Messages

101

General / REQUIRED READING FOR PLAYERS

« on: December 08, 2004, 10:29:48 AM »

Well if that's anything to go by I look forward to seeing the fruits of Archi and this community's labour...

If I'd been given an admin position by a server and had enough time to do it I'd have no complaint in fishing through what's been said to make a summary of the main points raised and the main arguments for and against them. Hell I'll even do it for you if needs be.

102

Off Topic / Random short story

« on: December 08, 2004, 09:19:05 AM »

Reminds me of a cross between Equilibrium and Brazil but only as a passing resemblance. It's a really engaging start, I'm prepared to wait for the next time you're really bored as long as it keeps the same quality.

P.S. [...] Friendship takes a back-seat to opportunity [...]

Ness: Corrected.

103

General / REQUIRED READING FOR PLAYERS

« on: December 08, 2004, 09:08:09 AM »

I think they mean the sort of people who'll take screenshots of their end-game scoretables to show off their 30-6 or so score. I used to do it in CS because it's actually a representation of skill* but in NS there's much more that makes a skilful player than simply his killcount.

[size=8]*I still have a screeny of the console showing how I killed 7/8 terrorists on cs_siege having started with just a USP and Kevlar - wish I'd known how to demo back then.[/size]

@Necro: I don't think the purpose of this thread is to talk about how people should follow the rules without question, that pretty much goes with out saying if you're going to play on someone else's server. The thing is, the community has been provided with place and occasion to air its views about the rules. The question is not should we follow rules, but how could the rules be cleared up to avoid mistakes by players who are unsure how to follow them and admins who are unsure how to apply them fairly.

104

Off Topic / Let's all chip in

« on: December 07, 2004, 11:40:55 AM »

NOTE: Please be aware that pricing for XXL sizes may be higher than smaller sizes. The actual price will be reflected in your shopping cart once the item is added.

There has to be some payoff for those extra 10m2 of cotton. Pity that woolly mammoths bit the bullet before we'd invented clothes to fit them eh?

105

Off Topic / The Onos

« on: December 07, 2004, 11:31:03 AM »

My quote:

I don't think you need to explain the explosion or the Hive/upgrade-status of the Onos because it's a fan fiction

I think you may have misread it...

Buh... even I didn't notice all that about perceived length and evenly spaced commas. :blink:

Face it you're a literary genius!

106

General / REQUIRED READING FOR PLAYERS

« on: December 07, 2004, 11:18:33 AM »

Give that man a cookie  B)

107

Off Topic / World Of Warcraft Release!

« on: December 06, 2004, 11:19:42 AM »

Clorfdale!

Aww me wants this game too much...

Some more stupid name suggestions that you should ignore:

The Fade Faction!

Phatteys United!

per exitus est (or whatever the Latin for ftw is!)

WoL: World of Lunixmonster (??!!)

108

Off Topic / The Onos

« on: December 06, 2004, 10:32:59 AM »

Nice story but I noticed the "omg hax" out of the corner of my eye when I was about 2 lines in so that part of the ending was spoilt for me. I don't think you need to explain the explosion or the Hive/upgrade-status of the Onos because it's a fan fiction, a story influenced by but not neccessarily possible in the NS Universe.

Otherwise I'd be the first to start talking about the explosion with the fallen pipes (oma gees @ trigger_hurts!) 2 hours previous (what version was it? oma gees @ 2 hour NS rounds!) and the way his legs felt like paper and his breath was faltering (oma gees, NS has no stamina bar!) and so on...

And that would be lame. BTW I liked the structure of the story, nice long paragraph for the relentless chase really adding to the tension and mimicking the perceived length of the pursuit. Also the commas spaced out evenly in each line could be said to paralell the thundering hooves of the Onos' continuous charge or possibly his unregulated and desperate breathing.

Next time make it longer  

109

General / REQUIRED READING FOR PLAYERS

« on: December 06, 2004, 10:01:19 AM »

How are these points (mp_bs 1/0, spawncamping kicks/bans and their rules) not valid? They clearly shape the number of and type of players you're going to get on LM. I'm not trying to insist on anything. At the end of the day I don't pay for the server, I'm not an admin and I'm not even a regular so I'm not expecting anyone to agree with me. I have a point of view on the matter, perhaps it's relevant or has merit, I obviously think so but I'm not asking anyone to change their beliefs. However there is the chance that LB might consider certain changes to enhance the gameplay on his NS server, and it's for this reason that I'm posting.

