INF War!!

[{GD}Ghost]

I might just be a retard, but I had an idea i've been meaning to post about here for a while.

My idea is for a different type of INF league. This type of play would be done like an actual war in a virtual world. Clan/units that sign up would play to accomplish mission objectives vital to aiding their "side" in the war. I apologize as my mind is racing with ideas for this faster than i can clearly express them. Basically, my idea is for an evolving storyline type of war where. Units would play matches to determine who gained, lost or maintained control of a particular territory (level).

A map could be could be drawn to represent the "playing world". It would then be divided into territories. There could be a level or several levels that represent each territory. Each clan/unit would be assigned a home territory (map) that they must maintain control of in order to remain in the war. Once a unit takes control of a territory, new territories become available for them to attempt to take control of. There would of course have to be custom levels made for this venture.

This is just the basis of my idea. I know it may sound kinda psycho and unclear right now, but it is pretty clear in my head. I just have to get it down on "paper".

If anyone has caught on to even the slightest bit of what I'm trying to get across here, please reply.

I will be spending the next few days, writing down ideas and working out details so that I can present this idea to you all in a more clear manner. I just had to post this bud of an idea.

 

[itskeiagain]

Actually that is quite an outstanding idea!!
That gives the game more of a flow instead of single unrelated deathmatches.
Then what we really need is to build a large map(I mean, a "map" map to see where you need to defend and attack and all) that connects all of the DM(AS?) maps to create a virtual war zone.
Cool idea

 

[asmodeus]

wow, man you are like a genius!
this would be so totaly rule!

this would IMO be the bets kind of "league"

a storyline could evolve, new maps could be put in play, without having been plaid before by anyone...

 

[{GD}Ghost]

Thanx for the initial response.

I have yet to get my entire idea out of my head, but I am serious about getting it down on paper and presenting it to someone who has the ability to implement something like this. I think it would bring something VERY unique to the INF/UT gaming community that is not currently in place. Why play single "gladiator" type matches when you can wage an actual virtual war? To each his/her own.....

Anyone with any ideas, please let us discuss this possibility. I'd really like to see this idea materialize into a "reality".

Thanx

 

[Uppity]

I think someone is attempting this kind of thing in Q3F -

http://www.clanwarfare.com

It would be much better for Inf though

Uppity

 

[{GD}Ghost]

Lets Get It On!!

So lets get this idea rolling and see how feasible it will be to pull off! Can't let Q3F top anything we've got over here.

BTW: The site at the link posted above is very close to the idea I have. (But I want to take it to the next level). It would also work much better for INF.

 

[MoNDoGuY]

You are a freaking genius. This would be great for the game. It would kinda turn into a online RPG, clans would make allies and enemy's, there would also have to be a time limit of like 6 months or so, where in the end one side is decided a winner.

This could definately be a great thing for inf. I getting all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.

 

[DarkBls]

I gave the IDEA in our old board. But A lot of people said it would be too complex to do !

 

[DarkBls]

BTW...

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[{GD}Ghost]

Complex? Yes. Impossible? No.

Just friggin' look at INF. How many people told them it would be impossible to do a mod like this. And here we are. We've got a kick ass mod as it stands and it is being improved on as we speak.

"Difficult? This is Mission Impossible. Difficult should be a walk in the park." -Paraphrased from MI2

 

[Mac_Fodder]

I remember

DarkBls,

I remember you idea on the old board. I really liked it then as I still do now. The only thing I remember that was a bit of a sticking point in your idea was having different maps linked to other maps dynamically by the server. It seems to me that Ghosts idea is more a set of web pages that track different battles on any type of map and then reward a win with more area on a "map" on the page.

Hell the "map" could be nothing more than a AxB matrix that you slowly expand until you com into contact with another clan's territory. Each cell in the matix represents a map in INF. depending on which cell the clans come into contact with each other first dictates the map they fight on.

You could even take a it a step further by dictating how many rounds are fought by counting how much territory the clan has. X number of cell captured means x number of rounds need to be won to take over that cell. The advantage goes to the clan that has the most territory because they would not have to win as many rounds. Sort of like the game Risk.

In this way you don't need to have to have the servers do any thing dynamically if you don't want to. The clans could meet, choose the map and fight until the winner is found. The matrix is then updtated and and there for a new battle ground is chosen.

DarkBls, now while I did like you idea a little better just because it was a little more elegent you could start with this and then maybe automate it until you really had a full functional set of servers all tied into the territory matrix.

Obviously the territory matix can be made to look the the world or some fictious land mass.

