Another moan about lazytown server

[kennykjc]

30 players? Why? What was wrong with 24?

The other day, there was a game when the server was full, and we were stuck at spawn point 2, and there were stickies by the opposing team EVERYWHERE. One demo detonated/died and there were still 2 or 3 other sets of stickies waiting for anybody who tried to run outside the room. I stayed for almost an hour and I don't recall ever getting out of that room!

And has the map been won when the server has been full? I remember being at point 4 as a sniper and I felt like a lion trying to pick out a zebra to kill. It's just too much :roll:

What next? Instant spawns?

[Parva]

I'm sorry that you're not keen on the extra 6 slots but on the whole people do seem to prefer it and yes, the map has indeed been won on a full 15 vs 15 server. :) It's not definitely staying as a 30 man server, we're doing some load testing with the extra slots to see how the hardware fares and how it impacts other servers. Once it's established what it can and can't do and also depending on the popularity of extra slots over 24 players then we'll have a think on what changes to make where.

[larky]

uber anyone? seriously kenny how many times have we been stuck at point 2, all it takes is 2 demo(one on roof) plus good engies and even with 24 players you can be there for an hour, IF no one attacks back. You have been medic on me more than once in that situation, one uber, and hey presto we're competing point 3 ;)
Played the other night with byte and moto, 30 players, just the same game, just more fun to me, started on blue at point 2, then nearly won the game, got team switched and took it all the way back and nearly won it for red. It all comes down to who is playing which sides. /ramble over/

[Motoko]

Just another case in point, in regards to Larky's comments. I went through garage and round the back of them, and took out the demos that laid the stickys. They had that side of the entrance for point 2 completely undefended as they were expecting us to go through that tunnel area (where Kenny says the stickys are bombarded). This then cleared the way for the tunnel and we captured point 2 back as it basically turned into a two pronged attack. I don't think it it is too bad, yes there are more stickys but ultimately there are 2 paths to get back point 2, not just via the tunnel.

I don't think it increases the time any in getting that back, point 2 has always been difficult with snipers standing at the back and demos laying stickys. But yes a good uber does the trick. I personally had a lot of fun at the Larky and Byte game.

[BeastZomb]

perhaps a change of class would sort that,

if i can cloak, walk to cap 4 (cap 2 from enemy side) via the garage, and take out 2 snipers, 2 demo's, 2 sentries's with tp's and dispensers, and also stab a med and hw waiting to uber, then im sure you could manage to advance if ppl select classes based on whats needed instead of just being one or another,

if you ever see me on the server you will notice i never stick to one class, i change to what ever is needed, and if you see me as an ubered pyro then ya better run :p

hint: the more variable you can be with class choice will give the opposing team alot more to think about regarding their own strategy

[swarfega]

More players has certainly livened the map up somewhat. I find it quite addictive now and often play engie.

[t!mo]

The gameplay was much better with 24 players, the only good thing now is that it's easier to get on the server. There is a lot more demo spam and the games are now dull with hardly anything happening. DULL

[kennykjc]

After having more time to play it, my opinions haven't changed much. Still possible to find ways to progress, but often the increased sentries, demo's and spam in general make it more of a slog and there is less room for finesse.

But the biggest issue for me is the frame rate. It was a poorly designed map with to begin with (performance wise), the extra 6 players make it worse. That may be my fault for having an average/below average setup, but when fighting near the spawn it's now unplayable on a full server. I sometimes even run backwards at this point to cut out the bottleneck!

The games were just better with 24 players. I don't see the attraction in servers with high player limits. Certainly not in TF2 anyway.

[Towneh]

The only time I get a frame rate issue is when you cross the first capture point after coming out of your spawn and are looking in the direction of the middle capture point, beyond that spot it seems to be OK.

My biggest gripe with the map and lots of players is that Demoman becomes the answer to everything, all you need to do is spam your grenades.

[Motoko]

Well I play Demoman on Lazy and pretty much any other map, as it is my preference so the Lazy map doesn't change that fact for me. I do play other classes such as Medic etc but everyone has their main class, such as Kenny likes sniper I think. Which kinda brings me to, how one team has 5+ snipers, so you can say the same thing about them when you mention the Demo spam. Ultimately there are going to be more of certain classes because there are extra slots, hell at one time there were 4 sentries all lined up on the right hand slope. We could call sentry spam too!

