Maniaplanet Forum

Hello folks, it's been a while since I've posted on the ManiaPlanet forums.

Yesterday, I jumped into the beat for the first time and thought I'd leave some feedback of my experience from a 15 minute play session.

First and foremost: I didn't have a clue what I was doing. IIRC, I was playing BattleWaves mode. I was deathmatching (running round killing players, ignoring map objectives) pretty much the entire time. I was aware of the map objectives, I knew that I had to capture the points and that failure to do so in a 15 second window (time resets during a cap) granted the enemy an opportunity to attack, forcing us to defend. Unfortunately I had no clue which cap I needed to aim for next. If there's a UI element that indicates the next cap, I'm not aware of it. As a Red player I tried capturing the blue flags: no joy. I tried capturing the neutral flags: no joy. I tried scanning my UI to see if there was a specific area of the map I needed to head to: no joy. I didn't try to capture any Red flags considering that it seems those flags already belong to my team rather than indicating that they're points that are "ready to capture". So as of right now, I'm still unsure where to head to in order to capture a point. (Yes, my team was on attack each time I tried.)

I also have difficulty locating action on the map. This exasperates the problem I have of finding the next map objective. Other players appear to gravitate towards it so usually I would follow team mates around. Unfortunately, if ever I were alone on a fairly complex map I'd be lost, unable to reach any team mates unless I found one through sheer luck.

Bugs

Autobalance: For some reason, at the start of a new map the autobalance feature will force one team to have several more players than the other. As in, blue and red will have 9 players each, but autobalance will force 12 players on blue and 6 players on red. I struggle to see how this is intended.

Vibrating screen when zoomed in. When stood on a sniper platform (using what looks like a railgun) and zoomed in, my screen vibrates, as if my game's experiencing an earthquake. The vibrations are small, but rapid, small enough that my aim at short-medium range is unaffected but long range sniping is pretty much impossible. Is there supposed to be a slow movement to emulate my avatar's slightly unsteady aim? Or is the view when zoomed in supposed to be perfectly still?

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Those are the problems I've had, but I like other aspects of the game. I like the easy to learn controls and the basic game play is enjoyable. As soon as this I've finished this post is done I'll be in game again shooting some pretty lasers at other people.

Mosseman wrote:First and foremost: I didn't have a clue what I was doing. IIRC, I was playing BattleWaves mode. I was deathmatching (running round killing players, ignoring map objectives) pretty much the entire time. I was aware of the map objectives, I knew that I had to capture the points and that failure to do so in a 15 second window (time resets during a cap) granted the enemy an opportunity to attack, forcing us to defend. Unfortunately I had no clue which cap I needed to aim for next. If there's a UI element that indicates the next cap, I'm not aware of it. As a Red player I tried capturing the blue flags: no joy. I tried capturing the neutral flags: no joy. I tried scanning my UI to see if there was a specific area of the map I needed to head to: no joy. I didn't try to capture any Red flags considering that it seems those flags already belong to my team rather than indicating that they're points that are "ready to capture". So as of right now, I'm still unsure where to head to in order to capture a point. (Yes, my team was on attack each time I tried.)

you need to capture the poles who are the furthest from your team spawn, usually map is made in this way. number of poles + how much of each pole is captured is indicated on the top of UI, I hope you got it ^^ capturing order doesn't matter at all, you just capture any of your team poles until all of them are done. and yeah, there's no way to instantly know where are your poles.

I also have difficulty locating action on the map. This exasperates the problem I have of finding the next map objective. Other players appear to gravitate towards it so usually I would follow team mates around. Unfortunately, if ever I were alone on a fairly complex map I'd be lost, unable to reach any team mates unless I found one through sheer luck.

you can press backspace to respawn at your team spawn. though you lose 1 point then, it's like a suicide ^^

Vibrating screen when zoomed in. When stood on a sniper platform (using what looks like a railgun) and zoomed in, my screen vibrates, as if my game's experiencing an earthquake. The vibrations are small, but rapid, small enough that my aim at short-medium range is unaffected but long range sniping is pretty much impossible. Is there supposed to be a slow movement to emulate my avatar's slightly unsteady aim? Or is the view when zoomed in supposed to be perfectly still?

never had such problems o_O you better report it as bug in separate thread.

Mosseman wrote:Vibrating screen when zoomed in. When stood on a sniper platform (using what looks like a railgun) and zoomed in, my screen vibrates, as if my game's experiencing an earthquake. The vibrations are small, but rapid, small enough that my aim at short-medium range is unaffected but long range sniping is pretty much impossible. Is there supposed to be a slow movement to emulate my avatar's slightly unsteady aim? Or is the view when zoomed in supposed to be perfectly still?

Do you encounter this on all maps? Players may put this effect on the platform to make aiming harder and therefore minimizing the advantage of the sniper platform.
Try the platform in the editor, if your screen is still shaking, then it's probably a bug.

Mosseman wrote: Vibrating screen when zoomed in.

This is a feature of one certain map, I think. Did it happen on a really high tower right behind your own spawn-base? That's a map where it happened to me. I think it is to simulate standing on a thin, high tower with winds blowing. And maybe to balance the railgun it a bit.

Omnixor wrote: and yeah, there's no way to instantly know where are your poles.

On a lot maps or servers a small sign says "capture" at least at map-start. I don't know if it is an all servers, or if it is a custom Maniascript.

@Mosseman
A general tip to help your team:
The closest pole to your base should never be fully captured early in the match.
Touch it for a second to refill the 15 seconds of attack-time again. To give teammates and yourself more time to get the harder to get poles.
Oh, and invent the worst insults for those who always capture the first or closest pole and make it harder for the team to capture more poles. Then insult and swear at them, why they don't have common sense and cannot grasp the most basic concepts.


About finding the right poles:
I suggested skybeams before (lightbeams going from the pole into the sky). The poles you can attack during your attack phase have a lightbeam of your teamcolor above it. If you need to defend, the other poles have a lightbeam of the other team'S color above it. That way we have an optical representation in the map (not only in the hud) what to do and where to get.

That's how UT2004 did it in Onslaught to guide new players. And UT2004 had less maps than SM.