Rogue Spear Multiplayer Preview by GMan
	To date, the recent previews for Redstorm's upcoming Rogue Spear (RS) have examined the single-player game, the co-op side of multiplayer, and the game's graphics and terrorist AI. This preview will assess RS's new features with respect to the oft overlooked Adversarial multiplayer environment. Most of my time with the RS beta2.0 has been spent experimenting with the tactics used by RainbowSix (R6) clan players, and I will try to give everyone an idea of how these tactics will translate to RS. Are You Being Served? The heart and soul of an online adversarial multiplayer match is the server host. The server host is the person who everyone else connects to. RS includes several new server host options that will vastly improve gameplay. First, hosts may now lock the teams so players are unable to switch back and forth between teams. This team locking feature will greatly improve fairness in non-tournament pick-up matches. Multiplayer Setup Interface Second, the server host can force fog and other weather effects on all client-side players. On maps such as R6's Hacienda, this feature would ensure that every player experienced the same vision problems since a majority of players disable fog effects as a way to improve situational awareness and reduce lag. The third new feature is the ping panel. In R6, you can only see your pings to the server host, but not the pings of the other players to the server host. Now all players should be able to not only see their pings to the server, but those of the other players' as well. This feature will undoubtedly increase the fairness of current clan competitions. Fourth, the host can also issue kit restrictions on every piece of gear in the game to all players on the server via a check box without having to go and modify any files in the game directory. Kiss those heartbeat sensor jammers goodbye! General Gameplay Players in RS will now be able to wear customizable arm patches to help target identification. This option may prove to cut down on friendly-fire incidents, but it could just as likely help to give away your position if the patch is a bright color. One of the best new features is the player ID function on the head-down display's mini-map. Now players will be able to determine exactly who their target is with a quick glance down at the map. It should be noted that the more you zoom-out on your mini-map the fewer letters are displayed on each player's ID tag. I normally play R6 with my map zoomed out four keystrokes. On this setting only the first initial of the ID tag is visible. Clans such as mine with three people with the same first initial may want to have their players alter their names in order to avoid confusion. Movement Movement in RS is quite different from R6. Players now have several new movement options. Walking, running, running while crouched, squatting, moving while squatting, and of course the new "peek" move are the primary movement options. Unlike R6, any wounds inflicted on you now affect movement. If you take a round in the leg, you will limp badly and your movement speed will suffer. Shooting accuracy seems to be affected by wounds in the same fashion as R6. It is quite common to see a player in R6 take three hits and then kill all his opponents and win the game. In RS this will be extremely difficult due to the new damage model. I have experimented playing against another player with a single wound to the leg, and I have found it extremely difficult to fight wounded against a healthy opponent. While wounded you strafe much more slowly and shoot far less accurately than when healthy---in fact, it becomes nearly impossible to do much of anything. You can also forget about chasing an opponent down while wounded as you'll never catch him. Click to continue		This feature will make RS more realistic, but I think it will initially frustrate many players. Getting the first shots in will now be more important than ever, and high ping players may be at an even greater disadvantage in RS than they are in R6. On the plus side, Redstorm has now included an "always run" check box in the options menu. No longer will you need to keep a mouse button depressed in order to run. This feature should help to increase shooting accuracy since less dynamic pressure on the mouse will make movements faster and more precise. Peek-a-boo! The peek is probably the most important and talked about new movement. The player can now peek around corners by moving only from the waist up. Any of my fellow paintball players out there will be familiar with this move, as it presents the smallest target to your opponent while giving you the ability to see and fire upon anything around the corner. You can peek while standing or crouching, and this is done by pressing a key set to "peek" (I use mouse3) and holding down "strafe left/strafe right". Click for 1600x1200 Peeking gives the player an option other than the classic strafing out maneuver when fighting at a corner. In my opinion the jury is still out on which method is better for taking out a target around a corner, and time will tell if peeking is better than strafing. At least the player can now switch things up a bit and possibly surprise an opponent with a crouching peek when he was expecting you to execute a standing strafing out maneuver. Go to Page Two: Weapons
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