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View Full Version : Capture the flag - An online time waster!


speculum jockey
02-27-2011, 06:28 PM
Had an idea for another miltiplayer mode that I'm sure a lot of people would enjoy. Capture the flag. Go to Unreal tournament, Quake III, lots of other older games that are still being played online after 10 years or more. One of the most popular play modes is capture the flag (CTF).

Two opposing sides on a smaller map. The rules are simple. Fly through the open hangar at the enemy's airfield and cap their flag. You'll have defending AA guns and planes trying to stop you, all the while the other team is trying to do the same thing. To score a point you have to fly through the enemy hangar and cap their flag, make it back to your base a fly through your hangar. If someone takes you flag you have to shoot them down to retake it.

I know it's not a realistic game mode, but no more "immersion killing" than most dogfight servers with their endlessly respawning planes.

We already have the planes, the maps, AA guns, and Hangars. All you need are two hangars with doors open at both sides and people who want a quick action-packed game without having to dedicate 3+ hours of their life to it. Sounds like it wouldn't be hard to implement for one of the many patches I'm sure we're going to see this year.

What say you Banana forums?

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/9056/ctfzo.jpg (http://img836.imageshack.us/i/ctfzo.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

ChrisDNT
02-27-2011, 06:30 PM
RBJ, is it you ? :rolleyes::-P

White Owl
02-27-2011, 06:39 PM
There's a time for fanatically faithful historical re-enactment, that can be a lot of fun, and then there's a time for just playing around in cool airplanes with your buddies. Good idea. :cool:

pupo162
02-27-2011, 06:48 PM
haha! nice one!

I've seen many gmaes been created along the years more int othe spirit of having fun rather than being realistic

The somoker, try to shoot down the plane with wingtip somoke, if you suceed, you become the smoker.

LAnd in the base, try to land in the enemy base wheels up!

Airracing, you know, go into crazy circuits and besides trying to be the first place, try to get into the finish line!


CTF, would be another one, could easely be done i nthe same way of the above: a plane eho passes in enemy hangar must torn on wingtip smoke and land it.

cheers!

JG4_Helofly
02-27-2011, 07:01 PM
I don't think that such a game mode would be fun in COD.
Imagine the guy escaping in his 109 by climbing for hours: No hope of catching him.
It might work if everyone had the same plane, but even then ctf is a fps game mode. I doubt it would work well in a flight sim.

Jaws2002
02-27-2011, 07:03 PM
I played CTF a quite a few times in Rise of Flight and it can be fun. A bit different than what you described. You have four, five flags per map, you have to CAP them at close range for some time in order to capture. You have a timer showing your progress. If enemy planes show up in the "CAP range" the timer stops until you shoot them down or they go away. once you capture the flag, the base attatched to it becomes yours and you can spawn planes from there to deffend it, or attack the next flag.
It can be good easy fun to have with a bunch of friends and a bunch of beers.:mrgreen:

Kikuchiyo
02-27-2011, 07:24 PM
I played CTF a quite a few times in Rise of Flight and it can be fun. A bit different than what you described. You have four, five flags per map, you have to CAP them at close range for some time in order to capture. You have a timer showing your progress. If enemy planes show up in the "CAP range" the timer stops until you shoot them down or they go away. once you capture the flag, the base attatched to it becomes yours and you can spawn planes from there to deffend it, or attack the next flag.
It can be good easy fun to have with a bunch of friends and a bunch of beers.:mrgreen:

That sounds more like point capture. Personally I think adding in some not so serious game modes to MP might actually be a breath of fresh air that can breathe some life and new players to the genre. Hell, it was Flight sims that eventually got me into playing FPSes. When the genre started to die I had to look other places for that thrill of learning skills to out gun other players. I don't see why the reverse couldn't work. That sounds like a lot of fun. It would be cool if the FMB can actually be used to make something like that.

Sure it wouldn't be for the hardcore serious simmers, but I think that is sorta the point. It would help bring in new players, and could add a whole lot to the community.

Another quick and simple (aka not for the historical accuracy enthusiasts) might be something along the lines of air races, or aerobatics competitions. Or odd man out dogfights (one guy doesn't have any ammo, but improved speed or the SU-26). Everyone else is trying to gun him down. Work together or not).

Les
02-27-2011, 07:30 PM
IMO the more variety and options we get into the product the better. Raise 'em all up the flag and see who salutes, let 'em sink or swim etc etc. In time it'll settle down and whatever gets the numbers remains. The overall aim being having the series live on for as long as possible with as many people playing/using it as possible.

