by TOP » Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:20 am
My personal AAR - Outbreak
Pre-game - The rules were posted early enough that everyone should have had the chance to read them. Sustain - Keep giving the info early.
Registration - Registration went pretty smooth and fast. After paying or confirmed pre-pay players were given a map and their ammo, then told to chrono.
Chrono - Chrono took a little longer I think due to a couple of issues. First, players were unsure at first if to load the ammo to chrono with. A little more information at first would have helped. Second, when the sun went down the low light affected the chrono. BSP did a great job in finding a fix to this. Sustain - Guns that were deemed over the FPS limits were not admitted into the event. Once players were done with the chrono they went into the building and were not allowed to exit, this kept some from trying to their HOT guns into the event.
Game - The start time was supposed to be 1900. I think we actually started 1920 or so. This was due to a couple of factors, the chrono, and the amount of players. Even though the game started a little later, it wasn't that big of a deal.
Because of the shear number of players vs the 10 actors to begin with, and the small venue, things were slow to begin with. The first objective was to attempt to gather all the security keys while surviving. I think some teams completed this within 15-20 minutes. The rules did state that the color coded cards had to be put in the correct sequence to be able to open the doors. Some were confused about this, but not BSP's fault it was clearly stated. Then they had the option to restart again as a player or become a zombie. After completing the first objective teams were supposed to back to the gym and start again. I did notice 1 team just go from the security room after completing the correct sequence, and set up in a hallway and started shooting at other players. Maybe having other objectives that can be given to the team by an admin at the start location would help this situation. Depending upon the venue, it may be better if there is more players than expected and less actors than expected, is to have 2 teams run through at a time (although this creates a lot of downtime for others.
Hackers..cheaters - There always have been and there always will be - enough said.
In-game objective changes - BSP made in game objectives that created a good game flow. Again, maybe having teams start new objectives from the spawn point after completing the first objective. In fact a question to BSP...Did all the teams complete the security card objective?
Player vs Zombies - The rules were clear on this. I know that several people didn't abide by the rules. The majority did, and you could see the zombies gaining strength in numbers. As it did take quite a long time to get the first player zombie, maybe just 1 vacination allowed.
Player vs Player - Although this was a survival game, and eventaully would pit player against player there were some small issues due to the location. Since there was only 1 place to enter the game field, teams setting up down the hallway and shooting players coming up the stairway was an issue. Although a great defensive stratagy, it makes for basically a spawn raping. The concept did make for an interesting scenario. Most of the player vs player kills didn't amount to much. The limited ammo was immediately placed into mags, so getting ammo from killed players didn't happen very much.
Game Stop - At one point during the game a halt was called and everyone met in the gym. Teams were evened out between infectious zombies and players. I am still not sure why this took place. I was fully aware that at some point the zombie numbers would shift and the players would have survive the mass hordes.
Overall Impressions - BSP did an outstanding job with this event. With some learning curves and adjustments this type of event can set the standard for Halloween events. I will attend this again without hesitation.
If you're going to go to war against a major enemy, go; knock the hell out of him fast, and go in there to kill him and get it over with.