Crate-based Propulsion

[yllamana]

Maybe I'm late to the party on this, but it's hilarious. In brief: you can spawn a crate at your feet while you're airborne and instantly jump off the crate. This lets you traverse levels almost like you're in an umbra vortex. You can do things like storm dash across the top of the level, above the enemies.

This seems like it's really unintentional. Has anyone made use of this in their game? Avoided using it for game balance purposes? It's finally given me a use for the hundreds of crates I'm lugging around, but I think I'll have to avoid taking advantage of it just because it lets you more or less fly, albeit with a minor cost.

[TechSY730]

This was discovered moderately early in the beta process. It was deemed cool enough and hilarious enough to keep.

It wasn't deemed too OP, as it does rely on a limited supply item and it requires a little bit of good timing and positioning to pull off.

[Gemzo]

http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,10458.0.html

Also limited supply item? They're ultra cheap in the store last I checked.

[TechSY730]

http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,10458.0.html

Also limited supply item? They're ultra cheap in the store last I checked.

Technically, they are limited supply in that you can run out of them on the field, because something is consumed each time you use it.
Now of course, it is so easy to stockpile them and buy them, that you probably won't have to ever worry about it post early game. But that doesn't change the fact that they technically are not infinite use.

[yllamana]

Well, I'm still very early in the game on my new 1.1 world, and I ended up in the highlands. Since I don't have access to double jump or ride the lightning I was balancing crates on platforms to make my way around tricky vertical edges with no backdrop and accidentally jumped off a midair crate.

I can definitely see where you're coming from with the skill bit, and it lets you do neat things, but... well, it invalidates a lot of early climbing type stuff too. I'm still not sure how to feel about it.

[keith.lamothe]

It is basically a free infinite jump but it requires some degree of skill and is highly dependent on understanding the particular quirks of your input device (my keyboard can only send two simultaneous signals reliably, sometimes 3 depending on which keys are involved, and oddly occasionally even 4).

And if you mess up there's often a whole heap of falling damage waiting for you at the bottom

It's one of those bugs I don't have the heart to fix.

[Mánagarmr]

It's kinda like "skiing" in the original Tribes.

[Nethellus]

I use this all the time, and no skill is needed when traveling in a straight line. Just place the cursor at your feet and hold down jump and whatever button you use to place a crate. Combined with Storm Dash it's the fastest, safest and easiest way to move through an area, in some ways better than being a bat since a bat can not Storm Dash for extended periods of time, so this is faster. The only trouble you will have is if you reach the top of the map, then you may have to move the mouse to keep jumping.

[TechSY730]

I use this all the time, and no skill is needed when traveling in a straight line. Just place the cursor at your feet and hold down jump and whatever button you use to place a crate. Combined with Storm Dash it's the fastest, safest and easiest way to move through an area, in some ways better than being a bat since a bat can not Storm Dash for extended periods of time, so this is faster. The only trouble you will have is if you reach the top of the map, then you may have to move the mouse to keep jumping.

...

Ok, now that may be a bit OP, though I really don't see an easy way to "fix" this.

As mentioned though, this will waste many crates (as it will keep placing crates constantly), enough so that you actually start eating into even huge reserves. But still, that seems a bit too simple to pull of for what it offers.

[yllamana]

Well, if it's a desired mechanic, why not legitimise it? The crates could be crates of Boom, with a little plunger on top to activate them and send everything nearby flying! Of course, it's magical Boom, so it doesn't hurt anything.

It'd sort of break crate stacking to stand on them and reach greater heights, but being able to jump off crates makes that mostly obsolete anyway.

[keith.lamothe]

The fix is easy: make the deploy-item ability not work (at least for crates) while you're not touching the ground.  But I dunno if that makes the game more fun.

[@B0FH]

personally i'd be disappointed if this unintentional feature was fixed

[Misery]

Why not just make it so you CANT place crates in the position that makes this glitch work? Or something like that.   Or you place a crate, and there's a split second where you cant do anything else like jump.

It doesnt make sense anyway, for the character to put crates under their own feet, and sure as heck doesnt make sense to fly simply because crates.

Honestly, this one seems like cheating to me.

[Coppermantis]

I almost never use wooden platforms. Ever. Crate jumping has been my only means of vertical movement since it was first possible. I say keep it, it's fun.

[mlah]

This doesn't really seem game breaking. At best it just makes it faster to travel its not like you can use it to instantly kill overlords or anything else.