We recently had some objections to the use of KILL_ALL in #pickup Fortress. The current trend is to use KILL_ALL when players disconnect or crash (happens a lot!), or if they are AFK (often due to some kind of lag or crash). Generally most people approve of this practice, including myself. However it has the following drawbacks:
- Frustratingly stops play in the most jarring way possible.
- Not always clear why KILL_ALL was used
- When playing with sound on it's very LOUD!
I've long thought a "TIME OUT" feature would be nice (even though the relentless nature of the game kind of demands things keep moving). I propose that rather than using KILL_ALL we instead INCLUDE a timeout.cfg and timein.cfg that allows people to continue playing, but suspends any scoring. See my example below:
Code: Select all
# Time Out
CENTER_MESSAGE TIME OUT
CONSOLE_MESSAGE 0xffff00TIME OUT
SCORE_KILL 0
SCORE_WIN 0
FORTRESS_CONQUERED_SCORE 0
Code: Select all
#Time In
CENTER_MESSAGE TIME IN
CONSOLE_MESSAGE 0xffff00TIME IN
SCORE_KILL 2
SCORE_WIN 6
FORTRESS_CONQUERED_SCORE 4
Instead of a jarring halt to play, players are given a center message indicating that the game has paused indefinitely until DC's/AFK players return and shuffle. Instead of using up several rounds, all of this can be done within a single round while the remaining players stay warmed up.
If it works well we may want to put limitations on how it's used in the future, e.g. Two time outs per match or something.