JB2004 Execution: Sentinel Cannons

[ZedMaestro]

This is a new actor for JB2004 mappers to use for execution sequences. In short, it is a fully animated projectile-firing ceiling sentinel cannon designed for use in Jailbreak execution sequences.

In a bit more detail...
I've been remaking a map from UTJB that used ceiling cannons that fired projectiles to kill the prisoners. Currently, the JBToolBox could only offer the JBProjectileSpawner. This would serve the purpose well, but it would look weird having the projectiles spawn from an invisible source. I wanted a proper cannon that would rotate and aim at prisoners, and I noticed that there were similar actors in Assault.

In Assault, there is the ASVehicleFactory_Sentinel_Ceiling, which is the actor that pops up to prevent spawn campers. Death is almost instantaneous if you're on the other team to the cannon via its instant hit lasers. As it stood, this too could be set up to work for Jailbreak executions. However, I wanted to be able to chose what the Sentinel fired, which currently wasn't possible. Also, when disabled, the Sentinel is invisible.

So I turned to Blitz, the mapper of JB-MoonCraters, and experienced coder. He made a complex subclass of the above sentinel actor; the ASVehicleFactory_SentinelCeiling_Proj. This actor can be used for execution sequences (or any other situation that may require it), and has been designed so that mappers simply need to set the Tag property and VehicleTeam value of the Sentinel for it to function.

There are a few guidelines that are necessary for this actor to work properly:

• It must be triggered at the start and at the end of the execution sequence. Otherwise it will either not work at all or it will remain active after the execution sequence is over and into the next round. This would result in prisoners being constantly bombarded during normal play. The best way to do this is to use the JBInfoJail's EventExecutionCommit and End strings.
• You must set the VehicleTeam to the opposite value of the prisoners that you intend to kill, or it will not shoot them.
• Although the ASVehicleFactory_SentinelCeiling_Proj properties are pretty much self-explanatory, you need to ensure that each class, projectile, sound, and flash/smoke effect is the right one. A bio-launching rocket-sounding shock-effect might sound funny, but in practice this'll be crap. Be realistic with the RefireRate too.
• You'll need to ensure that every corner of your jail is visible by at least one cannon, preferably two. You'll need more cannons than you think for a single jail. Depending on the projectile and size of jail, at least 5 Sentinels should be placed.
• Do not modify any of the other settings in there, or the Sentinel may not work properly.
• The Sentinels take a little while to "activate", since they're fully animated. Give sufficient time for them to do their job by setting the JBInfoJail's Fallback time relatively high, maybe aroud 8-10seconds.

This is documented further on the JDN with more specific reasoning to the properties modified from the original actor and an explanation of what the new ones do. It also has a basic setup guide.

The download link below is to a simple DM map which has the ASVehicleFactory_SentinelCeiling_Proj in it as well as a PlayerStart behind a box, so you can spawn in safety.

It is most important that you copy the ASVehicleFactory_SentinelCeiling_Proj alone directly from this map into yours. The actor is designed to be in the myLevel package of the map, and this is already set up for you. No external packages are required.

JDN documentation of the ASVehicleFactory_SentinelCeiling_Proj

Map file containing the ASVehicleFactory_SentinelCeiling_Proj in the myLevel package

Huge credit must go to Blitz for all he's done to code this.

Get Jailbreaking!

Edit: A little note though... currently this actor has not been tested online. My perceptions of this are that it would work, since its a subclass of an actor which is already functional online. Tests will be done soon, but if the tests fail online then changes will be necessary.

[CoolDude]

Originally Posted by ZedMaestro

A little note though... currently this actor has not been tested online.

I know you are excited, but wouldn't it have been better to test it first and then write the story?
Just ask, Zed.

[Mychaeel]

Zed said (in IRC) that he has successfully tested the component meanwhile.

[Trueblood]

Originally Posted by ZedMaestro

[*]You'll need to ensure that every corner of your jail is visible by at least one cannon, preferably two.

