ONS-Diamond Sword

[LoveFest]

I've had many requests to play this map.

YOUTUBE VIDEO LINK:
http://bit.ly/jr3c76

Download Link:
ONS-Diamond Sword v8

• The bases have not been completed. They are stand-ins until the others get completed (if ever).
• The white rings on the map are boosters. They make the vehicles go faster. Some are too strong at the moment. Thanks VitalOverdose.
• The middle node allows you to do a lot to cut the other team off

screenshot










Honorable mention by ParanoidPirahna:

One nice thing about this compared to other onslaughts is that having two paths to the bases make it easier to turn the tide of battle, you aren't stuck fighting over the same node the whole time. And the middle node allows you to do a lot to cut the other team off.

Thanks to...
Arkile (original GOTY designer, who worked on this ONS version with me)
Strong Arm (3D/textures).
VitalOverdose (vehicle VecBoosters)
DGUnreal (misc)

[Xyx]

It's great to see this thing resurface! I was really looking forward to its release at the time it popped up. The terrain looks very interesting. You could go far with that.

[LoveFest]

The terrain looks very interesting. You could go far with that.

Thanks for the interest Xyz! I don't think I'm going to go any further with the terrain, except maybe add some Joshua tree type fantasy trees. It's a frozen desert planet in a box canyon. "nuff said.

[BuffyTheSlayer]

I been waited long long time for this map
still have beta version too
this beta is more playable ?

[Xyx]

Gave it a spin. It's very promising! Here's some feedback. I'll try not to comment on the stuff that is obviously still under construction.


Flow

Flow is both good and not so good in places.

There's some great terrain for driving or flying around. The slopes are steep but Hellbender friendly. I was able to drive a 'bender pretty much everywhere, even including the tips of tall peaks. Be sure to botpath the upper terrain with roadpathnodes as well.

There are some dead ends on the narrow ridges along the gorge. It would be nice if those ramped back up onto the main level.

The narrow ridges along the gorge are quite hard if not impossible to get out of. You might as well dive into the gorge and respawn if you end up there. They need many ramps. If they're inaccessible, they might as well not be there.

The gorge itself does not enter into gameplay except as an obstacle. You could place some stuff deeper down in the gorge. More caves with nodes, perhaps. Or even just a small ledge with a Target Painter and a teleporter.

The gorge presents a considerable obstacle. The only ways across are the center bridge and the bridges behind the bases. Not exactly ideal. The two lower bridges are pointless since you cannot reach them without flying. I suggest making the ledges properly accessible. Perhaps some of the ONS-Adara vehicle jump ramps would come in handy, too.

The terrain has good Z-axis but the flow doesn't use it. I suggest making plenty use of the upper terrain and perforating the terrain with many more caves deeper down. This map is all staticmesh, right? That would make it one of the few maps that supports a proper natural cave network. You could add an entire level of Z-axis to this map.

The nodes are too far apart to reach them on foot. Running from core to first node takes 25 seconds, first to second node takes 45 seconds. That's way to long! I suggest you either scale the map down to 50% or place twice as many nodes. There are some excellent spots for nodes on the terrain on top.

The terrain around the four primary nodes is very open and barren. That doesn't offer a lot of options for gameplay. I suggest adding loads more rock formations there and/or lowering some of the nodes into sinkholes.


Looks

This map is something special. The terrain looks super-natural. Excellent job!

Slight asymmetry is great!

The barren rock is still very visually monotonous. I suggest lots and lots of non-rock stuff, such as texturing on lichen and placing dry grasses.
The upper terrain, even though it is in fact accessible by car from several places, does not look very accessible. Be sure to paint some tracks leading up onto them.


Loadout

The cores and primary nodes are in open terrain. That encourages long distance node sniping. Not the most enjoyable gameplay, especially for the defense. I suggest moving the cores to the caves.

The structures surrounding the nodes and cores are way too open. I can hit both cores and every single node from the central bridge. He who controls that bridge controls the map, but the bridge is nearly impossible to control since its node can come under fire from every direction. Onslaught is a game of shooting nodes down even more so than building nodes, unlike Battlefield or Battlefront, where you have to get really close to steal a control point.

The vehicle still needs adjustment. I count at least 11 Raptors, 9 of which in midfield. Conversely, the cores only have two Mantas each, and those are parked miles from the core. That means that the losing side will have to beat a dozen Raptors with nothing but handheld weapons. I suggest trading in 8 or so Raptors for other (non-Manta) vehicles.

