Melee Fort

[The Asylum]

An early solution to the defensive problem with RCTF Melee Fort:

May not be the most glamourous, but it should still be effective. BLU is supposed to take the flag (an actual flag, assuming I can get the model replacement to work right), and take it to these crates, "capturing" it by taking to the the side that's been opened up. Why BLU would be so concerned about stuffing flags into crates, I don't know. This is TF2, after all. (The same could be said about just about any popular PC multiplayer shooter. Whoop de doo, you stole the enemy's flag. Their morale is no doubt so shattered that they'll surely surrender if you steal enough of them!)

Only from this side can the flag be planted, so I"m hoping that'll even things up for RED's efforts to defend against the somehow devastating action of dropping a flag into a crate.

 

[The Asylum]

Drew out some plans for RCTF Melee Fort, and the current model has only the Slobberknocker Storehouse (as pictured above) and RED's courtyard as cap zones. RED spawns from their courtyard stage as they would in CP Melee Fort, whereas BLU spawns from what was the RED-only mini-stage room in their base. (Which means I'll only have to do one additional titantron! Yay!) Once the Storehouse is capped, BLU's spawn will move up into the traincar that makes up the makeshift ring (the foremost forward spawn in CP Melee Fort)

But on to more important things *snort*, I'm going to go with either Steppenwolf's Born To Be Wild or the Scorpion's Lonesome Crow as themes. Again, if you've got something better, let me know

ETA: FUN FACT: I was going to use Neil Young's Southern Man or Saxon's Stallions of the Highway, but they just wouldn't stop their epic shredding

 

[The Asylum]

I understand the reason behind the introduction of the Amputator in the Medieval Update. Medics are of course supposed to heal people. Without any other means by which to heal teammates, they're just about useless. Even though it has no real downside, they're still extremely vulnerable to Hunstsman Snipers.

In a strict melee-only setting though? No. Over the last few builds I've noticed that Amputator Medics were able to effectively lock down the bridge cap of CP Melee Fort by standing up on the walkway and spamming the Amputator taunt, pretty much safe from harm by anybody. It's high time I put an end to all that.

 

[The Asylum]

le sigh. 5 months without a breaking update and I'm too busy to enjoy it. Life is a cruel mistress.

But enough moping. RCTF Melee Fort is pretty much done, and we're just waiting on Valve to break Melee Fort again before I roll out the A11 builds. Meet the Pyro shouldn't take too much longer now....

...right?

 

[The Asylum]

No doubt I'm not the only one who is intrigued by this new "Doomsday" gametype. I make no promises, but there just may be a new member of the Melee Fort family...

 

[Tekku]

You got that TC melee or not melee map to work on! So no doomsday for you.

 

[The Asylum]

but it looks so cool

 

[The Asylum]

Yup. The update breaks Melee Fort.

Six whole months! Why can't all of Valve's content updates be this spordaic?

 

[The Asylum]

Those holding their breath for an sd_melee_fort may wish to cease immediately. There will indeed be an sd_melee_fort, but it will take some time remodelling to adequately acommodate- I'm gonna have to build a whole new area, and other things that may affect some other versions as well. If this six-month drought of updates was an anomaly, then you can hope to see sd_melee_fort in the A12 build in two months or so.

What else am I doing with the MForts? Learning how to use blender. I'll leave it at that for now.

But now comes the update you all (and I) have been waiting for: Melee Fort A11, with brand-new RCTF!

BLU's spawnroom, taking the place of what was RED's dressing room in the CP version.

The first point that the flag- i mean, briefcase, must be taken to.

Only acessable from one side (by non-Scout classes.)

The last point.

The weapons sheds get a new door, so now they're more noticeable when opened.

GENERAL CHANGES
- Modified the weapon shed doors so they're more noticeable when opened
- RCTF Melee Fort is born! The only new Titantron features the Sniper with The Scorpions Lonesome Crow
- Compatibility for the Pyromania! Update

ARENA CHANGES
- Two new spawnpoints inside the toll booths, and three in the dressing rooms.

CP CHANGES
- Took down the walkway outside the storehouse

CTF CHANGES
- Fixed an issue with the weapon stripper

DM CHANGES
- We're back to the nighttime thunderstorm. I figured, just because CTF Melee Fort is snowy at noon, doesn't mean that it's taking both the winter AND the daylight theme.

DUEL CHANGES
- nothin foo' its perfect

KOTH CHANGES
- see DUEL

PLR CHANGES
- Fixed issue with players getting stuck in the payload when going over the bridge while being pushed forward by the payload

DL: http://gamebanana.com/tf2/maps/166939

 

[The Asylum]

GREAT SUCCESS!

Finally got a chance to play RCTF on a reasonably populated server. Some issues that I think need addressing:

- Defending time. 5 minutes max per cap went on a bit longer than I thought it would play out as. Thinking of making 3 the upper limit instead.

- Flag return time. Right now it's the standard 60 seconds. I think it could stand to be cut down to 30.

- Setup time. Right now it's at 13 seconds, might make it something like 20 to get slower RED classes like Soldier closer to the BLU spawn

- Signs. I completely forgot to tell players where to go with the intel :\

Other than that, it's fundamentally sound. Now on to SD Melee Fort....

 

[The Asylum]

Me and my stupid big mouth.

Friends, this may be the end of Melee Fort as we know it.

