Q&A 3 - P.R., the Spy, and other wonderful things
 

Welcome to this week's Q&A, where the devs answer your questions! If you would like to ask the devs a question, just register for the forums and go to this thread:

http://www.fortress-forever.com/foru...ad.php?t=16481

The best questions will be picked out by a certain dev and submitted to the devs for their responses.



Question 1 (Rutabeggar):
A lot of the people I know have written off FF since they played it way back in 1.0, is the dev team is planning to reach out to the players that was so unjustly isolated by the majority of the first team and new players in general, we all talk about "PR" but what kind of "PR" is being planned, if any?

Answer 1 (Implode):
We have recently created an active "PR" department that has already begun working on several things...just a few of these include: Getting FF listed on the 3rd Party mod in the Steam Store, an update notification on Steam list, and also advertising on national gaming and CPU sites. And of course, answering questions for people, just like yours.



Question 2 (Rocketrunner):
I don't know if this has been asked before, but, in 2.1, will the Nailgun and Super Nailgun have individual pros and cons so that, nobody keeps using medic ALL the time?

Answer 2 (squeek.):
No changes to the nailgun or super nailgun are being made in 2.1.



Question 3 (reaper18):
Will there be more notification of players who accomplish goals?
For example, who captured the flag, or who secured Command Point X?

Answer 3 (squeek.):
We have talked about this a bit, but it will likely not be implemented in 2.1.



Question 4 (reaper18 / im2cool4uroflolz):
Also, are the tranq effects going to eventually resemble TFC more so than they do? Like giving hallucinations of bullet impacts, grenades, gunshots, and explosions? What changes have been made to the spy cloak and are there any more planned features/optimizations? What sort of changes will be made to the Spy in 2.1?

Answer 4 (squeek.):
These questions are very similar, so they've been grouped together as one. When reaper18 says "tranq effects", I believe he is referring to the hallucination effects of the TFC Spy's gas grenades. There will likely not be any changes to the effects of the Spy's gas grenades this patch.

The Spy's cloak and disguise dynamics have changed a bit regarding Sentry Guns in 2.1. When you are disguised as the enemy and cloaked, enemy Sentry Guns will not see you. Being cloaked and disguised as the wrong team or just being cloaked will still result in the Sentry shooting you.

*EDIT* Actually, now a cloaked spy disguised as an enemy will be detected by enemy sentries, but only within a shorter range than the regular lock on distance. *END EDIT*

The spy is 100% invisible when cloaked and standing still. No shadow, no talk icon, nothing.



Question 5 (Hammock):
Would it be at all possible to display the Time Remaining of the current map when selecting the option "View Server". It displays the players, their scores and how long they've been in the server.

But there's been many times I don't want to join a server playing a map I don't care for. It'd be nice to know how much longer the map has without actually joining the server, or maybe you can't join cause it's full and know the best time to join is during a map change, also good to know when that map change will occur.

Answer 5 (dt):
"It might be possible to show the time and other game info in the server browser, but that's something we really haven't messed with yet. Our coding staff is working hard on things with a higher priority and this is something we might get into a future patch if it can be coded."

<3

Amazing how much info a single sentence can get. :D

So, no more talk Icon for cloaked spy? This makes Killroy very happy.

Also the cloaked bit; this makes Crossover so much easier.

Yep, the 100% cloaking on the spy when not moving makes it a whole lot less tedious to play. I know that i've personally frustrated more than my fair share of players by having good eyes and blue piping them when they have frozen after they think I may have spotted them. (Which I thought I might have, but wasn't sure. Though on a second look I could easily see that I had)


I have a question and a comment of my own which are spawned from this weeks questions:

Rocketrunner, I don't even what would you could change to distinguish between the nailgun and super nailgun beyond damage output. Did you have anything in mind?

reaper1, I suspect that will be added shortly, however the devs are starting to put their foot down for new features that are going into 2.1. It's already been longer than target date, and more new content was put into the patch that was first planned. It's been a never ending stream of "Hey guys, let's add this...". 2.2 was/is going to be the patch with a lot more new features.

I'm still not sure I like the changes to the spy, I think that might make him way too powerful if he can't be picked up by the SG while disguise and cloaked.

I personally don't have too many problems getting up close to sgs, and as some people here know, I have been able to do it while cloaked on certain maps. ;)

I do like that he will be 100% invisible while still. Will this include stuff like turning around looking up and down or will the person have to remain 100% still?

Not really. A good spy can remain in place without moving for a while, for as long as they have to. I've done it many times while people are running all around me. Its actually quite funny to start tranqing people after they run past. :)

^Then you've had the luck of not playing with people with specific gfx settings. The cloak can be very visible with some settings. Now, it's just not drawn. Win!

Can a spy sabotage sentries while cloaked?

