Day of Defeat

Encyclopedia : D : DA : DAY : Day of Defeat

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Day of Defeat (DoD) is a popular team-based multiplayer World War II first-person shooter computer game that immerses players into a 3D simulated virtual reality of the European Theatre of World War II. The game's graphics and sounds have been influenced by the movie Saving Private Ryan and in the past has even made use of some sound effects from the film.

Gameplay

Day of Defeat is a 3D multiplayer shooter that simulates infantry battle between the adversaries of World War II's European Theatre: The Allies or The Axis Powers. The goal is to complete various mission objectives.

Players choose which side they will fight on and what character class their soldier will be. There are unique soldier classes for the Allies (United States and United Kingdom) and the Axis (Nazi Germany). Class determines which weapons the player will carry, and their appearance.

A round begins with two opposing teams starting simultaneously in their respective spawn area of a map. A round ends when one team accomplishes all of its objectives.

Player casualties become reinforcements which are supplied according to a timer. The reinforcements originate at spawn and can be composed of anywhere from 1 soldier to the entire team. The reinforcement timer is usually between 10-20 seconds, but this time may vary from server to server.

Like other Half-Life mods, Day of Defeat tracks each player's accomplishment of team objectives, how many enemies each player has killed and how many times each player has died. The game also tallies these statistics for the entire team, this reflects the team's score which is primarily based on objectives.

After many rounds, the game ends when a set time limit expires, and the team with the most objectives achieved is the winning team regardless of kills or casualties, except in the case where both teams have not achieved any objectives or are tied in the objective score. The scoreboard is displayed and the game is restarted, usually with another map. There really is no "The End" to Day of Defeat.

Map Objectives

Day of defeat maps do not always require that both teams have the same objectives. Some of the more popular maps have different objectives for both teams.

• Capture the flag

Players can capture a flag by standing near the flag for a certain amount of time. Certain flags require more than 1 player for capture. Flags are presented as either uncaptured (Grey), Axis (Red) or Allies (Green). Certain maps (dod_charlie) do not allow a captured flag to be recaptured by the defending team.

• Destroy target

Players destroy a target by first planting a bomb at the target. The bomb is obtained from the spawn area. This bomb can also be picked up from the body of dead comrades. To plant the bomb, the player has to just stand within the designated bomb area. Bombs once planted cannot be defused and will detonate in a sizeable explosion.

• Capture target

This is a variation of the capture the flag. Instead of a flag, a target (truck, airplane, or building) can be captured.

History

DoD began as a Half-Life 3rd party mod in 2001. Later, the DoD team joined Valve Software and produced a standalone version published through Activision. DoD (ver.1.0) was officially released in May 2003. It was converted over to the Steam delivery system in version 1.1. Day of Defeat: Source was released on September 26, 2005.

With the initial release of the game (when classes included only Support Infantry, Sergeant, Rifleman or Sniper), choosing a class determined your speed. Rifleman moved the fastest and Support Infantry moved the slowest. Sergeants moved at a medium pace. This was considered highly unrealistic, for if the developers were basing speed on weight of weaponry (which was a common assumption before Beta 2.0 came out), the Non-commissioned officers (NCOs) of both sides (American Master Sergeant and German Unteroffizier, equivalent to the American Army rank of Corporal) would have to move at a different speed, since the Thompson submachine gun is heavier than the MP40, and the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) is far heavier than the German Sturmgewehr 44 (MP44).

With the release of Beta 2.0 in October 2001, players witnessed the expansion of character classes and the speed differential was eliminated. This version added the Allied Staff Sergeant who carried an M1 Carbine. The Axis Sniper Rifle from the Beta 1.x releases, (the Gewehr 43), was replaced with a scoped model of the Karabiner 98k, in order to more effectively balance the Axis and Allied sniper classes. Furthermore, both sides now received machineguns (.30 Caliber for the Allies, and the MG34 and MG42 models for the Axis), which added a new tactical element to the game. Also, so called head-bobbing or gun-sway was introduced, so players could no longer simply point and shoot while moving, but now had to stand still for improved accuracy. Gun kick was also introduced, and kneeling and lying down alleviated this and made a player's shot more accurate.

