Locking Turrets

Why does an engineer have to be all or nothing?

Does a maxed AM have to max everyone's weapon if they do one?

Just because I want to share, doesn't mean I feel it's ok for someone to jump in my bender and drive off through the base when I'm trying to get some experience.

Dunno, seems like a fail discussion.

I agree with what you are saying, but as (Road I think) said.. you can't code courtesy and respect.

but if you are gonna self destruct... I was being very serious about artifacts destructing also.
If people are running around with useless artifacts that they aren't using, it's stopping the game from possibly dropping a triple or rod or mwm that the other players -would- use. How is this different?

Obviously, you can (and will I'm sure

) code it as you see fit. My opinion is that I should have a little bit of say in my spawns. Spawns are sometimes used instead of blocks when lowbie engineers run of out blocks, but need that entrance blocked, etc.

I guess the time frame for the destruction is the biggest issue. You've said 30 seconds. That's terribly short in my opinion. 10 minutes... better.
You also should keep in mind that benders already disappear if they are left in an area with noone around them.

SO .... if these are my only two options:

Szlat wrote:

So, do you want things available for everyone - in which case no lock - or do you want things lockable and so just for yourself?

My vote is lockable. Because at least this way I'll be able to use my spawns without fear of someone jacking my bender (which was the root of the problem to begin with). I'll just have to not spawn an entire base.

You are right. It is not a black and white situation where either everything or nothing is locked.
I think one of the things in the back of my mind is the perspective of the other players on the map, it can be difficult to know what they can or cannot use.

Most players, and especially those that have been around a while, really would prefer not to cause offense. And since some engineers get quite abusive if someone does use their stuff (not pointing at anyone here, but we have probably all heard it on occasions). So lots of players will just stick clear of anything they have not spawned.

I have even heard people being shouted at for getting in a goliath minigun turret or the third hellbender turret just in case the spawner wanted to switch to it from the main gun.

And an engineer saying a mini turret is open does not always help - as there could be many mini turrets etc.

I think we need to clear things up, so things the engineer wants to reserve are clearly not open, and users cannot use them by mistake. And often engineers want to spawn surplus turrets just for others - these should be clearly flagged as free for use. Because if it is clear, other people are more likely to use them.

How about a compromise.

An engineer can only have one thing locked at a time. He can hop in and out of that thing as he likes, and no one else can enter it

Nothing self destructs

We put a color overlay on turrets and vehicles. Ones that are locked are red. Ones that are open are green

So any green turret/vehicle is open for anyone to use.

Szlat wrote:

How about a compromise.

An engineer can only have one thing locked at a time. He can hop in and out of that thing as he likes, and no one else can enter it

Nothing self destructs

We put a color overlay on turrets and vehicles. Ones that are locked are red. Ones that are open are green

So any green turret/vehicle is open for anyone to use.

the color overlay is what I was thinking myself.
sounds like a good start.
not sure only 1 locked will be sufficient, but it may be. we shall see.

Along with that color overlay could be the stronger turrets of a XE

Does it have to have a color overlay? I mean not all people may want that distraction of extra colors in their view, another reason why people don't buy awareness. Mainly for the purpose that it doesn't overcloud their view. Perhaps if it must be implemented then it can be added as another level of awareness?

Dead Freddo's post has been deleted.

I'm at the point that I will spawn what I can so others can use, but the expectation is that they will have the necessary skills to use it. There is nothing sadder than watching a mini-turret or e-turret shooting so slow that it gets destroyed while trying to kill a little monster.

(DC)DEMONSLAYER wrote:

Dead Freddo's post has been deleted.

?

TBH I disagree with my brother anyway. Locking turrets is unnecessary and selfish, the eject button does the job fine if you decide you want to use your turret someone else is already in. The only thing that could do with locking is the driver seat of vehicles, because it's slightly more problematic to have to eject both yourself and the offending driver in cases Acyd described, or retrieve/respawn your vehicle after someone's hijacked it and driven off into the sunset while your back is turned.

And self-destructing objects after being spawned but not used is a great idea, a turret sitting idle for ~5 minutes is a fairly good indication that it serves no purpose but to obstruct space.

no! a idle turret that dissapear ? noooo, cars and turrets are a nice thing to use when u run out of blocks, and try to avoid queen teletransport into the base..