Scripts and spawncamping can be resolved by the server administration, it's how it is done that affects the community type and size. These are problems that affect the server, these are controllable by the admins and this is the place to discuss such matters as they fall into this category:

What can we do to bring in fresh players and regs, not being biased to one skill level or another?

At the end of the day LB will make the decision. I think if he has already made his mind up (in light of this thread) about certain issues then he should post his decisions here so that the discussion can focus on the other areas affecting the LM community.

[Edit] r4d has a really annoying name to quote if you try and include the clan tag :rolleyes:

110

General / Idea!

« on: December 06, 2004, 08:59:31 AM »

Couldn't agree more with the statement, but I don't see much evidence of it harming the Classic side of the game. If you prefer Classic, find a server that plays ns_maps.

This tangent seemed to originate from TAK's comment about wanting more HGs ("in packs of 2 or 3") because people forget that they've been researched. The Dev team have said they won't change game elements to cater for a player-side problem.

111

General / REQUIRED READING FOR PLAYERS

« on: December 06, 2004, 08:47:38 AM »

Seeing as in the upcoming version of NS sieges will no longer do damage to players, not only will Marines have to deal without the additional blast damage of a siege cannon [Ed - as in on players when assaulting a Hive] but they'll have a tougher time holding that all-important siege location.

This annoys me on how many people don't understand what that darned annoucement said. >_<
In b5 sieges do 165 blast damage. This means 165 damage to all players and double that for structures, 330.
In b6 sieges do 330 non-blast damage only to structures. The only change here is they don't hurt players, they still do the same damage to strutures >_<

What? Where exactly did I say or imply that? Oh right nowhere. OK  <_<

To clarify my point I was saying that Marines won't have the benefit of the Sieges virtually insta-killing Skulks who respawn and higher lifeforms who retreat to the Hive to heal up. Thanks for 'correcting' me though.

As for the -Craft example, I actually knew it was flawed befor I put it in and wanted to see how quickly someone jumped on it (pretty quickly eh?). What I will do is repeat and elaborate on what I said earlier. NS gives us guns, claws and two teams fighting for their very existance (as described in the backstory) and we're supposed to play fair. Yes, I do understand that it's not nice to waste people's time but I think spawncamping's fine as long as you're doing it to gain some advantage (be it time, resources, even morale). In my eyes spawncamping is only wrong if it's used for humiliation tactics. I like the way the server tries to split the better players between the teams, it's a really good measure that benefits every player. What doesn't benefit every player is asking the better or more experienced players to restrict their more 'agressive' tactics to suit a more nub style of play (just an opinion, possibly not shared by many).

Second, if someone spawncamps you in an rts, would you not say you find it mildly annoying that he's in the position to end the game but has instead decided to whittle your peon units while he builds a Tactical Fusion Cube/Dreadnought Army/Battlecruiser fleet in order to end the game in a humiliation win?

Imagine in one of the -Craft games you have found someones outpost [Ed - as in one of their outposts, not their main base] and you start attacking

this thread is like the damn UN, all talk and little to no action.

Maybe because this thread is for non-admins and because an in-depth discussion is usually the best way to find a solution?

Also since when did this community reform thread become soley about spawncamping?

Page 4, when Kodiac said this:

[...]They worked as a group of individuals, and that leads to spawncamping[...]

also three posts previous to that Sydney Carton mentioned it indirectly. It is relevant because one of the reasons people don't want to reg on LM is the nature of its spawncamping rules.

It's not because it makes that one player better, but it makes many of the other players worse.

If this and the following supporting argument are to be believed then LM is both promoting skill but also "castrating" it at the same time. Maybe this element of confusion could have something to do with why 'skilled' players don't/can't play here.