As long as the main core sim elements aren't compromised, better to explore and experiment and try pushing the boundaries than just settling for more of the same old stuff we've been doing for years, especially when you can still do that anyway if you want to.

No matter how serious or casual we are about it, we're all in it for the fun of it. Whether you're deadly serious about re-enacting something, or highly competitive against AI or real pilots, or just using the game as a venue for social interactions, it's all some kind of fun or another. So, the more the merrier. Whatever keeps the population up and sales coming in, is good for everyone, if it means Oleg and the crew can afford to keep building and expanding and improving upon the core elements of the sim.

EvilJoven
02-27-2011, 07:34 PM
I like my serious business gaming, but I also like to goof off and do stuff like TB3 broadsides. CoD looks like it'll work great for my serious business flying but it definitely needs more comedy options.

Feuerfalke
02-27-2011, 07:44 PM
I played CTF a quite a few times in Rise of Flight and it can be fun. A bit different than what you described. You have four, five flags per map, you have to CAP them at close range for some time in order to capture. You have a timer showing your progress. If enemy planes show up in the "CAP range" the timer stops until you shoot them down or they go away. once you capture the flag, the base attatched to it becomes yours and you can spawn planes from there to deffend it, or attack the next flag.
It can be good easy fun to have with a bunch of friends and a bunch of beers.:mrgreen:


Agreed. I like this game-mode as well. It's something a bit more dynamic and new.
This is also possible in DCS-Simulations. Here it's not really flag but the bases themselves, but the idea is the same. There are some nice and realistic missions with this game-mode.

norulz
02-27-2011, 08:42 PM
Great!

Can I get the Su-26? :D

Tacoma74
02-27-2011, 08:45 PM
Great idea! Perfect for letting off some steam after an intense frustrating mission or something. Sometimes you have to just walk away from the "full real" aspect and have a little fun!

This got me thinking of what else could be done. What about another mode, similar to say "Battlefield 1942" or "Star Ways: Battlefront"..? For instance, both sides start out with one base each with some neutral bases in between to be captured by either side. All of this on a small area of the HUGE map of coarse, and airstarts for everyone. Bases could be taken by flying circles over the base (around a beacon of some sort perhaps) at a low altitude (below 2000m?) for an certain amount of time, and the time decreases with the more players that are flying overhead. All bases that are captured are protected by AA. If you are shot down, there is a 30 second respawn time before you spawn over the friendly base of your choice. While you're waiting to respawn you can switch planes, and loadouts. Team that gets say 100 kills or captures all bases within the time period (an hour?) wins the round, otherwise the team with the most kills wins. If you've ever played any Battlefield game then you get the point. This is all only if the game engine could support this type of gameplay of coarse.

Nanuk
02-27-2011, 09:19 PM
I like the idea of CTF to change things up.

And you can just have the flag on a timer so asshats just dont pick up the flag and climb up to the heavens and head for the corners of the map.

JG4_Helofly
02-27-2011, 09:26 PM
Maybe it should be "capture the airfield". Some transport aircraft (AI or human) spawn from the main base and try to land on neutral or enemy airfields in order to capture them.

Hecke
02-27-2011, 09:28 PM
I think the idea is great. Sounds like a lot of fun. The hangar shouldn't be too big to make it a little harder to fly through.

Krt_Bong
02-28-2011, 04:38 PM
Your poll choices are kinda off center but if something like this would be implemented I'd say that both sides should fly Su-26's with paint job to match the side ie. Red/white and Blue/white, Flying through the hanger is pretty cool but having an altitude limit would be a great way to keep it close to the deck and stealing the flag back would have to be implemented in a non-violent way so as to keep it "fun", perhaps getting within feet of the flag carrier and using the gun button to take it. When you get close enough a text prompt would show on screen that you are in range to steal it and the flag carrier would get a similar message that "pilot name" is attemting to steal the flag. Really it could make for some interesting manuevering and aerobatics.

speculum jockey
02-28-2011, 05:19 PM
Your poll choices are kinda off center but if something like this would be implemented I'd say that both sides should fly Su-26's with paint job to match the side ie. Red/white and Blue/white, Flying through the hanger is pretty cool but having an altitude limit would be a great way to keep it close to the deck and stealing the flag back would have to be implemented in a non-violent way so as to keep it "fun", perhaps getting within feet of the flag carrier and using the gun button to take it. When you get close enough a text prompt would show on screen that you are in range to steal it and the flag carrier would get a similar message that "pilot name" is attemting to steal the flag. Really it could make for some interesting manuevering and aerobatics.

