SRB2PLUS (depth) - Gameplay experiments The rationale behind this mod is to make SRB2's gameplay deeper and more interesting without compromising its essence. The first experiments are as follows: * Changes to ring loss and post hit flashing mechanics so that there are more shades of difficulty between "I have two rings and death pits are the only thing that can kill me" and "I have zero rings and everything kills me". * Changes to shooter modes to focus on pressing the attack and following up on first hits to score kills. * Friendly fire kills and self damage from explosives to promote careful aim over blind spam. * Tails pickup and solid players functional at the same time. Body block opponents and boost friends! Changes from SRB2 2.0.7 to SRB2 PLUS1 GENERAL * AUTOAIM/ALLOWAUTOAIM has been removed, autoaim is dead * ALLOWMLOOK has been removed, mouse look is always allowed * FRIENDLYFIRE option removed, team damage is always on * Teammates can properly damage and kill each other * Players can properly damage and kill themselves (with explosives only for the moment) * TAILSPICKUP option removed, solid players and Tails pickup now both work at the same time POST-HIT FLASHING * Flash time begins immediately on hit instead of on landing after pain state, on attacks with heavy knockback players can become vulnerable before hitting the ground * Post hit flashing (invincibility) time now based on number of rings spilled: 1 - 4 rings: 1 second 5 - 14 rings: 2 seconds 15 - 29 rings: 3 seconds 30 - 49 rings: 4 seconds 50+ rings: 5 seconds * If no rings spilled, new default flash time of 2 seconds instead of old 3 seconds is used (shield damage, respawns, etc) RING LOSS * Player losscount cap increased from 6 to 10 * Dropped ring fuse minimum capped at 1 second instead of 2 seconds * Player losscount increment on hit changed from always +2 to +4 on first hit, then +2 on subsequent hits, this causes dropped ring fuse to be 8/4/2/1 instead of old 8/6/4/2 second(s) * Losscount decrements by one per fresh ring collected instead of being reset by picking up one fresh ring, or by having more than two rings SHOOTER MODES * Hits in match/ctf no longer award points, only kills * Increase scatter and automatic ring flight speed by 25% * Increase default red ring flight speed by 33% * Increase bounce ring flight speed by 50% * Increase bounce ring threshold (# of bounces that increase flight time) from 5 to 7 * Explosion rings now cause self damage if the player is caught in the blast * Grenades can blow up their owners after 2 second delay * Rail, explosion and scatter horizontal knockback halved, scatter still minimum capped at default knockback (red ring) THINGS TO NOTE * Ping/server name on server select appears broken, not sure what is up with that * Shooting an explosion ring while butted up against a wall will result in an explosion, but no ring used, this is a hack that will be fixed later if this mod gets off the ground * Jumping out of Tails pickup requires precise timing (or mash out) as solid players make regrabs very easy, this will be fixed later if this mod gets off the ground * With solid players, a Tails duo can remain in the air indefinitely by landing on each other, other tricks might be possible too * Assume tag is broken, report bugs anyway if you are willing * Assume NiGHTS is broken, I have not tested that either * Landing in slime/lava with less than 15 rings is a very bad idea and you will likely die before being able to recover * Bosses are now much more dangerous with the flashing and losscount changes, do you collect all the rings at once to maximize flashing time for only a few hits, or do you space them out to maximize number of total hits you can take? * Hazards in general are a bigger deal as being hit more than once causes all of your dropped rings to disappear very quickly * Enemies are somewhat more dangerous when you have less than five rings, fast enemies can possibly hit you before you can recover * Picking up a ring box is a fast way to fully reset your losscount and have 2 seconds of flashing time on hit * In match/CTF you cannot simply run and gun, you also have to follow up and finish the job * The faster you follow up in match/CTF, the more likely it is to catch them with low rings and only 1 second of flashing time * Try to line up follow up shots to kill the player before they hit the ground and regain control of their character SRB2 PLUS2 New things in PLUS2: * Character balance: Sonic nerfed, Tails and Knuckles buffed (read patch details for specifics) * All weapon rings now have some form of distance based knockback, get closer to make opponents fly farther * You and your team get full kill credit for hitting an opponent who then suicides or dies by environment hazard within a short time * Emeralds and weapon panels only drop on death * Bug fixes Changes from SRB2 PLUS1 to SRB2 PLUS2 GENERAL * Momentum on Z axis now capped at MAXMOVE POST-HIT FLASHING * Visually, players flash slower for the last second of flashing time to make it more apparent when players are about to become vulnerable again CHARACTER BALANCE * Sonic's ACCELERATION reduced from 40 