Some interesting questions were asked last night, however they were focused mainly around gameplay. Although it is nice to hear that Epic Games does value its PC gamer userbase very highly. But enough of the chatter lets get right down to it....

[bu]hal': alright, well let's get this out of the way first... no demo date? :)
[EPIC]WarTourist: Nope!
[EPIC]WarTourist: You'll know as soon as we do :-)
[Epic]Dave: 2 wee....
[Epic]Dave: hah
[EPIC]WarTourist: Dave....
[bu]hal`: oops
[Epic]stuman  watches the flood of people leaving



GC][Wentz: Are there any advancements to the AI from what was previously mentioned in interviews?
[EPIC]WarTourist: Joe, you want that one?
[Epic]DrSiN: Matt?
[Epic]Checker: ping, pong. :p
[Epic]DrSiN: it's the pass the buck game :)
[Epic]Clawfist: hehe
[EPIC]Mysterial: haha
[EPIC]WarTourist: Did see the oelfke...perfect!
[EPIC]WarTourist: didn't*
[EPIC]Mysterial: Well, the AI is much better at driving vehicles, much better at timing and acquiring powerups
[bu]hal`: are they still Link Gun whores?
[EPIC]Mysterial: we redid the aiming so that they actually look where they're shooting
[EPIC]Mysterial: and aim much more realistically
[EPIC]Mysterial: they do not do the crazy broken link beam lockon thing
[BU]Dark_Pulse: Do they link up to team on you now?
[EPIC]Mysterial: the link gun works differently now
[Epic]DrSiN: They certainly do. I was testing single player the other night and I was pounding on this bot so he ran.. I was following him and he ran me directly in to an ambush by two of his teammates.. was a very cool moment.


Cleary: What happends when you shoot the Slow Motion Cube with a Shock or mini gun?
[bu]hal`: so how about that slow volume? does it have effect upon hitscan or just projectile?
[EPIC]Mysterial: instant hit weapons can't enter or exit the slow volume
[EPIC]Mysterial: if you're in, you can shoot others in, if you're out, you can shoot others out


PrivateeR: As an anxious CTF player I was distracted from 2k4 scene by the translocator that a) left laserbeam after it b) had limited amount of reps. Will there be any modifications for CTF translocator properties?
[Epic]stuman: The trans now has 7 pucks
[Epic]DrSiN: The TL is close to the UT2K4 version though with some additional charges.
[BU]_Lynx: recharge speed?
[Epic]stuman: it has a trail, but its really short, mostly just a small effect behind it
[EPIC]Mysterial: I *think* it's slightly faster
[bu]hal`: ... close, as in trajectory?
[Epic]DrSiN: Yea.. it's slightly faster.
[Epic]stuman: i think its around a second right?
TWD: Does it travel as far?
[BU]Dark_Pulse: To clarify Trajectory... more like original UT's, or more like UT200x's?
[Epic]Checker: I still run out of charges, but only in small maps with lots of corners, and then it recharges really fast.
[Epic]DrSiN: Pretty much.
[Epic]stuman: I rarely find myself running out of charges
[Epic]stuman: honestly
[Epic]Clawfist: i never run out of charges.. clearly checker is spamming his trans!
[Epic]stuman: usually only if i make a mistake and bring it back before it lands
[Epic]DrSiN: Yea, I'm a TL whore and it's rare I run out.
[Epic]stuman: i think most maps I can traverse most if not all the way
[Epic]Dave: the only time I run out is if I'm trying to telefrag someone and keep missing
[Epic]DrSiN: We did make it harder to telefrag.


[DoW]MeepZero: Are dual enforcers going to be more viable as weapons? Or are they there purely for asthetic reasons?
[Epic]IctusBrucks: I kill with the enforcers alot now
[Epic]stuman: Dual enforcers are pretty hardcore haha
[Epic]IctusBrucks: especially with the burst fire alt fire
[Epic]IctusBrucks: oh ya, not to mention dual enforcers :)
[Epic]IctusBrucks: they're a force to be reckoned with
[Epic]Checker: Enforcer + high level bot = death. Dual enforcer = double death.
[Epic]stuman: dual enforcer 3 burst alt fire is pretty awesome
[BU]Dark_Pulse: Is the burst as effective as UT's "Gangsta" mode?
[EPIC]Mysterial: depends on range
[Epic]Clawfist: the duals are really useful but not as crazy as in the original
[Epic]Dave: and if you hit :)
[Epic]Checker: Dark_pulse : depends on your aim too.
[Epic]DrSiN: The Enforcer in general is great to nail a Flag carrier escaping on a hoverboard.
[Epic]stuman: oh yes, the enforcer is the anti hoverboard
[Epic]stuman: for sure


