Advanced Medkikit/Bonus spawn system

[Maniek]

I don't care about instant full healing by miedikits. I'm talking about re-spawning, for example one team is weaker so they drain medikits from own base so much, also opposite team attacks often so they uses this medikits too. And after few minutes this weaker team loses any chances to win, becouse they can't heal ourselves. This is really annoying and imo should be fixed, but i don't know how. Maybe it should looks like in Quake or UT, there medikits are respawning after few seconds in the same places, so you can control the points of spawn and your health. What do you think?

EDIT: Better topic

[L[0ne]R]

This "problem" really lies in the map design, not in the kit respawn system, so if there's anything that needs fixing - it's the map itself. Placing medkits in safe spots is generally a bad idea. Supplies should be placed in vulnerable spots or high traffic areas and routes so that players can't camp on supplies.
The spawn system is actually good and it discourages camping when used right. If a bunch of players camp in a spot with lots of supplies - they'll eventually get less supplies while enemies will get more, so campers will be overrun. It's a good way to turn the tide of battle and avoid stalemates.

[DarkCrusade]

This sounds like something that can be actually discussed. There are many situations where a set respawn time would make the game experience better, e.g. fix grenade spamming. It is a common tactic to cripple the approach of incoming enemies, potentially killing but at least hurting the opponent severly if done right. In the right place, this tactic can block an entire path off. The problem is that a player who has less grenades than the maximum that he can hold gets a full refill right now and the grenade box respawns immediatly in a random grenade box spawn. This can lead to "infinite grenades" and the situations stated above.

In my eyes, the best solution would be to change the .pms format, give spawns an array of properties that can be changed (respawn time, number of boxes spawned) and move away from the idea of connected spawns where one side can completly dominate the other team by removing all medikits and grenade boxes from their base to shut them down and make the boxes spawn at fixed places. Balance-wise, it is the best option for Soldat, and it would give mappers more options to balance maps.

Camping can be easily avoided by delaying a spawn's respawn when it is consumed right after it spawned by a few seconds longer than normal. The problem is not map design, it is lack of map design.

[L[0ne]R]

In my eyes, the best solution would be to change the .pms format, give spawns an array of properties that can be changed (respawn time, number of boxes spawned) and move away from the idea of connected spawns where one side can completly dominate the other team by removing all medikits and grenade boxes from their base to shut them down and make the boxes spawn at fixed places. Balance-wise, it is the best option for Soldat, and it would give mappers more options to balance maps.

IMHO it would remove an interesting (albeit unintended) game mechanic. Connected respawns are exactly what adds a little bit of depth to such a trivial thing as supply kits. Each time you pick one up - you could be giving the enemy one as well, so you have to use your kits wisely especially in modes like INF. This can also be used to your advantage by actively using kits on the enemy terriroty (like you've said yourself) which is IMHO a legitimate tactic. It's also a good way to encourage players to visit low-traffic parts of the map when high-traffic areas become low on supplies.
All of that would be gone if each spawn was independent from others, so IMHO connected spawns should definitely stay.

However adding a few other parameters to spawns would also be nice, like ones you've mentioned - respawn time and number of boxes spawned. Once a specific spawn has spawned a specific number of boxes - it should be temporarily deactivated until the number of boxes from that spawn drops below maximum. This would give mapmakers a bit more control over kit spawns but at the same time preserve their connected and unpredictable nature, and possibly solve the "infinite grenades" issue.

[Maniek]

The problem is not map design, it is lack of map design.

I agree with this. For example in laos supply spawn points are only in bases, so if one of teams drain supplys so much, after few minutes they are losers like I said. But in steel there is one spawn piont extra in the middle (grenades up and medikits down), so you can go there when your base is empty or if you are close to it.

About preventing supply camping, thats would be hard to do. I think maybe there's should be limit of supplys in a given place, and if this limit will be achieved no more supplys will spawn in this place. When boxes are ranning out or they'll reach zero the cooldown begins, and after some amount of time they'll spawning there again. In this case camper eating all boxes and after that he will have to wait for new ones.