The end is near and it aint pretty.

[Enyo]

It's pretty sad what has happened to omni. All of the vehicles are too powerful now, but our players won't play unless they have them. Why play AJ-V4 when you can play AJ-Randomizer with mechs and odins and omegas. The old link tank couldn't compete with all of the new op vehicles, so now the link tank is OP too. Why even get out and use your linkgun when you have a link tank, link badger or chupa. It's not the same ONS when there are link vehicles.

I forced OldSkool last night and it was nothing but constant bitching. Rhamp went on spectate in protest. I think the only person that was happy with it was Leon who is also sick of the same 5 maps every night. I recommended we put ChainIsle on the server, but we turned it into an Omni version. Park the King Hellbender at a choke point and spam shock balls for 5 minutes. I don't understand the appeal.

The server used to be more balanced, but now it's another UMD server. We should put sentinels with L3 miniguns around the map and get it over with. We've done everything to give our players what they want, and what they want is crap.

Well, that's largely a matter of opinion, and no opinions are wrong, just matter of preference. The DM players like yourself prefer maps like Old Skool, Captain Gordons and ChainIsle because they're maps that largely force DM style play. Everyone else likes the vehicles because that was the draw to Onslaught to begin with, and the majority of our server is players that never were and never will be regular DM players.

Just speculating based on your comments, but it seems you'd prefer OMNI to be less vehicle heavy in general with maps that force more DM action. But, that's not ever what made OMNI popular, it's the variety of vehicles that makes our players want to play here.

That said, I can agree that many of the vehicles have become a bit too powerful, but I don't think I'd go so far as to call it all "crap." It all started with the Omnitaur many years ago, then the Falcon to counter it, and so on. I personally like the Randomizer maps though, they add a lot of variety to the vehicle mix and the strategies change even on the same map depending on what vehicles spawn.

We do actually have a large variety of maps including many DM style ones, it's just you're not thrilled with what gets voted most often. Then, when you force a DM map you like, it irks you that many players bitch and/or quit it.

I honestly don't really understand the gripe, and a little confused by your post... if you want more DM just play on a DM server. Seems you're kinda wanting a mix of both worlds, DM style play in the ONS mode. That's just not what this server is or will ever be. Trying to force it to be so obviously makes a lot of players cranky.

What I think should really irritate you more (and does me) on an ONS server is that most players don't actually engage in ONS (i.e. teamwork). They either DM on foot or DM in vehicles, and both types of players rarely go to nodes. The node stats are proof of that.

[pooty]

It's pretty sad what has happened to omni. All of the vehicles are too powerful now

Not sure I agree with that.
If you go back till before we started modding...

Omnitaur - Same
Classic/Old Mino - Same
Hurricane - Same
Bio - Same
Badgers - Same
Falcon - Nerfed depending which version
Fire Tanks - Nerfed / Corrected.
Link Tanks - Standard link tank is pretty much same... sure the Vamp is OP, and you could argue Heavy Link is borderline
Heavy Tank < Either Mino
King Hell Hound - Same
Omega - Big time nerfed 1/2 damage/limited range.
Kraken/Tiamat - Same
Mechs - OP, especially LinkMech, Lightening mech.

Sure there's a few odd vehicles that are quite lethal in the right circumstance... Omnitaur regins supreme (except for MAS)

I am more than happy to begin nerfing ALL the vehicles. One of the changes to link tanks were to use VehicleDamageMultiplier... so that weapons do more to vehicles and LESS to players -- giving people on foot more of chance vs. instantly taking 40 points from turret. (So the Centaur is like this, for those that don't know, it does 25pts / hit to player but 37.5 to vehicles).

Remember Omni used to be TWO servers:
- ONS with more DM style maps (died due to lack of players)
- ONS MinusTMU server (morphed into Omni 2.0)

Omni = Tanks/Vehicles....always been like that..

The server used to be more balanced,

Its all based on voting there's plenty of DM style maps that don't get voted.

I'm happy to start nerfing ALL the vehicles, starting with the Mino/Omnitaur.
Everytime I start to nerf things, there's complaints. No one needs 900 pt badger.

I recommended we put ChainIsle on the server, but we turned it into an Omni version. Park the King Hellbender at a choke point and spam shock balls for 5 minutes. I don't understand the appeal.

Most of our players want vehicles. The KHH dies pretty quick if you shock ball it around... I don't see it as being OP even on that map. Powerful yes, OP no.

But lets take OldSkool. Most of our players don't have the DM skills for it. Add in our sniper crowd and:
Walk for 20s toward next node, go hallway, get sniped by lightening gun, or twin beams you can't see, respawn repeat until core explodes.

Guys like Anon, SubZero, Snarf and few others just dominate... so most of our other players don't see the appeal of just repeatedly gettting pwned.
And how many can do the infinite wall dodge thing?

