Information on Proelium rules, gameplay, etc.

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Proelium Info

Overview
In Proelium, players run around in a top-down view, trying to hurt and kill each other for experience. Gaining experience is the only way to raise your combat level, which is the only way to gain more weapons and have stats boosted. Proelium's gameplay is very fast paced and more strategic than normal UT2004 death match play. The reason for this is because all projectiles are fully interactive; shoot down incoming rockets, set off a chain reaction of grenades, deflect incoming flak with a well placed rocket; the simple addition of having projectiles be interactive with each other gives rise to more strategic use of weapons as they assume new defensive/offensive roles not available in normal UT2004 death match play. Proelium also sports a powerup system, where powerups will spawn at random locations in the level. Powerups include some mundane things like health regeneration, some more interesting things like projectile deflection, and some negative things like screwing up your scanner. You can find a complete list of the powerups that come with Proelium below.


Movement
Proelium's top-down view provides a sense of absolute direction to players. To work with this, and provide players a choice, Proelium offers two different control schemes :
  • Absolute Movement - movement keys move you in the cardinal directions, regardless of how your player is turned around, making aiming and movement completely independant from one another.
  • Relative Movement - movement keys move you in relation to your facing direction, making it possible to strafe as you would be used to from normal first person view.
Absolute movement is the default setting. If you want to change to relative movement, you will need to edit your User.ini - find the [Proelium.ProeliumPlayer] section and set bRelativeMovement=True.


The HUD
Proelium's HUD makes some major changes to UT2004's HUD by adding some very noticeable elements. In the upper left, where the score normally is, is now the display for your current Combat Level (in the circle) and your accrued experience (next to it). In the upper right appear your powerup slots (if you have any available to you). If you have the ability to use powerups, you will see the number of slots you have listed in the upper left of the HUD. If you have active powerups, you'll see their icons, and their time bar directly beneath them, occupying the slot they fill in your powerup slots. The weapon bar is gone, being replaced by the Weapon Selection Circle, which becomes visible whenever you change weapons, and fades away when you're done switching weapons. Last, but most definitely not least, is your aiming cursor. Comprised of the crosshair and the combat level indicator, it shows both your current aiming point/direction, but if you place the aiming cursor on an enemy, a color fade will appear under the cursor, showing the enemy's combat level relative to yours (color ramped to show degree of difference - solid blue is 5 levels below you, solid green is the same level as you, solid red is 5 levels above you).


Weapons
The weapons of Proelium fall into two general categories - UT2004 variants and original hardware.

UT2004 Variants

  • Translocator - the launch speed has been increased to compensate for the limit in aiming.
  • Shield Gun - charge up the primary fire over halfway, and an extra blast of force will be released ahead of you, tripping explosive projectiles and deflecting incoming projectiles.
  • Assault Rifle - not modified from UT2004.
  • BioRifle - you might notice the blobs tend to spread a bit more. You might also notice a fully charged glob dispersing into smaller blobs in mid air when shot.
  • ShockRifle - the alt-fire projectile is now hittable by anything (shock combo still possible only with primary fire).
  • LinkGun - not modified from UT2004.
  • Minigun - the issue with the tracer effect not going where you're firing has been fixed (UT2004 bug).
  • FlakCannon - flak no longer just bounces off of walls; shoot it and it'll deflect. Flak also has a propensity to be flung around by nearby explosions. Altfire still launches those grenades you know and love, only now it is chargeable and the max throwing distance is a bit longer.
  • RocketLauncher - it's a little easier to obtain a target lock; conversely, it's a little easier to lose it. Seeking rockets are a little harder to dodge.

Original Hardware

  • Swarmer - launches propelled projectiles with an advanced guidance system, which, once locked onto something, never unlocks. Fire launches up to three in a spread pattern ahead of you, while AltFire launches three in a spread pattern around you.
  • Energy Lance - mixing the rate of fire of a gatling gun with the lethality of a laser beam, the Energy Lance uses a built-in, high capacitance battery to store tremendous amounts of energy in order to release it in a near constant beam of coherent light. Hold down Fire to charge up and release to burn your enemies with pinpoint accuracy. AltFire charges up a separate release system, which when released, forcefully expels as pure heat energy all the stored charge, burning your enemies near you.
  • Beamer - a hand held particle beam cannon. Holding down Fire or AltFire charges the capacitors, and letting go lets the energy rip holes through enemies who are even near the beam.

Combat Levels
Combat Levels define what weapons, gear, and stat boosting attributes you have. They are the sole reason you kill the guy next to you (other than to make sure he doesn't do it to you). In order to reach the next Combat Level, you have to gain enough experience. You gain experience two ways - by hurting someone (experience gained only for lowering health, not shields, and overkill isn't rewarded, only the health you take away before they hit 0 and die), and by killing them (bonus experience awarded). However, not every kill is the same, not every target as worthy of your wrath. Sure, you could spend some time and stomp on someone at a lower level than you (which you won't really have a choice if you're the highest level player), but the experience you gain is proportional to the level difference between your target and you. Stomping on a lower level player will gain you less and less experience, the lower they are from you. Conversely, scoring a kill on a higher level player will reward you more than the normal experience. When you finally level, you'll notice two out of three things - audible sound, a short visual effect around your player, and the new goodies in your inventory/increased health/boosted shields/etc. Not every level will gain you something, however, and as you get higher up, it becomes increasingly harder to attain the next level.

