all te arcade style shooters in death match mode if you know what I mean (I think you do).

I think the idea of "true" roundbased games doesn't appeal to the veteran RO people. One life per round or map so to speak can be very boring for many people.
If or rather, once I try to make a map I would give people maybe 3 or 5 lives each or something like that (first I have to pick up a box from a local store though).
If you give people a few lives they still feel the urgency to stay alive and not play "Rambo" and at the same time give them less waiting time.
With less waiting time I mean that if you get killed in the first 30-45 seconds of the round you still get another chance or 2. The enemy could get lucky or you could get unlucky if you catch my drift.
Respawning in 10 seconds wouldn't be my piece of pie either, 20 to 30 secs would fit better in a semi-roundbased setting. This will give the team that killed someone a bit of vallue for their kill as well.
What I have learned/read is that the amount of lives and the respawning times can be set when you create a map.

Most importantly I would make some objectives "like" Search and Destroy or Retrieval (but with an SDK I think you can do/create a lot more types of objectives then just those).

I wouldn't change anything like adding crosshairs or unlimited support classes (or any of the other realism features) because that would really change the game and I'm attracted to RO's realism features.
What I would like to achieve is to make people play with brains instead of brawn.

 

[bunnyhuggrr]

Making it round based would chase me away from the game. I like it the way it is. As for Rambos that have no regard for staying alive, change the scoring system to include some deduction for being killed.

 

[Ron]

Making it round based would chase me away from the game. I like it the way it is. As for Rambos that have no regard for staying alive, change the scoring system to include some deduction for being killed.

It would turn me away too at the moment skilled players while having some influence cannot win on their own make it round based and omg average players like myself wont have a look in. The system at the moment is great wouldnt change it myself cant see how people find it boring. You know what they say if it aint broke dont fix it.

 

[CLYDEFROG]

NO LIKEY ROUND MATCHES.... if i ever even come close to feeling like playing cs ill be done with this. waiting even 5-10 minutes to play kills it for me. the maps are big enouph to where constant spawning doesnt bother me. would like to see some convoy maps though. that would be fun. or maybe assasinate a commander type deal. (snipers) not sure how to make that one work though. maybe break him out of a surrounded city kinda like bastogne to safety.