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Rising Storm: BANZAAAAAI
Albino Bunny
JackieRegistered User regular
JackieRegistered User regular
Right then, seeing as I've put about fifteen or so hours in this in the past week alone I figure I may as well open up a quick thread to talk about one of my favourite multiplayer murder simulators ever. That being the Red Orchestra series by Tripwire Interactive.
The Red Orchestra series is a multiplayer shooter focused on combining realism and authenticity with modernly paced maps and a strong focus on teamwork. The original game Ostfront and it's sequel Heroes of Stalingrad focused on the Eastern front and the war between German and Russian forces. Recently they have added the Pacific Theater with the introduction of Rising Storm: A stand-alone expansion that for the first time in the series introduces a-symetric warfare between the deafening firepower of the US forces and the brutal desperation tactics of the Japanese.
In particular to me the reason I adore it is the intensity it manages to evoke thanks to it's excellent sound design and instant death style gameplay, and trust me, you will die. A lot.
Sounds cool, so how do I get in on this being getting shot business?:
Well, if you've never played a Red Orchestra game before it's easy as anything to jump in: Just go to Steam and purchase Rising Storm for fifteen pounds. Rising Storm also includes the base Red Orchestra 2 game: Heroes of Stalingrad so you don't have to worry about picking that up at all. If you're the average Steamaholic and have actually picked up Heroes of Stalingrad at somepoint good news and bad news. You can play on all of the Rising Storm maps without purchasing it, however you are restricted to only playing as a rifleman for whichever side you find yourself on.
Now you're in the game and have ran the tutorial so you understand what cover is and vaguely how to shoot guns you'll be given a choice of only one of the three game types to play: This is action, the most arcadey and forgiving of game modes. In action you are gifted with a crosshair, extra bullet resistance and usually little to no class restrictions which basically gives you liscence to go nuts and adjust to Red Orchestra from other shooters. You will still die, a lot.
Once hitting Level 10 (a process that wont take long) You'll gain the ability to search for the other two game modes: Classic and Realism.
Classic is essentially the old Red Orchestra 1 game mode, there is no spawning on Squad Leaders, your sprint runs out in half the time and your guns are less accurate. Not many servers run it and honestly for the most part I wouldn't bother with it as many of the maps aren't designed for it's slower pace and falter under it.
Realism is the most common game mode. A single rifle bullet to the chest will kill you and classes other than rifleman are limited based on the size of the teams. This is honestly the way the game was designed to be played and is what I'd recommend most people play.
It's worth noting that if you buddy up with a veteran you can join a realism server they are in without being level 10.
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You may have noticed after a few hours of play that you are bad and die alot. Do not fret, this is natural. Even people who play regularly die a lot. However, it's worth noting that there are some general things you can always do to mean you're an effective player even if you are incapable of shooting people ever:
1) Get in the cap zone. Cap zones are how you win, cap zones are usually full of cover and inside a capzone you will ALWAYS find someone to shoot. Promise.
To help find capzones when you are not used to the map remember to make use of tactical view (T) and your map (M) to locate the capzones.
Honestly if you are a new player who doesn't understand wholly what's going on there is literally zero reason for you to not be either in the cap zone or attempting to shoot your way to it. It is the objective of the game, you standing in one is immediately helpful, even if you cower in a corner afk for the rest of the match.
2) Don't take roles you aren't comfortable with: Red Orchestra is a team game and the specialised roles that aren't riflemen are much better served by people who know what's up. Even if you feel like you do better with the assaults SMG just spend a few rounds relaxing and practicing your rifleman to learn the maps and observe how others play roles you are interested in.
3) Resupply machinegunners: Seriously, go up to them and hit your use key (defaultly CTRL) to give them ammo. The more your LMG's fire the less chance the enemy has to move, or breathe. Plus it gets you more points than 5 kills.
4) Expect to die, and don't worry when you do. People die in this game, ALOT, it's what happens, don't fret it.
5) Listen to command: They know what's up, you don't, simples.
6) Don't stack up: If you're in a location on defense don't be that guy who joins an already watched window, you're just asking for a burst of gunfire to get a double kill it didn't deserve to get or a grenade to murder both of you. If (and it's a big if) your team seems to be watching literally every angle already, seriously just wait for one of them to get shot before taking his place. There is never a reason to expose the opponent to two targets in such an easy manner.
