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Idea: Competitive Mode, "Break the Bank"

CrashFu

Grizzled Veteran
May 11, 2014
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Ohio
Working title, maybe I'll think of something catchier eventually. :rolleyes:

So in the past I brainstormed some ideas for a competitive game mode (in a general thread about PvP) but I figure the idea deserves its own thread here.

My take on a PvP is as follows:

  • You can not DIRECTLY damage or kill the opposing players. Nothing will stop you from running the mod in a friendly-fire server, but it is not recommended..
  • The objective is simply to deposit cash at the trader (or some other location) and have more banked than the other team(s) by the end of the game.
  • That means you win through A) killing lots of zeds, B) Surviving waves, C) picking up extra guns to sell, and D) efficiently managing your resources to keep expenses down.
  • INDIRECTLY messing with opposing players and causing them to die is absolutely encouraged. By all means, be a sneaky, backstabbing a-hole. And then take their dropped weapons and sell them. Kite large zeds towards other players, lock them in rooms and seal off their escape routes, steal armor they desperately need. Nothing is off-limits.
  • Special tools MAY be available to assist in the above... see further below..
  • The number and size of teams is flexible, everything from 3v3 to 1v1v1 etc. Teams need not be equal in size, and separate mods may allow for even larger teams.
  • Risk vs Reward factors heavily into this competition. Do you bank what money you have now, or spend it to acquire better equipment, so you can survive more easily and get more kills?
  • Do you camp in one area for safety, or risk increased danger to look for extra equipment (to sell)?
  • Do you stay near enemy players and try to steal kills from them (and look for opportunities to get them killed), or avoid them altogether?

Full player wipes and the boss wave:

If the game ended immediately when all players die, it would be far too easy to abuse: the entire game would be about making sure the other team gets killed, earning slightly more than them, and then suiciding to lock in your victory. Or if wipes resulted in a stalemate, it would be too hard for ANYONE to actually WIN the game.

Thus, the mod would have to have special rules for complete failure: You would restart the last wave (in the trader phase), with everyone's equipment, personal dosh count, and all of the banks reset to how they were before, and try again until at least ONE person survives said wave.

As for the boss wave, I'm thinking that all damage inflicted would automatically translate to dosh, and on the boss' death a bonus would be given to all survivors and then all of their currently held dosh would be automatically deposited into their team's bank and the final tallies would be counted.

Alternatively, a (very large) reward might ONLY be given to the team of the player making the final shot on the boss, with or without the bonuses for survival?

There might even be some more interesting mechanics, like... every player killed during the boss wave loses X amount of dosh from their team's bank, and this loss persists even if the wave has to be reset due to failure. If failing consecutively enough times, it could put all teams on a level 0 bank and become a sudden-death match where whoever finishes off or does the most damage to the boss automatically wins.

Feedback is encouraged on what method would make for the most fun competition.

Additional Tools (for ****ing over your opponents)

The mod may also include some special items, purchased at the trader, to enrich the gameplay (IE, ruin other peoples' day). All of the following would be one-time-use items:

  • Sabotaged Ammo Box: The player deploys this realistic-looking ammo box on the map for enemy players to pick up. Picking up the 'sabotaged ammo box' gives the illusion of acquiring a real one, your ammo count is raised by the appropriate level and your grenade count (may) go up as well. However, the effects of this trap go into effect the next time the player reloads or throws a grenade: A thrown grenade might have a DRASTICALLY shortened fuse, likely causing the victim to damage themselves, or the next shot after a reload may result in the gun jamming and the player being unable to fire it until they go through an extra-lengthy reload cycle. This effect will trigger once, and may or may not happen on any given reload/grenade use, but ALWAYS on the last clip/grenade the player has.
  • Sabotaged Armor - Similar to the above, this deployed item looks like a real kevlar pickup and will show full armor when the victim picks it up, however, the very first hit they take from a zed (no matter how weak) will leave them with no armor at all.
  • Bait: A throwable item that draws zeds to the area. This can be used productively, to call zeds in for the killing, or it can be used offensively, thrown at competing players to make them the focus of zed attention, in the hopes they will be overwhelmed.
  • Smoke Bomb - much like what Hans uses; now obnoxious visual obscurement is in the hands of the players! Whereas the Sabotaged Ammo Box and Sabotaged Armor mainly target teams who wander from area to area, the smoke bomb is tailor-made to be used against campers: Just throw this into a room the opposing team is camping (especially in conjunction with Bait) and they will be all but forced to vacate! Or simply use it to block off opposing players' sight while you stay on the other side of the smoke cloud, killing all the zeds for yourself! Simple, but effective.
  • Drugged Health Syringe - the most direct thing you can do to an opponent; this item looks exactly like the normal health syringe in your hand, but on injecting another player it inflicts them with a nasty debuff; they will move slowly and suffer visual impairment along with a sway and a shake, making them all but useless and easy prey for the zeds. Blocking when a player attempts to inject you, or melee attacking them when they have the drugged syringe out, may knock it from their hands (just don't let anybody sneak up behind you!)

Additional suggestions and any other feedback are encouraged. :)
 
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Hey, that's pretty refreshing to see, a PvP mode that doesn't directly involve shooting the other players but helps practice trolling tactics. Not sure if it is a good thing... it WOULD be lots of fun to play with bunch of friends though.

One thing I'm worried about is if the game never ends. Because suicides can be exploited, it forces a reset of the wave for every wave wiped. Meaning, eventually, someone has to survive. If the difficulty is too high and nobody makes it through, that's very disappointing and discouraging to play.

A few ways around it: after a failed 2nd attempt, the game should lower the difficulty for each successive attempts.

OR have a random number of resets between a certain range and call it a game after that number of successive wipes. Having it random will mean it becomes a game of "will it end now" sorta deal... not exactly ideal, but it's an idea.
 
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One thing I'm worried about is if the game never ends. Because suicides can be exploited, it forces a reset of the wave for every wave wiped. Meaning, eventually, someone has to survive. If the difficulty is too high and nobody makes it through, that's very disappointing and discouraging to play.

A few ways around it: after a failed 2nd attempt, the game should lower the difficulty for each successive attempts.

OR have a random number of resets between a certain range and call it a game after that number of successive wipes. Having it random will mean it becomes a game of "will it end now" sorta deal... not exactly ideal, but it's an idea.

Hmm, yeah a limited number of retries before an "everyone loses" should be adequate, maybe...

Another interesting possibility would be to place the burden of losing on the last surviving team. The wave is reset and and the team that was alive last has a penalty subtracted from their team's bank. That sounds crazy, right? A penalty for the LAST person(s) to die? But they stand to gain SUCH a huge lead if only their team survives a wave, which inherently would make "ensuring the other teams don't survive" the only priority if there was no risk to it.

This would also help balance teams; If the reason they survived longest was that they had a strong start and got better equipment, losing money from their bank means they have to reconsider how much they'll spend on equipment when the wave resets.

It also would add a risk to camping and overly defensive play; If you're going to play it safe and just outsurvive the other teams while they get themselves killed playing agressively, you'd better have the skills to actually survive once they are gone.

Anything that encourages teams to be dynamic and take risks, I'm in favor of. Makes for more entertaining spectator-sports and youtube vids. :D
 
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