iU|H4skeer: Is it true that you can pin someone on a wall with the Stinger Sec-fire? And if yes only the dead body or even a guy who`s still alive?
[Epic]Dave: just for the killing blow
[Epic]Checker: You get pinned or pushed a bit with them if you are alive though
[Epic]IctusBrucks: But there is some velocity imparted by the impact
[Epic]DrSiN: But it's worth it!
[Epic]IctusBrucks: can you get pushed a little bit
[Epic]Checker: Think the ripper secondary fire, but that was splash, now you have to hit the dude
[Epic]stuman: plus the secondary stinger fire is pretty much dead on accuracy
[Epic]stuman: but slower rof
[Epic]Dave: and it's a projectile, not instant hit
[Epic]Checker: Note on dave: secondary fire is projectile, primary fire is instant hit


truegamer: What kind of media will come with the PC collector`s Edition of the game (i.e. what are the tutorials and the documentary?)
[EPIC]WarTourist: I'll take that one
[EPIC]WarTourist: We're doing 10+ hours of the awesome 3d buzz tutorials on ue3 and ut3
[Epic]IctusBrucks: (great quality stuff btw)
[EPIC]WarTourist: And there are videos, 1 on the history of ut and 1 on behind the scenes of ut3
[EPIC]WarTourist: The first one was great fun to put together, all your Asia Carerra questions will be answered :-)
[bu]hal`: and what about that Lauren model that's been popping up as part of the package on those pre-order sites?
[BU]_Lynx: and will PC Collectors Edition be sold in Europe?
[EPIC]WarTourist: She's had 3 polygon breast reduction surguries...
[bu]hal`: no blowup doll? :(
[Epic]stuman: haha
[EPIC]WarTourist: Up to retailers Lynx. I believe so
[BU]Dark_Pulse: Hal, if they had that, they wouldn't be playing the game :p


kongy: Will the skins in this game be dark like in 2k4 causing the competitive community to have to make a bright skins mod?
[Epic]stuman: Visibility should be improved alot
[Epic]stuman: we basically have a shader on the characters
[Epic]DrSiN: The skins are very visible.
[Epic]stuman: that after a certain distance kicks in
[Epic]stuman: i think its like, 1000 units or so
[Epic]IctusBrucks: character rimlights and saturation increase with distance
[BU]Dark_Pulse: What about when you shoot a guy? Is that easily visible? Noticeable blood spurts, etc?
[Epic]Clawfist: yes - nice blood spurts
[Epic]DrSiN: But let's face it.. the competitive community will probably make a bright skins mod anyway :)
[Epic]stuman: that basically turns them into something similar to bright skins, they become very saturated in their team colour
[Epic]IctusBrucks: players should have no problem seeing the blood
[Epic]stuman: you should have no trouble seeing somebody and seeing what team they are on


satan666: Which one of you Epic guys is the champion of UT3 among the testers?
[Epic]stuman: depends on the weapon ;)
[Epic]IctusBrucks: hahah good answer stu
[Epic]Checker: and the gametype
[Epic]DrSiN: Depends.
[Epic]stuman: Phill aka willhaven is the goo master
[EPIC]WarTourist: Mysterial's game has been seriously slipping lately...I heard a Midway testing bagging on him the other day
[Epic]stuman: Mysteral = shock
[Epic]DrSiN: Ouch
[Epic]stuman: me = sniper, bastiaan with those damn rockets
[EPIC]Mysterial: clearly they must be deluded
[Epic]DrSiN: Stu = sniper.
[EPIC]WarTourist: Even I kill him every now and then
[Epic]IctusBrucks: I think mysterial is the favorite player for everybody to team up on
[EPIC]Mysterial: don't lie
[Epic]Checker: I am spammer. rockets and flak :D
[EPIC]WarTourist: But it's my job!
[Epic]stuman: theres nothing better than headshotting matt
[EPIC]WarTourist: Serious
[Epic]stuman: right as he is about to combo me
[EPIC]Mysterial: apparently we need some more FFA playtests so we can remember who's the master
[Epic]Clawfist: !
[Epic]stuman: dude, im so there
[EPIC]WarTourist: uh...it's cool...it's cool...
[EPIC]WarTourist  backs away slowly
[Epic]DrSiN: But I'd have to say the player I most want to beat on in real life after a play test session is Stu and his damn sniper rifle.
[Epic]Checker: But Dave is vehicle master. he actually gets a bit dangerous then :p
[Epic]stuman: ahh, ive been called about every name under the sun after a play test
[Epic]DrSiN: Jeff just serves has a bonus point to who ever is around.