But back to the lag thing, I used to have the same problem with the first spawn lag. But ever since I rebuilt my PC with new parts, I don't get any lag at all it's like silk. So it CAN run smooth all the way through if you have the hardware, just that my kit costs a lot of money and to be honest I didn't even think it would make a difference because I thought it would lag regardless of setup. I am assuming this map is not optimised as well as it could be for that first spawn area.

I dunno I still have fun with it, you get sniped a lot or get gunned down by sentries or demo spammed etc etc but then again this map was always going to be crazy it's something everyone expects now. This server is ever so popular, so some people must like it still.

~Moto

[Neophyte]

Thats nothing, We had a UT3 public game on VCTF-Suspense yesterday that lasted 5 hours...before we gave in and changed the map! :D

[Motoko]

Hi Neo,

I think some people can attest that some Lazy rounds have lasted 2 days or more, let alone hours :P. Just that the player list is constantly rotating, I have taken a break for a couple of hours and come back.. with the same round being played.

~Moto

Thats nothing, We had a UT3 public game on VCTF-Suspense yesterday that lasted 5 hours...before we gave in and changed the map! :D

[Parva]

I could introduce class limits if it really were needed. I'll keep an eye on the map and see how it goes.

[kennykjc]

Now the Russian Lazytown server has went from 24 to 32 players!

Shall we take a good thing and dumb it down further?

[larky]

maybe try one vanilla, and one 32 with a demo + sniper limit, just an idea..

[Parva]

Now the Russian Lazytown server has went from 24 to 32 players!

Shall we take a good thing and dumb it down further?

I spent 3 hours on our Lazytown server tonight with it mostly full and have to say that I'd no idea how fast 3 hours can vanish, it was fantastic fun. Not once did I hear any complaints about the number of players and both teams were constantly changing classes to overcome the enemy team.

On red team we were within a few seconds of capping blue cap 1 then blue pushed us back to our cap 1 then we pushed back again and this just went on. A great group of people on there too, best game I've had in a long time.

[kennykjc]

I'd like to also share with you a game I enjoyed and something that has become increasingly common since the higher limit...

90 minutes of this:

{unable to post image as under 15 posts, but just picture lots of grenades, rockets, smoke and gibs}

Now imagine 5 frames per second, jittery sound due to heat problems (I guess) and pretty much non-stop projectiles.

I was medic for about an hour, and there were as many as 3 other medics. All of us were regularly ubering (due to the mass amount of injured people we were able to heal). Not one of the dozens of ubers succeeded in securing the middle point. I made sure to uber only pyro or demo but there were 2 or 3 sentries on the right ramp, and going up the left ramp wasn't any better as there were 2 sentries in other locations. Wasn't as difficult mind you as dodging all the rockets and grenades. Now I think we should have been rewarded for our effort, and we surely would have under a 24 vs 24 game, but we'd always find ourselves back at point 2 watching all the smoke, explosions and debris coming from around the corner.

[Towneh]

Tactic to lock down middle from attackers pov:

3 sentries on the right-hand ramp, with dispensers directly behind them, covered by 2 soldiers and 3 demomen, lots of force from the sentries will push any uber back.

3 snipers on the left hand-ramp making short work of the garage, again cover this with a demoman, and put 2 demoman and soldier up on the roof.

4 teleports placed descretly out of view, soldiers keep spys dead with rockets.

Cover this all with 2 medics and you're laughing :E

[t!mo]

or just get some good players

[Parva]

Incidentally, we are also looking at a fix for the cap 1 fps drop problem and hopefully a really permanent fix for the teleporter issue.

Larky is the man who is working on this and he informs me there will be two versions, the one we have now but fixed or alternatively an HDR version. As soon as he's done with them we can give them a playtest and see how they fare.

[larky]

Today :roll: and a 3rd version, with timer, never know when it might be needed :awesome:

[kennykjc]

I average about 15 fps on the server when it's full, 5-10 fps in combat, and 3-5 fps when pinned back to spawn area.

P4 3ghz, 2 gig ram, GeForce 7800 GS 256mb

And I'm still #2 on the rankings mofo's!