Hopefully you have read my notes on the Human/Spartan Combat Model (H/SCM) previously blogged(?) in Parts 01 and 02, if not you might get a little bit lost when reading this entry. Regardless, my topic for this blog will be possible gameplay scenarios and their implementation.
Gameplay Scenarios:
The first and most obvious would be Human/Spartan teams engaged against other Human/Spartan teams. Weapon and vehicle sets could be restricted as required. So basically we have a basic yet diversified blend of players all fighting to be the few lucky Spartans, right? Maybe. The trick here is to allow each server to run with its own server restrictions. That way you could restrict access to the Spartan players in any number of ways. The most obvious being first-come, first-serve based upon the total number of players each team can support (server max / 2). Secondary means may include a max number of Spartans per team or even 1 Spartan per every X human counterparts. You might even see a few human-only servers up and running.
Which brings us to the next possible setup: human versus human. Sure it would be nice to have a few Spartan buddies to take hits for you while attacking the enemy base, but if people are going to fight over it, why not forbid the use of Spartans altogether. Besides, if you want all Spartan combat, play Halo and not this mod!
Human versus human combat would be what this mod is designed to exploit. Imagine a team of 10 human soldiers, all with various and diversified skill levels simultaneously switching roles on a continual basis in order to compensate for or assist their fellow teammates. Neat huh? (If it works.) The prime motivator would be powering up your player's proficiencies and gaining as many or very high skill levels as quickly as possible. The secondary motivator would be to actually play as a team. Sounds somewhat backwards, right? So how do you encourage teamplay above and beyond everything else? If there was a simple answer to this then clans would never exist.
The most simplistic answer is to rewards players that function as a single unit/team. Consider a proximity bonus for traveling in a group. The more teammates in the group, the better the bonus. Now add to that all the individual skills and you could have quite a formidable squad to deal with.
Disclaimer: Once again note that no matter what example I conjur up as a possible team bonus, it is more important that the idea be understood, rather than the ramifacations of each specific skill or bonus granted. Besides, the single greatest flaw for this system is that it is based upon another game and therefore is subject to all the balance tweaks/flaws that the original game incurs. Halo is not designed to handle this type of mod, so likely the entire concept is flawed from a balance point of view. Simply understand how this mod could be utilized for any game, I just chose to use Halo as my reference game.
Example: A group of 3 human player all jump into a Warthhog. One has developed superb handling skills as the Driver, the passenger has been wasting away sniping and decided to get his hands dirty, while the third member has become a rather trigger-happy gunner. The three approach the enemy facility from a side door and quickly depart as a unit. So what do a driver, sniper and gunner have in common? The answer: Teamwork. That's right, since all 3 are remaining close to one another and supporting each other in this way they gain a squad bonus. Something along the lines of the ability to not show up on an enemy's radar until they are inside of 10 meters (arbitrary!). As they wander along inside the enemy stronghold they come across a lone teammate. Yes, he's injured, scared and quite lonely. So what does any lone infiltrator do when teammates approach, he joins them. Now the team of 3 has become a team of 4 and with their newfound friend the team has now gained the ability that all damage taken is decreased by 10% (guess what? arbitrary!) in addition to their previous bonus.
So as you can see playing as a team quickly gains the individual players a lot of bonuses that they would normally never have given access. A lower limit of 3 would be required to activiate the first bonus and for every member thereafter a new bonus is gained. Unfortunately this also requires players to all be within a given range of one another so a defense would likely not benefit from this as much. Note that if a defense all wants to sit on the flag then sure, why not give it to them. They would have no scouts or warnings and would likely be taken out by a few quick grenades. Besides the radar bonus is not beneficial to them and placing 4 defenders in such a small area for the damage reduction bonus is minor at best compared to having much more advantageous defensive positions. Anyway, you get the general idea here (I hope).
The last style of scenario would take some major adjustments and tweaking. That style of gameplay would be Human/Spartan against Covenant opponents. Ideally this would be the last evolution of such a mod as it would carry story as well as tactics to a whole new level. I will discuss the Covenant workings further in my next blog, but to provide a brief summary they would in fact be class based. This means that although they can operate vehicles and change weaponry they still have set advantages and weaknesses per each class. In this manner the storyline would carry over well into multiplayer as the Covenant use a caste-style system and humans are individual free-thinking beings.
Back on topic, the Human/Spartan versus Covenant battles could be done in a few ways. Easiest of all is a single match where gameplay is varied. Things like a single Capture the Flag (CtF) match for example. Secondary setups would involve a sequence of maps dependant upon who won the previous round. In this manner the losing team would be placed into a map where they have a slight advantage, and so forth until the series is completed.
Lastly would be an Empire mode where teams compete over a series of maps for control of individual maps (think Risk for Halo). Once a team wins all of the maps or the limited number of matches are completed, a side is declared the victor. Empire mode would build upon the sequenced map concept by allowing the winning team to pick their next point of attack. The losing team would then be placed into a more defensible position and could then hopefully withhold and defeat the onslaught. If the defending team wins, the roles are reversed. If the defending team loses then they are placed onto a map with even more advatage towards their team.
In terms of a map flowchart consider an equilateral triangle with a second placed on one side. Each team has its own base or strongly defensible position. Next come the semi-defensible maps of which there are 2. Finally come the neutral maps of which there are 3, and then back down the other way for the opposing team. Something like: 12>1 . The game starts in the center map of 3 and then can advance onto any adjoining map. Note, however, that if a team choses the top or bottom map on 3, they can only advance (or retreat if thinking in terms of strategy) to the similar top or bottom map on 2. This can be expanded for as many maps as needed such as for tournaments, etc. A game limit of 7 could even be implemented in order to allow the team with the winning record to be declared the winner.
Such a system could take gamers a few hours or even weeks to complete depending upon the scenario created. This definitely means that an option to save the progress of the match would certainly be required. The object of course, is to take over the opposing team's base; but few, if any, matches will end in that scenario as the losing team will keep gaining more strategic value as the maps work back towards their own base. It sounds like a lot of fun if you ask me and excellent for clan battles as well.
More information coming soon in Part 04.