I can’t remember the last time that I played on the zone, but I think it was a year and a half ago, in all this time I been playing SP games: SiN, StarCraft (and BroodWar), JK and MOTS(finally), MP: counterstrike, QW and Team fortress, TRIBES.
A friend of mine introduced me to MIRC and scripts like this: http://www.xcript.com.ar) http://xcript.hypermart.net) http://xcript.tsx.org)

and the best http://www.ircap.net/)
all of them are in Spanish, so you’re warned.
If you know scripts in English with skins like IRCAP please let me know(I haven’t fund anything)
and I have realized a few things:

It’s amazing that Microshaft hasn’t implemented bots in the zone, (Another thing that makes great GameSpy Arcade) because if there is no sysop everybody stars to FLOOD that damn thing and . . . well WHERE ARE those automated sysops!!!

SP Experience

JK(97) and MOTS(98) storyline sucks big time comparted to StarCraft(1998) hands down, one is FPS and the other is RTS but let me tell you that a Single Player experience IS a “Single Player Experience” no matter the type of game we are talking about, (of course if it has a story to tell) the only FPS capable to compete with StarCraft is... you guessed: Half-Life. Yep, as a matter of fact if you are reading this and don’t have any game installed in your PC believe me, with StarCraft and Half-Life you’re done. And later if you have the money JK/MOTS. You’re not going to regret it.

I remember that Vagabond said once that he won’t play a game that doesn’t allow to select/de-select in a menu the “always run” feature, but:
You MOST play JK and MOTS in ALWAYS RUN.
The difference between WALK and RUN in JK is taptaptaptap and TAP-TAP-TAP while you press a button meanwhile in HL is “no sound” and “can’t fall from a ledge” if you walk, and TAP-TAP-TAP if you run, and to make your life easier you can change between modes (walk/run/crouch although I only recommend walk/run) with the press of a button (just once) in many other games you have to keep it pressed(included JK).

I didn’t notice that at that time, I have to play the whole SP of JK and MOTS to really see the difference, it was only speed(it has no sense if you ask me). And let me tell you that it’s a pain in the a** play a game where you have to keep pressed a button or go to the setup and switch between modes when something so simple should be done on the fly.

MP Experience

As I said before, I have been away from the zone (therefore JK/MOTS) for more than a year and things remain the same(or maybe worst), people insist in play Canon Oasis, lots of lamers, and terrible pings, if I host a game I have to pretend to be an expert or been enthusiasts of entering a CLAN (in games with the title “recruiting”).
I read in the COG tutorials of Maassasi.net that Bespin Manning station is a laggy map (now many many things have sense, including why oasis...LOL)

only 40 to 50 players in MOTS, and if the only 3 or 4 players interested in playing AND with a good ping get Bored in your game. “GAME OVER” man...

The rest:
with a little catenacio (require a password) or HAX...

If only F.A.K.K.2 had multiplayer support...
there would be:
sword duels with JK mechanics or very similar, With Q3A engine and a better Butt to look at instead of that dipper like that wears Katarn...LOL

Team based gameplay is the future, even StarCraft played in Teams is a lot more fun than a fast 1vs1
or a BORING terranVS terran.


Editing

my System:
PIII 550Mhz
Monster Sound II MX300
Geforce 2 GTS
128RAM
US Robotics 56k FAXMODEM PCI
Abit BE6-II

I’m not an expert on the topic but after downloading the latest edition of the DUEL OF FATES map still there is moments where I have slow framerates, I’m not sure but I think that the JK engine does too much trouble when there are too many sectors in the view, unlike Q3A engine, look at the elite force demo, the BOTS levels (Bots no Borgs although you can only select Borgs as bots) in Multiplayer Mode, looks awesome, tons and tons of details, my point is that I thought that with this type of system it would be possible to play very detailed levels in MOTS, but now, I doubt it.

MOTS is the way to go, colored lighting is the only way of give some life to this horrendous rendering engine, I’m going to try that plugin of JED for import DXF files to see how can I use some objects and buildings made with AutoCAD and to see if I’m right or wrong about the performance of the JK/MOTS engine.

[This message has been edited by rapina (edited September 03, 2000).]

The DXFimporter plugin works BUT I can’t figure it out how to create a “3D surface” in AutoCAD with more than 4 vertex’s.

all faces must be “3D faces”, the 3d object (sector, brush, what ever you want to call it) most be created with a copy of a “3D face” that works with the DXFimporter.

If any body has nay info about this please let me know(yes I’m going to post this in the forum of Code alliance too)
rafalunarapina@excite.com

Good point about bots on the zone.. I've been saying that for years. Why don't they add 'em??

Now about runnning/walking in JK/MOTS. Yes I know the strategic element in other more recent FPS's is that:

Walking= useless (hold a key)
Running= always on

[contd]

So they made walking quiet (no sound) and running loud (pad pad pad..).

In JK, the concept of running is more like real life. Yes you have to hold a key to run (unless you enable it always on), because in real life you have to put forth more effort to run than to walk.

In JK/MOTS walking is for making precise movements, and moving slowly (you have to do that sometimes in SP). Running is for getting places fast.. and it builds up to a run (you go faster if you run longer.. not infinitely fast, it peaks out after a few seconds). When manuvering along cliffs, I try to go slow so I don't run off the edge.
[contd]

As to comparing Starcraft to Half Life or SC to JK, I think that's silly. They're different types of games.

Sure you could say a fighting game like Mortal Kombat has a silly plot compared to an RPG like Baldur's Gate, but the purpose of the first game is action and competition, not the storyline (it's basically just filler). The second game, the RPG, is all about the storyline and character developement.

In a war game like Starcraft, the plot is just a motivation for fighting. The point of the game is just to destroy your enemies while outproducing them. JK SP is about the storyline... but MP is just about killing and competition. Half Life has its own story, but MP is just about killing/competition, etc.
[contd]

[continued...]
I like it when the designers give at least SOME SEMBLANCE of a story into their games, but unless it's an RPG or an adventure game, the story is far less important than the gameplay. I think it was cool that they attempted a plot in Unreal Tournament for example, though it's a pretty weak plot compared to alot of games.

Kurgan

In real life there are moments when you don’t want to make noise while walking, and some time you don’t care all you want to do is move. The point of not making a “low noise” in JK(I think) is the fact that you have Force seen anyway; so, walking is actully useless in JK. insted of hear you they can see you.

That’s the goal of my main comment, either it has an awesome story to tell (StarCraft) or an awesome way of tell a story (Half-Life) or just gameplay JK that to me was a little bit disappointed since the StarWars universe has a little bit more to offer than any other licence on earth, well at least that’s what I thought. Jk was fun, more that Q2 or Q1 but still, I can compare StarCraft and Half-life a and both are really really good SP experiences. NO MATTER THE type of game. You feel a great satisfaction at the end, in both games, that’s makes those games almost equal. Mostly in Quality.

In fewer words... this is the way I see it:

You can make a movie with StarCraft,
HL is like an interactive movie,
JK is an excellent Multiplayer game.

[This message has been edited by rapina (edited September 05, 2000).]