How do you make the best multiplayer game ever even better?

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 12:16 am

Simple, you let Epic release a bonus pack! I am just coming off a multi-hour bender playing the new content released for UT 2004. Overall, I have nothing but good things to say about the Editor's Choice Edition bonus pack. If I didn't already own multiple copies of UT 2004 I would run out and buy this new edition. So now that I have had a chance to play with the new content and if you are curious about the new levels, vehicles, and characters read below.

First of all we have 6 new characters to choose from. Epic added two Mecha Skaarj, Mekkor and Skrilax of the Black Fist Clan, which look absolutely amazing. I thought I would be playing the Necris skins but now I am just going to have to switch off. As noted above the Necris have returned from the original UT and if I am not mistaken Kragoth was in the original UT. Too bad Loque didn't make it in. Wink

The two more traditional looking Necris, Kragoth and Thannis, are very vampire-like in appearance while the other two Barktooth and Karag look kind of medieval/carnival unusual, but in a good way.

The 3 new vehicles feel right at home in the game. The Paladin, my favorite new vehicle, is a wheeled tank that moves about as fast as the Goliath. The major difference is that its secondary fire is a shield that will protect you from attacks or you can use it for a pseudo melee attack. So next time you are in a Paladin run up on a Goliath's bumper and watch her go down. Ah fun times! The Cicada is an additional air unit in UT 2004. This sucker packs a punch. The primary fire launches two rockets while the secondary locks on a specific location charging up, I believe, a maximum of 16 or so rockets. Just make sure you aren’t around for the rocket spam. The final vehicle added is the SPAM, or sorry SPMA, which is a buggy with artillery on the top. From my limited experience I would try to get in close and widdle him down.

The four new Onslaught maps are nice change. Urban is a smaller city type map with one major choke point. If you are looking for a small level to test the Paladin or Cicada this map is for you. Tricky is a dirt bike track type of map. There are half pipes, ramps, and rings of fire. Adara is a traditional outdoor/indoor cavern map with very nice flow. It looks pretty much like what you would expect out of Epic. Finally Island Hop is a beautiful outdoor map that looks somewhat inspired by Far Cry. Overall, these levels are worthy additions to the already solid retail map collection.

Well, sorry if my random thoughts were not what you where looking forward to today. I was a little obsessed playing the pack and wasted my news time. Sometimes I have video game addiction/control problems. But I will have something new for you guys around 6-7 EST today. Until then make sure to download this pack and enjoy playing this weekend! If you are looking for the download look two posts down. Wink

Guest

Are you sure Kragoth & Barktooth are Necris ?
'cause AFAIK Kragoth was Metalguard ... (and I think it even says so in his bio in the patch ... )

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 4:26 am

Have they fixed the most useless weap....erm ARs yet?

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 8:20 am

that vehicle was made for me Laughing

i cant wait., all server are full, so im using the torrent, going 220 KB/sec, so im not complaining.
i cant wait to play, iv been waiting for this day for a long time.
i dont think il do muhc homework today Shocked

to abd i have to work tonight Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:02 am

Not sure, I have been wrong before. If you load up the pack and confirm I am wrong let me know and I will correct the post. I won't be home to test it out for at least 9 hours.

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:55 am

Im competetive CTF and DM Crying or Very sad

so i started crying when i heard that its only ONS. But i thought the new maps are pretty cool....and the Cicada is very over-powered and shouldnt be in. But hey, like i said....im CTF and DM....so what do i kno?

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 10:14 am

I certainly wouldn't mess around with it.

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 10:26 am

i havent used it muhc yet, but you do need 2 persons in it tho.
and do the missiles home into enemy vehicles? or how does it work?

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 10:32 am

1 person vehicle. I don't think the missles home. But then again I spent most of my time in the Paladin.

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 10:55 am

The primary fire you can spam to death. The secondary fire you can charge up to 16 missles which then home onto a targeting beacon that you point to.

*UPDATE*
snap...i just hoped into instant action to check out Cicada again....and there is a 2nd seat. In the 2nd seat you get into a laser turret located underneath the vehicle. The primary fire is a dual rapid fire lasers that take down tanks in 30 seconds. The secondary fire....i havent figured out what it does yet...i hit something with it, but it didnt do barely any damage...maybe a flare for the person driving??

Guest

nice Nem

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 1:18 pm

I was gonna say I think it's a flare for incoming missiles.......have to test out that theory yet.

The targeting system for the spam or whatever is a pain in the arse. I like both the cicada and paladin but the spam is pretty much exactly what the name suggests. Just seems too spammy. And the ability to fire that drone up right away again makes it even easier to spam.

EDIT: more thoughts...

With the intro of the cicada and paladin, it feels like the raptor and hellbender are too weak. The raptor has now become an air defense vehicle against the cicada..........with how fast the cicada fires missiles it seems only fair to reduce the ridiculously long refire delay on firing missiles from the raptor..........at least reduce the time between firing the missiles and the main gun.

As for the hellbender.......its big cannon is great for air defense agianst the cicada.......if it's charge up wasn't so stinking long.

The other vehicles I think are still fine.

Oh and don't get me started about the AR. Razz

EDIT x2: OK last edit I hope. The reason I think these guys need buffs (besides what I already stated) is because they have now become even more important as air defense platforms.......since the cicada has an anti-missile system more armor and an additional turret to take down all types of problems, avrils have become more useless against them. Hence the need to bump up hellbender and the raptors power against it.

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 3:33 pm

omg.. i knew what the cicida did for 2 months now.
first seat:
fire mode 1: 2 rockets
fire mode 2: charge up alot of rockets
second seat:
fire mode 1: rapid laser
fire mode 2: antie avril flare thingy

i say the cicida is not good when your in it alone, atleast i thought so.
but i noticed some new messages on my screen
Incoming missile = avril locked on ya
incoming heat seeking missil = no clue?? anyone?
and there was something else, cant remember what..
thats why i thought the cicida had homing missiles

the Hank is my new favorite vehicle for sure, to bad it sucks for close range combat. i mean a scorpion driving around ya is hard to kill. since the Hank fires at arche up. and the whole vehicle is hit by the recoil and bounces back. also it steers like a mother#ucker on steriods and crack.. sometimes a bit annoying, but its nice and fast, i like Very Happy

the paladin tank is nice to, the shield is good, to bad it points at the dirrection your facing, so you can have shield backwards and look what is infront of you.

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 3:50 pm

Quick question. Where bot behaviors added into this patch? For example when I won a bot match, I was playing players vs bots to test out the new stuff with a friend, the bots typed in "Campers" or "My team Suxxored" and if I lost the typed in "OMG you were so owned". Has that always been there and I am tripping?

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 5:21 pm

just scripted events, no AI.
but i ahd the idea the bots became a bit smarter, but are still very dumb..