I think the SU-26 would be a good option, but I'd still want to have access to fighters for a more action packed version. Bombers would be cool as well, harder to get though the hanger, slower, but they take more damage and have better defensive armaments.

Altitude and map limits would be a definate must as well. Last thing you'd want is a 109 hitting the roof or some guy in a Spit deciding it would be fun to fly 50km north of the action.

EvilJoven
02-28-2011, 07:12 PM
An artificial altitude limit would probably be fairly easy to implement, too. Do something like write it so that when the game mode is CTF and a plane goes above say 2500m AGL the engine starts choking out the same way it does when a hurricane starts pulling negative Gs.

Revvin
02-28-2011, 07:31 PM
I'd like to see some sort of territorial game mode. If we had big maps maybe something like Warbirds had many years ago where you bombed an airfield's AA/Fuel/Hangars then the server announced it was down and you had to land on it quickly, it became quite an artform ducking in under enemy fire and landing with your gear up to make the landing as quick as possible.

TheGrunch
03-01-2011, 01:19 AM
For a bit of fun, I really like this idea. Bonus points if there's a server variable that chooses whether the flag sits on the ground/ floats in a lifeboat on the surface of the sea when the flag-carrier is shot down, or resets to the original hangar, depending on how fast-paced you want it to be. :D

Blackdog_kt
03-01-2011, 02:52 AM
There's a time for fanatically faithful historical re-enactment, that can be a lot of fun, and then there's a time for just playing around in cool airplanes with your buddies. Good idea. :cool:

My sentiments exactly, if not much else it would definitely help display to our fiends that we sim fans are not all freaks obsessed about science and history but like to have fun too. Now i don't really care what my gamer friends think of my taste in games, but i'm planning to do a demonstration for CoD at one of our small lan parties as soon as i have it installed on my PC and such fast-paced competitive gaming modes would be a very good way to get them interested.

I have already managed to bring one of them back to flight sims and his girlfriend is apparently interested too, plus there are two more guys who are very much into WWII history but think that learning to fly simulated aircraft is too difficult. They sure have no problem coping with complex real time strategy games on the PC or racing games like gran turismo 5 on the PS3 however (which, to my amazement, actually seems on the sim side of things if you disable the driving helper tools), so i'm planning to show them that you can learn flight sims easily if you are willing to scale down the difficulty a bit and turn it back up as you gradually become familiar with the basics.

Having an action packed multiplayer mode like this and giving it a go on some server with relaxed difficulty settings would be a perfect way to get them to try it out.

I see you guys are running wild with this, there's some excellent proposals and variations on the original idea.
The Su-26 non-combat version would be a lot of fun, mainly due to everyone flying the same high performance aircraft with no means to disable the enemy (the outcome would rest completely on piloting skill and squeezing every bit of performance out of the aircraft).

I also liked the idea of altitude and zone limits, the options to have the flag respawn back in the hangar or be left in the position it was dropped (imagine trying to pick up a flag inside a valley with enemies on your tail, flying 20m or less above ground at 400km/h) and finally, the bomber version.

It would make for some massive laughs having fully crewed bombers by human players trying to pass under a bridge or hangar while exchanging broadsides with their gunners :-P

TheGrunch
03-01-2011, 02:54 AM
Ram the opposing Su-26 to get the flag? :-P Really brings a whole new meaning to Red team and Blue team for an Il-2 game, doesn't it?

Also, I agree, the bomber version sounds excellent. :D Ponderous. I love that word.

Untamo
03-01-2011, 01:23 PM
S!

Excellent idea for some good random fun! :)

-Untamo

Gourmand
03-01-2011, 02:31 PM
i think in WoP/BoP they are a capture the base, with must landing...

but i don't play it.

maybe with cod and the "challenge" of a real landing it would be fun.

mazex
03-01-2011, 03:54 PM
Great idea - and I also like the one Revvin proposes to copy the old Warbirds concept that works really well in all it's cheesiness ;) Take out all ground defenses and fly a Ju52 with paratroopers to capture it :) Everyone else stole the concept from BF 1942 so why not steal with pride?

I think that MG has some new multi player modes up their sleeve though, and they can't all be realistic ones. For us with kids and a work that never ends it can really be hard to find the time for a "full real" co-op flying in formation for 30 minutes and then get shot down the first thing without even noticing where the enemy came from - realistic but painful if you just have 30 minutes for some online fun ;)

Heliocon
03-02-2011, 11:30 PM
Had an idea for another miltiplayer mode that I'm sure a lot of people would enjoy. Capture the flag. Go to Unreal tournament, Quake III, lots of other older games that are still being played online after 10 years or more. One of the most popular play modes is capture the flag (CTF).

