Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
Developer(s)	Splash Damage
Publisher(s)	Activision
License	Freeware
Engine	Quake III Arena
Version	2.60b (2.60d for Mac)
Platform(s)	Linux, Mac (Universal), Windows
Release date	May 29, 2003
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Online Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Mature (M)
Media	Internet Download
System requirements	600 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM, 32 MB OpenGL graphics card, 56.6k Modem/LAN
Input methods	Computer keyboard/Mouse

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (also referred to as simply Enemy Territory or ET) is a free multiplayer FPS set during World War II. It was originally planned to be released as a commercial expansion pack to the popular FPS Return to Castle Wolfenstein and later as a standalone game. However, due to problems with the single-player aspect, the multiplayer portion was released on May 29, 2003 as a freeware standalone game. In early 2004 the source code for the game logic (not the game engine) was released to the benefit of its modding community. The game uses a modified RTCW engine, itself being a modified Quake III: Team Arena engine (which has been open-source since 2005).

The majority of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory servers run various mods , such as Jaymod, No Quarter, ETpub, and ETpro.

Gameplay

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is an online multi-player game, where the players interact with each other over a network in two teams (Allies and Axis) to defend or destroy mission objectives. The game is playable over the Internet or a Local Area Network. Like many online games, cheating and exploit communities exist. To counter this, the game has support for PunkBuster, an anti-cheat solution.

There are six officially released maps (North Africa Campaign: Gold Rush, Siwa Oasis, and Seawall Battery; Europe Campaign: Rail Gun, Wurzburg Radar, and Fuel Dump), as well as hundreds of custom maps made by the internet community. On each map, the offense needs to complete a certain set of objectives within a limited amount of time. The defense needs to keep the offense from completing objectives until time runs out. Some objectives may be optional, and some objectives can be carried out by either team. These minor objectives assist the team completing them. Depending on Game Mode the action will continue on another map (Campaign Mode) or the same map (Objective Mode, Stopwatch Mode, Last Man Standing).

In all but the LMS mode, dead players respawn all at the same time, every X seconds. In the default maps - assuming that the server settings aren't changing it - Allies spawn every 20 seconds and the Axis every 30 seconds, the only exception being Rail Gun where both have a 20 second spawn. With default settings, you can see the spawn timer in the right side of the screen. Experienced players should watch the timer all the time - dying to a 1 second spawn practically means losing your position (and a life, if the server has the rarely used Limited Lives feature enabled) and resetting your health and ammo, while a 30 second spawn can be deadly if there are only a few players. A good tactic is to find out the spawn time of your enemy, for example looking at the mission timer, and time your attacks so that every dead opponent will have to wait a full time spawn.

In the official six-map campaign (most common on public servers), Allies are offense for all but one map. In Stopwatch Mode (most common for locked or LAN servers) two teams - most common setups: 6vs6 or 3vs3 - will play the same map twice, once in each side and the winner is determined of who have the fastest offense (it can be a tie when both teams defense manage to keep the offence from completing the objectives until time runs out).

Players may earn experience points in several skill categories. All character classes may earn points in Battle Sense and Light Weapons. Class skills are generally restricted to the current class, the exception being Heavy Weapons (the Soldier class skill).

Players have certain abilities based on their character class. The player has a Power Bar that provides 'power' for their special abilities. The power bar regenerates slowly. Constructing the Command post speeds up the recharge rate though. Players have up to eight weapon slots, depending on character class. The classes that are available are engineer, soldier, field ops, medic, and covert ops.

Players can gain experience in three skills: Battle Sense, Light Weapons, and a skill determined by their current class. Certain class skill benefits remain with the player even if they change classes. Benefits from general skills are available regardless of class. Once a player has accrued enough experience points in a particular skill, the skill is automatically advanced to the next level, providing the player with a new ability or advantage. There are four attainable levels in each skill, awarded at 20, 50, 90 and 140 experience points.

Ranking and advancement

Players start off as a private (Allies) or Schütze (Axis). They can gain rank by leveling up in skills. Some servers delete a player's experience at the end of a campaign, some servers delete it when he/she disconnects, and some servers keep the player's experience even after a disconnection. In competitions and on some public servers, rankings are disabled, meaning that XP gives no advantage. The meaning of this is to make games faster; as defenders usually get a lot more XP, they would become stronger during the match, making the end game very difficult for the offensive team. The skill levels are 20,50,90,140 (sometimes 200)

Mods

The source code for the game logic was released in an SDK in early 2004. Various mods have since been released to the community: this source code release afforded mod designers a further amount of customization. The actual game engine is still closed source as of early 2008 - the entire source code to Quake III Arena, for example, was released 6 years after the game was initially published.

The majority of servers run various mods , such as Jaymod, No Quarter, ETpub, and ETpro. ETpro stands as the competition standard in tournament leagues such as TeamWarfare League .

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

A commercially released follow-up to Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory has been developed by Splash Damage, titled Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. It does not carry on the World War II setting from Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and is instead set in the Quake universe. The gameplay is based directly on its predecessor, but with the addition of features such as larger maps, controllable vehicles and aircraft, and asymmetric teams.

See also

Free software Portal

• List of free first-person shooters
• First-person shooters
• Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein
• TrueCombat: Elite

References

External links

• Splash Damage - Creators of ET