I didn't see any of the ECE vehicles. I can't see any particular design reason to leave those out. It's rather striking that after two years some maps still don't use everything the game has to offer.

Placing lots of spare nodes would add incredible replayability. Look at ONS-Crossfire, for instance. A very mediocre map with the default node layout, but absolutely awesome with the optional nodes enabled. You could even stash away couple of Leviathans in optional nodes and leave it up to the players to decide whether or not they'll include them. Besides, if you place literally loads of optional nodes, you make it a whole lot easier for your playtesters to find working layouts.


Conclusion

I hope this is of some use to you. I'd really like to see this turn into a great looking and great playing map. There's still some streamlining missing in the design but it provides an excellent basis for ownage.

[LoveFest]

Disclaimer. The terrain and texture maker (Strong Arm) isn't part of this project anymore. He went pro with this map, and was out of time. I don't have his original textures either. So the terrain is what it is. I wanted changes but it was too costly time wise for Shawn. I could remake it, but I would then lose Shawn's custom textures. That was part of the goal: 100% original content.

I definitely agree with you about the scale. It's too long, and wide between nodes. I wanted it faster and tighter with a cave leading from the middle cave areas into the center ridges of the ravine. But when you work on projects with multiple people, on a voluntary basis, working from great distances--who you never meet, face to face--it's hard to get everything you want in a map.

There's some great terrain for driving or flying around. The slopes are steep but Hellbender friendly. I was able to drive a 'bender pretty much everywhere, even including the tips of tall peaks. Be sure to botpath the upper terrain with roadpathnodes as well.

They are. To get any bot to drive or fly, I have to forcedpath node them. I found this trick in ONS-Urban. Narraw corridors need ForcedPathing.

There are some dead ends on the narrow ridges along the gorge. It would be nice if those ramped back up onto the main level..

They will when the bases are complete. Vehicles will drive right up through ground/first floor of the base.

The gorge presents a considerable obstacle. The only ways across are the center bridge and the bridges behind the bases. Not exactly ideal. The two lower bridges are pointless since you cannot reach them without flying. I suggest making the ledges properly accessible. Perhaps some of the ONS-Adara vehicle jump ramps would come in handy, too.

"Vehicle Propulsion Ramps", I call them, were part of the original design. . I posted this to the forum before Adara had been created, and I think I was the first to publically suggest vehicle ramps in a map. Then ONS-Tricky and ONS-Adara came later. And ramps were going to play a significant part for scorpians in this version of ONS Diamond Sword. See image below:

Approved by Arkile, September, 2003:

Be sure to paint some tracks leading up onto them.

I wish I could, but Shawn's textures are what they are, and it's more or less "locked down". I thought about adding arrow markers for vehicles instead, or maybe ground lights (landing lights) or even "flares" as markers.

I didn't see any of the ECE vehicles. I can't see any particular design reason to leave those out. It's rather striking that after two years some maps still don't use everything the game has to offer.

I want to use those, but don't you have to have ECE bonus pack installed or your map won't run?

[Lord_Buggy]

Everybody who is in to Onslaught basically has the bonus pack installed.

You can also make the paths more clear with a simple terrain layer weaving through what there already is, just remember to make the parts of the terrain under the existing ground invisible.

[Xyx]

Disclaimer. The terrain and texture maker (Strong Arm) isn't part of this project anymore.

Aww, that's really too bad.

I definitely agree with you about the scale. It's too long, and wide between nodes. I wanted it faster and tighter

You can still resize it, right?

I think I was the first to publically suggest vehicle ramps in a map.

ONS-STFUandJump (great map) also had 'em and was among the first batch of maps to be made after the game was released.

Shawn's textures are what they are, and it's more or less "locked down".

Can you not paint other (partially transparent) textures over them? That is how tacks are placed in most maps. Or does it not work that way?

don't you have to have ECE bonus pack installed or your map won't run?

It's official content, two years old. Anyone interested in downloading add-ons will start with the official official add-ons.

[LoveFest]

[/color][/i][/color]
Aww, that's really too bad.


You can still resize it, right?

If i resize the geometry the textures will looked pinched and weird. The shadows are baked into the textures. I might be able to paint on some of the existing textures--such as tire tread tracks, as you suggested--but the way the UVs are layed out, it will probably be very difficult.

It's official content, two years old. Anyone interested in downloading add-ons will start with the official official add-ons.

Ok. Tell me where and what vehicles and weapons you want. I can't add caves, but I can add independant geometry, like bases, landing pads, teleporter link nodes, and maybe some propulsion ramps (I need to look into karma actors for that).