Two opposing sides on a smaller map. The rules are simple. Fly through the open hangar at the enemy's airfield and cap their flag. You'll have defending AA guns and planes trying to stop you, all the while the other team is trying to do the same thing. To score a point you have to fly through the enemy hangar and cap their flag, make it back to your base a fly through your hangar. If someone takes you flag you have to shoot them down to retake it.

I know it's not a realistic game mode, but no more "immersion killing" than most dogfight servers with their endlessly respawning planes.

We already have the planes, the maps, AA guns, and Hangars. All you need are two hangars with doors open at both sides and people who want a quick action-packed game without having to dedicate 3+ hours of their life to it. Sounds like it wouldn't be hard to implement for one of the many patches I'm sure we're going to see this year.

What say you Banana forums?

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/9056/ctfzo.jpg (http://img836.imageshack.us/i/ctfzo.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

Holy cow, I didnt even look at this thread all week because I thought it would be a flamefest/bad implementation of CTF. You sir (op) are brilliant (until later when I find an opportunity to call you other names :-P )

Ralith
03-03-2011, 10:26 AM
This does indeed sound awesomely fun. I hope we can see it happen! Perhaps if the game had some sort of powerful scripting support this—and many other creative game modes—could be easily authored by the community and bundled into custom maps.

Ataros
10-12-2011, 07:41 AM
The only way I see it looking more or less attractive is capturing airfields by landing a supply plane on it after elimination of all the opposition. This is the good old Warbirds gameplay mode.

Otherwise only ground forces should capture territory (or a flag). Fortunatelly now we have an ingame Mission Menu and players or officers can command ground forces which flag to attack and issue other commands.

I hate CTF how it is done in RoF for instance, i.e. flying around a flag :) When I first saw it in RoF beta I deleted it immediately (came back only in 1 year, yes it hurt that much). But that's me :)

PS. Just imagine, each player is given one tank which he sends to capture some flags. Players would have to cooperate to to achieve success and cover their group of tanks together. It could be a fun sandbox mode.

MD_Titus
10-12-2011, 08:18 AM
I've seen the repka #2 server has naval and ground forces which can be supported or attacked as they capture airbases, is this not pretty much capture the flag?

15.Span_Valalo
10-12-2011, 09:40 AM
great idea, but i think that this not a problem to game...

SLI, Engine grapich, Full Screen, sounds. it is very important tips to will resolve...

Tavingon
10-12-2011, 10:37 AM
I agree and think this would be a fun idea, bombers can carry the 'flag' and fighters escort

JG53Frankyboy
10-12-2011, 10:44 AM
flying throug a Hangar would most propably lead to the typical low level flying...........

the last 10 years my best online experince were COOP online wars, based on historical battles/scenarios.

Helrza
10-12-2011, 11:36 AM
I'd like to see some sort of territorial game mode. If we had big maps maybe something like Warbirds had many years ago where you bombed an airfield's AA/Fuel/Hangars then the server announced it was down and you had to land on it quickly, it became quite an artform ducking in under enemy fire and landing with your gear up to make the landing as quick as possible.

The only way I see it looking more or less attractive is capturing airfields by landing a supply plane on it after elimination of all the opposition. This is the good old Warbirds gameplay mode.

I also like the one Revvin proposes to copy the old Warbirds concept that works really well in all it's cheesiness ;) Take out all ground defenses and fly a Ju52 with paratroopers to capture it :)

+10000

now this is a mode i would absolutely love to see come to life!! (maybe because warbirds would still have to be my favorite online sim ever :P )

This type of gameplay to me promotes squadron teamwork, high and low altitude raids, and some very very hectik/ hard fought battles :)

ATAG_Dutch
10-12-2011, 02:39 PM
Well I have great fun in RoF on these 'missions' so why on earth not?!

Anything that adds to the appeal must be a good thing, yes?

JG52Uther
10-12-2011, 02:56 PM
I have no problem with the devs making this sort of game option (note the word 'option') if thats what some people want.As long as it did not take one minute away from the work that is needed to get CoD to where it was supposed to be at launch.
Personally I want to play a sim, not a game.

