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Well, it's almost Thanksgiving once again...my, my, how the time just shoots right on out the barrel these days. Hope you all have a safe and happy holiday!
And don't forget to showup for our "CoD:UO Marathon" this Friday afterwards. Gametime will start around 10:00AM MDT and run until whenever. I'll throw together a mix of maps and gametypes and of course we can always vote in our favorites as the mood strikes.
Frag ya l8r!
Mamba
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In prep for the upcoming "marathon" on the 24th I spent some time this weekend experimenting with other game types, specifically "Base Assault" and "Headquarters". Both are objective-based playing styles as explained below:
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Base Assault - BAS
Like the name implies, Base Assault requires teams to use heavy weaponry like tanks and artillery strikes to attack their opponent's bases and destroy them. On each map, both teams have bases they must defend and attack. Once a bunker takes enough damage, it is not destroyed, but exposed to infantry attack. To completely destroy a bunker, a player must sneak into the basement of an exposed bunker and plant an explosive. Then they must keep the other team from defusing the explosive so it will explode and destroy the bunker. A team wins either by destroying the most bunkers before time expires, or completely destroying all of the opposing team's bunkers.
Headquarters - HQ
Headquarters was added into the (CoD) game with the version 1.2 patch. The mode consists of teams of players attempting to capture radios which appear around the map. A radio is captured by standing by it when no enemies are nearby. The team who last captured the radio holds it and gains 45 points per 45 seconds. When the opposing team destroys the radio, or 4.5 minutes is up, a new, neutral radio appears elsewhere on the map. The winner is the team with the most points when time runs out. This in effect creates "mini-bases" or headquarters, in which one side will capture the radio and attempt to protect it by any means necessary. Given the fact that most radios are placed in locations ranging from an open field to abandoned homes, the defenders must come up with creative locations to settle in while the offensive coordinates their attack.
Upon being killed a player may have to wait up to 40 seconds to re-spawn (known as reinforced) depending on the time they are killed during the constant 45 second reinforcement countdown (being killed within the first 5 seconds a player is typically awarded another spawn). However if a radio is captured or destroyed the countdown is automatically reset with everyone "reinforced".
This waiting period encourages players to be more focused on gaining points and protecting their radio (as opposed to simply running around and killing opponents) as well as promoting teamwork.
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We're somewhat limited on what maps we can use for these types since not all maps support all gametypes. For example, the BAS type didn't appear until UO was released so the old CoD maps (of which we have many) don't support it. It IS a very cool gametype, without the spawn limitations of HQ but we're pretty much stuck with a subset of the stock maps (like Foy, Italy, etc) where armour is available. There are a lot more maps that support HQ so we'll have more of those in the rotation.
I think this will add additional dimension to our play, as it'll matter more if you work together to accomplish the objective in question rather than just the spawn/kill/die/spawn circle that exists in DM or TDM modes. I'll still mix in some standard TDM of course. I'll also extend the BAS and HQ map times as they'll take longer due to confusion, distance to travel, and so forth.
On a side note, I tried "fixing" that Azzem desert warfare map (the one that has all the extra text gar-bage debug info during play). I got that to work but for some reason it seemed unstable afterwards, so I put the original back. It'd be a good map for HQ mode but I got tired of f'n with it.
Once we get enough players online next time I'll throw in a HQ or BAS mode map on the fly so we can try it out. It's a little confusing at first but the good thing is the compass shows you where your objective lies....if you can survive get'n there and completing it!
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While the ZoXo Modern Weapons mod has some kewl features I'm rather frustrated with several of the weapons and the inability to easily remove or tone-down the TNT. I think it's time for get'n back to basics...and dammit I miss my Tokarevs. I pulled the mod this morning.
So here's the "important" part. This means you need to find the ..\Call of Duty\aweuo\w_ZoXo_vX_client.pk3 file on your system and delete it. Don't worry about keeping it; if we try a ZoXo mod down the road it'll be a newer one anyway. Note that if you don't get rid of this file you won't be able to get into the game!
As consolation I did up the grenades from 3 to 4 so that'll allow two tripwires per spawn...or one more death from Crow, depending. lol I also allowed flamethrowers and the versatile FG42 to both teams, but lessened the damage for the former...just to keep Hock from toast'n everything in sight. The flamethrower is a very heavy weapon and really slows your movement anyway...that extra grenade should help balance out any abusers; just toss a 'nade or two into the fire. And don't forget that the scoped weapons' view will "drift" a lot unless you are prone...as it should be.
I'm also entertaining the idea of another "CoD:UO Marathon" one weekend or holiday day later this month. Tess will be gone to CA around Thanksgiving so maybe one day then would work. Maybe we can experiment with a couple HQ mode maps. More on that later once I find out the holiday schedule.
