King of the Server - Player Help

..description

What is King of the Server (KOTS)?

Well it's a lot of things:

KOTS is a server side only mod. That means that clients don't have to download anything. Well, that's not absolutely true. If the server that you're playing on is running maps that aren't part of the QuakeII release, then you'll have to download them. Any good server admin is going to provide a means or a link to get the maps that they're running on their server.

KOTS is deathmatch. You can use any deathmatch map for KOTS.

KOTS is a way to track your progress against other players on the same server. From the first moment that you start playing KOTS, your progress is tracked and saved. We keep track of your kills, how many times your killed and we give you a score based on a few different factors. You lose points when you die, dying is bad. You gain points when you frag, fraggin is good. Score is calculate based on how much health you removed from the target to kill them. So if you walk into a room where two players have been going at it and wipe them both out, you're not going to get a lot of points, you didn't have to do much to kill them, but if you are in a huge fight and bring someone from 100 health to death, your going to get a bunch of points. One more factor is figured in your score, if you have very few points, it's easier to get points. As you get a higher score, points are harder to earn.

How do you see your ranking against other players?

We provide a tool for Server admins to run that will generate an HTML page showing the rankings. This tool is very easy to use and basically reads all of the player files and ranks them against each other. Your Server Admin will have to provide you with their web site so that you can go there and view your stats. We have the tool setup to run every hour and ftp the results to our web site.

What else is KOTS?

Well KOTS is a little like an RPG, in that you start weak and gain powers as you gain experience. So what we have done is create levels at certain amounts of score. There are ten levels and each has their own special ability that you will get.

..set kots_password

VERY IMPORTANT - before you play KOTS do the following:

You need a password and this is the hardest part, well the only hard part, about playing KOTS, the password. The best way to do this is to edit your config. If you don't have a config, create one. There are a lot of tutorials out there for doing this. You will need to add the following line to your config:

set kots_password u

This will NOT mess up other mods. So you can add this to your regular config. You need to replace with your own unique password. This is how we track your stats and make sure that no one else uses your name on the server. Once you play KOTS on a server, we will not let anyone else use that name on that server without the password. What's the 'u' for? Well it tells QuakeII that this is a user variable and it will send it to the server, for us to read and add to your data. If you do not do this, you will not have a password and there is nothing stopping someone else from playing as your character.

If you don't set a password in your config, you can type it in at the console once your in the game but before you start playing. But you have to type it twice. For some reason it is not sent to the server until you type it twice once your in the game. But that's all you have to do. Don't forget. You will definitely want to add this to your config, take my word, it's much easier and you can forget about it. No spaces in your password please.

..items

teleportation ball - A tball is a teleportation ball, it works like a grenade, but when it explodes it creates a teleportation field. Everyone in the field gets teleported to a random spawn point. KOTS supports two commands for the tball. Tball self will immediately explode the tball, creating a teleportation field right around the player, in affect creating a personal teleporter. Though if anyone is very close when the tball explodes, it will teleport them as well. Tball will throw a tball, much like a grenade and after a short span, the tball will explode creating the teleportation field.

multiple rockets - These are rocket launcher upgrades. When used, they countdown like a quad damage but for 60 seconds. While in use you will fire three rockets instead of one, be careful, that means they eat up three times the rocket ammo.

thrust - This is a level super power, meaning that you can't use it until you reach that level (see levels). When activated you will be able to fly.

cloak - This is also a level super power. When activated your character will become cloaked whenever they are still. Be careful, this super power uses cells as energy.