to 30 (eff 40 * 5 = 200 to 30 * 5 = 150) * Sonic's NORMALSPEED increased from 36 to 40 * Sonic's ACTIONSPD reduced from 60 to 10 * Sonic's thok rather than simply launching in the aimed direction at MAXMOVE, now takes the player's current horizontal movement angle and speed into account: Aiming angle within +/- 105° of movement angle: add ACTIONSPD to current SPEED, then thrust at that speed and direction ignoring previous momentum Aiming angle outside this range: divide current SPEED by 2, then thrust at that speed and direction ignoring previous momentum * Sonic's thok is maximum capped at MAXMOVE, minimum capped at ACTIONSPD * Sonic's thok force multiplier while underwater increased from 1/2 to 3/5. * Knuckles' THRUSTFACTOR increased from 4 to 5 * Knuckles' ACCELERATION decreased from 45 to 35 (eff 45 * 4 = 180 to 35 * 5 = 175) * Knuckles' NORMALSPEED increased from 34 to 36 * Knuckles' ACTIONSPD increased from 25 to 30 * Tails' THRUSTFACTOR increased from 3 to 5 * Tails' ACCELERATION decreased from 50 to 40 (eff 50 * 3 = 150 to 40 * 5 = 200) * Tails' NORMALSPEED decreased from 32 to 30 * Tails' JUMPFACTOR increased from 100 to 110 * Tails when holding spindash while flying, falls twice as quickly as before SHOOTER MODES * Classic MATCH_SCORING option removed (25 points for shield hit, no suicide penalty) * Instead of a 50 point penalty for suicides/environment kills, award 100 points to the last opponent that inflicted damage in the last 15 seconds * Emeralds and weapon panels now only drop on death * Reverted bounce ring threshold increase (# of bounces that increase flight time) from 7 back to 5 seconds * All weapon rings, rather than just scatter, now have variable knockback based on how far the inflicting player or explosion is away from the target * Explosion and grenade rings now apply vertical force depending on the orientation of the victim and the explosion Automatic Ring: Falloff from default to 1/2 default over 128 FRACUNITS Scatter Ring: Falloff from 16x default to default over 480 FRACUNITS Explosion Ring, Grenade Ring: Falloff from 5x default to 2x default over 96 FRACUNITS from explosion, apply vertical knockback based on orientation Red Ring, Bounce Ring, Enemy/Boss Projectiles: Falloff from 2x default to default over 512 FRACUNITS Rail Ring: Falloff from 6x default to 1/2 default over 2816 FRACUNITS BUG FIXES * Fixed an oversight where players were unable to pick up items while on waterslides or in zoom tubes * Fixed a hack governing explosion ring self damage, ammo should now always properly decrement * Fixed an unintended consequence of allowing self damage: you can no longer nuke yourself with the Armageddon Shield THINGS TO NOTE * Sonic's top speed while thokking is still MAXMOVE and he is still the fastest character by a significant margin, but sharp changes in direction are now slower and getting up to speed takes a bit longer * When taking hard turns as Sonic, change direction (pivot) on the ground before thokking in a new direction to lose less speed * Sonic is significantly less maneuverable underwater and should try not to get caught swimming, especially by sharks (Tails) * Tails can drop to the ground significantly faster while flying, use this to get out of harm's way in midair as well as making your jumps less predictable * Be aggressive and get close to maximize ring weapon knockback to keep opponents from picking up their rings * Watch when players flash slower to help time your rings to land as soon as their flashing time fades * Aim for the feet with explosion rings to launch opponents upward, direct hits to the upper body and above target can spike opponents downward possibly resulting in a kill if over a hazard, or a much faster recovery if over safe terrain * Knock opponents into hazards, if they die as a result of the hazard and you hit them beforehand, you (and your team) are credited points for the kill * If a teammate is knocked over a pit or is put in a situation where they are guaranteed to die, kill your teammate to deny points from the other team * I have not yet decided if denying teammates is a bug yet :D SRB2 PLUS3 This quick new version was required to fix a gamebreaking bug, but also has a few other changes while we're at it. Hopefully I didn't break anything else. Also because this forum doesn't seem to like really long posts, all changelogs previous to this one are now in the attachments. You can read the major changes from previous versions in the spoiler tags below, and read the full patch notes from the attachment. New things in PLUS3: * Enforced 5 second respawn time in shooter modes * No more Knuckles fire rate buff, gliding works properly in reverse gravity * Bug fixes Changes from SRB2 PLUS2 to SRB2 PLUS3 SHOOTER MODES * Enforce five second respawn on death, time remaining visible on the HUD CHARACTER BALANCE * Knuckles' NORMALSPEED reduced from 36 to 35 * Knuckles' improved ring weapon fire rate removed BUG FIXES * Fixed a crash bug involving the new knockback calculations and flame jets * Fixed the new flashing visual so that it actually works as intended * Knuckles' gliding now works properly in reverse gravity