I hooked up with Bones last night for our first SWAT4 MP session. We used to play a lot of SWAT3.

Things went pretty well, considering I had barely played it in SP mode and neither of us had ever done MP. After one false start, we finished the QwikFuel Convenience store, and had 3 tries at the Atom Nightclub..ALMOST succeeding.

Gameplay in SWAT4 is really nice.

Some really funny things happened that had us laughing out loud. Mainly suspects who WOULD NOT GIVE UP and came up in our face (and the barrels of our SMG's) waving pistols after being flashbanged. Needless to say it was the LAST DUMB MOVE they ever made.

Is it me or is the MP mode really cumbersome??? For example, when failing a mission, it is very difficult to replay it without totally resetting the server and rolling back the map change (or did I miss an option NOT to automatically change maps).

Also, are the options similar to Swat3 for either Respawn or AI backup in Co-op mode missing from SWAT4??

OK, so it isn't ultra hard core that way..but we need some training time, OK?

Recluse

The maps things is a game limitation, unfortunately. I loved RvS' way of "proceed on mission success only" that could be overridden if you chose by manually changing the map forward.
In S4, the best way to do it is start the next map then call a vote to go back again. It will play each map only once, win or lose, before moving on.



The Jedi Master

Well, I saw what I missed in the Manual..DUHH.. Setting the # of rounds > 1 lets you replay the same map over again win or lose. You still need to reset the server to increment to next map after a success and over-ride the ROUND setting but this is a good compromise!!

Recluse

Well, I thought I would post a little rant even though it will probably just echo off the walls here in the cavernous empty space I am late to this party

I enjoy the heck out of SWAT4 both in SP and MP, and in some ways it is a real advance over SWAT3, but I cannot help being annoyed at the stuff that was in SWAT3 that is NOT in SWAT4. Maybe I just missed it in the rush to start in to the action.

• Swat4 lets you make custom missions on the available maps like the SWAT3 'scenarios' but, unless I am missing something, you can't play your custom missions in Co-op MP (as you could in SWAT3).
• SWAT3 had a mode where you could populate your team and the opposing team in the Deathmatch type scenarios with AI for some Single Player fun, and you could populate your team with AI in Co-op Multiplayer and use them as 'AI' Backup in case you got downed. I don't think you can do that in SWAT4.
• No more ChemLites (probably a MOD that does it) or option to have your character call 'CLEAR'.
• No cool End Mission comm choice "TOC, this is Entry Team. Mission Complete" "Put em on safe and let em hang" Seems kind of empty to just hit the EXIT or DEBRIEF buttons.

Recluse

Pretty much. SWAT 4 had a lot going for it, but it missed those few things that would've made it a classic. The first 2 things you mentioned are definitely things that would've helped push it in that direction. RvS at least had the first. Sometimes you just don't have a full team of players.



The Jedi Master

Is that add-on to SWat4 good? I only ever played the original Swat4.

yes, the official add-on is fantstic and added alot of missing things to SWAT4... like 10 player co-op, chem lights, quick mission co-op...ect ect

Hey Magnum,

Any chance of making your SWAT4 training videos available again? I'd like to see them

Thanks!

Recluse

I'd have to check my back up DVD's...and theres around 100 of them, lol... I had a harddrive crash and lost all those tutorials... then they were corrupt on my external back up drive...sad story I know. lol

and that is also why I can't play SWAT 4 anymore...MP co-op... I had such intense and diehard training with tactical gamer... (swat tactics are completely different then a military FPS), when I try and play now, it drives me crazy that people don't know how it's suppose to work... you know by the numbers, stack left, right, criss cross, button hook ect ect...

Thanks for coming up with something but I understand how hard it is to dig this stuff out of a pile of DVD's.




that's why I wanted the videos. When we play SWAT4 coop (albeit with only 2 or 3 man teams) we get creamed because we don't REALLY do it by the numbers.


In no small measure, the AI is also a contributor. Last couple of sessions, I had AI's who:

• Seemed JUST about to comply, raising their arms, and then quicker than a flash, deciding to aim and fire
• Seemed oblivious to compliance commands, unreactive to flashbangs and then all of a sudden 'waking up' turning and firing with inhuman quickness.

Carrying LTL and beanbagging/pepper balling everyone in sight on sight is one solution, but not very fun. Certainly a good way to deal with 'fleeing' suspects that you can't legally shoot...the temptation to just SHOOT ON SIGHT and damn the penalties is very strong

Recluse

My copy of the Stechkov Syndicate arrived!

Before I install it, just wondering of you can still make MP connects with folks that only have SWAT4 1.1 on appropriate maps and without the SS extras, of course..

Recluse

Yes, because it creates a separate Shortcut/Executable.

Ahhh... I guess if I had gone ahead and installed it, I would have known Thanks Bill!

Recluse

the SS add-on ads alot of what they didn't put into SWAT4 that SWAT3 had... and now that the Canadian Defense Force or whatever mod is released, I may look to revisit this game also.

Cool! Let me know if you are ever going to re-initiate any SWAT Tactical Training sessions or re-create some of the old training videos again. Haven't installed the CDF mod yet, but have been playing a bit with Stechkov..getting back into the whole SWAT experience.

the mod makes it's own exe, so download and install it... it won't ruin your orginal game files.

I actually attempted to play some 'SWAT 4' online w/ Magnum, but we ran into a snag on my end, and we haven't tried it since. I'm still interested, but ArmA occupies most (all) of my online time as it is, so it's not really a big deal anyway...

Yeah, Panzer and I along with Bill Grant, Slow, Blackmage, and some others used to play SWAT 4 with Magnum on Monday nights prior to ArmA's release. There were a couple of attempts to play GRAW and R6, but they never really took off like S4 did.
However, the ArmA turnout is phenomenal by comparison. Many a Monday it was just 3 of us.



The Jedi Master

What was always great about SWAT 4 is that you could get a team from 4 to 6 was usually best, but up to ten... and do a mission or two within 30 minutes... hell if you did speed drills like i did with Tactical Gamer, a few of the missions could be completed in under 2 mins... we tried the sicko house one under 1 min but never made it best was 1 min 5 secs... Back when I played with TG, we played the hello out of SWAT4 with some of the most tactical action and teamwork... sometime too much, a few people complained I was too strict, lol.