I'm afraid a bit about TechCom's future, we're losing the players. Former mates are ignoring their server. We brought to life the moribund european onslaught and the whole game thanks to the Anti TCC update initialization and now we're being threatened by our copy server, the CEONSS, which took our ideas and has a slightly better position. If we had to end up like TCP or Titan onslaught servers, I would rather shut the TechCom down and start the porn ftp. Any ideas? Except the animals, for sure, Elect.

I come only rarely due to the overfrequently played )o(-maps. And because of a lot of work.


But hopefully I can introduce some completely new concepts to ONS in my next map, what might get the gametype popular again. I know, I've been promising that for about a year now, but it's almost done.

Well, its still the same...about maps.

I will not say anything else, otherwise it would be flaming thread again, but I think its obvious and I dont understand why we have to speak about map collection on Techcom for days when you can see real situation in few seconds on CEONSS which maps are popular...

Yeah, I forgot, we have to play all "nice" and "not lame" maps, right ? Sorry, I thought game is for fun. And its up to you Foibos, if you want to have fun server, or "skilled" server...

Have a more interesting maplist, with better ping than CEONS and the players will come, and stay!
Sounds simple but in reality.....
The question of fun/skill is interesting.
I find some of the so called fun maps as enjoyable as a trip to the dentist, Cataldi, star-retch! etc.
Also our most skilled players are no fun at all!! Ahem...
Foibos, you are a total superstar over this whole thing, longsuffering and dedicated and recieve my complete respect.

xx

i talked to several players and apparently it IS mostly about the ping!
most players live in france, the benelux states and germany and therefore they favor the ons-server with the lower ping since that is basically what is different between TC and CEONSS, and it's sad, i know!
today, I saw a full ceonss server and 1 player on TC playing the omni (!) version of desterted sands - which isn't a bad map at all and has the powerful vehicles... i decided to join the empty server, then got disconnected twice (!) in 3 mins and with only 1 human player besides me, that's really really strange!

i'm not even sure whether upgrading the server hardware would pull the players back to TC, since the ping sure would be lower, but still higher than on heinz's server.

hate to admit it but being a shock whore i am dependent on low pings - on TC i can't really hit my shock cores on while dodging sidewards anymore (which is no problem on tam/dm/tdm-servers)... so i'm forced to stombo and wombo to make a combo go off at all! those difference in a couple of milli-seconds are not severe while driving a tank or stuff, u still hit your aim and since the goliath shoots where you aim in only 1 out of 3 shots it doesn't matter that much... but with hitscan-weapons, it rises and falls with the ping!!

somewhere i read something about a tool/code/optional stuff by wormbo that could be added by a server to equalize the ping-indifferences and make the gameplay somewhat similar to the experience you have in single player!
so i don't know if that works on ONS-servers too, but in case it DOES - that's one of the last chances to regain attractiveness imho.


btw i also happened to notice incredible resonance on maps we once had, e.g. SpaceJox, AirMars, SlatedWorlds...
BiggerBeerBattle was also VERY popular back then... we removed it due to the reason of "too much spam going on"... well - honestly maps like Minus, Nevermore, Tyrant, TripleSlap and TanksALot are still our most popular ones and one can't deny they're all hella spammy!

ONS-MassDestruction was also very popular and even though it suffered of terrainial unbalance - players didn't care! they could have had a wicked sick with one nuke in the middle...
as it seems to me "fun" nowadays is identified with having killing sprees, rampages or more going on. players want to have manslaughters and just kill as much people without dying as possible, often without taking care of the nodes...
the maps that resemble a somewhat teamdeathmatch are the ones that are voted... people seem to look after a teamdeathmatch with vehicles - but without flags... so VCTF is not an option for them - but ONS is... the bigger the tanks and the more firepower they have, the more those maps are voted.

NV-maps therefore are very unpopular, with 2 only exceptions - bridge and mealstrom...

I agree with thom on :

1) the high ping
2) the fact that people come here to own other people, even if they are noobs. On massdestruction, the weakest noob could get easly a dominating.
More than only overpowered vehicles, overpowered weapons are loved also.
Everybody knows than weakest players go on onslaught coz (due to vehicles) they can get some frag more easly than in dm or ctf.

