Friday 20 February 2015

Gang War Missions: Data Capture

Greetings friends!

So this weekend we will see the latest build of Gang War being tested, along with the introduction of two new missions!

For both of these I'm aiming to recreate classic FPS games - the first:

Data Capture
Like the first mission Data Rush; Data Capture involves two sides on opposite deployments competing to do the same objective - Hack a Data Terminal and get to their drop zone. The difference here is that they are not going for the same Data Terminal.

Data Capture is Gang War's take on the classic game mode: Capture the Flag (CTF).

In this game mode both sides place within their deployment a Data Terminal. Their objective is to get to the opponent's terminal and back to your own terminal before the opponent does the same.

The differences here with Data Rush are subtle but far reaching. Data Rush is all about grabbing the objective and keeping it long enough for a hack to complete before getting to your own dropoff. The objective is only halfway in the board so that forces a confrontation there.

Data Capture however requires you to travel all the way to the opponents deployment. In no way an easy feat.
- In addition there are 2 further rules: the data points must be protected behind a door. This door is NON-HACKABLE, it must be destroyed, and it is tough, think 4 Wounds with Heavy Armour.
-- Another option is to make the door hackable, but something like HD8 so it's really hard.

To aid with getting through this tough ass door within both side's deployments, both teams start off with an ExoSuit within their deployment area. These ExoSuits are located after deployment and everything else has happened and it is placed by the opposing team player, so you are going to have to either be very smart with deployment or have a bit of a run on your hands to get your ExoSuit.

Now the ExoSuit is something that I've been looking forward to a lot and I can't wait to see these in use. Essentially they are manually controlled mechs, only their controls are inside the mech. Think of something like Powerloaders from Aliens or the mech suits used in Avatar - actually, thinking about it, just watch almost any James Cameron film and you'll find an ExoSuit.

These are large robotic models which have the DigI trait as well as two Hack Durations!

The first HD is: Unmanned HD1 requiring only a single successful Hack to do. This unlocks the ExoSuit for use by any friendly units.

The second HD is: Manned HD2. So it's harder to do when it is manned, but when successful it Auto-Ejects whoever is currently inside the ExoSuit as it shuts down and prepares to accept new orders from the new team.

When in use the ExoSuit doesn't actually have a stat profile itself, instead it augments the stats of whoever is using the ExoSuit. This takes the form of giving the Unit Heavy Armour, but with none of the stat penalties that Heavy Armour provides. It also comes equipped with both a Kn-HMG and a 2-Handed Melee weapon. But it is not an I-WIN button. For starters using an ExoSuit doesn't stack with your current armour meaning you 'only' count as having Heavy Armour. Plus it does not have that much space inside, so Units equipped with Heavy Armour will not fit. Also any with traits that give them a height profile of more than 2 will not fit.
Last but not least, the ExoSuit interfaces directly with the users brainwaves in the exact same way as Hacker Wetware interfaces. If a Hacker attempts to connect with an ExoSuit manually, the result is an extremely painful digital feedback forcing the Hacker into a digitally simulated coma where their nerves are wracked with continuous pain. In other words, Hackers can't use ExoSuits.

This gives players two options:

Option 1 - Kill the enemy. That is always an option, but it is time consuming.

Option 2 - Capture the Data! As soon as one side reaches their own Data Point while 'holding' the enemy team's data you have an auto-win situation available.

Now Option 2 has two variants of its own:

2a). Use the ExoSuit to punch through the protective door and provide cover for your Hacker as it tries to recover the Data and get back home.

2b). Use the ExoSuit to protect your own Data Port and try and stop the enemy Hacker from accessing your Data.

Both of these are risky. Your Data needs to be protected, but at the same time the enemy's Data needs to be captured.

How you resolve this should result in a high impact conflict where quick thinking and terrain manipulation is just as important as having the highest stat ingame.

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That's it for now. Next time I'll be covering the other mission in progress. For you UT fans this should bring on some good memories: DOMINATION!

- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley

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