Let's play cool forgotten mods! (Alien, Battle, Catch16)

[Fifi]

It seems that I'm not the only one who misses some mods from the…Show

http://forum.ddnet.tw/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2217

Most of the mods I like are empty: Catch16, Battlefield.

Most of the mods I like are empty: Catch16

Best mod ever existed.

Alien is often empty too (but I'm not sure if the only Alien server available now is properly configured, so the Reapers and Heroes works even with not so many tees...).

Maybe we should organize a group play event on those mods from time to time?
It's probably ok to announce it on the forum, I guess? (like this)
What do you think about it? I'll make a pool to see if there will be enough people interested - I think 24-32 people is enough to invest time in such a thing, as probably about 1/2 or 1/3 of them will show up. I think we have this event on a regular basis and play each of this mods in turns.


If somebody doesn't remember or never played those mods - short and full descriptions here:
Alien

This mod is something similar to Infection, but much more complex. The basic concept is that one tee starts as an Alien (red tee), while other tees are Humans (blue tees). The Alien tee "infect" other tees by hammering them, which means they turn into Aliens.

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As long as the Generator is intact, Humans can invent things by collecting the full armor bar and then using it up while hammering near the science station (visible as a hammer weapon pipckup). It's even possible to invent an Alien-healing weapon and save not only the world, but also every tee! The Generator is a special machine, located somewhere on the map. Aliens are able to destroy the Generator by entering it. Of course it's usually protected by a pool of toxic waste (so the Aliens have to run underwater very quickly, to reach it before they'll die) or automated turrets (it depends on the map design). Humans can also protect themselves - at the cost of one armor - by hammering while looking in chosen direction, which creates a short laser wall, capable of damaging the Aliens. If a Human manages to kill many Aliens, it might become a Hero - which basically means more defence against being infected and more intense colour. Sometimes it's also possible to become a Hero by inventing. Humans can also heal themselves and gain armor in the Energynator (as long as the Generator isn't down). The last thing about Humans are the Tee-Turrets, which also use up armor and allow the user to shoot from them at a great fire rate. If you're an Alien, you can be healed by your teammates with a hammer. Aliens earn additional skills (like, for example, a toxic-waste resistance, super hook or a multi jump) by killing many humans and may also evolve after reaching a high kill count. But Alien doesn't evolve into a Hero, it evolves into a Reaper. A Reaper is a monster able to multijump and shoot gravity bombs which pull tees from great distances. Reapers have an intense red colour and angry eyes. They also have one more special ability, one which makes them extremly dangerous - sometimes their eyes begin to flash, which indicates that instead of taking damage, they gain life (and may even pass laser walls easily). Alien can also turn into a Reaper, if it manages to get high kill count and enter the Reapinator, but it's only possible after the destruction of the Generator. If you're playing this mod, be careful not to die as a Human, as you will rebirth as an Alien. The game usually lasts for about 3 minutes and the goal depends on who you are - if you're a Human - you have to survive or heal all of the Aliens, and if you're an Alien - you have to infect all of the Humans. Proper servers settings are really important in this mod, because setting Hero and Reaper threshold too high may render becoming one of them virtually impossible.

Battle

This mod is kinda a 2D version of Battlefield 2. The goal is to capture checkpoints and kill enemies (and also to capture the enemy flag, if it's enabled in server configuration).

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The first thing a tee should do after entering a Battle server is to choose a class and - if playing on a waterworld map - pick a water weapon. You can do it by entering an appropriate pit in the walls of your base (the pits are marked with icons). You should also look out for some kind of wehicle or water-wehicle. You can enter vehicles by running into them (as long as they are empty or in your team's base/checkpoint) and exit them by emoting. If you want to use emotes while driving, you have to bind the "/E" chat command and use it at least once - if you do so, the server will remember not to make you exit vehicles after using emote in the future - you'll have to use "/E" to do so. You can also enter anti-aircraft cannons, by walking into them, and join allied helicopters and tanks as a turret, by hammering them (only if somebody already drives them). Maps usually contains a few smoke grenades (visible as a small turning pairs of shotgun bullets), which could be thrown by emoting or using "/E". If you want to regenerate your health, you can stand close to the stationary heart tile in your base or in a checkpoint. To regain ammo, pick up an ammo pack (visible as a changing weapon pickup) from your base or a checkpoint (you can also pick up one dropped by a soldier). There are also water tiles, which allows you to swim by jumping (or by hooking, on water maps) and uses up your oxygen (displayed on your ammo bar when you are underwater) if you dive. To speed up travels, you may run into the teleport laser-gates, which takes you to your team's checkpoints. Pay attention to closing doors behind you (by running into laser-balls switches), otherwise enemies will be able to penetrate the lower level of your base (and stole the flag, if you're playing the CTF mode). To capture a checkpoint, you have to stand inside the lower part of it for a while and keep the enemies aside.

