Flag queue

Post by **L4m3r** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:09 am

I don't know if there is already something like this, please feel free to stab me if there is.

I'm not sure how the different flag commands work with each other.

Now, there are superflags on the field, of course... but how about a queue of flags that exist in the game, but are not on the field? Say, whenever a flag disappears, it's pushed onto the queue, and another flag is removed from the queue to replace it. -s could be used to set the maximum number of flags on the field at any given time, and the size of the queue would be the difference of the total flags created, and this set maximum.

I can think of two uses for this. First, servers that have only sparse superflags could increase their variety, and increase the rarity of certain flags, since a given flag would not have to be on the field all the time (geno at Silvercat comes to mind).

Two, on the user-end, when a flag vanishes, the one that replaces it will most likely be a different flag. This kills the "flag tracking" technique, which IMO can get quite ridiculous on certain servers. Also, this would make _maxFlagGrabs a little more effective in controlling the lifespan of a flag.

Hannibal · Post by **Hannibal** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 4:31 pm

oooh...love it, l4.

it would really help control the flag spotters, as I call them..

a plugin maybe?

Theme97 · Post by **Theme97** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 7:09 pm

I don't think plugins could do that because if they could, L4m3r would have made it already (or he's just being lazy).

Post by **L4m3r** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 7:17 pm

Theme97 is right; AFAIK there are no API functions for flag placement. Plus, most of that storage/handling is done internally, and I don't think that plugins were necessarily designed to be able to access bzfs's innards quite like that.

And yes, I'm lazy too.

Theme97 · Post by **Theme97** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 7:33 pm

(Hooray for the API docs!)

too much loving · Post by **too much loving** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 8:30 am

I like the idea, but how about adding a bit of randomness. the server could keep track of a set of "vanished flags", and whenever a flag disappeared the server could choose a "vanished flag" at random and add it to the game.

Post by **trepan** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 10:31 am

Been there, done that (pools, not queues):
http://trepan.homelinux.net/flag-switches.txt

Had a patch for it... Note that the contents of
the flag pools could be changed on the fly.