112

Off Topic / interview with a radical

« on: December 05, 2004, 11:08:46 AM »

Nein, das ist nicht gut Mutti

I think I could still breath if I managed to pull off a drawn out mule laugh... :mellow:

113

General / Idea!

« on: December 05, 2004, 10:46:40 AM »

You seem to be forgetting about a little thing called Combat Mode.

No matter how poor a gamemode you may think it is the Devs still have to balance the game for both ns_ and co_ modes, [Edit] and in Combat Xenocide is anything but unuseful. Primal Scream also rox many, many sox...

[snapback]35052[/snapback]

In fact, you describe the single biggest flaw in the design of co_, namely the completely, utterly stupid assumption that every little change implemented in one gametype has to go into the other one too. If something works fine in ns_ games but not in co_ games, for heaven's sake, only put it into ns_, and leave co_ alone. Same thing the other way around, of course.

[snapback]35149[/snapback]

Well they usally keep the weapon/ability/class/upgrade effects the same in both so as not to confuse new players. They want to do this to expand their playerbase. They want to do this because Flayra's creating a new company and he wants to draw as many current customers as possible to his new releases. Why? Once again it all boils down to money, and unfortunately sacrifices are frequently made in the quest for a greener life.

114

General / REQUIRED READING FOR PLAYERS

« on: December 05, 2004, 10:13:09 AM »

[Taboo]In my opinion spawncamping is perfectly acceptible[/Taboo]

Yeah I know what you're thinking, and I can feel the heat rising with every word I add, but I don't think there's anything wrong with spawncamping.

* Crispy dons flame retardent suit

Almost all forms of spawncamping have a counter either in this or the upcoming version of NS. If a team doesn't or hasn't put that counter into use then they have only themselves to blame for being spawncamped. Some examples:

Skulks on the IP
Commanders really need to learn how to build good bases. Most maps have plenty of space for a Commander to build a base in MS (relocations to key areas of the map have and need their obvious disadvantages). If the Com spaces the IPs out and leaves them far from the CC then either he(/her) or a member of the team coming through an IP has the opportunity to shoot down the spawncamper. Commanders should also be aware of which direction they get into the CC to make sure they exit facing important structures. In the event of a spawncamp the Com should know when to beacon his team in immediately and when to deal with the intruders himself.

Marines spawncamping
I only see this as a problem if it's prolonging the game. Usually if Marines get into an undefended Hive in numbers attacking it in a sensible formation then that Hive is doomed. The only reason spawncamping instead of finishing the Hive quickly is viable is because of RFK. Without this it just wouldn't make sense to spawncamp because any higher lifeforms would have more time (with this Hives extra ability available) to retaliate. Even with RFK this still remains a valid point, as any competant players will make their way back to the Hive to try to take out the Marines, or at least divert enough fire to allow their team to respawn. Seeing as in the upcoming version of NS sieges will no longer do damage to players, not only will Marines have to deal without the additional blast damage of a siege cannon but they'll have a tougher time holding that all-important siege location.

The more reduced examples of spawncamping can easily be countered with a bit of support and teamwork. As such I think the spawncamping rules are pretty mollycoddling. NS gives us guns, claws and teeth and the LM server gives us rules on when to use them... there's something very wrong with that. Obviously there are occasions when spawncamping genuinely ruins the game because it serves no purpose other than humiliation. I personally don't mind the concept of drivebys: if I'm spawning as a skulk and keep getting spawncamped then I'd be getting one of my team to deal with it.

For me the anti-spawncamp rules are geared too much towards the FPS side of the game and forget about legitimate RTS gameplay. Imagine in one of the -Craft games you have found someones outpost and you start attacking. They keep building units to try and counter/rebuild defences but you keep take them out every time they appear... or do you? Maybe there should be a rule where you aren't allowed to kill units less than 5 seconds old, otherwise OMGSPAWNCAMPFTW!!GG!!

In short for me spawncamping, while incredibly frustrating for anyone on the receiving end, is perfectly acceptible. Simply suppressing it is like keeping your kids on baby food because they could choke on anything larger. Life's not always easy, more particularly computer games aren't easy, in fact I hate it when they are. One of the best things about human vs. human games (multiplayer, football, even chess) is that we are adaptible to tough situations. If I had a vote in the matter I'd vote for a severe relaxing of the spawncamping rules, but I don't. What I do have is an opinion, thankyou for hearing it.

