Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 211.30.205.254 (talk) at 05:50, 28 August 2005. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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 use some of the movie's actual soundtracks.

Gameplay

Day of Defeat is a 3D-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 what they will look like.

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.

History

Version history (incomplete)

• Beta 1.0 (January 12 2001)
• Beta 1.1 (February 14 2001)
• Beta 1.2 (April 5 2001 ?)
• Beta 1.3 (July 1 2001)
• Beta 2.0 (October 13 2001 ?)
• Beta 2.1 (May 10 2002)
• Beta 2.2 (?)
• Beta 2.3 (?)
• Beta 3.0 (July 11 2002)
• Beta 3.1 (August 8 2002)
• Version 1.0 (May 1 2003)
• Version 1.1 (November 14 2003, the first release on Steam)
• Version 1.2 (May 19 2004)
• Version 1.3 (July 7 2004)
• DoD:Source - not released yet

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 is scheduled to be released by Summer 2005.

With the initial release of the game (when you could only be 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 Unteroffizer, 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, people saw the expansion of character classes and the speed differential was eliminated. This version added the Allied Staff Sergeant who carried an M1 Carbine. The Germans now could use two versions of the both powerful and deafening FG42 Fallschirmjäger weapons (one with a bipod and one with a scope) and the Sniper Rifle from the Beta 1.0 versions (the Gewehr 43) was replaced with the deemed "more fair" Karabiner 98k. The Gwehr could now be selected as a class, to compete with the semi-automatic Garand rifle the Allies used. Furthermore both sides now recieved 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 not just point and shoot while moving, but now had to stand still for improved accuracy. Gun kick was also introduced, and kneeling and lying down allieviated this and made a player's shot more accurate. Also, bipods were introduced to the lighter machine guns (BAR and FG 42). The British were not in the game at this time.

Beta 3.0 added the Allied Sergeant, who carried a M3 Grease Gun.

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, Gewehr 43, MP40, Sturmgewehr 44, FG42, 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 vise versa.

Maps

Day of Defeat 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 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: Source

As of 2004, Valve Software has announced the next version of the game, Day of Defeat: Source, an update of DoD using the Source engine used for Half-Life 2. Unlike previous releases of DoD, this update will be available only as part of Half-Life 2 bundles available on Steam. On February 24, 2005, Valve announced that DoD:S would "be available early this spring via Steam." They also allowed some dedicated people, including forum moderators, to play the beta, and allowed them to show the public pictures and videos of the beta.

The game's spring release date passed with no news, but on July 22, 2005 Valve announced that they were playtesting DoD:S and that it would be released later in the summer. Anonymous higher-up sources have the release date being more likely around early-mid September.

Bots

Although Day of Defeat is primarily multiplayer online, an offline mode with bots (computer-controlled opponents) can also be played. Popular DoD bots are SturmBOT and ShrikeBot .

See also

• Half-Life
• Steam
• List of Half-Life mods
• Valve Software

External links

• Official Day of Defeat site
• Download Day of Defeat
• Day of Defeat Directory
• Day of Defeat Server List
• Planet Half-life: Day of Defeat
• Day of Defeat Source
• Day of Defeat Maps
• Day of Defeat Editing Center

• 2003 computer and video games
• Computer and video games
• First-person shooters
• Half-Life mods
• Multiplayer computer games
• Multiplayer online games
• Simulation computer games
• Shooter games
• Shoot 'em ups
• Windows games