Slyfox's ZDWars 2.6 preview

As he did with 2.5, Slyfox has put out a video highlighting some of the changes made in 2.6, presumably to both exercise his video mojo, and to satisfy people too lazy to read the changelog by giving the high-points. There is also odd music. Strangely bubbly. It makes me want to go on a killing spree. Anyway, enjoy.

Things that (ideally) must happen before a Tournament is held

I have mentioned on many occasions that I'd like to run a ZDoom Wars tournament at some point. I have not before provided an actual time frame, as there are certain things I'd like to have done first.

-Each Retrofitted unit needs its own sprite set.

-I must feel that each faction is balanced enough to be fair in a competitive environment, and that each unit pulls its weight and is used by players. The same goes for the Special abilities.

-I want to have the older maps visually rehauled.

-I want all the maps to have up-to-date gameplay and a similar fun factor, with all known bugs fixed.

So, basically, once these things are well and truly done, I'll be willing to have a tournament. And really, the last two are up to Mik57 and Damage, while the second is up to me. None of us are particularly capable or willing to do the first.

Version 2.6 is now available!

Get it from the download link at the top of the page, as usual.

Changelog:

Overall:

Balance Changes:
-non-flying heroes can now never fall off of ledges, or be forced off of them, even by loremasters.

New Additions:
-Updated the manuals and readme.
-Revised the map description section of the Main Manual.

-Updated the Quick reference sheet's map list, which I had failed to do before.
-Revised the Tech Tree portion of the Quick reference sheet to instead talk about what thin and offset lines mean on the tech trees.

Bug Fixes:
-Removed a bunch of unused resources to reduce file size.


Map Pack:
- Organized map pack wad, maps are in order and other resources are cleaned up.

-All maps now have Air Control, as they should.

-Changed some script numbers on Blazing Colosseum to prevent conflicts.

-Buffed Lord Maldovious quite a bit.

-There are now 4 symmetrical bases with Center Bridge Control in Caverns. It now supports 4 players, in other words.

-Majorly upgraded Throughfare Castle in Valley. Re-textured the rock walls in the map. Ice FOrtress now has some more ledges to put monsters on.

-Detailed Despair Canyon (e.g. separated hex tiles, added borders, replaced multiple textures, added grey ashwalls, aligned textures)
-Made the 3rd ridge in Despair Canyon accessible to every class. (Was useless before)
-Added on to each base, and added spawns to Despair Canyon.

-Added two small towers to the center of Wierd Bases.
-Fixed misaligned window textures in Wierd Bases.
-Fixed a bug that prevented access to the spawn points in a couple places.

-Added 2 small rock islands on opposite sides of Pacific Battle.

-The statues in Flame Temple will now be uniformly grey.
-The elevators in the Inquisitor area of Flame Temple now work.
-The Inquisitor's cage didn't have an inside before.
-The Inquisitor base is smaller and more accessible now, so should be less prone to being spammed with shooting units.


Doom:

Balance Changes:
-6 Hellknights are required to unlock Barons, up from 5.

-Barons of Hell no longer simultaneously unlock Cyberdemons. It now takes 3 Barons to do so.

-The Doom Tech Tree image has been updated to reflect these changes.

Bug Fixes:
-There was a bug that required only 3 Hellknights to unlock Barons and Cyberdemons.


Heretic:

Balance Changes:
-Raised D'Sparil's Disciple-summoning projectile spawn height from 35 to 50. This may improve the chances of the projectile succeeding in spawning a Disciple.

-Undead Ghost Knight price raised from 10/4 to 10/5 due to their recent improvements.

-Barrage Weredragon's secondary projectile can no longer hit Ghosts.

Bug Fixes:
-The Iron Lich's Iceball can now hit Ghosts.


Hexen:

Balance Changes:
-Zedek shot radius explosion reduced from 84 to 72.
-Zedek health reduced from 1200 to 1000. His health was so high because he was injuring himself before. Now it's just silly.

-When the Heresiarch summons Bishops, they will no longer play their rising animation if they fail to spawn.

Bug Fixes:
-Enchant sparkles will no longer splash in water.


Strife:

Balance Changes:
-Inquisitor rifle shot inaccuracy reduced from 10 degrees to 9 degrees variance.
-Inquisitor grenade explosion radius increased from 192 to 210.
-Inquisitor grenade direct damage reduced from 18 to 12.
-Inquisitor grenade explosion damage is now forced, and deals the KaBoom damage type.

