CTF flags.

[Morphed]

... See, if you get chased by three enemies, that means you need a teammate to protect you... Even two... And most people don't really care about teamplay, right?

i always protect flag carriers, i follow them bunny hopping and laser jumping all the way, going backwards and shoting enemy, and i always can predict where FC will go, oh and half of my attetion is always on flag icon to notice exact moment when he is killed, so i can make 180 turn and grab the flag before enemy.
Its so easy to do, i realy dont understand why these ppl dont do that

[ai]

Yeah, I too always protect the flag-carrier being close to him (in case he drops the flag) but not too close so that if he gets killed I too will get killed. The only times I do not protect the flag-carrier is when my team is obviously stronger and I "let" the other team either kill the FC or let them take our flag and score ^_^ (I'm a nice guy). Other times I just switch team.

But also, nowadays I've seen more people gaining ridiculous speeds with just the laser, that it's impossible to stop the flag-carrier, even for a really good player. Now I think mostly about the newbies. If they start out playing and run into matches like that, they will drop CTF, or perhaps even Nexuiz. They won't stand a chance to do anything. And CTF SHOULD be a team-play game, it should be very hard to score all by yourself.
Like on Greatwall or Reservoir where even when the whole team is in base, then only ONE guy comes grabs the flag and off he flies away, and you barely even noticed him, yet alone could stop him.

However, with the new system in place maybe a better teamwork would get established. There's nothing to lose at least as far as it concerns me.

[sev]

However, with the new system in place maybe a better teamwork would get established. There's nothing to lose at least as far as it concerns me.

In most cases it is not the code that needs changes, but the maps. There simply are not enough good quality CTF maps that encourage a good CTF Match.

And of course, experienced players (like you probably are) should communicate more, and more clearly. I have noticed that the best players usually play by themselves, or send standard team messages like "roaming (l:%l^7) (h:%h^7 a:%a^7 w:%w^7)" or "enemy seen (l:%y^7)", this is not very helpful for noobs.

[HarryButt]

I have noticed that the best players usually play by themselves

Yup. Laserjumping to the front line, laserjumping back to own flag. That why I want them to be not able to gain such speeds, so that the other team members actually realize what's going on with the flag and help out.
For noobs who play the game the first time it's especially confusing when the flag carrier is flying at ninja speed.

or send standard team messages like "roaming (l:%l^7) (h:%h^7 a:%a^7 w:%w^7)" or "enemy seen (l:%y^7)", this is not very helpful for noobs.

This could be solved by a Voicechat menu with sound samples like in Enemy Territory. For I don't give much attention to chat messages, because I'm too busy shooting people Maybe increasing the message stay time might help too.
Of course, the perfect solution would be VoIP.

But this is the Flag topic anyway.

[ai]

In most cases it is not the code that needs changes, but the maps.

Well, even if there were good CTF maps (which there are, like Runningman, Controlfactor, Hal-Palindrome and mIKECTF (yes those are good), the FC can still get in and out of these bases with ease. You'd have to be a very good defender in order to stop them.
And I don't think you even can blame the maps unless they actually are really bad, cause no matter which map you can still get super speed if you know what you're doing. You'd have to have some kind of a narrow hallway with uneven ground, walls and ceiling in order to not get the speeds. But such maps are of course considered bad.
So, ultimately, crippling the FC is a must, and think about it. It wouldn't hurt newbies that much either, as newbies don't know how to laser or rocket themselves, or if they do they don't usually do it to well and they shoot they way out of the base. So crippling the FC won't hurt them too much but would be a blow to those very fast players.

It's "Capture the flag - Teamwork", not "Capture the flag - As fast as you can", then you might as well make a time mod where speed does matter, and the clock is your only enemy.

However, we would need suggestions as how to cripple the FC. What should be done for him? Weakening the laser? Increasing the damage on the laser? Give him melee? Give him shield? etc. Suggestions would be good.

[HarryButt]

Weakening the laser? Give him melee? Give him shield? etc. Suggestions would be good.

Thinking about it, a melee weapon is not very effective in a fast game where you can hardly touch other players.
I vote for a weakened laser and a recharging shield as secondary fire. Imo this would be enough to ensure that the carrier is not being killed too easily, but he is also not able to gain such extreme speeds, so that he's always in need for backup.

Nexuiz has a regeneration system already. You could apply an enhanced regeneration to the carrier while he has the flag. And a limit of 150 or 200 armor/HP maybe? Might be an alternative to balance the disarmed carrier.

[Dokujisan]

I think cloth is still doable as long as it is either

a) a framed cloth
b) an "energy" cloth (if that makes sense)

With either of those, it won't be strange when the cloth doesn't move in the wind.

[KillaGrunt]

You could make the flag part like a lightsaber so you can have a sort of lightsaber halberd.So at least the flagcarrier will have some sort of weapon.

[ai]

What about this kind of flag?
(No, I didn't make anything of this, I just found the picture on CG Society forums. Nice concept)

[HarryButt]

As far as I can see we already had a concept with a Naginata-styled shaft.
It's a cool concept, but I don't like the melee idea anymore.