Red Faction Multiplayer Guide

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Revision as of 13:48, 20 February 2024 by Goober (talk | contribs) (Added assault mode; added more info to powerups/pickups; minor fixes)
  • EXPLORE
    Icon RF1.png

    Red Faction

    • Red Faction multiplayer at its core is a competitive arena-based FPS. That said, it differs in a few fundamental ways from most other arena games - notably the armor system, movement mechanics, and of course the presence of GeoMod technology. This article will cover the main aspects of RF's multiplayer component, including the vast degree of innovation the community has shown since the game's original release in 2001.

    Essentials

    This section will list key points that any players of Red Faction multiplayer should know, but are not necessarily immediately obvious to everyone.

    Health and Armor

    • Weapon damage is adjusted by static multipliers assigned to specific regions of the body. Hits to the Torso deal the standard amount of damage, while hits to the arms and legs deal half. Headshots deal two times as much damage per hit.
    • Armor absorbs damage received before health. If the damage received exceeds what the amount of armor equipped is capable of absorbing, the remaining damage will be taken from the player's health.
    • Armor absorbs twice as much damage as health. Put another way, one point of armor is equivalent to two points of health. It may help to consider your combined health and armor as "effective health" - meaning if you're at 100 health and 100 armor (normally written as 100/100), you have 300 effective health. Some examples are listed below.
      • Example 1: You have 100/100 and take 150 damage. Since armor counts for twice as much as health, you will lose 75 armor, and end up at 100/25.
      • Example 2: You have 100/10 and take 100 damage. Your armor will soak up 20 out of the 100 damage since armor counts for twice as much as health. This leaves 80 additional damage, which is taken from your health. You will end up at 20/0.
      • Example 3: You have 100/100 and take 275 damage. Your armor will soak up 200 out of the 275 damage since armor counts for twice as much as health. This leaves 75 additional damage, which is taken from your health. You will end up at 25/0.

    Item Respawn Times

    • Damage Amplifier: 90 seconds
    • Super Health, Super Armor, Fusion Rocket Launcher: 60 seconds
    • Invulnerability: 45 seconds
    • Everything else: 20 seconds
      • NOTE: Level designers do have the option to set different respawn times for items in their map - though most level designers just leave the default values.

    Bullet Penetration & Spread

    • The Sniper Rifle and Precision Rifle become 100% accurate (spread does not apply) when the scope is engaged, regardless of the zoom level.
    • The impact location of bullets on your screen does not indicate where the bullet went for damage calculation purposes. If you hear a blood impact sound and see a blood particle emitter spawn, that does not necessarily mean the bullet dealt damage to your opponent. This is because spread is calculated independently on the server and for each client, but only the server's spread matters for damage calculation purposes.
    • You can shoot through any grating with bullet weapons in multiplayer with 100% penetration. Even if you see and hear the bullet hit a "solid" looking part of a grating texture, that bullet still went through the grating and dealt damage.
    • Bullet ricochets do not deal any damage in multiplayer. Even if you see and hear the bullet ricochet, ricocheted shots do not deal damage to players.

    Sound

    • Enemy footsteps will only emit from players that have a pistol equipped. To move silently, equip any weapon other than the pistol.

    Lag Compensation

    • Red Faction's network protocol utilizes full client-side prediction for enemy movements, and server-authoritative backwards reconciliation for hit detection with hitscan weapons. In plain language, there is no need for a player to lead shots or otherwise adjust for their ping when aiming. The asynchronous nature of this networking protocol can result in some perceptual discrepancies for players, such as continuing to receive damage after diving into cover, or shooting an enemy repeatedly only for them die a second or more later. These are common quirks in online multiplayer first-person shooters, but it's worth mentioning that this will occur much more frequently in Red Faction given that it's such an early implementation of this technology.
    • Projectile-based weapons do not have lag-compensated hit detection.

    Scoring

    Deathmatch

    • +1 personal score for each kill
    • -1 personal score for each self-kill

    Team Deathmatch

    • +1 team score for each kill
    • +1 personal score for each kill
    • -1 personal score for each self-kill

    Capture the Flag

    • +1 team score for each flag capture
    • +5 personal score for each flag capture
    • +1 personal score for each flag return
    • +1 personal score for each kill
    • -1 personal score for each self-kill

    Game Modes

    Red Faction features three distinct game modes:

    • Deathmatch (DM) - This mode pits every player against one another, with the goal of achieving the highest score by the end of the game. Each kill adds one point to an individual player's score, and each suicide subtracts one. Winner is determined by highest score, when either the kill or time limit is reached.
    • Team Deathmatch (TDM or TeamDM) - This mode pits two teams against each other in an arena, with the goal of scoring the highest number of points before the game ends. Player kills are counted towards their team's score. The winning team is determined by highest score when either the kill or time limit is reached.
    • Capture the Flag (CTF) - This mode pits two teams against each other in an arena, with the goal of achieving the highest score before the game ends. Team and player scores are tracked individually, but only team score decides the result of the game. Teams score by "stealing" their enemy team's flag from their flag stand, and "capturing" it by bringing it back to their own. Each flag capture adds one point to a team's score. The winning team is determined by the highest score, when either the capture or time limit is reached at the end of the game. Players are able to acquire points for their individual score via kills, flag captures, and returns.

