Warfare

Warfare
Goal limits	Rounds Time
Is team-based?	Yes
Appears in	Unreal Tournament 3

"The object is to destroy the enemy's Power Core by linking to it through control points called Nodes. Once a link is established, the enemy Power Core's shield drops and it becomes vulnerable to an attack."

– Gametype description

Warfare is a team-based gametype found in Unreal Tournament 3.

Overview

The gametype is similar to Onslaught from Unreal Tournament 2004. The objective of Warfare is to link checkpoints called Power Nodes and eventually destroy the enemy's Power Core. Once a Node is captured, vehicles and turrets connected to the Node are enabled and spawn to help the team advance in a match. Once a Power Core is destroyed, a team is awarded a certain amount of points (see Scoring).

Power Nodes

Main article: Power Node

To capture a node, a teammate must touch the node. This can be done by simply walking over it. Once this is done, the node will slowly develop. The Link Gun's alt-fire will speed up the development. Once the node is complete, a link will be created to the next node(s). Also, dependent features become available such as vehicles, player spawns, orb spawns.

To destroy a node, simply shoot it. The panels surrounding the node's center will fly off, and eventually the node will turn neutral. If a node is under attack or destroyed, the team that owned the node will not spawn. You cannot destroy a node if there is an enemy player carrying the orb near the node. If your team does not have a link to the enemy held node, you cannot destroy the node. The node will have shielding.

To heal a node, simply use your Link Gun's alternate fire on either the base or top of the node. You will know the node is completely healed when the health bar under the node is full and your ammunition on the link gun stays the same when healing.

Among the features the Power Nodes enable is the teleportation. To teleport, go to the nearest friendly controlled node or Power Core and go to the special "portal". You may teleport to any other friendly controlled node or Power Core, with a few exceptions. First, you cannot teleport to a friendly controlled node that is under attack. Also, if you are carrying the orb, it will be dropped when you teleport. Vehicles cannot teleport to other nodes; only a player can. However, a player is able to teleport into a friendly controlled Leviathan. If the map is small, the node will not load a spawner or teleporter.

The first node that links with your Power Core is usually called the Prime Node. The enemies Prime Node can never be shielded except by an orb. In other words, a team will never lose its link to the Prime Node.

Turrets can be valuable vehicles to defend the node from attack.

Power Cores

Main article: Power Core

Like in Onslaught, Power Cores are the basis of the gametype. Acting as the "energy source" of both teams, these are connected throughout a network of Nodes and can be damaged if there's a link from a Power Core to the other. Unlike nodes, though, Power Cores cannot be healed at all.

When overtime starts, both teams' Power Cores will start to drain and lose power. The team that holds the most nodes, will last longer, because their core drains more slowly than the opposing team. If a team holds all nodes (including support and countdown), their Power Core will not drain at all. Unlike in UT2004, however, this cannot be turned off.

It is possible for both power cores to be under attack at the same time, usually in maps with a Countdown Node (see below).

The Orb

Red teams orb in its spawner in the map Torlan.

Main article: Orb

Upon starting the game, each team will spawn in their base, and the Orb will spawn on it. The Orb is a crucial component of Warfare, and carefully using the Orb will be key to winning Warfare matches. Some maps have multiple Orb spawnpoints depending on which nodes are captured, while others only have one, inside each base. You will be able to see where your Orb is at all times on the minimap.

The Orb provides for a way for a team to manage to turn the tide of the match quickly with teamwork, as opposed to Onslaught's general stalemate once a team's Prime Node is down. Indeed, with a good run, a team who was winning the match can quickly find their assault not only halted, but the tide of battle completely reversed.

Upon picking up the orb, the game will briefly display the carrier's name underneath the minimap for all players to see. Additionally, the orb carrier will have a bright yellow/gold light extending up into the sky, making their location obvious to most other players. The light is similar to a normal Power Node except that it moves along with the Orb carrier, always reflecting their current location. In addition, the carrier's exact location is visible to any nearby enemies on the minimap. They will also be warned with an "Enemy Orb carrier incoming" voice announcement. Hence, the life of an orb carrier is extremely dangerous; however, if you can stay alive, the benefits are great and the orb carrier can change the tide for a losing team or secure a decisive victory for a winning one.