..player commands

The following commands can be bound to any key. We suggest binding the tball and mrox commands before you play, as they really enhance game play.

use tball - throw a teleportation ball.
use tball self - explode a teleportation ball
use mrox - use multiple rockets
thrust on - turn on jet pack thrust (Level 8 and above)
thrust off - turn off jet pack thrust (Level 8 and above)
cloak - toggle cloaking (Level 9 and above)

..entering the game

When you first try to connect to a KOTS server, you may notice that your connection is refused and you get a message about retrieving your player data. Be patient. You will get in very soon. At this point we are going out to the Global Data Server and getting all of our information about you and putting it on the Quake Server. That way you will get your last inventory, health, armor, and score when you enter. When you leave a KOTS game or the server changes maps, your data is sent back to the GDS. This all means that if you jump on a server and no one else is there, you can stock up for your next game.

When you enter a kots game, there is a menu. Choose Start your reign to begin playing. If you get an error message about your password, check out the set kots_password section.

All players spawn or respawn with a rocket launcher and a blaster. You also get your share of rockets, tballs, and mrox depending on your level, level 0 get 15 of each, and it decreases as you move up in level. You can get more tballs and mrox from ammo packs.

..experience levels

Level 0 (0 pts) - you start here
Level 1 (200 pts) - Health Regen - your health will regen slowly back to your max health
Level 2 (500 pts) - More ammo - you can carry 3 times the normal ammo
Level 2 (500 pts) - Quick Weapon Switching - everyone wants it, here it is
Level 3 (1000 pts) - Resist - you take less damage from attacks
Level 4 (2000 pts) - Vampire - you gain health for damage inflicted
Level 5 (4000 pts) - Silent - full time silencer mode
Level 6 (8000 pts) - Strength - you inflict more damage per attack
Level 7 (16000 pts) - Rapid Fire - you fire twice as fast
Level 7 (16000 pts) - Ammo Plus - you can carry 6 times the ammo
Level 8 (32000 pts) - Jet Pack - you can fly using cells as power ( bind x thrust on ) (bind x thrust off )
Level 9 (64000 pts) - Cloak - you can cloak yourself using cells as power ( bind x cloak )
Level 10 (128000 pts) - Quad - you have full time quad

So as you gain levels, you get these cool powers and can use them. You start with 100 health at level 0 and gain 10 more health with each level. So what about level 0, well there are two things that we have put in to help you out. Power armor is more effective at Level 0 and you gain more points for kills at level 0. The points needed to get to the next level get increasingly harder.

Death penalties also depend on level. As you get higher in level, you lose more points for getting killed and for suicides. Who kills you is also factored in. If you get killed by someone that is much lower in level than you, you're going to lose more points.

Suicide - 4 * Level lost points ex. Level 4 loses 16 points for a suicide.

Now three examples - for these examples we'll assume the kill was done removing all the health Player A - Level 4 - 140 health Player B - Level 1 - 110 health

Example 1: A kills B

ldiv = 10 + Level Difference * 5 = 25

110 / 25 = 4 points

Player A gains 4 points Player B loses none since Player A is a higher Level

Example 2: B kills A

ldiv = 10 - Level Difference = 7

140 / 7 = 20 points

Player B gains 20 points

Penalty = ( diff + 1 ) * 2 = 8

Player A loses 8 points for being killed by a Level 1 ( now it only will take them 2 kills to make it up )

Example 3: Player A & Player B are both Level 4 A kills B

ldiv = 10 - Level Difference = 10

140 / 10 = 14 points

Player A gains 14 points

Penalty = ( diff + 1 ) * 2 = 2

Player Bloses 2 points

This provides the ability that I really like, to build up your character. To make them better. Sure you start out really wimpy, but if you stick it out and build your character up, look what you get!

..heads up display(hud)

The player HUD is not all the different from regular deathmatch. At the top right hand you'll see your score. That's the points you've earned or lost during the current game/map. Below that you will see your experience level. If you go to the deathmatch scoreboard (F1), you'll see your total earned points across all games.

KOTS also supports a player ID. This will show the level, skin, and name of whomever you are looking at.

..the kots team

Norb - Coding, Web Site
Mother - Coding
Sifl - Layout and all graphics
Laichzeit - Artwork
Lt. JonMaster - Testing/FAQ
Sponge & Rainman - Banners