Handicap mod for Unreal Tournament

What is Handicap for Unreal?

Handicap play allows players of dissimilar ability to compete with either side being equally likely to win the game.

Well, maybe not win the game, but at least be able to have some fun, by making it harder for good players, and easier for newbie players, in general.

How are Handicaps Adjusted?

The mod uses two handicap settings: a negative and a positive.

Positive kicks in when you have a number of kills over deaths (by default, 1 + 3 extra, so 4). Eg: a player has 2 deaths and 5 kills. When killing again, he gets a positive level 1 handicap. Each extra kill over death will get you to a higher handicap level.

Negative handicap is the opposite: it starts when you have a number of deaths over kills (by default, 1 + 1 extra, meaning 2). Of course, each death over kill will increase the negative handicap.

Only kills/deaths that are both caused by players/bots and suffered by players/bots are taken into account. Suicides, scenario deaths, or kills by other sources are ignored for this purpose.

How does handicap levels affect the game?

Handicaps produces either bonuses (when negative) or penalties (when positive) to the following:

• Movement speed (walking, swimming speeds and dodge distance)
• Jump height
• Damage caused
• Damage received (reversed: negative handicap gets extra, positive handicap has a reduction).

The level of your handicap will multiply the bonuses or penalties that you receive directly. So, a level 5 positive handicap, will generate 5 times the bonuses and penalties in comparison to a level 1 positive handicap.

The amounts are configurable, and they can be capped to prevent the game becoming too unbalanced - having way too much penalties or bonuses would ruin the fun.

This way, you can either set little amount of bonuses/penalties but with wider caps (good for long games, perhaps), or heavier amount cut off by shorter caps.

Whenever your handicap is adjusted, and when you respawn, you'll receive a localized message showing your current handicap level and its bonuses/penalties.