Field Report 46: Public Test Branch: Conquest Mode & Customization

[h2]Hello and welcome to the Forty-Sixth Field Report![/h2]

Today, we’re pleased to be announcing the release date (18th of March) of the public test branch featuring a new game mode as well as uniform and head customization!

[h2]New Game Mode: Conquest[/h2]

When the public test branch opens come March 18th, you will all be able to experience the work-in-progress new War of Rights game mode, Conquest. We’re inviting you all to help us not only stress test it prior to releasing it to the live branch of the game but also to give you the opportunity to shape the future of the mode via your feedback during the testing as the amount of Conquest areas are scheduled to be heavily expanded prior to its release in the very near future.

But what exactly is Conquest? If you’ve played practically any multiplayer first person shooter game the past 20 years, chances are you’ve come across the mode in some form or another: The mode essentially revolves around two teams fighting for the control of multiple capture points. Each capture point owned results in a slow ticket (or morale in our case) drain of the enemy team. The first team to run out of tickets/morale caused by taking casualties + the drain due to enemy controlled capture points, will lose the round.

While the above basics of the mode are unchanged in War of Rights, our conquest mode retains several features from the Skirmishes game mode (as well as a few new unique ones) created to maintain the organized team play our game has always focused on first and foremost:

First, let's take a look at key War of Rights features carried over from the Skirmishes game mode to Conquest, and thus very familiar to you all:

Formation state buffs are identical to the ones found in the Skirmishes game mode, i.e. suppression resistances and stamina recovery - or a lack thereof should you be out of line.
The morale cost of dying is also still tied to the formation state of the players and the overall team morale levels (Battle Ready, Engaged, Taking Losses & Breaking) are also still used, just as Skirmishes.
Artillery batteries that support forward artillery battery spawns (as seen in Skirmishes) are featured in each Conquest area.
Flag bearer spawning is also featured and works in an identical way to Skirmishes.

Now, let’s concentrate on the features unique to Conquest:

There are 3 capture points per Conquest area (marked by flagpoles as well as UI icons).
We wanted to give the flag bearer a more pivotal role in Conquest. Unlike in typical conquest modes you may be used to where standing by the flagpole will capture it for your team, we have coined a different approach:
- The flag bearer will have to approach the flagpole and attempt to raise their flag to the top of the pole, if they successfully raise it to the top the point will be captured.
- Once the flag bearer has placed their flag on the pole, the flag spawn will no longer be available and the bearer will be given the loadout of a private.
- A new flag bearer can then spawn at the staging area, giving the enemy a window of opportunity to attack the point while the defending company is without a flag bearer.
- Should the flag bearer perish or abandon the raising of the flag any of their allies can attempt to finish raising the flag and capture the point for their team.
- Enemy controlled capture points can be neutralized by approaching the flagpole and lowering the enemy flag.
Conquest is designed to set us free from the strict historical constraints we are bound by in the Skirmishes game mode. Not having to worry about if the initial spawn points, battery locations, capture point locations, area boundaries, units or time of day featured in the game mode are historically correct results in a great amount of flexibility which we’re hoping will allow us to bring you some interesting new scenarios to experience. We plan on allowing server admins to dictate which playable units are to be available as well as whether or not to flip the starting spawn positions of the teams in the future, for instance.

The winning/losing conditions for Conquest are as following:

If a team reaches 0 tickets/morale before the round timer runs out, either via the enemy team controlling more capture points than them or killing their players, the team enters Last Stand (i.e. no additional respawns). Once close to all of the players in Last Stand have been killed the team will lose the round.
A team can also force the enemy team into a Counter-Attack. This happens when one team controls all 3 capture points. When Counter-Attack is triggered, the team with no points in their control will have a few minutes to retake a point. If this is not done in time, the team will lose the round. A Counter-Attack can be triggered while in Last Stand.
Should the round timer reach 0 before any team has depleted all of its morale, the winner of the round will be based on the overall morale level: A “Engaged” team versus a “Taking Losses” one will for example win. Should both teams be at an identical morale level (say “Breaking” versus “Breaking”) the round will end as a draw.

During the public test branch phase, Conquest will feature 4 playable areas on the Antietam battlefield. These are all very different in both overall area size as well as distance between spawn to the first capture point and/or distance between each capture point in order for us to gather your feedback of what works and what doesn’t. Do you prefer action-packed small areas with less than 100 yards between each point or would you rather play the massive ones with 400 yards between them, allowing for some extreme flanking movements? Your given feedback will be used to shape the future of the, possibly, dozens of Conquest areas as we look to expand the mode considerably before its release to the live branch of the game.

[h2]Character Customization[/h2]

The public test branch also sees the very first introduction of customizable characters. Being that this is the very initial implementation of the feature, only a select few regiments will be available for customizing. As the development continues, the hundreds of regiments & batteries featured in War of Rights will eventually all be supported.

For more information about the uniform specific and photo mode features of character customization, please read Field Report 45 at: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/424030/view/5317064205651768365
[h2]Head Customization[/h2]

We’re pleased to be bringing you head customization when the public test branch goes live come March 18th. Originally, this feature was scheduled for a later release but Mike, the programmer responsible for the customization system’s creation, found enough time to squeeze it in there for you.

Head customization is game-wide. This ensures your facial characteristics are carried over to whichever regiment or battery you’re playing as, allowing for some sense of familiarity between player interactions.

[h2]Other Additions[/h2]

The public test branch build contains a massive amount of additional changes - many of those are primarily backend ones such as: The game modes (Skirmishes, Picket Patrol, Conquest & Drill Camp), in-game UI, end-of-round skirmish cinematics, spectator camera and benchmark all having been converted to C++ instead of primarily using their former visual scripting based setups. This should result in considerably less bugs going forward as well as a slightly more responsive UI. The side effect of this is that certain features such as freelook and the free flight spectator camera, may feel slightly different during rotation and movement.

Due to the sheer amount of converted/rewritten systems it is important to note that initial issues such as bugs, instability and missing features are likely to be encountered.

The overhaul of the freelook mechanic has also resulted in less head/body clipping during animation playback (There are a few edge cases remaining currently but we expect those to be resolved soon).

Lastly, the benchmark has been updated to more accurately reflect the current number of supported players in the game (going from 150 soldiers firing to two opposing lines featuring a total of 320 soldiers).

That’s all for now. We very much look forward to hearing your feedback on March 18th of what is shaping up to be one of the biggest updates to the game we have ever released.

Keep your eyes peeled for the release of the public test branch as well as information about how to access it come Friday.

- The Campfire Games Team