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Suggestion Improvements to the Formidable Racetrack and ideas...

Discussion in 'Wishlist' started by Ben Coyote, Jun 2, 2012.

  1. Ben Coyote

    Ben Coyote Member

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    After watching the first innagural race at the new Formidable Firebase race track, I am going t make a few suggestions as to how to improve the track for everyone to enjoy.. So if you are reading this, be prepared to take a lot of notes... cause it would be ince to have these improvements added to this gread strack...

    First up.. "guard rails or barriers": Now on most racing circuts today in RL a lot of the cricutes have barriers around the tracks, and I noticed this one simple defficency. Because of this there have bene some disputes as to whether if someone is going "Off track " and thus potentially cheating to win a race... I would suggest putting barriers on both sides of the track to help discourage cheating. so that would be one idea... Also the surfaces can be natural or futuristic in nature and elevation changes are always a must.

    Track width: This can be variable and this allows drivers to poss in certain sections and force them to make gutsy decisions.. so a variable width makes this tack clannging..


    Natural obstacles as means to give challenges: This idea came up to me the first day I got on and tested the track... and the one thing I did like was the "Rock Chicane" that is located after the first bridge... This gives the players a chance to try out their driving prowess at handling corners.. so I would say keep if not add a couple of these Natural obstacle curves to keep the plyer from trying to keep from second guessing themselves.. and to have the practice their stering of the vehcile in question. One positive note ar the double hairpins near the end of the track.. a great way to practice thing like "Drifting' which can be done in the hover pods..

    Bridges and Tunnels: Now I have no real further addenenda on this but one tunnel was a tad too small for any vehcile to get into .. including overpods.. This type of situation needs higher clearnace... and thus make it able to enter and leave the turnnel.. bridges are not an issue either.. after all this is a natural yet futuristic course that can be made more enjoyable.. for the drivers..

    Grandstands: Now this is where the full idea of any racetrack comes in.. people who are spectators need a place to sit.. and in fact a grandstand or gradstand ideas would be an excellent thing to help attact the players to enjoy either as a driver or a spectator.... there are sveral secitons where grand stand seating can be added..

    Furthermore banners or signs along the track can help promote the course greatly.. and thus attract more fans to the races.

    Finally competions itself: considering that the Formidable firebase track is the first of it's kind on arkadis, I feel that competitions should be by means of the hoverpods closs.. and no there should not be mixed classes as there would be disadvantges to some players.. I suggest that it should be broken down into groups...

    Exploration Hover pods - Rookie drivers
    Hoverpod Mk I : Formula 3 type driving.- Amateurs
    Hoverpod MK II: Formula 2 type driving - Mid range drivers
    Hoverpod Mk III: Formula 1 Type driving.. - Professionals.

    Scoring would be based on finish for example take a look at any Fomula I u idea..

    First - sixth places would be awarded points..

    1st -10 pts
    2nd - 6 pts
    3rd - 4 pts.
    4th - 3 pts.
    5th - 2 pts.
    6th - 1 pt.

    The person who has the most point after a series of radces at the track would be crowned Arkadian Champion.. and can recompete in the following year's race.. this actually does add to the thrill as each category would have their own challengers and champions..

    Also I could suggest where to place Barriers and even grandstands as to where it makes it enjoyable to players either driving or watching..

    So ther eyou g. a Full overview of taking the first track and making it a top notch race track for everyone to enjoy

    Benjamin Ben Coyote
    aka "The Blind Sniper"
     
  2. robotech master

    robotech master Member

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    Spotters shouldn't be in vehs they need to be on foot on the course.

    smaller heats(4 max on that course)

    Making sure everyone is at the start line when "go"/"start"/"etc" is sounded. The 4th heat half the ppl were past the bridge by the time the guy said 2 on the count.
     
  3. Raito

    Raito Member

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    I'd like to see some kind of gate/barricade system if possible so organizers can make their own route more easier (no shortcuts, make a longer route etc.)

    I like the idea about banners, you could advertise real companies and have races weekly or monthly, or just advertisement from players. Of course the advertisement would be more appropriate to have at start where there is fairly large unused gray square are.

    Removing Oro's is a must and removing Oratans from the tunnel.

    Introducing some kind of ready steady GO display that someone trigers (organizer pushes a button) would be very nice.
     
  4. Snape

    Snape Master of the BanHammer Staff Member PAF Administrator

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    Oh i like this idea! Someone post this in the wishlist
     
  5. Neil

    Neil Adviser Pro Users Arkadia Adviser

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    Actually, they do need to be in the air in order to see what the drivers are doing.... you can't see much standing on the ground.

    We also need a clear finish line with a banner.

    I do like the idea of having multiple ways to go, it's a great idea... some ways easy but they add a couple seconds to the time, others tough but if you don't flip, you come out ahead.

    I also like the fact that you have to drive down the ledges, and can fall into the water if you're not careful, it adds a lot to the thrill.

    Oh, one more suggestion... add some kind of pedestal thing where the winners can stand to receive their awards and take photos. 1st place highest, 2nd middle, 3rd lowest, like in the olympics.
     
  6. Puck

    Puck Adviser Pro Users Arkadia Adviser

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    Turrets in the staging area, please. :)

    Thanks very much to those that spent considerable time herding playful Oro away from the masses.
     