[LoveFest]

Everybody who is in to Onslaught basically has the bonus pack installed.

You can also make the paths more clear with a simple terrain layer weaving through what there already is, just remember to make the parts of the terrain under the existing ground invisible.

Not sure what you mean by the above statement. Could you explain a little more?

[LoveFest]

I been waited long long time for this map
still have beta version too
this beta is more playable ?

 
Do you know any ONS mappers who could help me with my Power Node spawning problem?

I know some of best mapper in here
ask Dario D forums

also David too
http://www.lilchips.com/dgunreal/

I can't find David's email or contact info. Do you have it

[Lord_Buggy]

Try and see if a build all/build paths fixes it.

Not sure what you mean by the above statement. Could you explain a little more?

Make a terrain, have it consist of several layers with varying road surfaces. Have the terrain poke out of the existing Terrain Staticmeshes in places where you want the road surfaces. Paint which road surfaces you want to be seen on the terrain. Make the Terrain invisible where it is not seen.

[Sarge-David]

yea make a real turrain layer and use the visible tool on it to remove the parts you dont need to see, and line it up with the road parts, its a cheap way of doing it lol

[Xyx]

Here's a little demonstration of where vehicles can go:

Hellbender


Manta

[Xyx]

Some suggestions on where to place extra powernodes. These wouldn't necessarily have to be in the same node layout, but adding extra nodes greatly improves the odds of finding a working node layout. They allow experimentation and add replayability.

The crosshairs indicate the suggested locations.

South, south center, north center and north bridges


Northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest corners, somewhat shielded by terrain.


(more to follow...)

[Xyx]

East and center west, in the gully.


Northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest up on the mountains flanking the gorge.


Far east and west on the mountains above the caves.


Remember; the more of these you have, the more people can do with the map. You could play the same map in three completely different ways, depending on which nodes you enable.

[L4Y Duke]

Oh, and if what Xyx says about the central node being vulnerable from all angles is true, then perhaps adding a Paladin there would assist with the defense?

[LoveFest]

Oh, and if what Xyx says about the central node being vulnerable from all angles is true, then perhaps adding a Paladin there would assist with the defense?

The power core base will be semi in cased by the base. It's going to look something lilke the image I used above. I wanted to combine Dsword and DM Liandri elements in the base. Vehicles will be able drive up into the core area (including tanks), and teleporters will allow foot soldiers quick access to the core to proctect it.

[LoveFest]

East and center west, in the gully.


Northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest up on the mountains flanking the gorge.


Far east and west on the mountains above the caves.


Remember; the more of these you have, the more people can do with the map. You could play the same map in three completely different ways, depending on which nodes you enable.

Those are some great ideas. Next version I'll add those nuetral nodes in those areas, and let the ONS Community experiment with the map.

How did you get the Bender up there?! Amazing. lol BTW. I'm adding tire tread marks so users will know they can use the rocky terrain more.

[Xyx]

All those screenies are me driving or jumping up there the old-fashioned way with no special mutators/cheats/hax used.

Getting the Hellbender up somewhere is either impossible or extremely easy; just drive up the slopes and there you go.

The Paladin has even better traction than the Hellbender (insane traction, in fact) and might be able to scale even the steepest slopes.

The Manta took some more skill but gets more places. If you jump while already traveling up a slope (can be a very small slope), you'll jump higher. If you crouch, then release crouch and (almost) immediately jump, you'll jump even higher. Combine the two and you'll get on all but the highest peaks.

On foot is trickier and won't reach as many spots. Some dodgejumping up against slopes is required in places. You cannot walk up onto the big stone archway in the southeast center, but perhaps you can place a jumppad there. That way you can place a node at the top there, which is a very interesting place for a node if you ask me.

[LoveFest]

XYZ, in "ONS-Diamond Sword v5" there are tons of new nodes in that map. It's a lock maze in the Link Designer. But try it out. The map works now, all the bots perform well, at Adept or higher.

Don't try v6. That's for VitalOverDose. He's helping me with vehicle ramp boosters.

[Sarge-David]

can you change the radarmap? making it smaller will help with link setup (also you got excess last time i looked)

[Xyx]

XYZ, in "ONS-Diamond Sword v5" there are tons of new nodes in that map.

The name's Xyx, not XYZ, and I'll get on it when I get home (12 hours from now).

