Mix It Up

[Lu7ky]

New Entry: King of the Hill mod by user: Jip

At the time of posting this mod was Version 9 (updated 2020-08-01) and 58.5 Kb.

Newest update: (2020-12-24) at 200.9 kb. (Version 10)

King of the Hill (often known by the abbreviation KoTH) does not always involve literal hills rather, metaphorical ones. In this mod you (and your opponents) along with any teams made try to put as much mass value on the center of the map to score points and ultimately win the game.

(The built in KoTH mod is currently out of order and will not generate the hill.)
Fun fact this mod was made to replace what is currently the built-in version! ~ Jip

Found under the Mods tab within the FAF client with a brief search you can find this mod quickly.
Below is one way of how to do so, please note position(s) may vary in the future.

The mod functions by drawing a circle in the center of the map (with default settings) where units are recognized by mass cost (extra for your ACU). The hill is owned and scores are earned by the team with the highest number (above a certain increasing threshold). It can be contested by any other player or team. The team with the point under control will have a mass income penalty while simultaneously gaining a benefit decided by the host in the lobby (only one may be set if any and may not be changed in game).

All teams will start with their faction at T1. The team owning the point will receive points over time. Points will automatically unlock T2, T3 then T4 with the currently leading team getting their respected tier first.

The player or team reaching the goal amount of points will receive the win should there be any opposing players left.

Map choice can make this play out very different each time.
Putting your ACU on the point or general flanking the point can be very dangerous but rewarding if done correctly.
Set up long range fire-bases to remove or keep the enemy off of your point!
Spam is important but lower mass value units will not be as effective later.
Pick a strategy and commit to it as you opponent may have all of their army in one spot.
Forge temporary alliances in games with more than 2 sides to take down those closing in on victory.

Adjustable settings: (mod native found at bottom of options panel after AI)

Possible settings (not mod native) to help "mix things up":
Change victory conditions away from "assassination" to discourage sniping and encourage forward ACU movement along with point focus.
Change share conditions to allow the game to continue gloriously with "full share".
Change share conditions to change the tides of battle with "traitors" or "liberators".
Change base game type: I recommend LABWars, Nomads and Claustrophobia.

Cons:
Does not pair well with 1 team games (ex. Survival).
Only loosely affects 1 vs 1 games.
Requires download from all parties and will not appear in custom games by default (Check the "Show Modded Games" box under the Play tab).

FAF Specific. (Though those here are likely from FAF.)
Always un-ranked.
AI do not play well with this mod.
Map choice dependent (prefers multi path maps).
Discourages land only settings (only a con to some).
May not pair well with heavy resource or unit mods.

Experiment and try this nifty mod today!

[Jip]

A nice surprise to see the King of the Hill mod in here!

I'll fix the points-thresholds for tech unlocking not being correct tomorrow .

[Lu7ky]

@Jip Thank you greatly, please try to update me when you do so I can test and update this article.
What it appears is the points shown as required are up to date while the actual are not and T4 is equal to that of the cap (game ends at same time it is unlocked).

[Jip]

@Lu7ky I already had a fixed version on my local storage - uploaded it. It contains:

• Game options (tagged with Koth in the AI Options)
• Fixed the points for tech levels being incorrect
• Fixed the modifier for having the hill being incorrect

Known issues:

• There is no 'unit' that spawns to benefit you. It is part of the options however.

I hope to see a game or two - it would allow me to continue the development! As without testing things become a bit of a gamble.

Fun fact: this mod was supposed to replace the built-in version

[Lu7ky]

@Jip Nice, I think I shall work that fun fact in now and check out those options, i assume the download the same one (will be checking either way)

[Jip]

Yes - it is a new version of the same mod. Make sure to uninstall it first if it doesn't allow you to install

[Lu7ky]

@Jip Done, I did the manual way of going via the mod tab just in case thank you.

[Psions]

Just make traitor / etc mods override the "give option" by employing the same logic as the "auto give" mod, but running first. I assume if you are hooking two mods on the same LUA portion, then one will override the other, or their will be some sequence in which is processed first?

Hell, you could also just create a hashtable that logs all units on construction and death, and player ownership and use that to get around it.

Shouldn't be an issue processing wise so long as you don't go around creating memory leaks.

[Lu7ky]

@Psions Tbh it very likely will be a huge thing to code especially as Traitors and Defectors are built into the vanilla game. That is if (and I heard we don't) have full access to the original game's code.
To do this we would most likely need to recreate the mods from scratch then employ an override to the game's settings and any user created mods. This again though results in full access to then adjusting the original code.

[nine2]

Where have you gone Lu7ky?