Hey guys. In Halo 3 I made this map called Halo Wars. It combined the RTS elements of Halo Wars with the FPS elements of Halo 3. Here's the map if you want to see how it worked. Before Halo Reach came out I planned a Halo Reach version of Halo Wars, called Halo Wars 2. I really never played much Reach and totally forgot about the map and game in general. However, I have decided to finally make it now. I have been throwing around some ideas I would like some feedback! (a lot of this won't make sense unless you read about the original Halo Wars) Idea 1: So, I have a basic spawning system. There is a giant room (let's call it the Spawn Room) with a one way shield door roof and teleporters to the map. Attached to the spawn room are eight boxes (let's call these Spawn Boxes) with one way shield door roofs just out of jumping reach. In each Spawn Box a player spawns. Above each Spawn Box are two grenades. When the commander shoots one of the grenades, the other one gets funneled down to the Spawn Boxes. The players can then do a simple grenade jump to get out of the box and into the Spawn Room. Above the Spawn Room are Vehicles, Weapons, and Armor Abilities that can be shot into the spawn room by shooting a fusion coil (the fusion coil and vehicle would respawn). So, players can equip themselves and get vehicles before teleporting into the map. The Commander will also have a teleporter to go to an observatory of the map. From the observatory he can give his team tactical advice and will get some sort of weapon or turret to use. Sniper ammo (money) would periodically spawn to simulate getting more money The problem I have with this design is that grenade jumping might be hard for new players. Also, players of course get sick sitting in boxes for long periods of time. While it would more resemble an RTS with players stuck in boxes, it just turns out to not be much fun (even though it is a cool concept). So, I have come up with a different idea.... Idea 2: There is still the same Spawn Room, however players now spawn in there too--the entire player spawning system is gone. There are still Vehicles, Weapons, and Armor Abilities available for the commander to buy. However, this time, the commander does not have periodically spawning sniper ammo (money)--he will have a finite amount of sniper ammo available. The commander may start out with one clip for initial purchases, probably not though. So the difference here is that when the commander buys something once, it will keep respawning. So if the commander buys a Warthog, the Warthog will keep respawning back without having to be repurchased (like in Idea 1). Now, since there is not infinite sniper ammo, I was thinking of doing some sort of minigame for the commander to collect sniper ammo (money). Maybe short obstacle courses or walks that take a lot of time. There would also be an observatory for the commander. Let's say there are eight total sniper shots available. If there are like 4 vehicles, 4 armor abilities, 4 weapons, and like maybe some special things the commander can purchase to use (like a Laser to fight with or a Mongoose to more quickly collect resources), then the commander would be forced to make some decisions on what to buy and what not to buy--making this a strategical map! Gametype: I am not sure what kind of gametype to use. I am thinking territories, and if I use Idea 2, maybe a finite amount of lives. So what do you guys think? Any comments, criticism, or suggestions? Thanks!
that sound just crazy enough to work. maybe you could use VIP (when it's released) so that the commanders don't snipe each other, or place a custom power up for each commander
It's an interesting idea. I never tried anything like this in Halo 3, so I have no frame of reference for how this works. I do have a few questions and ideas: Do you have a specific map you will make for this or are you going to do something like modify Hemmorage? What happens if one team dominates the other and camps the teleporters? That could end in a lot of quitting players, do you have any ideas or will that (getting to the enemy base in force) be the objective? Speaking of the objective, I think slayer, territories or CTF would provide the best results. Actually, you could make multiple versions with slightly different objectives. I think a conglomeration of the two ideas would be cool. Say all players spawned in the spawn room like idea 2. The player has finite ammo but vehicles do not respawn more than...say (for example) twice. This could be achieved by having the fusion coil respawn after the second vehicle spawns (say vehicle spawn at 45 and fusion at coil 110) That way purchases are not infinite but allow for multiple vehicles to respawn to keep players busy with vehicles. Otherwise, it may become rock-paper-scissors (oh, he picked wraith-revenant and i picked warthog-rocket hog) and become a guessing game. This way, strategies can change while keeping players busy. The same principle applies to vehicles and AAs. Just another idea. All in all, I think this is a really unique idea and would like to see it in action. Good luck with the gametype, whichever way you chose to make it!
