Automated Turret Tech-Demo

H

Halfscan

Veteran X
I threw together a tech-demo map showing one simple method to get automated Base Turrets into a map.

It's a little messy, but it looks like it should work alright (can't really test it in MP without putting a map out first).

I'm too lazy to dig up a host, so if anyone wants it, PM me with an e-mail addy and I'll send it out in the morning (the file is a 1.5 meg .rar).... or, if someone wants to host, let me know and I'll pass the file on.

EDIT: added link to the files (hosted by Cinderkarst).
http://www.vengeancefiles.org/drclan/Cinder/turretdemo.rar


-half
 
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Wow. I am impressed. The turrets work without a hitch, even after being destroyed and repaired.

Is there any way to make them less accurate, particularly the burner?
 
Cinderkarst said:
Is there any way to make them less accurate, particularly the burner?
Click to expand...

It's all in the turret's AI properties.. and has alot of room for tweaking (reaction time, accuracy, "sight", etc).

I'm still slightly worried if/how this will work in MP, specifically whether scripts will fire like they should.

-Half
 
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Halfscan said:
It's all in the turret's AI properties.. and has alot of room for tweaking (reaction time, accuracy, "site", etc).

I'm still slightly worried if/how this will work in MP, specifically whether scripts will fire like they should.

-Half
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just played with the settings and got them to miss more. There's a LOT of things that we can do with this. I'd be more than happy to try these out on my new map's next beta, just to see if they do work in a game situation.

Also, here's the link: http://www.vengeancefiles.org/drclan/Cinder/turretdemo.rar
 
Also, I think it's funny that the AI routine still taunts you when it kills you. If one could get the T2 bot voices and port them in I'd have to laugh.
 
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i like it. i'd imagine someone with maya and a little bit of coding skill could create a sentry-turret type object for us to use. i wish i knew how to use that sorta stuff =(
 
halfscan and/or cinderkast... you CAN get them to not taunt... under AI propertiess (double click on the bot, goto AI) if you set bTaunt to false it SHOULD stop it from taunting you.

btw, nice job halfscan... only thing im wondering is, can u make it so that you can still get into the turret if you want? but still have it automatic otherwise? still checking out map trying to see exactly how u set this up.
 
LordOfShadows said:
btw, nice job halfscan... only thing im wondering is, can u make it so that you can still get into the turret if you want? but still have it automatic otherwise? still checking out map trying to see exactly how u set this up.
Click to expand...

To see how it's set up, open it up in TVEd and "search for actors"... select 'script0' and view its properties. The text file included in the .rar kinda explains what the script does, but the short of it is:

- Close turret seat
- "Disable" 'bot (makes bot invisible and non-collidable)
- Loop: Every 5 seconds, attempt to teleport 'bot into turret seat

As far as modifying it to allow players & 'bots to use a turret... it's very doable, the only problem I had with allowing a player in the seat was figuring out what to do with the 'bot while the turret was occupied... some sort of check to see if the turret is occupied (or working) would need to be done, and then if the turret is unavailable use the teleport function to move the 'bot out of play. Alternately, a method of destroying and respawning the 'bots could be explored.

I didn't have the time (or knowledge) to work out how to do that yet.

So to modify turretdemo, you'd need to:
-change turret's 'entry point collision' back to default so players can access it.
-delete the script function that closes the turret seat
-delete the script function that "disables" the 'bot
-add a script routine to deal with how to handle the 'bot if the turret is occupied or destroyed.

-Half
 
make sure to automate the mortar turret too on all pub maps so you can make t2ers happy that they dont have to do any fucking aiming :rolleyes: just imagine the profound tactical significance and balancing power of an uber-mortar turret that prohibits anything but shrikes (that's right there will be shrikes, automated shrikes!) from making it through the perimeter! Huzzah!

while i can appreciate the thought and effort (talent, etc etc... no bash on the author guy intended) i'd much rather see it put into something new, not the rehashing of something old. perhaps a gametype to make pub play less fucking dismal, instead of dismal with automated turrets...
 
Halfscan said:
To see how it's set up, open it up in TVEd and "search for actors"... select 'script0' and view its properties. The text file included in the .rar kinda explains what the script does, but the short of it is:

- Close turret seat
- "Disable" 'bot (makes bot invisible and non-collidable)
- Loop: Every 5 seconds, attempt to teleport 'bot into turret seat

As far as modifying it to allow players & 'bots to use a turret... it's very doable, the only problem I had with allowing a player in the seat was figuring out what to do with the 'bot while the turret was occupied... some sort of check to see if the turret is occupied (or working) would need to be done, and then if the turret is unavailable use the teleport function to move the 'bot out of play. Alternately, a method of destroying and respawning the 'bots could be explored.

I didn't have the time (or knowledge) to work out how to do that yet.

So to modify turretdemo, you'd need to:
-change turret's 'entry point collision' back to default so players can access it.
-delete the script function that closes the turret seat
-delete the script function that "disables" the 'bot
-add a script routine to deal with how to handle the 'bot if the turret is occupied or destroyed.

-Half
Click to expand...

I see.... I could probably figure out all that stuff eventually (finding and moding the scripts)... but I'm not much of any scripter :p so I'd be stumped on how to get a routine written about how to handle the bot occupied thing.... hehe... but again good work :)

And oh, halfscan check your private messages on here... sent something to you.
 
F [a] C E said:
while i can appreciate the thought and effort (talent, etc etc... no bash on the author guy intended) i'd much rather see it put into something new, not the rehashing of something old. perhaps a gametype to make pub play less fucking dismal, instead of dismal with automated turrets...
Click to expand...

I understand what you're saying.. but the goal isn't to make any sort of automated "Uber" turret system, just to make them "useful" (for a change).

The way the turrets are now, they sit empty, largely because they are placed in out of the way locations, and it is usually a wasted team resource to dedicate 1 out of your team's 8 players to man them.

If the map designer sets these up in an a map correctly (ie, fair placement and AI tweaked approprialy), all these should do is prevent the enemy from camping an area or route without taking control of that area first (players skiing through the area could be gone before the turrets even get a fix on them)... and seriously, HOs could use more objectives on their run than just spamming the conviently jammed together inv/gen/radar cluster). If placed well, they would also help out with controlling slow moving sky traffic (ie, Pods and Bombers), without being much of a threat to the faster moving players closer to the ground.

The potential for "bad map abuse" is there (I could easily see a map like you described... packed with pinpoint accurate, high rate of fire, never miss mortar & sentry turrets)... but that is a "map design" issue, not a "automated turret" issue. If a bad designer is going to make a map with over-defended objectives, he's going to do it with or without automated turrets.

Automated turrets don't kill maps, bad design does... ;)

-Half
 
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