Release R3_879322 documents here, detailing some of the server settings and modes for those who are nosy

http://sneakymonkeys.com/R3_879322.zip

So we're looking at:

Maps:

Grand Bazaar
Teheran Highway
Caspian Border
Seine Crossing
Operation Firestorm
Damavand Peak
Noshahar Canals
Kharg Island
Operation Failtro

Sizes

Large Conquest up to 64 players
Small conquest up to 32 players
Large rush up to 32 players
Squad rush up to 8 players (?!)
Squad Death match up to 16 players (same a BC2)
Team Deathmathc up to 32 players

Mixed gamemode rotations are available as standard (without requiring 3rd party tools like procon)

Unranked currently not working, however it should allow for customisation of weapon sets regardless of player ranks

We can turn on off: killcam, minimap, crosshairs, 3d spotting (WOO!), minimap spotting, friendly nametags, regen health, IO mode, vehicle spawn delay, solider health, respawn time, man down time, bullet damage, only spawn on squad leader (wooyay!),

Setting up a server like BF2 (FF on, Kill cam off, no 3d spots, no regen health, spawn on squad leader) will result in the server being listed as HARDCORE

There is an admin var to end a round and declare a specified team the winner. Seems dodgy.

wow!
this is the best news I have heard yet.. as I posted in the shout box, if the server is listed as hardcore, is it still ranked?

all we need now is 6 man squads.. although that's a very very big thing missing still..

In a perfect world:

6 man squads
commander
mod tools
server side files for LAN play
Battlerecorder
Freeview

still I'm more optimistic now than I was

agreed!

so what are your server settings going to be set at? default?

Currently I've set them as similar to BF2:


3D Spotting OFF
Spawn on squad Laader ON
Friendly Fire ON
Minimap spotting ON
Regenerative Health OFF
Idle Kick OFF
Minimap spotting ON
Killcam OFF



However this is just for starters. We'll get people playing on the server and then the clan can decide optimum settings by vote

Friendly fire on? Ohhh dear, I'll just apologise in advance!:D

great monkey that's what I was hoping for. appreciate though that it might change but that's to be expected as people play. while everyone wants the game to be bf2 in style, it's been balanced to be bc3.. so turning some of these settings off might actually hurt the game.. tho I'm of course hoping not!

yep, obviously we'll play it by ear.

Regarding cobolt: BF2 had FF ON by default, we'll see what the score is here (our old BF2 servers actually ran FF ON except for claymores, which helped mitigate the sniper clay spammage).

The servers with FF OFF had insane amounts of support nade spam (even more than the usual spammy karkand maps) and people being tools by using C4 jumping to blast themselves with their own explosive onto the tops of tall buildings where they'd camp taking pot shots at people. It was very rare in these days to find a server with FF OFF completely.

It may be possible, depending on the BF3 protocols to reduce the FF damage a little, which might help with friendly fire. But we should probably run the game fairly stock for the time being and fine tune it once we get used to it

Inf only?

That's up to everyone round here, besides we've 2 servers to muck around with. Limiting things like vehicles is probably dependant on the maps or whether the vehicles are OP. For the time being runing closer to stock makes sense (with the exclusion of things that the majority find unpopular such as 3d spotting etc.,) if it looks like jets/heli's detract from the game then IO might be a plan on one of the servers? EIther way we'll have to stick some playtime in before coming out with an end setup

Agreed, tbh I can't really have too much of a say as I wont be able to use the servers much at all. Can't wait to see what my ping will be when I try joining from Brisbane

removing vehicles (a major aspect of the game and the only thing that really is going to set this new battlefield apart from COD), seems a bit extreme imo

inf only didn't come in to bf2 until we'd all been playing the game with vehicles for 2 years... I know 6 you always say you don't like vehicles but at the same time I've always thought you've never really given them a chance.. not entirely your fault as you came in to BF late in the game, but still..

vehicles were a little OP on some bf2 maps. Karkand was obviously our mainstay, didnt have jets/heli's and didn't really benefit from tanks/apc's which is why it was good IO.
Other maps, especially the SF ones were made unbalanced by the vehicles, such as ghost town on SF, the heli rape plus lack of anti-air made the map unblanced. Other maps such as dragon valley were very good with vehicles. Some maps even required it. I saw an operation cleansweep 64 slot IO server once, was the most stupid setup of a server I've ever seen

