I said I'd make a list of blocks that I think would fit with havens game play, so here it is. It's not complete by any means, its just a taste of how you would integrate building more fluidly into combat.

Some of these blocks would be best suited to be an extension of my blueprints idea, where block positions are predetermined, and players effectively "build by numbers."

--wall block
Your standard block. It gets in the way of the other team. comes in 3 different sizes
2.5/2.5
1.5/3
1/2 (for those cramped areas where you just need a small block, and nothing else will do)
These blocks will start out in your hand in a horizontal orientation so that the time between creation and freezing can most be reduced.

--Bunker block:
depends on the needs of the bunker blueprint
Effectively, it is a clear block that lets one team shoot through it, but not the other. As its name implies, it would be primarily used for creating bunkers. Because this block takes substantially longer to build/freeze, players should take great care where they place it. I think this is one of the major situations where the blueprint concept shines, since it means players don't have to take the time to make their 4 block bunker just right when there are enemies on the way, where they would otherwise likely not even bother, seeing as how anything but a perfect build would result in seams, rendering the whole premise of a block only you can shoot through pointless.

--jump block.
2*2 or circular
You jump on it, it sends you flying. More specifically, it takes your current velocity, mirrors it across the block, and increases it to a certain degree (double, perhaps). This block might even eliminate the fall damage of your landing. This would allow for some pretty epic trickjumping, as players who land on the block with a great deal of speed would gain only that much more. Placement would also be an important factor, and as such it would be a prime starting point for some emergent gameplay for cappers. This block, unlike the bunker block, would not be a good candidate for the blueprint concept, as there is a great deal to be gained from allowing players to control every aspect of its construction, unlike the bunker which is just a static object.
This would have similar stats to the ramp block
this one may require some limits; I can see people lining a few of these up in a tunnel type design that could launch a player across a map. Perhaps diminishing returns on speed for any one jump?

By the way, if you're actually reading this, please say something about it. You could say its all shit and that I should FOAD and I'd still take that over you ignoring the idea altogether.

--ramp block
Similar to your standard block, but comes in just a 1/5 shape, has less health, but is much faster to create and freeze.
These blocks will start in your hand the way you would normally hold a ramp in 19x, at a 35 degree inclination.

--health and ammo blocks (separate)
These blocks are spherical in shape (1 diameter), and have a line of sight based horizontal halo effect around them once fully constructed. They will heal or replenish the ammo of anyone within a certain distance (say, 4) and within line of sight. However, the rate at which they restore their respective traits is not constant, but based on a function of a number of factors, including, but not limited to:
number of other people in the bubble
damage received recently
amount of health left till max
how long they've been in the bubble
(and their respective counterparts on the ammo side of things)
However, to make sure players do not exploit the potential for invincibility (or infinite ammo) in the bubble, the bubble will not begin to heal you until 5 seconds after you last took damage.
These blocks would have the same amount of health as standard blocks, but would constantly heal themselves at a rate proportional to the number of nearby players

--shield block (this ones a bit odd, so I don't know how well it would fit, but since this is just a list of concepts, I don't feel too bad about giving it.)
Spherical in shape (1 in diameter), this block is relatively quick to spawn, has only a couple thousands health that drop at a steady rate (perhaps around 15 seconds worth, less whatever damage players do to it), but once dropped will linger for 5 seconds and then disappear automatically. Players must hold the freeze button to activate it, but they are free to move around with it during this, as they would if they were not. While activated, weapons are unable to penetrate the sphere in either direction.
This has a lot of potential for just about any class (as any class can spawn it). Cappers could use this to get off a free jump into the enemy base, any player might use it to cover a builder while he's trying to put up a ramp, combat players might use one to make a quick getaway, close range classes might use it to advance on longer range classes, you might even punt it into the enemy base in the hopes that some of their dug in players will be caught within the bubble and therefore be unable to attack from their positions.
Furthermore, it becomes a rallying point for both sides. Similar in effect to the uber in TF2, it gives players something to push around, or focal point for players to defend against.
Really, it doesn't have a specific purpose, but it gives players the ability to be creative with their tactics.


Hopefully you see that all of these blocks serve a very distinct purpose and that, while they all deal with the concept of building, defending, and attacking a base, they do not all deal with the building, attacking, and defending we know from 19x. The construction mechanics introduced in haven could give players a great deal more to work with than just generic building blocks. All of them fundamentally change combat from what we've seen in the past, and IMO, they all change things for the better.

... this sounds oddly familiar

Of course it does. None of my ideas are ever completely original; I'd almost be willing to say that no ones ideas are. Really, all of these are just blocks with some neat effects added to them.

However, what makes these different, at least in my opinion, is in how they affect the game.

In 19x, beyond people yelling "SHOOT THE DAMN FLAG D YOU IDIOTS," "HEAL THE DAMN FLAG D YOU IDIOTS," and "TAKE DOWN THE WALL YOU IDIOTS," blocks have basically no influence on combat, and do even less to actually change the way people fight. When you're done killing whatever you can see, you shoot a block, but that's about it.