-Sped up a couple of the Entity's attacks, and made a couple others fire multiple projectiles.
-The Entity and Sub Entities no longer have the +SHADOW flag.
-Made the Sub Entity fire two projectiles in its attack state, instead of just one.

-The Programmer's missile state is now several times longer, so he'll be vulnerable while conjuring a lightning storm.
-The Programmer's minmissilechance was raised from 180 to 200 (less shooting).
-The Programmer's health has been raised from 2400 to 2600.

Bug Fixes:
-There was an incorrect jump that caused the Inquisitor to always use his close-range grenade attack when close enough. Now he will also use his rifle.
-Got rid of some unused code in the Inquisitor.


CQ:

Bug Fixes:
-Common Flemoids still dropped mana.


Virus:

Balance Changes:
-Unupgraded turrets can hit ghosts once again, but spreadshot turrets still can't.
-Spreadshot turret attack sped up by 2 tics.

-Prism attack state sped up by 2 tics.

-Greater Prism direct attack state sped up by 2 tics.

-The Virus will now attempt to move away from an enemy if it is within 1000 units after each shot it takes.




Bug Fixes:
-A once-upgraded Land Carrier cost too much mana.

-The Ground Unit Upgrade was working sort of in reverse. Upgrading once gave level three units, but upgrading twice gave level two units.


And there you have it. Now go get on the Oblacek and NODE-3 servers and test drive the new stuff!

Also, there has already been some useful discussion no the IRC channel. Really dudes, even if you don't use IRC start! :P

EDIT: NODE-3 and Oblacek are both updated.

FNF#7

I seem to be posting FNF earlier and earlier since I am usually nowhere to be found later in the week. This week will feature 1-flag CTF from the awesome wad that is legendary. Silvertear has worked hard on this and has provided 15 excellent maps to choose from and even provided an update for us this week!

Also yes, with much pestering about a European FNF as well, I will try to get a European based server to host it.

Game Mode: 1-Flag CTF
Wad: legendary-37p

Maplist: MAP01-15
Time limit: 15 minutes
Flag limit: 5 Flags
Player/Client limit: 16/20
DMFlags: 799822852
DMFlags2: 1024
Compatflags: 5898304

sv_maxteams 2
sv_suddendeath true

Date and Time:
North American FNF - April 30, 2010, 7:00 PM CST, 8:00 PM EST
European FNF - April 30, 2010, 3:00 CST, 21:00 GMT

Servers:
North America: NODE-3, Red Nexus
Europe: TBA

 

Official Thread

Software vs OGL poll, and an IRC Channel!

At the time of this posting, there is still nearly a day left in the vote, but things haven't budged for a couple days. So, safe to say that a scant 20% of ZDWars players use Software to play it. I'm honestly surprised.

For those who use Software, you might consider living in fear. At this point, there'd be no reason to use 3D floors, even if they were implemented in Competitive modes. But in the future, it COULD be a possiblity. :P

In other news, Mik57 is playing around with the map pack in preparation for my final look-through. The map changes are gonna' be pretty sweet. Remember that there is now a NODE-3 server, so get playin'!

Also, on irc.skulltag.com, there is now a #ZDoomWars, so jump in there and talk about ZDWars, give feedback, share strategies, etc. I may even divulge some info about development that's not even seen here. ;)

SPRITING HELP WANTED

Unique sprites are needed for the Sniper Templar. Below are the details for the job. Anyone willing to try it out can work on a frame or two and give me a preview.

Goal: Create a sprite-set edit of the Templar in which the Templar's gun is modified to look more like it's a sniping weapon of some sort. Nothing huge, just a elongated or more powerful looking weapon of some manner. Make it enough to be noticed, at least.

Requirements:
-The sprites must, of course, be of decent quality.

-The sprites must remain in Strife's native palette. The easiest way to do this is to extract the png graphics from ZDoom Wars itself, and work in a non-paletted editor of some sort. At any rate, DON'T SCREW UP THE COLORS. If you're a software user, open up the wad and gaze upon the beauty you are missing in-game.

-Please do not perform any color-changes to the sprites outside of the gun (and make any gun color changes fit the color theme of the rest of the sprite). So don't think you're witty and change the color of the visor or something.

-Do not change the color of the gun's muzzle flash, since the bulletpuff is the same sprite as the normal templar's shot, except bigger. It would be pointless to change the muzzle flash color, in other words.

