Note: This FAQ is a semi-work-in-progress and may be updated at any time. Please refer to the version header and date of last update.
Multiplayer FAQ – V 1.00 (Updated January 10, 2007) Written by: Brian Dunn @ Capcom No part of this may be copied or reposted anywhere without attributing the content to this FAQ and linking back to the source.
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Contents:
A) Ranked and Player Matches B) Game Types C) Medals D) Scoring Methodology E) Multiplayer Basics
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A) Ranked and Player Matches
Ranked matches allow players to accumulate points and level up. Upon reaching certain level thresholds, players can unlock new character models and camo to use online. Ranked matches allow a player to host a single match and invite players to play. When the match is over, all players are returned to the online lobby screen, where they can select to create or join a new match.
Ranked play also features leader boards for points and Medals (awarded for winning Ranked matches). Leader boards are viewable for the week, month, national (per country) and worldwide.
Points earned in Player matches do not go towards players' level or towards leader boards or unlocking Achievements. However in Player matches, players have extra match options available when creating matches, including the ability to set the maximum number of players and set aside private slots that can only be filled through players accepting invites from players within the match lobby. For team-based Player matches, the host can also allow players to switch teams before the match begins, rather than letting the game auto-assign players to teams.
When a Player match is over, participants are given the option to play again with the same people or exit and search for a new game. If the host elects not to play again, the match is disbanded. If the host elects to continue, the match lobby is reopened and players can enter the lobby again. The lobby is open to new players searching for games on the lobby list. If the host begins the rematch before all players have returned to the lobby (name still in grey – changes to white when return), those players are ejected from the match.
Additionally, when playing Player matches, the host can set the stage and/or starting weapon selection to random, and each rematch will start with a new stage and/or starting weapon.
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B) Game Types
1) Elimination Players compete in a free-for-all deathmatch-style game. Players compete for points. Match ends when time runs out or a single player's points reach 0. The person with the most points at the end of the match wins. Points and ranking are displayed in real-time beneath the health and T-ENG meters, with the player's own name and point total displayed in yellow, with opponents in white.
Earn points by killing opponents, destroying Vital Suits, and activating Data Posts. Lose points for getting killed.
The post-match results screen shows the player's individual ranking, individual performance and points, with a ranking of all players based on performance and point totals.
Points earned in Ranked matches go towards players' individual "Levels" based on specific formulas and special bonus point add-ons.
2) Team Elimination Similar to Elimination, except players are split up into 2-4 teams. Teams compete for points and points are calculated on a team basis. Match ends when time runs out or a single team's points reach 0. The team with the most points when the match ends is the winning team. Points are displayed beneath the health and T-ENG meters, and players' own teams will be the team/color listed on the top. Points are listed as a number figure, and also displayed graphically in the bar, with the number to the right of the bar indicating the number of full bars accumulated (each bar represents 5,000 points).
Earn points by killing opponents, destroying Vital Suits, and activating Data Posts. Lose points for getting killed.
The post-match results screen shows the player's team's ranking, plus individual performance and points, with a ranking of all players based on individual performance and point totals.
Points earned in Ranked matches go towards players' individual "Levels" based on specific formulas and special bonus point add-ons.
3) Post Grab Players split into two teams and vie for control of the Data Posts within the map. Match ends when time runs or when one team gains simultaneous control over all data posts within the stage. An on-screen indicator shows the status of each data post. Grey means neither team controls it, and red indicates the red team, and blue the blue team. If neither team gains control of all data posts at once and the time runs out, the team controlling the most data posts when time runs out wins.
The post-match results screen shows the player's team's ranking, plus individual performance and points, with a ranking of all players based on individual performance and point totals.
4) Fugitive The host plays the role of the fugitive, the hunted, and can specify the number of hunters he/she wishes to go up against. To win the match, the fugitive must get the specified number of points before the 10-minute timer runs out. The Fugitive can also win by merely staying alive until time runs out. The fugitive earns points by killing hunters, by moving around (points for every certain number of feet traveled), by activating posts, and if hunters self-detonate.
Hunters can take away points from the Fugitive's point tally by killing the Fugitive. If the Hunters get the Fugitive's points to 0 by killing the Fugitive multiple times, the game is over and the Hunters win. Hunters also earn points towards their individual scores, although individual point gauges are not shown on the game screen, only on the post-match result screen.
It is possible for the Fugitive to win the match but have less points on the results screen, simply because all the Fugitive has to do is stay alive until the end of the match.
The post-match results screen shows the player's team's ranking, plus individual performance and points, with a ranking of all players based on individual performance and point totals.
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C) Medals
When a player wins a match, either as an individual in a non-team match, or by being on the winning team in a team match, the player is awarded a "Medal." There are four types of Medals, one for each game type (see below). Medals are only awarded in Ranked matches.
