Some general feedback and stuff

[TopDawg]

I feel that I've played Renegade X enough now to offer some initial, general feedback. I guess I'll start by saying that I did play the original quite a bit back in 2002 and some of 2003, and on and off at various points after that, and unfortunately that I never participated in Clanwars.

I believe that games need to be balanced for/around the highest levels of play and that that doesn't mean it can't be largely balanced all the way around (i.e., balancing for high levels doesn't have to be mutually exclusive to balancing for new players). And, for whatever it's worth and although it fluctuates a bit, I've been in the top 10 on the global leaderboards (granted it's somewhat easy to abuse/manipulate them).

Overall, I've been having quite a lot of fun and am glad that Totem Arts took the time to do this (I get that it's resume building etc, but it still takes time and effort and it really seems like they're trying to get it right). I've been trying to get people interested in it that never played the original, but it's been somewhat difficult for a few reasons. I realize it's very early in the new open beta and that the dust has to settle somewhat (and new patches fixing things) before some of what I will outline can take effect.

General Balance - Unfortunately the game will have to be balanced around a specific number of players. Personally, I'm biased towards smaller servers and think that the original game was balanced for 8-16 player teams (making that 16, 24, and 32 player servers). Depending on the map though even 32 players can feel a bit spammy and crammed, removing many of the tactical elements from the game.

Mind you this isn't to say that there shouldn't be higher player servers (like 64, or even eventually 128 if it turns out to be possible), but that the game is going to have to choose what it's going to be balanced towards.

Server Lag - This has been partially addressed with capping the servers at 40 (although it's still noticeable as stated). Quite likely this will not be something inherently easy to fix, and it may take some time. This is largely the vehicle 'jitter' that many people experience.

Ultimately it will be up to server owners offering a wider variety of player counts in order to minimize this until a fix is found. Although personally I hope server owners will set up 16 and 24 player servers as well as keep them that way.

Tech Silos -I'm not sure I'm sold on the addition of the Tech Silos. I've noticed that it seems to be a lot easier to gain credits in this version, and I'm guessing that's due to the Tech Silos. While an additional objective probably isn't a bad thing (although due to their locations they will always reward the team that's already winning), I think perhaps having them simply as a points boost is a better idea than them also acting essentially as a second refinery credit tick.

Airstrikes - Although there's already more than a few threads on this topic, I'm not sure it's so clear cut and dry. I think being used in tandem with a beacon is a bit broken, but I think overall it goes back to what number of players the game is being balanced for. On large, already spammy servers, there are Air Strikes everywhere and it's very hard to know that they're incoming.

Fundamentally, I think balancing it depends on what its intended use is. If it's simply an area denial thing, then putting smoke on the ground where it will strike is a good solution. It makes it clear and obvious where it will go off and makes people move (or they die). If it's simply another tool to kill vehicles/people with, then it indeed seems too strong. The damage should either be lowered or the splash/aoe of it should be lowered (or both) if that's the case.

In Game Server Browser - Often times it does not work and sends you to different servers. My friends and I all have to enter I.P. addresses in order to join and play together. Because leaderboards already require the use of Steam, and it may end up on Steam anyway, would it be possible to enable joining from your Steam friend's list? If not, or even in addition to, perhaps a party system or Clan/Guild/Organization system could (or even an in game friend's list, although that might be tricky because of freely renaming whenever?) could also work to largely alleviate this issue.

Global Leaderboards - I definitely like the idea of stat tracking and including global leaderboards. Although I don't know how hard or complicated it is to enable these kinds of things, it seems like the current leaderboard is too rudimentary and kind of easy to manipulate or abuse. Anyone can set up any kind of server (or join a private, locked one) and simply stat boost like crazy. (Un)Fortunately(?) I guess I'm boring and prefer a leaderboard for 'pure' servers as opposed to every server. But again, I don't know how hard that is to do.

I'm also a fan of leaderboards that can be broken up into chunks. That is, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, lifetime, etc. The more the better!

Vehicle Boost - Most people are unaware of this (myself included until only recently) and I'm not sure I understand its inclusion. To me it makes more sense to make the boost speed the default speed (or an average of the two) and then have no need for a boost. It's more intuitive and natural.

Conclusion - Overall as I said, I've been mostly enjoying myself so far. I really want this to be good and I really want it to be fun so my friends play with me lol (and preferably in Clanwars eventually). Aside from the obvious issues with server lag currently, I hope that as time passes there will be lots of servers set up to accommodate player desires. Servers such as 16, 24, 32, 64, 128, etc player servers, infantry only servers, vehicle only servers, sniper only servers, etc. etc. etc. Having specific servers enables the game to be played pretty much any way someone wants to, which is great. It should be about player choice.

Once I get a chance to play more in depth, and more specifically competitively, I'll likely be able to offer up some more specific feedback. I did look around and wasn't sure where to post this exactly. I realize there's a feedback section but most people don't seem to be making use of it and I'm not sure how active it is/how much the devs are checking it (but I regularly see dev posts here). If it should be in the other section though feel free to move it there. Thanks and I hope this was somewhat helpful!

[TopDawg]

Oops, I forgot a few things. These things have been mostly mentioned elsewhere as well, but they're definitely worth including.

Player Names in Vehicles - Although the range in general for displaying player names has been lessened compared to the original, it's particularly problematic when inside a vehicle and you can't see who is in other vehicles, or how many. It makes working together harder as well.

Chat Scroll - As lots of people have mentioned, chat scrolls way too quickly. I think something like 6-10 seconds per message would work much better all the way around. To prevent spamming it might make sense to limit messages to 4 or 5 every 10 seconds per person or something.

Nuclear and Ion Beacon Timers - There was another thread where this was specifically addressed with a potential mid air animation for both beacons. Personally I like this and hope that it's implemented. I also hope that the 'grace time' is removed and that it's able to be diffused right up until it lands/goes off.

Also a question on this, is there a reason that they are deployed much faster now? I'm pretty sure it used to take a fair bit longer to set it up than it does in this version. I haven't decided if that's a good or bad thing, but it definitely makes it easier to at least get them planted.

[TopDawg]

Sorry for the spam, but I also forgot to address Orcas/Apaches. As has been stated numerous times, the Orca seems weaker in comparison to the Apache, but even overall these two units are much weaker than their original Renegade counterparts. I can only assume that this was a conscious decision.

I don't know if I would call them OP per se, but they were certainly strong in the original. While it's nice to see them a little weaker, I think their range has to be buffed in order to make them even worth 900 credits. I think that combined with their mobility nerf really hurt them overall.