1 (edited by Arckangel 2008-09-19 01:03:02)

Topic: Things I've noticed so far

First off love the mod. Since i think i'm the first one on after the update was applied, I would like to throw in the first couple things i've noticed so that those playing in the morning can build on what i've found out so far.

Problems I Have noticed

1. When using vehicles in rebel hanger, vehicles are jerky. This includes speeders and the at-st. After you leave the hanger the speeder acts like a normal aircraft with no jerky motion. After leaving the hanger with the AT-ST the jerkyness is maintained till you exit the at-st and then jump back in.

2. When the AT-AT is right in front of the hanger, a odd problem happens. when exiting the AT-AT at this location, damage is taken. I received death and partial damage depending on which part of the AT-AT I exited. This occurred right in front of the rebel speeder hanger when the AT-AT was on the slightly elevated terrain between the snow and the hanger which was the farthest the AT-AT could go if driving straight into the hanger.

3. I am able to fly a speeder in the "rebel ion control" control point, through the tunnels, and out the "rebel transport hanger" control point. I hate to think about the poor trooper squad that tries to attack through those tunnels only to get a rebel speeder to run them through with the body of the craft or forward guns then rear guns. While i do not think that the tunnel it self should be altered, such object as stacks of boxes could be useful in preventing aircraft from traveling through the entire tunnel.

4. Rebel Shield generator is floating. smile

5. When attempting to enter the area known at "briefing room"15 or "medical bay"14 on the map of the July news post from the rebel spawn point in the beta map known as "rebel command center" I encounter an invisible wall when attempting to enter the room. This is north east of the spawn point of "rebel command center"

Improvement Suggestions.
These are things I would like to see that might improve this map.

1. A defensive trench for the rebels. Might consists of a trench line with access to multiple defenses turrets against the AT-STs and AT-ATs. This might require "imp temp" spawn point to be moved back.

2. More Power To The Forward Guns! for the the At-At smile or atleast a alternative fire for more damage with longer recharge. Might be useful if destroying the shield generator was made a objective in some way smile

3. a gunner view for the AT-AT. while the current view is good, it would be nice to have a view for the gunner similar to that in the movie. The view of course could be switched between the non cockpit gunner view and the cockpit gunner view.

4. I realize that this is beta but first add more items in the tunnels! boxes for cover and random equipment for both cover and randomness in the tunnels.

5. I realize that this is a beta but add mountains to the terrain. anything besides endless open terrain. smile

6. AT-AT needs sounds. both for walking and for guns. AT-AT animation does not seem to match the movement speed perfectly. It takes some close looking but it can be seen if looked at close enough. I do like the multple camera angles on the AT-AT it does make it look impressive.

7. Add a wampa cage room in the rebel base smile. I remember this room from the Empire Strikes Back game on the N64 and it was awesome. Even if they were always stuck in the cage, it would be cool and add to the map.

8. Speeder Tow ropes for AT-AT. You know you want to fly the circles and trip them big suckers smile

9. Small, Medium, and Large ice structures all along the tunnels. I realize this is only a beta make and I see the many locations where there are obvious location where items will be placed later, but i can't help but make the suggestion smile

Things I like
1. The distance between the Imperial Vehicles and the rebel base. Just add a littl terrain smile.

2. The tunnels. Just add some variery in the tunnels like many objects for cover.

3. the multiple entrances to the rebel base. Just space the imperials a little farther from the rebel base. That way the imperials can deal the with the rebels trenches and defenses on the hanger side and a smaller segment of the trenches on the Ion Control point side.

4. The variety of wide and narrow tunnels for the rebels.

5. The roof exit for the rebel hanger. Provides great way to exit the hanger when a AT-AT is blocking the exit.

Edit:

1. After another player joined, my AT-AT was finished off by a single rebel blaster fire. Sudjest changest in armor for AT-AT =/. After continual testing. A single rebel "Trooper" class did 10% damage in a short time with simple gun fire to the AT-AT. Also At-AT seems to take significant damage from speeders.

2. At-AT main guns feel very narrow in its blast radius.

3. Is there a planet to space gun anywhere o.O?

I Hope this provides a starting point for others to improve on. I only attempt to be critical in an attempt to provide a better map for all. Have fun and good luck in your battle to come! smile

Re: Things I've noticed so far

Thanks for the very detailed feedback Arckangel, we appreciate it.  Although we did include the ATAT in this "beta test" (Hoth is really in its alpha stage atm), we mainly left it in just so you could play around with it.  Nearly every part of Hoth is incomplete or in its very early concept stages.  As you've noticed the terrain is nonexistant, as are the trenches, ion cannon, etc, the ATAT is still in its alpha form (textures, animation, and model are still early WIP), and Echo Base is still in its concept stage.  The main focus for testing this weekend will be on the general size, layout, and gameplay of the current Echo Base iteration, and perhaps some more general testing of some of our other maps.

Be sure to join us on IRC tomorrow to get further instructions on how testing will be run over the weekend, and be sure to keep leaving feedback as you play.