In reallity this idea is, as far as I can tell, is Risk but instead of Dice to decide who wins the clans meet on the virtual battle field to win territory.

I liked this idea before and I still like it now.

 

[itskeiagain]

Well, for a starter, we don't even need this idea to be implemented inside of INF but rather we need a brilliant guy(s) who can put together the existing maps to make one big virtual war zone and make the scenarios. All you've gotta do is keep track of who won what battle.

 

[{GD}Ghost]

This idea would be better if it implemented new maps.


Keep the ideas coming peeps.

 

[{GD}Ghost]

My idea doesn't involve having maps dynamically linked by the server.

However maps could be created especially to fit into and played within this "world".

Clans would have home territories that would function as their "headquarter". If they lose all their other territories, this would be the territory of thier last stand. If they lose this territory, they will be out of the war.

Another detail could be that there are maps that contain air fields. If you control a territory containing an airfield, your clan will be able to challenge for territories deep within enemy territory as oppose to only being able to challenge for territories immediately adjacent to territories in your clan's current control. Likewise for territories with water access. If you will be able to challenge for territories that boarder waterways. You will be able to challenge from land or water, depending on which gives you better access. The trick could be that when being challenged by a clan who you know has air, land and naval "abilities" you won't know where they will spawn, from land side or water side.

This takes me back to the custom map issue. Territories/Mas with naval access would have to have two versions. One with the attacking team spawning from the area of the water and one with the attacking team spawning from landside.

Island territories would also make this idea very interesting.

I'm willing to brainstorm this idea to completion. Who can I hook up with to work on putting something like this together?

 

[JaFO]

Like the 'warpath'-map in TFC only spread over multiple maps and the 'score' is kept between rounds ?

a (1 dimensional) 'battlefield/campaign' would look like this :

(- map 1 : base for clan 1 -)
(- map 2 -)
((- map 3 -))
(- map 4 -)
(- map 5 : base clan 2 -)

The maps for the bases would be 'siege/assault'-style maps were the objective would be the "assasination" of a 'general' (=> leader of the clan) or something which would have a similar effect. Both base maps needn't have the same kind of objective ...

Both clans would start out with an equal amount of terrain owned and a 1 or more maps representing the 'no mans land/DMZ'.

In this example maps 1 & 2 would be in 'owned' by clan 1 and maps 4.
Map 3 would be the first map in the "war".

// expansion :
If there are more maps, you can turn it in a two-dimensional matrix. Here things get very interesting.
Certain parts of the map would give the clan who owned it an advantage :
- airfield : any enemy terrain can be challenged
- SAM-installation : to counter the threat of an invasion within a range of the map containing that objective
- radar-installation
- weaponsfactory (certain 'exotic' equipment is "cheaper" or some weapons/attachments are available, or some similar effect)
- bridge : if destroyed you need an airfield to challenge the map next to it ...
- etc.

Instead of 1 map being defined as 'neutral' you get an entire frontline.
In a simple 3x3 matrix :
- 3 maps for each clan
- 3 'neutral' maps

The war would start with each clan challenging 1 map
If there is no airfield (or similar item) in their posession, then they can only challenge maps that are on their frontline ...

If both teams want to fight for a different 'neutral' map, then that map is automatically won by the clan.

If they both want the same 'neutral' map, then a normal clanwar follows. The positions & available resources would depend on the 'special' items available on the maps the clans 'owned'.

If they want to fight on a map which is owned by the opposing clan, then there is always a clanwar for that map.

If they choose the same map, there would be only 1 clanwar before the next map would have to be decided on.

If they choose a different (enemy) map, there would be two clanwars. Who gets to fight first would be determined by the special resources available to the clans.
A radar-station/early warning-system would give that clan the first chance to choose the first map of the two.

The next round : both clans again decide which map they want to attack.

The war would be won if the enemy base was captured and the objective there completed ...

// ---
- each map should show in some way wich clan 'owns' it.

- a way to show damage, because a map which has seen a lot of fights should not look the same anymore ...

 

[MoNDoGuY]

hmmmm this can certainly develope into a great thing. But I think people are jumping ahead. It's better off to start simple. Each clan has a territory, Clan A challenges Clan B for their territory, and so on.

Then as the game progresses and after some trial and error we can start to implement the Air fields, and the Naval bases, etc.

If we start to big and complicated it will overwhelm everyone to the point where it will get disorganized. Start small then expand. This is a fabulous idea that I would hate to see die because it's to much handle.

