“I don’t have eyes in the back of my head, and I don’t have eyes in the side of my head. Everywhere you can look, there has to be somebody watching.” – Sgt. Elber Navarro, USMC 3/5
Most military shooters reduce your responsibilities to following someone else’s plans. Go here. Do this. You’re an actor playing a role. In contrast, Six Days in Fallujah is all about the plans and choices you must make instantly under duress. And, these decisions will impact every single member of your team. Three points stand at the forefront of our design—leadership, command, and control.
Please remember all assets shown are currently a work-in-progress.
Until now, the few military shooters that have given you leadership of a team have often slowed down, or even paused, combat to give you more time to make decisions. The reality is that combat does not, and will not, wait for you. In Six Days, the tempo of battle and the constant pressure of combat are critical to our experience.
We created GO! Commands because it must be as easy for you to give orders to your team as it is to fire your weapon. Old-fashioned radial menus slow things down too much to be real. You must be able to point and tap a button. That’s it.
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DEVELOPER COMMENT
Just like Marine fireteams, solo players commanding AI fireteams in Six Days operate in “buddy pairs.” As Team Lead, you issue orders to the Automatic Rifleman (FIRE) and Assistant Gunner (ASSIST) while the Rifleman (READY) follows and supports you. With Buddy Pairs, each fireteam role can rely on the other half of their pairing for cover and security.
There are five basic types of GO! Commands available, and their success very much depends on the Team Lead issuing them:
Watch!
By default, your team will always try to provide 360-degree security around the team. The “Watch” command orders the fireteam to watch a specific area marked by the player. While these are most commonly doors, windows, and stairs, players can also order Marine AI to watch barricades, courtyards, streets, and alleyways. Once ordered, Marine AI will move to the position in which the command was given by the Team Lead and hold this position while scanning the target area for threats. “Watch” is just one of the many ways in which Team Leads can split the fireteam to assault enemies from multiple sides.
Advance!
“Advance” orders the fireteam to move to a specific area marked by the player. Once issued, Marine AI will traverse any environment created by Procedural Architecture to execute your order. This means that your teammates will navigate through rubble, staircases, doorways, and windows to reach their destination (all while eliminating potential threats). Once completed, Marines provide 360-degree security, continuously changing sight lines and covering all angles.
Suppress!
“Suppress” allows players to execute one of the most basic of all military tactics – but something that is unavailable in other military shooters right now—Fire and Maneuver (one example of which is Fix and Flank). The “Suppress” command orders your fireteam to suppress enemies by achieving fire superiority. Once ordered, Marine AI will move to the position in which the command was given by the Team Lead and unload firepower on a specific area marked by the player. Suppressed enemies hunker down and hold their position, allowing players to make strategic advancements on the battlefield.
Form Up!
Marine fireteams try to move as single units whenever possible to provide security all around the team. “Form Up” causes the FIRE and ASSIST roles to return to you as the Team Lead. Similar to “Advance,” Marine AI will eliminate potential threats along the way. This is most useful after the fireteam is split using other GO! Commands and allows the fireteam to reset positioning, tactics, and strategy. Once they’re with you, the team will automatically try to provide 360-degree security around the team, helping your team move as a single unit.
Context Sensitive Commands
Additionally, there’s a series of other context sensitive GO! Commands available, depending on what you’re pointing at. When pointing at a door, for example, issuing an “Advance” command will order Marine AI to stack on that door to prepare for a breach.
DEVELOPER COMMENT
The fatal funnel is one of the most dangerous obstacles in urban combat, and breaching doorways was life or death for Marines in Fallujah. Breaching can take many forms in Six Days, depending on the desired tactic. Players can order Marine AI to kick open doorways and flood inside for abrupt and chaotic entries. Cracking open the door is another, slower option for more methodical strategies. Once cracked, players may toss a frag grenade inside or issue a combination of other GO! Commands to chain tactics together. Team Leads can also perform these same actions to open doorways themselves, with Marine AI following thereafter.
You can also issue a variety of other context sensitive commands. For example, you might have your team plant C4, open doors, disarm weapons caches, and much more. We want to offer players the functionality required while maintaining the speed, efficiency, and precision real-world combat requires.
In case you missed it, we announced our next major content update—“Command and Control”—launches on Thursday, November 7. For the first time, players can lead a fireteam of Marine AI completely solo in Six Days.
We also announced for the first time that the first two narrative campaign missions of our documentary videogame, one additional cooperative mission, a major graphics overhaul, as well as hundreds of bug fixes, will also be included in this -huge- update to the game.
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Thank you to our passionate community of players for being so patient with us. The next chapter of Six Days is coming, and it’s our biggest one yet (in fact, our next biggest ones don’t even compare). We’re anxious for everyone to experience a modern iteration of friendly AI, digest our story missions, and dive into our latest cooperative mission as our Early Access content catalogue thickens.
Join the community conversation and offer us feedback on our official Discord server!
https://discord.gg/SixDaysGame
