Making unique npcs is sort of a pain in the ass with hammer, I try my best, but there's so much you can do until things start to get really convoluted and very time consuming. A good example is when I was working on the gunships, while it's simple to spawn them in and have them move and shoot, there's also a lot of things like checking if the wave is over when it dies and then there's a few timers that are being enabled and disabled, I'm sure most people who look at the vmf would get very confused at the whole setup lol. And sometimes the desired effect is watered down to the point where it feels too scripted and too linear, gets to the point where using a lua script might be better. I really want to avoid that linear feel in the map. Right now the most linear thing about the map is the soldier who runs in with the keycard, he always spawns in the same spot no matter what, and this is because I have tied the card to his body(you can sometimes see it when he crouches) and I can't have him spawn in a random spawn location like I can with every other npc.

While I said they are a pain in the ass, there's still some ideas I have that I'd like to add. An example is a soldier that can randomly spawn that is immune to gunfire but vulnerable to explosive/fire/energy damage. And I'm interested in that sniper you suggested. I'd rather not use HL2's default sniper but instead I'd like to equip a soldier with a custom swep that uses the sniper rifle you see in EP2[vignette.wikia.nocookie.net]

I definitely love progressive environmental damage, this one will have to be a side project though, making a destructive environement can take a little while since you have to manually create every single piece that gets destroyed. I might dumb this down into larger chunks though, while not as impressive it'd still give you that immersive feeling.

The HL2 assault system is incredibly annoying to work with, this system is only effective on linear maps, this is why a lot of wave based maps are long hallways or are a fort in the middle of the map, that's because that's the most potential you can get out of the hl2 assault system, I have to avoid using this and only relay the player's location to the combine and have their AI do the rest. However besides the assault system, there's the standoff system I've been experimenting with in the map. You can enable it in the spawn room under Tactical AI, it's another side project because I'm still trying to figure out the best way to implement so right now it's tagged as experimental.


It's a lot of work, I don't really want to make any promises, but I still want to make this map fun and immersive.

I forgot to mention that there's also another problem with squads, for some reason it's programmed in source that only two soldiers can fire at a time in squads, this makes it really annoying to work with when there's a large amount of soldiers. In V1 the when you have 15 soldiers swarming you, you only seen like 2 or 4 of them shooting at you, it was really dumb to watch, and not challenging at all. Even if I split the groups, they will still operate at half capacity. If there's any way to make them work as a proper squad, I'd love to know.

Originally posted by Cyrus:

I forgot to mention that there's also another problem with squads, for some reason it's programmed in source that only two soldiers can fire at a time in squads, this makes it really annoying to work with when there's a large amount of soldiers. In V1 the when you have 15 soldiers swarming you, you only seen like 2 or 4 of them shooting at you, it was really dumb to watch, and not challenging at all. Even if I split the groups, they will still operate at half capacity. If there's any way to make them work as a proper squad, I'd love to know.

I'm not exactly sure how that can be changed, I've seen a few AI improvement addons around the workshop but I'm not sure how those would fair with the map currently. Glad to help where I can though, great work on the map!

I'd also be interested in adding some improvements to the map. One problem I come across all the time is that wherever I go, there seem to be more combine shooting at me. How about creating a building that serves as more of a base for the player so they have some sort of rest stop or a place to regroup?

There actually is a hidden room in the map that sort of serves that purpose, and there is a clue that leads to it. I'd like to see if someone can find it.

I found it! :)
Look for the running generator.

Hey guys, i really love this map and the new improvements, such as Combine classes, and new areas that provide Health, Ammo, and cover. My suggestions is i agree to have better Ai Tactics for both sides, and Field Engineers to setup Turrets and Snipers that can shoot and move in a key location and breachers too. Now my idea is evening the odds for the Resistance, for an example a Rebel Shield comes in and you be notified if a Special Resistance class enters the map just like the Combine class Notifications, and what the Rebel Shields do is they shield them selfs and provide cover and firepower for there teammates and to the player. There should also be Rebel Soldiers if thats possible, and i'm sure the one problem you may have is WHERE... IS-MY-SUPER-REBEL-SPAWN? But overall i rate this map 10/10 Keep up with this Amazing map.

