Movie shoot, by Derian
Sep/09/06 00:06
The purpose of this
Game Day was to allow the guys at Steradian to update
their promotional materials to
include their current lineup of products. There was a bit of acting for the camera, but was otherwise a fairly regular game day.
We had a couple new people, so the first two games were the usual team elimination. The usual strategies
were involved, and as so often happens at Rabbit Hill, the Dry Creek Bed was a hotbed for combat. Both games were fairly close.
It got a bit more interesting when we decided to mix it up a bit. I finally had an oppurtunity to test out
an idea I'd had for a while. Each team started with a Medic Box. The medic boxes could only heal a single point of damage and couldn't revive the dead, so being reduced to 0 still removed you from the
game. They generated a charge every 5 seconds and could store a maximum of 5 charges. Given about a minute and a clear line back to the medic, you could completely heal, and be ready to head back to the front. The medic box was able to be transferred between teammates, so the medic role didn't doom you to hiding in the rear ranks for the game's duration. This was coupled with changing the objective of the game to a flag variant
("Assault" in Halo parlance). The goal of the game was to capture the flag in the center of the field and deliver it to the enemies base (starting point).
The first game saw John blitzing the flag with Alex just barely catching sight of him. After running half-way across the field, Alex and I had to immediately turn around and defend our side-rear flank from a flag-rush. The rest of our team held the front line while Alex and Junior hunted John down in the field with me covering the final approach to our base. With no access to healing, no way to advance, and no way to retreat Alex and Junior were able to kill John (though they did need some heavy healing). With the flag in hand, we started a slow advance into enemy territory using a steady rotation to heal the wounded and picking off the stragglers. After
delivering the flag, we re-balanced teams and played again using the same rules.
The second game started out with both teams slowly advancing on the flag, but neither attempting a rush. Genie tripped and fell into a bed of stinging nettles, and Alex finished her off quickly. Using the man advantage, Junior grabbed the flag and headed into enemy territory, but got pinned down and separated from the rest of his team. One by one all of the River Side team was picked off, with only Goff Senior left on defense, but he managed to hold the front long enough to let the clock run out.
It seemed that most everyone enjoyed the alternate rules for healing, as it encouraged a very different play style. The tight squad grouping encouraged by the frequent need for healing was also nicely counterbalanced by needing to maintain a large defensive line to avoid a flag rush. It played very differently than most other games, and I'm looking forward for a chance to try this style again.
-Derian
include their current lineup of products. There was a bit of acting for the camera, but was otherwise a fairly regular game day.
We had a couple new people, so the first two games were the usual team elimination. The usual strategies
were involved, and as so often happens at Rabbit Hill, the Dry Creek Bed was a hotbed for combat. Both games were fairly close.
It got a bit more interesting when we decided to mix it up a bit. I finally had an oppurtunity to test out
an idea I'd had for a while. Each team started with a Medic Box. The medic boxes could only heal a single point of damage and couldn't revive the dead, so being reduced to 0 still removed you from the
game. They generated a charge every 5 seconds and could store a maximum of 5 charges. Given about a minute and a clear line back to the medic, you could completely heal, and be ready to head back to the front. The medic box was able to be transferred between teammates, so the medic role didn't doom you to hiding in the rear ranks for the game's duration. This was coupled with changing the objective of the game to a flag variant
("Assault" in Halo parlance). The goal of the game was to capture the flag in the center of the field and deliver it to the enemies base (starting point).
The first game saw John blitzing the flag with Alex just barely catching sight of him. After running half-way across the field, Alex and I had to immediately turn around and defend our side-rear flank from a flag-rush. The rest of our team held the front line while Alex and Junior hunted John down in the field with me covering the final approach to our base. With no access to healing, no way to advance, and no way to retreat Alex and Junior were able to kill John (though they did need some heavy healing). With the flag in hand, we started a slow advance into enemy territory using a steady rotation to heal the wounded and picking off the stragglers. After
delivering the flag, we re-balanced teams and played again using the same rules.
The second game started out with both teams slowly advancing on the flag, but neither attempting a rush. Genie tripped and fell into a bed of stinging nettles, and Alex finished her off quickly. Using the man advantage, Junior grabbed the flag and headed into enemy territory, but got pinned down and separated from the rest of his team. One by one all of the River Side team was picked off, with only Goff Senior left on defense, but he managed to hold the front long enough to let the clock run out.
It seemed that most everyone enjoyed the alternate rules for healing, as it encouraged a very different play style. The tight squad grouping encouraged by the frequent need for healing was also nicely counterbalanced by needing to maintain a large defensive line to avoid a flag rush. It played very differently than most other games, and I'm looking forward for a chance to try this style again.
-Derian