Rocket Arena (mod): Difference between revisions

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'''Rocket Arena''' (RA) is a user-created multiplayerfree [[modification]] ("mod") for the seminalmultiplayer [[Firstfirst Personperson Shootershooter]] gamegames: [[Quake]], (and[[Quake subsequentlyII]], for[[Quake aIII numberArena]], of[[Half-life]] games(called Lamba Arena), and [[Unreal Tournament]]. ReleasedIt was first released for [[Quake]] in [[1997]], (less than a year after Quake's debut), Rocketand Arenabecame (often simply known as "RA") is one of the mosta successful and influential amateuruser-created game modificationsmodification.

== Gameplay ==

Rocket Arena's gameplay is similar to the standard [[deathmatch]] mode, where individual players chase one another around a virtual world, trying to slaughter one another with a variety of weapons. The Rocket Arena mode aims to correct some of the weaknesses many perceive with conventional deathmatch. In particular, in deathmatch, slain players are reincarnated in a relatively weak condition, and must dodge their better prepared opponents while searching for the upgrades necessary to compete successfully. This can lead to conditions where one (or a small number of) player can dominate the game, hoarding all the game's upgrades and repeatedly killing their perpetually disadvantaged opponents without ever dying themselves. Such domination isn't a particularly good reflection of the dominant player's skill - it frequently reflects their having been fortunate in getting into the dominant position first, or having more experience of the particular setting (i.e. knowing where specific upgrades will appear).

Rocket Arena is very similar to standard [[deathmatch]], in that players battle it out against each other for survival. The major differences are that the players all start with identical resources (including weapons, ammunition, health, and armor) and that all resources are removed from the map (preventing players from improving their condition). These two conditions focus the gameplay towards fighting and away from more traditional [[deathmatch]] techniques that involve resource domination.

Rocket Arena aims to level the playing field by giving reincarnated players full health, weapons, and armour. No further pickups are available, so each player's condition monotonically decreases through the game, until they are killed and reborn. Once a player is [[frag]]ged, he or she is removed from play, and allowed to spectate. Depending on the specific mode, they player must wait until their team wins or loses, until the queue of players waiting their turn for combat has been exhaused (the "round robin" mode), or they are immediately returned to the game. The nature of RA rewards accuracy and the conservative use of ammunition, and encourages fluid, open play rather than some of the static conditions in which ordinary deathmatch quake can sometimes decay; tactics such as hiding, sniping, and camping (seen my many as unsportsmanlike) lose much of their effectiveness in Arena-mode combat. Many players consider Rocket Arena to be the best and fairest showcase of a player's skills, where effects of luck and unsportsmanlike play are largely mitigated.

Each Rocket Arena game contains one or more rounds. Each round begins by spawning players randomly throughout the map, or arena. Once a player is [[frag]]ged, he or she is removed from play, and allowed to spectate. When one team has no more players in the arena, the other team wins the round and the next round begins. The team that wins the most rounds, wins the game. Games are played continously.

Freely available in both source and binary forms, the original Rocket Arena mod quickly became one of the most popular modifications for Quake, running on hundreds of public servers worldwide. The Rocket Arena team subsequently produced versions for [[Quake II]] and [[Quake III Arena]], and similar arena modes of combat are built into (or available for) many current FPS games, including [[Half-Life]] (with the Lambda Arena mod) and the [[Unreal Tournament]] series.

=== Standard Rocket Arena Mode ===

Every player creates a team or joins a team depending on the set number of players allowed per team. A queue is formed and the first two teams play a game (which may include several rounds). The winning team stays at the top of the queue and fights the next team, while the losing team is placed at the end of the queue.

=== Clan Arena Mode ===

Every player joins either the Red team or the Blue team, and these two teams play games continously. Every player gets to play every round, and since there are no other teams, there is no waiting in a queue to play.

=== Round Robin Mode ===

Every player joins either the Red team or the Blue team, and these two teams play game continously. In this mode, when a player is fragged, they immediately respawn as a member of the opposing team. This allows for continous play, instead of having to wait for the next round. The game ends when one team no longer has any players. <!-- I forget what logic the server takes for redistributing the players back into fair teams -->

=== Practice Mode ===

There are no teams. Every player enters the world invinsible and with infinite ammunition. As the name implies, it is for practicing. Often used to learn the intricacies of the maps.

== Rocket Arena Maps ==

Rocket Arena can be played on most maps not designed for rocket arena, but it comes with many maps made specifically for it. The maps made for RA usually contain a few (3-4) "arenas", generally a small arena for 1v1, one or two moderately sized arenas for 2v2 - 4v4, and a large arena for games with more than four players per team.

== Why people like Rocket Arena ==

Rocket Arena's gameplay is similar to the standard [[deathmatch]] mode, where individual players chase one another around a virtual world, trying to slaughter one another with a variety of weapons. The Rocket Arena mode aims to correct some of the weaknesses many perceive with conventional [[deathmatch]]. In particular, in deathmatch, slain players are reincarnated in a relatively weak condition, and mustoften dodge their better preparedface opponents whilethat searchinghave forgathered thebetter upgrades necessary to compete successfullyresources. This can lead to conditions where one (or a smallfew number of) playerplayers can dominate thea game, hoarding all of the game's upgradesresources and repeatedly killingkill their perpetually disadvantaged opponents without ever dying themselves. Such domination isn't aalways particularlya good reflection of the dominant player's skillfighting -skills, but instead it frequently reflects their havingmap beenprowess fortunate in getting into the dominant position first, or having more experience of the particular setting (i.e. knowing where specificand upgradesresource willgathering appear)skills.

Rocket Arena aims to level the playing field by giving reincarnated players full health, weapons, and armour. No further pickups are available, so each player's condition monotonically decreases through the game, until they are killed and reborn. Once a player is [[frag]]ged, he or she is removed from play, and allowed to spectate. Depending on the specific mode, they player must wait until their team wins or loses, until the queue of players waiting their turn for combat has been exhaused (the "round robin" mode), or they are immediately returned to the game. The nature of RA rewards accuracy and the conservative use of ammunition, and encourages fluid, open play rather than some of the static conditions in which ordinary deathmatch quake can sometimes decayturn into; tactics such as hiding, sniping, and camping (seen myby many as unsportsmanlike) lose much of their effectiveness in Arena-mode combat. Many players consider Rocket Arena to be the best and fairest showcase of a player's fighting skills, where effects of luck and unsportsmanlike play are largely mitigated.

==External links==