Chapter 1466 Playtesting

"Everyone, choose your classes. We need a medic, an engineer, and a machine gunner. The rest of you can choose a scout, or another medic or machine gunner. It doesn't really affect combat ability."

As a veteran player who had already playtested the game, Chen Sha assigned classes to his teammates.

Classes in *Bullet Marks 2* were both important and unimportant. They didn't affect combat power; they only enhanced the ability to interact with map mechanics. Each class could leverage its advantages in specific environments. The specific choices depended on tactical arrangements.

If a squad was determined to capture points and clear enemy strongholds right from the start, they would definitely focus on engineers and machine gunners, even using dual machine gunners to strengthen fire suppression. But if a squad didn't want to attack, preferring to hunt down lone squads in the wild, then a scout who could expand the portable radar's detection range would be essential.

Of course, even if a squad's class composition wasn't ideal, it didn't matter too much, because the real battle depended on tactics and marksmanship.

"I'm officially queuing up! Listen to my command, everyone. This game is more fun with some tactics!"

"Friends in the livestream can also learn a thing or two. Understanding the game mechanics will greatly enhance your gaming experience!"

Soon, Chen Sha was matched into a game, a classic mode match.

The player count varied across the three modes, with classic mode having the most, at 200 players. Perhaps because the game had just launched, matching wasn't very fast; it took more than five minutes to enter the game.

But Chen Sha was already satisfied, because he had previously only played in the test arena. Although Tianhuo Studio had also invited a hundred players to test, they weren't always all online. And he had only encountered acquaintances before. Now he was encountering strangers, so the gaming experience was definitely different!

Chen Sha led his teammates into a fierce battle in the game, while the audience in the livestream watched from a new player's perspective, sending barrages of comments to interact.

The first impression was that the game mechanics were novel, never seen before!

At the beginning of the game, two transport plane routes were randomly generated on the map, and players were evenly distributed onto these two planes, choosing the right moment to parachute.

Of course, due to the science fiction setting of *Bullet Marks 2*, parachuting wasn't the traditional kind. After jumping from the transport plane, players wearing combat suits could quickly descend and change their flight direction with jetpacks, quickly reaching their desired area on the ground.

By default, squad members flew with the team leader, but they could break away at any time.

Even before landing, Chen Sha was already marking various locations on the map, including which point each team member should fly to, where the supplies were, and which area nearby enemies might land in. Everything was clearly marked.

In this way, squad members could quickly loot their assigned target areas after landing and prepare for battle as quickly as possible.

The process of searching for items was also full of surprises.

All supplies were marked with different colors, perfectly matching the concept of "start with a pistol, gear up by looting." This joy of rapid looting was absent from many FPS games.

The significance of the looting phase was that it gave players more strategic choices and gaming fun. In other FPS games, players only had shooting as an option, which was relatively monotonous. But with the addition of looting, players had to weigh: when to loot, when to fight?

By looting supplies and preparing adequately, even players with slightly weaker skills could defeat players with better skills. It was a bit like the development phase in a MOBA game, where players could compensate for operational deficiencies through tactical choices, the so-called "game IQ."

Players would also gain a unique kind of joy when winning through game mechanics.

Moreover, the looting process was full of randomness, and randomness always had an irresistible attraction for players. The joy of finding good equipment could be repeatedly experienced several times in each round, which undoubtedly made the game's exciting moments more frequent.

After a simple looting phase, there was intense combat.

Chen Sha's squad chose a strategic stronghold, which was very conspicuous and clearly a contested area, so the competition was also very fierce.

Several squads were forced to engage in a free-for-all with whatever weapons they could find. If you were lucky enough to pick up an assault rifle or shotgun as soon as you landed, you could chase others around, but you could also be ambushed by an enemy with a small pistol lurking around the corner. It was thrilling and exciting!

Chen Sha also briefly commented on the feel of the weapons: quite realistic. Although the weapons were packaged with a science fiction feel, they were somehow logical.

Many weapons could find prototypes in reality. In other words, if you picked up a gun at random, even though it looked very sci-fi and cool, you could basically judge its correct usage just from its appearance.

As for the difficulty of using these guns, it was between *Counter-Terrorism Project* and *Sea Fortress*. It wasn't as easy to control recoil and get headshots as in *Sea Fortress*, leaving plenty of room for improvement in skill, but it was also simpler than *Counter-Terrorism Project*. Considering the rich map mechanics and the wide variety of supplies, even if a newbie's marksmanship was a little lacking, they could still have a great time in the game.