Standard Proelium rules currently map out levels 1 through 20. It's possible to level beyond 20 (you could, with enough time, make it up to 99), and it's encouraged to set the Combat Level Goal to at least 21 or 22. The following is a complete list of what happens at each level (levels not shown have no loadout).

  • Level 1 - Translocator, Shield Gun, Assault Rifle
  • Level 2 - +10 Health, +10 Shields
  • Level 3 - Bio Rifle
  • Level 4 - +10 Health, +10 Shields, +1 Powerup Slot
  • Level 5 - Minigun
  • Level 6 - +10 Health, +10 Shields
  • Level 7 - Swarmer
  • Level 8 - +10 Health, +10 Shields, +1 Powerup Slot, +1/8 Powerup Time, Flak Cannon
  • Level 9 - Rocket Launcher
  • Level 10 - +10 Health, +10 Shields, Halo-style regenerative shields
  • Level 11 - Link Gun
  • Level 12 - +10 Health, +10 Shields, +1 Powerup Slot, +1/8 Powerup Time
  • Level 13 - Shock Rifle
  • Level 14 - +10 Health, +10 Shields
  • Level 15 - Energy Lance
  • Level 16 - +10 Health, +10 Shields, +1 Powerup Slot, +1/8 Powerup Time
  • Level 17 - Beamer
  • Level 18 - +10 Health, +10 Shields
  • Level 20 - +10 Health, +10 Shields, +1 Powerup Slot, +1/8 Powerup Time

Powerups
Powerups provide the spice of change and variety to Proelium. It's important to note that powerups fall into categories, and you will not be able to pick up more than one powerup of a certain category at time, even if you available slots. During play, powerups will spawn randomly throughout the level, if there is a player capable of picking up the powerup. There are five levels of powerups, and only by reaching certain combat levels will new levels of powerups begin spawning in the level. It's noteworthy to mention that any player at any level can pick up a powerup, provided that they have an available slot and aren't already using another powerup of the same category. This is important, because it means that the second the lead player reaches a level that unlocks new powerups, anybody can grab one and use it. The following is a list of the standard Proelium powerups and their properties.
  • Speed
    • Category - Speed
    • Level - 1
    • Duration - 10 seconds
    • Action - boosts player running speed
  • Health Regen 1
    • Category - Health Regen
    • Level - 1
    • Duration - 10 seconds
    • Action - regenerates player health 5 points per second
  • Invisibility
    • Category - Invisibility
    • Level - 1
    • Duration - 10 seconds
    • Action - turns player invisible
  • Experience x2
    • Category - Experience
    • Level - 2
    • Duration - 5 seconds
    • Action - multiplies earned experience by 2
  • Health Regen 2
    • Category - Health Regen
    • Level - 2
    • Duration - 8 seconds
    • Action - regenerates player health 10 points per second
  • Sniper
    • Category - Sniper
    • Level - 2
    • Duration - 10 seconds
    • Action - extends player crosshair range for better accuracy at longer ranges
  • Energy Absorb 1
    • Category - Energy Absorb
    • Level - 2
    • Duration - 10 seconds
    • Action - player reflects all instanthit/energy weapon fire and absorbs 10% of would be damage as health
  • Powerup Nullifier
    • Category - Powerup Nullifier
    • Level - 2
    • Duration - 1 second
    • Action - if the player has any other powerups, the nullifier picks one and cancels it
  • Lesser Deflect Projectile
    • Category - Projectile Manipulation
    • Level - 3
    • Duration - 10 seconds
    • Action - a fluctuating barrier around the player repels incoming projectiles at a maximum of short to medium range
  • Lesser Matrix Control
    • Category - Projectile Manipulation
    • Level - 3
    • Duration - 10 seconds
    • Action - the player is able to, for a short time, influence the matrix around him/her in order to stop dead a limited number of projectiles at a time within a short to medium range
  • Energy Absorb 2
    • Category - Energy Absorb
    • Level - 3
    • Duration - 7.5 seconds
    • Action - player absorbs 25% of instant hit / energy weapon fire while reflecting all of it
  • Experience x3
    • Category - Experience
    • Level - 4
    • Duration - 5 sceonds
    • Action - multiplies earned experience by 3
  • Health Regen 3
    • Category - Health Regen
    • Level - 4
    • Duration - 6 seconds
    • Action - regenerates player health 20 points per second
  • Greater Deflect Projectile
    • Category - Projectile Manipulation
    • Level - 4
    • Duration - 10 seconds
    • Action - a more quickly oscillating field that repels projectiles at a medium to long range
  • Energy Absorb 3
    • Category - Energy Absorb
    • Level - 4
    • Duration - 5 seconds
    • Action - player absorbs 40% of instant hit / energy weapon fire while reflecting all of it
  • Greater Matrix Control
    • Category - Projectile Manipulation
    • Level - 5
    • Duration - 10 seconds
    • Action - player is able to exercise more control over the matrix space around him/her, being able to stop dead more projectiles at a medium to longer range

Starting a Game
The ultimate goal with Proelium DeathMatch is to be the first to attain a certain Combat Level. When starting a server, or just an instant action game, the Game Rules page has two new options that you can set - Combat Level Goal and Starting Combat Level. The first sets the combat level players must reach in order to win, and the second sets the starting combat level for all players.