  7. Lee DeLioncourt

    Lee DeLioncourt Arkadian Outrider Platinum Member

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    Thanks Ben, I like almost all of the suggestions here so far myself. Not sure about the grandstands though as its a multi route track that winds around such a distance not really a place to sit and actually see the race?

    My fav suggestions in here are: (edited for favs)



    They did, in this thread, which is in the wishlist :) Have another coffee darlin :coffee: (runs from the hammer :whistle:)


    All great ideas, well done on folks :)
     
  8. RexDameon

    RexDameon Active Member Pro Users

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    I wish you could set oratan to not agro ever so that a couple would stay on a ridge and just shoot at passing cars.
     
  9. Snape

    Snape Master of the BanHammer Staff Member PAF Administrator

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    Like the sand people at the pod race in Starwars Ep1?
     
  10. Cyborg Bill

    Cyborg Bill Well-Known Member Pro Users

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    Some of the Ideas for the track are already in the works. The Oro were not supposed to be there at all so that spawn is being totally removed next patch from what we heard when the race details were being worked out to begin with. Second A Team already knows about the tunnel and that should be resolved next patch as well. Also a distinct finish line was already discussed as well as some kind of starter system.

    Its not like some of the issues at the race were not known of before race day there was simply no resolution to be had for them at the time of the race. Its nice to see discussion over this new system but the ones who keep pointing fingers and sending little personal jabs are gettin old. Believe me if Teshik had control over some of these things he would have for sure made the races more functional. Over all he did a kick ass job for a first event and should be thanked for putting forth the effort he did to make sure as many people that came could have the fun they did.

    One of the biggest issues that no one really expected was the turn out of that many players. Even though the A team does an incredible job with textures and the landscapes efficiency that entire area may need to be tweeked a little more to help lag if that many people will be there regularly for big races. I run on a fully liquid cooled system with i7 920 an ati 5770 max over clocked and 12 gig of ram and still had issues when I flew in with all the people that were there with all the vehicles spawned all over. I cant imagine what people where dealing with with lesser systems or internet connections. Specially poor Teshik who has a limited connection to begin with where he lives.

    Over all race day was a success as we managed to learn many things that could be dealt with to make the next one an even better experience. Lastly anyone not happy with what was done is more then welcome to come put the effort forth that Teshik did to make the race a better time for everyone so you can see what it takes to put on an event that big.

    To Teshik and the Arkadian Advisors Thank you for the great effort you put into this and I hope you feel proud for pulling this off as you guys did a great job.
     
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  11. Neil

    Neil Adviser Pro Users Arkadia Adviser

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    I think this is the biggest problem... I didn't generally have trouble with lag there, except when I logged out and logged back in, it took quite a while for everything to load up. I can imagine how difficult it would be with a slow internet connection. I have a newish computer that runs well on medium settings but framerate goes down to a little over 20 on high. I ran the race on low settings, and must say that the race track itself loaded fine and as I drove around it, I didn't experience any lag during the race. I have a good connection when it's not acting up.

    I'm not sure what the solution to lag is... obviously, you can remove unnecessary vehicles, but there is always going to be a crowd of avatars for this kind of event, it could be worse... at least for the drivers, the "crowd lag" affects only the beginning and the ending of the race where there is not a lot of technical driving going on.

    Full, live video coverage of races would be really cool. I flew in my VTOL over the track during the heats that I didn't compete in, and I must say it was really fun to watch from the air. I wonder... if you filled up several helicopter with 7 avatars each, would that create more lag for drivers than if each helicopter had 1 avatar in it? Maybe instead of stands, the crowd could watch the race from above. A few vehicles hovering far enough above the track don't seem to create too much lag.
     
  12. Cyborg Bill

    Cyborg Bill Well-Known Member Pro Users

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    Take it one step further after reading this post and make the grandstands like hover pads from the jetson's or somethingf like that to get the crowd above the race seperating the added drawing lag for races at ground level maybe?
     
  13. Ben Coyote

    Ben Coyote Member

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    Great ideas so far.. and a Name for the track..

    Wow, I didn't think that such a hread would have so many racing supporters..

    But after the 12.6.4 update, the tunnel update has been fixed and now you can runhoverpods and some vehciles thrugh it no issue...

    As for the barriers, I would say that this would be in areas where racers could be possibly cheating by cutting corners.. Other than that, most of the track would be pristine..

    Grandstands? Great idea cyborg Bill, I like your style of thinking..

    The Starer signal.. well if Cyrus and the boys at the Ark Studios know how to make one work (or some barrier system to allow some sort of fair start. Then by all means let's fave

    Also one final tweak at the finish line.. some sort of line or way to demarcate the actual line. (And for those too close to call races it's just a photo finish camera.. just in case (Probably never will have to use it, but just in case ;)


    Which then gets me to the final point.. a name for the track..

    Now that we've removed the pesky oros and the ocassional obnoxious Oratan Slasher from the area (those Unruly Oratan, they're drunken sport fans!), and replace the vast majority of these mobs with Just Ferans..

    Might I suggest a name for the sign at the road junction to the road leading to the track.

    Could have a picture of a feran (in flight) and a name next to it?

    And I got the perfect name for it.

    Feran Park Racetrack

    How's that for a name?

    Any other ideas guys? Let's hear them.. after all this is starting to be a premier race track, for arkadia and who knows? Maybe we can set the standard other planets will have to beat.

    Benjamin Ben Coyote, Arkadians Unleashed