nuRb: I`m wondering what the developers will do for the highly competitive community. UT99 had many clans playing at a high level while UT2003-2004 didn`t attract at all as many. What will you do to attract the clans?
[EPIC]WarTourist: Well, we're still doing pure DM and CTF for one thing :-)
[Epic]Checker: If they like it ... they play it?
[Epic]IctusBrucks: build it, and they will come
[Epic]stuman: I think we have hit a nice balance
[EPIC]WarTourist: Not a lot of games even focusing on those "classic" gametypes
[Epic]stuman: between UT2k4 and UT99
[bu]hal`: what I hear asked a lot are things like warmup mode, tournament settings, etc
[bu]hal`: hitsounds, et al
[EPIC]WarTourist: That's where the editor comes in! We couldn't make everyone happy, so we do the best to cover all the bases and let the fans shore up their niches
[bu]hal`: so nothing like that out of the box?
[bu]hal`: mutator, etc?
[EPIC]Mysterial: hit sounds are going to be just like UT2004 (although the audio balance is better) - real world sounds, but amplified for damage you cause
[BU]Dark_Pulse: So no "TING" sort of hit sounds, e.g; CPMA or Quake 3 style.
[EPIC]Mysterial: nope
[Epic]DrSiN: Hell no.


kongy: How much time is in between each sniper shot?
[bu]hal`: Joe ought to know that one
[Epic]Checker: Stu, sniper question!
[EPIC]WarTourist: zomg
[Epic]Checker: 1.2576 seconds ? :p
[Epic]stuman: I dont know the exact time
[EPIC]WarTourist: Amazing!
[Epic]stuman: It's certaintly not ut99 rof
[Epic]stuman: but its quick enough
[Epic]Clawfist: yeah its slower
[bu]hal`: so, somewhere in between?
[EPIC]Mysterial: 1.2 seconds
[Epic]Checker: i was not far off hahaha.
[EPIC]WarTourist: whoa
[Epic]IctusBrucks: yay for programmers
[EPIC]WarTourist: Matt rounds down...we knew that
[BU]Raffi_B: so just a hair faster than the 2k4 lightning gun then :)
[Epic]stuman: trust me, its fast enough that if for some reason i miss joe the first time, i know i will get him again
[Epic]DrSiN: Ah ah.. and yet I still cap.. :)


sMURF: has the manta changed at all from 2k4? faster/slower? more/less powerful?
[Epic]Checker: Manta is definately changed
[EPIC]Mysterial: the manta now has less strafing ability, slightly less top speed, and on level ground cannot crush crouched players
[EPIC]Mysterial: also our vehicle collision is much better so less of the engine instagibbing you because it couldn't figure it out
[bu]hal`: can you ride on top of it (not on the blades)
[BU]Dark_Pulse: I was just about to ask that.
[EPIC]Mysterial: no
[Epic]Checker: I think that is disabled
[BU]Dark_Pulse: To be clearer: On the "body" itself, not the blades.
[Epic]stuman: no more mantavans as far as i know
[EPIC]Mysterial: not anywhere
[Epic]stuman: you can grapple onto it though using the hoverboard
[Epic]stuman: which is great for pulling people along, you can use the jumps in some of the levels and the player grappling on
[Epic]stuman: will go with you
[Epic]Checker: 4 dudes on a manta with link guns was uber Still can do it if you all walk, but not with manta speed :)
[Epic]DrSiN: The hoverboard really removes the need for tricks like that.
[Epic]Dave: grappling on the hoverboard is uber useful.. just dangerous
[BU]_Lynx: one can grapple only to vehicles or to another hoverboards too?
[Epic]stuman: you cant grapple to other hoverboards


{uX}l`VampyrCeil: Is the Unreal Editor really going to be available for Mac and Linux users this time around? Also, will it be able to import/export from/to third-party applications (specifically Blender 3D)?
[Epic]IctusBrucks: I'm not familiar with the file formats of blender, but I can tell you which formats work
[Epic]DrSiN: I don't believe there are plans for a Mac/Linux editor.
[Epic]DrSiN: Jeff?
[Epic]IctusBrucks: the editor imports .ase files for static mesh geometry
[Epic]IctusBrucks: the editor can export static meshes as .obj or .stl, so any program that can read those formats and export .ase can work well with UE3
[EPIC]WarTourist: Dunno...linux game exe in the box and mac version soon after. Not sure how the editor works
[bu]hal`: ok.. so maybe, maybe not


