The Mutator Suggestions Thread Thread - Vector Thrust

Okay, here's the ideas:
-Instagib: essentially straps an unlimited ammo TLS-like weapon (instant hit, but has long reload time, one shot instead of focused, think of UT's shock rifle) to everyone else, subweapons/missiles are disabled
-Melee mode: Missiles and guns have very short range (let's say, halved)
-Low (perhaps comes in two flavors: Moon gravity and totally zero/space gravity) gravity: self explanatory.
-Itano Circus: doubled/quadrupled standard missile ammo and EXTREMELY FAST rate of fire. I suggest this to include a special smoke trail as well.
-Health regen: health regenates over time (no, not intended to mimic Assault Horizon. Really.)
-Huge/tiny combat, also super deformed mode: As in Midsummersnow's thread: Moddb.com
-Ghost/stealth mode: Everyone is stealth (or totally invisible from radar), regardless of plane. But missiles still can lock on them.
-Volatile player (needs a better name): Creates an explosion of FAE size (or larger) when a player dies.
-Dumbfire mode: removes guidance from every missile, practically turn them into dumbfire missile
-No/blur radar mode: Disables/makes radar always blurry (as in AC4's Safe Return mission).
-Hyper mode: Doubles every plane's speed, maneuverable, weapon ammo, damage and weapon reload rate
-Auto-track gun: Gives auto aim ability for every plane with gun (the way auto-aim works should be similar to ACX)
-No *insertweaponnamehere* mode: Bans specific weapon from the game
-EMP mode: all missiles are EMP missiles, capable of temporary disables a target for a short duration

Feel free to post any ideas about other mutator, et cetera, et cetera.

Edited by: Nergal01

Come on there's got to be some form of Virus (ala Timesplitters) or Zombie mode.
And Volatile mode could be called Foo Gas Mode.

Edited by: mittsommerschnee

Hardcore mode: All aircraft have realistic/plausible ammo capacities. I don't know what you would do with dispensers or rocket pods but with missiles you would only be able to carry one per hard point. Your machine guns would also fire faster (think hundreds of rounds per burst). You get efficiency bonuses for killing multiple aircraft without having to return to base for more ammo (i.e. your second kill is worth 2 points, your third is worth 3, etc) or for interrupting someone else's killstreak. Killing a fleeing fighter (they will be designated as neutral targets if the game considers them to be fleeing) is always worth only one point because you just wasted ammo. Still not a realistic simulation but it would require a different playstyle than the vanilla game.

Dethfight mode: All Players Have Fast Reloading, Fast Firing missiles, Extreme Manuverability with ALL Aircraft and Low Health.
Mahora Magica mode: Missiles are "Magical", SP Weapon Impact results in FAEB-ish Explosion in Blue, Pink and Red Hues, guns home in on target (POORLY) when in normal gun range, Itano Circus (or Macross Missile Massacre) Enabled on Standard WP, missile Accuracy is Halved on Regular Weapons, Aircraft Health is Tripled.
Auto-Flare: (for when flares are Implemented) Flares are deployed when a radar lock is identified, but has a timer until it can fire again, manual or automatic. (sorta like AC:AH's Auto Manuver and Flare Usage system.)
Hrimfaxi: Burst Missiles Detonate every 15 seconds destroying all aircraft Below x Altitude upon detonation.
Xanafaxi: Burst Missiles Detonate Randomly all over the AO destroying all aircraft in their blast radius (think of the Aigaion and it's Nimbus Missiles.
Skidbladnir: Large Indestructable Hostile Airborne Aircraft Carrier fires Guns, SAMs, and Burst Missiles Constantly while Players Duke it out.

Mahora Magica mode: Missiles are "Magical", SP Weapon Impact results in FAEB-ish Explosion in Blue, Pink and Red Hues, guns home in on target (POORLY) when in normal gun range, Itano Circus (or Macross Missile Massacre) Enabled on Standard WP, missile Accuracy is Halved on Regular Weapons, Aircraft Health is Tripled.

No. How about this: EVERY missile trails and explosions are pink (and have four-times default ammo, all standard missiles are micro missiles), all guns turned into beam weaponry that can be charged for something spectacular. With 100% more magic circle while firing. And unlimited beam spam works! Ha.
if you know what I mean, of course.

Joke mutators & others:
-Michael Bay mode: Makes explosion three times larger and longer. Also, guns fires over-exagerrated HE rounds.
-Airshow mode: Every team plane's flight trail are color coded (if there's no team, you can choose your own color, but the AI's always random), so does the missile trails (plane & missile smoke trails are twice thicker)
-Leech gun: all guns are leech guns, which can 'steal' missile/SP ammo and drains target HP.

I Knew that would be insulted. and i was waiting for a rebuttal i could laugh at. Bravo, V3000. Bravo.

Hey! No unique special/ultimate move for the Mahora Magica mode?
(although this would probably require to make custom units to be able to pull this off)
But how about linking the weapons use to the fuel consumption and make the fuel rechargeable, it would probably to act like Mana points.

Btw, I don’t remember if it was mentioned before, but this thread is really useful to help planning a how the mutator system should work.

