Spring RTS Engine

I guess I'm the only one who cares about this game but I decided to get it after the Eurogamer review. There's a demo but it's only on the XBox 360 (it's also missing a few items which is why the artillery loadout doesn't get a whole lot of artillery fire going).

Basically it's a multiplayer FPS where everybody has power armor with a jetpack (used rarely so it's mostly one big leap every now and then, no aerial combat or anything) and a Metroid-style speed booster, spawning has you drop onto the battlefield from above (you can drop anywhere but risk dying in the process if there's flak in the target area) so there's no lengthy walks to the target location and the suits have so much shield and armor that battles aren't just the modern headshot-and-you-die style.

There's a ton of nuances in the game like the passive modules you can stick on your suit to get more armor or shield, do more damage, take less damage from flak, increase your autoaim ability (did I mention it has an autoaim you can engage for a second or two every once in a while when you need to make sure those bullets keep hitting?), etc and "classes" are just different sets of weapons and modules but due to the module effects there's more to them than just what weapon you use.

Overall it felt pretty chaotic to me so far because in addition to having enemies appear near any control point they damn well please there are special tasks popping up all the time like capturing a briefcase, assassinating a VIP, moving a convoy truck to a target location, etc that give extra victory points. It also means there's always something going on. There are things a single player can do (like grabbing some anti-flak modules, dropping on the flak turret defending a CP and detpacking it into oblivion) but many tasks seem to require multiple players to be really doable, especially the destruction missions (each rocket does only a bit of damage so a group of people with rocket launchers can wreck something fairly fast while the enemy has time to respond but a single guy will take a long time).

I only played two online matches so far and they were on a pub server so obviously there wasn't much teamplay going on, supposedly it gets really epic when a team coordinates well.

Also the system requirements are fairly low so it ran well on my system and the game design makes lag not such a big problem.

Section 8 is actually a surprisingly good game, once you get into it, but there are many complaints with it and I don't think I'd be the person I am without saying them first.

First off: The idea your halo armor has passive modules is a good one, but the idea you can't have anything ACTIVE like a jammer or cloaking device is pretty gay. As much as I enjoyed loading stupid shit into my armor and then getting killed (Such as Jammer plates for anti-flak protection), you will pretty much always go for Extra Damage, Extra Armor, Extra Shield and maybe Faster lock-on.

Second: Dropping into the battlefield is both a good idea and a terrible one. Good because you can sneak up behind someone and knife them in the face. Bad because it means every fucktard can do it to you (Typically the second they do they get deathed by your teammates, but random chance of death sucks). Flak guns stop drops but its still gay when the whole enemy team drops them on high ridges and you can't spawn anywhere near the action.

Third: The sniper rifle. Typically a 1-hit-1-kill weapon, it takes 4-5 shots to drop a bugger, which is pretty gay, 2-3 would have been sufficient time to run away.

But the lock-on system is fucking awesome, since any noob can basically get a built in AimBot for free and do all those fucking crazy jump/boost/crouch/running shots and still rape an enemy.

Overall, the forecast is sunny with light showers of gay.

I use anti-flak in my saboteur loadout to drop on flaks, detpack them and then invite my whole team to drop right onto the enemy CP. Sure, it's a very specialized option but after your job is done you can just drop into the newly liberated zone with a combat loadout. I suppose the lockon delay things are useful if the enemy porcs up with turrets.

What's the best use for grenades? I just use my machinegun (should be called an SMG because it's a close range weapon, not a fire support one) and that kills dudes fast enough, is there some advantage to the nades? They can't penetrate shields AFAIK?

Sounds like tribes 2..
Is it similar?

I was digging the beta until I discovered the auto-lock system.

I just cannot see the point of a FPS game (PC) which automates 99% of the skill required every other fight. It's like a racing game which steers for you, and all you do is accelerate.

I've got it, its a good idea for a game, defiantly more enjoyable than any of the console battlefield games which dominate the open FPS genre that section 8 hangs in.

ralphie wrote:I was digging the beta until I discovered the auto-lock system.

I just cannot see the point of a FPS game (PC) which automates 99% of the skill required every other fight. It's like a racing game which steers for you, and all you do is accelerate.

It's not deathmatch, it's more about how you utilize the team. The auto-lock lets everybody get some damage in once in a while (not even a guaranteed kill, if you engage the enemy at the wrong range or with the wrong equipment it will only hurt him a bit) even with serious lag but it's only usable for a short period once in a while. It just won't help you if you face two enemies at once and there are methods to defeat it (the stealth plating modules and the sensor jammer). I think it slightly reduces the emphasis on twitch skill and instead emphasizes tactics.

After upgrading my comp not too long ago I've dug the game back out and started playing it more. Now that my framerate is good I almost never use the lock-on anymore and I feel like I got way better just by being more capable of aiming manually. Too bad there are way too few players left. I suppose most people just want to twitch faster and have the game laud them for being awesome for it (MW2...), not much love for a game that needs actual tactics instead of simply trusting your shooting skills.

I remember hearing about this a while ago - the automated aim, airdrop system with flak cannons, etc... did someone else post a topic?

edit: Ah, you rez'd it. NM.