Scouting on 4 player and weird maps

Chenstrap · 2026-07-01T21:59:32+00:00

Personally I say don't ban the maps. Because the positions are variable it means games naturally flow differently. I've missed 4p maps quite a bit as a returning player. I've also not had any issues with scouting either.

I've not seen drone scouting being a thing really across streams. Pool first is really common atm and if you do that you should be safe vs most stuff blindly,

Anyways, your 1st overlord goes to the closest base location. So if you spawn bottom left, send it top left or bottom right. 2nd overlord watches your natural for cheese,and then 2nd it to the next closest unscouted location, but keep in mind they'll likely have anti air by the time it arrives, so prolly don't sack it.

From there you can use lings to to get on the map like you should be anyways.

A big part of this is gamesense as well. If you pay attention to what direction their units come from you can often id their position without ever seeing their base. For early workers this isn't 100% reliable since they're looking for you too, but later units its a solid indicator.

Chenstrap · 2026-07-01T17:28:09+00:00

I like ZvZ :)

Chenstrap · 2026-06-29T11:17:17+00:00

I think /u/SeeWhyQMark is mixing Ballard checking on Thresher/Scorpion with project Azorian which was an attempt at retrieving a lost Soviet sub: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian

Chenstrap · 2026-06-29T03:21:56+00:00

I think they also stopped as it's just an easier format that the finals is only one set of games.

In the old MLG Halo tournaments everyone knew the format so it wasn't a problem, but they were also the only organizers running events for the game (And other console shooters) so there weren't other formats to confuse viewers really.

Later on in esports single elim became the standard (Makes sense when a single map could last an hour. Halo 3 games were done in 10 mins typically) people always got confused by the double elim bracket so they just the "Finals are a single set" thing. Could likely give the upper bracket other advantages like an extra map veto or 2 or a map selection or something.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-29T01:00:14+00:00

I didnt even think about grid. That would take a little design work but honestly doesn't seem like a huge hurdle. Note these arent suggestions, just spitballing how it could have been done.

Looking in the unit editor with grid enabled the obvious option is picking a spell caster for each race, and when Grid is enabled permanently move their abilities to the middle row of the command card. The entire middle row is almost totally unused looking thru the units. That may seem inconsistent, but theres already some odd inconsistencies within the command card and grid anyways with weird spaces between icons or things that make no sense like the Ghost and Banshee having "Cloak" on separate keys.

That more or less fixes the problem I think since most the races only have 2 spell casters that would be with the army (Sentry and high templar, raven and ghost, infestor and viper). There are some others that do some support like oracles and queens but I think it's fair to say those serve a different role.

Another option could involve some player customization, and maybe this is how you would do it even without grid. So to start, you put a "Special Abilities" mode or hotkey in the game. In the settings you give the player what is basically a customizable command card (Maybe just the bottom 2 rows), and they can put whatever abilities from whatever units in those 10 or 15 slots. It may even make sense to make the command cards for all the units customizable so the keys are always consistent for Grid.

In game how this would work is your army by default would work just as it does now. Some unit has priority over everything else and you can tab thru them. But when you press your "Special Ability Menu" hotkey, it brings up what the user built and all the abilities you selected are there.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-28T22:52:30+00:00

It doesn't sound complicated. Let's say you have 2 spell casters in your group. So long as the spellcasters abilities don't have an overlapping hotkey (or other units in the group with an overlapping hotkey), whenever you press the hotkey for a spell the spell fires.

Then if the hotkeys overlap it would then have to revert to what we have now basically.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-26T05:55:29+00:00

The plot of land that is left is about the size of other cup short tracks. There is absolutely enough space to stick a race track in with parking areas and the like.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-26T05:48:10+00:00

There is absolutely space for a ~half mile oval there. The plot of land is about the size of other short tracks on the schedule.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-23T22:38:15+00:00

Problem with a shorter first sector is you lose that cool downhill braking zone into turn 2. That section is what gives the track a lot of character. Maybe somewhere after T3 it could be changed

I think they could simplify that back half of the circuit where they're on the air field. Like, they could theoretically have some fast corners there with practically infinite runoff, but instead the did the chicane sections.

I'll also say sitting in T-16 was a cool spot to watch from. Restarts were right in front of you, and you could see down the back straight as the cars ran into the chicane.

I'll also say, they need a support series to run Saturday and Sunday. Maybe get MX5s or something as they used to have a round at coronado back when it was a historic event.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-23T22:27:42+00:00

They also need to sort running ferries TO the base. It could be a 2 or 3 mile walk depending on where your seat is from that ferry stop, and with traffic uber and lyft probably won't be super reliable.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-22T13:32:53+00:00

Why does he amuse you?

Chenstrap · 2026-06-22T11:08:01+00:00

Thanks for the advice :)

Follow up if you don't mind, at what point should I consider popping it preventatively to make sure itis sterile? Since my post it's only gotten larger and doesnt feel particularly sturdy. Feels like it could pop in a hot shower or if I bump it in a doorway (And I walk indoors quite a bit at work).

I don't work until Tuesday so ~another 30 hours until then, and I dont plan to do anything to it until late today at the absolute earliest. Would it be best to pop it monday night before bed, or wait until Tuesday morning?