Recall if you can the builds prior to A7. The single most important change that A7 introduced were the resupply lockers, cleverly tucked away behind walls so that no unathorized weapon would dare enter the sight of an opposing player. Cloak and Dagger Spies and Caber Demos were no longer forced to quickly change classes for their cloaks to recharge or Cabers to be restored, and thus extending potential record-breaking kill streaks. And I was so happy. As I've said many times before, though my funmaps may be worthless shit sometimes, I always strive for them to look as good and play as good as official Valve maps, deviating as little as possible from established convention. The resupply lockers were a long time coming, and finally, with the release of A7, to me at least, it felt like all the pieces had come together at last. That may be about to change.

A serious exploit has been brought to my attention, and unlike so many other problems in Melee Fort's long and sordid history, I can't simply wave the magic wand of weapon stripping to make it go away. That last piece of the puzzle is now it's undoing. And no, I'm not telling you how to do it.

I am now faced with a dilemma. I have three options at this point:

1. Eliminate the resupply lockers, and screw over CnD Spies and Caber Demos.
2. Force everything to run on Medieval Mode, and sacrifice the weapons shed gimmick that I love so, so dearly.
3. Package Melee Fort and it's future releases with a plugin.

Well the third one's not so bad, right? True, it would fix all my problems. But, and I have said this too many times, requiring admins to install more plugins is a hassle I never want to impose on them. It's my philosophy- no, my duty, as a mapmaker that the shit I make works, period.

Neither of these options are really palatable to me, but one must be chosen if Melee Fort is to survive.

This bears repeating:

VALVE, Y U NO LIKE MELEE FORT

 

[The Asylum]

Had a talk with a few other places about this, and the general consensus was getting rid of the resupply lockers. To be honest, I would have chosen that without hesitation. The trade-off with that, of course, is the lines of health and ammo, which looks really tacky and just outright unprofessional. Yes, even though it's Melee Fort.

Or I could just wait for Valve to fix it, but I'm better off waiting for Shenmue III.

 

[The Asylum]

Ordinarily, I would be mad.

Ordinarily, I would be sobbing as I wonder why Valve hates Melee Fort so god damn much.

Ordinarily, this surprise update just over a MONTH since the last one would have broken Melee Fort.

But hey, you can't break what's already broken, amirite?

tf_weapon_cleaver lets the new Scout secondary into the Melee Forts. What better time than now to fix the crippling resupply locker exploit? No, I haven't finished SD Melee Fort yet, but a new patch-up version of Melee Fort is coming very soon.

VALVE, Y U LIKE MELEE FORT?

 

[Ælement]

 

[The Asylum]

done

http://gamebanana.com/tf2/maps/167654

Since this is just a minor fix, it doesn't warrant the A12 suffix. Instead, we get A11a.

CHANGES FROM A11

-- GENERAL CHANGES
- Added compatibility with the Sleeping Dogs update
- Fixed an exploit with the resupply lockers

-- RCTF CHANGES (when in Rome...)
- Intel return time is now 30 s.
- Added hybrid CP/CTF HUD
- Max time limit is 4 min. Starting time is 3 min.
- Lengthened Setup time to 45 s.
- SIGNS SIGNS SIGNS. Now BLU team should know where to go.

 

[The Asylum]

Finally.

Since I first introduced them, I've been having a nightmare and a half getting the Titantrons to work the way I wanted them to. Push button, sound plays, screen turns on, easy concept, right? Well of course, the only way to get the stupid music loud enough to hear was to stack multiple ambient_generics on top of each other and scatter them around the courtyard, thus playing the same mp3 20 times at once. Some people's machines could handle it easily.

This post is good news for those others.

Tonight I've finally figured out how to get soundscapes working in an automatic on/off setup. Not only that, but I've also figured out how to get it to function just like the Titantrons did before, only with no giant ambient_gereric clusterfuck. So that means there's only ONE, count it, ONE sound source for the theme music, and it's volume is just right.

This is a feat that rivals the moon landing in significance.

brb, celebratory ice cream

 

[The Asylum]

Interesting...

One thing that becomes apparent from these new comics (Other than Valve turning TF2 into Monday Night Combat) is that there's yet another new game mode on the way.

And yes, yyler, I am fucking thinking about it.

The problem, of course, should be apparent. Supposedly these robots are much tougher than a regular old TFBot, and others whom which the only viable form of attacking are at a long range. Will we be able to limit the kinds of robots we see, or their numbers? Their weapons? Their behaviors? Some things for me to ponder over the next two days.

As for SD Melee Fort, it's nowhere near completion, as you'd expect. That brilliant new idea I'm working on for a Chooser may be going out the window with this update as well.

valve, y so many updates

 

[The Asylum]

brain stop getting ideas i cant keep up with you god damn it stop already

So all the different versions have different environments- Arena at sunset, CTF in winter, PLR at night, etc. Well, what if it didn't stop there? What if all the different versions had different settings as well?

Bear with me for a moment. As it is, the Melee Forts are the standard midwestern theme- two forts built in the middle of nowhere. What if the Arena mode was kept as-is, while the DM mode was all indoors, and looked like Turbine? What if the CTF mode was still set in winter, but had the alpine theme, with alpine-style buildings? It would be the same layout, but aesthetically each version would be totally different- and not just different weather effects or different skyboxes.

Obviously it's unneccesary- CP and CTF Well for instance has no such stylistic differences, and no matter which version you're playing, you always know "Hey, this is Well!" I don't want people to start thinking that they're playing a totally different map or something

brain why do you do this to me

 

[Ælement]

Inb4 Asylum invents a way to have multiple skyboxes in each map.

 

[The Asylum]

A map within a map within a map

M A P C E P T I O N