Once you've played a few matches with that general advice and feel comfortable feel free to adopt other roles in the team and try them out. Here's a generic overlook of how each role plays and what they should be doing:
Riflemen:
You are the default dudes, armed with Bolt action rifles or semi-automatics if you're playing America. Your job should always be to get into a capzone, drop anchor and start taking shots at people. Anyone really, doesn't matter if you miss, suppression is a valuable thing in Red Orchestra.
On Defense this is relatively easy, on attack just try to stay pushed up and with the rest of your team so that if you do get a breakthrough it is more effective.
Elite riflemen play much the same except you have an even easier time putting volume of fire down range and you should be a bit more conservative because you represent a more important element of firepower.
Assault:
It's in the name, push up, clear rooms with your SMG. That's all there is to it, on defense you repel assaults like no one else
Machinegunner:
Find a spot with a good coverage of an angle but not so wide that you can be shot from everywhere. Shoot everything that moves EVERYTHING, if a branch twitches it should have a burst going to it. Ammo shouldn't be a problem and you can murder entire teams if you get a good spot. Worth noting two things: You can hit C to crouch when set up in waist high cover, this is a life saver. Also when your barrel starts smoking (the American MG is really prone to this) it means it has overheated and warped and as a result will be less accurate. Hit 6 and you'll replace your barrel good as new.
Squad Leader:
Do, not, play this if you are new. Seriously, squad leaders win games. They act as mobile spawn points, they have smoke grenades and they count as two people on a cap zone. Squad leader is all about passively standing back to act as a spawn, pushing forwards when it's safe and chucking smoke on enemy positions to deny them firing oppurtunities. That's important by the way, put smoke ON the enemy not INFRONT OF, one means they can't shoot, the other means your troops get shot. If you hold down F and right click you can set artillery markers for your commander. You should be adjusting these whenever he tells you arty is coming to try and get a good spot.
Commander:
Get on a radio, STAY THERE. There are moments when you're more used to command that you'll know when to change radio or move forwards to smoke a location but for the most part, stick on the Radio, make sure you call over mic when you're calling in recon and request for squad leaders to adjust artillery marks for optimal murder.
Rising Storm A-symetry:
So what fancy stuff can each side do? First of all there are several new roles in the form of a BAR gunner and flamer for America and a Knee mortar for Japan. Each of these are self explanatory. The flamer is a 30m range doom cone, the BAR is a mobile LMG and therefore the best gun in the game and the knee mortar while hard to use can be devestating in the right hands (scroll wheel to adjust distance as an FYI).
Other than that Japan gets a few dirty tricks:
1) Booby traps: Take out a grenade, look at the ground and right click. Provided you aren't for some reason trying to plant a grenade in concrete your soldier will plant the a grenade trap ready for the next american to walk over it. Booby traps should always be used on defense, CONSTANTLY. You should plant one of your grenades each life if you don't have two traps down in the current objective. To put this in perspective, if EVERY Axis player in a full server puts down their two traps that's 64 areas which are instant death for American troops. That's fucking terrifying.
Regarding the mechanics of traps:
a: you can only have two out at once, planting a 3rd causes the second to de-spawn
b: They persist through death and class change
c: allied forces can't trigger it, though they will explode if damaged by explosion or gunshot and this can get you teamkills.
2) BANZAI: the best motherfucking thing ever basically. Fed up of all this silly realistic cover focused warfare and lethal bullets? Fuck'em, you've got Banzai.
If you start meleeing (middle mouse button by default) while sprinting as an Axis soldier you automatically Banzai. This makes you sprint faster, resist bullets and suppression better. In addition to these already awesome effects you will cause any allied troops trying to shoot you to become suppressed and have gunshake as they quiver in the fearful realisation that they give far too many fucks to try and fight such a fearless monster. These effects multiply the more people banzai with in a group at once. A ten man Banzai literally fucks up aim so bad you can take an LMG position effortlessly.
You should be Banzai'ing constantly as Axis forces. Especially as you can right click to cancel it and therefore prevent friendly fire incidents if you wind up too close to allied forces.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NHnDWz7WEQJust look at that shit. LOOK AT HOW LITTLE FUCKS YOU GIVE. Banzai is the strongest tool Axis possesses and is singlehandedly the equalizer for all of the Allied forces additional firepower.
3) Minor supression resistance: about 10% because you're Axis and fearing bullets is for whimps.
I hope that convinces more people to purchase the game. If anyone is a player and wants their Steam name added to the OP feel free to post as such.
