WhiskeySix

So there's a squad leader that sm's can 'deploy' on? What's the maximum squad size?

Is there a 'commander' like position?

How do map sizes compare?

What's the pace of the game like? (Most of the promotional videos show frenetic, explosion-filled insanity - but those vids are... well.. promotional... ) Does the "frontline" feature really put all the players in the same spot?

What are the weapon systems like? I saw the classes on the wiki, but there wasn't much info about the weapons - like how many shots from a 'standard' assault rifle does it take to kill an infantryman?

Any medic class?

Should I buy this game?

__________________




Reflexes are for mistakes only. Reaction implies surprise. Be surprised less.

Exploding_Silver

Yes buy it

(I will answer the other questions latter today)

__________________

Exploding_Silver

WhiskeySix's questions
If anybody else who played the beta wants to comment then go ahead


So there's a squad leader that sm's can 'deploy' on? What's the maximum squad size?

I 'think' its 5, including squad leader
I will find out
There will be squad VOIP in the beta but will be in release version
Time to redeployment (respawn) is 8-10 secs, like BF2 vanilla / 2142

Is there a 'commander' like position?

No commander
UAV is in the hands of the infantry with recon drones (you've seen in the vids they can also explode in people's faces). This is a role ability.
Arty is in the hands of the infantry as airstrike. This is a role ability.
Resupply is from ammo crates near CPs
Repair of vehicles will be from 1) engineer role tool 2) repair bay (drive on it and get repairs, remember that from DC?)
As a point of interest, KAOS people were the subcontractors who did the early R&D work for BF2 vanilla, they designed the original command structure in BF2

How do map sizes compare?

I have played 3 maps, the two in current beta and another one in a previous beta version
Maps feel about the same size as BF2142/BF2 vanilla for the number of players
However the playmode 'frontlines' concentrates the action. In conquest all CPs were in play. Not in frontlines, if there are 8 CPs on the map then there are 4 in play. Ie imagine a map, there is a north you hold and are defending and a north they hold and you are attacking. Same for the south. So the CPs come in pairs as such of attack/defend. In POE2 there is the push gamemode, its like that but 4 in play rather than 2. Does that make sense ?

What's the pace of the game like? (Most of the promotional videos show frenetic, explosion-filled insanity - but those vids are... well.. promotional... ) Does the "frontline" feature really put all the players in the same spot?

I would say its 2142 pace, or pace of POE2 Orel defending a central flag, ie pretty fast paced

What are the weapon systems like? I saw the classes on the wiki, but there wasn't much info about the weapons - like how many shots from a 'standard' assault rifle does it take to kill an infantryman?

You carry plenty of ammo and I mean lots.
I would estimate it takes 25% more bullets to kill infantry from standard asault rifle ie 7 bullets to the torso instead of 5

Any medic class?

There is no medic class, so no revives on squad mates or squad leader
They have an automatic self-heal in the game
There is no bar for health, if you are hit the screen goes red, hit more goes black & red, hit more then die. Once dead there is no revive, just respawn (redeploy in frontlines). In terms of how many bullets to die, its about the same as BF2142 or BF2 vanila. If you are hurting and you find cover from fire then the self heal automatically kicks in and takes about 5 seconds to return to normal screen colour ie no red or black, at that point you are back to full health

Should I buy this game?

Yeah of course
you don't want to be left out do you ?

__________________

Exploding_Silver

more questions please

__________________

Dirtboy

How are the tactics for this game? Are they fast paced or slow and methodical?

__________________
|TG-6th|Dirtboy

Exploding_Silver

Overall fast pace like 2142. Not slow paced & detailed like PR.

I haven't seen good tactics too much in the beta.
With no VOIP or not much squading up, so its been a server full of people acting individualy, with the illusion of cohesion as they are all going to the same few CPs.
This of course is the world of pre TG frontlines server (I am assuming there is going to be a server)

I have thought about what could be and here are my thoughts

Normal maintain squad leader spawn point applies
There is no beacon like 2142 or placeable spawn point like in PR
It is spawn on SL or CP held by your team
So like BFx its advance keep the squad leader alive as you advance and get the squad leader in cover near the CP as the spawn point. In defence its squad leader falls back to cover if they get on the CP, for the SL to be the spawn point if they neutralise it

Use flying drones for recon, rather than killing
The recon drones put the enemy on the mini map + main map + in players 1st person view, ie they can see a red triangle on a wall indicating someone behind a wall
There is no Q-spot in the beta, and no word on whether it will be in the release

A lot of the gadgets are best for clearing areas of people
Whether its airstrike or little robot with machine gun, these gadgets clear an area of people, clearing the area is the key, not necessarily getting kills. Ie your defending, and they are on the CP, push them back and clear that area quickly with the gadgets (+ with C4 that in a kit and not part of a role) Or attacking, to get across that open ground to the CP, an airstrike is good cover (there is no smoke grenades in the demo) Ie attacking down tight alleyway, send in the gadgets to soften them up

SL to SL comms will be key to epic games
Hopefully there will be a VOIP channel for SL to SL or a teamwide VOIP channel
Then SLs can coordinate, eg you defend I'll attack etc
ie SLs do the overall army coordination rather than a commander

