new game mode : sphere

Basically this would involve adding a ball and a 'tractor beam' feature to legions that operates much like remote detonation with RLS where you push out a beam by pressing a button and when u release the button the end of your beam emits a 'grab' radius. If you release close enough to the ball it would allow you to intercept a pass for example and pull the ball back to yourself.
1.jpg


here is a map layout I imagine would work for such a mode, both players spawn at opposite sides of the bowl and identical distance from the centre where the ball hovers waiting for the quickest player to get to it. Then each teams 'goal' ring located 90 degrees on the bowl/arena edges to their bases instead of putting it at the opposing players base, I did this because if a player is killed mid game he doesnt get rewarded by being re spawned at his own base with full health ready to defend his goal. Instead he would have to ski and rocket jump using much of his health if he wants another chance at stopping his opponent scoring. Extra points could be awarded the further away a player is from the basket if he makes the shot ala when beyond the 3 point line in basket ball.

I think experienced players would soon discover that the object of the game is not to kill your opponent (allowing him to re spawn with full ammo/health) but to push him off his route so he looses speed and cannot pursue fast enough. On this subject I would include areas within the bowl that act as sand bunkers that take away a players speed and do fall damage so that even though it is a legionnaires half bowl of speeding dream it still requires spacial awareness to maintain it. Ramps of various sizes and angles would be placed at the bottom of each base allowing for a variety of approaches, inventive players could also experiment with jumping to the higher platforms after spawning perhaps being able to make up the time they lost getting to the platform with the extra speed they gained with the height and perhaps being set up for their approach to their goal better after intercepting the ball.

each players base could have 3 platform heights for outrider, raider and sentinel that get consecutively higher to offset some of the advantage say outrider would have against sentinel in such a match. (we would need to experiment as to if this is a good idea or not)

An alternate to this I have considered is instead of dying and re spawning we could have a small time out where if a player looses all their health they cannot fire or fly or be fired upon until their health is full again giving their opponent a lead to make a shot at the goal.
2.jpg

I imagine the goal to be much like in basket ball with a back board. Shooting at the goal would operate in reverse using the tractor beam, pressing the button and releasing instantly would produce a minimum velocity throw while pressing and holding the button would increase the velocity of the throw. In contrast to traditional methods of this (tribes hand grenades) the ball is released as soon as the button is pressed and the velocity increase would operate as a push effect thru the tractor beam instead of holding down the button to increase power then releasing to then release the ball. I decided this a better way for increasing precision of shooting and timing.

This game type would also be good when there are few or no other players online as 1 player could practice routes and goal shooting until others arrive. This is not really a concern in the US where there are usually a lot of players but here in Australia I have seen servers remain empty for days and then as soon as a couple of vets join, the server becomes full in 20 minutes, showing me that their are many lurkers that dont want to join an empty map because their is nothing to do there. I think a game of this type uses the grace of movement and skiing skill which to me is legions greatest asset. It introduces a new set of skills and objectives beyond capture the flag and simple killing and is a sporting format instantly recognizable to all to bring further accessibility to legions to new players.

Some have mentioned this is like TR2 in tribes and rokkitball which of course is true however features like the tractor beam and using an actual balls physics of bouncing of the back board etc have big effects on enjoyment and depth of game play. A large aspect of basket ball is being able to intercept passes by 'standing' your opposing teams player and not letting him get to far away from you (increasing importance of roles in the game), given the vastly larger distances involved in applying the concept to legions an arms length isnt quite gona cut it like it does in 'vanilla' sports and standing by impotently when the ball is passed just because its a few meters away from you would just frustrate me. Especially if we did something like in Aussie rules where you can only travel a certain distance with the ball before incurring a penalty for not passing or bouncing the ball on the ground which stops the one man show off and enforces team play and means a lot more passing would happen. It also bring back the skill of remote detonation like the old RLS to a degree which is something I really liked in previous builds.
 

