Rushers will be Banned

We all know we have had a chronic problem with map rushers for a long time. We have lower gravity on our servers, and although this is a lot of fun, it causes a few players to rush the maps.

We have been lenient up till now, and have been kicking players when they rush the maps, and after a few offenses eventually banning them. This doesn't really work very well and makes quite a headache tracking which player rushed how many times before we eventually ban them. We always have a few players in various stages of getting themselves banned for rushing. It doesn't really discourage them and when they finally get banned they seem surprised and complain.

The last couple days we even attempted to lower the map timelimits down to ten minutes in an attempt to see if this reduced the rushing. It had no effect on the rushing and only annoyed everyone. So we reset the timelimits back like they were before (20 minutes for most maps).

The obvious solution is to set the gravity back to normal, but we actually like having low gravity, it makes our servers more fun. Or write custom mapscripts for every map to block every possible avenue that they can be rushed. This would mean putting fake walls all over the maps.

To simplify this for everyone we are going to start banning rushers on the first offense. This should make it a lot easier to track how many times a player has rushed (as in you rush once and we get rid of you). Also we can accelerate the process of getting rid of the repeat offenders by just cutting to the end of the current process and banning them.

So, if someone finishes the map in the first five minutes, or jumps ahead of all the other objectives and finishes the map (like what happens on Minas ten times a day) you can expect to get a ban. We will report it internally and then issue a ban and the problem will be quickly solved.

I expect to have to do this a few times, and possibly there will be some drama initially, but this should allow us to focus on the rushers without punishing the community with unwanted changes to the maps and timelimits.

Those of you who do not rush should benefit from this harsher policy.

Thanks for your patience. Obviously we would prefer not to do this at all, but I recognize it needs some kind of final solution.

obit

It's good to be tough on rushers, backplanters, planters-ahead and everything in between.  

First, I do apologize (Selene was there) for yesterday in open chat calling out a cheater.  I was spec'ing him at the time, I thought that was enough and didn't remember how to record.  F12, now I know, thanks Selene.  Anyway, that silly guy did it again anyway (backplant, plant ahead) ... you'd think somebody would learn after the map has been restarted for cheating.  In his defense though, Minas was set to a 10-min map and there were more Allies than Axis.

On to a question.  Rocket jumps with objective in hand.  Is this considered wall-jumping at all or cheating?  For example, it's common to see people rocket jump across the map on Baserace with the objective.  Or yesterday Nero and I did it on Face-CTF.  Also Minas on the upper level.  What's the verdict on that?  Must we run along with our stupid little feet everywhere once the objective is in hand??

Thanks Obit & Selene for keeping us honest and keeping the game fun.  That's why we come back.

Rocket-jumping is OK. Baserace is unrushable anyway.

Rocket-jumping on Minas to get up on top to camp from above is OK. This is not rushing. This is an example of why I don't want to add fake walls all over Minas. Half the fun is being able to go up high and camp with a panzer or sten.

Using off-map locations to sneak around defenders after you have the objective (like when people use the treetops on Haunted Mansion) is OK.

Using rocket-launching to cross the map after you have the objective is OK.

The main thing that annoys everyone is when the map ends early because someone completed the final objective too early. There are other annoyances that can vary from map to map but this is the main thing I want to correct with this policy.

Having a simple policy (rush = ban) is easier to enforce across all the maps, easier to communicate to all the players. Half of our players don't understand English or don't care what the rules are, so we  have to make things very simple.

This is a great policy because personally my 2 fav parts of the servers are low gravity and the fast weapons taking one away wouldn't make it the same thanks for working around this issue.

The treetops? What a great way to bypass the bots, and defenders.

Treetops, yes.  The trees lining the perimeter of the Haunted Mansion map make a wall of sorts that you can walk along.  Of course you're visible walking up there, if somebody bothers to look up.  Generally you have to rocket-jump up there though, and be careful not to fall down on the other side.

I have seen mods on other servers that prevent rushing by not allowing EOG until 5-10 minutes has elapsed.  That may be a solution.  Also, I know there are mods that keep the bots from completing objectives.  That would certainly allow the game to go it's course.
As for backplanting, this really irritates me on minas (not to mention grabbing the obj early).  Especially the satchel door (4 or 5).

But...is it really backplanting if the bots can EASILY get to the dyno? 

Example, Supply depot, where the bots are already on the other side of the main gate, or castle attack, when the bots are already on the other side of the tunnel doors.

As I understand the guidelines, the idea is not to plant where the bots can't reach it in time to disarm.

TwistedDesciple wrote:The treetops? What a great way to bypass the bots, and defenders.

Actually, the bots (even on their lowest setting) spot you pretty easily up there as soon as you fire one shot.

It is a lot of fun to have one allied and one axis at the treetops, looking through the binoculars to see where the other is, and trying to be the first to get your shot off.

I'm usually a little slow other draw, and get killed (frequently by BAYMAN)