OTA Mod Development

Molloy · Post by **Molloy** » 14 Feb 2006, 23:59

I haven't played the OTA mod very much yet but there are definately some areas that need improvement. Some of the aspects that really niggle from a starting point of view are:

-Friendly fire doesn't pass through your units. Making massed missle units and Samsons pretty irrelvant. You can argue this is a good thing (which it isn't) but it certainly isn't faithful to OTA.

-The bombers/aircraft really don't work anything like in real OTA.

-There are no fixed metal patches. Which means there can be no line bombing.

I know the engine doesn't necessarily allow all these things but If we could come up with a topic listing the mods shortfalls then we could go about having them addressed one by one. And eventually end up with an OTA that's like Cavedog's TA.

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » 15 Feb 2006, 00:11

Metal patches vary from map to map. Check out most of the OTA map remakes for examples of maps with OTA-style metal patches.

As for the other things - Friendly fire will be hard to fix. Really hard to fix.

It should be easy enough to fix the bombers, but also the way that planes work now makes mass swarms of anything (even hawks) no longer viable. Mostly because they take damage when they hit each other, and since they can't drive through each other anymore, 50 hawks can't merge into 1 superhawk.

Molloy · Post by **Molloy** » 15 Feb 2006, 00:42

Is it that hard to make the mod so that your own units can't harm each other? Doesn't seem that crazy to me. Just tell the game X can only collide with Y. X colliding with X doesn't register.

edit: who has developed the current OTA mod by the way?

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » 15 Feb 2006, 01:53

Zwszg made it, basically just by dumping all the OTA values into spring. Nothing special.

And unfortunatly, that kind of "X can't hit Y" deal can't be done by modders (at least, I don't know how it would be done..at all), only by tweaking the engine.

Das Bruce · Post by **Das Bruce** » 15 Feb 2006, 02:58

Dude wtf. Why are you asking for all the stupid things in OTA to be ported to spring?
You want the old bugs? Go play OTA.

Molloy · Post by **Molloy** » 15 Feb 2006, 12:49

Das Bruce wrote:Dude wtf. Why are you asking for all the stupid things in OTA to be ported to spring?
You want the old bugs? Go play OTA.

Because the bugs are an important part of the gameplay. Rocket jumping started as a bug in Quake. Now it's rare to see a deathmatch FPS that doesn't have it. Tons of the things that make TA such a phenominally enjoyable and timeless multiplayer strategy game are completely accidental and unintended by the designers.

I enjoy Spring but I don't like XTA, AA or UH. Hell, I never liked them in the old TA engine either. I enjoy the improved interface and graphics of Spring, is it stupid to be interested in a different style of gameplay?

clericvash · Post by **clericvash** » 15 Feb 2006, 14:10

Molloy, shutup. This isn't TA this is Spring.

Bugs are not important part of gameplay they are just that, a bug.

Post by **Tim Blokdijk** » 15 Feb 2006, 14:12

Don't be scared of Bruce he won't bite, he just barks (a lot).
Once he gets to know you a little better he accepts you as part of the pack.

clericvash · Post by **clericvash** » 15 Feb 2006, 15:35

Tim Blokdijk wrote:Don't be scared of Bruce he won't bite, he just barks (a lot).
Once he gets to know you a little better he accepts you as part of the pack.

n00b

j5mello · Post by **j5mello** » 15 Feb 2006, 15:42

wow guys that was great the way u s&!@ all over his idea. Honestly if you don't like the idea just stay the f#@$ away from the thread.

Molloy · Post by **Molloy** » 15 Feb 2006, 16:22

Christ, this forum has some really charming people on it. I haven't encountered this kind of ignorance in quite a while. I'd presume there's something in the rules about treating other forum goers with respect - you two are crossing the line. Watch your fucking manners.

As I said with Quake and rocket jumping - bugs are part of the gameplay. They weren't intended but they make for a richer gameplay experience.

Line bombing stops Bertha cannons from being too dominant. The missle forests (which don't work because of friendly fire) stop Flashes from being too dominant. They're both integral features to OTA being balanced, even if the creators didn't actually intend it. Without the "bugs" OTA is broken.

NOiZE · Post by **NOiZE** » 15 Feb 2006, 16:40

well that's your point of view of course :D

Molloy · Post by **Molloy** » 15 Feb 2006, 17:17

Yeah, it's bloody strange more people don't share it. Thinking that making the OTA mod more like OTA would be a good idea. Seems pretty common sensical to me.

NOiZE · Post by **NOiZE** » 15 Feb 2006, 17:18

we are already converted to XTA/AA

so..

Torrasque · Post by **Torrasque** » 15 Feb 2006, 18:00

Molloy wrote:Yeah, it's bloody strange more people don't share it. Thinking that making the OTA mod more like OTA would be a good idea. Seems pretty common sensical to me.

Because a lot of people have tried AA/XTA and found them at least as much fun, tactic and certainly more balanced than OTA. So, there is no need of OTA mod.

BvDorp · Post by **BvDorp** » 15 Feb 2006, 18:13

MM... Though the image at the top of this page states that:

TA Spring is a project aiming to create a new RTS. The current goal is to make it run content from the game Total Annihilation'.

In my opinion, loads of ppl here still want this, so I can't blame Molly for wantint that too

So ppl, that attitude was kinda f*cked up, please behave.

OT: Is there any way the OTA mod could be closer to what it's supposed to be? Mod developers, devs?

FizWizz · Post by **FizWizz** » 15 Feb 2006, 21:15

thank you BvDorp. There's nothing wrong with someone wanting to be able to play their own Spring battles the way they would like.

Post by **Tim Blokdijk** » 15 Feb 2006, 23:18

Well, there is a problem with making a TA copy and that is the legal problem.
If it gets to popular and starts impact sales, Atari can and probably will send a CaD order.
That is why I think the Xect v/s Mynn mod is so important.

Chocapic · Post by **Chocapic** » 15 Feb 2006, 23:41

Tim Blokdijk wrote:Well, there is a problem with making a TA copy and that is the legal problem.
If it gets to popular and starts impact sales, Atari can and probably will send a CaD order.
That is why I think the Xect v/s Mynn mod is so important.

there are still probably other mods that are legal too

SinbadEV · Post by **SinbadEV** » 16 Feb 2006, 01:26

I don't understand why you people are so dumb... missile forests are what balence out brawlers in the orriginal game... it makes perfect sense for advance towers to be able to avoid shooting eachother, and I don't understand why no-one realises that it was a good feature, the only reason people don't whine about it more is because you all harass anyone who does.

Spring RTS Engine

OTA Mod Development

OTA Mod Development