Sniper's Rifle

[Jonan]

From time to time we hear complaints about this or that player sniping, and not contributing enough in terms of flag getting, or protecting. Atleast not directly.

While I think sniping is viable in attacking and defending, I do think it can ruin the game, in some situations.

I think there is a few ways of dealing with it.

(1) Ban it out-right. (Disable sniper class, and lock rifle from weapon menu)
(2) Ban it on certain days.
(3) Enable sniper rifle when we hit a certain amount of players, maybe in conjunction with the walls.
(4) Lessen the maximum damage and/or increase the charge time.
(5) Make it fire a projectile, instead of hitscan.
(6) Make it more costly.
(7) Make kevlar cheaper and / or stackable. So you could take 1/2 or 1/4 or 1/8 etc damage from stacking extra.
(8) Make a bullet proof helmet available. Blocking the headshot damage.
(9) Make the leg shot effect wear off.
(10) Make a reload time after each shot.
(11) Enable voting on whether the rifle can be used, on a given map.

[OneManClan]

From time to time we hear complaints about this or that player sniping, and not contributing enough in terms of flag getting, or protecting. Atleast not directly.

While I think sniping is viable in attacking and defending, I do think it can ruin the game, in some situations.

Agreed, 100% (grrr)

I think there is a few ways of dealing with it.

(1) Ban it out-right. (Disable sniper class, and lock rifle from weapon menu)

Personally, I think banning the sniper rifle would improve gameplay immensely . Snipers detract from AGR's teamwork philosophy, they focus on getting kills, rather than attacking/ defending THE FLAG, getting killed by a sniper is juts annoying (AND slows down the action), and they often end up sniping at other snipers .... which means there's LESS players actually focussing on the flag, ie what AGR is all about!

Unfortunately, sniping is still VERY popular and getting rid of it would *definitely* lose players. And a silly sentimental part of me still thinks maybe sniping is still part of the 'spirit of TF'... .yea.. anyway..

(2) Ban it on certain days.

Maybe.. otoh i like this better:

(3) Enable sniper rifle when we hit a certain amount of players, maybe in conjunction with the walls.

I've actually already programmed this, but haven't had the balls to enable it. Hmm maybe .. it's time?

(4) Lessen the maximum damage and/or increase the charge time.

Both were done years ago. To give credit, Snipers who consistently get kills in AGR are definitely skilled.

(5) Make it fire a projectile, instead of hitscan.

Never thought about this... and ... jeez... (to my surprise) ..I can't think of an objection! But then I rarely snipe .. I'd have to consult w ppl who LOVE sniping, to see how they'd feel about this.. though I suspect they'd object to ANY change.. (it definitely makes sense though!)

(6) Make it more costly.

I dunno if that would improve the situation/change anything.. (apart from annoying snipers)

(7) Make kevlar cheaper and / or stackable. So you could take 1/2 or 1/4 or 1/8 etc damage from stacking extra.

This has been done, AGR Kevlar enables you to take multiple shots.

(8) Make a bullet proof helmet available. Blocking the headshot damage.

I think Kevlar still protects the head.

(9) Make the leg shot effect wear off.

It already does for Caltrops (slowly) - so yea, ill make it do it for sniper leg damage itself!

(10) Make a reload time after each shot.

There's already a delay where the sniper rifle 'builds power' for a few seconds before each shot

(11) Enable voting on whether the rifle can be used, on a given map.

Could get messy, and unpredictable..

I think I might start gently, by enabling the current code which says if there are less than x players (I think it's 4), Red cant snipe. Ie something completely reasonable .. though. i think you and I already know who will kick up a big fuss!

[Jonan]

(12) Make the maximum damage related to the amount of players.

Something like 50 damage x Total Players.

[Jonan]

Need to fix the message for legs healing, after the sniper hit.

I think it needs the /n at the end.

I've had messages like this

legs are healing...grenade primed. In the same line.

[OneManClan]

Need to fix the message for legs healing, after the sniper hit.

I think it needs the /n at the end.

I've had messages like this

legs are healing...grenade primed. In the same line.

Hmmm... couldn't see it anywhere, ie all leg heal messages have a "\n" at the end. If you take a screenshot next time I can analyse further.