KriLL3: Does the impact hammer`s EMP attack have any use outside vehicular combat? I suggest it dealing damage to player shields if not.
[Epic]DrSiN: The EMP can also dislog powerups.
[EPIC]WarTourist: Impact alt got changed
[EPIC]WarTourist: Yeah
[BU]Raffi_B: does that refer to the shield or the amp or both?
[Epic]stuman: so if someone has a bezerk powerup or the amp etc
[Epic]stuman: it can be booted off them
[Epic]Checker: I think any powerup
[Epic]Dave: Berzerk and Udam drop on death now too, though
MarkRein[Epic]: Being able to steal power-up is insanely cool folks!
[Epic]stuman: it cant dislodge a shieldbelt
[Epic]stuman: as far as i know
[EPIC]Mysterial: it can
MarkRein[Epic]: oops -- meant "power ups"
[Epic]Dave: it can actually
[Epic]stuman: oh
[Epic]stuman: haha
[Epic]stuman: then watch out next play test
MarkRein[Epic]: I'm happy enough to see them dropped when people get fragged.
[Epic]DrSiN: The best part is it really encourages people to try and take on the powerup holder..


sho`: What`s the armor system set to be like and what other Powerups are there this time around?
[Epic]DrSiN: Armor is very close to UT99
[BU]Dark_Pulse: Are the values any different, due to the inclusion of the Helmet?
[BU]Dark_Pulse: Or can you get Pads + Chest + Helmet for 170?
[Epic]Checker: Berzerk (double fire rate) amp, redeemer.
[BU]_Lynx: shieldbelt block all damage or it's like UT2004 100a?
[EPIC]Mysterial: Shield: 100, Chest: 50, Thighpads: 30, Helmet: 20
[Epic]Checker: Shield blocks all.
[EPIC]Mysterial: I don't know what the percentages of the thighpads and helmet are
[Epic]Checker: I think. Plus, if you are in a vehicle when it blows up, and you have the shield, you life!
[BU]Dark_Pulse: How about the helmet? Does it absorb a headshot, or simply make it normal damage while "eating" it?
[Epic]Checker: prevents a headshot for sure.
[Epic]stuman: yeh, if you have a shieldbelt in a vehicle and it gets destroyed, the vehicle will launch you out
[Epic]Clawfist: the helmet is good for saving you from one headshot
[BU]Dark_Pulse: So it takes the hit for you and you suffer no damage?
[Epic]Checker: I think you still get hurt, Matt?
[bu]hal`: we'll catch up with Matt in a bit... moving on to UTV.
[EPIC]Mysterial: headshot becomes zero if you have at least 1 helmet armor (and the helmet armor goes away)


[000]TuVoK: ut2004 had poor utv support, is utv planned for ut3, at launch time or later?
[EPIC]WarTourist: No "broadcasting" out of the box...down the line perhaps...


Underscore: What kind of mutators will come with the game? Are there any particularly interesting ones you can tell us about?
[Epic]stuman: Instagib is definitely in, of course ;)
[Epic]Checker: i was too late with the Hugh Jazz mutator, so you will have to do with Big head :p
[EPIC]WarTourist: Low grav
[EPIC]WarTourist: Did Big Groin ever make it? :-)
[Epic]DrSiN: I was playing IG/LG CTF today in fact.
[Epic]stuman: haha
[EPIC]Mysterial: there's a full weapon swapping mutator
[bu]hal`: the big groin...
[Epic]Checker: Hang on, Stu is writing
[BU]Dark_Pulse: Shades of Crotchshot...
[Epic]stuman: Super Bezerk
[Epic]stuman: which makes all players fire at bezerk speed
[EPIC]WarTourist: Slow Kills
[Epic]Checker: (everyone fires double speed)
[Epic]stuman: its kinda like excessive
[Epic]stuman: haha
[Epic]Checker: Slomo deaths
[EPIC]Mysterial: slomo deaths is single player only


AssasinxX: Will there be any other UT99 Music Remakes for UT3 other than the ones we have seen already?
[Epic]Checker: Music is done differently now, they aren't straight up tracks in most gametypes
[Epic]Checker: It adjusts to what is going on around you.
[Epic]stuman: Deathmatch is still a straight music track as far as i know, the other gametypes
[Epic]Dave: you guys know the menu music is UT99, right?
[Epic]stuman: use a dynamic music system that plays certain parts of a track depending on whats going on
[bu]hal`: yep, sounds good... speaking of remakes
[BU]_Lynx: you use two remmixes there?
[Epic]stuman: so when your more exploring in a warfare map, itll be subtle music, then when you grab a redeemer
[BU]_Lynx: or only one will make it?
[Epic]stuman: itll kick up a notch


