Mannpower Mode Beta

[tf2.com]

As part of this year's Smissmas Update, we'd like to Introduce Mannpower Mode, a new beta game mode for TF2! There's enough to tell you about it that we thought it deserved its own post.


We want to stress a very important word in that last sentence: beta. All of the art is temp and all of the game mechanics are in flux. This is an unpolished beta game mode we're releasing specifically so we can get playtest feedback from everybody and improve it moving forward. So dive right in! Your feedback will be heard and incorporated into the development process.

What's Mannpower Mode?


It's an in-beta CTF-like game mode with grappling hooks and nine different types of powerups. (A lot of this will change during this mode's development. We'll be tweaking rules and adding/subtracting powerups as we go.) It's currently playable in modified versions of Ctf_foundry and Ctf_gorge.


Mannpower alters a few game rules. For one, random critical hits have been disabled. Additionally, teams won't be able to capture the enemy flag unless your flag is at your base. (When your flag is away from your base, you can touch it to instantly return it to base.)


What was that part about grappling hooks?


Right, that! There's a grappling hook available to all classes in Mannpower Mode. You can equip it in your action slot and use it by switching to slot 6. Press fire to shoot out a hook. As soon as it hits something, it’ll start to reel you in. Release the fire button when you want to detach.


You mentioned powerups?


Yep, there are currently nine with more on the way. Note that these are works-in-progress, so the specifics of these power-up boosts might (and probably will) change as the mode improves:

• Strength: Double damage for all weapons. Distance damage fall-off immunity.
• Resistance: Reduces incoming damage by 50%. Immune to critical hit damage multiplier.
• Vampire: All damage dealt is returned as health. 25% damage resistance. Max health increased by 40%.
• Warlock: 50% of damage received is reflected back to the attacker (reflected damage cannot directly cause death). Max health increased by 50%.
• Haste: Double weapon firing and reload rate. Double clip size and max ammo count. Movement speed increased by 30%.
• Regeneration: Ammo, health and metal regenerate. Rate of health regeneration inversely proportional to max health.
• Precision: Greatly reduced bullet spread. Distance damage falloff immunity. Rocket and grenade travel speed increased 250%.
• Agility: Movement speed increased by 50%. Grapple speed increase. Jump height increased by 80%. Instant weapon switch.
• Critical Hit: temporary full crit power for 30 seconds. Respawns in the same place after 60 seconds.

Mannpowers exist in the world and can be picked up by all classes. When picked up they add abilities and enhancements to the player carrying it. Mannpowers can be dropped at any time by hitting your "dropitem" key, and will drop automatically when the player carrying it is killed. Note that you can only carry one at a time, and that you can't take powerups into respawn rooms.


How do I participate?


Click on Play Multiplayer, enable Play Beta Maps checkbox, and then choose Mannpower Mode.


Why is this in beta?


We would like to include the community early in the development process to gather feedback as we try variations in the map layout and game play mechanics.


How can I help the development process?


Play Mannpower Mode! Playing and providing feedback is the biggest way you can help us develop this game mode. Having servers full of users interacting with each other is the quickest way to isolate and fix gameplay problems.


How do I submit feedback?


Write us directly or post in the TF2 Steam Forum.


Are there Mannpower Beta servers? Can we host our own?


Yes and Yes. We're running a set of official Valve Beta servers using quick play matchmaking. Community server owners are welcome to host too.




Source: TF2.com

 

[Micnax]

NEW GAMEMODES

And something that builds off CTF too!

 

[SSX]

CTF, Man-Power, Robot Destruction.

Something tells me Valve has a hard on for CTF...

 

[Doktor Richter]

I wonder how long they've been working on/concepting this. I remember playing something a lot like this (powerups, grappling hooks) in Quake 2 a long time ago.

 

[Egan]

The commands are:
tf_powerup_mode 1 (required for grapple hooks on custom maps it seems)
tf_grapplinghook_enable 1
tf_grapplinghook_follow_distance 64
tf_grapplinghook_max_distance 10000
tf_grapplinghook_move_speed 750
tf_grapplinghook_projectile_speed 1500

 

[Zed]

Needs quite a bit of work before it becomes close to playable IMO

Grappling hook needs to pull you in faster than you fall, for one.

Powerups need to wear off eventually. If you have the Winger equipped and you get Haste, you're pretty much impossible to stop.

You should also be able to drop powerups on your own.

Pulling other players towards you by grappling onto them would be fun.

Some opinions.

 

[obsidiian]

Grappling hook is ridiculously easy to abuse once you learn how it works

 

[Moonrat]

Some power ups are way too good, while others are useless

 

[Prestige]

powerups seem like a cool as hell idea for tf2 if they were balanced properly

 

[EArkham]

Is it just me, or does loading up the mannpower maps on a local server force everything fullbright?

