Descriptions of UT2004's Assault and Onslaught Game Types

[Mark Rein]

ASSAULT

Assault is an objective/team based game mode in which two teams (attackers and defenders) battle each other in epic (and sometimes historical) battles taking place in the Unreal universe.
Attackers have several objectives to accomplish in order to win the round.

Defenders must prevent the attackers from doing so in order to win. Several rounds are played and teams can exchange
roles after each round. There are several configurable options, such as the number of rounds in a match, and the time limit for each round.

Accomplishing objectives may involve reaching a key location, using machinery or computers in the level, or destroying a critical piece of hardware.

Assault also features many different useable vehicles and turrets, including Space Fighters, Buggies, Tanks, Energy Turrets, a Minigun Turret and the all powerful Ion Cannon.


ONSLAUGHT

Onslaught is a large scale, team and vehicle based game mode in which players battle for control of huge exterior settings. Since these settings are so large one naturally needs a way to traverse these distances, hence there are a variety of vehicles that can be used in Onslaught. These vehicles are built to not only move but also destroy your foes.

Each team has their own vehicles and you cannot steal your foes vehicles unless they unlock them by first getting into them. If your enemy jumps into a tank and then leaps out to pick up ammo you can then hijack it and turn the tables on him!

The main objective in any Onslaught game is to destroy your enemies' "Power Core." This critical point is usually located in the heart of your opponent's base. Sounds simple, right? Here's the catch - a Power Core cannot be damaged unless your team has a link to it.

How do you acquire a link? By controlling the smaller "Power Nodes" on the map and making a connection from your own Power Core to your opponents. Power Nodes begin as neutral points in the level and once they're touched they begin to build for your team. At this point the opposing team can attack and try to destroy the Node as it is being constructed. If they manage to destroy it it will go neutral again and can be re-claimed by either team. If they fail to destroy it the Node will be built for your own team and a link will be made to your own Power Core.

The next step in an Onslaught map involves proceeding to the next Node. Since the enemies Power Core can only be damaged if there is a link to your own Core you'll have to take over a number of Nodes in order to make this connection. It is extremely important to note that you can ONLY take over a Node if you control an adjacent Node. You must progress across the map, taking over point by point, in order to stage an assault on your enemies' Core.

Since death comes quick in the Tournament it is also good to know that once your team controls a Node you can then choose to respawn at it. This allows a team to have an advancing presence on any given map.

[DeathGoblinX]

Awesome thanks for explaining them to us...

[Shuri]

Onslaught sounds like it will make for very long games.

[Scoshi_Tiger]

Cheers Mark.

Onslaught sounds as good as 12,000 dollars and a night in a brothel

[Mort_Q]

Many thanks Mark... I think this deserves a sticky !?

Originally posted by Shuri


Onslaught sounds like it will make for very long games.

Sounds like fun though!!

[Mofassa]

Onslaught sounds amazing..seems like it'll create damn good matches for clans


*u should sticky this thread*

[Jion]

... sounds like bf1942 in the UT universe

[DeRailer]

Onslaught sounds like BF1942's conquest with a destroyable base, not that it's a bad thing.

[Satch]

Sounds cool

Thanks for the info.

[ErecT]

@ veichles..
Thats not Unreal ffs! Thats tribes or sum.. But I guess it will be cool and fun to play once in a while.
Most of all it will sell some lots of copies

[Dark_Spectre]

Hey Mark, small request. Can you guys maybe change Onslaught to something else, so that it's not exactly the same as the mod I've been working so hard on?

[Radeon285]

hmm, from the sounds of Onslaught the battles will take forever, I mean.... it sounds almost too hard to do, with aircraft, tanks and everything else its gonna be near impossible to control everynode and link up........... IMO. We will see tho.....

Assault sounds like alot of fun, cant wait to check out the Skaarj and Robot Factory levels

[uTaBenoit]

Thanks for the update.

[JohnDoe641]

I'd really like to play assault again, and this Onslaught game type sounds like it will bring a unique type of team based gameplay to the Unreal universe.

I can't wait to play both gametypes.

[Jion]

Originally posted by Radeon285
hmm, from the sounds of Onslaught the battles will take forever, I mean.... it sounds almost too hard to do, with aircraft, tanks and everything else its gonna be near impossible to control everynode and link up........... IMO. We will see tho.....

I agree. I suggest that the Power Nodes on a map be constructed in a "rock-paper-scissors" fashion, so that if node A is taken, there is a counter-node to take that, and so forth, coming together in a complete cycle. This could be done with weapon placements and the geography of the map. I wouldn't want to see this on all the maps, but maybe a few of them. Feel free to comment.

[uTaBenoit]

Maybe I missed this...BUT once a power node is completely built, can you destroy it? or do you have to stop the construction in descending order of the other node, then attack that one? I don't understand.

