WhiskeySix

The year is 2024, and the planet is running out of oil. In what's called "the long emergency", the world economy has all but collapsed. Set 16 years in future, the game depicts a war between the newly formed Red Star Alliance, led by Russia and China, and the Western Coalition (U.S. & the European Union); a war fought for control of the last remaining fossil-fuel reserves in the Caspian Basin.Developers Say: "When we created Desert Combat, we found that a lot of people were able to relate to current events in the game. It’s always interesting to play in events that actually happened as well as realistic what if scenarios. For Frontlines, we wanted to play with weapons of the near future as well as bring the story of a what if scenario into the mix. So it’s not Sci-fi, rather something that could plausibly happen. The scary part is that the more research we did, the scarier it got."


Kaos Studios

Frontlines is the first release by developers Kaos Studios. These guys made the Desert Combat mod for BF1942 under the name Trauma Studios. In 2005 Trauma Studios was aquired by Digital Illusions, makers of the Battlefield series of games - to become the R&D arm for Battlefield 2. Later that year, just before BF2 was released, Frank Delise and the rest of the Trauma Studios team left EA/DICE to venture back out on their own. In early 2006, in partnership with publisher THQ, Kaos Studios was formed in New York. So, based on who's developing it, it should be no surprise that Frontlines has many battlefield-esque elements to it: Large player counts, Squads with SL-spawning, VOIP, capture points, a variety of vehicles (armor, air,etc), open environments, etc..

In both MP and SP games, the 'frontlines' mechanism is employed. This system mimics the real-life dynamic of a war, where there are typically multiple objectives along a line of advancement. In the game, this is implemented by grouping multiple capture points together on the map. Although you're free to roam anywhere on the map, only the CP's on the front line may be captured. Once your team gains controls of the 2, 3, or 4 CP's, the frontline advances and the battle rages on a different part of the map.Developers Say: "For the frontlines game mode, we went back and fourth on a few ideas. We look at everything from standard conquest style game modes to game modes such as Push, which we had in Desert Combat. When we went back to look at the problems with the current games, we realized that no teamwork was really required and Push was the closest to teamwork. However, Push was a single objective, which caused serious choke points. So we looked at real battle plans, which have multiple objectives on a frontline. Once you achieve the objectives, the front pushes forward. So our inspiration came from real battle plans as well as our experience on Desert Combat on what worked and what didn’t. We really want to get away from having people spread all over the map with no teamwork."

Unlike the BFx series games, Frontlines has an expansive single-player component to it. It's similar to the cinematic, action-packed single player from CoD4, but played out on a non-linear, emerging environment - there's no 'rail' you move along to complete your mission. The full 8-map campaign is estimated to have ~ 12 hrs of game play the first time through; though with the open environment, and multiple ways to complete the missions, there's supposed to be great "replayability". This 10 minute developer demonstration shows some single player action and previews some of the weapons and equipment:Developers say: "I would say one of the hardest items was the AI in the game. Mainly because it’s not a linear game and the amount of things the AI can do. When a game is scripted, it’s very easy but it usually can’t be altered. You can only do things a certain way and the AI waits for you. In our game, we have no idea where you’re going and how you are going to achieve objectives. We place the AI at the start of the single player level and the rest is up to what you do. The AI will flank you, use tanks, helicopters, whatever is available to them to go after you or protect an objective. To add complexity, they are not typical bot matches, the AI uses chatter to talk to each other, flank and protect. They are not aimlessly going after objectives as in typical bot matches."

Squad System

In both MP and SP games, the game revolves around your squad. In the single-player campaign, unlike CoD4 where you follow your squad along the defined path through the mission, the SP squad follows you - due to the unscripted nature of the missions. As seen in the single-player video above, you don't issue orders to your squad - this lets the single-player campaign take on more of an action shooter feel. In multiplayer, the reverse is true, and whether you're ground-pounding or copiloting a vehicle, the squadleader's decision making ability can make or break a squad. A Fronlines combat squad consists of a squad leader and up to 4 squad members:

Unlocks and Ranked Servers

Unlike other "ranked" games such as CoD4, BF2, and BF2142, there is no persistent ranking system in Frontlines. Instead, as you play each round, you increase your qualification in each role. You start of with a base ability and 'unlock' two additional abilities.

Developers Say: "There is a couple of ranking systems in the game. One is the role upgrade system that is only alive during a match. This means it only upgrades on a set of matches determined by the server admin or a single match. It’s not persistent. These are for upgrading drones, air support, EMP tech and ground support. There is a ranked leaderboard system for ranked servers approved by Kaos. This is for global scores use and achievements. However, we don’t do a lot of achievements with obscure purposes. This caused many ruined matches in BF that we wanted to avoid."

