HomeLAN - What unique gameplay elements are you putting into the game?

Derek Smart - Quite a few. For example, we have base captures in which opposing sides attempt to capture bases on a planet or a station in space. This is not just your standard CTF type gameplay mode; it is far more intense than that - especially when you consider the death trap that are these bases and the fact that, at any time, the other side could come storming through the base using all manner of transportation - including Dynamic Jump Pads which link various bases on the planet.

The game is designed toward teamplay and this is highly rewarding. For example, Engineering Corp and Medical Corps Marines are the only classes that can drive the Mobile Forward Base. This unit is capable of creating a FARP at any location on the planet. This FARP contains units such as launch pads for arming/refueling fighters, gunships etc; supply depots for arming/refueling ground units; supply platforms for arming/healing characters etc. So if a hostile base is 50km away, gamers going that distance - even if they all pile into a shuttle and drop launch at the base without getting shot down by SAMs - are going to be hard pressed to succeed in securing that base if they don't have means of replenishing their supplies. So a team with an ECM or MCM character class, can drive an MFB closer to the target base; deploy the FARP, engage the shield (which makes the MFB+FARP invisible to radar and impervious to small arms fire) and then carry out operations from there; instead of relying on their distant home base. Naturally the other side would have to be smart enough to send up a Marauder gunship to scout the area looking for a FARP and then vectoring players in fighters and gunships to take it out.

When you consider that our games have dynamic weather and time of day conditions; battles can wage well into the night - and thats where night vision goggles and use of the Elite Force Marine character classes come heavily into play. All characters are going to be evenly balanced in order to prevent things like dozens of snipers or EFMs running around. Unless you know the limitations of a class and how to be effective with that class, you're going to die. A lot. Even playing as a combat pilot is not as simple as it sounds. You have to know how to use the terrain as well as the weaknesses of the ground units. Universal Combat players already know how to fly fighters and gunships in low and slow in order to slip past the radar of some SAM units. Even then, you stand a very good chance of being shot down at any time you think you're safe.

The game is heavily class based so you're not going to find many imbalances seen in other games of this type. For example, only pilots - with their measly pistol - can fly fighters and gunships. And in this new game, if they get shot down and manage to crash land, they can get evacuated or make their way to a base and grab another craft and get back in the battle. A pilot attempting to engage ground forces with a peashooter, is going to die a lot; and very quickly. So if one side does not have any pilots, they're not going to have any crafts in the air.

In a typical engagement on a coastal region, ground forces would come in along the coast, using LCACs, while fighters and gunships carry out CAP and SEAD ops. The Mobile Infantry Marine and Assault Force Marine guys with their heavy armor and weapons are usually the first in and last out; while the Elite Force Marines and Recon Force Marines (snipers) sneak in and secure the objectives.

Those who think that jumping in a vehicle and careening into a base is easy, are in for a shock - especially when they realize that anti-personnel mines when deployed on the terrain are not visible (they are buried below ground), can also stick to anything and have proximity detonation spheres as wide as fifteen meters. One fool breaches an APM's proximity zone (you don't have to step on the APM itself) and it goes off, the entire squad dies.

These are just few of many, many gameplay examples. If it was just a straightforward fare, it wouldn't be a Derek Smart designed game now, would it? ;)