When a player picks up an orb, and takes it to a neutral or enemy held node, the node will instantly change to be developed to the players' team. In addition, until the Orb vanishes from inside the node, the node cannot be retaken by the enemy Orb. The only exceptions to this rule are nodes you cannot normally capture anyway, and nodes that have just been taken by the Orb. This can be very useful if the team that captured the node was under attack at another node or Power Core as recapturing the node will remove the link to the other node/power core.

If an orb carrier approaches a captured node, he will protect that node. To do this, simply walk near the node and there will be a "beam of energy" coming from the orb to the node. The node will be automatically healed by the power of the orb, and will not be able to be damaged as long as the Orb carrier is alive, or until he moves a certain distance away from the node, shown on your minimap by a dashed circular border. A bright, team-colored stream of energy will directly connect the orb carrier to the node. It is also impossible for the node to be captured by an enemy orb while it is protected. The opposing team cannot attack a node that has an orb near it.

There is only one orb per team at one time. When it's destroyed, it will spawn at the nearest friendly controlled Power Node/Power Core. You may destroy an orb by shooting at it (preferably with the Flak Cannon or Rocket Launcher) or by "using" it, however the latter will take 100 health to do so.

If a player is killed while holding the orb, the orb drops, and if it was being used defensively, defensive mechanisms cease. A countdown (18 seconds) then begins; this countdown can be seen by all players on your team regardless of distance as long as they are looking in the general direction of the orb, becoming more opaque as they approach, and enemy players within a certain distance of the Orb and general line-of-sight of it. If a player on the orb-owning team picks up the Orb by touching it, the countdown is cancelled and they then have control of the orb. Alternatively, if they fail to retrieve it, the Orb will be destroyed and respawn.

A player may quickly destroy a dropped enemy orb by walking up to it and pressing Use. However, due to the sudden discharge, the player will lose 100 health. It is possible to suicide by doing this, but a message will pop up proclaiming you decided to be a hero. Damage from this can be soaked by armor, meaning if you have a full Shield Belt this will not harm your health, at the cost of the Shield Belt. If you reach a fallen enemy orb, it is generally a bad idea to force it to respawn unless that node is getting rushed, because otherwise you put it right back where your opponents are spawning.

As with Flags, the Orb Carrier cannot use Teleporters or Vehicles or else they will drop the Orb. It is possible as always for them to grapple onto vehicles and/or use their hoverboards; getting shot will make them fall and drop the Orb.

Auxilliary Nodes

Left to right: A spawner and teleporter, vehicle, and a support node in the map Avalanche.

Support nodes are nodes which aren't necessary to capture in order to win the game, but gives benefits to the team possessing them. In addition to the usual benefits (additional vehicles, respawns, etc) these nodes can give several advantages.

There are several types of Support Nodes:

• Countdown Nodes: When captured, a countdown starting at 60 seconds will begin. If the team successfully defends the node for 60 seconds, they will be rewarded. In most maps, the enemy team's Power Core (such as WAR-Floodgate or WAR-PowerSurge) will lose 20-25% of its health at the end of the countdown, if not destroyed (see: WAR-Hostile). If the countdown is complete, the node will be destroyed and the teams will need to re-capture them again.
• Vehicle Nodes: A subset of Countdown Nodes, but distinct enough to be separated. Unlike Countdown Nodes, Vehicle Nodes will not directly damage the core; however, these will reward a team with a vehicle, usually a Leviathan (WAR-Serenity, WAR-Serenity Necris) or the Cicada (WAR-Dusk).
• Bridge Nodes: When controlled, these nodes allow quicker access to certain parts of the map faster, or in ways less exposed to attacks. These generally do not provide advantages in terms of firepower, but they can sometimes be used to get to an objective that does allow you to do so. In most cases, these are tied to an objective. In WAR-TankCrossing, for example, controlling the Bridge Node will allow you to get your Goliath across, to a pressure pad which exposes the enemy core, which can then be shot by the Goliath. In WAR-OnyxCoast, the team who controls the Leviathan can only drive it across the bridge if they can successfully hold the Bridge Node.
• Damage Nodes: When held, these nodes cause an enemy's node to be damaged in some way, making it more difficult for them to hold or build the node. Unlike Countdown Nodes, there is no timer for them to work - they do so continuously, albeit slowly.
• Core Exposing Nodes: These nodes will expose the enemy core, making it easier to attack, usually from a distance. It should be noted, however, that while they will expose the enemy core, you might not be able to attack the enemy core.