 

[Mac_Fodder]

Only one problem

Jeez it take me a little bit of time to get in a post and some one beats me to it. MoNDoGuY you just to fast [edit]

While I think all of this is a great idea I think that getting a little to far ahead of ones self is what, in the end, killed DarkBls' idea. Don't get me wrong I really like it and how that something like this could be made in the future, I can see it being a little daunting. Not only do you need to make new maps for it but you also need to be able to have the dynamic links mad between them. Not impossible but I just don't see it being done anytime soon.

The advantage of starting with the (matrix, land map) idea is that it requires no game coding. You could even do it by hand with pencil and graph paper if you wanted, and start "today" if some one had the time. Though the obvious disadvantage would be that you would need to go back the the "War" page to report the results and find out what the next map should be. Though you may be able to modify ngStats in the ini file to handle some of this in the future.

As for getting the right map on the server you could use the map vote command to choose it. This would at least get the basics of the system working.

While I would love to be able to say I could do it I know that I would not be able to keep up any thing for very long. Though I'd like to help where I could.

While making new maps is always a good thing if you set up each cell or "country" in the "land map" you could comb through realmaps and set up a rather large matrix with the maps you find there and the ones that come with the MOD.

As for the war being won, I would think that a set of cells all ligned up to create the 'warpath' type map that was discussed would at best be a skirmish or action but not a whole war. I would imagine that a war might last for a number of months and the clan with the most territory would be declared the winners before it is reset. Or maybe never reset it. Espeically if clans joined up to create alliances, it could really eb and flow indefinetly.

As with most things though, I think keeping the basic concept simple is really the key here. You can automote map selection, scoring, and all sorts of other things but the basic concepts of choosing the map to fight on and who has what territory, should be fairly simple.

As one more note, I really like the airstrip idea. The first thing that came to mind when I read it was, a heli port. All the maps within 3-4 cells away would be similar to vietnam in that there is a heli insertion. Or better yet the only way to get the the map is to capture the help port 4 cells away so that a heli insertion is feasable with the intermediate cells being impassable.

What I propose to all of you is what can be done with the maps that are available. And I mean all of them CTF, Assult, TDM... Instead of haveing a great idea die because of a chicken and egg scenario, I say what can we do with what we have. Too many good ideas die because they need custom maps, and then no one maps because people don't want to map for an unproven idea.

Just my 2 pennies.

 

[Mad_Dog]

draw a map, stick all the current maps into it (wouldn't be geographically realistic in any way but this can be fixed with time) and then add red team on one side and blue on the other, each with a couple maps in their possesion. then they move forward and when they run into each other they fight over the territory. dm maps are skirmishes, assualt maps are chokepoints and ctf can be turned into something i am sure. this would rock the EAS mode coming up. i am thinking something basically the same as the campaign game in close combat 4 and 5. this could be done with the existing inf as well, just a web page (maybe on SOB site or even INF site) that updates who owns what, and where the next battle will be. this would work best with clans (many clans an army, multiple units (again close combat 4 and 5 seem like the example to follow here)), although it could be made to work on public servers too, a endless back and forth war. (GD) Ghost, you're great....

 

[Mad_Dog]

alright... an update to my post. with my very badly drawn image down below i'll try to explain. (GD) Ghost, tell me if this is what you had in mind, everyone else too, this is what developed in my head.

a) there is the world map. this map is divided up into regions, and each region is a INF map. where these maps are placed is up to the world map designer. Chasm might be a mountain chokepoint, and Sicily might be a southern town.

b) each team starts out with several regions (maps) in their possesion and then they expand and take over more. eventually they run into the opposing team where...

c) they fight! yeah! if it's a DM map they fight team DM, a skirmish. if it's an assault on a chokepoint, they might play AS-Chasm. they fight for the set amount of rounds and the victor gains control of the map. this continues until the whole world map in controlled by one team, or certain time period is up.

the beauty of this is that, since it's basically like a board game (Risk say) it can be played anywhere. someone can stick this on a webpage, find people to participate, and then the webmaster (dungeon master gives each team their starting position. then the commander of each team decides where they will move, with total fog of war about the other teams movements. there can be multiple squads in a team, or one squad could fight all battles, since it is turn based.

this is the essence of my idea. i can think of 5000 ways to enhance it, but i think simplicity (like someone else said) is the key if it is ever going to get off the ground. the inf team should definitely have a look at this i think....

thanks to everyone here as well... i was just reading the thread over and i stole basically eveyones ideas... got kinda carried away with myself.

 

[DarkBls]

I like this idea too, because we will get maps from all around the world... Fighting in desert, jungle, urban etc...