Duel at Dawn Invisible Wall

[Jazzza]

The invisible walls of Duel at Dawn need to be extended. When you collide with it on the north (I think) side of the map, it turns your ship into one of the big metal structures causing you serious damage. It also adds confusion (we had all 4 ships of a 2v2 trying to get around that structure, all colliding).

Ontop of that, can there be some kind of indicator of where the invisible walls are? Maybe some small text at the top of the screen with a warning or something.

[N-Sunderland]

What, like the edge of the map? If you don't know where they are, look at the map

[Lord Dick Tim]

I know exactly this spot and it's been the death of me on more then one occasion.  Can't stand feeding kills to the terrain.

[Jazzza]

What, like the edge of the map? If you don't know where they are, look at the map

It's kind of hard when you're piloting the ship and engaged in battle. In many instances I've had to abandon my mouse to fly my ship with two hands on my keyboard. I don't have time to check my map.

[RearAdmiralZill]

What, like the edge of the map? If you don't know where they are, look at the map

It's kind of hard when you're piloting the ship and engaged in battle. In many instances I've had to abandon my mouse to fly my ship with two hands on my keyboard. I don't have time to check my map.

You cant really blame anyone but yourself then for running your ship into the map edge. I know the spot you are talking about, and it can be pretty unforgiving, but remembering a spot on the map that you cant go around else you get grinded into debris should be pretty easy.

[Kanimal]

You cant really blame anyone but yourself then for running your ship into the map edge. I know the spot you are talking about, and it can be pretty unforgiving, but remembering a spot on the map that you cant go around else you get grinded into debris should be pretty easy.

While I agree that it's not hard to remember once you know about it, it feels like something that shouldn't be occuring.  It takes away from the experience.  I think there should be a soft boundary that allows you to temporarily go beyond the map edges.  After a certain period of time you ship is destroyed if you remain out of bounds.

[RearAdmiralZill]

While I agree that it's not hard to remember once you know about it, it feels like something that shouldn't be occuring.  It takes away from the experience.  I think there should be a soft boundary that allows you to temporarily go beyond the map edges.  After a certain period of time you ship is destroyed if you remain out of bounds.

These are technically soft boundaries that push you back into the correct area. I find that a lot more user friendly then a timer followed by your destruction because your boat didnt want to cooperate after you go out of bounds. The wind on some of the maps would also not help things when youve strayed too far.

Dual at dawn is the smallest map in the game. 99% of other matches, if youre hitting the map edge, you dont really know the game yet.

[Kanimal]

I think inexplicably losing control of your ship because of an invisible wall is less user friendly by a long shot.  If you can't get your ship under control within 30 seconds of going 'out-of-bounds' or whatnot I don't know what to say.  Outright destruction as a penalty would probably be harsh, but there are other options.

And they are hard boundaries as they do not allow you to pass through and I didn't get a bounce back effect, it's just stops the ship.  It is definitely an edge case as you said, but edge cases still have to be dealt with.  It's especially bad with DAD because they often start you very close to the trap as it were.

[RearAdmiralZill]

We can agree that destruction is a bad move to make, but other options remain. The introduction of wind to that map was a mistake in my opinion due to its cramped quarters. Having much control in there while still keeping pinned to the enemy is no small feat. It does bounce you (its very slight, and easiest seen while spectating a match) but if you keep ramming into the edge you will just drag along it until you hit a corner.

The borders there could stand to be expanded a touch to better accommodate 4 ships as if im not mistaken it was initially designed as a 1v1 map and then made a 2v2. The introduction of wind there has really changed the dynamic of the map. I apologize if i came off brash, as it sounded like at first you just didnt care for map edges at all.

[Captain Smollett]

I thought I'd chime in here, since to be honest, this has actually always bothered me a bit as well. As a fairly experienced pilot I learned the hard way that you can't make it around that particular debris; the problem is that unfortunately it looks as if you can. I can't tell you how many times I tried to go around it to get an advantageous position on my enemy only to be inexorably slammed into the wall. Now in the scope of things this is admittedly a very minor issue in an otherwise brilliant map; but in a perfect world I'd love to either be able to go around the object in the first place or have a physical barrier that visually shows the pilot the impossibility of the maneuvers so it's never attempted at all.

[Machiavelliest]

I thought I'd chime in here, since to be honest, this has actually always bothered me a bit as well. As a fairly experienced pilot I learned the hard way that you can't make it around that particular debris; the problem is that unfortunately it looks as if you can.

Putting an obstacle you avoid laterally by an invisible wall that impedes lateral movement is just bad game mechanics.  It's annoying and frustrating to have to stare at the map to see whether or not I'm going to be forced into colliding with an obstacle.  Nobody wants to have their gameplay reduced to staring at triangles on a .png. 

You cant really blame anyone but yourself then for running your ship into the map edge. I know the spot you are talking about, and it can be pretty unforgiving, but remembering a spot on the map that you cant go around else you get grinded into debris should be pretty easy.

Expecting a player to remember a part where the game mechanics don't function properly as a way of addressing the problem is a pretty poor practice.

[Ccrack]

i quite like this map especially with the wind makeing piloting more fun. 

i do think the edge of the map where that big pillar is should be extended slightly or if not add something on the outside of the boundry like more wreckage to make it clear that you cant go around that side of it

[Jazzza]

What caused me to report this issue is in a 2v2 match when every ship was attempting to go around that debris. It was stupid and I was quite frustrated.

[RearAdmiralZill]

What caused me to report this issue is in a 2v2 match when every ship was attempting to go around that debris. It was stupid and I was quite frustrated.

Haha, we've all been there. I did it plenty in my first piloting days till i just remembered its not passable from the outside. Some kind of added debris to really show its not passable wouldnt hurt, but no need to go changing map edge mechanics for one spot on the smallest map, in my opinion. Maybe a slight increase to make it passable would also be viable.

[awkm]

We don't have the manpower to change the map boundary mechanic.  I'm also not going to change the level layout because that would necessitate redoing lightmapping which also takes a chunk of time our tech artist needs to do other things like making the game perform better for lower end machines.

The wall is not invisible, it is clearly indicated on the map screen.  You fly outside (and you can even see your ship icon float outside sometimes) and you will start to get pushed back.

Although I will reexamine the map itself.  I was given incorrect instructions many builds ago and have needed to go back and reformat the map images.  If there is a problem with the image, it will be patched next round.