[LoveFest]

can you change the radarmap? making it smaller will help with link setup (also you got excess last time i looked)

I'll try soon. >> you got excess last time i looked >> Excess space?

[Xyx]

Tried it. Not much that I can say without bot pathing and some vehicles and a weapon locker at every node. I can only say the following:

• The radar map and (consequently) the map in the link designer are way too zoomed out. In the link designer, half the area is blank and all the nodes are packed tight in the middle.
• This map needs the Paladin, Cicada and SPMA. The Paladin is can climb inclines of up to 60 degrees with ease, which is great in this map. The SPMA is a wheeled vehicle, and this map is great for driving around. The Cicada is a welcome (though overpowered - use in moderation) alternative for the Raptor.
• You seem to have included nearly all suggested nodes but not all. Is that because they wouldn't fit on the terrain?
• Some nodes look like they're a bit too far out in the open. Especially the ones near the corners, up against the rocks. The closer they are to those rocks, the harder it becomes to shoot them from a distance. That usually improves gameplay.
• I'd go sparingly with the lightning gun, shock and (especially) sniper rifle in this map. I like sniping but it shouldn't dominate the match.
• Are you sure you can't just scale this thing down by 50%?

[LoveFest]

Tried it. Not much that I can say without bot pathing and some vehicles and a weapon locker at every node. I can only say the following:

• The radar map and (consequently) the map in the link designer are way too zoomed out. In the link designer, half the area is blank and all the nodes are packed tight in the middle.
• Are you sure you can't just scale this thing down by 50%?

Can't scale without ruining the textures.

Radar Map added (it's not perfect). It's the best I can do right now. But I fixed the scale issue.
Level Preview added

Sorry about not putting vehicles and weapons around the new node. I thought you would call a vehicle and just test it there. I'll put some in later

- To summon a vehicle in-game, use one of the following commands...
summon Onslaught.ONSAttackCraft
summon Onslaught.ONSHoverBike
summon Onslaught.ONSHoverTank
summon Onslaught.ONSPRV
summon Onslaught.ONSRV
summon Onslaught.ONSMobileAssaultStation

[Xyx]

I know about summoning, but I can't playtest anything that isn't fully functional. That means botpathing, vehicles and weapons. Only then can I see how stuff plays out. Otherwise I can only sight-see.

I suggest just dumping some simple but varied vehicles around, mostly ground vehicles. Say, 2 Leviathans, 4 Cicadas, 6 Goliaths, SPMAs, Paladins, Raptors and Mantas, 10 Hellbenders and Scorpions in total.

Also, for now, a standard weapon locker containing 50 link, 10 AVRiL, 10 shock, 4 spidermines, 100 minigun and 20 rockets. A little bit of almost everything, good for testing.

And botpathing to every node... that's probably the biggest challenge.

[LoveFest]

I know about summoning, but I can't playtest anything that isn't fully functional. That means botpathing, vehicles and weapons. Only then can I see how stuff plays out. Otherwise I can only sight-see.

I suggest just dumping some simple but varied vehicles around, mostly ground vehicles. Say, 2 Leviathans, 4 Cicadas, 6 Goliaths, SPMAs, Paladins, Raptors and Mantas, 10 Hellbenders and Scorpions in total.

Also, for now, a standard weapon locker containing 50 link, 10 AVRiL, 10 shock, 4 spidermines, 100 minigun and 20 rockets. A little bit of almost everything, good for testing.

And botpathing to every node... that's probably the biggest challenge.

Ok. added those lockers in several places, bot pathed many more nodes, and placed a couple Goliaths, but I'll need to download the ECE package next week, and then I'll post the latest version. In place in particular you want those Goliaths?

If you have a gameplay or strategy in mind for those requests, please eleborate where and why you'd want all those vehicles in this map, and where to put them.

[Xyx]

I have no gameplay or strategy in mind. I'll formulate those when I have the means to test them. Right now I am working on the following principles:

• Keep options open.
• Put the awesome terrain to good use; many ground vehicles.
• Keep the nodes sheltered as much as possible to discourage long range fighting.
• Variety.

If you're looking for more specific ideas, here are some random thoughts:

• Place the Leviathans next to nodes that can easily be left out of the default setup. Not everybody likes the Leviathan. The nodes in the gulleys are probably "most optional".
• Place a mixed bunch of at least 10 vehicles at each base and only one or two at each node. That gives a losing team a decent chance to fight back. Say, 2 Mantas, 2 Hellbenders, 2 Scorpions, a Paladin, a Goliath, a Raptor and a Cicada.
• Paladins should be placed at nodes near steep slopes. The Paladin can climb even that tall skybridge leading to the upper center southeast node.
• Goliaths do best on flat terrain.
• Paladins can shield exposed nodes.
• Depending on where the vehicle boost ramps go... there should be some wheeled vehicles at the nodes leading up to them.
• The two small bridges aren't suited for ground vehicles. They could accommodate a Manta or Raptor to provide a way back out.