-Optionally: Put the sprites in wad form, rename them, and align them if you love me.

You compensation will be... your name on the last page of the Main Manual. And an e-fist-bump.

ZDWars NODE-3 Server now up!

There is now a Node-3 server for ZDWars. Server info is going up on the Hosting for ZDoom Wars page. The server is located in Dallas, Texas.

EDIT: The server had the difficulty level set to Nightmare. This is now fixed.

FNF #6

Game Mode: Team Deathmatch
Wad: UDMX

Maplist: MAP01, 04, ,06-14, 16-20, 22, 23, 25-30, 32
Time limit: 10 minutes
Point limit: 50 Frags
Player/Client limit: 20/24
DMFlags: TBA
DMFlags2: TBA
Compatflags: TBA

sv_maxteams 2
sv_suddendeath true

Date and Time:
North American FNF - April 16, 2010, 7:00 PM CST, 8:00 PM EST

Servers: NODE-3, Red Nexus?, The Best Ever?

Official Thread

New banner Background, and some previews of 2.6

Just for teh lulz.

Now I've already brought up the Despair Canyon and Caverns rehaul, and the beginnings of the map pack 1 and 2 visual updates, so now some about the gameplay. 2.6 will resolve some bugs, as usual, and refine some of the nice changes made in 2.5, as well as solving a couple minor gameplay nitpicks that will work to make the wad play just a little smoother overall. For example:

-non-flying heroes can now never fall off of ledges, or be forced off of them, even by Loremasters.
      Yup, no more frustration with your hero ending up where they aren't supposed to be. Heroes are too epic to get pushed around like that! Note that they can still be pushed about by gunfire, and yanked by Loremasters, they just won't fall off cliffs.

-Undead Ghost Knight price raised from 10/4 to 10/5 due to their recent improvements.






     Well, with the improvements to the Undead Ghost Knight (increased melee range, health, etc.) in order to make there be a defineable difference between the two types of Knight, the standard Undead Knight was seriously obsolete. So now the Undead Ghost Knight will be two Hero Mana more in cost, which can stack up. So the more stingy types might actually opt to use standard Undead Knights (with Ghost Wave, if necessary).

-Barrage Weredragon's secondary projectile can no longer hit Ghosts.
     Barrage Weredragons are great. Spectacular, in fact. A battery of them could be nigh impregnable. So now, though they will retain their standard effectiveness, and still be able to effect ghosts more than normal Weredragons, Ghost units will at least be more resistant to their attacks so that Barrage Weredragons have a definable weakness of some sort.

-Zedek nerf.
     Seriously, he has 1200 health. Why, you ask? Because it was the longest time before I realized he was hurting himself, and kept trying to make him useful by buffing his health. Now, that's being turned down a notch, and the radius of his explosive attack is less significant, so he might actually be able to be overwhelmed.

-Inquisitor is more awesome across the board.
     More accurate rifle, bigger grenade explosion with forced, KaBoom type damage, actually using his rifle when up close. He'll be pretty sweet, though the direct damage of the grenades is reduced to compensate for the forced explosion damage.

-Programmer balanced further.
     He's cheap, let's face it. Now he'll take longer to conjure a lightning storm, and will shoot a little less. Still, his health has been bumped up to 2600, so his greater vulnerability and lessened omnipotence won't make him suck.

-Buffed Entity.
     He'll attack faster, and shoot multiple projectiles for some attacks (which, by the way, Spectre A and B already do, to a lesser degree).

-Normal turrets will be able to hit ghosts again.
     The recent Ghost revision made Virus lulz against Ghosts, and turrets nearly useless in some instances. So, in 2.6, a Virus player will want to not only use turrets, but mix in the two types: the choice between hitting Ghosts, or oodles of firepower? The Spreadshot turret's attack speed is also increased, so expect massive resistance when facing them.

And that's just some of the big stuff I have lined up. There are other, more minor changes, and quite a few bug fixes. The maps are undergoing some more work, as mentioned before, with a couple bug fixes and minor issues solved (Yes, Lord Maldovious will be really powerful).

Fun fact: Valley is getting a bit of a renovation. Yup. The old staple map is getting some fresh air.

Anyway, I, for one, am excited to see the result of Mik and Damage's first joint venture, because believe it or not, I don't get to see the maps other than an occasional screenshot until the pack is all done. :P

ZDWars Settings Poll

There's a new poll up, about what settings you use for your renderer when playing ZDWars.