Most of the block effects that I've seen do little to change this. From our most recent example (azlans post in the other thread) we get blocks such as:

"The Vampire an offensive block that slowly sucks health from all enemy blocks within 2 units (effective when having a block that ramps the enemy wall) and uses that health to heal itself. The block starts with 400 health, but slowly gains health the longer it is in place."
this is effectively a combination of "SHOOT THE DAMN BLOCK" and "HEAL THE DAMN BLOCK"

"The Disabler an offensive block that blocks the healing of a block. Any block within 3 units of this block cannot be healed by the enemy anymore."
This one just keeps teams from healing the damn block.

"The Warrior This block has 3000 health and is semi-transparent. This block has a fast healing rate, but whenever over 200 damage is being done to the block in 5 seconds, the damage doubles (and the healing rate gets lower and lower the more damage being done to the block) resulting in a team that is working together to be able to obliterate this block in mere seconds, while a team that's a bunch of lone wolves will never be able to bring this block down."
this one lets you wait longer before you heal the block

"The Bonus Any player around this block has a 2x damage rate towards blocks, but the downside of this block is it only has 300 health."
You see where I'm going with this?

The only different ones are "the rampers own" which is basically just a ramp that takes a while to get there, the spawner, which spawns blocks while not adding to a block limit that the game may or may not have, and "the shield" which, while similar in name to the idea I presented (I didn't actually notice it before I wrote mine) does not present nearly as many options (cappers would not be able to use it to assist them as it won't even exist by the time they go to jump, it would not protect against indirect fire classes, which means you wouldn't be able to advance on entrenched positions, and you wouldn't be able to throw it behind you to make a getaway. so really, you wouldn't be able to use it for much anything at all, just as you couldn't use such a block in 19x for much anything at all. )

Most of my blocks do go beyond that. Not all of them, sure, since SF ought to keep at least a bit of shooting, healing, and ripping, but some of them do advance the game as a whole, both in building and in combat. The bunker block, while similar to the standard block, does make bunkers a much more viable defense. The jump block could be used to send players into otherwise unreachable positions on maps (allowing for more varied map design), it might be used to launch more effective assaults on enemy bases, it might be used by cappers to enhance their jumps. It does have a very specific "intent" but its purpose is not necessarily clear. The health/ammo blocks give players the ability to manage their own bases, rather than rely on map creators to manage the standard base positions for them.

Besides, even with this post, I never sought to actually submit an idea to the mod directly, but to submit the idea of blocks being more than just a means of continuing the same gameplay we have with 19x. I believe they should do more than that, and I think these are just a few decent examples of many we might come up with.

EDIT:
I must be in the mood to write shit right now; I just checked, and just these last two posts are over 1800 words. GG.

What's that quote again about suggestions? Oh yeah. Dont suggest new blocks because the one's we need are already there (except for the 1x1x1)

I say if you add any block back in, bring back the cube! It was functional in some situations (like physkilling people when you happened to tear one off their wall and their whole team rushes you!)

sounds slightly complicated.
the health blocks, bunker blocks etc. sounds like it will scare away new players...

I think we shouldn't get too involved with 2x3 + 2x3 = Eiffel tower, but instead think about how we can make the game appealing to new players...
Personally, I don't think the adding blocks would be appealing, as you'd have to learn the combinations, aswell as learning to put them together, build them, and whatever else would be involved.

in b4 the words "GTFO FAKE PLAYER"

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Never, ever, click.

lol. Those kinds of games never really succeed

The jumpblock is a great twist on the old classic.

Havn't ahd time to read the rest porpperly.

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Diden't even ahve time to finish that sentence porpperly.

Wow, some of you people are dense.

Fluffy, did you not read the developer diary stating that the devs themselves were looking to create blocks with effects?

OCB, this has absolutely nothing to do with the block combinations concept, except that these might be some of the special blocks they produce. However, I myself presented an idea in that thread that would make creation of these blocks no more difficult than creating any other block.

And as a preventative measure

STFU Azlan.

just to expand on yours really:

Wall block: needs moar bits. you're forgetting your 3D blocks (<3 cube) as well as any long bits that you might want for covering edges. nothing wrong with plenty of simple everyday blocks.

Bunker Block: same really, why not have lots of bunker combinations? from your one man bunker with quite a large hole in it to your 5 man bunker that heals and replenishes the ammo of players inside with a one way barrier? Ofc the better ones would be crazy hard to produce, or take a larger chuck off your limit or whatever the devs feel like.

Jump Block: old idea but you elaborated well, not much to add. definatly would give cappers something to fiddle with.

Ramp Block: too much like a suggestion of azlans tbh.

Regen Block: I think you made this just too complex. Just something to slowly regenerate your stuff, the more people the better the effect.

Shield Block: Epic idea. Perhaps have a negative effect on enemy players whilst in the shield? or perhaps the 'controller' of the block can't move as fast so you can't just rush them.

azlans many block ideas: all really wierd except for the self-ramping block. it would be pretty awesome.


you seem to have forgotten the Raptor Block though, a huge dinosaur that eats everything in it's path made out of SF blocks. I know you want it.