2. Gameplay

This section deals with all gameplay issues of Navy Seals: Covert Operations. It will explain how to play NS-CO and it deals with the changes from standard Quake 3: arena to Navy Seals: Covert Operaions.

2.1 How do I play

The main menu is in large structural parts similar to the original Quake 3: arena menu and you should have no difficutlties in navigating it. Even most of the new commands are self-explanatory. Because of this this section is only dealing with the in-game aspects of NS-CO.

When joining or creating a server you always create it with the "operations" gametype. This gametype is round-based and players only respawn at the start of a round. If you die while a round is still going on then you do not respawn. Instead you stay a spectator until the current round is finished.

In addition to that operations is also a team-based gametype. That means you have to decide on one of the two available teams (SEALs or Tangos) before you are able to join the game. If you join a running game you have to wait until the current round is ended before you spawn.

Rounds always last 5 minutes or until the objectives of one team are completed or all members of one (or both) teams are dead. The team that won the round (by eliminating the enemy team or by fulfilling it's objectives) recieves one point. The team with the most points wins.

2.2 Health and Damage

Navy Seals: Covert Operations is a deadly game trying to simulate realistic health conditions as good as possible. For example you won't see a "traditional" 100% health indicator, you only have a little man on your screen, an icon we call the damage locator.
The rough severity and the location of the damage you recieved are displayed by recoloring various parts of this image.

Depending on the severity of damage you got and the location it is you can suffer from various wound effects detailed below.

head
Hits to the head are always deadly. Should you survive a hit to the head (becuase you wore a helmet) your vision suffers. Kevlar Helmets can protect from fatal head damage to some degree. The Helmet however does not protect from big caliber weapons.

chest
Chest damage is the second deadliest damage, because the chest houses the most vital organs. In the case of survival medium bleeding wounds are often the result. The chest can be protected by a kevlar vest.

stomach
The stomach is the softest area of the body. Shots to the stomach cause serious bleeding wounds but are not as deadly as shots to the chest. The stomach can also be protected by a kevlar vest.

arms
Damage to the arms is not deadly. Instead it causes bleedings of various degree and your accuracy to fire sufferes heavily up to the point of being unable to shoot and the whole screen starts shaking slightly.

legs
Leg damage is similar to arm damage except that it does not affect your accuracy but your movement speed and your ability to jump.

Apart from dying from direct damage players can also die due to a loss of blood. The less blood a player has the less his average statistics drop and the darker his vision gets. In the end a player will die because of the lack of blood.
Players can "bandage" to stop bleedings and reduce certain damage effects. Bandaging requires you to put down your weapon. "Bandaging" can also restore movement speed, accuracy and vision to a certain degree, altough you will never be as good as you had been when unharmed.

2.3 Commands

A few new commands have been introduced in NS-CO to be used with certain new features and abilities. You can either bind them using the Keys menu or by binding them manually from the Console. The most important new commands are listed below:

+button2 - use
This command opens the door, presses the button or picks up the item directly infront of you. If there's nothing in range to use, then you start to bandage all open wounds, to break this action hold your attack button for about one second. You can still open doors and push buttons while bandaging.

+button5 - sprint
Hold down this button to rush, this costs stamina depending on your current weapon and your weight. To regernerate stamina you must stand still, or be crouched.

+button6 - reload
reloads the current gun. Depending on the type of gun you either reload a single shell or an entire clip, in turn replacing the old one. When reloading individual ammo you can stop the process by holding down the fire button for about one second.

+button7 - Internal Firemode
Toggle weapon mode 1. This weapon toggles the weapon-internal fire mode. Normally you can switch bettwen full-auto and single shot using this command.

+button8 - Tactical Weaponmode
Toggle weapon mode 3. This will normally toggle the optical modes on or off. That means by using this button you can scope in with a scope or toggle the laserpointer.

+button9 - Battle Addon
Toggle weapon mode 2. This command normally toggles the accessoire below the weapon. Either Underslung Grenade Launcher or Bayonet.

dropweapon
This command makes you drop your current weapon. As you can only carry one primary weapon and one sidearm you will have to drop yours to pick up a new one.

2.4 Heads Up Display

With so many new functions and things to keep track of you need an entirely new Heads Up Display system. There are a multitude of different layouts available so each user can select the one he's most comfortable with. However all have certain elements in common, which are explained here.
You can click on the image below to see the what the indiviudal elements look like in the default HUD.

Damage Locator
This little guy is split up into parts and he shows how damaged you are. see section 2.2 Health and Damage for details.

Stamina bar
This bar shows how much stamina you currently have left for sprints. see section 3.2 Abilities for details.

Ammo in Clip
This element displays the current amount of ammo in the gun. It can be either a bar, a number or a graphical representation.

Clips Left
This element shows how much ammo you have left in your inventory. Sometimes it's coupled with an icon to show the type of ammo left

Firemode
This text describes the current firemode you have activated. see section 4.1 Weapons for details.

Apart from those items that only deal with the player himself there are also a few elements that have other functions. Those other items are mission-based. Some are coupled with timers, some are without icons but all are showing the current status of various things. See section 5.1 Modes of Operation for details on the gamemode mechanics.

Roundtimer
The Roundtimer is shown next to a stopwatch and it's displaying the time left in the current round. Once it runs out the current round is finished.

Vip
A small icon of a person is shown above the roundtimer clock in case there is a vip present in this map. If you are the VIP then the icon of the VIP is shown in your team-colors within the hud.

Bombtimer
Whenever there's a bomb-spot in this map then the Bomb-place icon appears. If you're within a Bomb-place then the icon changes it's color to your team color. Once a bomb was placed a bomb icon is shown above the bomb place and a timer showing the bomb time is displayed. Once this time runs out the bomb explodes.

Assaultfields
For every assaultfield (up to a maximum of four) within this map you see one icon of the assaultfield with a small number next to it. Once one of those assault fields is tapped a timer appears next to it. Once this timer has run out the assault field had been claimed.
There also is a small icon appearing once you're within an assault field. It changes to an icon with a lock once an enemy is within the assault field and is blocking you.

Briefcase & Bomb
If you carry a bomb or a briefcase then the respective item is shown as a small icon on the left hand side of the screen. The icon is colored in the team-color.






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