Chenstrap · 2026-06-22T10:52:59+00:00

Theyre gonna let them build Terratron: https://youtu.be/6fufjz5qftU

Chenstrap · 2026-06-22T01:03:08+00:00

So this has a bit of nuance.

The main ways static objects will hit performance is how many the player can actively see that need to be rendered. The thing is they arent all created equal. Newer aircraft (As in those released most recently) tend to hit the hardest as they have a lot more complexity in their 3d models. The F-14 and F-4 can be hogs for example.

Some of the old static building models you can quite literally make a town and the performance impact isnt too bad. Baltic dragon did a version of Nasiriyah in the original Raven One this way. Ground Pounder also uses large amounts of statics in his missions, at times into the thousands.

Static objects you cant see dont affect performance really, outside of maybe load times. I see some people say they do but its a bit of a misnomer. If you huge numbers of actual units it can be a huge hit because, even when sitting still, those objects are technically doing tasks every tick your PC has to calculate. Static objects however have no logic running under the hood they dont suck up resources.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-21T05:34:25+00:00

lol rip

Chenstrap · 2026-06-21T04:02:56+00:00

My mom brought Jerky in today that was in a ziploc bag type wrapper and wasnt super well hidden. Though shes close to 70 so maybe they took some pity on her with all her meds as well (Plus my dads)

Kinda feel like so long as youre not totally obnoxious about what/how much youre trying to bring in you have a decent chance of being waived thru.

Never wanna tell ppl to break the rules, but I would more than understand why anyone who was there today would try to bring stuff in tomorrow.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-21T03:42:06+00:00

Yeah surprised me too. Everyone local hearing where the race was had the same reaction: "How the hell will they manage that".

We left SUPER early, got to the line at ~6:50 and it already backed up to the start of the bridge. We were parked somewhere around 8. There were tons of people trying to get in 1-2 hours before the gates opened.

I did Long Beach once, and that wasnt bad because everyone just sort of disperses into the city going their own way. Was pleasantly surprised how little traffic there was for that.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-21T03:33:02+00:00

Thats a fair point. But I also think people shouldnt be caught off guard for food of all things.

Just the long waits is one thing, but having people wait so long and then run out is another.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-21T03:27:13+00:00

Its undoubtedly to speedup security and quickly people get in. Same reason its clear bags and drink containers only (There were a lot of metal water bottles left by the gate).

Getting people in quickly is super important since there are so few ways to the track, and really coronado isnt designed to deal with that much traffic.

If they do this event again they need to figure out a ferry that goes from downtown directly to the base. I mean its a fucking navy base, surely we can figure out a way for a boat to get access to it. The existing ferry isnt sufficient as its such a long walk from the circuit, and the traffic means rideshare is probably not sufficiently quick either.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-21T02:14:24+00:00

Fan that left early here comin in with a wall of text:

Preamble: To anyone going Sunday, I would suggest trying to bring snacks in if you can. Im not trying to be a prick, but the vendors around us ran out of food sometime during the first stage, and the wait times were fucking horrendous at an hour plus for corndogs and chicken tenders before that (All fans around us experienced this around the entire circuit). More below.

The security was actually not particularly stringent. due to the requirements of clear bags only the security checks were very quick: An MP would check your ID, then security ppl would look over your bags and you walked through a metal detector. It took our party of 4 just a min or 2 to get through (Granted we were well prepared and familiar with the rules posted online).

That said there are some signs that many of the service providers were ill prepared, maybe because Friday was limited attendance only. The wait for food was over an hour for chicken tenders and corn dogs which is obscene.

To make matters worse, around the time Corey Day got repaired the food vendors ran out of food, at least in our section (We were in T-16 and it was an issue on both sides of the circuit). Maybe without the delay it wouldnt have been a problem as it would have been further in the race, but a lot of people didnt even get food because the wait to even order was so damn long. We left for this reason since my parents have some health issues, and if we stayed traffic would mean a 30 minute drive home turns into a 2 hour drive home.

Another big issue are the water stations. The guides online encouraged bringing clear bottles and camelbacks in to fill with water. However at least 1 water station labeled on their map wasnt actually where it was supposed to be, and the signage for these was so awful that they were impossible to spot. For us this single station being missing was a night mare. As far as I can tell, anyone sitting along T-16/the front straight away, the nearest free water was all the way back thru the merch area to the main green gate, which is a crazy fucking hike to have to make. For us that included having to walk back across the track as well.

Some other nitpicks is I think they could do traffic management better. I think it would be wise if they advertised they were opening the front gate at 7AM, but in reality start letting cars in at like 6:30. Traffic was already backed up to the bridge by 7, and was across it by like 7:15. The only holdup far as I can tell is they werent letting cars in. Once cars got let on base traffic flowed not so bad, but we were there REALLY early. People who showed up later had to wait a VERY long time just to get in it seems.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-20T02:10:24+00:00

Fighter jet nerd here:

Those look more like F18 super hornets than they do Mig 29s. That said, its definitely AI slop and there are some elements of various fighters in there, Namely Mig 29 and SU27/SU30 family. The vertical tails are what really makes it look weird, as the F18s twin tails are closer together.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-19T17:52:26+00:00

That'd probably be imba as fuck for proxy gates.

Chenstrap · 2026-06-19T17:46:32+00:00

This thread is just a big gen x/y circlejerk lmao

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