Merc Squad 0.3b

[Argh]

Download it here.
It's only 27MB.

I'll put it up on ModDB later, for people with really slow bandwidth. Part of my sinister plans to do... stuff.

Gameplay is what this is about. It's kind of like... Counter Strike, only you command a whole force. There may be horrible things wrong with the balance, but the concept's a winner. Try it out, lemme know if you find any massive holes in it.

Play it on small maps, preferably ones with a lot of cover and rough terrain to block LOS. The ideal map for this game hasn't been made yet. I may get around to it, when World Builder is done, if nobody else does.

Play it with at least 4 people, for the full experience. You can very easily have a game of 10 people with this, and it'll still be fun.

There's a shameless plug at the end of the game. Don't cry, it's cool, it's free... and I made it in 4 days. That, and I intend to bundle it up with a Spring installer, if I ever get around to refining it a bit more.

And last, but certainly not least... do NOT play this with anybody allied! That will ruin your experience, as this game is at least partially about being a semi-evil mercenary commander.

[Regret]

Why did you make different colored squads instead of using normal teamcolors

[Agon]

Can't play it. It loads, I press enter, wait 3 seconds and then the error pops up.
I get an wave error:

Couldn't open wav file
sounds/Argh_LandingSound1.wav

[Argh]

You get teamcolors, they show up on the platters. With 6 squads to choose from... I think it's fair to say that there are plenty of ways to tell which team is which.

Couldn't open wav file
sounds/Argh_LandingSound1.wav

That's odd. Works like a charm over here. Probably a COB issue, I guess I'll have to fix it really fast...

[Argh]

Ok, new version going up in about 3 minutes. Should fix it, I forgot to remove some old code... in Windows build, no real issues / hangs, though.

[Peet]

Are you on linux Agon? In my experience errors like that are caused by wave formats that openAL doesn't like, but directsound does.

[Argh]

That could be the case, a couple of sounds were thrown together in a big hurry near the end. I'll double-check that everything's 44.1khz, 16-bit mono when I get a chance later today, and if not... version 3.

I don't test in Linux, so stuff like that doesn't really show up on my end.

[Agon]

Yeah I'm on Linux.
But the new release fixed it.
Played it against KAIK and the AI beat me.
I only found 4 soldier types to buy and the drop ship. Why do I need to download 31MB? Did I miss something?
You buy troops and fight against the other troops....

[Argh]

Yes, there are just 4 guys.

But if KAIK beat you then... uh... you need to play it a lot more.

Try buying armor and medikits for your guys. Try kneeling. Set up ambushes.

Try the different guys, and get a feel for what they do- they're all very, very different.

Lastly... try and play it and achieve an objective. Use Capture to grab an objective.

And play some humans... it won't be the same. This isn't meant for SP, it's a FFA game.

[smoth]

Erg, what is with the wolf games stuff, you do not have a LLC or Corp do you? It seems so pretentious.

[Alchemist]

No screens? D:

[smoth]

nope, just a giant logo. >:(

[zwzsg]

Here is one:


Here is another:

[smoth]

looks neat.

[KaiserJ]

cool :D a new game to try.

could you speak a little bit about an overview of the gameplay? (i.e. is there resource collection, how do the squads work, how long could a game last and what would likely happen in it?)

gonna check this out later.

[Argh]

could you speak a little bit about an overview of the gameplay?

Sure.

Basically... you start a game, by being given an intro screen that explains whether or not you have the Objective. If you've been given the Objective, you get extra money.

Then the game opens, with your transport vehicle, and you spend your money on Mercs and gear. Right now this is kept simple- you can buy one of four Mercs, armor and health potions. They each do different things, so if you're like, "hey, 3 of them are just guys with guns"... well, you're really not getting it, trust me. Each one has several purposes, some of which are subtle.

After 45 seconds, your transport leaves the battlefield. You must spend your money pretty quickly, and you never get any more. In addition, any items that you "bring with you"- i.e., Medipacks and Armor- can only be bought once.

Once all that is done... it's time to kill other Mercs.

Sounds simple, yes? But it's not. Seriously, it's a game that looks really simple, but isn't.

[Spawn_Retard]

The mod sucks at this stage, it needs a lot done to it before its not just 12 units fighting each other


i dont see anything that is new other than the annoying ingame screenshots and the command console. (console is to small)

Also the missions never work, and maps are way to big even on 8v8


i won 4 games in a row, and in one game i started with 500 more credits than everyone else = i win.

Assault rifle and rockets are op

custom formations arnt in the mod.

No use for amour or health for cash because more guns = win.


*good points are that you dont need to be good at spring to win.
*its a new mod idea

[Argh]

Assault rifle and rockets are op

Ok, I'll nerf them. I thought that the SMG guys owned rockets easily, but that was just testing.

No use for amour or health for cash because more guns = win.

Ok, then both need to get buffed. I was wondering if their price was set too high for the benefit, especially MediPacks.

Also the missions never work, and maps are way to big even on 8v8

What do you mean by "never work"? Doesn't capping the objective give you points?

As for maps, you're entirely correct. It really needs a custom map. I'll get to making one, I guess, won't take very long.

custom formations arnt in the mod.

So, use the Widget...

[Gota]

Don't nerf them.
You can easily balance 3 units once and make it excellent.
its just 3 units.
Don't rebalance shit after someone tells you its unbalanced.See for yourself.
you know you can at least just add some trickling of cash
slowly and make each unit you kill give you more cash.
Also double triple or even quadruple Hp of all units to make battles more interesting,prolonged and micro dependent and so youll spend more time fighting than jsut wondering around.
Also increase Line of sight so that units can see much further than they can shoot.

These are just changes than can be done very fast and dont require any extremly hard coding.
They will,however,make the game playable until you can code and make a more finished version.
This will allow people to get familiar with the name and the mod and after your done some more features you can discard all these temporary ones and make another release with your stuff.

just make sure the bonus you get for each kill is pretty high to make it worthwhile to engage in combat.
The trickling of cash would also allow to camp and buy units slowly as oppose to fighting all the time( the balance between the slow constant cash income and the cash bonuses u get for fighting should be thought of to ensure both ways of gameplay are possible to some extant but fighting,if done well should be much more encouraged..

Edited:
maybe add a long range radar to all units and make the radar blobs be able to float very far from their target just giving you a general idea about where other groups are.

[Argh]

Don't rebalance shit after someone tells you its unbalanced.See for yourself.

I'd like to, trust me. But I couldn't sync with anybody, am reinstalling Spring as we speak.

I just got done compiling a custom map for it, too.