Spring RTS Engine

I know this system was (probably still is) online for TA. I don't know it's name, but i came down to this, which i think might be nice for the future of the online TA: Spring:

THE GALAXY / UNIVERSE:

this place excists out of liek more than 100 planets. Lets say, 500, maybe more can be added when more online players join this CONTEST/BATTLE.

Every planet has one, or more maps to play on. These maps must be conquered. In the beginning of this epic Battle, the planets will be devided into blue and red (Arm & Core) ownerships.

Then battles must be fought in order to obtain more and more planets!

Does anyone know the name of the system i described here, that excisted for TA? And what do you'll think of a online massive struggle, epic battle for the universe!?

Pheonix works was the client. I reckon a risk style map would be better but this is still fun.

It was a Boneyards thing, I remember that much... It would be really cool if we could have something like this for Spring. Might help some technically excellent but less frequently-played maps get some airing too, if you have a 1:1 map:planet ratio...

There's a lot that could be done with this, but it occurs to me that the easiest might be a King of-style system. Get the galaxy map, name and assign maps to each planet, get players to pick sides and keep lists of everything in the Wiki. The version tracking makes it pretty hard to mess with the lists. "Bigger" planets allow for (but don't demand) larger games (up to 4v4, say), smaller ones have lower limits. If you want to challenge for a planet, you post it in the game name or, if you're having trouble finding people, on the Wiki. Post a replay somewhere when you take a planet, so everyone can see what happened if they want to, and update the Wiki.

Or something!

Is anyone actually interested in playing this? If we can get, say, four people per side to start with, I can see about setting it up on the Wiki. We could also see about getting a channel set up for it, for issuing of challenges, etc. Maybe one for the whole game-type and one for each side?

The Wikipedia article on the Boneyards talks about how the system used to work.

i would be interested. the only problem i see is that there a lot more Arm players then there are Core. I know that there are a lot more Core players then before but its still uneven. i imagine that if we get 4 players for each side, which shouldn't be too hard, we can start it off like you said.

Why not just have clan battle instead arm/core thing. I am sure Gen would join such thing :).

wizard8873 wrote:i would be interested. the only problem i see is that there a lot more Arm players then there are Core. I know that there are a lot more Core players then before but its still uneven. i imagine that if we get 4 players for each side, which shouldn't be too hard, we can start it off like you said.

Well, you'd have to set up the rules so that having more players on a side wasn't really an advantage.

Something like this would be really ubercool integrated into the client. like this MASSIVE map with different planets, you could pick "quick game", pick a planet on the map which is in the border of territory, and the game would pick a random map that fits into the climate.
We just need a way to report to the lobby who was the winner of the game..

But yeah, that would rock if someone had time to code it.

This would really rock.

Anyone know diplomacy?

I could be a cool idea too :
Each clan has some (a few) units. And can make only one move per day at a fixed time. (there could be different server for time zone)
When 2 ennemi units want to go to the same location, there is a fight.
You have to worrie to not be alone and find allies to, because 2vs1 could be possible.

Of course, there would be only a few match per day, and the clan should give them to the more appropriate player.

Torrasque wrote:Anyone know diplomacy?

I could be a cool idea too :
Each clan has some (a few) units. And can make only one move per day at a fixed time. (there could be different server for time zone)
When 2 ennemi units want to go to the same location, there is a fight.
You have to worrie to not be alone and find allies to, because 2vs1 could be possible.

Of course, there would be only a few match per day, and the clan should give them to the more appropriate player.

I disagree, because then newbies would never be able to participate, and that's not cool.

It would be really awesome to see galactic war implemented in Spring. I can only hope it comes to pass.

Forboding Angel wrote:

Torrasque wrote:Anyone know diplomacy?

I could be a cool idea too :
Each clan has some (a few) units. And can make only one move per day at a fixed time. (there could be different server for time zone)
When 2 ennemi units want to go to the same location, there is a fight.
You have to worrie to not be alone and find allies to, because 2vs1 could be possible.

Of course, there would be only a few match per day, and the clan should give them to the more appropriate player.

I disagree, because then newbies would never be able to participate, and that's not cool.

Oh, it was not inteded to be for newbies, but for clan with experienced, motivated and some *ponctual players.

The idea from IceXuick if fun, but there is no really strategy in the metagame.

* not really the right word

punctual

another thing: what mod?
the original xta? or AA?

or use several mods? 1/2 AA and XTA (on planets) and some FF in open space?

M@n1@c wrote:another thing: what mod?
the original xta? or AA?

or use several mods? 1/2 AA and XTA (on planets) and some FF in open space?

just use AA.. more balanced that way

EDIT: and of course FF in space.

If we want TA-canon, then there wouldn't be any space combat, as Commanders would move from planet to planet using Galactic Gates.

Egarwaen wrote:If we want TA-canon, then there wouldn't be any space combat, as Commanders would move from planet to planet using Galactic Gates.

Maybe not all planets have galactic gates on them?

And what I'd really like to see is the ability for people to set up there own, with custom backgrounds, mod/map per area and such.

Das Bruce wrote:

Egarwaen wrote:If we want TA-canon, then there wouldn't be any space combat, as Commanders would move from planet to planet using Galactic Gates.

Maybe not all planets have galactic gates on them?

TA's (admittedly largely irrelevant, but still fun) fluff text is kind of ambiguous about that. I know the OTA campaign had you following a kind of "back door" route into your enemy's territory, but I seem to remember hints about other kinds of space travel. I'd think it'd be best to keep each "universe" uniform mod-wise, to eliminate an unnecessary variable. But one could easily throw in some space maps for use with FF, if there was sufficient interest.

And what I'd really like to see is the ability for people to set up there own, with custom backgrounds, mod/map per area and such.

That'd be nice, but that's why I'd like to work out some rules that could use the Wiki for it. Much less code required, same level of flexibility. How about something like this?

1) Each week, the "moderators" for the battleground choose a small number of worlds to be "contested". The number should, ideally, be based on the number of active players and the outcomes of the previous week's battles.

2) Players can then issue challenges for an appropriate world. To issue a challenge, the player creates a game of the appropriate size using the appropriate map, with the description (say) "Total Annihilation - Rougepelt - Challenge! XvX to YvY". Game settings are determined by the "moderators".

3) Any registered Total Annihilation players online can join that game, though unregistered players should be restricted to spec. All players should play their registered race. (Lobby support would be nice for this, I'll admit.)

4) After the game, the host posts a replay to FileUniverse (???) or GameReplays. One of the moderators should review this and award "points" before the end of the week.

5) At the end of the week, worlds change hands based on the total scores, and we repeat from step #1.

A forum thread or Wiki page should be set up to allow players to issue more formal challenges (including a proposed game date and time) and allow others to sign up for the battle.

The one problem with this is that I don't believe its possible to replace images that have been uploaded to the Wiki. So if you want a proper dynamic map graphic, it'd have to be hosted elsewhere. (FileUniverse?)

Won't work, code it.