Scoring is the same for both Player and Ranked matches. Players gain points for securing data posts, killing opponents, and destroying Vital Suits. Players lose points for getting killed and "suicides."
Scoring for kills is based around a concept of a player's individual "value." In Player matches everyone has the same "value," or 750 points.
But in Ranked matches, as you level up your "value" goes up as well. Specifically, your value goes up 4 points for every level. At Level 15, a player is worth 750 + 4x15, or 810 points. When you kill an opponent, they lose points and you gain points, according to that value based on the player's level.
When a player dies, he loses points based on his value. But the points earned for the kill are 1.1 times that value. So if you lose 750 points, the person that killed you earns 750 x 1.1 or 825 points.
If you destroy a Vital Suit and the person piloting it does not eject in time, a multiplier is applied to the points for the kill based on the kind of Vital Suit.
Multipliers: Turret = 1.2x Old Style, Speeders = 2x Others = 2.4x or 3.0x
Points earned for destroying a Vital Suit are based on a multiplier factor applied to the value of the player piloting it at the time. Multipliers are 0.2x, 0.4x, 0.6x, and 0.8x. Players do not lose points when their Vital Suit is destroyed.
Players earn 500 points for activating a de-activated data post. Players do not lose points when a data post is taken by an opponent.
Point tallies at the end of the match are based on the amount of points earned above the starting point (Battle Gauge) level set by the host (i.e., 2500, 5000, 7500, 10000). If you have less points at the end of a match than you started with, you basically get 100 points for playing. Points are never taken away from your level/rank.
The difference between the starting points and your final score is halved, and that becomes your score. For example, if starting points is set to 5,000 and you have 9,000 at the end of the match, the difference is 4,000 and you get 2,000 points. A number of bonus point categories are applied to this after that score is calculated.
Additional points are added at the end of the match based on your individual ranking (Elimination) compared to the number of players in the match. In Team Elimination, each team member gets additional points based on the team's ranking, which applies a multiplier to the dividend of the number of opponents divided by the number of members on your own team.
Other points are added at the end of matches as well. This includes a minimum of 100 points. So at the end of a match if a player has less points than the starting point total, the player gets 0 points, plus 100 points for playing. So the minimum amount of points a player will receive in a match is 100. (players who quit the match before it ends receive 0 points)
2) Post Grab
Only data post status is shown (beneath the life bar) during the game, but individual points are tracked internally and awarded at the end of the match.
Securing data posts earns the most points. Points for kills and deaths are worth 25% their value in Elimination.
3) Fugitive
In Fugitive mode, below the life gauge is the Fugitive's point bar, showing progress towards the specified point goal.
The Fugitive earns points for killing hunters, when opponents self-detonate, for activating data posts, and for the amount of distance traveled. If a Hunter kills the Fugitive, points are taken away from the Fugitives point bar.
The Fugitive wins the match by either reaching the point goal, or if the Fugitive fails to reach the point goal before time runs out but keeps the point bar from reaching 0, the Fugitive still wins just by staying alive through the 10-minute match. If the Fugitive wins by default, he/she earns a percentage of the Goal Points based on the percentage of points earned towards the goal. If the Fugitive reaches the point goal before time runs out, the Fugitive earns the goal points, a bonus for reaching the point goal, plus bonus points based on the number of Hunters in the match. The more Hunters in the match, the larger the bonus is.
Hunters earn points based on their earned points calculated internally, not shown on screen (can potentially be minus points if killed by Fugitive multiple times), plus bonus points based on the number of Hunters in the match. The more Hunters in the match, the smaller the bonus is. Hunters do not earn points if the Fugitive self-detonates.
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E) Multiplayer Basics
1) Health Health is displayed in the form of a health bar in the upper left corner of the screen. When this runs out, you die and respawn.
2) T-ENG, or Thermal Energy T-ENG is displayed as a number value below the health bar. Unlike the single-player game, you do not die when you run out of T-ENG. However, T-ENG is required to pilot a Vital Suit or man a turret, and use an energy-based weapon. If you are piloting a Vital Suit or manning a turret when your energy runs out, you will be automatically ejected from it. If you are using an energy-based weapon when your energy runs out, you won't be able to fire it anymore. Energy weapons for VS can be dropped with the Weapon Change button, but non-VS weapons cannot be dropped unless there is another weapon on the ground to exchange it for.
Certain stages will have T-ENG recharging areas. This allows you to charge up your T-ENG in order to pilot Vital Suits and use energy-based weapons longer.
3) Data Posts Data posts are "nodes" or "posts" that can be activated and claimed. Activating a data post enables the radar (see below) and earns the person that activated it 500 points (in Elimination and Team Elimination modes, calculated differently in other modes).