Loadouts

The key to success in multi-player will be having balanced squads. This will require squad leaders to clearly explain objectives and what kind of support they need. The main variable will be what kind of weapons and roles the squad members have. As in other games, you can configure your soldier, however Frontlines has taken a slightly different approach to it. In this game, you configure yourself at two levels. First, you select one of six weapons "Loadouts": Assault, Heavy Assault, Sniper, SpecOps, Anti-Vehicle, and Close Quarters. A keen eye will notice the complete lack of any medical equipment. In frontlines, there are no revives, so it's important to play carefully. If you do take damage, you'll need to retreat and find a safe spot to heal. After a short time you'll heal and be ready for more combat.

Roles

Once you select your weapon, you can then choose what type of training your soldier received. As you make achievements in a round, your soldier gets qualified to operate a higher class of equipment. There are four roles to choose from, each with three qualification levels:

Role: Drone TechnicianRole: Counter-measures Specialist:Role: Air Support Specialist:Role: Ground Support Specialist:

Teamwork is as important as ever in vehicles. Set 16 years in the future, the vehicles don't have PEW PEW guns, or magical levitation pods - they're based on vehicles in development today. The following vehicle introduction is also available in HD here (163MB)Developers Say: "When designing Frontlines we spent a lot of time researching what’s coming. At our previous company (Trauma Studios), we actually did some projects with the Department of Defense, which made us aware of a lot of projects they are doing. Most are all public knowledge now but some are just hard to find. There was a lot of development going on for unmanned vehicles and there still are. We combined this research with a little “kaos theory” to make sure its fun. For example, there is a Bradley in development that has a counter measures system that can defeat incoming guided missiles, grenades, and even RPG’s. The system is mounted on the top of a Bradley and can protect an area. In Frontlines, we have this on our Western Coalition medium armor vehicle, however in our game the second position in the vehicle controls it. The operator can lock onto incoming projectiles and shoot them down with a small rocket that explodes in front of the incoming projectile to destroy it. It’s a really fun and powerful feature."

TacticalGamer.com is excited to announce it will host a 64-player server for Frontlines: Fuel of War! This is a game where communication and tight squadplay are critical to success, and, as with other games, there will be no better server than TacticalGamer's - where mature, team-first, vocal players are the rule, not the exception. Here is a brief preview of the infantry map called "Streets", being played by TGers during the beta:


Frontlines: Fuel of War is scheduled for release on February 25, 2008. A both single-player and MP demo's are available on Xbox360, and a MP demo for PC is scheduled for release on March 11.

(Digg this article!)

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Fenian420

This is what BF 2142 shouldve been...

Rincewind

Wow, this is something I'll keep my eye on.

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Required Reading for all TG sandboxers

sc1ence

This has lots of potential. Lets hope everyone works hard to make the launch of this at TG a huge success!

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Barnaby

Mnnnn the more I read the more I think this might be a runner.

I'll have to give the BETA a whizz tonight to see what's what.
Now let me see ....... what shall I be...... A
Counter-measures Specialist
Air Support Specialist
Ground Support Specialist

These all look kewel

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"I like a man who grins when he fights"
Sir Winston Churchill

tHa_KhAn

Barnaby, I think you'd like this title. It has the action of COD4 with great teamwork possibilities like we have in ArmA. Look for Silver in the TS channel, he's a great instructor and plays in Euro friendly times.

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SithJedi

Played the beta already... It can't compare with battlefield 2142. It is the drone game with everyone else as bait.

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Proud Battlefield 2142 Player Since November 21st, 2006

draeh

I'm sorry you feel that way. I can understand that level of frustration during the beta period. Please give it another try when there is a group of us playing. We are easily found in the Frontlines TS channel. We diligently try to post in this thread when we will be playing. I'm confident you will find it enjoyable and those drones not so tedious with a squad at your back.

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Ikariam (Alpha)
Toruos[44:84]>Non Sequitur(c)-Sulfur :: Nyyos[44:85]>Obesa Cantavit-Wine
Tiaayos[43:84]>Stercus Accidit-Marble :: Emytia[45:85]>Vacca Foeda-Crystal

WhiskeySix

Yeah, it can be a pretty frustrating game when you end up on a random pub beta server and there's zero teamwork. It's funny, in about 75% of the rounds, I've found teams get horribly imbalanced... 13 vs 5 situations and the like... I tried to warn people here, but...