Trooper117
10-12-2011, 03:08 PM
I can always remember in the childrens home being bashed over the head with a large cane repeatedly.. ''I want, never gets!'' lol!

mazex
10-12-2011, 03:47 PM
And then we have the old F29 Retaliator mode where you start on the ground on an air field at opposite sides of a small map. A target coordinate and type scrolls the screen like "E4 - Bridge". Then the first one destroying it gets one point and a new random target appears. First one to 5 (or x) points win...

F29 was my first aerial multi player experience on 386 computers with two computers connected with null modem serial cable in 1989... Those where the days ;)

Mazex

Madfish
10-13-2011, 05:43 AM
You might want to check out some ideas I posted a LONG time ago :p

Hello all

I'm new to the board but I've been watching this game for a while. My first contact with flight sims was Chuck Yeagers Advanced Flight Trainer as a really young child, followed by Flight and others. I skipped a ton of sims during the last years though, so my ideas might have been implemented in one of them already. If that's the case I'm sorry.

The reason I mention this is because I really enjoyed alternate game modes, they always gave the games so much more live than "just a campaign" or dry simulation. So my idea is to add new game modes, especially multiplayer ones.

I enjoyed the "testflight" sessions in Chuck Yeagers AFT. I also enjoyed the aerobatics in Flight. Some of this could be modded by the fanbase but what about some real new modes that could bring even more people into the SIM scene?
For instance:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Teams (2+) - Roadrage
Two or more teams.
Two roads from A to B will constantly spawn vehicles on A which are trying to get to B. Each team now has to try and shoot or bomb as many vehicles as possible. The enemy team does the same. Both teams can try to "designate" a pilot or two to go and stir chaos amongst the planes of the other team. The team which kills the most vehicles in a given amount of time is the winner.


Teams (2) - Capture the Flag
Two teams.
A flag is spawned in the middle of an area. You need to bring it to your "goal" area to score. The plane holding the flag will fly slower than usual. It should behave as if the landing gear is down, also it could lose the flag on sharp turns (similar to the gear again for easy implemetation).
Enemy team needs to shoot down the plane that holds the flag, then grab the flag by flying over it. Eventually flags could be passed to other teammates somehow?


Teams (2+) - King of the Airstrip
Two or more teams.
Inspired by king of the hill, an airfield in a center location will serve as a trigger that adds points when a plane of your team lands on it. The other team has to try to destroy the plane and land a plane themselves, which will be the target of your team.
As soon as a plane of any team has landed on the airfield a timer / counter ticks down and reaches zero sometime, which will mean this team has then won the session.


No teams - Air Race
No Teams.
Race through a course of smoke (or similar) rings / poles. These could be on the ground and in the air. (Chuck Yeagers AFT had something like that, Flight had something similar as well)


Dynamic teams - Planehunt
Two teams due to runners / hunters.
A random plane gets labeled as the runner. He now has to try avoiding being shot down. His position on the map will be shown every 2 or 3 minutes or so. The others have to find him and shoot him down.
The runner will have a slightly reduced top speed but better climb and sink to avoid "straight runners" (going full throttle in one direction) and to give him an advantage of better ability to operate in 3d space.
If the runner evades the team for an x amount of time he won the session and someone else is the next runner. If he gets shot down the shooter / killer is the next runner. (Bad luck if he's in the middle of an angry crowd at that point =P)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I believe that game modes such as these could make the game more beginner friendly and fun for everyone. It could be a huge opportunity.

I will watch this thread and try to add suggestions others make. I'm sure there are a ton of ideas, or even critzism, you guys might have. Feel free to ask me for more details or artworks and bring your thoughts on this to the table. :]
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=16165

JimmyGiro
10-13-2011, 09:18 AM
I don't think that such a game mode would be fun in COD.
Imagine the guy escaping in his 109 by climbing for hours: No hope of catching him.
It might work if everyone had the same plane, but even then ctf is a fps game mode. I doubt it would work well in a flight sim.

German fighterbombers, like bomb carrying 109s, often committed 'tip-and-run' raids on south coast Britain during the full period of German occupation of France. Therefore 109s ALSO FLEW LOW.

The trouble with 'enactment' players is that they get stuck in single 'historic' stratagems, like a play-actor that must stick to their lines, and neiber ad lib; they lack the gameplayer's capacity to solve problems. Hence anything new is an unsolvable problem to them, that breaks the 'game'.

I think CTF is a splendid idea.

CrazySchmidt
10-13-2011, 11:34 AM
I love capture the flag game play and let us not forget that this this is only a game after all.

CTF could easily be an isolated mode of game play so as not to offend the purists.

Bring it on, I'd pay another $50 if it worked well.

Cheers, CS. :D