Just a thought I have been playing with for a little while…
A builder can build his 50 blocks, and then he has to go back to the tent to get more.
A digger can dig as many blocks as he likes to.
Would it be possible to program the server to disallow further block removal (both right- and left-click digging) when a player has 50 blocks stored?
This would mean that a player tunneling towards the enemy would have to leave the tunnel every once in a while to get rid of blocks (or fill in behind him).
I suspect that in a Babel game, this would slow down the tunneling under enemy structures a bit (I often feel that it is too easy to create enormous tunnels in AOS).
It would also encourage tunnelers to build a bit.
Finally, It would also add a little logistic “realism” to tunneling.
-Thus my questions: Is this technically feasible?
-Would it be worth it / interesting to try it out?
-Which would defy the idea of making the tunnelers get rid of the spoils…
I agree that it is a bit of a problem. I guess that one would have to either disable r-click digging, or have it produce blocks… maybe 2 instead of 3 blocks per digging action.
Still, I do not know if the mod is technically possible.
It’s an interesting idea, however it could change the game-play a little too drastically. Although it would encourage building you have to think of what kind of building.
It may change the mentality of the player to build (in babel) a tower, but it will more likely change their mentality to “I gotta unload all these blocks.” This can cause an increase in both randomly cluttered blocks (like a 24/7 pinpoint that hasn’t been reset in a long time) and just up right quitting the game out of frustration.
Also contributing to the frustration is the inability to remove blocks right after spawning.
Another interesting point to the clutter is that it’ll (almost) never decrease only grow, the only actions that can effectively remove a block without receiving a block is grenades, bullets, and Right-Clicking with the spade.
Players learn the quickest way to do things, and by that I mean a player will not “return” or relocate the 50 blocks (spoils). They are going to simply kill themselves, here’s why: If a player Is far from the entrance of their tunnel they’ll do the most logical thing, they will kill themselves with a grenade or the command “/kill” because, it saves time and energy, and by saving time and energy they will have more fun. They will then re-spawn and place the 50 blocks already in their inventory and return to their tunnel for continues digging.
Although I’ve listed many of the downsides, I think it would be an interesting way to play the game, and I would enjoy a test run. However, I feel the downsides outweigh the… (wait for it) spoils.
maybe every 2 blocks destroyed = 1 block carried, and a full load could be offloaded into an open area that creates a mound.
i like the realism aspect of this idea, i’m just concerned it might feel too restrictive and be too confusing for people when they suddenly can’t dig anymore.
I think it would be neat in a gamemode where you have limited space, at least to start out. Something like a reverse babel where you have to dig your way up. Enemies could actually do serious damage by filling in your tunnels. Maybe have the tent ‘eat’ blocks near where you spawn so you have some way of moving forward.
The biggest problem I see is that you can’t change the block counter on people’s screens besides resetting it to 50. It’s work-around-able but it might need a little forgiveness buffer of a few blocks when at 50.
I like the idea of a reverse babel, and the tent eating blocks is a great idea. Only problem I can see is once the team gets to the top of the confined area they can cover the confined area and the players would spawn on top of it. Changing it into a regular 1ctf.
Maybe reverse the babel building zones so players can’t build on their own team’s territory, thus preventing players from “fixxing” the restricted zone.
To popularizes the server you might wanna use the .75 babel port and replace the server for a short time, ya’ll can even call it an “event.” That way ya’ll can get some feedback and see if people like it, find it confusing, misc.
It’s entirely possible to force the player to spawn at an exact location, so that’s not a problem.
This is something like what I meant (I just needed an excuse to mess with some stuff I had laying around):
Wow, I guess the many years of arena I’ve played with the precise spawn location escaped me haha.
Another idea that passed my mind is using the map from the nuclear apocalypses server, it would need a few edits to block the surface staircases and such but it has a great tunnel system for underground warfare while players are trying to dig to the top.
I like that idea. It would actually let a digger get rid of blocks without leaving the tunnel, albeit slowly.
I did not know that the reset to 50 blocks is a hard-coded item. Otherwise the players could have started with , say, 30 blocks.
I also agree that a cluttered spawn area might be a side effect.
A spoils mod would not be suited to all modes of game-play. However, I have often felt that the tunnelers had an unfair advantage in AOS, so some sort of game mechanism that slows them down might be useful.
I kinda liked some of the ideas here, so here is one version I came up with.
Details:
The grey blocks represent a cylinder built into the ground, that reaches nearly to the bottom of the map. The grey blocks that make up it’s sides and bottom are unable to be destroyed.
Players have to dig their way up to the surface, and then build a staircase/structure down into the cylinder to receive the intel.
If your team feels like it’s time to slow down the enemy digging, there is enough room to dig a tunnel directly to the enemy tent.
I also think that a few eruptions on the surface would make things interesting. For example; the sky color turns red and an “airstrike” happens throughout the entire map. Players will be forced to either build some quick cover inside the cylinder, or make a run for the tunnels.
This is a game mode I’ve thought of for awhile. Thanks Danke for giving me that original picture to modify.
Maybe you should switch between build and excavate modes, so that you can drop blocks at the tent instead of picking them up when you want to excavate, and then build for when you want to build up. Also, the cylinder would need to be sizeable enough to prevent grenade rapeage by the teams. Otherwise the intel area would become a death hole, and everyone would start hurling grenades into it whenever people see the notification that the intel was picked.
Good point, I agree. Not only would that create a grenade preventable area, it would also make room for sniper platforms, stronger staircases, and roofs to duck in for cover.
@Ferrari’s map idea:
Instead of making it an empty hole you can have buildings built into the walls. Sort of like one of those fantasy dessert villages you’ll see in anime and such (I think there is one in FMA)
Kinda like this: almost randomly shaped and placed dwellings attached by makeshift bridges and other buildings. (orange blocks in back for the wall and orange blocks on the bottom of windows. (bad choice on my part for the window blocks’ color)
