Trouble in Terrorist Town - a GMod gamemode

[JossiRossi]

This bad mother fucker doesn't play by the rules.

Rogue Detective. Coming this May.

[goatfetus]

DYNOMITE!





DYNOMITE!   

[Ajunk]

He's got a thousand dollar car and a hundred dollar suit.

[Firespray]

Anyway, for a suggestion.  Can you make it so that detectives can re-pickup their own health station? Like using alt+e to do it?  Its a pain dragging it around and for people to use it when people tell them not to(AKA suspicious people that are hurt).

[Bad King Urgrain]

Neither of those sound much like downsides to me. The health station is meant to create conflict involving people who are hurt, and I also envisioned it resulting in a "base" area the detective must defend. That last part is not really the case right now. Hence I'd be more inclined to make it un-carryable than easier to carry.

In fact, what do people think about that? Compared to the current health station it'd be:
- only buyable once per round (this is already a certainty)
- not carryable, can only be dragged/pushed a little
- can take more damage before being destroyed
- contains more heal points, or slowly recharges them

[FF|NedStar]

- not carryable, can only be dragged/pushed a little

I'd say yes to this, force them to defend a position rather then carry it about. Also prevents someone from stealing it.

- can take more damage before being destroyed

I find the health station more then strong enough as it is. I've yet to see someone destroy the health station and get away with it. I've tried sniping it on occasion but I found health station taking quite a lot of bullets that I ended up not trying any more due to drawing attention on me by shooting it.
If anything I'd rather see it slightly nerved in health rather then buffed.

- contains more heal points, or slowly recharges them

I'd say no to more base health points. Recharging would be fine if the health stations own health gets slightly nerved so it can be shot down easier.

The problem with health stations is that it already draws a lot of attention causing them to cluster together. This itself makes things tougher for the traitors, which itself isn't a problem but if the health station gets buffed with more health as well as take even more shots to shoot down, combined with it being more stationary then before (ruining the chances of someone running of with it and causing distraction) the odds are kinda stacking against the traitors.

- "Search for unspent credits" hint no longer appears when you're a spectator.
- Dropping a weapon or throwing a grenade no longer switches to your previous weapon. Instead, it switches to holstered.

One thing I've not noticed on your list is  "unspent credits" showing up for detectives. A common tactic I see nowadays is when the detective camps in a corner and waits till the traitor walks by to collect his credit and then gets shot in the face because the detective hint showed it as picked up.
One could debate that such a thing would cause the traitors to be more on edge when they wish to collect a credit. However people new to the game don't understand this and will see this as RDM. Not the mention the possible lameness discussion that can arise of using said tactic.
I'd suggest removing the "unspent credit" hint for detectives or remove the auto picking up of credits and make it a button in the dead body menu.
This fixes both the accidental picking up of a credit as well as no longer get the traitor ruined by telling him to go identify the body of someone who shows up as "unspent credit"

On a side note, this would boost the usefulness of binoculars as it would still allow the detective to check for a missing credit point from a distance. Seeing as the binoculars has a cool down and clearly shows up to the traitor as inspecting a body, giving the traitor a time to react or simply stay away from the body because he is feeling watched.

[CrazyChicken]

In fact, what do people think about that? Compared to the current health station it'd be:
- only buyable once per round (this is already a certainty)
- not carryable, can only be dragged/pushed a little
- can take more damage before being destroyed
- contains more heal points, or slowly recharges them

Those all sound good. And having it recharge slowly would be good too. Also maybe you could make it act more like the HL2 health chargers where you hold down use and your health goes up. So that it's more obvious who is using the health station. Or maybe make the person who used it flash a color real fast or something, its pretty hard to tell who is using it when theres several people huddled around the station.

Oh and if you make it so that it charges could you put a meter on it like the TF2 dispenser? That'd make it look better to me.

[Firespray]

Well, if people force them to press E on the body for unspent credits...can't you just act like you pressed E on the body?

[Bad King Urgrain]

RE: health station damaging:
Although I don't entirely agree that clustered survivors is a terrible thing for traitors, as they have quite a few means of causing havoc (grenades, C4, poltergeist the health station, snipe with disguiser, attack from range with multiple traitors from different directions), I'll make sure to test how much damage it can currently take to see if it needs increasing at all.

RE: showing who uses it:
I'll see if there's a way to do something there without too much trouble/bug-risk. If not, I don't think it's a huge problem. Traitors being able to sneak a heal in is part of the health station's gameplay mechanics.

