Deployed Inventories and longevity.

Here's my question to anyone reading. What type of inventories do you believe would be better for gameplay? T1 deployable inventories (limited energy/loadout potential), or T2 deployable inventories (unlimited energy/loadout potential). I can easily see two divided sides on this issue over one simple point. Should a team be rewarded for keeping a deployed inventory alive for a long time? If you say yes, then you would perfer T2 style inventories. Since they rewarded teams for finding good spots for them by providing them loadouts nearly all game (if not killed). If you don't think well hidden inventories should be rewarded with alot of longevity, then you'd go with a T1 style system with limited energy.

However, when writing this I've thought of an interesting comprimise between the two ideals. How about if deployed inventories directly received energy from the main base (imagine its a car and its gas tank is constantly at full). When your main base goes down, using the inventory will slowly deplete its tank. Slow enough so that a team could use that inventory for an extended period of time if the base went down, but not the entire map if the base was down for a very long period of time. Then, if the base comes up, the spare energy reserves in the inventory, would slowly begin refilling up until they hit full.

Main reason why I brought this up, is that some people/teams had an issue with teams being able to effectively function and suit out with several well hidden inventories in a map (most smart teams could find them regardless though), even if they completely abandoned their base. Interested to hear thoughts from both sides though.

Im a fan of T2's inventorys, id prefer unlim energy - although invs usually died in T1 before they ran outta ammo :)

at the risk of changing the subject...

i think the issue boils down to mapping and location. think of this in terms of vehicles... where you can spawn them all from 1 location without any risk involved... vs needing to control remote locations of vehicle spawn spots. i prefer it when teams have to actually manage some risks in order to access assets (i.e. they actually have to control some location/asset to get vehicles and stuff).

i personally love deployable inventories. i think it's one of the coolest gameplay dynamics around... and truly, truly opens up the strategic elements of any given map instead of making it being pre-ordained struggles over locations.

however, you open up a whole can of worms without some predictability and standards.

i'd have to say that creative alternatives could be really, really cool.

then again, one could argue that tribes2 had a nice balance although perhaps deployed invs should get auto-waypointed.

Unlimited.

They aren't hard to find, just follow the spawning players. If they are put in a location which gives the most advantage, say near the flag, they run the risk of it being destroyed, so it isn't a big advantage, it just keeps the gameplay out of the bases and on the field, where it should be.

Just don't allow them to be deployed inside trees and rocks and stuff.

i like the trees and rocks


although really bad to people looking in from the outside, its good for gameplay

T2 invs were better.

Also, get rid of the ability to skin these things. There is nothing worse than skinning and other cheats that help find deployables. Anybody who doesn't think that the ability to make a deployed inv fluoresce orange against a dark sky is a big advantage is smoking crack.

Teams have to totally change their strats to account for lame cheats. I hope that T:V can police simple things like this more effectively.

We shouldn't have to know every "busted" tree and rock texture that will allow you to deploy something inside it.

I would rather that teams focus on learning routes, coordination, and aim. Spending time hunting down rocks that allow you to deploy things into seems like a really dumb use of time.

T2's style was great, having limited fule is just crap, imo.

Also, finding inventories is part of doing rape just like killing an MPB is... they all go together. If you can't manage to figure out how to find inventories then you probably can't figure out how to rape a base well either so what's the point... either way though, if you can't figure out how to find an inventory then there's no reason why the other team's invs should stop working because of your incompidense.

It's not like it's brain surgery, just go chill in something like a jammer on the outskirts of their base area while refraining from firing your weapon (gets you caught--duh) long enough to see where the spawns run to... then investigate your findings. With people always using the same positions now a days it's only easier to find them too.

T1's invs made more sense logically, but I think T2's were probably better for gameplay.

This might be more a map design thing, but has some bearing on the subject:

Rape HO usually could decimate a base just by cruising through to the gen, most of the base inv's were within easy reach of the fastest way to the gens, and those that weren't and went down when the gens blew were of little import anyway, usually being far from where most people would spawn. This is what made portables so necessary in maps where the gens went down easily, even when the gens came back up, you'd have to repair the inventories as well and that cost time.

Making it harder to kill a base on a single pass would lessen the overall importance of the Pinv, but wouldn't relegate it to uselessness.

T2's deployable invs were better than T1's. Deployable invs are fragile things, so let them have unlimited ammo. Just make sure they are easily destroyed as well. Like 1 direct disk blast will bring it down to 1 health point or something.

T2 invens > T1 invens

both regular and deployable.

T2 invs were better... I hope they keep a deployable inv that can change armor (i.e. MPB inv)

Remember the olden days when T1 first came out, and all inventory buying was supposed to be based on a point system which rewarded kills?

Well that day is gone, thank god. And if you ask me, in T1, deployable invo's should have gone the same way. T2's rock, plain and simple.

If I remember correctly, they were talking about doing something different altogether with the inventory system for T:V. So there might not be deployables at all. :shrug:

Remember the olden days when T1 first came out, and all inventory buying was supposed to be based on a point system which rewarded kills?

Well that day is gone, thank god. And if you ask me, in T1, deployable invo's should have gone the same way. T2's rock, plain and simple.

If you have T2 installed try the map "Canyon Blitz" in this map: pack (http://www.tribalwar.com/rdb/index.php?fileid=1343#). It is a re-creation of what you speak of, as best as I was willing to waste time on.

I think smart invo spots should be rewarded. Also, think its one less thing to hassle with. When I think of going back to play T1, the first thing I think of is the shitty invo system.

Also, I think the game pretty much is dominated by HO crews and the rape early, rape often strategy so that exacerbating it with rinvos tied to the gens is really unnecessary. Rped teams that can survive going "flag" with rinvos (while they last) should be rewarded and commended. Some teams just have better flag game overall and I think its a good balance to the otherwise rape dominated competitive environment.

BBJ