Map convertor * -> Jailbreak?

[legacy-Nagromme]

Looking at other convertor mut ideas, and thinking about a "universal convertor" (to/from just about anything), it occurred to me that CTF, BR, and DOM maps could work for Jailbreak--in a sense.

It wouldn't be the true JB experience and it wouldn't be as good as a REAL JB map--TRY IT!--but it could be a fun add-on for JB to give you more map variety. (It would of course rely on having JB installed--I'm not thinking of cloning JB, just adding maps to the genuine article.)

It would replace the two bases with release switches. But there would be no jails or arena fights.

You'd simply lie where you fell until someone released you, and then you'd respawn randomly. (Except for DOM maps, there would be team-specific spawns.)

Suggested name for a "not quite jail"-break mut: "House Arrest."

(You could even add a mini one-person jail/cage to hold you where you died. It could block off parts of the map though and become a problem.)

[legacy-4TX4]

JB is one of my favorite game types, along with TDM (at the moment), and it's really a shame that there aren't more maps for it. For example, I'd love to see a giant urban JB map along the lines of Zeitkind or Snipertown. In fact, I'd be quite happy if someone 'simply' adapted these and other existing maps by adding jails & release switches, and modifying the pathing.

'House Arrest': I kinda like the idea of one-person cages, especially if they'd have their own little execution sequences. :up: Could have different cage types (medieval like in the pic below, or something with force fields etc.) with different sequences, team-related and/or cycled randomly. In large matches the landscape would be dotted with them...



Another, slightly more complex(?) option would be to add mobile jails to ONS maps. These would be 2 Leviathans or custom vehicles with a release switch on top, which would slowly drive around the map as token jails. If you get fragged, you get teleported into a room that's supposedly located inside the vehicle (in reality it could be somewhere off-map or whatever). When someone manages to hit the release switch, the prisoners could either spawn near the vehicle or in their own / enemy base, or some other location.

So basically the ONS --> JB mut would add 'virtual' jails (could have multiple looks & execution sequences) and modified Leviathans (or whatever) to existing ONS maps, while tweaking nodes & cores so that they can only be used as teleporters. Vehicles and turrets could be either removed / locked, team-based, or free-for-all via a toggle, just like in the ONS --> DM mut. Incidentally, something similar could be done with CTF, see sig.

[legacy-Nagromme]

I like the virtual jail idea, if a gametype could do that: it could add 2 jail rooms and even an arena room "outside the map" and thus compatible with all maps. The arena/jail style would always be the same (or randomly chosen) rather than matching the map, but at least those rooms would exist.

The full JB experience!

With just one exception: when you get released, the exit "door" would be a teleporter that sent you to a random spawnpoint on your team's side.

Still, it would make an experience very similar to true JB maps, assuming the bots could handle it.

The vehicle idea is neat too, though--and I can think of other ONS-specific JB ideas:

* Replace Power Cores with round jails.

* Replace Nodes with smaller "holding cells."

* When you die, you go to the nearest holding cell on the enemy side of the map.

* Touch a holding cell with a NON-damaged vehicle to let your teammates out of it.

* So for a real SECURE lockup you should transfer your prionsers from the holding cells to the jail. Otherwise, be sure to guard the cells.

* Drive a vehicle (could be specially made for this mut) into an occupied holding cell and you'll "pick up" the prisoners. Drive/fly to the Power Core to drop them off.

* If your vehicle is destroyed in transit, everyone inside is free.

* If you bail out, the "oldest" prisoner inside carjacks the vehicle. They can go where they like, or just jump out and destroy the vehicle to let teammates out. (Or each new "driver" could just jump out in turn, leaving everyone free without destroying the vehicle.)

* Map would show which holding cells were occupied.

* Hitting the Release Switch (automatically part of the Core jail) would release all prisoners, even the ones in holding cells. But NOT ones in vehicle transit.

* If you wanted to be sneaky, you could carry prisoners in a vehicle full-time, so that the only way to release them is to find--and destroy--the vehicle. But you'd have to waste the driver's manpower to use that tactic. They couldn't get out of the vehicle.

* You can't drop prisoners off in another cell--once they're picked up, you're committed to taking them to the jail or just keeping them in the vehicle.