    Adapted Game Modes

    While not distinguished by Red Faction's game client, a variety of community built custom maps, modifications, and "house rules" have been implemented as de-facto game modes on top of the mechanics offered by the basic DM, TDM, and CTF modes. The ones most commonly played are:

    • "Deathrun" or "Run" - Typically built on the Deathmatch mode, these maps place players in a map where the goal is for the player to run through a course of obstacles without dying. These maps commonly implement "checkpoint" systems for players to save their progress at certain fixed points of completion. Combat is generally frowned upon if not outright restricted through various means, but some Run maps with player vs player elements do exist. For more information visit: Run Maps Section
    • "Rail-only" or "Rails" - Inheriting the scoring and gameplay mechanics of DM, TDM, or CTF, the most restrictive form of this mode permits players the use of the Rail Driver exclusively. Several variants of this mode exist, but the most common implementation allows for the additional use of the Baton and C4; for close-range combat and Geo-Mod respectively. The use of the Pistol, even if seemingly available, is highly discouraged if not prohibited.
    • "Assault" - Typically built on the Capture the Flag mode, Assault maps feature "attack and defend" style gameplay, where one team seeks to achieve or reach one or more objectives and the other team attempts to prevent them from doing so. Usually these maps conclude with the attacking team pressing a button after reaching their objective, at which point a CTF flag and base are available to them, and the game ends by the attacking team capturing the flag. Most Assault maps in Red Faction cast the red team as attackers and the blue team as defenders.

    Pickups/Powerups

    Health

    • First Aid Kit: Heals 25 (max 100)
    • Medical Kit: Heals 50 (max 100)
    • Super Health: Heals 200 (max 200)

    Armour

    • Suit Repair: Adds 50 (max 100)
    • Miner Envirosuit: Adds 100 (max 100)
    • Super Armour: Adds 200 (max 200)

    Powerups

    • Damage Amplifier: Multiply all weapon damage by 4; lasts for 30 seconds
    • Invulnerability: Ignore all damage that would be dealt by other players; lasts for 15 seconds

    Weapons

    Red Faction (1) Weapons

    Close Combat: Control Baton - Flame Thrower - Riot Shield

    Semi-Auto: 12mm Pistol - Shotgun - Sniper Rifle - Precision Rifle

    Heavy: Rail Driver - Heavy Machine Gun - Assault Rifle - Submachine Gun

    Explosive: Remote Charge - Grenade - Rocket Launcher - Fusion Rocket Launcher

    Maps

    Red Faction (PC) multiplayer may be played on one of the 27 default maps, or any one of the several thousand custom maps that have made made throughout the years using the Red Faction Level Editor.

    To find and install custom multiplayer maps, see the Guide on Installing Custom Levels.

    In contrast to the PC version of the game, the PlayStation 2 version of Red Faction featured just 9 default maps, and no ability to install custom maps.


    The default Red Faction multiplayer maps are:

    Capture The Flag

    Note: The Capture The Flag gamemode is only available in the PC version.

    Deathmatch

    Characters

    There are 20 playable characters in Red Faction PC multiplayer. See Red Faction Multiplayer Characters for a full list.

    Voting

    • When in a Dash Faction dedicated server server, the following commands can be entered via chat, allowing players to vote to perform actions like changing the map or kicking a player.
    • If you host a dedicated server, see Dash Faction Enhanced Dedicated Server Config for specifics on how to configure voting options available to your players.
    • Only one question can be active at any given time. Unless customized by the server host, each vote will last for 60 seconds.
    vote y
    • If a vote is on-going, enter this command to vote for it.
    vote n
    • If a vote is on-going, enter this command to vote against it.
    vote rest
    • Start a vote to restart the current map.
    vote next
    • Start a vote to change to the next map in the server's rotation.
    vote prev
    • Start a vote to change to the previous map in the server's rotation.
    vote ext
    • Start a vote to extend the current map by 5 minutes.
    vote kick <player name>
    • Start a vote to kick the named player.
    vote map <map name>
    • Start a vote to change immediately to the named map. (maps must be named by their .rfl filename)
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