CAx Thoughts

[Cataklysque]

I'm starting to feel like a broken record. Let me explain.

I've always played quakeworld. I started playing for the first time in 2004. Since 2004 Quakeworld has made great progress in terms of clients, DM mods, and CA mods. NQ has also made progress. I can't help but compare the two. I don't believe one engine is better than the other, but QW has enjoyed a thriving DM scene in Europe, and up until recently a very vibrant CA scene in North America. This gives us a good glimpse of what trial and error has brought a more active scene.

It would be wise for us to look at what has been done in QWCA and learn from that experience.

There are elements of CACE (QW's flavor of CAx) that I would like to see in CAx, for reasons that I'll explain.

1. In addition to damage based scoring system, add kills as well (1 kill = 1 frag in addition to 300 points of damage = 1 frag).

2. Print stats automatically for each round. This is great, every round you can see your lg eff, rocket direct hits, etc etc. Currently in CAx you can type "eff" and get the stats for the entire match, but auto printing individual stats for each round is encouraging. (Edit: Remove RL eff from these stats. Impossible for this to be an accurate stat because of rocket jumps, prediction shots, et al. Instead use number of Rocket Hits and Rocket Directs.)

3. Eliminate "extra" spawn points. I really dislike these. There is enough of a random element to CA as it is, adding additional spawn points detracts from the level of expertise that you are able to acheive.

4. In CACE, if there is no damage done within a variable time period (usually 120 seconds), there will be a 20 second countdown and the remaining players will spawn at pent. This is a great way to keep things moving.

5. Spam protection is great for practice mode, but I don't think it transfers well to a match in CA. CACE limits your grenades (I like 5, some servers stick with 10) while keeping your standard ammo for rockets. After you use em, they're gone.

That's what I can think of so far, anyone else have additional thoughts?

[Baker]

3. Eliminate "extra" spawn points. I really dislike these. There is enough of a random element to CA as it is, adding additional spawn points detracts from the level of expertise that you are able to acheive.

As far as I know, the extra spawn points are because CAx supports 16 players.

I'm not sure how one would eliminate those and support 16 players on any map.

4. In CACE, if there is no damage done within a variable time period (usually 120 seconds), there will be a 20 second countdown and the remaining players will spawn at pent. This is a great way to keep things moving.

That's what I can think of so far, anyone else have additional thoughts?

Yeah, that is a good feature in CACE but what about custom maps? Maybe just have it to that on DM3 and give players health rot on custom maps.

I like the way you thinking about these things and the engines.

[Cataklysque]

You'll have to forgive me, in QW DM3 is played 99% of the time.

Recently a feature was added to Rage where only 8 players play at a time on DM3 (it varies for each map), and the additional players wait for another to die. Firstly, this is great feature. This defeats the purpose of additional spawn points. I believe in QW they added one additional spawn point at the RA NG on DM3. That's in addition the SNG health spawn, which iirc was not part of DM3's original spawn scheme.

In response to the countdown, it might have to be customized for each map, and those that it does not have a location for would not have it enabled. The middle area of Edge would be perfect, and perhaps a longer countdown period since it is a bigger map.

[R00k]

The countdown re-spawn origin can be added for each map in a .cfg file.
I've wondered if a "draw" could be a 1 on 1 re-match of the last two players, in a similar situation. Forcing them to an open RA like area of the map blocking the exits, ie PENT or mound area... or just the room they died in

[Cataklysque]

I'm not positive, but that may be exactly how CACE handles it. Either way, I like the idea.

I would be 100% against players spawning in water in this situation, but I'm sure some would like it.

Possible spawn spots
1. Pent
2. Mound
3. Top of SNG boxes
4. Bridge
5. RA top platform

I've edited my first post with another feature I'd like to see in CAx from CACE.

[tical]

Nades should be limited to 10... good thinking cat

[R00k]

I had spam protection at 5 in a row, (as if u just held down the fire button), but somewhere along the way it got removed due to player complaints.. maybe 10 would be better...

[Cataklysque]

I think rather than using the grenade spam protector, we should look at limiting grenade ammunition.

5 or 10 total grenades is ideal.

[getogamer]

One thing that I think would be cool to add is this.

If you accidentally DC in CAx (*which shouldn't hurt anyone around you) I don't think you should lose your LG for the rest of the match. This happens alot when you are fighting up top and someone knocks you in the water. I think it sucks when this happens at the beginning of a round and you have to suffer the rest of the way through without a LG.

What I think would be better is if you had a 20-30 sec 'recharge' on the LG and still would have it later in the round.

Just a suggestion, but definitely not mandatory.

*There is a random bug on CAx that allows you to DC and kill opponents that are around you. Don't know if this has been addressed or not.

[Canadian*Sniper]

Maybe just have it to that on DM3 and give players health rot on custom maps.

That's been argued before and people said that it would be exploited by someone with 100 health against someone with 99 health.

@getogamer: would you rather explode? Perhaps give the LG and GL back after 15 seconds from when they were taken away.

[R00k]

One thing that I think would be cool to add is this.

If you accidentally DC in CAx (*which shouldn't hurt anyone around you) I don't think you should lose your LG for the rest of the match. This happens alot when you are fighting up top and someone knocks you in the water. I think it sucks when this happens at the beginning of a round and you have to suffer the rest of the way through without a LG.

What I think would be better is if you had a 20-30 sec 'recharge' on the LG and still would have it later in the round.

Just a suggestion, but definitely not mandatory.

There is an option in the admin settings for ammo to regen. Currently it's set at deplete, the 3 options are Deplete, Regen, or Always FULL Ammo...
losing the lg is a penalty true, it could be possible to just loose all your ammo instead.

*There is a random bug on CAx that allows you to DC and kill opponents that are around you. Don't know if this has been addressed or not.

It's not a bug. Normal Quake Discharge does 35*cells = 3500 damage radius. Thats the same as over 30 rockets exploding at 1 time. This has be reduced in CAx to "almost" disable the discharge. Instead, the dc does 1*cells, so max damage is 100. If someone is close enough to you when you discharge, and their health is low enough, they could die.

[PapaSmurf]

I would like to see a player counter display in CAx. Something simple so you wouldn't have to check +showscores to see how many of your teammates are still alive and how many of the enemy is still alive. So have something like this in the corner of your screen:

Blue Team: 4 players left
Red Team: 2 players left

Another idea I had for CAx was to change how pldown works. I like how it works now, but I also think that rounds should always start with an even number of players from each team (assuming two teams). So, if it's a 4v3, the team with 4 would have one player sit out until a teammate dies. I feel that would make it more fair.

[PapaSmurf]

Oh yeah, and practice mode should not make you autospawn. that's a small grievance, but it's annoying for afkers to keep spawning in.

[R00k]

maybe, its target practice, but CA = 99% match mode 99.5% dm3

[Stung]

Nades should be limited to 10... good thinking cat

If not 5.

All great points overall.