Prophet: Can we have a maplist of CTF and DM, or at least, what remakes we have? (like deck16)
[Epic]DrSiN: No, no map lists.. takes the surprise out of it :)
[bu]hal`: any remakes you'd like to mention?
[Epic]stuman: Theres deck for sure
[Epic]DrSiN: Coret
[Epic]stuman: hydro
[Epic]stuman: a sidney special
[Epic]stuman: ;)
[BU]Dark_Pulse: Torlan still part of it, of course?
[Epic]Checker: Yes.
[Epic]Clawfist: hyrdo is reminiscent of the orignal layout but some slight adjustments


CROM: How are you going to address cheating in UT3?
[EPIC]WarTourist: I'll take that one
[Epic]DrSiN: Good...
[Epic]Checker: We called the FBI when we find out you are cheating.
[bu]hal`: hah
[EPIC]WarTourist: We don't publically discuss our cheating plans because it only helps the scumbags. We've done quite a bit on it, but we're not going to talk about it. Sorry :-)
[Epic]Checker: They have a organization set up perfectly to deal with them ;) If that doesn't work, the army! ahum.


dignitas\tewic: Will you support the competetive community in terms of hosting big events with tournaments? (like ID Software hosts QuakeCon and Blizzard has BlizzCon)
MarkRein[Epic]: Guys...
MarkRein[Epic]: We will encourage our publisher to support competitions in the best way possible.
MarkRein[Epic]: However you should understand that things don't work like they did in the old days.
MarkRein[Epic]: These days competitions are big money and require big sponsorships. If you want to play UT in competition YOU need to make your voice heard.
MarkRein[Epic]: As best we can.
MarkRein[Epic]: Folks--> When I said "make your voice heard" I meant to the competition organizers and companies who sponsor them - not to me personally through /msg :)


The_Marauder: What about underwater maps like we saw in `99. Will there be any underwater fighting?
[Epic]IctusBrucks: there are underwater sections to a few maps
[Epic]stuman: You can swim and fight underwater
[Epic]IctusBrucks: but none of them are entirely 100% underwater
[Epic]stuman: there arent any maps completely designed around it
[Epic]IctusBrucks: we leave that up to the mod community :)
[EPIC]Mysterial: in general we find being stuck underwater for any stretch of time to not be very much fun
[Epic]Clawfist: its more for audio cues and the like
[Epic]Dave: no McSwartzly remakes ;)
[Epic]Checker: (UT99 had special powerup to deal with it)
[Epic]IctusBrucks: i remember a community built underwater map... it was all underwater with occasional superhealth to keep you alive :)
[Epic]Clawfist: and chili powerups so you could fart-boost?
[Epic]Checker: Fireball! underwater ...


MozI: Has Gears of War influenced any aspect of UT3, such as level themes, art style, etc, or have the two projects been isolated from each other?
[Epic]stuman: I think we try to keep the visual styles somewhat different, generally gears has a more desaturated look, where as UT is all about colour
[Epic]stuman: UT is all about crazy environments
[EPIC]WarTourist: UT and Gears are such different games, other than development techniques, they're pretty independent
 [Epic]DrSiN: Mozi - of course it has to some point. Especially in the cinematics which have an awesome feel.
MarkRein[Epic]: BTW, the cinematics in this game are an amazing showcase of Unreal Engine 3!


Apathy: Demorecording. Will we be able to view the weapon being held in the playback of Demos in UT3, like it was in UT1?
[EPIC]WarTourist: We've got demo recording to be sure, not sure about the weapon though
[bu]hal`: anything new in that regards?
[BU]Raffi_B: are rewind or jumping to a specific time possible?
[EPIC]Mysterial: the limitations are mostly the same as previous UTs


Ultron: What can you tell us about Duel?
[bu]hal`: so how about that Duel gametype... what can you tell us about htat
[EPIC]Mysterial: it's 1v1 with built in queue support
[EPIC]Mysterial: it defaults to our standard 1v1 rules
[BU]DeathBooger: is there a tournament structure?
[EPIC]Mysterial: no
[EPIC]Mysterial: it's just a linear queue, winner stays, loser goes back to the end


[DoW]MeepZero: What can we expect out of the singleplayer storyline?
[Epic]Checker: its not gears, and its not older UT's :)
[Epic]IctusBrucks: expect more story than you're expecting
Zerb_Riss: Will it be like UC2 or more story than that?
[Epic]IctusBrucks: I'd say the amount of story is comparable to UC2, but they are very different stories
[Epic]Checker: Our SP designer worked on UC2 a lot as SP designer, so I think they are similar.
Zerb_Riss: okay fair enough :)


T2A`: Will UT3`s netcode be as optimized and trimmed as UT2004`s was (for 56k and for 32 players + vehicles) or will it be more balanced for broadband? Could it possibly be dynamic so that, for instance, 12 players or less gets additional bandwidth supplied for accuracy concerns?
[EPIC]Mysterial: the netcode is even more optimized than before and many bugs have been fixed.


