George In The Meta
Is there friendly fire in WARDOGS?
By George In The Meta ·
Short answer: yes. Friendly fire is on in WARDOGS, and it's a fantastic call. BULKHEAD kept it even though publishers urged them to take it out, and this week a clip went viral that shows what you get in return: a truck full of players who couldn't tell that their driver was on the other team.
What happened in the BedBanana clip?
BedBanana drives around in a Ural Defender, the Ural truck with an M249 mounted on it, picking up players who need a lift and want to go and raid. That already made me feel a bit suspicious, because who uses that thing? In my opinion it's fairly useless.
He fills the back with strangers, and I assumed they were all going to die. They did. What I didn't assume was that the driver was on the enemy team. "Guys, I wasn't on your team," he tells them, then loots the bodies and finds he's up 28k. I think that's fairly impressive.
Brammer quoted it the next day: "We have literally had to fight for this mechanic in pitches… this exact scenario." The clip was also an entry in BULKHEAD's #WARDOGS100K contest, which pays $100,000 in real cash to the winning clip. Entries closed on 8 October, and the winner is due from 15 October.
Is there friendly fire in WARDOGS?
Yes. Friendly fire is on, and there's no protection from your own team's vehicles either: teammates can shoot you, run you over or down you. BULKHEAD kept it switched on even after publishers urged them to strip it out.
I've been on the wrong end of it a bunch. I've accidentally teamkilled people because they ran into my hammer, and lost 1,200 for it. Then I'm pissed, and telling them what I think of them over proximity chat.
Is friendly fire a good idea in WARDOGS?
Yes, a fantastic call. Without it, you could play so much more wildly, because you'd never have to worry about taking out your own team.
Imagine storming a FOB with your own artillery landing on it, and your guys walking straight through the explosions as if they had a holy shield. That wouldn't be good gameplay.
How do you tell friend from enemy in WARDOGS?
WARDOGS has three factions, Lonestar, Valkyra and Manticore, with the 100 players in a match split between them. They do look different, but the same at the same time. Think of mercenaries in films and shows: they all look different, but you'd look at any of them and say "that's a mercenary".
So in the spur of the moment it's hard to tell, especially with vehicles. You don't always see the icon above a vehicle that shows it's your team, and you can't see through the window clearly enough to check whether the driver is wearing the navy blue top or the green one. That's exactly the gap BedBanana drove through.
Do people use proximity chat in WARDOGS?
All the time, and so do I. Proximity voice is on K by default, and squad voice on J, so strangers near you hear you on one and only your squad hears the other.
I've moved both to my mouse to make it easier to get involved in proximity chat: proximity is on mouse 4, the side button closest to me, and squad is on mouse 5, the one furthest away.
I use it with strangers constantly. When I'm healing, I run around asking people if they want kisses. If someone's lying on the ground waiting for a revive, I let them know: don't worry, kisses are coming. And if someone kills me, I normally talk some smack back.
Is this an exploit, like the FOB money farm?
No, and the difference matters. Earlier this week a group was banned for farming cash from a FOB, and their defence was that they were just tricking the enemy team. But the enemy wasn't really the enemy: their pals were on the other side.
This clip is someone actually tricking the enemy, using the game exactly as it's built, into a position that let him make a lot of money. One is players on opposing teams working together to farm the game. The other is a mercenary inviting the enemy into his own truck.
Is there friendly fire in WARDOGS?
Yes, and it's a fantastic call. It's why your artillery has to be careful, why a truck ride with strangers is a gamble, and why clips like BedBanana's can happen at all. I didn't even know about the clip contest until I saw this clip.