If you actually intend to put that mutator in there, that's a good idea.
if not, then good job playing along with the comedian, timesymmetry.

No I’m actually serious about this.

Ideas like this of Mods/Mutators that are more out of the context of actual game are an excellent way to test the moding capabilities of the VT, if the game can deliver these ideas, then it means the game is flexible enough to allow really wild mod ideas without limiting the creativity.

something based on the virtual combat from hawx 2

I've got two ideas I've recently though of that involve changing assets in-mission.

The first idea is that all units on the field start with aircraft A. You or another player / AI is shot down; respawn with aircraft B. Each time the aircraft is shot down, it advances up the list untl you reach aircraft Z.

To keep the list from being gargantuan in length, we organize the aircraft based on their roles, so we come up with a name and include something like (Interceptor) or (Attack) at the end so there isn't a scenario where an aircraft is going to be shot down for simply not having a similar performance range. I understand that may sound odd given the concept behind this, but I mean not similar in that you're being thrown into an A-10 in the middle of various F-15s.

The second idea is similar in that changing aircraft is involved, but this time the Kill:Death ratio is used to determine what aircraft is flown on the next respawn. Get a large kill streak, and be penalized by flying a low-performance aircraft. Get shot down one too many times, and recieve an aircraft that'll help you catch up on the scoreboard.

Edited by: SpootKnight

Another mutator ideas:

Bounty (FFA variant)/Betrayal (TDM variant): Before the match, you must buy an aircraft and weapon (starting money can be set by player, think of buying weapons & gears in Counter Strike), you collect money by killing other player, and for each kill, it will raise his/her 'bounty' as well (which usually means the top scorer always have the highest bounty), once he/she dead, the bounty will be reset to zero. Player with no enough cash to afford a single plane is defeated.
For the team (Betrayal) variant, it's similar to Bounty, but sort of inspired by one of UT3's game mode; when your teammate gets the highest bounty, you can 'kill' him/her (which means friendly fire always set to ON) to get extra bonus as well as defection to the opposing team. The opposing team will constantly get extra cash per kill in addition of normal bounty as long as the defector is alive, but your former team will get extra money as well if they managed to kill the defector.

Optional feature includes neutral mercenary (neutral planes that will spawn randomly and always going after team/player with the highest bounty) on map and bounty/defection bounty multiplier.

Invasion mode: Split into teams, kill aliens, unlock alien weapons, use said weapons to kill players from the other team. Only players are worth points, alien craft are worth no points but unlock new weapons (the big ones unlock weapons for the entire team), team with the most points at the end of the round wins.

Berserk Deathmatch mode: The more you kill enemies, you'll enter 'Berserk mode', where at first you becoming faster and more powerful, until the limit/'Complete Berserk mode', your plane goes berserk (basically, AI takes control of your plane, but obviously not the smartest one, or think Zero system in Gundam Wing), and if it's TDM, your plane will aim for friendlies as well (to make things balanced, there's only one berserk plane allowed on map, one each side in TDM).

Edited by: Nergal01

Kill Santa Claws Mode; A mode which can only be played on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in which you have to stop Santa Claws delivering missiles down peoples chimneys.

Kill Easter Bunny Mode; A mode which can only be played during the Easter holidays in which you have to stop hordes of bunnies.

Edited by: mittsommerschnee

Some of these game nodes were already intended to be added in the next update, however it seems that improving the AI is more time-hungry than expected. To avoid delaying the update even further, they probably be added in other update.

But I have some questions about all these ideas.

@bornloser
What is the virtual combat? Unfortunately I haven’t tried the hawx 2 yet.
The invasion mode is a good idea, reminds me of some FPS game modes were two teams have to fight monsters.
An in-game shop system may take some time to be available and while there is (yet) no aliens in the game, the 3rd team could other fighters or bombers.
But in this invasion mode, it is possible to kill members of the other team?

@ SpootKnight
About the first idea, it sound great, but how about if the player have an initial budget and it could chose the list of aircrafts to fit that budget?
The second idea could be operated the same way, but instead of budget the played must initially chose for example 5 aircrafts divided by rank from A to E.

@ V3000TT
This modes could be already be implemented except of the in-game shop. But what happens to the collected money of the destroyed player? It stays the same or it loses some money?
I also like a lot the mercenary idea. It will help with the balance.

@ V3000TT
It sounds good, but I think it will be best if the unit doesn't become AI controlled, but instead mess up with the HUD and make all units targeted as enemies.
But still this is a strong power up for the top players; we should add something to help those at the bottom.

@ Midsummersnow
Lol.

Here's the virtual combat system. Doesn't really change the gameplay that much but the special effects are kind of cool

About the invasion game mode, the only way to get points would be shooting down the enemy players and the only way to get upgrades would be to shoot down the npc team (which is why I wanted them to be aliens.) You would have to come up with a strategy to shoots down the flying saucers without the other team of humans shooting you in the back. You could also expand on this even further by requiring players to use helicopters to recover the wreckage and take it across their return line. This mutator could also be called arms race mode.