WheresTehDemo: How does gamespy work with UT3?
[Epic]DrSiN: Gamespy is our backend. Like the master server from UT2004 but hopefully more stable.
Zerb_Riss: [Epic]DrSiN: does it require any external programs to be running to gather stats?
[Epic]DrSiN: Zerb no.
[Epic]DrSiN: it's mostly for the connection and database system. But everything is inside UT3


Polycron: What kind of tools would a typical mod-maker need, to create custom content? What would you recommend?
Epic]IctusBrucks: photoshop and 3dsmax
[Epic]Checker: Hmm. UnrealEd for starters :p
[Epic]stuman: I think your gonna be able to go a really long way with just unreal ed
[Epic]IctusBrucks: and maybe zbrush if you want to mess with detailed normal mapping
[Epic]IctusBrucks: but like stu said, you can do alot with just the editor
[Epic]Checker: Just with the shader system you can do tons of stuff without photoshop. Changing colours on the fly, etc etc. But yeah ..
[Epic]stuman: obviously 3dmax and photoshop will serve you well going into completely custom stuff
[Epic]Clawfist: yeah ryan can make a waterfall out of a flower texture
[Epic]IctusBrucks: :)
[Epic]stuman: you can really change and adapt stuff to look unique and different much better than previous UT's
[bu]hal`: Will Unreal Tournament 3 ship with any additional modding tools, like MayaPLE in the past, other than the UnrealED?
[Epic]IctusBrucks: it is true that with the material system you can often find uses for a texture you might never have been able to predict
[Epic]stuman: I think we still amaze each other to day with the stuff we make out of assets used before, its almost an art form in itself
[Epic]stuman: see ryan's waterfall :)
[EPIC]Mysterial: I don't think we're shipping anything like MayaPLE this time


Rick: will we be able to fly by grappling to the raptor?
[Epic]DrSiN: Yes.
[Epic]IctusBrucks: yes you can grapple
[Epic]IctusBrucks: but you're going to be an easy target :)
[Epic]stuman: oh yeh
[Epic]Checker: Hoverboard! :
[Epic]IctusBrucks: and its a long ways down
[Epic]stuman: one of the maps we have
[Epic]stuman: in VCTF
[Epic]stuman: works great with that strategy
[Epic]IctusBrucks: (sandstorm w/fury?)
[BU]DeathBooger: Can you roadkill with the hoverboard?
[Epic]stuman: indeed
[Epic]stuman: ;)
[Epic]Checker: You cannot hold the flag in a vehicle, so you can hoverboard tow behind one, but if you get shot, you ragdoll and lose the flag. You can get up and grab it if you didn't fall to your death tho :)
[Epic]IctusBrucks: i dont think you can roadkill with a hoverboard
Zerb_Riss: can you still do stunts on the hoverboard?
[Epic]stuman: you cant roadkill with the hoverboard, you simply bump into them
[Epic]Checker: Yes, we have some stunts. And 'snowboard' style straffing.
 [Epic]stuman: if you hit something hard enough it will ragdoll, just as falling too far off an edge
Zerb_Riss: can you make grapple chains?
[Epic]IctusBrucks: no
[Epic]stuman: you cant grapple onto other hoverboard
[BU]_Lynx: it was answered before, Brizz
[Epic]IctusBrucks: multiple people can grapple to the same vehicle though
[Epic]stuman: you have to be careful when someone is grappling onto you
[BU]DeathBooger: did the grapple decapitation make it in?
[EPIC]Mysterial: nope
[Epic]stuman: especially in a viper or a flying vehicle, if you fly to fast and wild for your passenger
[Epic]stuman: they will probably hit something and ragdoll/die


Zerb_Riss: Is the concept of "Standard servers" still in the game?
[Epic]DrSiN: Yes.


Maxwell: Will UT3 have 4 team support? Or atleast a code in place for modders?
[EPIC]Mysterial: UT3 will not ship with 4 team support. Where possible we've made some efforts to allow the code to handle more than 2 teams but it's incomplete at best.


