Wednesday, September 06, 2006

BF2 1.4

So patch 1.4 came out today. Here is the official changelog.

GAMEPLAY TWEAKS

- The vehicle drop has been modified to help prevent exploits such as blocking enemy vehicles, destroying vehicles and commander assets, or as an alternative to artillery.
- C4 tossing distance has been reduced.
- A prone->crouch delay has been added.

BUG FIXES

- Fixed the Linux server hangs when trying to load a Special Forces Co-Op map.
- Another attempt at fixing the Red/Blue nametag bug.
- Fixed the missing server info on the map briefing screen.
- Fixed the server browser issues with updating info.
- Fixed the filter by maps size option in the server browser.
- Fixed a low reproducibility crash bug related to the vehicle drop.
- Fixed a crash in Co-op after a player is revived without a kit.
- Fixed a server crash on Linux 32 when trying to rotate maps in Co-op Mode.
- Fixed the occasional red distance marker appearing on the ground.
- Fixed the bug that caused the player's arms to become invisible when switching weapons.
- Co-Op bot console commands now function on local servers.
- Fixed the excessive damage taken by the Muscle Car.
- Adjusted the minimum number of players to start the round on ranked servers.
The new values for 16, 32 and 64 players are 6, 8 and 8 respectively.
- Re-enabled unlocks on unranked servers.
- Commander options are no longer available whilst commander is dead.
- Fixed bug where a spawn point is shown as selected when it is not if player has spawned in during the preview round.
- Co-Op (Local Server) - Fixed the issue where no other players may join the server if the server host is kicked and banned.
- Ranked Servers now force unlocks.
- Added support for multiple gamemodes in single maplist for mods.

Notice how the bug fixes list is three times longer than the tweaks one. Of the tweaks- you can't drop cars on buildings anymore, this is good, although it was quite fun to crush unwary snipers!
Reducing C4 throwing distance even more is stupid. You basically have to be like kissing the tank now to make a pack stick. Someone tell Dice that C4 can actually be thrown without detonating, it's not like a Molotov or something.
The prone->crouch (and standing->prone delay) which also makes your accuracy worse while doing it is kind of annoying, it makes for more deaths by some grunt with an AK-101 running round the corner because you can't get up quickly enough. Also it messes up the Support kit, cos you need to be prone to get any kind of accuracy with the guns, so you will die more while going prone. I think it was done to stop prone-spamming like this, but it's fairly unnessary as nobody does it and its not that hard to kill someone doing it anway.

Of the bug fixes, the main ones were server crashes, where your connection would freeze and then drop you back to the server list, and random CTDs.



The tanks are 'flying' because they carry on sliding along the screen
in whatever direction and height etc they were going
!

These have been mainly fixed I think, I did get one server crash in an afternoon's play (although it may have been the server's fault) and some people said they got connection problems on bf2s.com. I'll see if I get any more.
The missing server info bug is also fixed, that was q. annoying.

The patch also added a new map: 'Road to Jalalabad', or Road to Jalalalalalalalalalalalalalabad as it's really called. This map is like a cross between Sharqi with the open ground at the start, then like a wider Karkand. It's got a lot of tall buildings, with some good sniper positions, which is a plus. The art side of things is kind of lazy in that they've re-used a lot of assets from previous maps such as the mosque from Mashtuur, the hotel from Sharqi, and a lot of the generic buildings are from those levels, albeit with a few more ladders. There are some cool touches though such as flaming wrecks of trucks, APCs, planes etc littering the streets.


The main problem with the map is that it's quite easy for the USMC to just roll across the lake crossing and cut right into the heart of the city, ignoring the outer flags. It's pretty hard to defend both sides at once, and once they get a flag in the middle, very hard to contain, and prevent a load more flags falling. I mean, it's always been like that in these defense maps, but none of Karkand, Sharqi, Warlord, Mass Destruction etc have this massive shortcut right into the heart of the enemy defenses. I think they should either let the MEC start with the lake flag or get rid of the lake crossing, because the available terrrain around the road is wide enough to let FAVs zip past defenders anyway.

You will see this a lot.

Okay, i'm off to snipe some unsuspecting fools...

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Yugioh

Wow, long time no post.

Anyway, been playing Yugioh cards weekly with Joe, Louie and Matt, it's fun. Here's my new Horus deck, for those of you that are interested.

Horus Spell/Trap Control

Total cards: 42

Monsters: 20

Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 x2
Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 x3

Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV4 x3
Luster Dragon x3
Goblin Elite Attack Force x2
Breaker the Magical Warrior
Twin-Headed Behemoth
Element Dragon
D.D. Warrior Lady
Magician of Faith
Night Assailant
Sangan

Spells: 19
Level Up! x3
Graveyard in the Fourth Dimension x2
Level Modulation
Heavy Storm
Stamping Destruction x2
Graceful Charity
Magical Mallet
Premature Burial
Order to Charge
Smashing Ground

My Body as a Shield
Nobleman of Crossout
Book of Moon
Different Dimension Capsule x2
Poison of the Old Man

Traps: 3
Royal Decree x3

So the basic idea is to get Horus LV4 out as quickly as possible, DDC helps with that, then level up to Horus LV8 with its effect or with Level Up if needed. Then with Horus LV8 negating the activation of all the opponent's spells, I can play Royal Decree to negate and destroy all traps, creating a semi lock that will be hard for them to get out of.
Sangan will be used to search for DDWL, MoF or Night Assailant, and Night Assailant can special summon MoF from the graveyard to reuse her effect. Poison of the Old Man is a little insurance against My Body as a Shield's 1500 LP cost.

I'm going to get King Dragun soon hopefully, he negates all effects targeted at dragons and can special summon a dragon per turn. I can summon him easily with Fusilier Dragon and Metamorphosis, although Meta is restricted to one unfortunately.

Update: So I played against Joe yesterday, it did quite well, although as expected Horus LV4 was being a little bitch and hiding in my deck quite a lot, so I need to add another DDC. The Horus LV8s seemed to end up in my hand often, where they're useless unless you have a LV4 or 6, or you can dump them and then Level Modulation them. I'm going to try adding a Lighten The Load or Magical Mallet to shuffle them back into my deck. Also Mystic Swordsman LV2 is too weak... he nearly always dies the turn after killing one facedown, not really worth it. Updated the deck.