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Gameplay Modes
Steel Battalion: Line of Contact has two primary game modes, Campaign and Free Mission.  CAMPAIGN MODE
Campaign Mode Structure
The primary gameplay mode for Steel Battalion: Line of Contact is Campaign. Campaign Mode play consists of team based combat against opposing factions for terrain control over the island of Hai Shi Dao. Campaign is divided into 8 Rounds. Each Round lasts 55 days (eight weeks). Each Round is divided into 8 Turns (each of which lasts a week). During a Turn (week), three Missions/Maps are available to play. The Missions/Maps do not directly correspond to the terrain control over the Hai Shi Dao island map. Intead, the island map represents a "percentage of control" for each faction.
 Team wins and losses affect the control percentage of a faction in the overall conflict. At the start of a Round, only two factions are available to align a pilot profile with, Hai Shi Dao and Pacific Rim Forces. Over the course of a Round, certain new factions are introduced, the Right Brothers in Turn 3 and the Jaralaccs Mercenaries in Turn 5.  Pilots may transfer between factions at specific times during a Round. A pilot can only change faction alignment once within the 21 days at the start of Turn 3 (Right Brothers introduced) through the end of Turn 5. This lets people who have not changed factions at all have "first go" at switching to Jaralaccs at the start of Turn 5 (because anyone who switched would be locked in through the end of the Turn). The exception to this is when a pilot is Killed In Action and can start again with which ever faction has open recruitment. Pilots gain rank over time by the accumulation of Combat Points (experience) which can only be earned by Mission participation. A full discussion of Ranks is available here. A pilot profile also contains performance stats, duration of existence, age, gender, battle successes and losses and if eligibile, a professional name which indicates superior (or inferior) performance on the battlefield. Campaign Economy
The game uses an economic system based on Supply Points, fictional monetary values which are "won" by participation in Campaign Missions. Winning a Mission will net a player more points than a loss, but pilots will still receive a "participation bonus" of 5000 Supply Points simply for playing, win or lose. This allows players to purchase basic VT models and continue playing in Missions.  Supply Points are used to purchase VTs from a respective factions Supply Bin. VTs are faction specific, but may be traded across faction lines for other VTs, Supply Points or Optional Parts. Certain VTs are limited or rare models which are not always available from the Supply Bin. These limited VTs often have unique capabilities or enhanced performance, making them quite valuable commodities for trade purposes. Each Turn within a Round will have specific VTs made available for purchase, both mass production and limited models. A full matrix of Turn-to-Availability is available on the VT Information page.  VTs have an associated Sortie Point value which is used to determine the maximum number of a VTs a single player may have in their inventory hangar, and is also used in the calculation and debiting of Sortie Points during Campaign Mission combat. Players have a maximum of 600 Sortie Points available per pilot profile, which is generally sufficient for several VTs of different types and generations. Rarer or more advanced VTs have higher Sortie Point values. A full list of Sortie Point values and Supply Point costs is available in the VT Information pages. Campaign Mission Overview
Missions within Campaign Mode are fought as faction specific teams of up to five players per side (5v5). Unfortunately, connection issues tend to limit the maximum team size to three players (3v3). Factions members fight against other factions, with the exception of Jaralaccs Mercenaries, which may join any side for a given Mission. The primary objective for Campaign battles is destruction of the opposing team and the capture of all of their bases (spawn points). The destruction of a VT deducts its associated Sortie Point value from the team Sortie Point total, calculated at the begining of the match from a number of different factors. The Mission ends when one team deprives the other of Sortie Points, which can be achieved by destroying enemy VTs, capturing bases, accomplishing Mission specific objectives, or a combination of these.
Bases are captured by standing within their boundaries for 30 seconds, during which time the HUD will display "OCCUPYING" and a tone will be heard when the capture is complete. Certain Missions have instant win Base Capture objectives (and tend to be unbalanced in favour of Attackers). A full list of Missions, with advisory notes is available here. Campaign Trade, Chat & Awards
Campaign Mode chat and trade functions allow VTs, Supply Points, Optional Parts, Replays and Insignias to be freely traded between players regardless of faction. This is one method that may be used to acquire rare VTs if they are difficult to obtain from the Supply Bin directly. The Campaign Trade function is often used to provide "touches" on rare VTs to unlock them for Free Mission mode play (more below).
Starting at the end of Turn 1 and at the end of each Turn thereafter, top ranked players from each faction are awarded based on a number of performance criteria. Awards may include supply points, optional parts, rare VTs, or some combination of the three. A detailed discussion of available awards is available here. FREE MISSION MODE
Free Mission mode does not have the complex economic requirements of Campaign mode, but does borrow the Conquest mission type (team combat) as well as two other combat types, Capture the Container and Battle Royale. In general, Free Mission is less regimented, and does not have a progressive Campaign Round-Turn-Mission structure. All Missions a player has participated in while in Campaign mode are available for play in Free Mission, as are all VTs which have been "touched" in Campaign mode. A player does not need to have a particular VT model in active Campaign inventory for it to be available in Free Mission, only to have "touched" it to unlock it. This characteristic has led to the concept of "touching" VTs; briefly trading a VT to someone and then returning it to the original owner. This process unlocks the VT from that point on for Free Mission. The Free Mission session options allow a host to specify limitations or the maximum Sortie Points available to a team, overriding the normal Sortie Point calculation methods. Additionally, sessions may have the time of day specified and Friendly Fire turned on or off.  Conquest is nearly identical to Campaign Mode play, being team based strategic combat. The same VT destruction and base capture rules also apply.  Capture the Container is very similar to other team based capture-the-flag type games, except using extremely large walking tanks and involving destructible containers. The objective is to capture the opposing teams' container from their Container Base and return it to a captured friendly base. This will result in a team score, but only if the scoring teams' container is present at their own Container Base. A special note here: the scoring base (the friendly base into which a container is brought) does not have to be a teams' Container Base. This can setup some very unbalanced and unrecoverable situations if there is a captured enemy base close to the enemy Container Base. Because of this, Missions for Capture the Container should be carefully chosen based on map layout and terrain to ensure a relative balance for each side.  Battle Royale is a free-for-all deathmatch type scenario in which all players are against one another in a last-man-standing format. In addition to this, VT stealth capabilities are disabled and all players are visible on the MULTI-MONITOR map display. This is good mode for quick battle fun, but can get tiresome as each battle devolves into circle of death engagements between players. A player created game variation for Battle Royale called "Giant" entails a single player taking a high-performance VT against a team of lower-end model VTs. The low-end VTs attempt to take down the Giant as a team, and after that player is eliminated, battle it out amongst themselves to determine the winner. |
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