Multiplayer Changes (GUI, Mission Editor, etc...)

[BodyOrgan]

I have a few changes which should go a long way in helping the competitive multiplayer environment. I sure hope someone affiliated with ED passes this information along to the designers as food for thought at least.

 

GUI bullet points as follows:

 

• Client must select coalition prior to selecting unit, and only that coalition's units are displayed to the client (Want for 1.5.x badly)
  
  
• Client selects unit type to spawn, and airbase/FARP/spawn point to spawn from
  

Mission editor bullet points:

 

• Add more than two coalitions
  
• All aircraft for all nations
  
• Generic unit type (becomes whatever the client selects) for mission editor
  
• Airbases, FARPs, or any other type capable of spawning units uses a counter to track total spawned against total allowable spawns
  

Explanation of GUI bullet points follows:

With the current multiplayer selection screen counter picking is possible. Player X on Blue team might pick F-15C at Tbilisi to counter Player Y on Red team who spawned in a Su-25T at Beslan. Opposing teams should not be privy to this information.

 

By forcing the player to choose a side before being shown only their sides spawns, counter picking is eliminated on servers which prevent coalition change.

 

The second point is going to be a little tougher to explain as it works in conjunction with a mission editor change. Simply put, the client is presented with a unit selection screen which allows them to choose the unit

(via drop down list)

they want to spawn which isn't predetermined, and from where

(via drop down list)

to spawn. When I say isn't predetermined I mean the mission designer did not specify the unit or where the unit spawns

(at least not directly)

. In other words there is no multiplayer screen with a predetermined number of units in which the client must select an available slot

(predetermined screen should still exist when client doesn't select a generic type)

.

Explanation of mission editor bullet points follows:

The first point is self explanatory. Allow it so more than two teams can be engaging.

 

Also self explanatory. Don't restrict mission designer's fantasies of creating the mission they want to create.

 

Ok, these last two points are the meat and potatoes for the client being able to choose what they want, and remove this responsibility from the mission designer, and to allow the future growth of modules.

 

The mission editor needs a generic type. A type which can become any unit in the game determined by the client selection upon entering the mission via the GUI as described above. This is needed due to impending module saturation. At the current rate it stands to reason the available slots at airbases aren't going to be enough to field all aircraft types at the front lines or any where for that matter once enough modules exist. This will ultimately leave players unable to fly their desired aircraft.

 

Only one generic type need be added to an airbase

(what allows it to show in the drop down list described in the GUI section)

in the mission editor to handle all clients intending to spawn at this airbase. Due to an airbase having a finite amount of physical spawning space a counter containing maximum allowable spawns is used to prevent a spawn should total amount of allowable spawns be reached. If the total amount of allowable spawns is 50, and a clients spawns from a generic type or non-generic type the counter is reduced to 49 for example. Non-generic types should be checking against this counter as well to make sure they aren't spawning into some client.

Edited November 22, 2016 by BodyOrgan

[zaelu]

+1

 

It would be nice that instead of drop down lists maybe some more modern interfaces would slipstream the selection. Example. Click an airbase and aircraft options appear around the airbase name like a rose radio/option menu from current games.

 

Also Side switching prohibiting should be build in the standard game without advanced scripts loading by the user. The server creator even if its just one guy hosting a temporary server and not a 24/7 almost dedicated server should be able to enforce this very simply. Each player that connects to a server must give its DCS Multiplayer Unic ID to the server (silently without player intervention) and after side selection be locked on it until server restarts or changes the mission if such is the wish of the host.