Was that what you meant?

[deadskuller]

The map looks very cool, nice job i like the arcs. how do you make arcs and caves in a map?

[LoveFest]

Was that what you meant?

Yes. That gives me a much better idea of what you're after.

The map looks very cool, nice job i like the arcs. how do you make arcs and caves in a map?

Thank you.
The methods are the same for most mappers: extrude faces, move verts, attach verts, etc. Hourences has made a nice little tut showing his process. ONS-Diamond Sword was done in LW. His is using Max.
Tutorial Link:
http://help.hourences.com/tutorialssae2.htm

[level]

thats interesting but i dont have max or maya or anything like that so it would be kinda hard to do
is it possible to send maya 7 ple through email cause i cant find it even with all the links they made when i click the links they al lredirect me to the home page or somethign like that but maps nice and i think it might have a chance in make something unreal contest if/when they have it again

[LoveFest]

thats interesting but i dont have max or maya or anything like that so it would be kinda hard to do
is it possible to send maya 7 ple through email cause i cant find it even with all the links they made when i click the links they al lredirect me to the home page or somethign like that but maps nice and i think it might have a chance in make something unreal contest if/when they have it again

I'm not sure what you're talking about. Maya PLE should have the UEd plugin to export your meshes. You can do everything Hourences does in his Tutorial, except the vertex shading assignments.

[Xcase]

I think level's problem is one many are having currently:
It is if you didnt get the UT2k4 Special Edition at UT2k4's release, install the version of Maya that came with it then, and now you want to import stuff into UED, its very very hard to do so because
A.The latest version of the Maya plugin for exports is only for 7.0, which you cant really find on the internet any more (not even on the Autodesk website; the newest version is 8.5 and they wont let you download older versions)
B.The version that came with UT2k4, 5.0, is unregisterable now, and therefore you cant install it.
-Hopefully helpful, Xcase

[Lord_Buggy]

If you download Maya 8.5 PLE, get the relevant actor x plugin from here.

http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/ActorX.html

[LoveFest]

Xyz, try v 7B (link at top). There are invisible VecBoosters in the map. I'll be adding vehicle teleporters soon, so it will start to really feel like a vehicle Diamond Sword. Obviously the bases are not done.

[Xyx]

1. I hope I'll find some time to test. I'm really swamped in modding work, but I'll try.
2. How do I know where the invisible VecBoosters are? (and why is "vec "short for a word that doesn't even have "vec" in it?)
3. It's "Xyx", not "Xyz" (what is it up with that anyway?).

[LoveFest]

1. I hope I'll find some time to test. I'm really swamped in modding work, but I'll try.
2. How do I know where the invisible VecBoosters are? (and why is "vec "short for a word that doesn't even have "vec" in it?)
3. It's "Xyx", not "Xyz" (what is it up with that anyway?).

Oh man. Sorry about that. I didn't look carefully enough. I just assumed "x, y, z" My mind just filled in the blank.

>> How do I know where the invisible VecBoosters are>>

Any long straight, stretches of terrain will have a boost on it. Any appealing berms that you might feel tempted to scale have them, and any rock formations that look like ramps have them.

Vec is short for Vector ("X, Y, Z" vectors/axis). You can tell which vector to boost. That determines the direction of the boost. As soon as a vehicle enters the radius of the VecBoost, it is "boosts" the vehicle in that direction. I can set the X, Y, and Z settings for each booster I place in the map--each with their own settings and strenghts, and as soon as a vehicle enters the radius of the vecboost, the vehicle shifts, lifts, or propels forward. Pretty neat. You can use it for vehicle jump pads if you wanted in a purely Z direction, have another in the air with an X direction to make it move and land on a deck or something.

VitalOverdose is tweaking the mutator so that it will have different setttings available for different vehicles. It doesn't do much for a liviathan right now, but it boosts a scorp and hellbender really well in this version.

[Xyx]

Ran around the map in a Manta and again in a Hellbender.

