14 replies to this topic

[Deathstrike_666]

Well I have had this idea for a long while and I wanted to see if anyone else wonders if it is good.

 

Several times now I have wanted to play a few games with friends at school or have a little Hawken night brawl. But the only problem is that the servers are blocked at school or we all have crap ping because we are all using the same internet (Screw you Aussie copper cables installed 20 years ago. Seriously we have BAD! internet). 

 

So I was thinking of an offline/LAN mode where you don't need to log in and play a few games with friends or against bots?

My main idea is that every weapon/mech/internal/item is unlocked (You can also use this to test out combinations between everything before you buy them) and all the rest of the player slots are filled with AI.

 

So what do all you people think?

[Houruck]

The main reason F2P games would not let you host your own server and allow you unlock everything is because the in-game content is the product and they need full control over it.

Edited by Houruck, 07 April 2015 - 05:08 AM.

[Rainbow_Sheep]

Hmm, LAN would be a great feature, not so sure about everything being unlocked though.

[CapAllan]

I was wondering the same thing. But I think they should put the save files on the computer itself so that you can play LAN with the online progress. I also wish that the offline practice mode would let you earn some cash. Some anti cheat software or encrypting can also be used.

[Derpy Hooves]

I was wondering the same thing. But I think they should put the save files on the computer itself so that you can play LAN with the online progress. I also wish that the offline practice mode would let you earn some cash. Some anti cheat software or encrypting can also be used.

Like everything but the encrypting part. That'll add overhead to the TCP/IP stack, and reduce avaliable MTU space from the already limited 1492 (8 bytes are reserved for TCP/IP headers). AES-128 will reduce that down to even smaller 1200 byte windows, which reduces the Up/Down streams from the server to the client and back even more. So that eventually people who were getting 20~30 ping will now get 40~50, in a cascading effect on up the ping scale.

[HorseHeadProphet]

Yes to LAN play but with only the items and mechs you have already unlocked online. If everything was unlocked for offline play, that would be ballgame. Massive numbers of people with crappy ping, or people unwilling to grind up to earn items, would just play offline and never log in again. Play with less stuff with crappy ping, or play with all game content available with LAN pings?

 

Also no to earning HC and or XP offline. That's a case of having your cake and eat it too. One person could get a few computers running the game in LAN mode, with multiple accounts, and run around scoring killstreaks, then expect their online ranking and credits to go up? Nah.

 

LAN play for this game would be incredible fun, it just needs to be done correctly.

[Jakyll]

I would also appreciate an offline mode for the sake of LANs.

 

Didn't make up my mind about the locked stuff, though.

What about the principle like: "steam cloud always wins"? meaning that in a case of conflicting data whatever profile data you've got on your local pc, the file from the server will overwrite it.

I just know it from some games that I played offline for a while and when going online again I got asked which savestates I wanted to keep because they were conflicting: the ones on my local pc or the ones stored in the cloud.

In the case of Hawken the progression for each account should be stored on their (Steam-)servers and it should not be possible to upload own data (to prevent manipulation).

 

No kind of progression should be possible during LAN (offline) mode, so everyone would have to fight with his/her unlocked mechs and items. The main idea of this mode is to offer people the possibilyt to play Hawken on LANs without greater ping issues.

Edited by Jakyll, 07 April 2015 - 07:25 AM.

[bacon_avenger]

...
What about the principle like: "steam cloud always wins"? meaning that in a case of conflicting data whatever profile data you've got on your local pc, the file from the server will overwrite it.

Well, to be particular, Hawken uses steam only for payment processing and patch distribution. The player data isn't stored on any Steam servers.
 

No kind of progression should be possible during LAN (offline) mode, so everyone would have to fight with his/her unlocked mechs and items. The main idea of this mode is to offer people the possibilyt to play Hawken on LANs without greater ping issues.

I do like the idea of having a local LAN option, but as others have touched on, the biggest worry would be preventing people from hacking their local install to allow access to everything, eliminating any reason for people to play on the official servers and buy MC for cosmetics.

Unless someone figures out a way to make this an impossibility, I would be very surprised to see it happen.

[OdinTheWise]

as stated LAN is not an option for most F2P games as haveing client side serving is a potential loop hole for hacking the game. also the way the game works doesnt lend well to LAN. you would have to do some major code reworks to get the game to so this as it is heavily relient  on server back end stuff. so keep dreaming, because this wont happen. 

[MegaZoneEX]

LAN would be nice to have but i understand the circumstance

 

Sometimes my little brother and i just want to play alone. A single off line stage would be nice.  

[Lioot]

Well I have had this idea for a long while and I wanted to see if anyone else wonders if it is good.

 

Several times now I have wanted to play a few games with friends at school or have a little Hawken night brawl. But the only problem is that the servers are blocked at school or we all have crap ping because we are all using the same internet (Screw you Aussie copper cables installed 20 years ago. Seriously we have BAD! internet). 

 

So I was thinking of an offline/LAN mode where you don't need to log in and play a few games with friends or against bots?

My main idea is that every weapon/mech/internal/item is unlocked (You can also use this to test out combinations between everything before you buy them) and all the rest of the player slots are filled with AI.

 

So what do all you people think?

 

Playing at school? WTH. All executable files are blocked and our actions on the computer can be tracked. Command prompt is locked off so I can't even begin to try and get a game to work, let alone playing at school.

 

But school does have fast internet compared to home, 4gb video uploaded in 2hrs at school compared to 4gb in 10 hours at home

[bacon_avenger]

But school does have fast internet compared to home, 4gb video uploaded in 2hrs at school compared to 4gb in 10 hours at home

And they probably pay dearly for that kind of connection.

 

OC's and such are not cheap, and they are often metered (they pay by the amount used)

[Lioot]

And they probably pay dearly for that kind of connection.

 

OC's and such are not cheap, and they are often metered (they pay by the amount used)

 

They're paying for my youtube channel :D 

And they haven't caught me yet, thanks incognito

[bacon_avenger]

They're paying for my youtube channel :D 

And they haven't caught me yet, thanks incognito

Probably because they haven't bothered to look at the network logs, if any.

 

Incognito will help keep the browser clear of traces, but it doesn't keep a network admin from watching the traffic or seeing what URL's you are going to, just saying.

[Grollourdo]

All I want is offline play (if with lab cool if not too bad ... I don't really care but like the idea XD)

I would really like to be able to play when not connected to the internet and they not having to syc (of course I won't be able to gain money or buy stuff or anything) but I just want to play offline too when there's no internet.

It kinda says "offline" practice... But you can't even do that offline...