Thank you for reading my lengthy description! I didn't cover everything I had in mind, just the core concepts, haha. Jeff, is VIP not in the game already? If not, when is it coming out? Scorch, I am going to make a map for this. I am not sure how much budget I will have left, but I think the Island on Forgeworld will be a good basis. I should have enough budget to create some nice structures. As far as spawn killing, I have two plans: First, (even though I am rather short on teleporters!) I am going to have two receiver nodes for each team (one at their main base, and one a a fair distance away). If possible, both teleporter receiver nodes will be sheltered by one way shield doors. I may make one teleporter locked at first (or maybe somehow unlocked by the commander). I also might make one receiver vehicle only or something. I really just don't know what to do about the objective! Maybe make the map one giant territory with semi-long respawn times? I guess I will have to experiment. I agree with the problem that it is a guessing game. However, if I make it so the vehicles don't keep respawning, when the commander runs out of money, he won't be able to spawn anymore vehicles. I really appreciate the feedback guys!
Very true. Perhaps when the coils respawn so does more sniper ammo to change up vehicle types? I also think territories, multiple ones, would be best. I'm short on time now, so I hope that helps!
Yeah, I think five territories would work best too. Maybe everything could be on a three minute respawn. I think I need to tinker a little bit more first before I decide.... I am also thinking of doing some sort or tiering system. Like a Scorpion would cost three shots (three fusion coils lined up would each have to be shot separately). And like a Warthog would cost 2, and if you shoot one more you upgrade to a rocket hog or something.
I've did a sort of weapon upgrade system with tiering system. I've used 2-3 of those blue covenant energy barricade (sorry I just do not know the name in English :/). And I've placed them in order, so you have to shoot the first one, and when it collapse, you can spend more "money" to break the other and get better weapon, and so on. But It works better with only 2 since it takes 2 sniper hits with normal damage to break it and when you reload, the first one could start to regenerate. The only thing about this system is that you will need more "money" since you always have to buy stuff to your troops, but I prefer it since it keeps the Commander busy trying to counter the Enemy Upgrade. I've been working for several system for a Halo Wars map, but never the map in itself.
Thanks for the write-up and figure man tyggerr. I was thinking of a similar system using fusion coils, but two shot barriers would be even easier! Does anyone know what those barriers are called?
I think he's talking about portable shields. That does seem like a good idea. The problem with that is the quick regen time of the shield, if he is referring to portable shields. If not, sorry!
No problem. The problem I see with that is that the shield will only allow for one or two vehicles/weapons to drop before it regenerates. I suppose if you gave the commender a lot of ammo that spawns fast it would work fine. In fact, I like that idea.
I find it strange that I saw a Halo Wars RTS thread here because I was just thinking that the new Chess gametype could possibly be manipulated to accomplish such things. Just a thought.
Nah, I do not think we could use the Chess gametype since the whole board is only a single marker with a label. The best gametype for a Halo Wars map would be VIP, but we do not have it anymore... So I would say maybe in Territories or KOtH, Stockpile could be fun. In Assault and Flag, the fight would be only in the Flag's base and almost every other buildings wouldn't be use, or at least would be use less. Slayer would only be camping the base to get kill. Invasion could be very fun, but It would be one sided, so one team attack and the other defend.
I haven't fooled around with the settings yet, but you could always try doing something with the Halo Chess gametype so you can control troops and play as them when you want to.
You should make a thread in the Optimatch forum on bungie.net. If Bungie can implement a gametype such as Chess, in which you play as a monitor for part of the game, then I don't see why they couldn't make a similar gametype that played somewhat like an RTS. It would take them time to make it, but I could definitely picture it. Also, they better ****ing release a VIP gametype, with the same scoring options and everything that we could do with it in Halo 3. I was pissed when I found out that they didn't include VIP in the retail release of Reach.
Yeah, the gametype is definitely the biggest problem right now. I think territories will work just fine though. [br][/br]Edited by merge: For anyone wondering, I have released Halo Wars 2!