Squad kit to role loadout

In pre game set up time (assuming that going to be there)

Thats the time for SL to allocate CP attack/defence and SL to allocate kit/role
Roles have 3 tiers. You start off with tier 1 which is ok, as the game goes on and you get kills (+experience, not quite sure what determines rank up) you then rank up to tier 2, this is when gadgets get way better eg going from precision airstrike that destroys one vehicle to cluster bomb. People want to concentrate on one role and get to tier 3 in one game as they clear end of game

Roles = gadgets and can be combined with any kit (kit = gun)

For kits
The sniper kit is no good close up so probably max one per squad
The AT kit is great on vehicle maps, at least one or maybe 2 per squad
The assault kit is the really good all round infantry killer

For roles
Rule is allocate at the beginning and stick with it and tell the squad leader when you rank up to next tier, so they know what is available to them

there's more to tactics, but thats what falls out of my brain at the moment

Dirtboy, you got 2142 recently didn't you, if that was a turn off then I reckon FFOw will be too.

__________________

Exploding_Silver

more questions please

__________________

WhiskeySix

Is there crouch/prone accuracy bonus?

__________________




Reflexes are for mistakes only. Reaction implies surprise. Be surprised less.

Exploding_Silver

Yes, just like other games or real life the more immobile & steady your posture the better your accuracy.
The normal in game seems to be see enemy so crouch and fire, except if they are literally right next to you then strafe and spray

Bunny hopping and dolphin diving dont seem to be a problem at all. I will do some experiments on this to see though (this also links into the admin thread)

__________________

DigitalAssassin

I agree with most of what E_S has said as I've been involved since the closed beta as well.

Initially I tried to compare FFow to BF2 and you have to be careful of that. It is definitely closer to the BFx series then any other series out there, but it's unique in it's own way.

I'm a diehard BF fan so like it or not, that's how I judge everything. Played them all until 2142, and when it didn't seem to play well on my system I gave it up (my machine isn't the newest thing on the block). Got a new video card a few months later but with the persistent ranking I never got back into 2142 because I felt like I was way behind the curve.

I'm playing POE2 and PR these days and especially with PR a map may take a couple hours. With 3 kids and lots of other commitments I just don't have that long of stretches of time to play as often right now.

So, FFoW comes along. At least for me, I think it's going to provide a good alternative to BF2. It's definitely faster paced then PR and probably even more so then POE, but definitely not total run and gun, at least not when you put it in the TG environment. I think on some of the bigger maps, when you consider TG style players, you can plan on round times similar to vanilla BF2, e.g. 30-45 minutes. I think the beta servers are set for 20 minutes or something and every once and a while you end up taking the whole time. It's more an issue of not much squad action at this point.

There are still a few things they need to tighten up, as squad structure isn't as user friendly as I would like it, but I think the initial pieces are in place to make it useable while they get feedback and tweak things. As long as they have squad level VOIP (and hopefully some way for SLs to VOIP since there is no commander role) the tactics will improve with a TG server.

Just general thoughts that others might find helpful.

Oh, and if you have a lower end system (mine is P4 2.4Ghz, 1GB RAM, 256MB AGP 7800GS) it actually looks pretty good. I'm sure it will be optimized more for final release but even though I play with pretty much everything on low, it looks just as good as BF2 does on medium and has pretty good framerates on low on my system.

__________________

Exploding_Silver

more questions please

and more evaluations from beta testers please (thx DA for your input)

__________________

Zoopy

Weapon damages are preaty high. You can die in what seems like a single burst of an Assault Rifle. Also the way the damage system works, when you take too much damage your screen becomes too obscure for you to be effective shooting at range (which is good because it forces you to take cover instead of trying to kill your opponent before you die). This method is the best regen system I have seen since it encourages you not to engage while taking damage (unlike games like CoD4).

Exploding_Silver

This is interesting because i said its 20% more bullets. Thinking about it more its the bullets on target, i remember once when a lying down heavy machine gunner just took me out in one short burst that were all on target, it felt like I had been killed instantly. The assault rifle recoil probably makes my bullets go wild

__________________

Exploding_Silver

more questions please

and more evaluations from beta testers please (thx Zoopy for your input)

__________________

daithi1

I'm playing the beta a bit (not much). One thing I noticed was the lack of spotting or is just me?

How in the name of god does the squad system work? I really can't work it out. It seems based on a request from me (potential SM) and SL approves or disapproves am I right?

The little copter things are fun but just not practical as killing devices. Good for spotting, the little remote control car is worse than useless really hard to use (does it even spot?). I don't personally find it's game play very like BF but in a squad using an SL as a spawn may be different. Is the bot with the machine gun strapped on top a third level unlock up from the exploding heli?

As far as maps go I can't play the vehicle one I just die didn't get one kill from 10 or so deaths. The infantry map is nice and I can play that. I really like the subway (for Silver and me)/ tunnel for most other people. Is there anywhere which list all kits and add-on things and their uses?

Sorry for lack of structure and ramblyness of the post

__________________