The classes are (unmentioned weapons are unavailable in a particular class):

• Soldier: hammer [left click] = place an ammo pack; gun [left click] = machine gun; grenade launcher [left click] = shoots C4 (up to 3), [right click] = detonates previously placed C4. Thrown C4 sticks to tees it hits (even if they are in vehicles).
• Engineer: hammer [left click] = place a mine (up to 3); gun [left click] = repairs nearby allied or empty vehicle, defuses nearby enemy mine, hacks nearby enemy gate switch; shotgun [left click] = just a traditional vanilla shotgun; grenade launcher [left click] = shoots remote-controled explosive, which follows your mouse cursor until you shoot another one, which results in the explosive flying toward its last direction, or an enemy passes nearby, which makes the explosive chase him. Engineer mines are really powerful, they are able to blow up a vehicle.
• Sniper: hammer [left click] = toggles invisibility (it uses up when on and charges up when off); gun [left click] = just a traditional vanilla gun; laser [left click] = just a traditional vanilla laser; ninja [left click] = a powerful ninja slash, which works only when applied from (about) 1 tee distance and only when the Sniper dealing it was invisible - but which, in return, may kill even a tee with a full health.
• Medic: hammer [left click] = shoots a heart, which flies forward and slides walls (if it encounters any) - it heals allies and damages enemies; gun [left click] = gun with special bullets, which punches enemies far away; shotgun = just a traditional vanilla shotgun.

The vehicles are:

• Tank (35 vehicle health): [left click] = shoots explosive; [right click] = shoots from the cannon; [left arrow] = drives left; [right arrow] = drives right.
• Helicopter (10 vehicle health): [left click] = shoots from the cannon; [space] = launches a homing missile; [right click] = ascends; [left arrow] = flies left; [right arrow] = flies right. Remember, that colliding your tee with a wall will result in explosion and death. As a turret, be careful not to shot your own helicopter down.
• Airplane (10 vehicle health): [left click] = drops bombs; [right click] = shoots from the cannon; [left arrow] = speeds up; [right arrow] = slows down; [move mouse cursor] = changes flight direction. To land, you have to slow down to zero speed and touch down while being aligned horizontally. Remember, that landing non-horizontally or colliding your tee with a wall will result in explosion and death.
• Motorcycle (16 vehicle health): [left click] = shoots your tee weapon; [right click] = shoots a grenade; [scroll mouse wheel] = changes your tee weapon; [left arrow] = drives left; [right arrow] = drives right.

The water vehicles are:

• Motorboat (25 vehicle health): [left click] = shoots from the cannon; [space] = drops a depth charge; [left arrow] = flows left; [right arrow] = flows right.
• Submarine (35 vehicle health): [left click] = shoots an explosive (works only if you're aiming up while floating on water surface); [space] = launch torpedos (their direction depends on your mouse cursor position); [right click] = ascends or descends (depends on your mouse cursor position); [left arrow] = flows left; [right arrow] = flows right.
• Diving suit (no vehicle health, just your health): [left click] = shoots a grenade; [right click] = ascends; [left arrow] = flows left; [right arrow] = flows right.

The water weapons are:

• Harpoon: [space] = shoots it towards your mouse cursor position. If you press space longer before releasing it, the harpoon will flow faster. You start with 11 of them.
• Arrows: [space] = shoots it toward your mouse cursor position. The arrows are much faster than a harpoon. You start with 16 of them.
• Throwing-Star: [space] = shoots it toward your mouse cursor position. They have similar speed to arrows, but they are bigger. You start with 6 of them.

The water weapons usually stays for a while in place (or tee) where they hit.
Keep in mind, that while water-weapons ammo and strength (in case of the harpoon), checkpoint capture progress, vehicle health and speed (in case of an airplane), sniper invisibility information and engineer mine defusal/gate hacking messages are displayed as broadcast messages, the rest of game information goes to the chat. Maps usually contains a mini-map at the bottom - so keep an eye on it, to avoid getting lost.
Oh, and enemy mines are distinguishable by not-blinking. And if you're wondering, if you're invisible after throwing a smoke grenade or turning on sniper invisibility, you can just check if your eyes are closed.

Catch16

This mod is a really fun variation of zCatch (maybe even more fun?). Instead of "collecting" the killed tees, you only change their colour to match yours (every tee get a random colour at start) - and if your colour spreads to all of the tees, you win the round.
PS. Actually, it turns out that Catch16 is the ancestor of zCatch, according to Roruman. I didn't know that before, thanks!

