NPC Arena (56K WARNING!) (EP2 is up!)

[XCVG]

EP2 IS UP!
Go to page 2!

NPC Arena is just what you think it is- NPC-vs-NPC combat. It was inspired by a brief, little-known blog series by the guy who created Concerned. There is no posing, no weird tricks, just NPCs spawned in to fight each other. TO THE DEATH! So let the NPC battle begin!

The initial idea was to use SG-Mod Jaffa and SGC NPCs. Unfortunately, they refused to attack each other. Even after using the NPC-FOE tool, throwing them around, hitting them with stuff, yelling at them, and shooting them, they refused to attack. For that matter, they refused to do anything after I shot them. So I decided to fall back to the all too common Combine VS Rebels formula.

Defending the Stargate, 4 Combine Soldiers, armed with SMG1 submachine guns. Lined up as if they were about to be shot against a wall, a sign of things to come.

And attacking, four standard issue rebels, complete with SMG1 submachine guns. Hey, I thought they were about equal!

The Combine fire first...

...but still get epicly pwned. Round one goes to the rebels!

For round two I decided to add an extra Combine, and put them behind a bit of cover instead of being exposed. The rebels still have to charge WWI style- out in the open, no cover, against machine guns.

They look like they are planning a strategy, but really they aren't. Really.

I guess they DID have a strategy, because the Combine died almost instantly.

But wait! There's hope! One of the Combine survived! Could he singlehandedly defeat the rebels?

Apparently, nope. Round two also goes to the- you guessed it, rebels!

 

[XCVG]

Episode 1 Part 2

I've given the Combine even more cover and repositioned them a bit. Will they win this time? Probably not, but you never know.

The Combine and the rebels immediately begin to trade bullets. It actually seems almost even this time. Almost.

The first guy to die is the guy behind the DHD. He's slumped into the strangest death position I've ever seen.

So far three people-well, once-human killing machines- have died. Things are not looking too good for the Combine.

And they are all dead. Guess who won.

But I do have a trick up my sleeve...

Obviously normal Combine soldiers just wouldn't cut it. So I brought out the big guns. Both literally and figuratively. Figuratively, in that I've replaced the normal Combine soldiers with Combine Elites. Literally, in that they are equipped with AR2 pulse rifles. Four rebels against these bad boys? Hah!

Except for one misfit, the Elites open fire all at once with their spiffy new pulse rifles.

Amazingly, the rebels manage to take down one of the heavily-armed, somewhat-armored Elites with only their shoddy little SMGs.

This Elite certainly comes across very Rambo-esque. He takes a hit to the face as he watches one friend die and another friend do absolutely nothing.

Unlike Rambo, however, he dies.

What the heck? She's heading straight for the Combine!

Oh, that's why. She wants the pulse rifle.
Okay, problem here. We saw two Elites die. We saw one Elite who was already dead. But there were 5 Elites! Now before you try to be Phoenix Wright, I know that all of the Elites died. Just not when or how. So there.

 

[XCVG]

Episode 1 Part 3

One more mystery remains. How could these poorly trained, poorly equipped rebels defeat the elite Elites? Especially since they were outnumbered one-point-two-five to one. The answer must lie in the position itself. Hold it, you say, isn't a defensive position advantageous? I thought so too. But is it REALLY? One way to find out!

Four rebels with SMGs, same defensive position. No tricks or anything fancy.

Five Elites lined up like cannon fodder or like good soldiers, depending on how you think of it.

The Elites open fire all at once like good soldiers, except for one who doesn't, like a bad misfit.

And two Elites are down. I thought they would last longer than THIS!

One left. He's still fighting, brave scotch tape the wires (better than solder imo) he is. Lone Elite, I salute you. (note to SS- add salute smiley)

Amazingly, everyone is reloading at the same time. Also amazingly, I was trying to get a picture of them firing.

Trying to out-flank the enemy. Obviously they never taught him that you need more than one person to flank a position in Combine boot camp.

And he's dead. Proving for the last time that 1 Rebel>1.25 Elites.

Now you may be wondering why I posted this here and not at Facepunch. Frankly, it's because most members at Facepunch are immature idiotic jerkwads who would do nothing but slam my work. Doing this was fairly easy but time-consuming. The battles were quick- editing and posting took way longer. Like I said before, this isn't posed, it's captured in real-time. The map is gm_construct. Anyone can do this really.

Anyway, next episode: When Antlions Attack

 

[eurddrue]

Re: NPC Arena

This had better not be a Red vs. Blue knockoff.

 

[samjc3]

Re: NPC Arena (56K WARNING!)

so you makedid this in gmod?

 

[D.J]

Re: NPC Arena (56K WARNING!)

It looks like Gmod. If it is I need to get it.

 

[samjc3]

Re: NPC Arena (56K WARNING!)

It looks like Gmod. If it is I need to get it.

well, i know its gmod. thats the stargate pack. i was just wondering if he made it himself.

 

[XCVG]

Re: NPC Arena

This had better not be a Red vs. Blue knockoff.

I've never seen Red vs. Blue, so not on purpose.

so you makedid this in gmod?

Yeah, read the bottom section of part 3. I just spawned in NPCs and a Stargate.

It looks like Gmod. If it is I need to get it.

It is Gmod. Gmod is really awesome, it's really come a long way. You will have to spend a bit of time setting up the addons but it's worth it (vanilla Gmod is a joke). You need Steam and at least one Source game (more is better, HL2 and CS:S are essential). I can help you with the addons if you want.

