OPINION POLL: NPCS In the Sewers

[RogueSynapse]

Cast your vote, this is an opinion poll only.

 

[Imperator RAD-X]

This is a nice poll.

100% RPing players is doable and it appears to be going this direction currently. Considering we commit to players becoming their own "creature" at times (like Grunk and a few others) - there is potential in it. Seen it with Panthereyes, Crabs and zombies alike. Most recent one was one houndeye.

While NPCs in the sewers are somewhat inevitable and are actually sometimes important for symbolising a threat in an area, a player will always be more interesting - even if it impacts your character negatively. But 100% entirely? Probably too much down that route causes concerns on its own.

 

[Enlightening]

I think NPCs in the sewers are always a must, there's meant to be danger present and if there is absolutely no interaction other than running around and hitting E on trashbags, it's very dull and repetitive. However, I think there's a very big inconsistency present right now. I think the most glaring inconsistencies are:

1. Since NPCs are spawned by admins, there can be days or hours where the sewers are totally dead, empty and safe to run around in. I may be misremembering but I remember reading on the forums that the NPC encounters are mostly zeroed in on players rather than being distributed by spawners due to performance reasons if this is the case then I don't know if there's much that can be done about this issue.
2. The stuff spawned are sort of all over the place. Headcrabs, zombies and regular antlions seem to few and far in between compared to bullsquids, houndeyes and baby vortigores. I think bullsquids and houndeyes being common are totally fine however the houndeyes love to ignore TBC if you're in melee range, and if you made the mistake of shooting them point blank you can even die in the warm-up stage. I know the difference in creatures being spawned is probably due to the power creep of the general rebel populace but new players/characters head down there a decent bit still, and collecting meat off of regular antlions and headcrabs is a nice experience as well.

Outside of these, I have a few pet peeve that ultimately is just me ranting about getting owned that one time, but barnacles being spawned in extreme traffic areas like ladders seem weird to me, tons of people pass through there every five minutes and yet a barnacle spore has somehow lodged and matured in the ladder shaft in between guy A and guy B running through there? Whatever.

 

[Neonity]

Before you vote "Replace them with 100% real RP'ing players.", consider the following.

Headcrab RP'ers. The lowest of low. Now, imagine 5 of those, all preying for your uninterrupted S2RP attention, and desperate to PK your months-old character.

Now, imagine those players all playing a... Bullsquid, or a Houndeye. Fun, for the first time. Until you realize spending 30 minutes dodging deadly Bullsquid acid in S2RP combined with the endless inevitable LOOC arguing that comes with S2RP, and you will WISH you had NPC's back.

Also, removing NPC's in the sewers entirely is just stupid. There'd be no danger. Free scripts for days, but I know that's all the rebel players truly care about.

We could do OTA shadow sweeps in the sewers as an alternative to NPC's, but then OTA would just lose it's impact. Maybe if you like playing hide & seek but if you get found you lose your months-old character, sure. Be my guest!

I think the current system works fine. All it needs is consistency. A general risk scale for staff as well. Maybe you'll have a day with a lot of NPC's in the sewers, but then the next 3 days are filled with zombies? Could work, up to staff in the end.

 

[The Milkman]

NPCs are fine when it isn’t 3 bullsquids or 15 HL:A antlions (TBC on, stand there until u die)

 

[Tengu]

I enjoy the presence of npc's ( Zombies, bullsquids, ect.) in the sewers.. I think it's downright essential to have them there as it makes things dangerous and those that aren't prepared for the spore infested area pay the price.
However, I would love to see player encounters being the norm when it came to things in the sewers. It would give a bit of entertainment beyond /me shoots zombies.. /me runs from bullsquid. Npc's are great to present the dangers that lurk below, however with some npc's (Like pitdrones or hl1 headcrabs.. i think?) they are extremely dangerous, even for geared individuals. There are also those that tend to ignore TBC in some instances, which is a pain to deal with and can result in wrongful deaths Unless something stupid was done like run back in :troll:.
Player encounters (such as those with headcrabs or zombies) are nice interactions for even low spec rebels. Someone who only just got their melee weapon.. or perhaps their starting set of armor or whatever. Maybe even a small group of fresh off the train citizens that decide to throw caution to the wind and find themselves pinned in a room with a zombie.. How will they escape potential death?
With those such as bullsquids, or even gonomes ( if such a thing exists for players) Would take coordination and be a serious threat that would need to be dealt with.
I think player encounters like these could also give opportunity for rebels to receive jobs / bounties to clear spots that have maybe one or two player controlled creatures. But I also think that if these encounters are planned, they should make it know to those around that this is happening or that these particular enemies aren't NPC's so that TBC isn't just started and the encounter ruined.

We could do OTA shadow sweeps in the sewers as an alternative to NPC's

Please no .. Why you do dis?

barnacles being spawned in extreme traffic areas like ladders seem weird to me, tons of people pass through there every five minutes and yet a barnacle spore has somehow lodged and matured in the ladder shaft in between guy A and guy B running through there?

