SWG Combat Story (a bit long)
Posted: October 2, 2002, 11:03 am
Something fun to read.
Shug's Expedition OutPost #4: Assault on Cloning Facility 13
I am a Mon Cal commando, stranded on the desert world of Tatooine with only my trusty blaster, all-purpose camouflage coat, and some strange fruit. I rapidly take stock of my surroundings, my big, round eyes noting that my current location appears surrounded on all sides by tall, sandy cliffs. Within shouting distance, however, are at least two dozen other humanoids, including shifty Rodians, menacing Zabrak, and alluring Twi’leks. Hoping to stay out of trouble (for the moment), I scout the area on foot.
On one end of the valley, I locate a tall, thin beacon surrounded by a few nasty-looking humans wearing Imperial uniforms. Knowing full well that Imperials are dangerous oppressors, I quickly turn away from the Emperor’s lackeys and run to the other side of the valley. There, I discover another beacon surrounded by Rebels. Located between the two beacons is a low, long building that I recognize as a cloning facility.
A few moments after I spot the cloning facility, a firefight erupts just a few meters away from me. I whirl around to see a group of three Imperials shooting at a lone Rebel. It doesn’t take long before similar battles are taking place all across the valley. Clearly, I've just stepped into the middle of the Galactic Civil War, and it doesn’t take me long to decide which side to join. I remember Alderaan… Across the galaxy, the Alliance is outnumbered. If these courageous Rebels on Tatooine should fall, the Empire will continue to stomp its way across the Outer Rim, crushing millions of innocents along the way. With great conviction, I head to the Rebel recruiters at the far end of the valley.
I approach the nearest Rebel and greet him. Within moments, our conversation turns to the Galactic Civil War. I quickly tell him that I wish to join the Alliance, in the hopes of toppling the Empire. He agrees to let me join, and an instant later, my unerring radar is filled with red signatures identifying enemy targets. The valley is swarming with Imiperials!
Committed to doing my part, I rush out into the desert and pick out the nearest target: a scaly Trandoshan. My targeting reticule reveals that the Trandoshan’s name (Vossk, perhaps – I can’t actually remember) is accompanied by the Imperial logo, a clear indication that this reptile is my enemy. I open fire.
Unfortunately, I've jumped boots-first into a swarm of Imperial meewits. The Trandoshan is not alone; he has a number of fanatical allies nearby, all of who are more than willing to take pot-shots at an enemy Mon Cal. I’m peppered with blaster bolts and eventually collapse to the ground. The Trandoshan approaches and delivers a death blow… My days of adventuring seem to be over…
Fortunately, the nearby cloning facility offers me a place to rejuvenate. A few moments after being killed by the Trandoshan, I find myself standing inside the building, alongside several other recovering Rebels.
Cautiously, I venture back into the desert. The firefight between the Rebels and Imperials is still raging. I have my pick of targets, but this time I decide to be a bit more careful. Rather than standing in the middle of a fight, I go prone near the corner of the cloning facility and begin taking shots at an Imperial. I’m far more accurate, and harder to hit, in this position. More importantly, the Imperials are distracted by other Rebels and haven’t noticed me yet. I launch about a dozen blaster bolts (missing quite a few times), and finally my target stumbles backwards and collapses on the ground! I’ve taken out my first Imperial… Unfortunately, my successful attack has also alerted the rest of the Imperials. Within a few minutes, I’m standing shell-shocked in the cloning facility again.
I’m ready to leap back into the fray, but upon leaving the cloning facility, I crash headlong into a band of Imperials “guarding” the exit of the building. The Imperials have us hemmed in. As we Rebels stagger out into the hot desert, the Imperials are there waiting, picking us off one-by-one. This might be frustrating, if the situation weren’t totally contrived as part of the beta test process; and I actually find myself chuckling. The best part about battling other players is the fact that they’re smart, unpredictable, and ingenious. Faced with these odds, I dodge out of combat and trot over to the Imperial recruiter to let him know I’m interested in switching sides…
Notes
-This experience took place on our beta server, where we had recently introduced the PvP system, ranged combat, and NPC conversations. To test these two systems, we set up several “combat areas,” which were essentially large expanses that included NPC Rebel recruiters, NPC Imperial recruiters, and a cloning facility. For testing purposes, aspects of the game were simplified: players could join either side simply by talking to the appropriate NPC, for example. Once affiliated with a faction players could fight, become incapacitated, get killed, and respawn at a cloning facility, close enough to the action to jump right back into battle. Players could also switch factions, again through NPC conversations. In fact, most players repeatedly switched sides as part of the testing (and as I wrote this, I couldn’t actually remember if it was Imperials or Rebels that decided to camp the cloning facility, but it’s more fun to vilify the Imps, so there you go…).