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3 (edited by FSDev| TALON 2008-09-19 04:57:55)

Re: Things I've noticed so far

Thanks for the feedback there, like Red says the testing for Echo Base shall be more about the general layout of the base itself, and how it handles large numbers of players. The thing is such a complex undertaking that we want to get it just right from a gameplay perspective at this early stage, then we can go at it with adding all the bells and whistles (none of this is the final work for Echo Base, just the placeholders for the final arwork that we will produce once the layout is approved, saves a lot of time compared to making a very beautiful base complex only to find that it plays like a dog wink). The main thrust of the testing will be to see if the corridors work well in combat situations, are they too small? Too long? Are they conducive to fun combat play? Also try concentrated defense and attack scenarios on key locations to see how easy/hard they are to attack and defend with large numbers of players. That is the sort of thing we want to look at, but as Red says, hop onto IRC and someone will go through this with you in more detail.

Hope you have fun with the Beta this weekend.

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4 (edited by sadwhalesong 2008-09-19 05:57:07)

Re: Things I've noticed so far

Here's what I found after playing a little... FYI, there was only me and JohnLocke on at this time, so we didn't do much in the way of combat, just testing stuff out.

SAB Refinery:
- The soldier's feet seem to be sunk into the red, elevated walkways. Makes moving around on them kinda jerky, especially when going to prone and back and running. Kneeling wasn't so bad.
- I also noticed that, when viewed from a particular angle, the treetops look like a B-2 Stealth Bomber taking off smile Not necessarily a bad thing, just something funny I saw.

Bimmiel:
The turbolaser turrets shoot from what looos like a third barrel, top center,on every 4th or 5th shot. Only from the targeting view.. all the outside views look good. Also, the shots and the shot-sound isn't timed just right.

Mon Calamari, Calyba Island:
- I loved this one the best! First off, "IT"S A MAP!" ...hilarious! smile
- I love the winding pathway up the mountain, but maybe it could be a bit wider. I found going up it to be a little jerky, especially so in a combat speeder.
- Another thing I found REALLY cool, was when you launched from the top of the mountain on a speeder bike at full boost. The bottom drops out from under you and it's nothing but canyon, trees and spires! Very cool!
- The addition of the new ship was a nice touch. The entry corridor for the IMP ships is a little tight, but can be done with practice... no big deal

Hoth:
- Even at this early stage, this is a VERY cool map. My biggest gripe so far is that the snowspeeders are REALLY jerky first taking off and leaving the hangar. Once outside it's OK.. just inside the hangar is where I had the most trouble.
- I think that maybe the blasters on the snowspeeders are a little too powerful. It took only a few passes and I blew up the ATAT. If there were 3-5 speeders coming at it at once, they would shred the ATAT, no problem. The ATST took forever to make not nearly as much damage.
- I know it's not lore accurate, but a few speeder bikes along side the ATAT's and ATST's would be nice.
- I'm not sure I like how you get the ATAT to move, but that might just be me.
- The pic of Darth Vader was a nice touch, too. smile

Well, that's all I have for now. Except to say...

Dev's, you guys have outdone yourselves with this lot! All the new models that were used look awesome, especially the new skins on the soldiers! And thanks for this opportunity to test them out. The idea of having an open testing weekend was a great one! I'm looking forward to being on the server when there is more people on, so we can test these maps right! I really liked looking around pretty much by myself, but some areas of these maps are going to have some EPIC battles! Giggity-Giggity-Giggity!

I just realized I reiterated some of the things ArckAngel had posted. Should have re-read his post first... oops!

We chew and spit you out; we laugh, you scream and shout; All flee, with fear you run; You'll know just where we come from - Metallica
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5 (edited by FSDev| TALON 2008-09-19 07:32:14)

Re: Things I've noticed so far

As I said before, on Hoth your main concern is the base layout, the AT-ATs have not been balanced at all as far as taking damage is concerned, they are more in there for you to get a chance to take them for a spin and see how you like them. Rest assured their armour will be... "Too strong for blasters," come final release wink. That said, to be in keeping with First Strike's Withering Fire ethos and game balancing we will most likely not make the Walker totally impervious to blaster fire, just bleedin' tough and hard to take down.

lol

Just check out IRC and a Dev or Tester will let you know exactly what we're looking for you to test and what feedback we wish to recieve.

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Re: Things I've noticed so far

Thanks guys, a quick word on the jerky behaviour inside the hangers, this is due to the col meshes inside the hanger for vehicles. It will be sorted by the final version.

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Re: Things I've noticed so far

sadwhalesong wrote:

Mon Calamari, Calyba Island:
- I loved this one the best! First off, "IT"S A MAP!" ...hilarious! smile
- I love the winding pathway up the mountain, but maybe it could be a bit wider. I found going up it to be a little jerky, especially so in a combat speeder.
- Another thing I found REALLY cool, was when you launched from the top of the mountain on a speeder bike at full boost. The bottom drops out from under you and it's nothing but canyon, trees and spires! Very cool!
- The addition of the new ship was a nice touch. The entry corridor for the IMP ships is a little tight, but can be done with practice... no big deal

big_smile . Some people, not naming names ( BLITZ!!  wink )  didn't get the "its a map!!!" reference tongue.

As far as Mon Cal is concerned, this http://forums.fsmod.com/viewtopic.php?id=8239 map help.

PS. Thanks for the kind words so far.

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