In the game, teammates who were knocked down could be revived, and teammates who were killed could be revived at designated locations by carrying their core, unless the entire team was wiped out. Otherwise, there was still hope.

Soon, Chen Sha cleared all the enemies in this stronghold with his excellent marksmanship, took his two fully armed teammates to revive the dead teammate, and then searched for some supplies in the nearby wilderness before returning to the stronghold and firmly occupying it.

During this time, a squad of players tried to sneak in using optical camouflage, but they were detected by the stronghold's radar. Both sides engaged in a fierce battle. Chen Sha's side killed three people, and the remaining one fled in panic.

Fifteen minutes passed quickly. Chen Sha's squad looted, engaged in street fighting, rescued people, looted again, and defended. The fifteen minutes were packed full, with no dull moments.

The key was that there was always a very clear goal in these fifteen minutes. It wasn't just monotonous shooting throughout the entire game. The players' hands and brains were both active.

Then, the game entered the second phase.

The remaining 100 players were divided into two camps for a small 50vs50 battle. Full squads still retained their current configuration, while incomplete squads were merged and supplemented according to the system's matching rules, ultimately bringing the strength ratings of the two camps to roughly the same level.

Chen Sha was fortunate enough to be selected as the commander of his side, and he also briefly explained the specific commander selection mechanism of the game to the players.

The interesting thing about this selection mechanism was that it was based on the performance of each squad and each player in the previous stage.

The system would consider various factors, such as whether the player actively selected the commander position during matching, the player's win rate as commander in the past, the player's squad's performance in previous games, and so on. After a certain weight calculation, the best commander candidate was selected.

Moreover, since the battle in the first stage had an impact on factors such as each squad's record, supplies, and occupied positions, these factors could be used as weights to measure the true strength of these squads. Therefore, the strength of the two sides after allocation was bound to be relatively balanced, which was much better than matching based on players' historical records before entering the game.

The supplies that players looted and the strategic locations that they seized in the first stage would still be retained in the second stage. This allowed the benefits of the adventure in the first stage to continue, and jumping into crowded areas became a high-risk, high-reward behavior.

Should you jump into crowded areas, risk everything to fight your way out, and gain an advantage in the second stage? Or should you jump into less crowded areas, loot supplies, and huddle your way to the melee in the second stage? Players could choose different strategies according to their preferences.

After the 50vs50 battle officially began, Chen Sha began to command various squads to seize strategic locations on the map.

The strategic locations on the large map had different functions. For example, an air force base could be used for reconnaissance, briefly displaying enemy activity in a certain area on the map. It could also airdrop supplies, allowing frontline soldiers to obtain bullets, armor, and weapons. A bunker could suppress fire in the nearby area. A machine gunner operating the machine gun in the bunker could hold the line against a large number of enemies. A frontal assault would require a huge price. A field hospital could provide players with first aid kits and recovery medicines, and also accelerate the revival of the wounded.

After the melee in the first stage, these strongholds were in the hands of both sides, basically presenting a situation of intertwined teeth. Moreover, the strength of the two sides was similar. As long as they concentrated their superior forces to attack, they could basically take the stronghold, so the battle situation would be particularly fierce.

Some important strongholds might change hands repeatedly. Both sides concentrated a large amount of combat power and constantly sent reinforcements, resulting in a meat grinder-like situation.

Some strongholds seemed to be on the edge of the battlefield, but they could be suddenly infiltrated and captured by enemy squads due to the defenders' laxity, causing a sudden reversal of the battlefield situation.

Moreover, the fighting between the two sides wasn't necessarily inside the stronghold. A truly excellent commander would know how to choose the battlefield in some unique terrain chokepoints based on the function and fire suppression range of the stronghold. It was meaningless to rush forward foolishly if the opponent wanted to break through this chokepoint. They had to use their brains, whether it was to concentrate superior forces to attack from multiple directions, send small squads to make detours and surprise attacks, or avoid their sharp edge and choose another main attack direction. Everything depended on the specific situation at the time.

The battlefield situation was constantly changing. While commanding their squads in battle, all squad leaders also had to report the situation on the battlefield to the commander in real time. The commander had to try their best to analyze the enemy's intentions, react in the first time, and even predict in advance, in order to lead their players to victory.