I guess it just depends on the map, the overall vehicle balance (we've all see the heli's in BC2 for example) as well as personal player choice. We played vehicles on BF2 for a long time as IO was only patched in as a later option as the demand for it was high (and soon karkand IO became the most common server setup by far)

From what I've seen so far, vehicles are not OP and therfore it doesn't really unbalance the game having them on, at least in CQ. I suspect TDM modes might benefit from infantry only to balance the gameplay. Anyway we'll see which setup seems popular

Mission #1 will be to help get the servers populated and bookmarked so that people want to play on them. It should find its own balance eventually as people work out what works and what doesn't...and what the CoD followers like and what the BF vets don't

You are right Raile with the fact that I came into the game later and didn't have the same experience with vehicles as you have done. I have tried to give them a chance before and sometimes I find they can be fun. I think most of the problem (certainly atm on BF3) is the lack of team play, no one wants to cap flags but just want kills and I end up getting owned on flags by vehicles so much that it's becoming quite frustrating. Hence why I have been playing engineer quite a lot. I am willing to adapt and get better with the vehicles, but with there being one empty IO server in my region (in fact in all of Asia, Antarctica and Oceania) it would be nice to have an alternative that has been my preference since I started playing BF2.

I think one vehicle and one IO server is a good balance. Let's face it, we all get sick of vehicles on occasions

Agreed, I've just come off a session and had mixed feelings with the vehicles. Even though they are available I still find myself going on foot and trying to take them out with the RL so I can capture the flags by hiding more easily. I am starting to enjoy the engineer class, I think people will use that mostly unless on IO in which case people will use assault.

part of the problem for you 6 is that, unless I am wrong, you are playing by yourself. yes you play with others on the server but you aren't playing with a clan or anything.. if you don't want to be in vehicles, then taking them on as infantry is difficult unless with at least one or two others working together.. playing that way, you'll always eventually get fed up I'd imagine. maybe you should just embrace the vehicles and actually use one? I know you prefer infantry (as do I), but that doesn't mean there is no fun to be had in them..

After playing some multiplayer last night my feelings are mixed. At the moment tanks/apc's are verypowerful and pretty speedy. They're also pretty easy to take out and don't tend to imbalance the game too much. I suspect when people become good at the game they'll appear more powerful (as most of the tanks/apc's were piloted by n00bs last night).

The only thing that concerns me is the lack of differentiation between the classes: I found myself playing AT as I could deal rpg/at4 at the tanks, while the primary gun was still pwoerful enough to kill infantry quickly. I've always played the assault class (+noobtube) but at the moment there's little reason to. Traditionally the assault class has a reasonably powerful and rather accurate gun, support has a very powerful and not so accurate gun and AT had a fairly accurate but pretty weak gun, with the primary gun pro/cons blancing out against the other perks of the kit e.g. AT having rockets.

At the moment the primary gun for engy is pretty much the same as assault (kill within a couple of shots), hence at the moment everyone seems to be rollicking around the server playing engineer, which just seem right.

I was saying this before.. assault has become nearly useless.

I imagine on a server that is set to bf2 settings and on IO, it will be better, but the default game with vehicles makes little sense to play assault. the ability to spawn on everyone, the decrease in spawn timer and the decrease in the time the person is capable of being raised, make it next to useless to raise anyone ever. it's easier as a medic to just stay alive and let them spawn on you. plus being raised still counts as a death unlike bf2, so that's not even a motivation.
add to all of that the regenerating health, and your healing kit isn't nearly as useful as it once was..

frankly, it's annoying as hell. there is really no need for a dedicated healing class in the game anymore, nor is the assault class even worth playing for any other reason either. not to say I'll never play it but it certainly is not on balance with the other classes.

on vehicle servers, we were always running around with 3 engineers and 1 support, for the ammo. any other combo was really just a waste. maybe occassionally throwing one of the engineers in as a recon, for the c4.

oh and if there was one thing i regretted about my time on Metro, is that I should have played engineer more. you need to rank that guy up fast cuz you'll be spending a whole lot of time on him.. if you want to win, that is

Granted, I haven't been playing with a clan for obvious reasons but I have been trying to play as a squad while in game and there is usually two or three of us who stick together, I have also spent quite a bit of time in the vehicles but the only time I can really get to grips with them is when there is no vehicles occupying the sky. I find Tehran Highway to be a good map for myself to get in with the vehicles and also have a mix of infantry play, I want to see how the Paris maps play as I know they have no air force in the maps and look like my sort of thing.