ironman bomb path setup?

WolfKit

L3: Member
Jun 26, 2012
128
83
For my contest entry, I have decided to make an ironman (endurance) mission. I started out copying what valve did for the mannworks ironman mission. The major component is having the pop file trigger a different entity on wavespawn. This entity disables the regular bomb an enables another with a reset timer, but it also enables a different setup for the bomb path. Most of the nav_avoids for the bomb path are disabled as well as all of the holo arrows, other than the four nav_avoids closest to the hatch which are alternated in pairs on a 45 second timer such to switch which side of the hatch the*bomb carrier approaches from (while still having to pass under the little bridge connecting the hatch area to the spine). However, since this entity only fires at the start of each wave, the holo arrows are still visible before the first wave starts.
This confused people when I tested my map. They didn't realize that the arrows didn't mean anything. The engineer would set up on the side the arrows pointed to only for the bomb carrier to take the other side. When we beat the first wave and the arrows didn't appear, people were confused, and I couldn't readily explain it, which means there is a problem.
One solution is that I could do the bomb path like a regular mission would. This would eliminate the issue with the arrows and there would be no confusion. But I'm worried that just using one path during such a long wave might get a bit boring, and players might get settled in a bit too much. I assume that's the reasoning behind why valve did what they did with the ironman set up in mannworks.
Or, I could just kill the arrows from the map altogether. I could still keep arrows by the hatch and alternate the along with the path. This would only work as long as I don't make any regular missions for the map though.
Or, I could set it up so that the arrows don't lie and the path is switched whenever the bomb gets reset by the timer. An announcer line whenever that happens would help prevent confusion when the path switches, and it would also force players to stay on their toes. (I'm leaning towards this one)
Or I could do some mixture of the above.
Some way for an entity to find out which mission is loaded before the first wave starts would also be great, but since valve didn't do that it probably can't be done. (Or valve was just lazy. Surely they could have programmed in an option for the pop file to trigger an entity on map/pop file load)
What do you guys think?
 

Fish 2.0

L6: Sharp Member
Nov 22, 2012
324
262
set it up so that the arrows don't lie and the path is switched whenever the bomb gets reset by the timer. An announcer line whenever that happens would help prevent confusion when the path switches, and it would also force players to stay on their toes
 

WolfKit

L3: Member
Jun 26, 2012
128
83
But then I guess there is the issue of how to show which patch was changed to, or do I even need to?
Valve has the arrows disappear when the wave starts (because they block some visibility I'm guessing) and then just kinda expect you to remember which path the robots are taking. Which works okay until you start switching paths partway through the round.
I could expect the players to just figure it out (Valve certainly did with the mannworks ironman, but I didn't figure it out until I stared at mannworks entities for a few min) or I could set up something with dynamic props. I suppose there is a nice weathervane prop shown in the MvM trailer.
 

Fish 2.0

L6: Sharp Member
Nov 22, 2012
324
262
But then I guess there is the issue of how to show which -snip for the love of spam-

I guess testing will reveal all. I would say leave it without the arrows and if people say it is too hard and unpredictable then try it will the arrows.

I would imagine some of the fun is not knowing where the bomb was headed. Also (if possible) adding many different tank paths could make for an interesting game.