Anyway - hopefully they'll release a demo version in a few weeks and you can try that with everyone here... Of course - FFoW won't be for everyone - there will be a TON of poeple that just don't like it as much as what they're playing now... and that's ok

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Wolfetone

Pretty harsh crticism Sith of a 'beta', but I wouldn't put it past the hype just yet . I'm going to download the beta tonight (Gotta love fileplanets quick servers for subscribers). I admit it does look interesting, just hoping those videos are using god mode. Hope this will be less twitch than it looks (poor Quake Wars...) and I hope these maps are decent size (not expecting ArmA, but it'd be nice). I'll leave a preview/critique after I try the beta.

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COUNTER=OPS

I downloaded it but it's asking me for the CD key?! Where do I get that?

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draeh

Get a beta key here.

for futher notes, please see:

http://www.tacticalgamer.com/frontli...a-version.html

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Ikariam (Alpha)
Toruos[44:84]>Non Sequitur(c)-Sulfur :: Nyyos[44:85]>Obesa Cantavit-Wine
Tiaayos[43:84]>Stercus Accidit-Marble :: Emytia[45:85]>Vacca Foeda-Crystal

tHa_KhAn

The chat text is in the top left corner and almost unnoticeable during a round with other things scrolling. While I enjoy not having it in the center of the screen, because it seems to word wrap the messages don't stand out and most noobs don't see it.

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Alucard_Zer0

First off thank you for the intel on this one WhiskeySix =)

Looks very promising I just hope it doesn't play as much like Quake Wars ET as it looks and it's not ruined by being all "health bar" like the battlefield games.

If it promises Realism I will come ~_^

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CS:S = Cloak
BF2/BF2142 = Alucard_Zer0

Wolfetone

As I said above, after a solid 3 hours of online play I believe I have a resonable view (although limited from an 'experience' point-of-view) of this 'beta' (a key word) and can rightly add my opinions so far. I both played with the public privates as well as an organized squad of TG'ers.

As expected, because this beta and a 'free trial' as most players are concerned, the mass of public 'noobs' is high and on the low IQ side. Of course this means I could easily test out each weapons power and each role (although I only really delved deeply into the Drone specialization.

In the weapons department I found the Assualt rifle and its versatile grenade laucher (both teams have a comparable rifle; same as bf2142, balanced with different 'skin') to be spot on and a blast to get the hang of. Sniper rifle is a 2-hit kill ordeal (not sure if a head shot is a 1-hit yet) and is pretty standard with just a side-arm. The sniper has scope that zooms twice and all other weapons have a 1x scope (not sure if the shotgun does, but I'm sure it'd be pretty useless) and all the zoom is very smooth and responsive. So far the weakest weapon was the 'Spec-ops' (the name escapes me, but I do believe thats it) machine-gun, the explosives are standard affair of left click to toss & right click to detonate. Every other gun felt sufficiently powerful (it's not ArmA power, but the same as vanilla bf2142).

For the roles I found the Drone spec to tickle my fancy the most, but I'm sure the other 'support' specs are most useful in the end. The air support spec is great for clearing out the objectives with the cluster bomb and the gunship, but the precision bomb is good for nailing a tank or a stuborn sniper on a rooftop (the bombs both take around 5seconds to hit the target, so hitting a smart tank usually takes some luck and good timing). The Emp tech seems to be the most useful of the support specs from a tactical standpoint and will likely be the spec used most often with the Sniper due to its 'Radar Jamming' 1st level 'skill', but also by the vehicle jamming and anti-air support 'towers'. The ground support spec seems the least useful to an infantryman, but it offers the ability to do field repairs on vehicles and the constructable defenses, which from my play time are big 'shot here' sign. But those last two were the least of my used specs.

Lastly (because this is getting way longer than I wanted) squad leading. So far very impressive despite it's simplicity; joining and creating a squad (and inviting members; 4max) is as easy as pressing 'X' and sliding the mouse to a menu option (similiar to the voice menu in bf2, but only 4 options max per selection). Issuing either the attack or defend commands are as easy as pointing to the ground you want tapping 'X' and sliding the mouse up or right and clicking. Very easy, very useful for the micro-level or directing a group towards a general area.

I'd add more including vehicles, but 3 hours is hardly long enough to explore the intricys (sorry it's late ) and noobs steal the helicopter to crash it into a tree. If anything that Whiskey or I or anyone has said peaked your interest even a little you do yourself a favor and take 2 hours to download this beta (remember, it is still a beta and needs us 'testers' to report those 'wtf' moments.

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