grappling hook physics

[tChr]

This server is now being used by that laser camper and all round prick, dru. I would suggest that something gets done about it.

That do you want us to do? Get rid of the laser in spacemaps? I'm not sure its a good idea to have such changes 'only because of' / 'just for' 3 maps.. I suppose you have to do the same or just be better then him

"Do the same" thats finding the problem right there. You have no freaking choice but to do the same, thats whats ruining the maps.

[divVerent]

This server is now being used by that laser camper and all round prick, dru. I would suggest that something gets done about it.

That do you want us to do? Get rid of the laser in spacemaps? I'm not sure its a good idea to have such changes 'only because of' / 'just for' 3 maps.. I suppose you have to do the same or just be better then him

"Do the same" thats finding the problem right there. You have no freaking choice but to do the same, thats whats ruining the maps.

What usually helps against those is hanging from below the map for some time or just not respawning for half a minute. He will get bored of it - just like any camper gets bored when nobody goes to his camping spot any more. But this does not work if there are too many players on the map...

Plus, the laser is part of the game - and the element what makes space maps more interesting (like pushmoddm1). However, it is possible to abuse it, just like the hook can be abused. But nobody has to enable laser or hook on his server - it can be switched off - but IMHO it's part of Nexuiz, just like the BFG is part of Quake 2 and many people hate it although it is easily possible to hide from it or even to outrun it.

[Ed]

Get rid of the laser in spacemaps?

No. It is not that he is using the laser to despatch people off into space. He uses the laser on non-space maps just to piss people off.

What I was suggesting is that when the grappling hook is enabled, there is less point in the laser as you can recover from being thrown over the edge and can get anywhere anyway, you might as well disable the laser when the grappling hook is enabled. This can be left up to sys admins to do.

I think there is far more skill in using other weapons to throw people over the edge. The rocket launcher does it very well but you have to put more effort in.

[divVerent]

I made a demo about using the grappling hook.

The low quality (AVI, MPEG-4, MP3, 27MB) version can be downloaded via HTTP at http://www.savefile.com/files/2198669

The high quality (OGM, Theora, Vorbis, 97MB) version can be downloaded via BitTorrent, the (trackerless) torrent is available at http://www.savefile.com/files/2348631 and http://fragtory.net/?q=node/258. BitTorrent 4.1 and above should be able to work with that. It should play back fine in VLC and MPlayer.

[Urmel]

Wow, great one. Artistic!!!

[divVerent]

I could perhaps also upload the high quality version as two split files on savefile.com, but I don't think they will like that...

[divVerent]

Another link to get the high quality Theora version:

http://www.bigupload.com/d=3DB0C81B

Excuse the 30s timer...

[Wazat]

Hey all. Glad people are working on my simple old hook (it couldn't be more minimalistic, so it's good to see improvements)

I haven't gotten to test the new hook yet, but I have a few comments from what I've read:

1) A fake form of hook wrapping could be done fairly easily, if you make the hook attach to anything that crosses its beam (this may or may not be good, it would require some play testing). Thus, if you drop downward while flying and the beam crosses a wall, then it will attach to that wall from then on. If you swing around a bend, each time the beam/wire would supposedly wrap around the corner, it really just re-attaches to the new surface. If a moving platform or player crosses the beam, then you're in for a ride.

To do this, traceline from the player to the current attachment point. If the traceline fails to reach it, re-attach to the new location the traceline hit.

2) I think that 1/2 or 1 rocket damage should be all that's needed to dislodge a hook. After all, if you're hanging around with the hook and someone shoots you, you should be ready to hook to another surface as soon as possible (staying still = foolish), and it shouldn't be so immensely hard to detach them anyway. This creates a cat-and-mouse game of detaching the player and trying to kill him before he can hook to something else & get away, and detaching them disrupts their aim & focus.
The other reason is that two rockets or a nex blast seems really high! If I have to fire two rockets or I need to aim to hit with the nex, I'm not going to aim for the hook; I'm going to aim for the player. If I can get both with the same rocket, then I serve two goals. It's very effective to shoot the wall because that's harder to dodge, and it should probably detach his hook in addition to damaging him, and force him to stay on his toes, instead of being able to put all his focus into sniping back.
That's just my opinion though. I don't play near as much as I should, and my comments really should be taken with a grain of salt, as they say.

The best way is to find a suitable default and make sure it's configurable in the menu, so servers can set it as they like OR it can become map-configurable (some maps have well-established hooks, other maps force players to really stay on their toes).

3) That would suck to have a player who abuses the hook or laser just to be annoying, but I figure the best you can do is just forge ahead and have fun despite their efforts (though that can be challenging at times). Such creatures will always be around, and altering features isn't always the answer.

4) Just for fun, I recommend combining the hook with features like damage-boosted Laser-Guided rockets in a space map. It's quite entertaining chasing down friends with your rockets as they hook around the map for cover. Makes a good game of tag, I suppose.