Thè-Hättêr wrote:

no! a idle turret that dissapear ? noooo, cars and turrets are a nice thing to use when u run out of blocks, and try to avoid queen teletransport into the base..

Aye, but the purpose of a turret/car is not to simply be one big block. Though you can still apply it as such as long as you hop in and out of it every 5 minutes or so. Use it or lose it.

well im engineer and i get seriously bugged noobs building my base jacking my stuff e.t.c i wouldnt ming for new artifacts at all but 1 thing is it possible for a ner gui to be made arranging artifacts cos i get bugges clicking all the time i use sents the most so it should let you arange them i a order or somin

search for greg's keybinds for engs..

This thread has been quiet for a while. So, what I am going for is

An engineer can only have one thing locked at a time. He can hop in and out of that thing as he likes, and no one else can enter it

Trying to get into a locked turret will give a message that it is locked, and will give the spawners name.

There will be a lock command and an unlock command, which work on the vehicle/turret the engineer is looking at. Because you can only have one vehicle/turret locked, if you lock a second one the first becomes unlocked.

I will try to sort out some mechanism so players can see which turrets are locked. But hopefully not too bright.

You can obviously only lock or unlock items you have spawned.

It would be unfair to other users to have them ejected from an open turret. The turret was open, and they got in it. The spawning engineer should honor that from a team benefit point of view. After all, he chose to spawn it, and he chose for it to be open. So Destroy All Turrets/Vehicles will not destroy a turret or vehicle with somebody in it, and the Eject command will be removed.

It will be possible to lock a turret/vehicle that is occupied. The driver will not be ejected, but when they leave they will not be able to re-enter

There are no new self-destruct timers being added, so something locked and unused can exist throughout the game.

Items will spawn as unlocked

So, if engineers spawn more than one vehicle or turret, one of the two has to be open for the rest of the team.
For engineers who want to help other players, the open turrets will be clearer to others.
For engineers who want to spawn lots of stuff just for their own private use - tough.

Sounds great.

2 things...

1) In trying to help identify locked and unlocked turrets, could the overlay thing be used, but make a command to disable the view (for those that wish to not see it)? I know this sounds counter-productive, but the average n00b that logs into the server wouldn't know the command and therefore, by default would see it. More regular players (and those that have already commented this might be obtrusive to their viewing pleasure of fragging [re: Elite] could disable the view.

2) not sure if this is "on topic" or not, but this weekend I saw several incidents of players using "drophealth" from a turret to heal themselves and others. Just something we need to correct on turret/vehicles. (or is that actually a fix in the "drophealth" code?) whichever...

Acyd wrote:

1) In trying to help identify locked and unlocked turrets, could the overlay thing be used, but make a command to disable the view (for those that wish to not see it)? .... More regular players (and those that have already commented this might be obtrusive to their viewing pleasure of fragging [re: Elite] could disable the view.

Mmmm. Could be done, but the command will need to be issued every game, which isn't ideal. I could implement the display in two ways - the first would be an overlay on the vehicle itself. The second would be an indication on the hud. The second way would need to be used for the command option to work.

Acyd wrote:

2) ...this weekend I saw several incidents of players using "drophealth" from a turret to heal themselves and others. ...

Yes, I already have a fix coded.

Szlat,

While playing team death match I noticed, some of the maps have E-turrets that are unusable and give the message "this turret is not powered" or something to that effect. These look noticeably different from the standard turret, and attract less attention than the glowing usable turrets. I see this as an adequate use for the locked command you are enacting. This may save you some work.

I see one possible concern in your proposed changes. If an engineer has multiple mini turrets up and wished to kill all to make a more powerful turret but can't due to people occupying them. If eject is also removed, then has no way to regain his turret points. The engineer has just hindered himself by his own generosity.

I understand that low level players are attracted to infinite ammo and protection of a vehicle. But one greedy player should not force and engineer to die / reconnect, thus destroying the base, just to upgrade his offensive weapons. This also implies the engineer was kind enough to build turrets for others and D-sents to protect them. This should be the kind of team play that is encouraged on DC.

I understand you can't code to everyone's preferences, but there is my 2 cents.

Also, can you code to just lock individual seats in vehicles? This may more like vehicles in Halo, where drivers side locks the driver,passenger the same, back locks rear gun, tank body locks main gun, and the turret locks top mg?