In case you missed the front-page news, Point of Existence 2 is now focusing on Tuesday and Friday nights as the big nights. So if you're looking to take a night off from PR, or have been thinking about trying PoE2, then tonight's a great night to install it and get some play time in! (How to get started with PoE2 (for free1)). There should be plenty of Learn-TG squads rolling - if it's your first time join one of those... or any squad led by a TG regular for that matter!

Game Play videos:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2Satyfr3kc[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGDGGEif8xg[/media]



More about the mod:

Originally Posted by TheBigC

The War -- PoE2 is based in modern times and features a conflict between Ukraine and U.N.-representatives, Germany and the United States. The full context for the war can be found here. Basically, Ukraine, seeking to regain power it held when it was part of the Soviet Union, invaded neighboring country Belarus. Within weeks they had crushed the Belorussian resistance and neighboring countries began to wonder if they were as vulnerable to occupation as Belarus had been.

The U.N. liberation plan consisted of a massive airborne assault and armored spear head from Poland. The German forces would rush to Kiev in the heart of the country, while the United States protected their northern flank from the Ukrainian troops based in Belarus. On a dim night in September, the invasion of Ukraine was started.

The Mod -- Every vehicle and weapon in PoE2 is completely new - the models, vehicle dynamics, and weapon damage systems are all custom. The design philosophy was to avoid 'mirroring' - where vehicles and weapons for all factions would be have equal performance. Instead, the entire game system was designed to take advantage rock-paper-scissors balancing.

For example, while one faction's APC may have superior speed and maneuverability, the other has amphibious capabilities. One fighter may be more nimble, but the opposition has faster get-away speed with it's larger afterburner. One attack helo flies like a loaded dumptruck, but it's armor keeps it in the air - the other is agile and fast, but lacks staying power.

Or for infantry kit balance, consider the medic's kit: the Ukraine medic carries an iron-sighted AK-74u with great stopping power and full auto; the German medics carry G36k's that aren't as powerful but have nice optics; and the US medics carry an iron sighted M16, with burst or semi fire modes and laser like accuracy.

This philosophy is also reflected in map design, where both sides often have very different resources with which to complete their objectives. For example, sometimes one force will have close air support available, while the other will not - instead starting with great defensive positioning and anti-air equipment.