A2

Member
It's very, very like Rokkitball. Of course, with some very interesting ideas and changes. One main reason why I liked this is, if in case Rokkitball cannot be brought back, the ol' RB players will love playing this game mode.
 
while it is pretty rocket ball I consider RB very crude compared to what Im proposing but that always comes down to how its implemented in the end.
 

Hypnotoad

Member
This looks like it would be a great waste of time, in a good way ;)

If RB wasn't to come back then surely this would be the next best thing. Maybe not the same, but a good compromise.
 

ikke2902

Member
Rokkitball where we can kill? Perfect! :p
maube is it an idea to make more options.
Option1:
Normal sphere, you will be able to kill other player (tk is posible too)
Team sphere, you can kill the enemy, but you can't tk
Immortal sphere, the same as rockitball. You can block other players from capping,for example they will lose the ball if hit .

just an idea :)
 
Nice idea ovo. It reminds me of the "basketball" we used to play when we had small numbers and/or waiting for a pug. I don't see why this cannot incorporate flags. I mean, I'm kind of attached to the flag and this game could potentially help develop flag throwing and catching skills. Say for instance you had "vertical hoops" rather than the traditional horizontal hoops. You could still incorporate the grab ring with flags too. See below.

goals.jpg

Take into account that the "goals" would have to be more stratigatically placed than the ones on mirage, allowing for a variety of different routes etc. Hopefully theirs a decent map designer out there.

Excuse my shitty mouse drawn paint pictures. I feel guilty posting these after yours but hopefully they convey a message.

Hoops.jpg


Firstly figure 1. is the old' basket ball hoops we used to use on mirage. Figure 2 is a secondary design that could be used outside of the base. 2 The draw card of having vertical hoops, is that they could potentially be incorporated into a base of some sort and be used to "cap". So you could have the specialty made* maps you described but also have these "goals" put into capping-based maps*. Rather than simply running over the flag players would have to throw or fly through a hoop of some sort. This imho adds both extra difficulty and strategy to the game. Different cap routes would also obviously be needed.

*Capping based map ="Normal" map incorporating cap routes.
*Specialty map = Specialty map designed for this particular game.

Just an idea. Coffee time now. If I re-read this and face palm it will be deleted. :p
 
I'm guessing you guys had fun drawing stuff.
/ontopic
good idea, don't know about execution though

No, tbh. I hate drawing with the mouse. Could you kindly explain why the execution would be difficult and what problems are so inherent with this idea? All ideas need refinement and this can only occur when people give constructive criticism rather than vauge statements.
 
Well I just thought that couldn't people just keep spamming the tractor beam?

Why would that be a problem? It'd work in a similar way to the beam in rocketball. They had no problem with "spamming" as far as I'm aware. 0.o' Whoever is closer to the ball gets the ball when they fire the beam.
 

poiuyt580

Member
Exactly. So I could keep firing my beam and running away, and they would never be able to take the ball away. Unless there's a system that after every fire, the beam gets weaker and weaker.
 
Exactly. So I could keep firing my beam and running away, and they would never be able to take the ball away. Unless there's a system that after every fire, the beam gets weaker and weaker.

How would that be any different to people rabbiting in ctf? Perhaps if they shot the ball carrier, the beam would split and the ball/flag would fall? Anyway, weakening the beam over time would probably be a good idea too. Thanks. :D
 
Why would that be a problem? It'd work in a similar way to the beam in rocketball. They had no problem with "spamming" as far as I'm aware. 0.o' Whoever is closer to the ball gets the ball when they fire the beam.
welll Its who ever is quicker and more accurate with detonating their tractor beams grab radius close to the ball. Im still deciding on if I like the vertical goal arrangement as I think having to be above the goal to shoot if its horizontal is another skill to master, eg. no jets mean no shooting :) + the backboard comes into the game also. As always these things would need to be tested a bit.

Im liking this forum engine, makes more sense than IA's choice (apart from the white) good decision OD crew :)
 
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