-The situation described above, especially the last bit, might be disconcerting to some who worry about grief play. Just remember that the beta testers were assigned to testing ranged combat, NPC conversations, and the PvP system, and that’s what they were doing (and overall everyone had a good-natured attitude). More importantly, note that, while in this experience the cloning facility was located in the middle of nowhere, in the final game these installations will be found in cities. This will make the scenario described above difficult to replicate, but I wanted to share it because it really is our first experience with PvP and I was truly happy with the adaptability and unpredictability of my human opponents.
-The blaster, clothing, and even the fruit were all in my inventory, another recent addition to the test sessions.
-The fruit I carried was an example of a simple “buff.” Had I taken the time to eat the fruit, I would have basically healed more quickly. Foodstuffs and other buffs will temporarily increase various character attribute, including those that dictate regeneration rates.
-NPC conversations are initiated through a radial menu. During the conversation described above, I was offered a number of dialogue choices that soon led to an invitation to join the Rebel Alliance (and later the Imperials).
-For this particular test, we were just focusing on basic blaster combat. No special moves (headshot, etc.) were available, although players could run around and change postures, which did affect accuracy. Movement was also slowed on slopes.
-For the moment, the player characters used in beta are basically novices, indicative of beginning characters. So, while my Mon Cal was indeed a commando and had a nice complement of starting skills, they were exactly that – starting skills. During this session, I missed more often than I hit.
-I know I’ve said this before, but please note that all of the variables that affect combat are still being tweaked. We haven’t determined the desired length for a combat session; once we’ve identified how long one-on-one blaster combat between two equally-matched characters should last, we can adjust all necessary variables (weapon damage, player health, etc.) to achieve that. Right now, we’re just allowing players to blast away at each other for pretty substantial lengths of time in order to thoroughly test ranged combat.
Haden Blackman
LucasArts Producer
Shug's Expedition OutPost #4: Assault on Cloning Facility 13
I am a Mon Cal commando, stranded on the desert world of Tatooine with only my trusty blaster, all-purpose camouflage coat, and some strange fruit. I rapidly take stock of my surroundings, my big, round eyes noting that my current location appears surrounded on all sides by tall, sandy cliffs. Within shouting distance, however, are at least two dozen other humanoids, including shifty Rodians, menacing Zabrak, and alluring Twi’leks. Hoping to stay out of trouble (for the moment), I scout the area on foot.
On one end of the valley, I locate a tall, thin beacon surrounded by a few nasty-looking humans wearing Imperial uniforms. Knowing full well that Imperials are dangerous oppressors, I quickly turn away from the Emperor’s lackeys and run to the other side of the valley. There, I discover another beacon surrounded by Rebels. Located between the two beacons is a low, long building that I recognize as a cloning facility.
A few moments after I spot the cloning facility, a firefight erupts just a few meters away from me. I whirl around to see a group of three Imperials shooting at a lone Rebel. It doesn’t take long before similar battles are taking place all across the valley. Clearly, I've just stepped into the middle of the Galactic Civil War, and it doesn’t take me long to decide which side to join. I remember Alderaan… Across the galaxy, the Alliance is outnumbered. If these courageous Rebels on Tatooine should fall, the Empire will continue to stomp its way across the Outer Rim, crushing millions of innocents along the way. With great conviction, I head to the Rebel recruiters at the far end of the valley.
I approach the nearest Rebel and greet him. Within moments, our conversation turns to the Galactic Civil War. I quickly tell him that I wish to join the Alliance, in the hopes of toppling the Empire. He agrees to let me join, and an instant later, my unerring radar is filled with red signatures identifying enemy targets. The valley is swarming with Imiperials!
Committed to doing my part, I rush out into the desert and pick out the nearest target: a scaly Trandoshan. My targeting reticule reveals that the Trandoshan’s name (Vossk, perhaps – I can’t actually remember) is accompanied by the Imperial logo, a clear indication that this reptile is my enemy. I open fire.