My guess would be no on that because that would be extremely over-powered if a spy could sabotage while cloaked. Going to be very interesting to be able to diguise are the enemy and cloak without sentry's tracking you. However, i am not a dev so i could be wrong lol

They can't.

Also, you not only need to be cloaked to avoid SG detection, you need to be disguised as enemy team "under" the cloak. It's really quite nice.

i agree haha. this new feature is going make spy extremely fun for me :lol: :lol:

You should have let them figure that one out. lol

A PR department; finally! My endless rants about the devs not advertising this mod enough have come to life :mrgreen:. Good luck with getting this advertised on Steam.

I don't know, I haven't played it so I can't comment, but on the surface the changes to the spy sound potentially very overpowering. 100% invisibility while standing still means you can't check for spies with a careful eye if you get suspicious. To combine this WITH immunity to the sg while cloaked and disguised means everyone's paranoia level is going to be through the roof, which I think will lead to a less fun game. Will there be any new abilities to help protect against or detect spies better or will this simply be a murderous upgrade for them?

Lol.. patch not even out yet and the verdicts are coming in. In my experience, the spy's movement is even more obvious when there had been absolutely nothing in the same spot 1 second ago. But we'll see how it plays out.

They still bleed and become partially visible if you shoot them. You can also knock them around and break cloak with grenades.

Defensive Pyro shooting IC's everywhere? =D

IMO, causing paranoia is what the Spy should be used for. Right now in 2.0 you can't be sure you will do something because people will get you while standing still.

Also, even though you can get through the SG cloaked, you will still be partially visible when moving, so if there's an Engineer around it won't be an easy job...

Good job devs! =D

Nothing gets put in the patch without extensive testing.

You can thank squeek. for not shutting up for that.

This is my life now. THIS IS MY LIFE. :cry:

As I said I do like that the spy will be 100% invisible even to those who have bad settings on purpose or by mistake for their video card that allows them to see spies easily.


And yes I have come across a few people like that. But when I figure they can see me, I change how I do things. I adapt.


When I play spy, my #1 job is to make the other team paranoid, and as many here know, I do that job well. ;) Its funny to watch people turn on each other in the flag room because they start getting tranqed now and then.

And they have no idea where I am cause while I am doing stuff like this, I am talking to them. lol Thats why I like all talk on. It helps with making people paranoid because they here me describing what they are doing before and after I tranq them. heheh

The reason thats my job is because its distracting. If you keep getting tranqed from a spy and you have no idea where that spy is and you're looking around, firing at shadows or others on your team that walk around the corner then you're not ready for someone on the other team and not watching while someone (me) slipping past you into knife range.

I do think though that being able to get up next to the SG while cloaked is going to make the spy way to overpowered because as I have said, I can do that now. As long as there is someone near the SG paying attention then a spy is not going to be able to sabotage it. Its the unattended SG or the SG where people are not bothering to spy check that gets sabotaged. Then again I have been known to get close up to SGs even when they are attended and people are spy checking and then sabotage it. :)

You can't sabotage the SG while cloaked. You probably never will be, as that would be overpowered. Being invisible while cloaked AND standing still is more balanced than you think. You are still semi-visible while moving, and if you are spotted while moving... you are still in trouble.

The following is a true account of a pre-release beta test. Some names have been changed because Ihmhi forgot them.

Engineer 1: Oh ho ho I do enjoy defending dustbowl with my SG!
Engineer 2: As do I! Don't you agree, Engineer 3?
Engineer 3: Yes, absolutely! Our three guns cover the third cap point rather well, oh ho ho!
Skanky: Gentlemen, I would like to announce that I am currently in your base, sabbing ur SGs.
Engineers 1, 2, 3 (together): "Oh noes!"
Engineer 2: We didn't even see him!
Engineer 3: *Cries* We were so close to winning!
Engineer 1: It's okay, Engineer 3. It's okay.

So pretty much, Skanky Butterpuss is singlehandedly responsible for Spies not being able to sabotage while they're cloaked.

Oh, I forgot to add that after he simultaneously sabbed three Sentry Guns in different places around the cap point, he capped the flag.

I think this is actually balanced for games where everyone knows what they're doing like in clan games. Where it could really screw things up is in pub play where a good spy can screw people as it is.

And not being able to sabotage while cloaked isn't much comfort as it still means a spy can get right next to an engineer. All he has to do is turn his head, and when he turns back the spy can freeze, making him 100% invisible anyway. If the engineer makes one pack run, then he's screwed, there's a spy waiting to backstab him as soon as he comes back, then his sentry can get sabotaged. Now granted pack runs won't be as necessary with the new changes, but I think these are only balanced changes if everyone playing the game can competently root out spies, not a pub environment. Also how the hell will bot engineers respond to this?