So yes, massdestrutxion is one of the spamest map ever, but it was like coz it's spammy like hell (same than spambox). I think this should be a map which should be bring back.
And we could also put new vehicles such like falcon, kinghellhound and wyren at base

- unlike what u think thom, on a such map, a wyren is easier to destroy on a such map coz it got less life, and therefore 1avril/ 4 shock shoots is better than 1-2avril / 6 shock shoots -

thomasito wrote:
somewhere i read something about a tool/code/optional stuff by wormbo that could be added by a server to equalize the ping-indifferences and make the gameplay somewhat similar to the experience you have in single player!
so i don't know if that works on ONS-servers too, but in case it DOES - that's one of the last chances to regain attractiveness imho.


Wormbo's "Unlagged Instagib"-mutator is, as the name states, developed for Instagib. Don't know if it also works with other gametypes or if it replaces the Instagib Rifle with a custom one.

The mutator isn't a universal solution and doesn't come without a drawback (otherwise plenty of servers would use it already, I guess):
it works in a way that every client can choose for himself if he wants to play for himself after the traditional system or after the system of the mutator.
In the traditional system you aim, shoot, send these informations to the server and the server will calculate if the shot hit someone and then causes you to display that scene on your PC - you always depend on the server because he has the only one valid gamestate.
In the mutator system is the calculation for hits done on the client and is considered valid there, means the server isn't the man anymore! This allows you to even hit targets under the effects of heavy lag because you only need to hit the enemy where your PC *think* he currently is. The drawback is, that this also works the other way around, so if you escaped enemy fire on your client, it could still happen that on the enemy's client he hit you and so you would still die, even if it didn't look like that for you.

thomasito wrote:

SpaceJox, AirMars, SlatedWorlds...
BiggerBeerBattle was also VERY popular back then... we removed it due to the reason of "too much spam going on"...

All great maps that have been removed for flimsy reasons, if you take a look at the current map list. Absurd: the current map list has been played for so long now that it already stinks like fish. I can understand that players will finally come to a point where they are just bored to play always the same maps again and again.
Good 32 player maps are rare (at least that's what some people state), so I can only pull a facepalm when I see those excellent maps that have been removed.


thomasito wrote:

ONS-MassDestruction was also very popular and even though it suffered of terrainial unbalance - players didn't care! they could have had a wicked sick with one nuke in the middle...
as it seems to me "fun" nowadays is identified with having killing sprees, rampages or more going on. players want to have manslaughters and just kill as much people without dying as possible, often without taking care of the nodes...
the maps that resemble a somewhat teamdeathmatch are the ones that are voted... people seem to look after a teamdeathmatch with vehicles - but without flags... so VCTF is not an option for them - but ONS is... the bigger the tanks and the more firepower they have, the more those maps are voted.

Yeah and it's pretty sad that we, the people who actually want to play real ONS, need to really beg the players described by you to fill our server by adjusting our map list until it is considered "convenient" by them.
And the more you change it into one direction the more players from the other direction will be scared away and the more you rely on the remaining player's taste.

In the end you have to make a decision for who you want to make this server actually and who you want to keep here.

I can't belive you can cry for horrible AirMars with neverending air dogfights or for the frenzy MassDestruction, which was boring for bunch of players. Guys, we have very interresting maplist, althought there are some maps you don't like. The the problem is something else and it's simple: the position. If we wanna survive as the "onslaught 32", we have to move. West. And buy new machine. But it's not for free and I can't pay everything.

I'm gonna to load the Mass (Nuclear edition), Beer, AirMars )o(, Pandemonium and Big Al's SlatedWorld. Now. You're crazy, you'll see.

As the name suggests, Unlagged InstaGib only works in InstaGib mode. For normal weapons you'd have to use UTComp's "enhanced netcode" feature.

The problem is not really in our map list, but in players' requests.

Some good maps like TheVine, Pyrofusion, and others are never played, because of being not enough spammy...
The solution i propose is to keep spammy maps for all the players in general and the other good maps for players who want to play on quality maps.