So it's been very quiet here for sometime, i had another idea for the Resistance. The Rebel Shotgunner because the most annoying thing about the Rebels is they keep T-Posing for no reasons, and i think a Rebel Shotgunner can handle the rest of it. And can do close range combat and assaulting the combine and do more.

I want to say I love this map and unfortunately as of right now I don't. At some point in time the tweak to the Human Resistance AI has made this map with the AI ( imo the most fun way to play ) almost completely unplayable as I spend most of my time shooting at my allies due to their new behavior of swarming the player and making it impossible to move. If not for this annoyance this would be an easy 10/10, please tweak

That's odd, I didn't touch their behavior besides tripling their HP ever since I uploaded the map.

Although I think I know why they might not be making way for the player, try typing "ent_fire rebelfollow kill" in the console and see if that works.

I noticed a difference but I still seem to get swarmed every time I try to move, it makes moving around the map a chore as the rebels seem to crowd around me and just stand there. I tried disabling all other addons as a test but the behavior still persists on my end. Thanks for your response

Same here, i had this issue before and thats why i want the Resistance to be improved.

I have a suggestion. One thing that the combine welcomes itself with is, in my opinion, working best in places with alot of cover where the AI can both flank, and welcome itself to diversity. The open spaces such as the main road and slope behind the warehouse and combine base don't welcome themselves to good spots to fight in. I find myself hiding out in the new area with closed corridors for a more interesting fight. Not to mention how, while the AI is impressive and works moderately well in the map, apart from those two open areas, I see them hiding out to both of the guns in the map, and given how wide both of their sidelines are, can get annoying.

In my opinion, I suggest adding more cover, be it just normal cover or maybe even breakable like fences or such. Those work well with things like one combine hiding out behind one, and then after it dies, a shotgunner comes out to finish the job. Another thing would be the mounted guns, which have too big of a sightline in my opinion. And also, maybe make the empty ledge behind the combine base and warehouse a bit more interesting. Perhaps some sewer pipes and railing, or a small construction zone to give way to a sort of staircase firefight, if that makes sense?

A few other small suggests:

-Making the storage house in the corner's windows on the roof breakable, perhaps for a combine ambush from the roof if your cooped up in there for too long, or a gunship/hunter chopper/strider gunning from the top.

-Cover on the road, it's hard to move from one building to another when you barely got much to cover you when doing so. But given how there's an APC that can start driving around the road, it's hard, I imagine, but what I suggest is using crates or breakable cover, that will respawn after the APC is down for the count.

-More interesting layouts for the buildings interior. One is the Supermarket, It's mostly just one cover in the checkout table, and the isles. It's hard to cover yourself, and there's only two ways to enter, both of which are doors, one close to your best cover, and both of them don't help if your hiding in the isle. You can't even do much with the freezers with how you can't fit in there. image making it back up a bit so you can enter into a sort of hallway. And also, the alley in the back is bland and mostly just that one burning trash dumpster.

-Option for the NPCs to either follow you like they do now, leaving only the four (3 rebels, 1 medic.) or having them spread out around the map. (Could be more the just the four.) I'd spawn in my own on sandbox to solve this problem, but they all keep shooting the mounted guns on the combine base and corner storage house.

I am currently working on a newer map so right now I am not working on onslaught. I really appreciate the suggestions you have given me. Most of the map is pretty old, it's a little hard to creatively work with especially with adding cover on the roads(maybe I'm just logic brained and not good with details?), although I don't really intend for people to fight on the roads as they are only pathways for APCs and striders to use.

I do like the suggestion to make the glass on the roof breakable, when I get back to working on this map you can expect the next update to have those windows breakable(and perhaps combine dropping in as well).

I also do have plans for the gas station, I plan on putting a small office area inside the building with a window to shoot out of.

Lastly you can toggle another set of rebel spawners that have rebels that will not follow you, but it has to be done through the console:
ent_fire toggletestrebels trigger