New Mixer Rule...

[Tasadar1]

We could try a gentlemen's understanding. It would be best if that works. If it is not working you could make the changes pretty quickly, I think. Or I could set up Cygnus2 in case we need to make a quick change.

[MuMuTheCow]

I'm ok with gentleman's understanding but I think we still have to have a list of what is banned. That was people can make loadouts in preparation.

[OldeWolfe]

I think we are discussing the hitscan weapons exclusively, and although I am not clear re: exactly which weapons are hitscan I thought it would be mostly the machine gun type weapons, pistols, and perhaps the knives. Please, someone with clear understanding should clarify this.

Tas, I suggest you set up Cygnus2 accordingly, just in case.

P.S. I suddenly realized that I will be arriving late if at all...am attending a birthday party. I suggest we postpone this gentleman's agreement explosive night one week; it will give everyone a chance to pass the word about what to expect at the Mixer next week.

[MuMuTheCow]

To my knowledge, hitscan is defined as weapons that are point and click - if your crosshair is directly on your enemy when you pull the trigger, you hit them. There is no projectile, no requirement to lead a moving target, and damage is given directly. These weapons would include all sniper rifles, all shotguns, and several pistols (Eagle for soldier and Nova Colt for Brute iirc)

The automatic weapons are still projectile-based, like the spinfusor (they just don't explode ... with the exception of the inf knife i guess). You fire an actual projectile that has its own velocity, requiring you to lead a moving target. Different automatic weapons have different projectile velocities. For instance, the Doombringer chaingun has a lower velocity, requiring you to lead much further in front of a moving target as compared to the Raider NJ4 SMG, which has a high projectile velocity, allowing you to have a very short lead distance comparatively (this is why chaingun bullets do more damage than smg ones, the thought being that the chaingun is more difficult to hit with, thus it does more damage when you succeed)

The high velocity and fire rate of autos make them feel inescapable in comparison to explosive projectiles which have much lower velocities. When you feel you have a chance to dodge a friend's incoming disc, you don't feel nearly as cheated when you fail and die by that disc. Auto fire, on the other hand, is given to you in a near-constant stream of damage that seems to follow you wherever you go (against a proficient opponent). For myself, this is where the frustration arises.

I can't think of a time I've been upset when dying to a disc, midair or otherwise. If anything I congratulate my opponent on a shot well fired. With automatics, I don't get a satisfaction from killing with them, nor do I feel that firing hundreds of high velocity projectiles into an enemy (and missing a hundred more) qualifies as a "good shot." For me they would ideally be used for utility, to get those last two slivers of health from someone as they're running away.

Having said all that, I'll compose a makeshift list of weapons and we can rule on them.

Hitscan Weapons-
All sniper rifles (already banned)
Shocklance

Sentinel
Accurized Shotgun (Banned)

Soldier
Eagle Pistol

Technician
Sparrow Pistol

Brute
Nova Colt Pistol
The Hammer Shotgun
Automatic Shotgun

Pathfinder
Shotgun
Hold-out Shotgun

Technician
Sawed-off Shotgun

Semi-automatic Projectile weapons- (pull trigger once per projectile, subject to possible auto-fire scripts)
Sniper
Nova Blaster (Banned)
Nova Blaster MX (Banned)

Infiltrator
SN7 Silenced Pistol
Throwing Knives
Arctic SN7


Automatic projectile weapons-
Sentinel
Falcon (Banned)

Soldier
Assault Rifle
Gast's Rifle

Juggernaut
X1 LMG

Pathfinder
Light Assault Rifle (automatic 3-round bursts)

Doombringer
Chain Gun
Chain Cannon

Infiltrator
Rhino SMG
Arctic Rhino

Raider
NJ4 SMG
NJ5-B SMG
Desert NJ4

Technician
TCN4 SMG
Rockwind TCN4



I know this post is already long but what do we want to do here? If we ban all autos, raider can only have a shocklance for secondary. Perhaps in those situations we only allow what we consider the "weakest" auto, so they at least have a secondary weapon? Do we ban infiltrator weapons, or just the infiltrator class entirely? I'm tired and going to stop typing now.

[OldeWolfe]

Hmmm...then I didn't come close to understanding the hitscan thingy. This whole discussion is frustrating me...makes me want to just unban everything and let 'er fly where it will so to speak.

Are knives not hitscan?

Frankly, I don't like banning anything at all (although I admit to always having been tempted to ban fractal grenades), but I'm willing to do whatever the group wants. I think an explosive weapon night would be good for a change though.

[ThePlaneswalker]

Id like that.. yes sir thank you sir

see theres an equation at play when it comes to me and auto players. I have a real good handle on discing.. usu the auto dude gets me dead before I can wait for my 2nd or 3rd disc to be reloaded. Same goes for the tech thumper vs the jugg machina gun. hes just mowin u down and you have to land 2 thumper shots dead on to get a quick kill and live. Now remove the autos? disc/thump kings here we come..

[Gorthaur]

Main thing that sucks about banning weapons is that instead of having 3-5 weapons like in tribes 2, in tribes ascend you have 2 weapons BORING! But if you ban all of this stuff now you only have one weapon, super boring!

[OldeWolfe]

Good point Gorthaur, and well taken.

[NetRat]

We attempted an honor fusor game for the finale Saturday night - it did not go over well for several reasons:

1. Cupcakes was using shotgun - we asked him to stop via in-game msg and he didn't. After the game I learned that he, like many other apparently, have their in-game msg's turned off. In retrospect, I should have hopped channels to verbally make the request.

2. The rules for honor fusor sound easy/clear, but apparenlty they are not. We also allowed grens, thumpers, and mortars. We disallowed the shocklance and this in particular annoyed quite a few. One player in particular disliked this to the point of melting down and giving up in-game. This lead to further unbalance in-game where I stopped capping at 4-0.

3. I have played honor fusor games before and they can be a lot of fun with the right attitude and seperation of talent. As captains, Alethea and I amicably split the teams hoping for a well-balance, fun game (splitting Rick and Potty). The evening ended with a 7-1 score and quite a few annoyed players.

Ultimately, we are after the right players with the right attitudes while maintaining an inclusionary stance. Most of us remember when all of this was "easy" and gaming fun didn't require this much work. The younger players were approached about starting their own "mixers" where they can set the rules and make their own fun. I am hoping this works out for all of us and that we maintain enough participation to keep our mixers alive.

[OldeWolfe]

Thanks for the effort guys/gals, tiz clear y'all went above and beyond trying to make it work.

I hope to see you soon and do plan to participate in the next Mixer (4/10).