This is somewhat agreeable.. If they were farther in or in less trafficked area's it would make more sense, but those ladders see citizens almost every minute. Someone would notice before it matured >.> (Maybe hide them a bit better and catch more of us who don't pay attention :Troll

NPCs are fine when it isn’t 3 bullsquids or 15 HL:A antlions (TBC on, stand there until u die)

Maybe not 15 HL:A antlions, but a few at a time or 3 bullsquids would be fine! Threats like that require a groups effort.. and if solo's or unarmed citizens are running around trying to explore or loot, they should know not to continue forward if they see a very clear threat. If it's something special like an event or a job, I could see 10 or 15 antlions being spread out and being an obstacle. But yeah..

Edit: I think one of the bigger problems with having players act as the creatures would be this.

combined with the endless inevitable LOOC arguing that comes with S2RP, and you will WISH you had NPC's back.

Not everyone is a believer in P2L, as well as wanting to stay IC until the encounter is done over arguing their point in ooc. I wouldn't expect anyone to P2L there character if they were fighting npc's.. But I feel players using characters like this should operate with P2L in mind when using creatures. Of course, if rolls or scenario are on their side, and it's just a bad break for the otherside then by all means.. Go for the kill. Noone likes losing characters, but sewers are a dangerous place regardless of NPC's or players posing the threat.
One thing I could recommend, which isn't necessarily a good idea either as it would also have it's own problems. In these situations where a character dies due to a hard fought battle with luck ending up not on their side, that it maybe be taken into account and looked at as an NLR, or maybe even something to extend bleedout ICly where players can save the lives of those gravely injured if life saving treatment is performed in time. (Unless Joe dumb comes in running to ride the bullsquid during the battle and eats a big PK)
I don't know.. Just my opinion.

 

[John Rico]

I personally like the way the sewers work, even considered making my first char here a full-time scav, that until I realized making even the most basic of weapons required an extensive grind (I can find a lead pipe, but I need a tool kit, iron and screws to even turn it in a weapon I can use to defend myself against a stupid headcrab), so in the end I decided getting my character pk'd by an NPC because I couldn't even defend myself wasn't worth it.

 

[verTix]

I want automated NPC spawns with a capped limit for performance.

I want most (if not all) NPC combat defaulted to S2K.

I want deaths by NPCs to warrant NLR, not PK.

I want admins to spawn HL:A Xen flora props every so often and build onto them over time. Rebels/vortigaunts can harvest valuable resources from them with proper RP, and maybe it could be automated in the future.

I want infrequent Infestation Control worker parties escorted by CPs/OTA to clean up Xen flora, establish checkpoints, quarantine areas, etc. This will help re-add to the risk of being in the sewers, because no NPC PKs will mitigate a lot of it. It also gives citizens more to do, and more of an incentive for the Combine to be in the sewers; it prevents the harvesting of the aforementioned valuable resources.

That's all for now...

 

[The Milkman]

I want admins to spawn HL:A Xen flora props every so often and build onto them over time. Rebels/vortigaunts can harvest valuable resources from them with proper RP, and maybe it could be automated in the future

This is already an in-game mechanic but apparently it’s broken or something (but even when it worked it was hardly ever used and the materials never regenerated so there was no purpose in rebels ever stopping the infestations from being destroyed)

 

[Kappatalist]

I'm pretty happy with things as is, though PK's shouldn't be handed out with NPC deaths.

With some exceptions, of course. If somebody is being a massive retard then it's deserved, but for every NPC death? I don't think it's a good way at all to end a character, an NLR with no refund is more than punishing enough.

And, yeah. This gives more lee-way for a more dangerous sewers, which I'd be down for 100%

Headcrab players are massive retards 90% of the time, so it's best we don't have more of them - especially in more dangerous roles.

 

[Kafe]

I'm on pretty good terms with NPC presence in the sewers, can't expect to have staff or players make up the underground threat all of the time.
Personally just wish the NPC presence was more notable as it's typically more of two extremes, either the underground is stuffed with enemies, or it's complete devoid of life.

I don't know how spawning is handled, but it partially feels like it's a staff member's job to go down there and spawn a bunch every few hours, only for a player or two to go down and wipe them all out to grind melee/ gun XP in the first 10-20 minutes of placement. So if a automated solution was possible to maintain a consistent trickle of mobs, that for me would be exceptional.
Only time I can recall something like that being used was back in one of the District 47 versions with the toxic pool having infinite spawner for zombies, but that's built into the map itself, not something applied or managed outside of compiling new versions of the entire map.

(Also the rarer NPC types being spawned is awesome, zombies are good for consistency but stumbling into a panthereye that one time was something to behold)

 

[Neonity]

it partially feels like it's a staff member's job to go down there and spawn a bunch every few hours, only for a player or two to go down and wipe them all out to grind melee/ gun XP in the first 10-20 minutes of placement.

