The Nomads : the fifth official FAF faction?

[ColonelSheppard]

Brute is atm the only person who can create that strange video files used by supcom, the circle can be shorten by about 60% i think but you have to be carefull with this because the initial 4s differ from the 8(?) seconds cycle

however we maybe find a way to get a slightly better quality if i find a way to render the video directly in the .sdf format (i'm dunno anything about video codec but i was told the only thing that is diffrent for sfd from mpeg is something in the header

i dont see any op units for nomads atm so i dont see a problem in having 3 months patch lag, but thats not my desicion
and i really hope brute still has the avi file... uploading avi wih DSL6000 is no fun

here's your link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQDcL9LsQtQ

[Brute51]

Yes I still have the avi file.

The quality of the output SFD file is as good as the input MPEG1 file. Luckily MPEG1 doesn't necessarily decrease quality*, but MPEG1 usually does mean large video files.


(*) I use TMPEGEnc to transform high quality videos to MPEG1. This program isn't restricted to the standard MPEG1 presets so higher bitrates and a few techniques can be used to get the highest quality. After the MPEG1 recode I still have to make it an SFD file but this doesn't involve transcoding.

[Tex]

I would vote for nomads to be integrated into the custom games, but I feel like it doesn't belong in the ladder...

[HEAVY]

If a month or two is all that's needed to polish, give the wider audience the best first impression and wait for the next patch.

In the meantime, maybe a nomads tournament? I'll commit to starting more nomads games for one.

[pip]

If a month or two is all that's needed to polish, give the wider audience the best first impression and wait for the next patch.

In the meantime, maybe a nomads tournament? I'll commit to starting more nomads games for one.

Yes, polishing the first impression is very important, that's why we will wait some more.

I created this post because precisely, a tournament was organized by Voodoo. It was supposed to provide replays for balance data gathering, but it had to be cancelled due to lack of players.

FAF players have to know that Nomads are intended to become official (and in that sense, they are very different from Black Ops), and if they don't play with them, it is unevitable that some issues will not be spotted. So please, test them!

[ColonelSheppard]

you could host some nomdas phantoms heavy, use one of meads beta mods and host nomads as featured mod

[discoverer2k4]

what is about making the current featured mod "Nomads" ranked global at first (could call it "Nomads (now ranked)) and then switch as proposed to an integreation into the FAF mod?

People can play nomads or faf as they want but get rated for what they are doing ...

[Valki]

what is about making the current featured mod "Nomads" ranked global at first (could call it "Nomads (now ranked)) and then switch as proposed to an integreation into the FAF mod?

People can play nomads or faf as they want but get rated for what they are doing ...

I think that is best.

There are plenty of examples in the world that show that forcing people to choose something will cause them to leave, even if they would (eventually) make that same choice of their own volition.


Also, I would not add the nomads in a normal overnight patch.
I think of it as "The Nomads Expansion", but at the very least it should be announced and released as "The Nomads Patch". - I think that renaming the Nomads to either of those names would distinguish it from the other mods and cause more people to play it, without forcing them.

[pip]

Guys, we don't want to "force" players to play with the Nomads because even if it becomes official, nobody forces you to play with that faction if you don't like it (I think I never played UEF except in the campaign :p). However, the opportunity, at some point in the future, will be there for everyone. That's why it's fundamuntally different from Black Ops : you keep the possibility to not use them even if they are available. You are right in saying they are like an expansion for sure, like Forged alliance brought Seraphim.

For now, several things prevent the official integration of the Nomads even just in custom games:
1) As Pilot said, some things need to be done first so that they are fully integrated
2) There has not been enough progress in the texture department the last month
3) It will be harder to update them after they are official, so they should be basically finished
4) Pilot is busy with GW and we don't want to bother him if updates are required when he has no time on his hands.

However, there will be a patch 3622 for FAF and next version of the Nomads will add the required balance changes so that it's up to date.
Meanwhile, and after the patch, play with them, it won't make you lose your skill level
All replays are separated from normal games, so there is not even need to post any replay in the forum if you are lazy.

[TartarusMkII]

I have not been long, but I wanted to bring up an interesting point from my point of view. In the best interest of helping new players stick to the game, I want to point out that while FAF's graphical fidelity is quite pretty, I fell that the Nomad's mod is not as graphically pleasing.

From playing Nomads myself, I can easily see how interesting the race is. What I don't like is how the graphical quality of the faction does not fit with the others. It does not look as sharp, nor as detailed. I know this is to be expected from a mod, but it would matter to a new player who takes note of these things.

Also, simply put, the Nomads do not fit in with the lore, and if we were to attempt to keep FAF a continuation of Supreme Commander, including Nomads into the 'standard' of the game would then tarnish that.

Again, just my input is from a different point of view.