8 player Zone Control

[johnie102]

This post is to explain more in depth what specifically happens in the map "Zone Control for FAF 8P" which can now be downloaded in the map vault (not sure if this is the correct forum, but it should be close enough).
The goal of Zone Control is to control all the zones (duh). In every zone you control units will spawn. You gain control of a zone by destroying the turret in it and having the majority and at least five units in that zone.
You get money for every kill you make with a unit or a turret. A kill by a unit is worth 5, a kill by a turret under your control is worth double.
With money you can buy offensive upgrades which give your spawned units more damage and more health and defensive upgrades which increase the health, damage and fire rate of your defensive turrets. Defensive upgrades work immediately for all turrets while offensive upgrades only work for units that will spawn after the upgrade.
You can also buy kamikaze units which do damage in a large area when they die.
You buy upgrades by selecting your upgrader unit in your base and giving an assist order on the right upgrade building.

Kills also count as "experience" to level you up. You start at level 0.
Level 0: 0 kills. Spawn unit is a Mech Marine
Level 1: 50 kills. Spawn unit is a Striker
Level 2: 150 kills. Spawn unit is a Pillar
Level 3: 400 kills. Spawn unit is a Titan
Level 4: 800 kills. A Galactic Collosus spawns on your side.
Level 5: 1000 kills. The Lord Of Monkey Lords spawns on your side (A ML with 250000 health).
Level 6: 1200 kills. The Fatman spawns on your side (A Fatboy without the shield and with 100000 health)
Level 7: 1400 kills. An indestructible nuke launcher spawns in your base. It comes with 2 nukes.
Level 8: 1600 kills. The Bringer of Death spawns in your base (which is an indestructible Yolona Oss which comes with a nuke), next to that you also get 2 extra nukes in your nuke launcher
Level 9: 1800 kills. You get another missile for The Bringer of Death and 5 missiles for your nuke launcher.

Note that the only kills that count for money or experience are ones made by a normal spawned unit or a turret. So kamikaziing or nuking units doesn't give you money.

If there is enough interest, I will also make 8P versions of Zone Control with a different zone layout and an 12P version.
Also: Suggestions for more experience levels and hero units?

Happy playing!

EDIT: V2
New Features:
- Added Insanity Mode Map option. Configurable in the game lobby. Try it ^.^
- Made it so you can see everything if you died. Configurable in game lobby.
- Added a dialog showing how many zones every player has. Configurable in game lobby
- Cctr-K'ing your own units gives you 1/8 of a kill (no money). This means that ctrl-K'ing 80 units gives you 10 extra kills.

Balance changes:
- Kamikaze now start at 100 cost and increase by 50 every time you buy one.
- Turrets now get more health per defence level and get a higher rate of fire.
- Experimentals no longer get veterancy health (they do still get regen, not sure how to remove this).

[Prince__]

It couldn't be even more close enough! Nice post!

[betelgeuze]

Great addition.

One problem i noticed. The GC an ML spawn with the designated health. But when it gets veterancy, it reverts to the old HP ladder.
I don't know how, but it would be great if someone could correct this.

[johnie102]

Uploaded V2 with a couple of new features and bug/balance fixes. See OP.

[Ionic]

Could you explain the def turret upgrades and what they do / what you get?

[johnie102]

Could you explain the def turret upgrades and what they do / what you get?

They give more health, more regen, more damage per shot and more shots per second (fire rate).
The health bonus was linear first it is slightly quadratic now, so it actually pays to invest in defence instead of attack. The regen was upped slightly and the shots per second increases faster.

[Ionic]

Great, always seemed like the upgrade did almost nothing.

[lagman]

Great to have that new version.
You can find a youtube cast of this map here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIVL169H4JU

I found a bug where the zones wouldn't span a turret even when I'm alone on it and have more that 5 units on the square. It happened after that PD had been nuked. Please send me a PM johnie if you want the logs and replay ID.

[whootle]

If it is possible, can the map be modified so that once there is a winner, the host can press a button and reset the "board"? i.e. no need to rehost the game.

[johnie102]

Yep, that's definately possible with some modifications. But I'm not gonna do that anymore, so good luck