Holdfast: Nations At War, Napoleonic MMO FPS

[AchillesLastStand]

Coming to Steam EA very soon, just caught wind of this and its looks pretty darn awesome.
http://www.holdfastgame.com/#Header

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=844303429

Holdfast: Nations At War is an online multiplayer first and third person shooter focusing on a combination of teamwork and individual skill. Take part in historic clashes on land and at sea waged by the most powerful nations during the great Napoleonic Era.

Play the way you want!
Command and crew historically accurate sailing vessels in powerful duels or within squadron operations where cooperation in running your vessels leads to victory. War at sea is an entirely different setting and these clashes will take place off the coast in a selection of beautiful arenas.

Take the King's shilling or fight for the Emperor in glorious Napoleonic field battles. Join the ranks and keep the line steady or provide support from the rear with cannon fire as you strive for dominance over the battlefield.








Fight On Multiple Fronts

Join the Navy
Experience what it's like to be a crew member on board a military sailing ship. Raise the sails, fire the cannons, test the water depths and cooperate to keep your vessel afloat!

Enlist in the Army
Work with your comrades to storm enemy fortifications, support the fight from the rear with artillery fire or keep the line steady in open field battles and lead your men to victory!








Class System

Play as a Captain, Sailor, Line Infantry and more! Every class comes with its own traits and roles which are crucial for your team's survival.

Holdfast: NaW's order-based system allows for intuitive cooperative play where your ability to work as part of a team matters just as much as your personal skill.

[jomni]

How will they encourage and enforce line battles?

[AchillesLastStand]

Through discipline and a heavy hand on the whip of course

[Destraex]

This game has me excited I must admit. Reminds me of Naval Action and Mount and Blade Napoleonic or rights of war.
Will be watching this one! So far just looking at the way the sails move etc it does not look to beat Naval Action for realism (I guess I am a little bias as I am a NA moderator).

I also agree with the jomni. If their is no enforcement of Napoleonic formations it would be very disappointing. I would hate to simply see men running around like rambo super sniper or everybody as a green jacket.

[Zulu1966]

How will they encourage and enforce line battles?

Well. They won't.  Sounds silly to me. Just battlefield with muskets. Really if we are hoping a game classed as a MMO FPS is going to force hundreds of players into historically accurate napoleonic tactics and formations we have all gone mad. Got no hope in the naval element and something less in the land battles.

[Hofstadter]

[MengJiao]

Through discipline and a heavy hand on the whip of course

Rum, buggery and the lash?

[Nefaro]

If they can catch the fun, and sometimes hilarious, M&B Napoleonic Wars feel then I'll have to check it out.  Not sure if it's got it, though.  We'll see. 


I hope it doesn't use an equivalent to the Line Battles mode, however.  That got dull rather quickly.  I also started getting annoying with that type of AI Squad mess in Tiger Knight too, although it had more action.

[Destraex]

Nefaro there has to be a way to do it right. Perhaps people could add themselves to the line and then get spawned into skirmishers leaving their line character to the charge of an officer. Essentially line infantry would be commanded by officers leaving cav, arty and light infantry to individual players? I dunno. But I think bots are needed under the command of humans.

[Nefaro]

Nefaro there has to be a way to do it right. Perhaps people could add themselves to the line and then get spawned into skirmishers leaving their line character to the charge of an officer. Essentially line infantry would be commanded by officers leaving cav, arty and light infantry to individual players? I dunno. But I think bots are needed under the command of humans.

Bored me to tears in an FPS environment.  With or without AI troops being your line.

I think line battles and attempts at absolute historical recreation are best left to strategy games.   For first-person shooters like these M&B Napoleonic Wars has shown that the majority of players want to skirmish, or do siege battles which seem to be the most popular.

At first I was looking forward to some line battle stuff, but found the regular FPS simply more enjoyable, by far, when there are a lot of players (40+). 

[Destraex]

You may be right. Thus my suggestion that such people that want to run around on their own be skirmishers rather than line.
I mean why have line infantry from this era at all if you are just going to run around and hide?

[ArizonaTank]

Nefaro there has to be a way to do it right. Perhaps people could add themselves to the line and then get spawned into skirmishers leaving their line character to the charge of an officer. Essentially line infantry would be commanded by officers leaving cav, arty and light infantry to individual players? I dunno. But I think bots are needed under the command of humans.

I thought the Mount and Blade WB mod for Napoleonic battles was actually pretty close in this respect.  The line battles gave each online player a squad of about 20 men or so, and they would take the formation command that you gave them.  I can't remember if a square formation was available or not.  Anyway, the closest any game has come to a realistic first person black powder experience IMHO.  Even surpassing Scourge of War.  If these guys can expand on what was done with the Mount and Blade engine, it will be gold in my view.

I have often thought that many FPS MMOs such as Verdun, Red Orchestra, WWII online etc. would be so much better if each player commanded a "squad" of bots rather than just himself. 

[jomni]

Yes commanding a squad of bots is fun. I like the commander mode in M&B Napoleon. And also some ARMA game modes.

[Hofstadter]

This reminds me of a stupid thing

Was playing mount and blade napoleon. I was in a line battle with a friend, but we got separated by a cavalry charge. We were all scattered, I raised my gun to shoot at a charging horseman.

Got banned because you arent allowed to fire your gun unless youre in a line -_-

Pricks.

[Destraex]

Interesting rule set their Hofstadter, I can see the effect they were going for.... since their is no moral mechanic to enforce upon FPS gamers. You cannot force them to panic and run. They will always play the hero and face anything, because their is no fear of death. Did they post the rules up for all who joined their server?
This is a good example of why good mechanics are needed to make sure this kind of confusing rule set is not introduced to confuse people.