[BU]_Lynx: what about the bot chatter?
[Epic]Dave: The bot chatter in the single player actually helps to tell the story, Lynx
[BU]_Lynx: is the concept of bots getting the situation and reporting it you like with said situation with sniper on the tower?
[EPIC]Mysterial: yes, the bots have a lot of situational phrases (goliath in midfield, I'm taking the orb to the center node, etc etc)
[Epic]Checker: They will report certain things yes
[Epic]Dave: the bots will update on what they are heading for and incoming threats
[Epic]stuman: Bots will occasionaly report to you, I'd heard bots telling me they are going to the redeemer or some other super pickup
[Epic]Dave: flag carrier going high, etc.
[BU]_Lynx: and talking to bots?
[Epic]Checker: not sure about talking to them, but we have a V talk menu like UT99
[Epic]Checker: Joe?
[Epic]DrSiN: Bots certainly chatter more.
[Epic]Checker: Oh something cool: There is a coop option on servers. So humans on one side, and bots on the other, and it will add bots to fill it up. Then you can adjust the ratio too. 1 human vs 2 bots etc
[Epic]DrSiN: In single player, the bots have a lot more personality than in previous UTs. There is a lot of back and forth and some of the story is fleshed out there. In Multiplayer, they are a lot more vocal as to what they are thinking. A bot might tell you he’s heading for a powerup that just spawned, etc. It’s very cool.


SweetTooth: So with gamespy being the backend of the system like the Master Server does this mean the same server whitelist system will be used?
[Epic]DrSiN: We don't currently plan on whitelisting user content for pure servers. That might change in the future but we have to see how it pans out.


Zerb_Riss: Will level streaming be included for modders?
[Epic]DrSiN: Zerb yes.
Zerb_Riss: great news


martinblank: Please let us know the situation on DRM, it is concerning a lot of potential users.
MarkRein[Epic]: Sorry but we can't talk about that right now.
MarkRein[Epic]: All I can say is that we'll do what we think is right for the fans and for our business.


[bu]hal`: here's one I haven't seen asked... is it possible to have a map with all 18 vehicles?
[EPIC]Mysterial: sure, why not?
[Epic]Checker: Yeah you could :D
MarkRein[Epic]: That would be one insane map :)
[Epic]Checker: We have some pretty crazy maps already. its awesome :)
[BU]Dark_Pulse: Are you allowed to choose which vehicle sets you use, or is that a mapper-adjusted setting?
[BU]_Lynx: and is that possible to change vehicles on standard maps?
[Epic]Dave: There is a special version of Torlan that has all but 1 of the vehicles in it
[EPIC]Mysterial: no, you have to make a new map to change vehicle layouts
[EPIC]Mysterial: well, that's not entirely true... you can make new link setups in WAR that activate different vehicle factories in the map


[BU]Raffi_B: on another note, how does the game feel in terms of things like eye height and run speed?
[Epic]IctusBrucks: in terms of height and speed I think it feels more like UT99
[Epic]Checker: Eye height and run speeds feel great, very UT99ish
[Epic]IctusBrucks: we started out develoipment with some comparison scale screenshots of UT99 and UT2004
[Epic]Clawfist: yes second that, the game feels great :)
[Epic]IctusBrucks: we knew that we wanted to keep a closer eye on scale this time around
[Epic]Checker: But with wall dodging, :D
[Epic]IctusBrucks: the removal of dodge jumping allowed us to keep the map sizes a little bit more reasonable this time
[Epic]IctusBrucks: and we try to build visual cues to a realistic scale
[Epic]Checker: When I first played UT3 it felt like the character was heavy, but in a good way. It all feels very well matched to vehicles / hoverboard etc and size of maps


Felin: will a hoverboard save you from a fall or reduce fall dmg?
[EPIC]Mysterial: hoverboard does not reduce fall damage at all