Edited by: bornloser

timeSymmetry wrote:
@ V3000TT
This modes could be already be implemented except of the in-game shop. But what happens to the collected money of the destroyed player? It stays the same or it loses some money?
I also like a lot the mercenary idea. It will help with the balance.

Should be adjustable in the mutator settings.

@ V3000TT
It sounds good, but I think it will be best if the unit doesn't become AI controlled, but instead mess up with the HUD and make all units targeted as enemies.
But still this is a strong power up for the top players; we should add something to help those at the bottom.

The 'berserk' plane has significantly weaker defense (let's say about 1/4 of normal).

timeSymmetry wrote: The second idea could be operated the same way, but instead of budget the played must initially chose for example 5 aircrafts divided by rank from A to E.

That's pretty much spot-on to what I was thinking to keep the respawn lists short.

Back on topic: another jokemod idea: reverse missile/backfire mode. Basically makes everyone starts with standard missile that facing backwards therefore everyone ONLY can fire standard missile BACKWARDS (gun and SPW still works normally)

Fresh from the brain: "BLOODY VENGEANCE" mutator: Adds 'vengeance damage multiplier' on gameplay, Basically, for each time you get killed by another player, the multiplier will increase, and the damage dealt toward that player will be multiplied by how many times you got killed by his/her until you kill him/her, the multiplier will reset.

Also suggesting this thread to be stickied.

Bumping for great justice;

Inspired by this video: Youtube.com

"Vampire" mutator: Gives everyone invincibility, but forces mandatory fuel limit to every player, to restore your fuel, you have to damage/kill other planes (each hit will absorb enemy plane's fuel). Plane with no fuel left will simply explode.

Edited by: Nergal01

Damage - A random negative, percentage based performance modifier on a random aircraft system when receiving damage.

The percent damage would be proportional to the percent negative effect on aircraft.

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For example, you fire a missile and deal 30% damage on an enemy aircraft. The random stat might be something like a lock time debuff of -30%.

At this point, the enemy has 70% health and isn't able to engage targets as effectively as the player. If, for example, this is during and escort mission, the enemy is now significantly less effective than the player at engaging other targets, especially moving targets. If the voice acting were expanded in the future to have a situational broadcast by the enemy about the kind of damage they've received (ie "My targeting systems are going haywire, I can't lock on to anything!"), it would allow you to disengage for a while and proceed to concentrate on more dangerous aircraft.

But let's say that we continue to engage this damaged enemy and land another missile shot on him, dealing another 30%. This time though, the damage modifier is not to targeting, but to a different stat, like pitch rate. With 40% health and a -30% modifier to targeting and turn rate, the aircraft has significantly degraded capacity to fight, making it much easier to shoot down. With the degradation to maneuverability, the aircraft is much easier to shoot down using guns, for example, or just faster to kill.

You fire another missile at this enemy, but this time the effect stacks onto the previous debuff on pitch. Instead of a percentage out of the percentage left over after the previously layered debuff, though, the debuff stack on top of the total, resulting in a -60% debuff on pitch rate.

At this point, our enemy fighter is looking pretty haggard, at only 10% health, and barely able to turn to save himself, lest you wish to finish him off with guns. At a certain damage mark, it might be possible to implement a switch over to neutral target, resulting in a choice of whether or not you wish to finish the crippled enemy off.
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Unfortunately, the sword cuts both ways, as you can also be effected by damage. This would result in multiple implications for the player, including what kind of aircraft to use, and what kind of engagement style one would prefer. Some might play high risk, high reward, jumping into the middle of a furball and firing like mad, or one might play using a high speed, strafing style like that suited for the Mig-25.

It might also be conceivable that damage for certain systems might not be left to being completely percentage based, for example, damage to something like guns could be made to completely disable them instead of reduce a stat like fire rate. Or afterburner could be disabled, though I am not sure if the afterburner effect is purely cosmetic or not.

In addition, maybe the damage probabilities could be weighted, with things like maneuverability and engine performance more likely to take a hit, with targeting and avionics less likely. In an engagement with a stealth aircraft, for example, the damage take preference for reducing the stealth stat over others, making it more easy to lock onto the target as the fight continues.

I could imagine that this would make guns the de facto coup de grace.

IbizenThoth wrote: ^what that guy said^

I think this is very intresting. I think TS should give this a think once he implements tuning etc.

As long as it doesn't make any plane/weapon too OP while make the others disadvantaged, I'm cool with that.

Clean Skies: Explosives weapons do not explode, meaning that direct hits are required to down aircraft, but because they are direct hits, the damage done is greater than that done by explosions.

@ IbizenThoth that idea for a mutator of performance being affected by damage is excellent. Is very simple, but in a good way.

This can be implemented quickly and very soon.
However about this idea, I believe it works well in skirmish battles, but in real missions it may have several down sides. The idea of unit having weaker performance as a penalty every time it gets more damage is unmistakably a spiral of defeat.
The problem is that most spirals of defeat is that they are far from being entertaining when you are the victim.

But I have a question. What could prevent the player intentionally crash every time he thinks the current damages limits his effectiveness?