[Mort_Q]

Originally posted by uTaBenoit
Maybe I missed this...BUT once a power node is completely built, can you destroy it? or do you have to stop the construction in descending order of the other node, then attack that one? I don't understand.

Good question. I would suspect that it would be indestructable once it is controlled, else there would be a too long supply line to protect. If all the other team had to do was destroy the inner-most node, then the games would last forever...

... unless the nodes health go exponentially higher as more nodes were connected to it...

Interesting...

Mark !?

[-=¤willhaven¤=-]

Originally posted by DeRailer
Onslaught sounds like BF1942's conquest with a destroyable base, not that it's a bad thing.

the fact that you have to take them in a certian "order" is vastly different too.

keeps the battles unified because only some parts of the maps are valid at any one time

i can just see teams racing across the map in the beginning getting nodes and fighting over the central nodes to progress... thats where it gets messy

[uTaBenoit]

Well that's why I thought maybe you had to destroy the nodes in descending order..otherwise the inner node would be too easy and make the game ...crap.

Make this a sticky already.

[191]

Thanks for explaining this to us. It is really nice to get some official feedback from the Epic people. Onslaught sounds really cool, and i hope it wil really take some looooong battles to win. And we al know assault will rule !

[Happy_Hamburger]

hey mark

will onslaught have the translocator enabled by default

sounds good btw!

[DeRailer]

Originally posted by Happy_Hamburger
hey mark

will onslaught have the translocator enabled by default

sounds good btw!

I hope not, I don't like the idea of translocating half mile cross the field and wait for it to recharge.

On the more serious note: Xloc = bad for all capture and hold system.

[Mark Rein]

Answers (to the best of my knowledge):

uTaBenoit--> Yes you need to destroy nodes in order. For example to get from your base to the opponent's base you need to capture a line of nodes from your base to theirs. But nodes aren't necessarily in a straight line, the node maps look more like simple spider webs where, on the larger maps, they might be multiple routes between your base and the opponent's base.

191--> Yes Onslaught can turn into some intense and drawn out battles but they're so much fun to play! Good teamwork is really critical to getting across the map. It's no good to jump in as single spy and turn over a node to your side and then three guys in tanks blast you to hell and reset the node to their side a minute later. You really want to coordinate your attacks (or defenses).

Voice over IP is really valuable for gametypes like Onslaught and Assault. The cool thing about VOIP is that even if people don't have mics they can still hear their teammate's so if you appoint one person to the role of coordinator or to be a spy he/she can give instant feedback, even in the heat of battle where taking your fingers off the ASWD keys can be suicide, to those who don't have a mic.

In addition we're currently testing a voice command feature. You can use to give bot orders by speaking into your microphone. For example you could say "Charlie Cover Me" or "Alpha Defend the Base" and it's like you keyed in the voice commands! The speed recognition is very good and mod makers will be easily able to extend this functionality.

Happy_Hamburger--> No. At the moment the TL is not used in Onslaught at all.

[191]

Unreal Tournament 2004 sounds better every day

[Dark_Spectre]

Originally posted by Mark Rein


In addition we're currently testing a voice command feature. You can use to give bot orders by speaking into your microphone. For example you could say "Charlie Cover Me" or "Alpha Defend the Base" and it's like you keyed in the voice commands! The speed recognition is very good and mod makers will be easily able to extend this functionality.

I hope this technology has progressed in the past few years. Last time I used it, it was finnicky as hell and only recognized about 50% of what I spoke to it.

[BabyNuke]

Sounds cool, and yeah, I hope that voice command thing works (I might need to get a GOOD microphone for it though, as my current one sucks, well, for games).

[Happy_Hamburger]

Thanks for answering Mark

Will the voice over IP be like Half Lifes?, where the scoreboard tells you whos got a mic etc, and when you speak, a name comes up on the right hand side, that would be really cool and make public games FAR better

[Ubertek]

Originally posted by Dark_Spectre
I hope this technology has progressed in the past few years. Last time I used it, it was finnicky as hell and only recognized about 50% of what I spoke to it.

Consider that back then, those programs had an entire dictionary to decipher whenever you spoke. This version will only need to figure out if you said "Attack" "Defend" or "Cover Me", if you get what I mean.

Thanks Mark!

[Ubertek]

Question: Do we get a full screen map, or a "Limbo" menu in Onslaught, or something similar?

All these nodes are going to be very hard to keep track of without a map. As well as having to choose where to spawn. I assume larger maps might have like 12 nodes. All in different "Routes". (All these routes intersect i bet, so each node may have two different other nodes to aquire.)

Does this set up remind anyone of that old gameshow "Blockbuster"!?!?

EDIT: I am terribly sorry for the double post. I forgot about it.

[Mr. Brownstone]

I hate the word, and it’s so over-used, but Assault and Onslaught sound awesome.