The BattleGrounds
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The BattleGrounds is an open source, total conversion mod for Half-Life and the Source engine set in the American Revolutionary War.
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[edit] Gameplay
It is a team and class based game, where players first select to fight on either the British or American side, then they select a class, each of which offers different weapons and attributes. The main class attributes are speed, health and stamina, with each class being strong in one area but less so in the other two. Since there is no armor and every action a player takes (running, jumping, ducking, using a weapon) reduces their stamina, slows their movement and makes them less effective in combat. It uses a "wave reinforcement" system, where when a player is killed a timer starts and they must wait that long (usually from 10-20 seconds depending on the server settings) before they can respawn and rejoin the game. Any teammates killed before the reinforcement timer runs down will respawn at the same time. Any killed afterwards will restart the team's timer and make up the next reinforcement wave. Individual points are awarded for accomplishing objectives and damage inflicted upon opponents. The BattleGrounds attempts to combine historical accuracy with balanced gameplay. The slow rates of fire and inaccuracy of the muskets of the period are well reflected, and so melee and close quarters combat plays a much more important role.
[edit] Classes
The are three types of classes:
- Officers are light, fast, deadly at close range and better dressed. For the British the Officer class is the Royal Commander, armed with a Sea Service Pistol and a Sabre. The Continental Officer is his American nemesis, likewise armed with a Kentucky Pistol and Sabre. Due to their high speed and strong melee weapons, Officers are the game's Foot cavalry. They are ideal for quick charges, flanking and feigning attacks. But can be cut to pieces by massed musket fire and bayonets or picked off at long range by marksmen.
- Regulars are trained, battle-hardened front line infantry. The red coated Royal Infantry of the British are armed with the Brown Bess musket with triangular bayonet. Against them are the blue coated Continentals with their Charleville muskets and bayonets. Regulars are the backbones of the two armies. They are slower than the other classes but tougher and their weapons inflict more damage. The Charleville is slightly more accurate than the Brown Bess, but the Bess does slightly more damage (reflecting that it fires a larger .75 calibre ball compared to the Charleville's .70). Its bayonet is also a bit more lethal.
- Militia are ill-trained citizen soldiers. For the British these are the Loyalists armed with Pennsylvania Longrifles and knives. On the opposing side of the battlefield are the American Minutemen carrying the Revolutionnaire musket and bayonet. These are the game's light, irregular infantry classes, but they are faster than the Regulars and their guns are more accurate at longer ranges. This makes them very useful as marksmen and skirmishers in support of the other classes. They also tend to have a bit more stamina but are a bit more delicate as well. The Pennsylvania Longrifle is the most accurate gun in BG, but it has less stopping power compared with the muskets and takes slightly longer to reload. Since it has no bayonet, the Loyalists can find themselves at a disadvantage in a melee. They must switch to their knives which have less reach and do less damage than sabres or bayonets.
[edit] Maps
Command Point Maps At strategic locations on each map are several command points marked by flags, which must be captured and held in order to win. This is done by standing next to or close by a flag (within its capture area) for a few seconds until the flag changes to the team's colors. A voice will usually announce when this is done as well as a display indicating the change. Every few seconds a command point is held scores points for the holding team, the team which captures all command points wins the round along with a large point bounty added to their score. If an enemy enters a flag's capture area then the command point immediately becomes neutral again. This also occurs if a player is killed in the process of capturing a command point. Some command points, usually important ones, require two or more players to capture them. Many of these maps also feature stationary cannons which can be fired and/or barrels of gunpowder which explode when shot blasting open any nearby walls and blasting to pieces any nearby players (not available in the Source version).
Line Battle Maps (not available in the Source version) Are less common than command point maps. 18th Century European armies fought according to a rigid system of Linear or Line tactics. The opposing forces would line up across from one another in ranks of three and exchange several volleys of musket fire before closing to melee ("Give em the hot lead then the cold steel!"). The British were experts at this but most Americans were neither trained nor experienced in this style of warfare. Neither are most BG players. Formal line battles are rare on most command point maps. This makes practical and tactical sense given the relatively small number of players involved, the large size of the maps, the dynamics of the game's scoring system and the inherent difficulties in getting a group of mostly anonymous strangers to do anything cooperatively. It is not, however, historically accurate. The Americans at least tried to fight in Linear fashion even though they often failed. So in order to give players a more realistic experience of 18th Century warfare, Line Battle maps were created. Each team has only a single officer, the rest must line up, shoulder to shoulder, and wait for that officer to give them the commands to move, load, and fire. When a line is broken or destroyed the victorious line advances while the losing line regroups and reforms. The team which drives its enemy off the field wins. This is usually also the side which inflicts the most casualties, so these games become a highly stylized form of team deathmatch.
Other Maps There are a few small, free-form team deathmatch maps. A variation on these are Duelist maps, which feature only the officer classes engaging in one-on-one combat.