Beta 3.0 was released in July 2002 and added the Allied Sergeant, who carried a M3 Grease Gun, as well as the para gameplay mode which was similar to Counter-Strike in that players did not respawn until the end of the round. The Germans could now also choose between two models of the powerful and deafeningly loud FG 42 Fallschirmjäger (bipod/scope) and the Gewehr could now be selected as a class, in order to compete with the semi-automatic Garand rifle the Allies used. Valve then made Day of Defeat an official valve mod and released 1.0v in May 2003 wich featured a lot of changes. Activision distributed a retail version of the game though it could still be downloaded for free if you had Half-Life. Later version 1.1 became the first Steam release. 1.0 included quite a few new features - the pace of the game was increased, which helped to attract new players. Friendly-fire was made non-default, an on-screen map where one's allies and thrown grenades were displayed was added, as was a Battlefield-style flag hanging over the head of friends and foes for indentification. Pop-up help messages, spoken by a dog wearing a helmet (in the same vein as Microsoft's Office Assistant), also appeared in v1.0. Bleeding - a key feature of the betas - was removed, as testing found that new players had difficulty understanding the concept of pressing the bandage key when health could not be recovered. Night time battlefields were removed as they tended to be the least-played of the beta maps. Version 1.0 also included auto-reload (which defaulted to "always on"), some new maps and major modifications to some old maps (eg. Anzio). At first old players felt that the Garand had been made weaker, adding an Axis bias to the game. It was later learned that there were issues with hitboxes, which caused a lot of shots to register as hitting different body parts and doing less damage. British Troops was also issued in 1.0, but were only featured in 3 maps and had only 5 weapon classes. The American Bazooka, German Panzershreck and British PIAT became independent classes in 1.2v and Mortar-classes were proposed, but never got released. Para-maps were kept, but the special gameplay was removed and replaced by the traditional Flag-capture or objective gameplay. Version 1.0 also introduced the bipod for the BAR, allowing for it to be deployed in the same locations as the machine guns and FG42s. In September 2005 were released.

Weapons

Day of Defeat features historical weaponry used in World War II: M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, Thompson submachine gun, M3 Grease Gun, Springfield 1903 rifle, Browning Automatic Rifle, .30 Caliber Machine gun, Bazooka, Karabiner 98k, Karabiner 43, MP40, Sturmgewehr 44, FG 42, FG 42 (scoped),MG34, MG42, Panzerschreck, Lee-Enfield, Sten, Bren, and the PIAT.

Soldier class determines which weapons the player will initially be using. Each player carries a pistol (U.S. M1911, German Luger, British Webley Revolver) and a knife or German "spade" and a limited amount of ammunition. Each player also carries 0-2 grenades (American Frag grenade, German Model 24 grenade ("stick grenade"), British Mills bomb).

Players may also drop their main weapon in order to pick up those left by dead soldiers or discarded by other players, thus Allied players can wield Axis guns and vice versa.

Controls

Along with the standard movement controls of any first-person shooter game, day of defeat has a few extra buttons.

• Sprint

Holding the sprint button is used to make a quick dash. The player will lose stamina during the sprint. If there is no more stamina, the player stops sprinting and moves slowly. The player can regain stamina by crouching or going prone. The player can stop sprinting at anytime by releasing the sprint button. (Default Shift)

• Prone

A player can go prone by pressing the prone button. A proned player will have increased accuracy and lower recoil while firing his weapon. Certain weapons can also be deployed by right-clicking. Players can stand up by pressing the prone button while proned. However, if a weapon has been deployed, it will have to be undeployed by right-clicking again before the player can get back up. It takes a second or two until the weapon can be used. (Default Z)

• Drop Weapon

You may drop your tertiary (third) weapon by pressing the "drop weapon" key. This allows you to swap to a weapon left on the ground by someone else that your class would not normally have, including the weapons of enemies. This only works with your main weapon, and not with melee (knives/shovels) or handguns. (Default G)

