ACE Official Rules - RedDeadlyCreeper/ArmoredCombatExtended GitHub Wiki

These are the rules, or rather guidelines, designed to introduce challenge and balance when utilizing ACE. While you have the freedom to adhere to or disregard them, it's advisable to consider them, especially since many servers incorporate them into their rules.

General building:

[!NOTE] This section contains general-purpose guidelines that apply to all ACE builds.

  • Avoid the clipping of ACF/ACE components. Refrain from placing an engine within an ammo box or attaching a gun in a way that it intersects with ammo or an engine. This guideline extends to all ACE entities. Exceptions may be considered when constructing inline engines, subject to administrative discretion. It's important to note that ERA armor is treated as a separate ACE entity and should not be clipped.

  • Build your armor protection using props. This means prop_physics and primitive_shape only.

  • Do not modify any entities using things such as E2, Starfall, Gates, or anything of the sort. This is including, but not limited to:

    • Editing mass
    • Applying any type of force
    • Making entities non solid
    • Changing visibility
    • Brakes that instantly bring your vehicle to a stop

  • Be reasonable. Don't make a monowheel tank with a floating turret, or have your main armament be 20 mortars spamming HE.

  • Don't abuse visual clip to make bullets pass through entities (e.g. wheels or other physics props).

  • Don't fading door your internal components.

[!NOTE] Using fading door simply as a way to service the vehicle when building is fine.

  • Build efficiently. Use Prop2Mesh to decorate and use the parent tool to keep props together. Avoid using:

    • Excessive welding
    • More than 100 constraints per dupe
    • More than 20 physical props
    • More than 150 visible entities in total (including physical ones)
    • E2/SF holograms as decoration - all decorations should be meshed if possible

  • Keep crew orientations realistic. Doing Jenga can be funny, but don't put seats upside down. See this as reference.

  • Keep your camera close to your vehicle. Your camera position must be attached to your vehicle and nothing else. No bird's-eye view cameras.

  • If you make any entities invisible, there has to be accurate and reasonable visual representation of them. If you have 4 guns, don't make them invisible and put one visual gun in their place. This includes all types of armor.

  • All critical components must be inside your vehicle. This includes all I/O and logic-related wiremod entities, such as pod controllers and E2s/Starfalls.

Aircraft:

  • You must use the pilot seat provided by ACE.

  • Keep weight realistic. For custom aircraft, try to aim for a weight similar to real-world aircraft of the same class.

  • Aircraft have very little armor in most cases. 30mm should be your limit, and be around the cockpit only.

  • Aircraft should fly realistically. This means they should stall at low speed, and not turn on a dime like helicopters.

  • The aircraft functionality must be affected by damage.

    • A completely lost wing in a plane must render it uncontrollable.
    • Losing the tail rotor in a helicopter should immediately cause a loss of control in the yaw axis.
    • Internal ammo detonations should have a near-guaranteed chance of destroying the vehicle - no compartmentalizing.

Ground vehicles:

  • Keep weight reasonable. Generally, anything past 60 tons will turn into a slugging match. Aim for a 60 ton maximum weight.

  • You must have a hole that connects the hull with the turret. If not, you must use a pilot chair/pod only in the hull, with no more than 45 degrees.

  • If you wish to use a vanilla seat (such as the airboat seat), then it must reside in the turret.

Mechs

  • Every part of the mech must be solid. Any damage to arms/legs must affect its functionality.

General combat guidelines:

  • Don't shoot at/track/pre-aim your opponents if they:

    • Have flipped and are trying to unflip their vehicle
    • Have just spawned
    • Are using an aircraft and haven't got off the ground yet

  • Don't clip your guns inside of other vehicles to bypass their armor.

  • Don't use non-ACE tracking systems, such as ones made in E2 or Starfall. If you want to track targets, use the IRST or tracking radar entities. This is non-negotiable.