Unfortunately, I've jumped boots-first into a swarm of Imperial meewits. The Trandoshan is not alone; he has a number of fanatical allies nearby, all of who are more than willing to take pot-shots at an enemy Mon Cal. I’m peppered with blaster bolts and eventually collapse to the ground. The Trandoshan approaches and delivers a death blow… My days of adventuring seem to be over…
Fortunately, the nearby cloning facility offers me a place to rejuvenate. A few moments after being killed by the Trandoshan, I find myself standing inside the building, alongside several other recovering Rebels.
Cautiously, I venture back into the desert. The firefight between the Rebels and Imperials is still raging. I have my pick of targets, but this time I decide to be a bit more careful. Rather than standing in the middle of a fight, I go prone near the corner of the cloning facility and begin taking shots at an Imperial. I’m far more accurate, and harder to hit, in this position. More importantly, the Imperials are distracted by other Rebels and haven’t noticed me yet. I launch about a dozen blaster bolts (missing quite a few times), and finally my target stumbles backwards and collapses on the ground! I’ve taken out my first Imperial… Unfortunately, my successful attack has also alerted the rest of the Imperials. Within a few minutes, I’m standing shell-shocked in the cloning facility again.
I’m ready to leap back into the fray, but upon leaving the cloning facility, I crash headlong into a band of Imperials “guarding” the exit of the building. The Imperials have us hemmed in. As we Rebels stagger out into the hot desert, the Imperials are there waiting, picking us off one-by-one. This might be frustrating, if the situation weren’t totally contrived as part of the beta test process; and I actually find myself chuckling. The best part about battling other players is the fact that they’re smart, unpredictable, and ingenious. Faced with these odds, I dodge out of combat and trot over to the Imperial recruiter to let him know I’m interested in switching sides…
Notes
-This experience took place on our beta server, where we had recently introduced the PvP system, ranged combat, and NPC conversations. To test these two systems, we set up several “combat areas,” which were essentially large expanses that included NPC Rebel recruiters, NPC Imperial recruiters, and a cloning facility. For testing purposes, aspects of the game were simplified: players could join either side simply by talking to the appropriate NPC, for example. Once affiliated with a faction players could fight, become incapacitated, get killed, and respawn at a cloning facility, close enough to the action to jump right back into battle. Players could also switch factions, again through NPC conversations. In fact, most players repeatedly switched sides as part of the testing (and as I wrote this, I couldn’t actually remember if it was Imperials or Rebels that decided to camp the cloning facility, but it’s more fun to vilify the Imps, so there you go…).
-The situation described above, especially the last bit, might be disconcerting to some who worry about grief play. Just remember that the beta testers were assigned to testing ranged combat, NPC conversations, and the PvP system, and that’s what they were doing (and overall everyone had a good-natured attitude). More importantly, note that, while in this experience the cloning facility was located in the middle of nowhere, in the final game these installations will be found in cities. This will make the scenario described above difficult to replicate, but I wanted to share it because it really is our first experience with PvP and I was truly happy with the adaptability and unpredictability of my human opponents.
-The blaster, clothing, and even the fruit were all in my inventory, another recent addition to the test sessions.
-The fruit I carried was an example of a simple “buff.” Had I taken the time to eat the fruit, I would have basically healed more quickly. Foodstuffs and other buffs will temporarily increase various character attribute, including those that dictate regeneration rates.
-NPC conversations are initiated through a radial menu. During the conversation described above, I was offered a number of dialogue choices that soon led to an invitation to join the Rebel Alliance (and later the Imperials).
-For this particular test, we were just focusing on basic blaster combat. No special moves (headshot, etc.) were available, although players could run around and change postures, which did affect accuracy. Movement was also slowed on slopes.
-For the moment, the player characters used in beta are basically novices, indicative of beginning characters. So, while my Mon Cal was indeed a commando and had a nice complement of starting skills, they were exactly that – starting skills. During this session, I missed more often than I hit.
-I know I’ve said this before, but please note that all of the variables that affect combat are still being tweaked. We haven’t determined the desired length for a combat session; once we’ve identified how long one-on-one blaster combat between two equally-matched characters should last, we can adjust all necessary variables (weapon damage, player health, etc.) to achieve that. Right now, we’re just allowing players to blast away at each other for pretty substantial lengths of time in order to thoroughly test ranged combat.
Haden Blackman
LucasArts Producer
Feel honored, not even Searyx is on my list.