There are also generic Support Nodes, which require no core linking to capture, that also don't have a special effect. These nodes may supply you with stronger vehicle(s), more weapons and ammo, and serve as an additional possible spawn point. Examples include most versions of WAR-Torlan and the WAR-Dusk standard link setup, where if a team controls both of the Support Nodes surrounding the mine shaft, the shaft door will open, revealing a Cicada, which is particularly useful for attacking nodes in that map.

Scoring

A team will be awarded two points if the powercore is destroyed before the time limit, one point in overtime.

Related Achievements

	I See How It Is  10
	Complete an Instant Action match in every game mode.

	Being a Hero  10
	Return 100 Orbs in Warfare matches.

	Connect the Dots  20
	Complete 100 Warfare matches played to at least 3 points.

	Let's Get It On  20
	Complete a multiplayer match in every game type.

	Equal opportunity destroyer  20
	Win a Ranked match in every game type.

Trivia

• In WAR-Downtown, if any core's health is below 20%, all the lights in the tall buildings around the city will go out. This does not include streetlights and traffic lights.
• Many maps in UT3 have two versions: a regular edition and a "Necris" edition, which gives the blue team Necris vehicles. WAR-Torlan has the most, with 5: Regular, Short, Double Prime, Classic, and Necris. Also, through hacking, players can find a sixth variation, called "Krall", as well as a SP-only version of the map, called WAR-Torlan_Leviathan.
• According to Steven Polge, every auxiliary node in every map makes use of Kismet.

Preview notes

"I will not be surprised if the most popular game type is by far Warfare. Plenty of previews have described it, but in actuality Warfare is a blast for both novice and more experienced players. Warfare is designed such that if a player is new they can easily find the action via a mini-map and/or waypoint arrows and contribute by making kills. Experienced players can adopt more tactical strategies that will no doubt involve power orbs. The power orbs continuously spawns through the game with little delay and allow players to either instantly capture nodes or make friendly nodes invincible. The power orb quickly becomes a central aspect of the Warfare gametype, and the user interface ensures that this will be the case by displaying exactly where the power orbs are within the map. So important are the power orbs that if one has fallen on the ground that the opposing team has the option of sacrificing themselves (literally) in order to have it destroyed"

– PlanetUnreal

"Epic is also introducing a brand-new gametpye called Unreal Warfare, which appears to be verging into MMO territory. This time it's also likely that vehicles will appear in standard CTF gameplay, rather than being included in a seperate Vehicle CTF gametype a la UT2004.
While details of this new gametype are still sketchy, Unreal Warfare maps are set to be potentially as large as three Onslaught maps, with 'Assault'-like sub-objectives and even a limited form of resource management. Players will join one of the eight teams, each with its own unique armour, and wage war across huge territories which change depending on which team is in control.
With Unreal Warfare, it's clear that Epic intends to offer something for the more tactical gamer, with the Warfare mode focussing more on strategy, resource management and teamwork. The gameplay sequence at the end of the CG 2005 presentation shows what a Warfare sub-objective might look like."

– BeyondUnreal

Gallery

See also

• Onslaught
• Category:Vehicles