Oblacek server settings update inbound

If the settings aren't already changed, the settings for the Oblacek server should conform to the guidelines on the Hosting a ZDoom Wars Server page as of their next restart. It's always good to have a responsive host, and doubly good to know that people really pay attention to this blog. :P

Hosting for ZDoom Wars page updated

There is now a section on the active dedicated servers, which currently has only one entry - the Oblacek server. The location and settings of the server are listed.

ooookay

So, bit of a server issue right now. Obsidian ran over their Bandwidth for this month, CLUB is changing hands and might suck when it's back (there might be server cuts), so all you guys are left with is Oblacek for the time being.

In short, bug Jenova to put up the Best Ever servers. :P

Also, if any of you know who runs the Oblacek server, tell him it's fine to let the Spectators chat with the players. D:

EDIT: Also, there is a new page about hosting ZDWars servers, that can be accessed via the side bar.

Today is Damage's birthday...

BUT SCREW HIM HE DIDN'T WISH ME A HAPPY BIRTHDAY

NO ONE GIVE HIM YOUR BEST BIRTHDAY WISHES

I HOPE YOU HAVE A REALLY CRUDDY BIRTHDAY

THE KIND OF BIRTHDAY THAT SHOWS UP ON "WHY AM I STILL ALIVE?"

Mapping for ZDoom Wars Page Edited

I've added some details to the Mapping for ZDoom Wars Page on the side bar to include some organizational things I may do, including moving your map to another pack for variation, or if you already have one map in the pack. Of course, to bump a second map by an author would rely on the quality of what I would replace it with.

I am asked for some sex counseling on IRC

"I know he lets off smoke after he shoots, but if he isn't shot back by something, he just stands in one spot jerking until something hits him..." ~ Damage




Okay, so it was a bug report about the Felix, but close enough.

FNF #5, April 16

Well finally I have time to write this on my iPod after finishing 3 papers earlier. This week will provide a new gamemode that Badlag and Aerial based it off n00b deathball from zdaemon. Essentially this is 1-flag CTF but with a chance of multiple scoring areas. There should be some familiar maps in this 15 map setlist. Since it's only Tuesday, I expect much hype after announcing this week so early!

Game Mode: Teamplay
Wad: the deathball one

Maplist: MAP01-15
Time limit: 10 minutes
Point limit: 5 scored
Player/Client limit: 12/16
DMFlags: TBA
DMFlags2: TBA
Compatflags: TBA
sv_maxteams 2
sv_overtime true
sv_maxplayersperteam 6 (if this even exists)
sv_randommaplist true (someone tell me if this is right)

Date and Time:
North American FNF - April 16, 2010, 7:00 PM CST, 8:00 PM EST

Servers: NODE-3, Red Nexus?, Canadian Bacon?, The Best Ever?

 

Official Thread

oman

I don't believe I've actually mentioned this, but Damage is officially a mapper for ZDoom Wars, and is working in Concert with Mik57 on the map pack.

As is, Mik57 first makes gameplay changes, and then sends the pack to Damage, who will be doing detail work. At this point, the map pack is in Damage's hands, so 2.6 shouldn't be too far off, and as mentioned before, will pack some tasy map changes as well as balancing and some bug fixes.

I've been at a gaming convention here in San Antonio called Chimaeracon this past weekend, thus the inactivity on ZDWars servers. Now that I'm again able to work on this in my freetime, I may toss out the Heretic monster pack or something.

Anyway, I received yet another Map Pack 4 submission this weekend, but there are still open slots, and there can always be another pack! Just don't count on seeing your map in action within the next... the next, uh... long time span. The good news is that I'm feeling more and more confident about the wad's balance, and there are a couple other handy developments at hand as far as the map pack and such that can help set the stage for the long-promised tournament at some future date. :D

FNF #4, April 9

Game Mode: Deathmatch
WADs: gw2.wad

Maplist: MAP01-MAP36
Timelimit: 6 minutes
Fraglimit: 30 frags
Player/Connection Limit: 12/14
DMFlags: 2380932
DMFlags2: 1600
Compatflags: 655456

Date & Time: April 9th, 2010 @ 8:00 PM EST
Servers: Red Nexus + Node3??

