Last night, TsN brought us the first in their weekly look at MP 1v1; Feel The Pain, which primarily focused on PK. The show was presented by Stile, Liuokin, with special guest Toast.

Early on most of the TsN members, although not new to online gaming, confessed to being new to Painkiller, but despite this gave us an interesting and balanced discussion about the game.

The possible impact of the new netcode was discussed, which is clearly difficult, since theres been little or no solid indication about how much of an improvement the complete re-write of the netcode will be. The state of the existing netcode obviously merits change, although TsN expressed concern that the new netcode might be worse. It was pointed out that any new netcode may possibly bring with it some changes to the gameplay, but it was surmised that the pros could quickly adapt to these changes.

Next an overview of the maps was given, mainly detailing Psycho, Sacred, and Fallen2. TsN gave Sacred a high rating, were indifferent to Psycho, and unsure about the merits of Fallen2.

The discussion about Fallen2 brought them onto their next topic; the weapon balancing. Their main concern here seemed to be that the lightning gun was far too overpowered, and one of the reasons they gave for Fallen2 being a bad map for 1v1 was the domination of this weapon. The phrase sports game was used, referring to the activity in which the players would attempt to be the first to LG at the beginning of the game.

Following this the discussion moved to discussing the use of the rocket-jump binds from within PK. It was proposed that this was reserved for newbies, and would have no place in competitive 1v1 gameplay. The counter argument for this was given that it was part of the game, and people should not complain about something which was intended to be used by the makers of the game. The analogy drawn here was that of shield-use in Counterstrike, which is sometimes frowned apon. The conclusion to this discussion seemed to be that it should, and would, be up to the community to decide.

Next the use of powerups within 1v1 was discussed. Although some partial support for this was heard, the concensus was that this was a bad idea for duelling, since it gave such a large unbalanced advantage.

Finally, the evening was concluded by Toast playing Destrukt, with commentry by Stile.

(my apologies for any mistakes or omissions in this text)

TsN Central Website

Someone noticed this on the DC Forums for the cheapest price (UK) that they could find BOOH.

http://www.mx2.co.uk/acatalog/MX2_co_uk_PC_Shooters_M_R_69.html

..has BOOH coming in at £12.95, which is around 19 Euros? Painkiller itself is at £15.99.

Has anyone seen this cheaper?

This is quite obvious, and I apologise to those who already take this foregranted, but I think a lot of people forget to do this and dont have PK running at a comfortable refresh rate for their eyes.

To set the monitor refresh rate, you need to access the display control panel (either by right clicking and selecting properties, or via display in control panel). Find the manufacturer specific options for refresh rates. These are normally under Settings|Advanced|Nvidia/ATI blah.

You should be able to find the following page:

Select the resolution in PK you want to use and set the refresh rate (this assumes you know what your monitor can handle… beware about damaging your hardware).

I find 120Hz PK a lot more comfortable to look at than the default (which I think is 85Hz).

I hope this helps people 🙂

The official Painkiller website has published four level screenshots from the development of the forthcoming BOOH SP add-on.

The maplist is The Orphange, Loony Park, Dead City, Leninggrad, Underwater Temple, Apocalyptic City, Pirate Caves, Lab, and Coliseum.

You can find the info here, in the expansion pack section, where you can also find out about the new monsters and storyline behind the expansion.

CTF BASICS
==========

Capture the flag is the most exciting team play mode of Quake 3 and carries on the tradition of ThreeWave CTF. Quake 3 is the best platform yet for Capture the Flag, and offers the the best mix of graphics, weapons, physics, and game rules. The lack of grapple and addition of bounce-pads bring the game down to earth and ensure that the action will be a true Quake experience and foster team co-ordination for defense and attacks.

The basic premise is unchanged: enter the enemy base, grab their flag then take it back to your base and touch your own flag. If your flag is not there, you must get it back, or wait for your team-mates to return it. However, the enemy team will be hunting you at the same time.

GAMEPLAY
=========

Capture The Flag Rules

Capture the Flag (CTF) starts with the simple goal of entering the enemy base, grabbing their flag and returning home with it to touch your flag for a Capture. Unfortunately, your flag may not be there when you get back, and of course there is the problem of the other team not really being to cooperative about you taking their flag. In fact they tend to be down right inhospitable about the whole thing. The team with the most captures wins. Generally most servers are set so that you cant cause damage to your team-mates, however you should avoid accidentally knocking them into the pits of death.

Scoring – CTF has two layers of scoring. There are captures, which is how many times your team captured the enemy flag, and there are personal points. Captures are what count, but you can also gauge your personal performance with the personal points.

Winning – In the big picture, captures are what counts, and the first team to reach the capturelimit (default is 8 Captures, configurable) wins the match. If the Timelimit is reached before the capturelimit, then the team with the most captures wins. In the case of a tie, then people generally go by the team with the most personal points.

Personal points – You are awarded personal points for your efforts, defending, protecting your flag carrier, and of course for capturing the flag.

Frag 1 point
Capture 5 points
Defend Flag Carrier 1 + frag = 2 points
Defend Flag Carrier, Aggressive Enemy 2 + frag = 3 points
Return your flag 1 point
Return your flag + Assist 1 + return = 2 points
Kill Enemy Flag Carrier 2 + frag = 3points
Kill Enemy Flag Carrier + Assist 2 + 2 + frag = 5 points
Defend your flag 1 + frag = 2 points

HUD
===

The HUD must have three important things (as well as players stats and on screen timer).

1. It must show the current flag states (secure, taken, dropped) [as well as the overall score]
2. It must show the team overlay, playernames, location, and most importantly who has the flag* **
3. Seeing a player carrying the flag must be very very clear that the flag is in their possession

*You should also have optionally to be able to identify a player by their name appearing next to the crosshair when you look at them. This should be optional for team and/or enemy players.

** this is required in tdm also

http://www.threewave.com/quake3/q3gg4.html

FLAG BEHAVIOUR
==============

An opposing team member can always pick up the flag and carry it. i.e a blue team member can always pick up the red flag.
A red flag will automatically return to the red base when picked up by a red player, regardless of whether he is carrying the blue flag or not.
A capture is scored when the player carrying the opposing teams flag walks over their base with their team flag in base location.
After 30 seconds of a flag being dropped it will automatically return to its base.
If the flag drops into a deathzone/off the map/into a void it is automatically returned.

GAMEPLAY MESSAGES
===================

x/you has/have taken the red/blue flag
red/blue team scores
red/blue flag returned
x/you has/have returned the red/blue flag
x/you has/have dropped the red/blue flag
red/blue team wins
x/you defended the red/blue base
x/you defended the flag carrier

CTF TEAM BINDS
==============

Base Secure
Enemy In Base
Flag Carrier Leaving High
Flag Carrier Leaving Low

POWERUPS
==========

The powerup limit should be configurable, but typically it is two minutes. To have it less than that will distract from the CTF gameplay. Each team should have a powerup relatively near to their base, and/or a shared powerup in the middle.

SPAWNS
========

Most red respawns are between the red base up to and some in mid field. Very few/none will be close to the blue base.

OVERTIME AND GAME COMMENTS
============================

Warmup time should be limited, the game starting either when all players are ready or the warmup time is over.

The end of the warmup should be marked clearly with 3,2,1, Fight! voice sounds, as well as large numbers on the centre of the screen indicating this.

Having the on-screen timer go red in the last minute is enough to indicate a match finishing. Optionally from design you can have a countdown at the end of the match too.

As a config option if a game is drawn at the end of the time, either an additional five minutes is added, or the game ends as soon as either team makes a capture.