It looks like Gmod. If it is I need to get it.

well, i know its gmod. thats the stargate pack. i was just wondering if he made it himself.

The stargate is Stargate pack, the Stargate people are SG-Mod. There's no posing, but I set things up and took pictures with the in-game camera.

 

[Yoshilime M.R.]

Re: NPC Arena (56K WARNING!)

I love this, very funny, keep up the good work!

 

[samjc3]

Re: NPC Arena

i take it you have gmod 10?

 

[D.J]

Re: NPC Arena (56K WARNING!)

It's valve. So do I have to pay for anything besides Gmod game?

 

[βeta]

Re: NPC Arena (56K WARNING!)

I love it!

 

[XCVG]

Re: NPC Arena (56K WARNING!)

I love this, very funny, keep up the good work!

Yay me! Seriously though, I love it when people like my stuff.

i take it you have gmod 10?

Yup, latest version. Most of the addons are the latest SVN too.

It's valve. So do I have to pay for anything besides Gmod game?

If you have a Source engine game, no. Otherwise, you'll have to buy a game or two. There's a combo pack with Gmod and CS: Source for $25. If you have NO Source engine games you are missing out on a lot. I recommend the Valve Complete Pack, you get all the Half-Life games, plus CS, DoD, and TF2 for under $100. Trust me, it's a good deal.

I love it!

Complemented by a Modmin, go me!

Anyway, I'll start working on the next version tomorrow.

 

[XCVG]

Re: NPC Arena (56K WARNING!)

Episode two is shot, but I don't feel like editing it right now. Maybe later, maybe not until tomorrow.

 

[XCVG]

Episode 2

So, I've been slaving away most of the morning to complete:

This time, we're going to be discussing antlion attack survival strategy. It's a little different this time. The rebels now have to protect Dr. Kleiner from the antlions. If Kleiner dies the best they can hope for is a draw. So, when you have 4 rebels to protect you, how should you confront them? On an island, on a raised platform, or just out in the flat open ground?

Spiffy text explains the basic arrangement. I didn't have a proper island, so I simulated it with a blocked-off chasm. A pack (?) of twelve antlions versus four rebels. I honestly had no idea who would win at this point.

The antlions begin by jumping and flying over the makeshift chasm. That was pretty obvious. Somewhat, but not too oddly, none stay behind.

While the others try to kill the antlions, Kleiner tries to be friendly with them. Weirdo. I wonder if he does it to zombies and headcrabs too?

And of course, Kleiner's weirdness gets him killed. A taste of things to come? We shall see.

Very possible "yup". A rebel goes down under enemy, uh, attack.

And another one bites the dust. She took a couple down with her though. Look at her death pose, it's normal enough, but why isn't she falling in? Is this an optical illusion or a physics glitch?

And the last two rebels take out the few remaining antlions. Figures.

Notice how the dead ragdolls float. Live NPCs don't do float. They sink in an exceedingly odd way. Anyway, since Kleiner died the rebels can't win. But they forced a draw by killing all of the antlions. Still, this is not exactly a good way to protect yourself against antlions.

And now, a raised platform. The idea of this is the same as the first defensive idea. The antlions can still cross, so it's not unbelievably cheap, BUT the rebels still get some defensive advantage.

The first antlion decides to go it alone. He lands on the raised area dead. Natural selection.

The first dead guy. Cause of death: puncture and tear wounds caused by an antlion.

Another antlion jumps up. What's interesting is that there's only one antlion corpse. Could the first antlion been alive enough to kill the first dead guy? Or was it death by ragdoll?

Oddly, none of the other antlions seem to want to get up. So the rebels just shoot down at them. Hey, nobody ever said antlions were smart.

I'm pretty sure this is the last antlion. But since I don't have any pictures of them all dead, there's no spiffy text-over-image statement of the rebels' victory. You'll have to make do with this: Rebels Win.

This time it's plain and simple. An antlion attack with nowhere to hide and nowhere to go. Just open ground and a ramp that I forgot to block off.

This picture is now famous. It's in the title banner, so it must be famous. In any case, some antlions jumped up and some stayed behind, unlike what they did before. One gets shot up but keeps flying.

Very close-quarters battle, with each rebel surrounded and outnumbered. Oddly, Kleiner isn't petting the antlions this time.

Despite all odds, the antlions get massacred by the rebels. There's something to be said about guerilla warfare.

Even though the rebels utterly decimated the antlions, I was going to call it a draw. I couldn't see Kleiner so I thought he was dead. I searched under the dead antlions for his body, to no avail. Then I found him over on the ramp. I have no idea why he went there. Kleiner is one of the biggest mysteries of the universe.

And I decided to do a rematch of the island scenario, this time with a real artificial island. On one side are 12 pissed off antlions, on the other is four cocky rebels and a dazed and confused Kleiner.

Perhaps the antlions learned something, because they all went after Kleiner, ignoring the rebels. While this is really stupid and will get you killed, it would probably be successful at killing Kleiner, thus forcing a draw.

And the gamble paid off, although all the antlions involved were quickly dispatched. And that's where it turned to crap. The remaining antlions refused to attack the rebels on the island. Maybe they were too depressed, or lost their aggressiveness, or maybe it's just a glitch. In any case, neither side won this grudge match.

Coming next time (probably); how to deal with an antlion guard!

 

[Yoshilime M.R.]

Great! Love it! You have a great sense of humor!