by: Taea

If you aren't already there, it's time to patch up the Tabula Rasa Test Server and experience the wonder of Deployment 9. By far, the highlight of this patch is the new Wargames Map which gives soldiers the thrill of competing against other live players in a "Capture the Flag/CP" scenario. The Wargames have been buzzing with activity as plenty of Devs have shown up to kill and be killed. Critters, CuppaJo, Harleyquin, Kagasumi and more have all been spotted in the battlegrounds.

The map is reached via the dropship pad in Alia Das. Create your new character, choose the mission to skip bootcamp, then turn around and run up to the dropship that just let you off. As you port in to the zone you'll see 2 banks of NPCs. To the right are medical teams ready with supplies for every tier, and to the left is your Level Command with a mission to instantly increase your level, up to 50. FYI you can repeat the level increase mission as often as needed to receive more credits. In that same area are the trainers for every class, so that you can complete the Level Command mission quickly.

Next to Level Command are the weapon and armor vendors. They offer a random selection of Blue items to buy. Each purchase you make will give you a piece of gear with any variety of mods. Prepare to spend a VERY long time here. Remember you have an unlimited supply of credits, so you can purchase untold injector guns until you get your perfect combination of resists and armor regeneration.

After you've fleshed out your new character, purchased all the equipment needed and loaded your ammo packs, you're ready to enter the battlezone. You have a choice of 2 teams to join: Red or Blue. Future updates to the Wargames will include a server side team choice mechanic to keep things fair, but for the time being you will see a flashing sign encouraging you to choose a particular side.

Take a moment to use the observation deck to get a lay of the land, before stepping on to your designated teleporter. You'll arrive inside your team's CP tower. You'll find a teleport that takes you to the top of a sniper tower behind the walls, but the better positioning for defenders is out along the catwalks circling the outer defenses.

Team members are indicated by a colored glow around the body. The opposition team will show up as large red markers on the radar. Note: If you are a member of the Red team, the opposing Blue members will still show up as an enemy Red on the radar. You can squad up with other friendlies to make use of team buffs, or just go it alone if you prefer.

The goal of the event is to infiltrate the enemy base and capture the Control Point inside. Terrain features and various bunkers provide for interim defense points in the path to each base. Atop the secured walls are several AFS mortars in defense, and one standard issue Force Field that must be disabled before you can enter. Inevitably there will be any number of Engineer turrets deployed outside in addition to the forces of the opposing team.

At the point that one of the team CPs is taken, all participants (alive or dead) are teleported back to the staging area to refill their ammo packs and make the necessary repairs. There they can wait for the next round to begin, or exit back to Alia Das to continue their play through the rest of the game.

Take the time to fight through a few more zones on the Test server, and you may have the chance to grab some of the new gear that has been seen dropping from various mobs. Is this a look at a new type of mod that will be coming to Live servers? It appears to be a new buff-type effect that gives +damage against Thrax mobs.

A few bugs still need to be worked out with the Wargames, most importantly a way to lock down an official start time to each contest. A feature we'd like to see is a way for each team to enter their base and surrounding outer areas to establish defense points, before the actual battle begins. Secured chat is needed for each team, possibly as a locked Red and Blue chat channel. Hopefully different types of scenarios will become available, such as assigning teams to defense or offense only for variety. Mostly the Wargames will benefit from larger numbers of players inside at one time, which should happen when the map is moved to Live with Deployment 10 or later.