UT3 1v1 - Too stacked up on health/vials/armor?

[Boksha]

You generally want the shield belt over the armor because the armor absorbs all the damage until it's gone. Whereas the armor absorbs a percentage of the damage, like 75% or whatever (totally made the number up - I can't remember the real value).

Full absorption might be a disadvantage instead of an advantage. If you have more than 33 health, your 75% absorption armour will be gone before you die, so it provides just as much protection as it would if it absorbed 100%. If you have 100 health on the other hand, and get hit with the 75% absorption armour, you can refill your health by picking up a health pickup, giving you an extra option for recovering hitpoints and depriving your enemy of that pickup.
75% is correct btw. The thigh pads protected for 50%, so you needed more than 50 health (or armour of a different type to go along with it) to use those to the fullest.

In Unreal there was situational armor called the Toxic suit which didn't protect you from damage, but from being harmed while swimming in toxic water. However it had 50pts of protection for it. If you got hit, it took damage as well, so if you got hit too much, it got knocked off you.

Actually if I recall correctly the Toxin suit was a regular armour as well. I can't remember what percentage of regular damage it absorbed, but armour that doesn't absorb any damage would never go away because it doesn't lose hitpoints. The special property was that it could absorb 100% slime damage without losing any points.

[Ultron]

You generally want the shield belt over the armor because the armor absorbs all the damage until it's gone. Whereas the armor absorbs a percentage of the damage, like 75% or whatever (totally made the number up - I can't remember the real value).

In Unreal there was situational armor called the Toxic suit which didn't protect you from damage, but from being harmed while swimming in toxic water. However it had 50pts of protection for it. If you got hit, it took damage as well, so if you got hit too much, it got knocked off you.

[Boksha]

so **** true lol....

So **** old too (think I've seen that thing like, 7 or 8 times in the past two days?)... plus it's not like people didn't play defensively in UT. Back then people would run away spamming backwards instead of holding down the shield, or even better... spam every corner so your enemy can't even get near. Of course, that makes for faster gameplay. With one person running and shielding and the other firing, nobody gets hurt but with one person running and spamming, at least there's a chance of the chaser getting blown up or landing a sniper or shock prim shot on the defensive player.

[heyqule]

UT2004 vs UT99

so **** true lol....

[TensorWM]

UT2004 vs UT99

[Raad11]

I'm sure that there will still be a pro community no matter how powerful stacks can be. i'm also sure that epic won't care about the pro community, but UT the competitive scene never needed Epic's help before. I won't worry about a thing.

You need sponsors to throw money at UT3 tournaments for there to even be a pro community. Pro meaning professional, meaning for $$.

And that's not guaranteed. It's not 1999, or even 2003. There's a million other games being supported right now, they could go right on ahead ignoring UT. UT2003 was briefly made famous by Fatal1ty but UT2004 was outgunned by Painkiller for major tournament support which was insane considering UT's playerbase.

If Epic just stays out of the way, UT3 will last for about a year in competitive tournament/LAN circles, maybe two. If UT3 is going to be the next big professional dueling/DM game, Epic will have to help support it (until Quake 5 or whatever, since id is focusing on competitive dueling for that game). Like how Sierra got F.E.A.R. for Xbox360 picked up by the CPL, formerly known for sticking only to hardcore PC deathmatch shooters.

[da ghost]

I'm sure that there will still be a pro community no matter how powerful stacks can be. i'm also sure that epic won't care about the pro community, but UT the competitive scene never needed Epic's help before. I won't worry about a thing.

[Mort_Q]

The terms UT99 levels can be interpreted more than one way.

[Molgan]

...even though I think the weapons are still not as powerful as they were in ut99.

According to this Q&A they are.

Dave: Weapon damage has indeed returned to UT99 levels for UT3.

[btcomm]

I remember back when I played UT99 I liked that the weapons were powerful and that if you hit someone with 3 flaks they were pretty much dead. Coming to UT2k3/4 it was a big point of frustration when I would hit someone with 3 or even 4 flaks and they still were not dead and then would run away with the shield gun.

I think like many people have said that the difference was not so much the armor stacking, but instead the amount of damage a weapon does to you. Also as much as I love dodge jumping it did give those really good players a way to get to you fast and kill you before you could get anything good and allows them to run away very fast when they are in low health.

I'm glad they are kind of going back to the UT99 ways even though I think the weapons are still not as powerful as they were in ut99.

[Raad11]

I believe there was mention that the altfire of the new Hammer will be able to knock powerups off of a stacked player

..........

[Mort_Q]

That'd serve you right for allowing someone to get that close!

[Kyllian]

I believe there was mention that the altfire of the new Hammer will be able to knock powerups off of a stacked player

[Boksha]

A lot of people have some very strange ideas about how armour works.
I've heard a lot of people say the 100% absorption system in UT2k3 promoted defensive play as well, while in practice, so long as armour absorption is in the range 70% and up, you will most likely wear down your armour well before you run out of health, so it really doesn't make a big difference whether the armour absorbs 70% or 100% of the damage. In fact, incomplete absorption means you get an extra means to regain lost hitpoints because it allows you to pick up health as well, which could also make staying alive easier for the player in control, which might make fleeing for more hitpoints (as opposed to going for an aggressive attack) more attractive as well, because at the end of the day a 10-0 win looks better than a 20-10 one.

[EggSuckingLeech]

There's barely a difference between UT2004's armour system and UT's anyway. The dodgejump did make a difference; combined with the shieldgun it made getting away from enemies easier, promiting defensive play.

Sure I buy that. But I never understood the big deal in the armor systems.