• Drop Grenade

You can drop a grenade that has been primed (by pressing the mouse button) by pressing the "Pick Up Grenade/Use Item" button (default E). This allows you to throw a grenade that will detonate more quickly, as part of its detonation sequence is used up by dropping it. You can also pick up the thrown grenades of friends and foes and throw them if you have enough time. If you prime a grenade and drop it, you'll have the typical five seconds that a grenade takes being thrown regularly to throw the grenade. Should you fail, the grenade will detonate in your hand and you will immediately die.

• Drop Ammo

There are 2 drop ammo buttons. 1 button drops ammo for the same class as the player. The other drops a box of ammunition's for the mg34 or mg42 class. The other player can pick up the ammo by walking over it. In the latest version this has been changed to one button and the ammunition dropped is usable by any class on your team.

• Bandage

If bleeding, the player must bandage himself to prevent death. Bleeding normally occurs if the player survives an attack which causes near fatal damage. This feature was removed after Day of Defeat left the betas, although a medic class was proposed.

Maps

Day of Defeat maps muster scenarios of historical World War II battles requiring teams to control territory and complete objectives. Territorial control scenarios require the players to capture flags at important choke points throughout the map. Objective-based maps take players into battle for mission targets, such as a bridge or German Nebelwerfer(artillery) or any other various tactical targets. To achieve most tasks requires the players to use TNT charges at the objective. The many different possible objectives types include "clandistine missions", such as obtaining secret documents and returning them to headquarters.

Official DoD maps included with the game encompass scenes such as the infamous battle at Omaha Beach (dod_charlie), streetfighting in the Italian city of Salerno during Operation Avalanche (dod_avalanche), and a Glider mission where the American 101st Airborne lands in a WACO Glider and has to destroy such objectives as a radio antenna and Flak 88 mm gun anti-aircraft gun (dod_glider).

Custom DoD maps available for download are also frequently constructed and remodeled by independent designers thus creating battles with unlimited missions for players to experience. Several servers specialize in Counter-Strike maps.

Day of Defeat maps offer the player the ability to blast through certain parts of the map to gain entry into new sections. This offers a twist to normal map strategies. The sections are normally marked with a crack in the wall, which can be opened by either planting a bomb or by shooting a bazooka shell at it.

Day of Defeat: Source

The next version of the game, Day of Defeat: Source, an update of DoD using the Source engine used for Half-Life 2, was released on September 26, 2005. Steam is now required to play DoD, because Valve was having problems with piracy. It makes significant changes to Day of Defeat's gameplay dynamics. Day of Defeat: Source was temporarily available for free download and evaluation from February 11-12, 2006, and from July 7-10, 2006.

Bots

Although Day of Defeat is primarily multiplayer online, an offline mode with user-created bots (computer-controlled opponents) can also be played. Popular DoD bots are SturmBOT [link] and ShrikeBot [link]. It is also possible for the server admin to add an arbitrary number of bots to the game.

See also

• Half-Life
• Steam
• List of Half-Life mods
• Valve Software
• List of free first-person shooters
• First-person shooters

External links

Official Websites

• [Official Day of Defeat site]
• [Valve Software website]
• [Official Steam website]

Community Sites

• [Day of Defeat Network] - The biggest Day of Defeat fansite, targeted to DoD: Source.
• [Day of Defeat at FileFront] - Large catalog of downloads for Day of Defeat
• [Day of Defeat Asia] - For Camaraderie, For Fair Play, For Community
• [MapCentralNetwork] - Community website with forums, info, news, and downloads for Day of Defeat and DoD: Source
• [Day of Defeat Directory] - Directory for custom maps, files and links to other Day of Defeat: Source sites
• [Day of Defeat Server List]
• [Planet Half-life: Day of Defeat]
• [Day of Defeat Editing Center]
• [Day of Defeat at MobyGames]

 

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