Feedback:

• Great node selection! Should be able to accommodate vastly differing amounts of players nicely. I bet the 32 player community is going to love this map when it's done.
• VecBoosters are highly annoying. Caused me to fall off a ridge and/or into the gorge several times, and messed up my driving, causing me to miss my turn dozens of times. The problem is partly in that I can't tell where they are, and partly in that they seem to be in strange, awkward and often completely unnecessary places. I found them useful only a handful of times, as opposed to the countless times I found them annoying. At the very least make them visible somehow. After that I could perhaps point out the superfluous ones.
• Minimap could zoom in another 20%. That would help when navigating and designing links.
• Sun emitter does not entirely line up with the sun textured into the skybox.
• Too many Leviathans. I suggest placing Leviathans at nodes 10 and 11 only.
• Too many Cicadas. They may not look like it but they're uber. I suggest placing one at each core (replacing a Raptor), at nodes 2 and 3, and perhaps at nodes 19 and 22. This is an awesome ground vehicle map. It would be a pity if it became dominated by air presence.
• The bases needs one or two Hellbenders.
• Cool multilevel base layout! Very promising.
• The lower ridges along the gorge are hard to get out of. Perhaps you could add ramps onto the lower base platform.
• The cores are unprotected and can be hit from miles away. Not the most practical base design. You could place obstacles or entire walls, depending on where from you would like to force the attackers to come. Sealing off the base at the edges might provide the most fun, since you'd have to enter the base to damage the core. Perhaps allowing for holes at some angles.
• Nodes 9, 12, 10, 15 and 21 need to snuggle further into their corners for protection, otherwise they'll get gunned down from far away. Which makes for uninteresting battles.
• No node [url=http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/2866/uppercentersouthwestfq7.jpg]here] or here?

[LoveFest]

Ran around the map in a Manta and again in a Hellbender.

Feedback:

• VecBoosters are highly annoying. Caused me to fall off a ridge and/or into the gorge several times, and messed up my driving, causing me to miss my turn dozens of times. The problem is partly in that I can't tell where they are, and partly in that they seem to be in strange, awkward and often completely unnecessary places. I found them useful only a handful of times, as opposed to the countless times I found them annoying. At the very least make them visible somehow. After that I could perhaps point out the superfluous ones.
• Minimap could zoom in another 20%. That would help when navigating and designing links.
• Sun emitter does not entirely line up with the sun textured into the skybox.
• Too many Leviathans. I suggest placing Leviathans at nodes 10 and 11 only.
• Too many Cicadas. They may not look like it but they're uber. I suggest placing one at each core (replacing a Raptor), at nodes 2 and 3, and perhaps at nodes 19 and 22. This is an awesome ground vehicle map. It would be a pity if it became dominated by air presence.
• The bases needs one or two Hellbenders.
• Cool multilevel base layout! Very promising.
• The lower ridges along the gorge are hard to get out of. Perhaps you could add ramps onto the lower base platform.
• The cores are unprotected and can be hit from miles away. Not the most practical base design. You could place obstacles or entire walls, depending on where from you would like to force the attackers to come. Sealing off the base at the edges might provide the most fun, since you'd have to enter the base to damage the core. Perhaps allowing for holes at some angles.
• Nodes 9, 12, 10, 15 and 21 need to snuggle further into their corners for protection, otherwise they'll get gunned down from far away. Which makes for uninteresting battles.
• No node [url=http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/2866/uppercentersouthwestfq7.jpg]here] or here?

Good feedback.

Ok. I'll address those node issues.

>> Minimap could zoom in another 20%. That would help when navigating and designing links >>

What's that?

>> VecBoost Annoying. >>

I'll send you one with the vec's visibility turned on. I will put road flares or some kind of visual cue to let players know they're there: such as darker tire treads and "burn out tire marks".

>> Cool multilevel base layout! Very promising. >>

If VitalOverDose gets me those Vehicle Teleporters he said he's written, then The flow will begin to mimic the original Dsword: instead of people going through teleporters, vehicles will teleport between levels.

>> The cores are unprotected and can be hit from miles away. Not the most practical base design. >>>

Right. It's a temporary base. Refer to my base layout above. The core is in the center of the map, and vehicles access it through ramps, similar to a downtown city parking lot. Players wil access through people teleporters; and there will be large hanger doors on the sides of the bases that will allow raptors and Cics to shoot at the Main Core (not seen in these screenshots). I'm thinking of adding a trigger on the hanger doors that will close for a short time and then reopen--allowing the loosing side an additional chance to regain itself. ONS games tend to spiral down once a winning team dominates.