Commanders are also given more attention before the game even begins. Now, when waiting in a lobby for a match to begin, five players can choose to put their name on the ballot for commander. The players on that team can then vote on who they wish to be commander. From there, the lobby will grant the newly elected commander the chance to create officers that will be able to give squad commands to anyone in their group. After the officers have been chosen the rest of the players can choose a group to be part of. Up to four players can join under one officer's command. After the timer counts down the game will begin.
Once in the game players can choose a class to play. At the beginning of a match only the builder, scout, and savage will be available. The other classes all require certain buildings to be constructed before they can be selected. The builder is probably one of the weakest characters to actually fight with (keep in mind while you're reading this that we totally suck at this game compared to the other players right now) but has some very useful skills such as the ability to place buildings to help out commanders as well as adding their help to construct buildings faster and repairing existing structures. Should the builder not have enough money to construct a building during a match, they can ask the commander for the money to do so or invite other players to donate funds if the commander is busy elsewhere. The builder also has useful abilities to place shields that protect against projectiles and ammo dumps, which players can use to refill their ammo.
The scout is a much sneakier class that depends on long-range weaponry to strike down their opponents from afar and stealth skills in order to sneak up to enemies and backstab them or buildings to plant explosive charges that will do considerable damage to enemy structures. What we've noticed about the scout's stealth skill is that they still remain as a shadow that observant players will notice when moving. It's certain helpful to get places undetected, but it's not foolproof. We've been massacred more than once trying to sneak into an enemy base to wreak some havoc.
The last basic class, the Savage, is the damage dealer of the bunch. He's equipped with dual blades and fast firing weapons to take down the other players on the field. They also have extra damage dealing skills to strike down enemies in melee combat including a rage technique that makes them more powerful for a limited amount of time.
What's so different about the way the classes are set up, even at a basic level, is that they all have different skills and uses. In Savage 1, different character classes would basically just be stronger versions of the same thing that could be equipped with whatever weapons you could afford. Now there are set weapon types and skill types for each of the classes to inspire even more team play instead of having players simply go for the unit with the most armor.
Though there are definitely reasons to grab some of the more advanced units as well. The legionnaire is still a brute to take down and can deal out plenty of damage with his axe but is a bit slower and focuses more on explosive weaponry with the grenade and rocket launchers. In this respect, they're likely to be in the front of the pack absorbing damage and spamming the enemy with explosives to soften them up for the savages to clean up. Behind the legionnaires are likely to be at least a couple of chaplains who serves as the healers for the humans. Assuming they're protected, they're one of the most valuable units on the field. Not only can they heal friendly units singularly and in groups, but they can also resurrect fallen comrades to join the fight again. Their defense and attacks are weak, but their skills more than make up for it. Finally, behind all of the other units will be the artillery type units. They're machines on the human side and either fling rocks and flaming rocks from afar or roll right up to buildings and begin smashing. They're big and a bit harder to defend (though the battering ram has a nice defensive fire attack) but do huge amounts of damage to structures that would normally take a long time to destroy.
One of the improved ideas about using any of these units in combat are the RPG elements. Savage 1 had a basic progression where players would increase in power a certain amount regardless of the class of character they played. Now, players will have the chance to assign skill points to several different areas such as health, mana, regeneration, armor, ranged attack, etc… on their own to create a specific skill set that bolsters their preferred character type. So those planning to live their life as a chaplain would probably want to focus on mana and mana regeneration before anything else while legionnaires are likely to choose armor and melee damage improvements first.
Any upgrade is a happy one though. S2 has made an effort to make sure that level 10 characters can still be taken down by smaller characters and don't have too big an advantage to subtract from the fun of less skilled individuals. For those hardcore players there will be plenty of opportunities for them to see their stats versus all of the other players with a pretty substantial stat tracking and ladder system. On top of that, every game played will be recorded and posted on the Savage 2 replay site so that players can study tactics or just watch themselves run around and kill people. S2 also believes having these replays will help them police cheaters since after a few complaints they can simply go over the replay code and find any inconsistencies.
The one map that's available in the alpha test right now is called Deadlock and focuses most of the action on a single large gold mine (though there are other gold mines as well). Gold is a very important aspect of Savage 2 because there's a limited supply of it. In this respect, it keeps many of its real-time strategy ideals. Players will have to capture gold deposits and mine them to be able to place structures. On top of that, structures also come with an upkeep cost. The top right of the play screen shows the income level as well as the upkeep so you can see whether it's positive or negative. Once the gold runs out, the buildings are going to start falling into disrepair. This is one of the ways that S2 is managing game length. Towards the end of a game if one of the teams has managed to control most of the gold on the map, they'll be able to whittle down the enemy and their command center and win the game since the unpaid upkeep will already be taking its toll on the building as is.
In either case S2 sent along some information about this specific map and its features, which can be found below. Read on and then keep your eyes open for more information about Savage 2 as it gets closer to release. As of right now, that release date is "when it's ready".
Deadlock Map Overview
More than any other, the Deadlock map exemplifies the importance of a strong gold management strategy. Both Commanders and the battle ready players they lead must work to control the center gold mine, thereby giving their team the upper hand in the latter stages of the battle.
As important as a strong income stream is, proper management of that income by the team Commander is just as important. Every building built drains the team's coffers with its upkeep. Choose not to spend money on upkeep and watch the building decay into the ground. As available gold becomes scarcer, Commanders may be forced to reduce or totally suspend upkeep on less important structures.
Not only does competition for gold add to the excitement of a match, providing a limited amount of gold allows map makers to influence the length of matches played on a map, eliminating the possibility of overly long, stalemate matches.
Map Highlights
Base Gold Mine
Close to each starting Stronghold, each team is provided with an unguarded gold mine. Tapping into this mine should be one of the first objectives of a game. The quality and importance of each gold mine is determined by the total amount of gold it contains, as well as the rate at which the mine's gold can be extracted. The base gold mines on Deadlock have a potential of 65,000 gold which can be extracted at a rate of 300.
Expansion Mines
There are two expansion mines located on the map. These mines are located away from the Strongholds, which, if left undefended, are prime targets for a resourceful enemy squad to capture. Expansion mines contain a smaller supply of gold than base mines, with a potential of 25,000 gold and an extraction rate of 125. Despite their smaller size, controlling the expansion mines is crucial to a team's success.
Central Mine
The central mine is the defining feature of the Deadlock map. Containing 30,000 gold that can be extracted at a rate of 150, this mine can give the controlling team a distinct advantage. The mine itself is heavily guarded by NPCs, requiring a team to focus on killing the guardians before taking possession of the mine. Once a team is successful in taking control, a good Commander must be certain to keep the opposing team at bay with his best squads of ground troops.
NPC Defenders
Safeguarding many key mountain passes, teams must work together to clear out NPC guardians before they can take advantage of these shortcuts. Despite the challenges these NPCs provide, a smart squad leader will take advantage by engaging NPCs to earn his squad members extra experience and gold.
Scars
Deadlock has two scars on which Sacrificial Shrines can be built. Sacrificial Shrines offer huge rewards to a team by providing access to powerful possessed units. There are great costs before a team can reap the benefits of a scar, both in terms of gold in the addition to the lives spent clearing the powerful NPCs that defend the scars.