Dustbowl spawn times on TV6 vs TV7

[black_and_blue]

This thread is NOT intended for the discussion of whether accelerated spawn times are a good thing or a bad thing; it has been discussed to death, so I'm really hoping that people don't post anything about that to this thread.

I've noticed that the respawn timer on TV7 for dustbowl seems to have been sped up within the last few months for RED team on TV7. Today, I timed it, at I think it was about 10 seconds for both BLU and RED team. On TV6, I think RED has to wait about 15 seconds, and BLU is less than 10 seconds.

While I know we use accelerated respawns on all TF2 servers, I thought on attack/defend maps, we tried to set respawn timers do the attacking team spawned faster than the defending team. Were they intentionally made equal on TV7, was it a mistake, or am I all mixed up?

[Earthworm James]

Timers are a funny thing I've noticed...

Most often on TV6, the respawn time I see and the respawn time that actually happens are very different.

[black_and_blue]

Timers are a funny thing I've noticed...

Most often on TV6, the respawn time I see and the respawn time that actually happens are very different.

That's because we use accelerated respawns. Our plugin used a fixed timer to determine how long before a user respawns, which is shorter than the variable timer assigned by the game.

For the general information of people, here is how the built-in respawn timer works:

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For a given scenario, the game has a fixed respawn timer. Let's say that for RED team defending on Dustbowl, it's 15 seconds. That doesn't, however, mean that a player will always wait exactly 15 seconds to respawn; the game respawns players in waves.

When a player dies, the player is assigned to the SECOND wave after that player died. So, if a player dies with 5 seconds left until the next spawn wave, that player will wait 20 seconds to respawn: 5 seconds for the current wave, plus 15 for the next wave. As such, based on the built-in timer, a 15 second respawn timer means that players will wait somewhere between 15 and 30 seconds to respawn.
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Our accelerated respawn plugin works differently. It has a fixed amount of time that every player waits to respawn. If we set it to 15 seconds for RED team, players RED team will always wait exactly 15 seconds to respawn.

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EDIT: Added description of how respawn timers work.

[Boss Llama]

In addition to what's said above, the timers vary over the course of the map. The timings get shorter or longer depending which team you're on, and which point you're on. At some points red is faster than blue, and at other points blue is faster than red. I don't know all the settings, but there probably is a crossing point where they're similar.

[Stevo]

TV6: RED 15s, BLU 5s
TV7: RED 15s, BLU 8s

I don't think this has changed for a long time.

Also, these are maximum times, so it's possible to spawn sooner if the game timer is shorter.

[black_and_blue]

TV6: RED 15s, BLU 5s
TV7: RED 15s, BLU 8s

I don't think this has changed for a long time.

Also, these are maximum times, so it's possible to spawn sooner if the game timer is shorter.

Possible it's broken? I'm quite sure it was consistently 10 seconds time after time for me as RED today on TV7, although BLU might have been 8 seconds.

[cam]

Chiming it to confirm that I've noticed tv7 dustbowl does have different spawning than tv6. I've never calculated times on either but after playing so much tv6, I can definitely tell a difference between the two. RED (typically) respawns way faster on tv7 than tv6.

[Stevo]

Chiming it to confirm that I've noticed tv7 dustbowl does have different spawning than tv6. I've never calculated times on either but after playing so much tv6, I can definitely tell a difference between the two. RED (typically) respawns way faster on tv7 than tv6.

Maybe it just seems that way because BLU spawns slower on TV7.

[cam]

Chiming it to confirm that I've noticed tv7 dustbowl does have different spawning than tv6. I've never calculated times on either but after playing so much tv6, I can definitely tell a difference between the two. RED (typically) respawns way faster on tv7 than tv6.

Maybe it just seems that way because BLU spawns slower on TV7.

Yeah that's true but I swear that I've noticed it because tv7 red team gets far more "instant respawns" and faster respawns on stage 3 than tv6.

[Cat Square]

it seems to me that on TV6 red gets stock minus ~7s, and blu always gets like 1s. On tv7 it feels something like both teams the same faster-than-stock respawn.

[The Domer]

Yesterday on TV7 dustbowl there was a stretch of time where I was literally getting instant respawn. I would die and instantly be back to life. That seems broken.

[cam]

Yesterday on TV7 dustbowl there was a stretch of time where I was literally getting instant respawn. I would die and instantly be back to life. That seems broken.

It happens very very rarely on TV6 too. My guess is there's a glitch that has something to do with dying at just the right moment to get added to a respawning wave.