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seit 24.09.2000
FV-24B
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FV-24B Sirius 2 May 2005 Introduction The last few months have been a rather active time as far as Descent 2 development goes. Diedel's work on D2X-W32 and DLE-XP have made a number of things possible in Descent 2 that previously were not. In February support for Descent 3-style CTF was added to the game. This promised to make the game... well, a lot more enjoyable. CTF was one of the best things Descent 3 had to offer, and to take the game mode's framework and put it into practice in the classic gameplay of Descent 2 promised to be one of the best additions ever. There was only one problem. We needed levels that supported this new enhanced CTF. Hence the idea for FV-24B was born. At this point I should probably mention where the name came from, again. As a few people might know, a few years back - for the seventh Descent 2 Revival in fact - I made a fairly large CTF level called FV-24, which was designed to replicate Descent 3 flag as well as possible with what standard Descent 2 had. So it made sense to make this new level, which finishes what FV-24 started, sound like a sequel. Now, the FV-24 was basically the name of a gatling gun in a SNES game called Front Mission - a little bit like a simplified computerised implementation of BattleTech, that was nonetheless quite fun to play. In the same game, there was another gun called the FV-24B that was its more powerful successor (and, some would argue, the best short-range weapon in the game). Hence... the name was obvious. Now the design part. FV-24B is a bit like FV-24, and looks rather like it, but it was principally designed to emulate the popular D3 CTF level Halcyon without actually being Halcyon in shape or form. Small - unlike the overly ambitious FV-24 - fast, and simple. So, I took the idea of Halcyon - two bases at either end of a level - and mixed it up a bit. Instead of two main rooms connected by a corridor - nice for fast- paced D3 fights with weapons such as MD and Vauss, but not well-suited to the more manoeuvrability-based Descent 2 - I put in a single circular room separating the two bases. (Why circular? Well, despite the intention of visual simplicity, I wanted some 'cool' attribute as well, and that's what I came up with. :) By the way, the central platform is in fact a perfect 16-sided polygon... hence why it does look like a circle.) So, the central room that everyone has to go through gave you the advance warning that seems to make D3 CTF levels so great - you always have to fight for the flag. I also cloned Halcyon's multiple access routes, albeit with a twist - they join up partway before separating again. So, if you don't have anyone, or at least a marker, down in the junction you don't really know where the pesky flag-runners are coming from. :) The actual flag rooms are relatively similar to Halcyon's, again, but not quite the same. You don't have to plunge into the end of the room to grab the flag, but it is still possible to ambush those who aren't careful enough. While there are no impact mortars around to deal with such people, there -are- tricks you can employ to dispatch defenders who are too predictable... Weapon balance. I threw in anything that wasn't liable to be cheap. Perhaps a few things that are - I even put in a couple packs of smart mines. Now, while there are no doors, and barely any tight corners, to lay them behind, they can still be used effectively to slow people down, and even nail them if they aren't careful enough. Just for instance, if you bomb your flag, it's going to take a would-be flag runner a lot longer to grab it safely, which might be the time you need to deal with them. Since it's more of a tactical weapon, rather than a crutch, I felt I was justified in adding things like that. That and the Phoenix cannon - which can cover certain halls very nicely, and also has most of the walls in other places banked to reduce its danger to the one firing it. I'm sure you'll come up with some interesting things to do with it. :) Visual appearance... for FV-24B, I wanted something bright enough to see, in most places, but preferably not featureless. I also wanted a reasonably realistic, and Descent 3-like, look in the level; it turned out taking the general idea of FV-24 and toning down on the special rock pulled this off quite nicely. Most of the place is metal and dark grey rock, but I did add a touch of red and blue to various places to show you which half of the level you are in. In between the two, there is a nice neutral purple in places. :) The rest is just metal. Lots of metal. With plenty of lights in the main rooms, but there are the occasional dark spots too. While a fairly small level by measurement, FV-24B is still designed for as many as possible. It'd get a bit crowded with 16, but naturally Descent 2 doesn't support that (yet). However, 8 would be just fine - I've made sure there are jobs for all the players you can throw at it up to that point. As few as four players would work fine; however, if you only had two, it might get a bit lonely. I hope this level gives you a fresh and memorable experience of just how amazing Descent 2 can get. :) Weapon count Plasma Cannons: 8 Quad Lasers: 4 Super Lasers: 8 Gauss Cannons: 4 Spreadfire Cannons: 4 Fusion Cannons: 4 Phoenix Cannons: 4 4x Mercury Missiles: 4 4x Flash Missiles: 2 4x Homing Missiles: 2 1x Guided Missiles: 4 4x Smart Mines: 2 1x Smart Missiles: 4 1x Mega Missiles: 2 Afterburners: 8 Flags: 2
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