Or someone may find a way to escape death
Good stuff.. it would be great to see more of this in JB200x
Maybe spawn afew destroyed raptures to fall on the prisoners

[-=DARCHANGEL=-]

Originally Posted by ZedMaestro

Edit: A little note though... currently this actor has not been tested online. My perceptions of this are that it would work, since its a subclass of an actor which is already functional online. Tests will be done soon, but if the tests fail online then changes will be necessary.

I can't get any of my actors to work, only thing they kill is my enthusiasm

I want a moving ceiling cannon that attacks a fixed point - the gun mounting moves, but that is about all.

[ZedMaestro]

Well its not designed to move. Dont be too complicated with execution sequences.

[tarquin]

This looks cool!

Is Birelli's Alarscia the first map to use these, or has something already been released with this in?

Can anyone take a nice action screenshot of one of these killing jailed players? It would make a good news post once there's a map out with one it.

[ZedMaestro]

Alarsica will probably be the first to be released with the cannons. I've got a couple of unannounced maps which implemented them a while ago though.

[-=DARCHANGEL=-]

Originally Posted by ZedMaestro

Well its not designed to move. Dont be too complicated with execution sequences.

I just thought at the time a spinning ceiling cannon 'blatting' captured players would be fun

I am just stuck at the moment with being able to walk through actors during gameplay. This mapping is harder than I imagined.

At 38 maybe I should take up gardening instead - lol

Irony - I am an unemployed AutoCad designer - oh how life is so cruel

[_Lynx]

Nice....

[Kantham]

very interesting and
well explained , you have a date fixed?

and , it would be nice , to have a turret like this , that fires Assault rifle grenades (3X more powrfull , 0.5X faster ,1.5X bigger , 2X more splash damage

I guess that once the actor is created , it will be easyer (for coder) to make such thing like this

[Birelli]

...It already is created, there's a link to it near the bottom of the first post here.

[Kantham]

Originally Posted by Birelli

...It already is created, there's a link to it near the bottom of the first post here.

ok lol

[Birelli]

I think I've stumbled across a "bug" with these things. My problem in Alarscia was that for the first few seconds of firing the cannons seemed to be firing at nothing in particular, perhaps wherever they had last been firing, or their initial rotation, whatever. They would just fire at some random point nowhere near any players repeatedly for a few seconds. What I theorized was that this was due to some sort of "spool-up" problem related to all the animations/state changes that occur when "awakening" the cannon. Sure enough, changing the ExecutionDelayCommit time from 1 second to 3 seconds seems to have solved the problem. They now fire accurately at players the first time, every time.

Anyway, I don't think this really requires a fix, and after looking at the code I'm inclined to forget about it, there's nothing convenient like a pause anywhere, just a sequence of little things that seems to take a few seconds. Mappers, if you have this problem try bumping up the ExecutionDelayCommit time in your JBInfoJail and hopefully it'll fix the problem.

[ZedMaestro]

I noticed that, but didnt think it too much of a problem since they eventually take out the prisoners anyway

[Birelli]

I don't know, at least in Alarscia I thought it was really noticeable, all 5 cannons just randomly firing looked very odd. It took me a while to realize what was going on, but it always gave the impression that the cannons were firing badly.

[Kantham]

i tryed them lately , they are nice

i have no problem turning them on/off from a trigger

i tryed whit the human space fighter's rocket , well , it is very painfull

[ZedMaestro]

An updated file can be found here which fixes an end-of-game bug where the view does not focus on the "winning" player at the end of the game.

[ZedMaestro]

Oops, I probably didnt upload the right file.
This sentinel was copied directly from Snifam into an empty DM-SentinelTest (ie the original cannon had been removed, saved, and UEd3 restarted).
Same linky

[G.Lecter]

Ooohhh... nice crafts... Waiting to see them in action.

One question: Do this cannons attack a specified team or they attack every player they can see??? If someone is next to the door of a jail (but not in the jail), do the cannons attack him...???