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Albino Bunny - Royal Canterlot Voice
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I think it's really lame that you HAVE to play action mode before you can play the other two modes though.
This is good games, I really like rising storm as it seems they brought in a new map designer so that they actually flow better. Plus the maps actually stand out unlike RO2. Hanto with it's diffuse lighting giving one the feeling of being in a humid jungle versus the clear sharp lighting of Iwo Jima.
Plus I like how Japanese speak in japanese, and the Americans speak in the americanies. Unlike flavoured engrish's of the Soviets and the Nazi's in ro2.
Nice.
"I think I can comment on this because I used to live above the Baby Doll Lounge, a topless bar that was once frequented by bikers in lower Manhattan."
EDIT: Capzone is king dude. Gotta be in the cap, always, at all times. Unless you're a flank MG or in a forwards position.
Also fuck that building and it's poorly designed single entrance. Is all I'm saying.
I think I'm one of the only people who absolutely adores RO2's tank warfare. It's one of the only games that really gave me a feeling of clambering around a huge hulking metal machine, rather than controlling it as an abstracted avatar. So sad the maps with multiple tanks never get played.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
Also Iwo Jima is the worstest Rising Storm map, it's not terrible, but it certainly isn't as fun as the other maps and relies on allies having competent squad leaders to get anywhere.
Want to play co-op games? Feel free to hit me up!
You should try the BAR.
It's kinda hot shit.
Other than that yeah, nothing is worth giving up Banzai charge. I mean the level 50 upgrade for Axis LMG's is a fucking bayonet, ON A MACHINEGUN.
Though Personally I have to say I've never really got along with the marksman class, I'm not really sure what they're supposed to do as on most maps the odds of them finding a nook from which to find a dude not wearing the standard issue helmet and put a bullet in him seems slim. In which case it's just a rifleman with a sight designed for a range longer than you'd usually engage at.
... you can't hip-fire knee mortars they must be "aimed" to fire...
Every time I've tried to play this I've been unable to find a server with people on it.
:?
*because I am still oh so terrible at this game :P
It still looks like the mortar should kickback and break your ribs but it's not a mobile weapon at all.
Truth. It is also way more fun to play Realism with experienced people like Albino directing you, as opposed to playing Action with a bunch of philistines.
Also yeah, action just feels weird after playing any length of time in the other two game modes.
This is surprising to me because I always see at least seven or eight realism servers with a decent number of players on with a much higher population spread during prime times.
I think that may be a function of Stalingrad and the realistic maps (and one shot one kill) they created. That grain elevator and pavlov's house were horrific soul destroying struggles in death traps, they then managed to convey that in video game form . . . I think people eventually got turned off by how horridly depressing and hopeless those maps were.
New maps are more focused and allow for more avenues of approach meaning that you feel that your doing something useful or at least amongst your team members. The new maps are also much better at being and feeling different with the lighting and how you find yourself assaulting trenches from a jungle, then into a village and then into a battalion HQ. It's tactically and visually varied relative to the stalingrad settings.
Opinion dreary death trap maps drove people away. Rising storm does not have this problem, bonus Banzai charges enforce teaming up both using it and defending against it.
"I think I can comment on this because I used to live above the Baby Doll Lounge, a topless bar that was once frequented by bikers in lower Manhattan."
Want to play co-op games? Feel free to hit me up!
I do get annoyed with peoples insane need to cross my line of fire, while i'm shooting a MG . . . at 500rds a min.
Hai guys don't run infront of your own MG's
Also australians feeling the need to smoke MG fire lanes which I've won with my MG. Why are you aussies covering the enemy. Why?
"I think I can comment on this because I used to live above the Baby Doll Lounge, a topless bar that was once frequented by bikers in lower Manhattan."
"I think I can comment on this because I used to live above the Baby Doll Lounge, a topless bar that was once frequented by bikers in lower Manhattan."
I have, it shows the same populated servers, just a *bunch* of empty ones on top of them..
Edit maybe it's just showing action games as you've not reached lvl 10?
"I think I can comment on this because I used to live above the Baby Doll Lounge, a topless bar that was once frequented by bikers in lower Manhattan."
I'm level 13
edit:HA! the steam server browser works like a charm, it's just the damned in game one, victory is mine!
edit2: and thanks botznoy, that clears things up
Want to play co-op games? Feel free to hit me up!
It also dumped a 5GB patch on my face so my ability to play will be probably somewhat limited.