Multiple people can work together to activate a post at once. Two people can activate a data post twice as fast as a single person, three people three times as fast, and so on. The person to get the last button press to activate the data post earns the points. Activating a data post also gives the player a T-ENG bonus, enabling further use of an energy-based weapon or a Vital Suit.
Data posts can also be stolen from opponents by first deactivating and then activating it again.
In team matches, the color of light emanating from an activated data post indicates the color of the team that has claimed it (red, blue, yellow, green). In non-team matches, the light will appear as orange for a player's own posts, and as purple for opponents' posts.
4) Radar The radar is shown in the upper right corner of the screen. This is off by default, although it always shows the four directions (North, East, South, West). To use the radar, first a data post must be activated. Data posts enable radar within a certain proximity around the post. On larger maps, you may find that you can't see anything on the radar because you have ventured out of your data posts' active range. Activate additional data posts to expand the range of the radar. If an opponent takes over your last data post, your radar will be deactivated. So it is advantageous to claim as many data posts as possible, and steal data posts from your opponents.
The radar will show the location of data posts, indicated as numbers (i.e., 1, 2, 3), as well as the location of players. Players appear as small red dots, and players piloting Vital Suits appear on the radar as large red dots. The radar will also show the direction of incoming fire. The radar does not differentiate between allies and foes.
5) Weapons Default starting weapon is the machine gun. The host has the option of changing the starting weapon to any non-VS weapon or setting it to random. Weapons will be scattered throughout the map. Standard human-sized weapons will have a yellow ring spinning around them, while large Vital Suit weapons will have an aqua blue ring. Vital Suit weapons can also be plucked from the sides of un-manned Vital Suits. Certain Vital Suits have weapons that are not removable.
Weapons have at least one level of zoom, and certain weapons have multiple levels (including a scope for the sniper rifles).
There are 5 types of grenades, and each time you die and respawn you may get a different type of grenade than the last time you spawned.
Energy-based weapons require T-ENG to use. Some use more energy than others, and some can be charged up by holding the trigger. But the more powerful the weapon, the more T-ENG it will use.
6) Vital Suits / Turrets There are Vital Suits scattered about each stage for players to pilot. There are over 20 variations in the game, each with different abilities. Some can transform, hover, double- or super-jump, dash, or even skate around. Certain models also have powerful melee attacks and other special abilities.
Certain stages also feature stationary turrets equipped with a variety of weapons. Turrets can aim up and down and spin within a certain range.
You must have T-ENG to pilot a Vital Suit or man a turret. If you are in one and you run out of T-ENG, you will be automatically ejected.
Vital Suits and Turrets have their own health meters. If the health meter is reduced all the way, the VS or Turret will explode. If you are piloting or manning one, you must eject in time by rapidly pressing the B button. You must also get far enough away from the explosion to avoid getting killed.
Vital Suits and Turrets only take damage while being piloted or manned, respectively. Weapons can be removed from the sides of Vital Suits and Turrets, although certain weapons are fixed and cannot be removed.
7) Telling Friend from Foe In team-based matches, it is important to be able to distinguish your own teammates from your enemies.
Before the match starts, find your name on one of the teams in the middle of the on the pre-match screen. There will also be a colored circle next to your name on the left side of this screen indicating the color of your team. In Player matches, the host can specify to allow team switching. If this is set to on, you will be able to press the button corresponding to the team you wish to join on this screen. There is a 20-second countdown timer, so team selections must be made before this runs out.
You can also tell which team you are on by the color of the point bar that is on top, underneath the health and point meter.
Your teammates will all have their gamertag names displayed above their heads in the color corresponding to the team color. These names will be visible even if the player is not, for example if the person is on the other side of a building. There are also small areas on each character model that shine in the color of the team. For example, the color of goggles, rings on the energy tanks, etc. When piloting a Vital Suit, the color of pilot's team will also light up in certain parts of the Vital Suit.
People on other teams will not have their names above their heads unless they are directly in your sights.
8) Layouts Each multiplayer map has multiple "layouts," which determine which weapons and Vital Suits are available, their locations, and the locations of the data posts. Certain maps also feature destructible walls and other objects, which change depending on the layout. It is set to random by default, but the host may change this when setting up a match.
9) Controls Please refer to the game manual and the Game Settings from the main menu to view the controls. Basically there are 3 button layout controller patterns, with multiple aiming speeds and three kinds of camera aiming (Fixed, Accelerated, Cruise). Camera controls can also be inverted horizontally, vertically, or both.
Default controls are Pattern A, Accelerated 3 aiming style and speed, and no inverted controls. Auto-aim is also disabled in online play, although it is set to On by default in single-player mode.
You can change the controls at any time during an online match, except while you are waiting to respawn, by pressing the BACK button on the controller.
