Spring RTS Engine

I take it, that their is no CTF Mod currently being worked on?

One person seemed to be, but the thread was last updated in '06

This is an RTS engine, move along.

O_o;

Just make one weasel, catch teh flag, GG

A "hold the hill" mod would be interesting though.

(5 FFA, only one winner)

rcdraco wrote:This is an RTS engine, move along.

Command & Conquer and Red Alert had CTF, and it worked quite well too.

Complicated: uh, a single llt, which you should build anyway, will stop that easily.

Yeah i remember RA had CTF, didnt much play it though.

Maybe someone could make CTF mode in spring (hardcoded) ? Cant be such hard job... few ifs here and there and draw a flag.

care to expound on the concept?

I think the easiest way would be to have the mod spawn a neutral unit using LuaGaia in the middle of the map.
Then, the flag capturer use a very fast 'capture command that links the 'capture' function performed on the flag and picking it up by making the unit a VERY light transport that can only pick up flags.
Then it could use that sabotage lua gadget that jk made (I think it was jk?) and enable it when it gets the flag. Then all it has to do is take the flag to the enemy flag holder, and it automatically 'sabotages' the flag holder if it has the flag on it.

i made one but it only works next version because i couldn't be arsed looking up the way lua functions work this version

it's pretty simple

woops i mean i did a "hold the hill" style thing

I remember age of empires had like a rickshaw that you had to capture and it could move on its own like some kind of ghost rickshaw, it was great, I forget where I was going with this.

AoE II, made of win?

It should be hardcoded, so we can play it with any mod...

neddiedrow wrote:AoE II, made of win?

no

I know how a CTF rts game could've been done (I'm the one who proposed the concept, though I never really went anywhere with it).

Basically, your starting unit is the flag. The flag is a factory, and is invincible - the only way you can destroy it is to capture it (alternatively, we can now use the S44/SWS method with a sort of auto-capture when you get close)

Flag builds units, units kill each other and try to take opponents flag.

The above version was intended for something similar to that mod where you controlled a mech and only that one mech (most of the time). An alternative version is where your flag can build a commander (and only one - I know how this can be done) and play continues as normal, only you have to capture the flag rather than 'destroy all enemies' (requires Commander Death = Game End to work mind)

All of this is completely ignoring LUA: with proper LUA we could probably have flags and bases where you have to pick up the flag and take it back and the flag can be dropped and so on.

EDIT: I'll put a minigame together using the Epic Legions stuff when I get home.

Lua is the way to go. could also implement the other game modes present in Arena Wars (Double Domination, Bombing Run) that way.

Only CTF RTS I ever played that actually *worked* was the one in StarCraft - and there was no building in that. Each player had a simple, tactical squad. Squads were specialized, so it was a TFC-style game.

Otherwise, most RTS (or king-of-the-hill, or capture-all-the-oogles) gameplay variants I see end up playing very similar to standard RTS play, since the objective is still, effectively, "smash the enemy base" - it's just the _reason_ you smash the enemy base is different. Either to get his flag, or to prevent him from accessing the beacon, or whatever.

It should probably be possible to make a pretty FPS-like CTF gametype with lua. Off the top of my head, you'd need to do the following things:

• Spawn a flag at each base:
• • Record its initial startpoint.
  • Make any enemy unit (or a set list, if you want to make only certain 'classes' capable of flagrunning) receive a load order to pickup the flag when they are within x distance
  • Force them to unload the flag on death (this can probably actually just be done with releaseheld=1, I think)
  • Respawn the flag at the base when a friendly gets within the x distance
  • Respawn the flag at the base and score a point when the unit carrying the flag comes within x distance of his own flag
• Spawn several units of varying types/classes at the beginning. Alternatively, use the deployment script so the user can choose his team loadout (all snipers, all rocket guys, whatever)
• Monitor the units and respawn them at their base a few seconds after they die. For the extra mile, create a GUI element that allows the user to re-arrange his team loadout so that when they respawn they do so to fit the modified loadout
• Create a method for allowing users to set the goal score, for example, 3 captures or 107 captures

If done right, I imagine it might need a couple quick custom maps, but anyone could create those. Ideally, the system would even be open to more than two teams if the map allows it, for some real CTF carnage

Dont forget to slow down the units speeds when captured flag.
So even then you could capture the flag with weakest unit (like flea), but it would move as slow as anyone else, but it dies faster.

I disagree with that. Though it would be wise to make it so that certain units (ie aircraft or things that are really hard to kill - mod defined, though) cannot pick up the flag. Preventing flag carriers to self-d or be transported would also be wise

I think the flag shouldn't be an actual unit, just a Lua effect that appears somewhere, when a unit gets close it moves to the unit and stays there until the unit dies.