What VIDEO GAME(s) have you been playing?

If I could add one piece of gear to the game, it would be binoculars. That would be super useful.

It's also not fun searching for a backpack, so starting with one would be great, but I can appreciate that it's a slippery slope. Probably best to maintain the purity of starting with nothing.

christ on a surfboard, i keep losing posts I wrote a nice big thing on this. I'll try again later.

god, i'm so mad I lost that post

Thanks for the information, Disgust, it looks super cool. Is that an airport at the bottom? Looks fun. Is the scale really big? Like you need vehicles to get from one end to the other?

Ok, so it sounds super like Hunger Games then. With the closing area to force action and stuff.

So if the goal is to be last man standing, i really do think it encourages non-aggression and campers pampers as the best tactic. Here's what I would do:

I'd try to get as central as possible to mitigate the risk of the new circle appearing far. I'd find an easily defendable spot there with minimal flanking threats.

I probably would only engage someone if I was sure i could OHK and was sure I wouldn't reveal my position to others.

Then when the timer starts, I'd wait for it to be halfway done (probably more) before making my way to the new area, but always keeping eyes on the new hotzone as people make a mad dash towards it. Then I'd hole up again (it's always the same map I'm guessing)?

If you happen to spawn in an area which will eventually become a smaller area, that's a pretty huge advantage. I think you'd finish top decile even if you were just average.

I'm not trying to sound like a dick and knock this game, it sounds super cool in concept. I love it. But if the only measure is last man standing, then yeah I don't really see any reason to engage hostiles at all.

oh and long-range weapons would appear to be totally busted in this kind of game. I wouldn't want to run and gun at all

btw, keep posting session reports guys. I find it really fun to read. It feels super real and I am sweating alongside you. I love the idea of not leaving the car by the house you are camping in. In fact, wouldn't it be genius to leave it beside a house and then find a vantage point across the way on the main door? To pick off people that go in looking for you? Can you sabotage a car at all?

are there anytype of passive threats in the game? Like can you lay mines or claymores?

Man, if they have remote explosives, i could have some serious fun in this.
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oh, and how long is an average match? It must be way longer than 10 minutes, no?

Yes, it is basically Battle Royale/Hunger Games. The game starts with everyone in a cargo plane that flies over the island in a random straight line, and you get to eject whenever you want. You don't know whete the circle is going to be until a couple minutes after hitting the ground, so it is a guessing game.

The scale is huge, so you don't see a lot of people all the time. You usually stumble upon them or vice versa.

A lot of what you said is generally spot on. If I'm comfortably in the circle and decently armed, I will camp out in a house until I can't. I think it still works, because there's a lot of tension in the game. Hearing gun fire in the distance, being shot at and having no idea where it's coming from, etc. Sniper rifles are very rare, but you can find scopes for the assault rifles.
There's also a squad mode where you can team up with 2-3 friends and face other squads.

No remote explosives. Occasionally a solid red circle will randomly appear and the whole area is fire bombed, so you better find cover.

Matches can be a couple minutes if you land right next to other people, or 20 minutes if you make it toward the end.

They've sold more than 2 million copies of the game in a month or two, so I bet there's a decent chance it'll come to consoles. Maybe?

ok how does the beginning of the game work? What if everyone left the plane at the same time?

I imagine it's better to wait until the middle of the stick to try and be in the middle of the island? Strategically, that's a strong play cuz you won't have to be oscar mike as much. But tactically, it's a nightmare cuz you're surrounded by tangos, so being in the beginning or end of the stick seems better cuz your enemies are all in front of you (or all behind you).

They drop people off in a straight line? Are you sure? That seems nuts that so much of the island's real estate isn't used but it sounds pretty cool to have a general idea of where everyone is right away.

But yeah, you gotta loot first. People that try to kill each other at the beginning are nuts. Since no one has weapons, no one is a threat, might as well run.

if it goes to consoles and gets good reviews, I'm in trouble

It will almost definitely come to consoles. I've heard talk of Xbox One already. Like Disgustipater said, no traps to speak of, yet. That kind of thing would be cool, especially something like spike strips for the roads. Of course I set ambushes all the time but they are more of the "I'm hiding in the bathtub with a shotgun, maybe you should check the bathroom out" style.

When I got to number 5, the game lasted 28 minutes. I believe it is capped hard at 30.

One other interesting event is that sometimes a plane will drop supplies on a parachute. The one time I actually got a supply crate, it was a sweet sniper rifle and 8x scope. But these crates are more interesting because everyone in the vicinity knows they are coming because they hear and see them, so there are usually some gun battles in the area.

Black Barney wrote: They drop people off in a straight line? Are you sure? That seems nuts that so much of the island's real estate isn't used but it sounds pretty cool to have a general idea of where everyone is right away.

Yes, it's a straight line but it's really long and if you open your chute early you could drift quite far from the crowd. But my strategy is always to land as quickly as possible and find some stuff. Landing near someone armed while you have nothing is a recipe for failure.

Disgustipater and I played a match today, paired up cooperatively. We didn't win but we did end the lives of a few players. Highlights included me attempting to throw a grenade at some people, only to find it was a smoke grenade, and both of us making a mad dash for a dune buggy so that we could drive ourselves out of the danger zone as our life melted away.

I watched my 13 year old win today. It was a sight to behold as the circle narrowed to a flat wheat field with no cover, while three of them were crawling around prone for the last few moments. He said his heart was ready to jump out of his chest when he took the final shot. A lot of hollering and high-fives ensued.

I fucking did it.

Nice!

Omg perfect, the most ideal finish would be to only have one kill (the guy that will finish 2nd). You took the absolute minimal risk for the best reward.

Obviously finishing 1st with 97 kills would be impressive but it would require immense luck. Your finish requires guile and brains, I like that

What does the gold do?

You spend the coins on cosmetic items, but they are random. And the worst part is that each time you buy a chest, which contains ONE random cosmetic, the next chest costs considerably more. It's a fairly shitty system. But again, just cosmetic, so no big deal.

Yes, I thought it was pretty cool that my only kill was the would-be winner.

So it sounds like there are three games like this right now. This one is Battlegrounds right?

My understanding is that the Arma III mod is the most tactical and realistic, H1Z1:KotK is the most arcadey and Battlegrounds is trying to find the sweet spot in the middle.

Those other two were created by the guy that made Battlegrounds. PlayerUnknown. I've played the Arma 3 mod. It's more realistic but also more annoying since it's very hard to find a good server.