A slowing gadget

[Spekkio]

I just got this idea from Digital's poison thread:

Obviously the spies are faster and more mobile than mercs. Well, what if the mercs had a gadget to slow them down temporarily? I'm still thinking about how one would design such a gadget and how it would work exactly. In other words, is this something to shoot at spies? A new type of trap to plant? Hmmmzz

In the meantime, discuss.

[frvge]

Of course, UT3 has the Slow-field or something. I think that'd be a bit too high-tech tho.

Maybe if some parts of the map have it 'blocking' a hallway and that the Merc can put it on and off, like the traps in Pyrocryptic?

[Aj]

Sounds too much like F.E.A.R. to me.

[Gawain]

the idea sounds interesting, but actually more passive security (and more mine and trap spots in balanced places) are sufficient. the client ss-timer is also fine, just the host's with 1 more second allows too much running around.

[InvisibleMan999]

I sorta thouht this would be a nice use for phorphor nades. Lay down a cloud of something and the spy gets sklowed if he goes through it. That way it'd be a nice way to cut off a spy's escape. I think that'd actualyl be a pretty useful gadget.

[frvge]

Interesting idea.

[Xris]

perhaps some sort of tranquilizer that doesn't knock out the spy? or perhaps this is what the poison mine should do.  -20% ms wouldnt be too bad, with a slower kill rate.

[Spekkio]

I sorta thouht this would be a nice use for phorphor nades. Lay down a cloud of something and the spy gets sklowed if he goes through it. That way it'd be a nice way to cut off a spy's escape. I think that'd actualyl be a pretty useful gadget.

Exactly.

And Gawain, more security or spy traps will slow down the spies when they're trying to infiltrate, but not when they're trying to escape a merc. I mean, if there's a camera in your way of running from the merc, then fuck the camera. The slow would be a way to keep up with and kill the spies after you locate them.

[Daybreak]

Honestly, that would be the best item to slow a spy down. As a gadget and could replace grenades. Especially if you kept the Phosphor elements implemented such as they show up in EMF. That way, it would make phosphor nades almost useful. Slow down that spy, and if he decides to go through it, he's trackable for a certain amount of time. Almost as powerful as a nade, but not a nade. This could make it an interesting choice for selection.

Nade = isntant death
phosphor = slow cloud and tracking for eventual kill

Taking both would mean not taking something else of importance. This could be the one gadget that makes the merc loadout interesting.

Merc 1 passive aggressive
mines, spytraps, phospho, backpack

Merc 2 aggressive:
nades, phosphos, tazer, Camnet.

Great idea.

[Farley4Fan]

I somewhat like the idea.  However, you have to think about it in the eyes of a spy and not the merc for a second.  Imagine how friggin annoying that would be to have your biggest advantage taken away within a matter of a second.  It would extremely handicap aggro spies, like we haven't already done that enough.  This all depends on implementation and would call for a shitload of testing.

What's the point of tracking a spy and making him slow?  Can't you already chase him down if he's really slow anyways?  Or do spies only move slower in the cloud?  This has so many things to discuss, I'm kind of iffy on it.

[Overstatement]

Personally, I'd want a more combat specialized gadget rather than another "lay these down whenever you feel like" or grenade type.

I want to be able to set up some kind of trip wire thing that deploys, without you needing to stop and face the wall, while I'm running to an objective being hacked. This way, it would prevent the spies from running away to the direction you came from and slow down the spy enough so you could hunt them down after you've shot the bomb or whatever. It would stop a lot of shock and run from hack to hack or always taking the most obvious escape route.

[Vega]

My vote is to have it with the phosphorus nades as well, that would knock out two birds with one stone.

[Farley4Fan]

New Idea:

What about a trip wire for spies?  Basically it's a metallic wire that spies plant to trip uncareful mercs.  If the merc trips over one of these he'd be knocked down for a few seconds giving you some precious time.  The merc could disable these by shooting them on one of the ends or simply jump over it.  The thing is that it would work on spies as well, but they know where they are, so they could jump/roll over them when needed.  

I know you all will say that mercs shouldn't have to worry about walking around the map, but they actually should imo.  Of course not to the extent of spies, but to some degree right?  I mean, mercs already do check corners to avoid being grabbed.

The thing I'm wondering about is how easy it will be to see these.  The wire itself should be pretty thin and be able to be put a few inches from the ground.  This is where the testing would be needed.  I don't think it would unbalance anything.  It would just possibly buy you some time and possibly give you an easy sticky cam shot.  I think it would be fun and add to the gameplay.  Imagine luring a merc around a corner, jumping over the wire, having him trip over it, and you can escape easily or put him to sleep.  Maybe stickies shouldn't work on the downed merc though...  It would also take a few seconds for the spies to prepare it, so he can't just go running around and throwing them down.

[Gawain]

trip wires suck (too similar to laser, poison mines and spytraps).

My vote is to have it with the phosphorus nades as well, that would knock out two birds with one stone.

actually it's a nice idea. when i first thought about it, i dropped it because i thought mines and passive security would be sufficient slow-down, but spekkio is right those don't slow down a fleeing spy.
for that matter, i think ph nades should be triggered when hitting anything just like insta nades (but balanced as it's non-lethal so it doesnt work as a rocket launcher).

my current idea of perfect ph. nades is this:
-triggerd when hitting floor/wall/spy (allowing fast deployment and seperating it more from frag nades)
-creating a huge ph. dust cloud that stays for about 12s
-speed of spy running through dust reduced to merc's running speed and diving or jumping is also impossible
-spy has the unremovable dust on him that glows green in the dark and on emf, it falls off slowly so that it's fully gone after about 35s
-the dust of the ph nade stays on the floor and a spy that walked through the dust or over this ground leaves 25 glowing footsteps
-ph dust also slows down mercs (not using mask) and let them leave footsteps

discuss ;D

EDIT: timer, mercs also affected, speed

[frvge]

Sounds good to me. Timer of 50 sec to 40 or 30.