115

Off Topic / Gangster rap Appreciation

« on: December 04, 2004, 06:19:32 AM »

The lyrics got pwned by smileys  

116

General / REQUIRED READING FOR PLAYERS

« on: December 04, 2004, 05:48:43 AM »

Seemingly because that's one of the major issues. I can't see why, a good player is noticeably better when mp_bs is on, and there are plently of servers without BS. I think that not letting someone wear a clan tag because it's an irc channel as well is pretty poor. It really has no effect on the community unless a clan starts actively trying to recruit on the server. If you compare that to how many players it puts off (the majority of whom are put off because of the sillyness of the rule, not the rule itself) then you might recognise how ridiculous it is.

On the other hand it's not so hard to change your name (at least in the current version) to something without a clan name. In #cri.nner's case he could have just as easily changed it to Crinner (or Mr. Gunner) instead of trying to evade this rule.

All in all I think that the rule in itself gives off a sort of spoilt brat dictator attitude, trying to make people conform to rules that just don't do anything to help gameplay at all is worthless and gives off a bad vibe.

What's gonna happen when the new NS naming system is in full effect? Will anyone with a clanname containing an irc channel have to 'procure' another copy of HL to get a new NS name before coming onto the server? It sounds pretty silly to me, I'd suggest you review it's worth before it really starts putting players off.

117

Off Topic / The Legend Of Zelda(Working Title)

« on: December 03, 2004, 08:18:16 AM »

Looks. Hot.

Wants. More.

118

Off Topic / interview with a radical

« on: December 03, 2004, 08:12:18 AM »

OK some derogatory words for white people:

Honkies (the 70s response to and white equivalent of the N word)
Rednecks (used more and more to represent stupid or racist white people, far from its original meaning)
Wiggas (a white guy who has black mannerisms, or who takes an interest in black culture)
Whitetrash (economically substandard white people, a term which has more and more relevance as the US feels the economical backlash of the war while also experiencing  higher unemployment rates)

The only reason we don't take offense at these is because they are mere words which don't hold any other meanings. Whereas nigger (if you edit my post for saying that word in an intelligent debate then I'll never stop laughing) harks back to times where black people where bought and traded as not simply a lower class but a lower form of life. This is why the word has so much power because there is bitter historical truth in its origins, which will be ever present as long as we keep reminding ourselves of that fact.

Comments like "Corporate White America just ^^s people over" reinforces the concept of black people not holding positions of power. It's better not to refer to race or colour in any way when talking about their perceived role in society because it perpetuates a (perhaps long-gone) motif. It's not unlike the section in Bowling for Columbine where MM highlights the fact that the generic young, black male gets blamed for crimes he hasn't commited.

I do think that the US needs to start looking after its internal issues before going on any more crusades that only benefit the country as a whole and not its many citizens, but perhaps that's better left to another debate where I don't have to risk being banned or flamed for my opinions...

119

Off Topic / Career And Jobs

« on: December 03, 2004, 07:40:35 AM »

I'm a student who doesn't study, with no money and no job.















OK to explain I'm on a year abroad from my University (www.durham.ac.uk) doing French and Spanish. I should be working but finding a job in Barcelona is tough work. Around March I'll be going to France and then I'll be starting my final year at Uni in September/October.

After that... who knows!? As soon as possible I'll be submitting my first NS map to the community but I have high hopes of getting it official, or at least some international recognition. Following that I'm gonna keep at and also learn to make detailed, custom textures and Models (world, weapons, players). Ad finitum.

120

Off Topic / the 2.5 Gigapixel photo

« on: December 03, 2004, 07:32:01 AM »

This just adds to my current 5c4r3d1n355 due to reading an article in the Spanish PC Pro. Basically Microsoft and Intel have already built working camaras that in the near future will have enough memory to hold 75 years-worth of film.

Then there's the fact that some motherboards and CPUs in partnership with Microsoft will come complete with a dirty anti-piracy monitoring system that will stop you from editing or writing your own software or downloading wares.

 o_O