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You probably wonder why I have said that it might be even more fun? Because in zCatch you wait until somebody kills the tee which catched you, while in Catch16 you play all the time. That's it, no boredom. Oh, and if the server's properly configured, so the tee nameplates are hidden, you can also hide behind the bushes and make, um... ambushes? (now I'm beginning to wonder about the origins of this word ^^)

So yeah, please post your opinion. I tried to describe each of this mods as precisely as I could, because it seems that it's the complexity which prevents them from being as successful as others. I hope that it'll be useful to everyone who don't get a thing about how to play them and for the people who played it a lot, but never noticed some small tricks (like "/E" in Battle).
If there will be enough people interested, I'll make a post with some information about date and time, so we'll be able to gather and play this mods together. ^^

[Welf]

I didn't really read what you said, i like the idea to push mods.
There are not many different mods and in the past i enjoyed to play different mods, so yeah it would be nice to revive some stuff.
I hope enough players will join us, when we do such an event.

edit: i suggest to add war3

[Fifi]

Thank you. ^^ I hope too, I miss playing them. I managed to somehow gather enough people to play Alien for a while today and it reminded me how great it was.
Most of what I've wrote is a complete description of those mods, so if you never played one of them or just want to know every useful feature, you can read this - but it's not necessary to get my point. ^^

[Aoe]

add basketball!

[Ryozuki]

add basketball!

that isn't a forgotten mod

BTW battlefield isn't forgotten i saw a servers and people playing it, (I'm included)

I also saw 1 catch16 server O.o.

Also you saw the new zombie servers? they now have much diferent types of zombies , also aliens, i think that now zombies is 200% better there are like 10 types of zombies and some of them have special abilities.

[Fifi]

add basketball!

Oh, you're right. I forgot about Bomb and Ghost too. I've also ommited mPanic (now xPanic?), cause it have an active community... but I guess, I should at least mention zEsc (the same applies to that cool City mod, where you do real work by carrying hammers back and forth). I gotta write about them when I'll have time. :3

Also you saw the new zombie servers? they now have much diferent types of zombies , also aliens, i think that now zombies is 200% better there are like 10 types of zombies and some of them have special abilities.

Are you speaking about those bot-controlled zombies (Monster, zChaos) or this Infection/DDRace crossover? I guess both are quite interesting, but I haven't played the latter enough to describe it properly (I don't even understand it completely yet) and the first one is more single-player. Or is there a new mod, which I haven't heard of so far? Please remember, that I wanted to focus on popular mods from the past, especially because all three of them were perfectly balanced and revolutionary. ^^ I think we can create a new topic for underrated new mods.

[Lady Saavik]

Nice guide you wrote, wow.

I played Ghost with friends a few times and it was pretty fun, but it has only 1 map?

I also enjoyed Ant mod and played all maps in a row, deen contacted the author but nothing happened in the direction of adding DDNet Ant servers.

[Fifi]

Thank you. ^^

Wasn't Ghost played on default ctf5? I don't really remember. :c

Btw. I didn't know about the Ant mod. It seems to be really hard, but cool. I'll play it when I'll have more time.

[Ryozuki]

add basketball!

Oh, you're right. I forgot about Bomb and Ghost too. I've also ommited mPanic (now xPanic?), cause it have an active community... but I guess, I should at least mention zEsc (the same applies to that cool City mod, where you do real work by carrying hammers back and forth). I gotta write about them when I'll have time. :3

Also you saw the new zombie servers? they now have much diferent types of zombies , also aliens, i think that now zombies is 200% better there are like 10 types of zombies and some of them have special abilities.

Are you speaking about those bot-controlled zombies (Monster, zChaos) or this Infection/DDRace crossover? I guess both are quite interesting, but I haven't played the latter enough to describe it properly (I don't even understand it completely yet) and the first one is more single-player. Or is there a new mod, which I haven't heard of so far? Please remember, that I wanted to focus on popular mods from the past, especially because all three of them were perfectly balanced and revolutionary. ^^ I think we can create a new topic for underrated new mods.

I'm talking about original zombie mod, not ddrace zombie, and it doesnt have bots.

Lol i used to play it a lot, it was famous? dunno xd

[Roruman]

@Ryozuki,

BTW battlefield isn't forgotten i saw a servers and people playing it, (I'm included)

There are only a few people maximum on the server, which is not enough, and they are often newbies.

I also saw 1 catch16 server O.o.

It's probably when I gathered people on it recently, just like @Fifi seems to have done for Alien (though I missed it).

@Ryozuki, @Fifi, I think Invasion is getting closer to Alien mode, though I never played the latter, but Alien seems more complete, with ways to convert Aliens to humans and energy sources for humans.

@Welf: What do you think of this idea to promote forgotten mods, which would be independent of events?