Dystopia (computer game)

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Dystopia (dys)
Game / Engine : Half-Life 2 / Source Engine
Type : Total conversion
Genre : Ego shooter
Developer : Team Dystopia
Game modes: Multiplayer
Current version : 1.5.2
First published : September 9, 2005
Project status : in development
Size : 4.5 gigabytes
Language (s) : multilingual
www.dystopia-game.com

Dystopia ( old gr .: Dys = bad [here = evil], topos = place [here = vision]) is a mod of the first-person shooter Half-Life 2 . The name Dystopia was coined by John Stuart Mill and denotes an alternative to Thomas More 's Utopia , a perfect, ideal world. The current version 1.5.2 was released on February 18, 2018.

Game overview

Dystopia is a class-based, map goal-oriented multiplayer mod and is about a dark, futuristic world in the style of cyberpunk , in which two factions fight for supremacy.

On the one hand there are the guerrilla -like "punk mercenaries", on the other hand the factory security-like "Corporate Security Forces". The representatives of each political group must on a map ( Map fulfill different) goals. The focus here is on gaining territory and the destruction or activation of certain objects in the game world.

Dystopia, like many other mods, is designed for team play, but requires its application through skillful targeting in order to have any chance of victory. A match runs until one of the factions has achieved all of its card targets or the lap time has expired.

Killed players are allowed to re-enter the game during a running match after a waiting period that depends on the player's chosen class. If another team member is killed while players who have already been killed are waiting for their re-entry, the waiting time of all those waiting in the respective team is extended by the waiting time of the player who has just been killed. This has the effect that all killed players on a team re-enter the game at the same time and is intended to support a common approach by the team as a group.

Players can choose from a number of interesting implants that allow a variety of strategies.

Dystopia's most innovative feature, however, is cyberspace , which spans a second, virtual world parallel to the normal game world - the so-called meatspace (meat world) - within the virtual world.

Game content

To take part in a Dystopia match, the player must first decide on one of the two factions, then on a class and finally on the weapons and implants of his character.

Classes

The available classes are identical in both factions. Each class has four class-specific weapons to choose from, but can only carry one at a time. All players are additionally equipped with a silenced submachine gun, a melee weapon and, depending on the class, with grenades.

There are three different classes:

  • Light - fast, short re-entry time, but only weak armor
    • Weapon choice:
      • Shotgun - Shotgun: Double shot mode
      • Laser Sniper Rifle - Laser Sniper Rifle:
      • Boltgun - Bolt Gun: Fires an electrically charged bolt
      • Dual Smartlock Pistols - SmartLock Pistols: Two rapid fire pistols
    • Melee weapon: Katana - high strike frequency, medium damage, block mode (can block light / medium katana)
    • Implants: 5 head implant slots, 7 body implant slots; all implants available
    • Grenades: 3 EMP grenades - affect the enemy's vision and hearing and temporarily disable their implants; minimal damage
  • Medium - moderate speed, medium re-entry time, medium armor
    • Weapon choice:
      • Assault Rifle - assault rifle: volley mode
      • Grenade Launcher - Grenade Launcher: Time Fuse & Contact Fuse
      • MK-808 Semi-auto Rifle - MK808 rifle: Mixture of an assault and sniper rifle
      • Tesla Gun - Flash Launcher: Fires an arc over a short distance
    • Melee weapon: Katana - medium strike frequency, high damage, block mode (can block light / medium katana)
    • Implants: 4 head implant slots, 4 body implant slots; all implants available except stealth
    • Grenades: 2 frag grenades - traditional hand grenades; medium damage
  • Heavy - slow, long re-entry time, strong armor
    • Weapon choice:
      • Rocket Launcher: Fires a laser-guided missile
      • Minigun - Heavy machine gun with a high rate of fire
      • Ion Cannon: Fires an ion beam
      • Basilisk - Basilisk: Fires three powerful cartridges at the same time
    • Melee weapon: fist - low strike frequency, very high damage, no block mode (cannot block, but also cannot be blocked)
    • Implants: 2 head implant slots, 2 body implant slots; all implants except CyberDeck, TAC Scanner, Stealth, and MediPlant available
    • Grenades: 2 spider grenades that independently seek a target and pursue it, contact detonator & time detonator; great damage but vulnerable to fire

Implants

All "active" activated implants require power from the player's own power supply to operate. If the player runs out of energy, all "active" implants are deactivated, "passive" implants continue to function. However, an EMP (see above) also deactivates all passive implants. The power supply regenerates itself if no "active" implant is active. The implants require an individual number of implant slots and use different amounts of energy. Any number of worn implants can be activated, but the power consumption is then added.