* Winner of an arena fight IF you were in a vehicle automatically kicks out the driver and carjacks the vehicle!

What do you think? It would be more work than just a convertor, I know.

PS, an idea for the "simple" convertor mut, if it had "personal jails": make them TINY! Shrink the player down and place them in a little cage, small enough to be walked/jumped over. Bingo--no blockage of the map. And if you died close to an existing mini-jail, you'd be added to that one instead of creating a new one.

(But in the interests of having SOMETHING done, I'd settle for no jails, just waiting in "deathcam" mode to be released.)

[legacy-4TX4]

I really like the node-vehicle-core transit setup. This is more than just a quick fix; it takes the JB concept to a whole new level! :up: Old-skool JB largely ignores the new possibilities of 2k4, and though still fun could definitely use an upgrade. Maybe someone should tell the JB team about this?

Some minor changes / suggestions:

-Holding cells (nodes) must be 'destroyed' to free trapped teammates (instead of vehicle touching). They should have plenty of health to prevent easy releases. The enemy team could heal their damaged node cells, just like in ONS.

-The cores are virtual rather than actual jails (maybe this is what you had in mind?), as are the arena and (maybe) the inside of the transfer vehicles.

-Apart from touching the release switch, you can also free jailed teammates by blowing up the core. It has massive health though so it wouldn't be easy.

-Re the 'tiny' jails; personally I'd like them to be full-sized; seeing all those players in hanging cages would really add to the experience imo. Blocking shoudn't be too much of an issue, especially on large open maps, and otherwise people would just have to take this into account when fragging someone. Also you could add a feature that prevents gibbets from spawning in (too) small spaces. Chaos UT has something like this for its turrets I think.

[legacy-Nagromme]

I like the idea of blowing up the Core to free people--a way to use vehicles and attack from a distance instead of getting to the switch. But the core should be healable (and even self-healing) so people didn't rely on that too much.

As for destroying nodes to let people out of holding cells... my thinking is that they SHOULD be easy to get people out of: otherwise there's no incentive to treat holding cells as only temporary. I'd want a REASON for prisoners to be transferred in vehicles--and that reason could be because the "real" jail is hard to open, while the cells are easy (though you still have to GET there, and do so with a vehicle that's undamaged--meaning if you were shot you'd have to get out and fix your "rescue" vehicle).

[legacy-4TX4]

Well, the holding cells' health would be significantly lower than the central (core) jail's, and of course it's easier to defend one heavily fortified location than multiple relatively open ones, so there would be plenty of motivation for teams to transfer prisoners into the central jail.

You could even make it so that all prisoners must be transferred into the central jail for a point to be scored, and the match to be won. This will more or less guarantee lots of transport action. More or less, because personally I'd let players that get fragged near the core jail be directly transferred into it, as an extra penalty. This would make direct attacks on cores a rather dangerous business, as it should be.

Nodes vs cores would basically be small local police stations vs central prisons; the former might be a lot easier to bust out of than the latter, but it still takes effort. Destroying nodes vs touching them with an undamaged vehicle would simply be more realistic and 'satisfying' imo.

Btw, in large matches the transport vehicles could have multiple escorts, adding an 'attack the convoy' element to the gameplay. This could be a truly awesome gametype, the very best of JB and ONS combined.

[legacy-Nagromme]

All good points. I'm sold Making people close to the main jail get sent there directly is logical anyway, if the rule is "closest jail."

For the vehicles, maybe the "passenger slots" could be used as prisoner slots.

So a Scorpion/Manta/Raptor could not carry prisoners, a Cicada or SPMA could carry 1, a Hellbender could carry 2, and a Leviathan could carry 4. (Most of the time you'd only need 1 at a time anyway--EXCEPT if you stopped off at several nodes to pick up more.)

And if you chose to have an additional gunner on board, you'd therefore lose a prisoner slot.

The two totally enclosed tanks (Goliath and Paladin) could be given extra slots just for being so big and slow. Maybe 3 prisoners in a Goliath (or 2 + extra gunner) and 2 in a Paladin.

But the best could be to add custom vehicles The big, slow-flying Helix, if you've ever tried it, could make a nice prison transport, with a little work.

It all sounds like a lot of fun, with new kinds of teamwork!

I'll try to post a link at the JB forums to see if anyone there is interested EDIT: Done.