Tweet
Spawning in warbird leagues such as TWDD, TWLD, TWDTD, and TSLD hasn't always been the best experience. The area you spawn in is tiny compared to the rest of the map and most of the action happens there. Not great when you are suddenly spawning in front of an opponent with your back turned to them, or when you are chasing an opponent, and poof, one of the opponents respawns directly in your path saving their team mate and potentially killing you as well. Needless to say it feels like a very unfun and random "mechanic" of the game. And while you can play around it for the most part while you are alive, it's impossible to control where you are going to spawn next.
That's why, during this edition of TSL, we will introduce a new system that completely replaces the game's spawn mechanic. A system that can be tweaked to the specific league, map, and amount of players.
Here's how the old system worked:
Here's how the new system works:
Why did I tell you all this? Simple. Not spawning near opponents all the time will change the way games are played out, and to fully take advantage of the new system you'd need to know roughly what to expect. It will also help me if you want to give feedback on things not working, or if you want to suggest changes.
I'm interested to see what new strategies arise from these changes and who will thrive now that spawn kills aren't a major source of kills anymore. And remember, pretty much everything can be customized. So if it doesn't work, or if it leads to boring/predictable games, we can change that.
If you aren't sure how certain scenarios would play out, or if you have other questions, feel free to PM me in-game or leave a comment below.
Have fun.
Edit: Here are some numbers and reasons why the current numbers are what they are.
A comparison between the old spawn area and the new one.
That's why, during this edition of TSL, we will introduce a new system that completely replaces the game's spawn mechanic. A system that can be tweaked to the specific league, map, and amount of players.
Here's how the old system worked:
- You die, warp or otherwise (re)enter the game.
- You (re)spawn at a random spot within the circular area set in the arena config file*.
Here's how the new system works:
- You die, warp, or otherwise (re)enter the game.
- You (re)spawn to one of the safety zone boxes.
- The bot detects you entered a safety zone and the bot starts looking for a spot to warp you to.
- First it adds a border around the edges of the play area where you can't spawn. (Border width can be changed)
- Secondly it checks the positions of all the other players. For opponents it removes a circular area, with a 100 tile radius, where you can't spawn. Friendly players cancel out these areas. (No spawn radius, and friendly cancel effect can be changed)
- After that the bot looks for the biggest continuous region. This region consists of all the points you can get safely warped to.
- The bot picks a spot at random from the region.
- The bot checks for conflicts with any of the asteroids and adjusts if needed.
- You get warped to a safe spot.
- From a player's point-of-view you will notice the warp from the safety zone to the play area. This is normal.
- You will spawn near the edge of the map more often. This is a result of enemy players blocking any safe spot in the center of the map when they occupy the center.
Why did I tell you all this? Simple. Not spawning near opponents all the time will change the way games are played out, and to fully take advantage of the new system you'd need to know roughly what to expect. It will also help me if you want to give feedback on things not working, or if you want to suggest changes.
I'm interested to see what new strategies arise from these changes and who will thrive now that spawn kills aren't a major source of kills anymore. And remember, pretty much everything can be customized. So if it doesn't work, or if it leads to boring/predictable games, we can change that.
If you aren't sure how certain scenarios would play out, or if you have other questions, feel free to PM me in-game or leave a comment below.
Have fun.
Edit: Here are some numbers and reasons why the current numbers are what they are.
- No spawn area around the border: 320px (20 tiles). Definitely the value with the least thought behind it. It's there to prevent you from spawning too close to the edge of the map. During testing this was actually increased to 640px (40 tiles) which reduced the amount of possible warp spots close to the edge.
- No spawn area around enemies: 3264px (204 tiles) in diameter. In the image below you can see that this size is just big enough to have you spawn outside of any opponents' radar view. The area has a gradient going from 100% in the middle to 0% at the edge.
- No spawn area around asteroids: 16px (1 tile). The bare minimum to prevent being warped on top of the asteroids.
- Friendly cancel: 20% of enemy strength. With 20%, the edges of the enemy's no spawn area are canceled out when a team mate is nearby. This means you'll have a slightly higher chance of spawning near the action. In the example below you can see that even with 3 team mates nearby the minimum distance to the opponent is just in range of spawning on their screen.
A comparison between the old spawn area and the new one.
Comment