Personally more than once its pretty damn frustrating to get repeatedly sniped by Anon from some clever hiding place.... at least with the damn mino its an easy target to hit/find.

And most of our players like to drive (sometimes aimlessly) around in tanks.....

I like both styles. I've even made maps that weren't all high powered/randomizers... they don't get played.

What I think should really irritate you more (and does me) on an ONS server is that most players don't actually engage in ONS (i.e. teamwork).

THIS ^^
Last night had some pretty spectacular fails....on the last couple matches I played. No coordination, no building nodes, just driving around in vehicle DM.

So lastly
1. Happy to nerf the vehicles.
2. All for increasing the map rotation (but the shitstains will just go play fortnite or whatever if they can't play their favorite 5 maps). I am all for map variety of every play style.
3. DM / foot ONS maps are there, don't get much votes. Happy to force a few for fun.

[pooty]

And just remember when the badger got nerfed back in the day from 150 pts/sec to 120 pts/sec (BadgerII) people whined, cried, bitched, moaned about how weak it was..

And remember the Badger now even got nerfed, before avrils would always miss....

[YEAAAHHHHHHHHHH]

I think if we had a map that was just vehicle team deathmatch people would still play it. Hell, I even got a few people to get into playing bumper cars on fast/furious. Driving around and causing damage is fun. I see what you're all saying though.

[captainsnarf]

Oh I'm just venting. I think everything should be nerfed, but the majority of our players would disagree. If they wanted plain ONS they'd vote classic Torlan. The server is still fun even if it's a bit spammy these days.

[YEAAAHHHHHHHHHH]

I'm always for keeping stock Torlan and Primeval on the server. Torlan with link tanks has gone surprisingly well, but I cut my teeth on the original in a demo server so that's my jam.

I keep bringing this up and if I should let it go, just tell me. But I really think the Hydra Grenade Launcher, Crowd Pleaser Shotgun and Vulcan Flamethrower would be good additions to the server. I think they would make the DM style maps more interesting. They are available in the ut2 weapons pack and are official weapons so they feel like they belong in the game. Unlike some of the clunky modded weapons.

[pooty]

I think they would make the DM style maps more interesting. They are available in the ut2 weapons pack and are official weapons so they feel like they belong in the game. Unlike some of the clunky modded weapons.

Yes, I keep intending to look at those... I'll get to it I promise.

As far as stock maps there was some discussion of putting some of them on the server....

[McLovin]

If you really want to shake it up, put a sniper map on the server. These used to be my most favorite type of play beyond Onslaught. I got really good at it. I even had an all-black sniper skin. Some server out there long ago had a cool sniper rifle with a radar scope that you point at people and it would alert you of their presence, even when they were in a hiding spot and you couldn't see them. I could only play the sniper servers for a little while. It gave me the jitters after a while. Your head is on a swivel and you are making slow crouching moves trying to find your enemy before they find you. I think all the sniper servers are gone now. I really haven't been looking, but that's my guess.

[ProtoDroidBot]

If you really want to shake it up, put a sniper map on the server. These used to be my most favorite type of play beyond Onslaught. I got really good at it. I even had an all-black sniper skin. Some server out there long ago had a cool sniper rifle with a radar scope that you point at people and it would alert you of their presence, even when they were in a hiding spot and you couldn't see them. I could only play the sniper servers for a little while. It gave me the jitters after a while. Your head is on a swivel and you are making slow crouching moves trying to find your enemy before they find you. I think all the sniper servers are gone now. I really haven't been looking, but that's my guess.

Some UT2004 Sniper servers remain, but not many are still active. There's more UT99 Sniper/Zark activity than UT2004.

What sniper maps would make sense on Omnipotents ONS? I haven't been that active because my job is stressful, and I switched internet providers recently. Being without stable internet sucks.

[vorpal]

A good map should be designed in a way that offers players the choice of whether to proceed in a vehicle or on foot, with either option being a viable choice. That means, a skilled player on foot should not be disadvantaged in a battle against a player in a vehicle.

Look at maps like GunShop and MasterBath on CEONSS. There are vehicles, sometimes very powerful ones, but the maps also provide ways for players without vehicles to counter them. E.g. GunShop has a Kraken, which can hit the other side of the map, but it also has a narrow shortcut to the opposite base with a deemer and health/shield powerups. MasterBath has an ion cannon above the central node, but it also has teleporters that allow players on foot to quickly reach the enemy nodes. There is no such thing as perfect balance, but this is good map design that attempts to balance the desires of vehicle/non-vehicle players. It's no coincidence that these maps happen to be the most popular ones on CEONSS.

On Omni, it's a bit different because players have become accustomed to ever more powerful vehicles. I would be inclined to tone down the damage and/or hit points of some of these vehicles to restore some balance.

Camping can be discouraged by adjusting maps to gradually reduce the health of players who remain in a particular vicinity. The space above the ceiling in GunShop is an example of this.