Official thread

I WOULD JUST LIKE YOU TO KNOW

THAT THE 4TH WAS MY BIRTHDAY AND I GOT A TOTAL OF ONE HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FROM SIGGI.

MIK AND DAMAGE YOU GUYS SUCK YOU'RE FIRED WAIT I TAKE THAT BACK NUUUUU

Seriously though, in 2.6 there will be some nice changes. It won't be out for a time, but will include some further balance adjustments as things get closer to satisfactory, as well as some refinements to map pack 3, and the beginning of refurbishing the old maps to bring them up to par. In time, expect the first two map packs to look a lot more attractive then they currently do (except battlefield 94', maybe. 'cause it's themed and such).

ZDWars version 2.5V2, post ridiculous version, now out!

Some good changes here. Really stabilizes the new stuff, and even gives a shot in the arm to some of the Map Pack 3 Maps.

Full changelog:

Bug Fixes:
-Got rid of the A_Queuecorpse commands, which were apparently useless anyway.


Map Pack:
-An Updated version of Flame Temple has been swapped in. The map can now theoretically support 4 players, and has another statue - of an Inquisitor.

-An Updated version of Red Canyon has been swapped in. The bases look much nicer, and there is a large new area with an additional fortress and new base connections.

-The doors in Command and Conquer are now Repeatable Lines, so they can be opened and closed as you please.

-Updated the author's name in Despair Canyon.

-There is an updated version of City of Chaos, with new rooms and awesomeness.
-Updated the author's name in The City of Chaos and Turmoil.


Doom:

Balance Changes:
-Chaingunner health increased from 180 to 220.


Heretic:

Balance Changes:
-Ghost Undead Knight health increased from 330 to 380.
-Ghost Undead Knight melee range increased from 72 to 84.

-Mounted D'Sparil now has the MISSILEMORE flag.
-Dismounted D'Sparil now has the MISSILEEVENMORE flag.
-Mounted D'Sparil minmissilechance decreased from 110 to 100 (an increase in fire rate).

-Barrage Weredragon projectile's radius damage removed. Direct damage increased from 6 to 7.
-Yeah, I had no recollection of making them do radius damage. Anyway, Barrage Weredragons should no longer do radius damage, and therefore not hurt themselves.

Bug Fixes:
-Disciples will no longer ghost on and off during their attack state, since it interfered with the Ghost Wave ability.


Hexen:

Balance Changes:
-Afrit Enchanted Death projectile damage raised from 7 to 9.

-Zedek and Traductus will now strafe less.

Bug Fixes:
-Chaos Serpent Enchantment was broken.
-Homing Chaos Serpent fireballs didn't use all the appropriate frames.

Strife:

Balance Changes:
-Increased the Programmer's minmissilechance from 115 to 180. (less shooting)
-Decreased the Programmer's speed from 24 to 22.

-Spectre A will now fire two projectiles per attack, instead of one.

-Rebel speed boosted from 8 to 9.

Bug Fixes:
-Adjusted some flags with the Programmer.

-Spectres no longer have the +SHADOW flag.


CQ:

New Additions:
-Added in obituaries from CQ3.


Virus:

Balance Changes:
-The Felix has been given a minmissilechance of 100. (more shooting)

Bug Fixes:
-The Upgraded Spore projectile inherited from the wrong actor.

Friday Night Fragfest #3

Tonight, there is to be another long round of savage gibbing and plasmaballs!

Full info from the official thread:

Game Mode: Instagib
WADs: sbbtmrtr.wad

Maplist: SMDM01-04, SMDM06-07, SMDM11-15, SMDM25, SMDM27, SMDM30, SMDM35, SMDM37-38, SMDM40
Timelimit: 5 minutes
Fraglimit: 30 frags
Player/Connection Limit: 16/20
DMFlags: 2121347
DMFlags2: 1024
Compatflags: 524352

Date & Time: April 2nd, 2010 @ 8:00 PM EST / 7:00 PM GMT
Servers: Red Nexus

If you're worried about the player limit, don't be. I'm gonna put up a sister server to FNF #1 on RN, so hopefully anyone who wants to play gets in one of the 32 total player slots!  Does not seem like an official Euro host will happen due to exceptionally poor turnouts in FNFs previous (Thanks Euranna for more detail on that). One is welcome to throw up a server over there if there's interest, though!

ZDWars 2.5 Trailer

Slyfox has taken the liberty of putting together a little guide to the new stuff in ZDWars. Enjoy.
View it here