 

[PMAvers]

You should also be able to drop powerups on your own.

You can. Try the drop key, the one that you use to drop the intel when you're carrying it.

 

[BigBros]

One of you said that the grappling hook needs to be faster. In IMO, it needs to be slower. The power ups and the grappling hook have made one of the unbalanced things about CTF, being scouts, even more overpowered. Now, instead of just being able to run fast, they can also fly, making them quite difficult to hit and allows them to zoom past enemies unnoticed. I have found that the hit boxes with the grappling hook have been messing up a bit, which of course is a beta thing.

I think that there is no way that they will really ever balance this new Mannpower gamemode with Scout and the Grappling Hook.

The grappling hook was fun to use, but difficult for new players to learn how to use, etc. Over the few hours of playing as well, I found that I only saw a few (5-6) non-scout captures, with 30-40+ scout captures, most of which being the scout capturing and then grappling onto a building, flying away from the slower moving classes.

 

[henke37]

So, we are going to hold private tests of the "new" maps later today right?

Anyway, I am a little surprised that there is a cvar instead of an entity to control the graplinghooks.

 

[Lampenpam]

Is it just me, or does loading up the mannpower maps on a local server force everything fullbright?

Same here, but in STAR_'s newest video it was lit properly. I suppose Valve was too lazy too compile LDR lighting. gg volvo. How about you fix that my PC loads for around 3 minutes when I switch from a LDR to a HDR map.

 

[chemelia]

I think the biggest problem with this is the same case of an advantage loop that makes random crits so hated. Whichever team gets all 8 powerups usually wins, as they then have the power to bully the other team and keep all the special powers. Those who have the powerups are obviously way harder to kill, so they can't lose the powerups. This leads to the losing team having to refer to boring(in my opinion) tactics such as building uber in spawn.

A solution could be to assign every player a random powerup on spawn(while still letting people pick up others'), and then keep the amount of powerups equal to the amount of players in the server at all times.

 

[puxorb]

When I first saw that there was a new gamemode, I was excited like anyone else. But then I actually read the blog post and tried it out in game myself.


So....powerups to counter different powerups? Grappling hooks? What even is this mess?
Isn't the point of TF2 to make sense? To have classes that naturally counter each other? This is the most broken pile of shit I've ever seen!

I'm not saying this because I watched the STAR_ or Jerma985 videos or anyone else's. This was already my opinion on the gamemode.





You want feedback Valve? Abandon this, its stupid. Its shit. It makes no sense, its going to require an entirely new mapping style, and honestly, its too complicated. What is game REALLY NEEDS is to make sense again.

I'm not sure what type of game this gamemode reminds me of but it is about the furthest thing from class-based first person shooter.

 

[Egan]

It is too difficult to catch up the flag carrier. That even seems to sometimes be a problem in regular CTF, only way to counter is lucky shots or traps - but in this mode? With grapple hooks? A solution might be to make it that the flag is 'heavy' and while carrying it you can't use your grapple hook - making it so we have advantages over the flag carrier could be interesting.

The straight line grapple hook is cool, and I'm sure it's already being slowly learned by the community so changing it would be tough (not to mention it pushing any physics bounds already), but having it so it launches out of you at an arc and carries you at an arc like a swing rope would be hella-cool. Currently, if I'm chasing someone down, I want to get above them or to some perch point, but if I want to do that with the grapple hook I am no longer aiming at them. While that could be considered 'a good thing because you have to make a choice of what you want to do' I don't enjoy that choice, and I'd rather be able to aim at my target and instead learn a long-range arc of the grapple hook and time its shots to get around my opponent. The arcing grapple hook might also look more natural since currently it fires out in a dead straight line for tens of meters (I know I know, realism isn't really a thing in TF2 but physics).

I'd really like to see the grapple hook and maybe mannpower on arena mode, and am hoping to try that on watergate if valve allows us to use mannpower on custom maps.

 

[Idolon]

I'm fond of the idea of powerups, but the current method doesn't lend itself well to balance. If powerups were somehow given to the losing team, it'd be probably a lot more fair/fun.

Also, maybe disable the grappling hook while carrying the flag.

 

[ToxicRave]

...if valve allows us to use mannpower on custom maps.

Just type "tf_powerup_mode 1" in the command console and you're good to go.

When it comes to adding power-ups onto a map, there are two different entities. "item_powerup_temp" is the crits power-up while "info_powerup_spawn" are the spawn locations for all the other power-ups. Also, if you add more then eight spawn locations for the normal power-ups then the placements of said power-ups are randomized.

 

[Egan]

Just type "tf_powerup_mode 1" in the command console

Yeah that's part of what I mean - that we need to use commands to get the map to function properly - which will last through to other maps on the server as far as I know. Would be better to just have a logic_powerups entity that enables it for the map only (with all the grapple hook settings would be great).