EpicFan: Can you confirm that there will be online multi-player cross platform play between the PS3 and PC?
Zerb_Riss: or will not of course :)
[Epic]IctusBrucks: Matt, Mark?
MarkRein[Epic]: There will not be cross platform play at launch
MarkRein[Epic]: Allow me to elaborate on this one...
Zerb_Riss: go ahead
Zerb_Riss: MarkRein[Epic]: at your leisure :)
MarkRein[Epic]: The biggest challenge in doing cross platform play is syncronizing the builds such that the build on the PC is 100% compatible with the build on the PS3
MarkRein[Epic]: Unfortunately (or fortunately) when you games on console you have a lengthy certification process to go through each time you release anything new...
MarkRein[Epic]: We looked at how this would impact our ability to respond quickly to things happening at internet speed on the PC side of the equation and realized that
MarkRein[Epic]: this would not be in the best interests of our very loyal PC user base because we would constantly be holding on to updates to wait until they passed cert on the console platform
[bu]hal`: fair enough
MarkRein[Epic]: Our PC fanbase is of ultimate importance to us.
MarkRein[Epic]: They are our bread and butter.
[bu]hal`: great answer :)
MarkRein[Epic]: We can't let them down or compromise their experience in any way to accomodate cross platform play.
MarkRein[Epic]: This doesn't completely rule out adding this feature at some point in the future after the game has settled down and we've been through a few updates, but even then the likelihood is small.
Max_: While on PS3, am I gonna be able to remap keyboard, adjust mouse sensitivity, etc.?
MarkRein[Epic]: So there you have it.
[Epic]Checker: we definately support keyboard on PS3, so I am guessing you can rebind keys.
[Epic]DrSiN: Hal I think the PS3 keyboard is mappable.
Zerb_Riss: and adjust sensitivity on the mouse?
MarkRein[Epic]: Someone asked about cheaters previously and, while we tend not to discuss anti-cheating policies, keeping flexibility on the PC side of the equation is one of the ways we combat cheaters :)


SweetTooth: What do you guys envision as the optimal team sizes for Warfare. With CTF there is 5v5, TDM has 4v4, and ONS has 6v6. Will warfare be larger?
[Epic]Checker: All maps have 16 player starts
[Epic]Checker: So what that means. Big maps are totally fine 8on 8
[Epic]stuman: we have play tested with 8v8 on warfare for sure
[Epic]Checker: But it really depends on the map.
[Epic]stuman: some warfare maps are smaller
[Epic]stuman: and dont require such a large player count, it depends on the mapo
[Epic]stuman: map*


de`pain: Question - Will UT3 have an online FPS cap? If so, will we be able to breach this cap by editing the .ini files?
[Epic]Checker: programmer question.
[Epic]IctusBrucks: i dont believe we cap the frame rate
[Epic]DrSiN  whistles and looks at his feet.
Zerb_Riss: lol drsin
[BU]_Lynx: I guess you do, Ictus
[BU]_Lynx: or you don't know, DrSin?
[Epic]IctusBrucks: well I've seen UT3 running at 300+ fps just last night on a new system
[Epic]DrSiN: I honestly don't know.
MarkRein[Epic]: Yikes 300+ fps? That's insane!!
[Epic]IctusBrucks: that was on one of the new dell 720s :) it wasn't a full benchmark, just looking around
[Epic]IctusBrucks: but still, it was fast ;)


[bu]hal`: Here's one for Mark Rein... any plans to open up the UE3 UDN on release?
MarkRein[Epic]: Yes we will be opening up the UE3 areas of UDN once the game ships!
[bu]hal`: great news, Mark
MarkRein[Epic]: We're also working on two major books on UE3 right now
[BU]DeathBooger: 3Dbuzz right?
MarkRein[Epic]: Yes the 3DBuzz folks. They rock! They're also doing over 10 hours of video training modules to go with the PC collectors edition of the game!
[BU]DeathBooger: 3DBuzz is doing books for both the Editor and UnrealScript as well, correct?
MarkRein[Epic]: I'm not 100% sure what the exact split between the two books is. The publisher and Jason are going back and forth on that right now trying to figure out the best combination.


[bu]hal`: what about minimum specs for servers and clients?
[Epic]DrSiN: I don't think we have released mins specs yet.. but I think people will be relieved when we do.


Zerb_Riss: MarkRein[Epic]: can you confirm what the Lauren character listed on pre-order sites is for the PC CE?
MarkRein[Epic]: I can neither confirm nor deny such things
Zerb_Riss: lol


[bu]hal`: any idea how much HDD space we'll need?
[BU]_Lynx: good one
[bu]hal`: and the HDD space? any idea?
[EPIC]Mysterial: HDD space is part of min specs, so no
[bu]hal`: ok


[bu]hal`: I want to thank Epic Games for taking their time to come answer many of the questions from the Unreal community. Hopefully, we can do it again soon!
[Epic]Checker  waves
MarkRein[Epic]: I just want to add...
MarkRein[Epic]: Thanks everyone for coming out tonight. We really appreciate this show of support!
[Epic]IctusBrucks: Bye, thanks guys it was a pleasure
[BU]_Lynx  watches mass part


MarkRein[Epic]: We've been talking about the PS3 version a lot because it the game is really something new for the PS3 customers and being able to do mods on consoles...
MarkRein[Epic]: is pretty exciting to us. But we never forget that those mods COME from the PC community and the PC is still our lead platform for UT.
MarkRein[Epic]: So thanks for your continued supposed - you're going to see lots of cool things from us in return!!