This is exactly what happens. It's also why staff typically tends to go to extremes, just to ensure their NPC's don't all get killed by the first rebel that finds them.

making even the most basic of weapons required an extensive grind

I hate to say this, but there really isn't any grind. Getting geared up as a rebel takes no time at all, especially getting a basic weapon such as a pipe.

 

[verTix]

i'd love to see headcrabs actually be able to latch onto you and turn you into a zombie. low chance of it happening, maybe 10-20% but it would make headcrabs actually scary

 

[Tengu]

i'd love to see headcrabs actually be able to latch onto you and turn you into a zombie. low chance of it happening, maybe 10-20% but it would make headcrabs actually scary

Give this opportunity to the headcrab players. If they succeed in latching and turning you, they get to be a zombie and use your characters description ( of sorts )

 

[Tengu]

I hate to say this, but there really isn't any grind. Getting geared up as a rebel takes no time at all, especially getting a basic weapon such as a pipe.

I can verify this. Actually playing smart and working for it, it takes a lot less time than you'd think.

 

[Taliazure]

This is a nice poll.

100% RPing players is doable and it appears to be going this direction currently. Considering we commit to players becoming their own "creature" at times (like Grunk and a few others) - there is potential in it. Seen it with Panthereyes, Crabs and zombies alike. Most recent one was one houndeye.

While NPCs in the sewers are somewhat inevitable and are actually sometimes important for symbolising a threat in an area, a player will always be more interesting - even if it impacts your character negatively. But 100% entirely? Probably too much down that route causes concerns on its own.

I agree and I think players should be allowed to become creatures a bit more (not special ones such as gnomes or Such) but as normal headcrabs, houndeyes and other more normal creatures allowing 1 intelligent rare creature to be among other normal ones.
It creates this thing of threat that we might encounter one that is not like the others and acts different instead of charging us face first.
Perhaps discovering players who are good on doing these rps and giving them whitelist for headcrab and xen creatures?
I would absolutely love to learn about headcrab rp and invest into it.
But of course there could perhaps be some rules as to creating a xen creature, perhaps after the death of your creature there should be some time beetwen creations.

 

[Taliazure]

I'm on pretty good terms with NPC presence in the sewers, can't expect to have staff or players make up the underground threat all of the time.
Personally just wish the NPC presence was more notable as it's typically more of two extremes, either the underground is stuffed with enemies, or it's complete devoid of life.

I don't know how spawning is handled, but it partially feels like it's a staff member's job to go down there and spawn a bunch every few hours, only for a player or two to go down and wipe them all out to grind melee/ gun XP in the first 10-20 minutes of placement. So if a automated solution was possible to maintain a consistent trickle of mobs, that for me would be exceptional.
Only time I can recall something like that being used was back in one of the District 47 versions with the toxic pool having infinite spawner for zombies, but that's built into the map itself, not something applied or managed outside of compiling new versions of the entire map.

(Also the rarer NPC types being spawned is awesome, zombies are good for consistency but stumbling into a panthereye that one time was something to behold)

I think this should be pretty good, I think if I went down there and killed a bunch of npcs I would not escape without a scratch, and since they are not automated I cna just run to the exit and come out, but entering there killing them and they respawning near the entrance while I'm low health is surely a way to make sure next time I come down I am more careful and geared.

 

[Deleted member 418]

I agree and I think players should be allowed to become creatures a bit more (not special ones such as gnomes or Such) but as normal headcrabs, houndeyes and other more normal creatures allowing 1 intelligent rare creature to be among other normal ones.
It creates this thing of threat that we might encounter one that is not like the others and acts different instead of charging us face first.
Perhaps discovering players who are good on doing these rps and giving them whitelist for headcrab and xen creatures?
I would absolutely love to learn about headcrab rp and invest into it.
But of course there could perhaps be some rules as to creating a xen creature, perhaps after the death of your creature there should be some time beetwen creations.

We do occasionally give out pills to headcrabs for example who managed to kill someone in S2RP combat and take over their body, so there's that.

Though, until we find a proper solution to implement in terms of making the sewers more dangerous, we won't be cutting down hard on the amount of NPCs being used, especially difficult ones. Then again, we already try to use them in such a way that they aren't too OP but also not weak enough to not provide a challenge; which is what the sewers is all about. It's not just a loot farm.

 

[Salty]

Personally, I believe there needs to be more NPCs in the sewers, I remember the first few months of the sever, it felt like a real danger. There weren't sweeps every day but, there was a sewer packed with NPCs at all times. Now with the severs level of RebelRP and the IC "Heads" and "Leaders", the hordes or NPCs can be dealt with through RP and helping one another not just one guy grinding in the sewers. And if you have a character that is months old and you jump down there you better be geared or you will be killed.

 

[Maine]

i'd love to see headcrabs actually be able to latch onto you and turn you into a zombie. low chance of it happening, maybe 10-20% but it would make headcrabs actually scary

>Buy donator
>Be headcrab
>U realize ur the headcrab pill
>You start spam jumping to accelerate
>A poor rebel turns the corner as you're going mach 1
>You latch onto him of course
PK is on