  • Head implants:
    • CyberDeck - Allows you to log into cyberspace at so-called jack-in ports .
    • Enhanced Cyberdeck - Allows the user to connect to cyberspace at appropriate consoles and to have additional, advanced security programs.
    • TAC Scanner - A radar pulse system with friend & foe detection.
    • Thermal Vision - An infrared vision device to track down invisible opponents (→ stealth).
    • Sound Wave Triangulator (SWT) - A type of hearing aid that can be used to visualize footstep and shot noises even through walls.
    • Cortex Bomb - An explosive device that is activated automatically if the player's health value drops below 25 life points. Causes extremely high damage and is well suited for suicide missions. However, the explosion is prevented by the death of the wearer. (Passive implant)
    • IFF Info - Displays information about enemies' health, armor, and implants. (Passive implant)
  • Body implants:
    • Stealth - Allows the wearer to merge with the background - it appears invisible to the viewer. However, when the outside is in motion, a distortion of the environment can be seen, so that a running "stealther" can be guessed at.
    • Sound Suppressor - Suppresses all footstep and shooting noises of the wearer (→ SWT)
    • MediPlant - Refills the wearer's and nearby team members' health to their full value.
    • Leg Boosters - Multiplies the wearer's jumping power, so that great heights can be reached, and activates the (power-hungry) possibility of sprinting using Shift. Also protects against deep falls.
    • Superconductor Capacitor Storage (SCS) - Increases the maximum capacity of the wearer's implant power supply by 50%. (Passive implant)
    • Cold Suit - Insulates the heat signature of the user and thus hides them from heat vision devices (passive implant)
    • Wired Reflexes - Reduces the reload time for all magazine-based weapons and the time required to switch weapons. (Passive implant)

Cyberspace

The cyberspace represents the computer and network system of the map and is closely interwoven with the meatspace - the actual game world. With the help of the CyberDeck implant, it can be accessed at so-called "Jack In Points" and enables you to immerse yourself in the virtual computer world behind the "real" world. Players who wear this implant are called deckers (cyber deck ) or hackers. When working in CyberSpace, the decker is completely sealed off from the perception of the meatspace and is therefore exposed to any threats per se without protection (occasionally one can hear quiet noises in the environment, such as doors or gunfire).

Depending on the map, this virtual world in the virtual world consists of several large nodes, the servers, and a number of connecting lines between them. Many control elements that have a direct influence on the meatspace are distributed within the server . Most often the player encounters controls for opening and closing mission-critical doors or for reprogramming stationary, automatic guns so that they then attack the enemy.

These controls can be secured in cyberspace using various methods. This includes password protection and encryption of the operating elements, as well as shielding the elements with mined barriers ( ICE , similar to a firewall, these barriers only let "friendly" data through, but not the enemy). Various hacking tools are available to remove backups (password crackers, decryption software, ICEbreaker ).

The use of the CyberDeck and the use of the security and hacking tools is very energy-intensive, so that stays in CyberSpace are shorter, the more busy they are.

If members of the two factions meet in cyberspace, nothing stands in the way of a cyber duel. The virtual weapons available are a hit scan attack without damage to the environment ( splash damage ), similar to a rifle, with a long loading time and high damage, as well as a type of rocket attack with low damage, medium fire frequency and damage to the environment. Hits are deducted from the energy supply and minimally from the health supply of the attacked. A cyber question takes place when the opponent's energy supply is completely depleted by a hit.

Unfortunately, the cyberspace system does not reveal itself to the new player at first glance. Newcomers are often not clear about the tasks to be carried out in cyberspace, or are overwhelmed by the spatial complexity and the confusing representation (walking on the wall and ceiling of the server is possible and is used by the map developers to access control elements unusual locations in the server).

Scoring

As usual with shooter modifications, players get points for killing an opponent. The classes of the parties involved are also compared, so that a player in the light class receives more points for killing a player in the heavy class than the other way around.

There are also points for removing security measures in cyberspace for the first time, for cyber questions and for healing team members via MediPlant .

However, by far the highest point bonus is paid to the players for reaching card goals and for recapturing card goals.

The so-called assistance points are also interesting. They are awarded when a player supports a teammate in shooting down an opponent or protects the team's own hacker from attacks in the meatspace when reaching a map goal in cyberspace .

Special forms of play

Katana duels

The fact that the light and middle classes have a katana sword with a block function as a melee weapon suggests the possibility of sword fights. Participants must agree in advance on the class to be used and the implants allowed. A common combination for longer duels is the choice of the medium class together with the MedPlant.

Strategies

By cleverly constructing the map targets from elements of cyberspace and meatspace , the developers have succeeded in ensuring that teams can only be successful if they are evenly distributed across the classes and coordinate well with one another. Teams that only rely on firepower have no chance, as they lack the deckers to unlock mission-critical map targets.

Example: opening a door via cyberspace to get to the counter for the next destination. Without a hacker, the door will stay closed forever. However, if the hacker does not coordinate with his firmer team members, it may well be that the door he opened was closed again by an opposing decker before a teammate could get through.

This fact balances the meaning of the three classes with each other. Each class is extremely important for the course of the game, the disdain for example of the easy class, due to supposed game disadvantages, does not occur.

Nevertheless, there is enough variability via the implants to achieve success even with unbalanced class distributions: a trained light stealth command can take a group of stronger classes by surprise and turn them off, or a phalanx of heavy players shields an entire map area.

glossary

Like every game, Dystopia has its own slang. Here is a list of the most common terms:

  • Stealther / Cloaker - A player with a stealth implant
  • Decker / Hacker - A player with a CyberDeck implant
  • JIP - Abbreviation for Jack In Point, a console where the so-called deckers can log into cyberspace
  • Ninja - A player who uses the katana and the stealth implant at the same time
  • Meatspace - The real world, as opposed to cyberspace
  • H , M , L , L / S - abbreviations of the class names (with Light this means / S, that it is a stealther), in order to be able to report troop strengths in a very short way. Example: 2h, 3l / s inc to secroom (2 heavy and 3 camouflaged light players move towards the security center). This is often used by team members who have been killed to give advance warning to your remaining colleagues.

Awards

Dystopia has already received several awards from various gaming sites:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Awards
  2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.planethalflife.com
  3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 23, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.planethalflife.com