Posted by DingBat on February 13, 1999 at 19:27:19:
In Reply to: Re: Railgun not too powerful.. posted by Crunchy Bat on February 12, 1999 at 18:27:40:
: Here is some help for pp with hp.
: I play using a 56k modem getting 280-330 ping
: on the NH server here btw.
: Tips
: If you are new use chase cam/observer mode and watch how different preds play and marines hunt. After a while you'll get the idea and/or form your own strategies
: Being a hp pred REALLY forces you to be sneaky. Camping is a good start and legal in NH. But camping too long in one spot doesn't do much on your ROI (return on investment ;> ) so
: think of many nice sneaky places to snipe at marines.
: here is a nice little algorithm I use:-
: 1) kill pred 5 sec delay -think about map
: 2) become pred find nice spot to hide or snipe
: 3) get a kill
: 4) switch to rl
: 5) run away or use teleport
: 6) find new spot switch back to rg to snipe and regen
: 7) repeat steps 3-6 until you die
: 8) become marine repeat step 1
All good points.
Even LPB's can forget that the predator doesn't really have a hope in a stand up fight
with a well armed marine. The rail gun isn't a good weapon when someone is in your face
firing rockets.
One comment I have to make. I see a LOT of marines ignoring armor. If you're on a map
with the Red Armor, GO GET IT. A marine with over 100 armor will survive one shot from
a predator rail gun. This can surprise the predator.
It also makes for hilarious moments bouncing marines around the level. :^)
That said, I think everyone who's seen my posts know I am acutely aware of the problems
of playing the predator as an HPB. The problem I face is programming handicaps that actually
help HPB's while not giving an increased advantage to LPB's. Ping based handicaps, unfortunately:
1) Can backfire during lag "spikes".
2) Can never compensate for SPT ("Stupid Player Tricks").
3) Can actually add lag.
That said, I do intend to revisit the whole issue after the 1.5 version is released.
I have a couple of ideas for handicapping players based on "skill". The idea of this sort of
handicapping is to make the game harder for players with higher scores. So, the challenge of a
level increases as you score more.
I will also investigate some form of lag "protection", possibly enabling safety mode for
players who are experiencing extreme lag. The main problem here, as I've explained, is that
to do this properly, the server has to periodically sample each player to check their ping.
Doing that adds overhead.
This issue is not going to be solved overnight. Look at how many Q2 mods exist. The only one that
actually addresses lag problems is Balance of Power, and that works by "increasing" the lag of
LPB's, not by doing anything for HPB's. I'm not egotistical enough to think I'm gonna suceed
where so many have failed before.
But I'll work on it. :)
/bruce