Laserforce Explained, Part 2d: Space Marines

Laserforce Explained, Part 2d: Space Marines

With this post, we come to the end of our detailed description of the 20 game modes currently offered in Laserforce. This last post takes a look at a game type so often used in tournaments and official league play that it serves as the ultimate test of a player's skill: Space Marines. This is actually a pair of official league game modes; however, it is exclusively available as a team game for at least two teams. In the more advanced Space Marines 5 game type, an extra player class (Medic) is selectable in addition to the four classes used in Space Marines 4, since players have a finite amount of lives and will be eliminated from the current mission if these are depleted. However, the simpler Space Marines 4 does not use the Medic or the lives system, and as such, players cannot be eliminated in this particular mode.

Space Marines 4 (the basic version) can be played by 2 to 4 teams, and uses four player classes: Commander, Heavy Weapons, Scout, and Ammo Carrier. In this variation, the latter two have only 1 hit point each, but like the other two classes, both have unique perks that can prove valuable in combat. Scouts can carry a moderate amount of regular shots, but can carry up to 10 missiles, more than any other class, and can switch to stealth mode by holding down their trigger when they are up; while cloaked, they will switch to missiles, and in addition to being able to lock on to opponents faster in this state, cannot be locked onto by normal means (although opponents can still lock onto them with their missiles). Ammo Carriers always have infinite shots and missiles, and can zap teammates while they are up to restock their ammo reserves; specifically, they can use regular shots to give their teammates more shots, and fire missiles at them (except for Commanders) to resupply their missiles.

Commanders can use a nuke to deactivate every other player at the cost of 20 special points (the maximum amount that any player can accumulate), again by holding down their trigger while they are up (unless they are deactivated before the nuke takes effect, which is four seconds after activation), but cannot carry or fire missiles at all, and have the smallest ammo capacities of the four regular classes. However, they have a maximum of 2 hit points, which is more than a Scout or Ammo Carrier but less than a "Heavy" (which is what most players affectionately call the Heavy Weapons class). Speaking of which, Heavies can carry more shots (plus 5 missiles) than Commanders and Scouts, and can immediately reactivate themselves (at the cost of 10 special points - half that of a nuke) by holding down their trigger while they are down; however, they cannot receive a lock-on tone, although unlike the other four classes, they have permanent rapid-fire throughout the duration of the game.

Warbots in Space Marines 4 will always assume the same class as whoever controls it, i.e. the most recent player to successfully zap it once. They will not revert to being inactive until they have been deactivated 10 times. In addition, all players can deactivate opponents with a single shot. Finally, every player in a Space Marines game (even in SM5) plays at the same skill level.

Space Marines 5 is the most challenging and complex Laserforce game type, and as such is recommended for expert players. Unlike in SM4, players are always split up into two teams; each player has a limited amount of lives, and he/she will be eliminated if all of these are expended, while missiles cannot be resupplied. All four player classes shared with SM4 have been significantly changed in several ways, but with limited lives available for all players, the creators of this game type saw fit to add a fifth player class - the Medic. This category has the lowest ammo capacity of any type of player in Space Marines 5, but has the most lives to balance out its inability to obtain more, and can resupply its allies in the same manner as an Ammo Carrier would, as described below.

As for the other four player classes, Commanders and Scouts have the same ammo capacities and life counts, except that the latter cannot carry missiles and, like Ammo Carriers and Medics, have the fewest hit points and lowest shot power of all five classes. Moreover, Commanders receive four lives when "healed" by Medics; Scouts will only receive three lives when healed. To counteract this, Commanders receive half as many shots when resupplied by Ammo Carriers (5 vs. 10). In addition, although Heavies and Ammo Carriers have the fewest starting lives (initially 10, although they can have up to 20 each at any one time), they always receive 3 lives when healed, and the latter can carry an infinite number of shots to make up for their fragility. Finally, to compensate for having the lowest ammo capacities of all player types in SM5 (20 shots initially with a maximum of 40), Heavies start out with 5 missiles, just like Commanders, and their regular shots have a power value of 3, higher than any other class. Heavies and Commanders also have 3 hit points, whereas in SM4 the latter only had two. However, Commanders can carry more shots in SM5 than they did in SM4; the opposite is true for Heavies.

For the most part, the special abilities in SM5 are unchanged from those in SM4, except that Medics can heal teammates by zapping them while they are up, just like Ammo Carriers (although being zapped by an allied Medic will cause you to receive lives instead of normal shots). Also, in SM5, both of these classes can activate a Power Boost (which resupplies all allied players at once, for 10 and 15 special points respectively, as long as said players are not currently deactivated) by holding down their trigger while they are up. Moreover, Scouts no longer have the stealth mode from SM4, and instead have the Rapid Fire special ability that was exclusive to Heavies in SM4, although this time it only lasts until they are resupplied. Finally, unlike in SM4, Heavies in SM5 do not have any special abilities.

Warbot behavior in SM5 is identical to what it is in SM4. However, since SM5 only supports exactly two teams, each team is given a target to protect while all other targets are neutral, as it would be in a normal team game. On the other hand, in a 4-team SM4 game, all targets are neutral, while in a 3-team SM4 game, only one target is neutral, with the rest being divided evenly between each team. Finally, unlike SM4, which only allows players to accumulate 20 special points, SM5 lets players earn up to 99 special points.

That brings our discussion of Laserforce game types to a satisfactory conclusion, but our exploration of Laserforce is not finished by any means - far from it, in fact. In the next post we will take a look at some of the Laserforce arenas I have visited over the years.