RE: unspent credits:
I want to avoid adding buttons and removing hints, both of which make things harder to learn. To some degree I think the tactic is valid, as well.

How about reducing the range at which the credit hint shows (for everyone)? Detectives would have to really camp near the body, which allows the traitor to take them out first or at least know he's being watched. Right now detectives can see the hint go away while camping in some far off place.

[Ajunk]

I think it would be interesting if the traitors could sabotage the health station to make you lose health, but the act of sabotaging makes you a dead giveaway so you have to make sure either nobody's around or there's a distraction. That way it's kind of the detective's job to guard the station.

Maybe sabotaging consists of putting a knife inside?

Just thoughts.

[FF|NedStar]

Well, if people force them to press E on the body for unspent credits...can't you just act like you pressed E on the body?

You could simply ask someone to identify an unidentified body. There's no way around this besides pressing E, which results in identifying the body + picking up the credit.

RE: health station damaging:
Although I don't entirely agree that clustered survivors is a terrible thing for traitors, as they have quite a few means of causing havoc (grenades, C4, poltergeist the health station, snipe with disguiser, attack from range with multiple traitors from different directions), I'll make sure to test how much damage it can currently take to see if it needs increasing at all.

This kinda depends on the map but when the health station is no longer easy carry-able, c4 would seem a very good solution.

RE: unspent credits:
I want to avoid adding buttons and removing hints, both of which make things harder to learn. To some degree I think the tactic is valid, as well.

How about reducing the range at which the credit hint shows (for everyone)? Detectives would have to really camp near the body, which allows the traitor to take them out first or at least know he's being watched. Right now detectives can see the hint go away while camping in some far off place.

It is indeed a valid tactic and I've never died due to this tactic myself. The problem is mostly with newbie traitors who don't know the hint is there and won't understand why they just got killed. Granted I've yet to see anyone rage over this. However I don't think someone new to the game would appreciate getting killed by a game play mechanism which they aren't being warned for.
Shorting the range of the hint sounds like a good idea to me.

Also regarding beacons, are there any possible changes upcoming for them or are they currently planned to stay the same? I currently find them rather annoying, nor adding much to the actual gameplay, they usually end up glued to some wall for no apparent reason besides distracting you from possible c4's.
Perhaps make the beacon into one item that drops when the detective dies. Think of it like a panic button, that alerts all the innocents that the detective has just died and where. The traitor can then either try to blow the beacon up before anyone notices or simply make a run for it.
This would IMO greatly improve the usefulness of the beacon as well as make the traitor think twice before killing the detective without a proper get away plan.

[Bad King Urgrain]

The beacon will only be buyable once, and will have a little more usage in marking where a health station is. I don't really like the drop-on-death concept, and it's already possible if the detective is quick.

I don't want to get into bigger changes like health station sabotage or perhaps a complete beacon reworking because I want to avoid having to iterate over multiple releases. The current planned health station changes are relatively simple, mostly number tweaking.

[Bad King Urgrain]

Just an FYI, garry has started testing Fretta gamemodes, apparently by putting up a server and playing with whoever joins. Not exactly the most robust (or even fair) testing methodology, but oh well, wasn't expecting anything from it regardless. You could try joining yourself to see what's up.

In other news, I've implemented some of the changes discussed here. I'm also working with Alters to find a fix for a crash bug/exploit I won't go into. Depending on how that goes the update might be out this weekend.

[UnInvincible]

Here's the page where Garry and Craig are writing down their thoughts on each gamemode:

http://frettacontest.facepunchstudios.com/gamemodes/

Sounds like they haven't been too impressed with anything yet.

[Soduka]

Their testing method is completely unfair for more complex game modes like TTT, in my opinion. It takes more than 30 mins to appreciate the first good detective game I have ever played.

[Broadsword]

To be perfeclty honest I think TTT makes a great stand alone gamemode and would probably survive as a stand alone mod. Not so much a fretta gamemode.

[laser2150]

Hi new to the ZM forums. I love ttt and we have a server going for it right now.

Im not sure this happens on other servers, or to other players, but when I use the DNA sampler on a knife, it says I collected a sample, but I can't see it in the scan menu, and I can't get out of the menu unless I hold tab and mouse over the X button on the menu.

[Bad King Urgrain]

Do you see any Lua errors on the screen or in the console when that happens?

[laser2150]

Do you see any Lua errors on the screen or in the console when that happens?

It is a lua error that comes up, Im not the only person who gets it though.

suggestions?

[FF|NedStar]

Start by posting the lua error.