This is the official beta info & feedback thread for the UMS Survivors vs. Swarm
What is SvS (Survivors vs. Swarm)?
SvS is a zombie map unlike anything you may have played on Battle.net before. This zombie map is a competitive 3v3, 4v4, or 5v5 game heavily inspired by the game Left 4 Dead. There are two teams which compete to "survive" the zombie apocalypse the longest. Each team plays as either the Survivors, or the Swarm.
Meet the Survivors
The Survivors are tasked with escaping the city alive. They each have up to 4 unique abilities, and working as a team is crucial to winning. Each team will get to play the Survivors one time, and whoever can get the furthest in the map without everyone dying, will win the game.
Ace Gunner, the Soldier: Ace is a medium range DPS role, armed with a fully automatic gauss rifle and grenades. He has the unique ability to break out of the grip of the swarm, also increasing his movement speed for 5 seconds. His ultimate ability grants nearby allies a double damage buff and an incredible boost to speed for 15 seconds. He is best suited at mowing down lines of zombies, or freeing teammates from the clutches of the Superiors.
Hawk Infra, the Sniper: Hawk has a knack for detecting and wiping out Superiors. Her firepower is limited however, it does large amounts of damage and can pierce up to 3 targets in a straight line. Her secondary attack launches a wave of psionic energy which gives her the ability to scout, stun enemies, and damage them slightly. Periodically she can sense targets within a long range, and increase her attack range by 100% during that time. This will also reveal buried or hidden targets. Finally, her ultimate spawns clones which explode upon death and also reveals heights. Her role on the team is to keep an eye out for the Superiors on the Swarm team and dispatch them efficiently before they can get within a dangerous reach of the Survivors.
Dex Noes, the Engineer: Dex carries a fully packed arm-grafted decimator shotgun, and combat drones which can be deployed to perform a number of tasks. His drone ability is different from the rest of his allies' secondary attack. He can deploy combat drones as either an automatic firing turret, a land mine, or an observer which detects and reveals heights in the area it is thrown. Dex can deploy a nullifier field for 3 seconds which reduces all damage taken to 0. His ultimate ability summons his pet mechanical tigre "S.A.B.R.E" which aids him in battle, giving the group a small movement and damage buff while in play. Dex specializes in group support and does reasonably high damage to close-range targets. Also, Dex has much lower HP than the rest of his group, but a protoss plasma shield installed on his armor to protect him. While more fragile, he can serve as a quasi-tank because of his regenerating shield.
Rush Bulwark, the Guardian: Rush is a Dark Templar, thrown into the Survivor's misfortune by chance. He carries a plasma sabre and can blink "through" enemies, eviscerating most targets instantly. Unlike the rest of the survivors, Rush uses no ammo and has no need for it. However, he is limited to melee range attacks. His third ability is a wide-range stun, and his ultimate will repel all enemies for 15 seconds. His role is, of course, a tank, due to his high hp and regenerating shield. He can take quite a beating for the team, and his job is primarily to disable the Superiors if they jump his teammates. He is immune to the Predator's pounce attack.
Pyro, the Destroyer: Pyro carries a flamethrower built into his armor, and can fire molotov shells as his secondary attack. His ability to wipe out swarm zombies is unprecedented, as his flame attack can hit a wide area of targets simultaneously, and deals more damage the closer to the source of the flame targets get. His third ability will stop a target cold in its tracks, before the shell bursts and decimates targets all around it. Finally, he has the power to nuke the entire screen clean of enemies in one fell swoop, but this should be used with caution as it hurts teammates as well if they aren't nearby him. Enemies nearby will also be spared, however.
---------
Meet the Swarm
The Swarm team is primarily the AI controlled zombies which spawn in massive droves all over the map as the Survivors navigate throughout it. However, multiple "Superiors" as they are called, spawn from the remote hatcheries planted by the zerg during their assault. These Superiors possess greater intellect and powers that will make the Survivors run a living hell.
All Swarm can "Tunnel" to any location in the map, and they can also see the Survivors at all time. In order to tunnel to a location, they must not be near any Survivors where they wish to tunnel -from-, and they cannot tunnel -to- any location that is too close either. Tunneling takes 3 seconds to cast.
The Predator: Predators can leap great distances and are very agile/deadly if ignored. With one fell swoop, a Predator can pounce its victim and rip them to shreds fairly quickly. Once their victim is on the ground, there is no escape until the Predator is disabled or killed. Ace can break himself out of a pounce if his Hardened Resolve ability is not on cooldown.
The Strangler: Stranglers are a sneaky strain of the swarm which fire a tendril over a great distance at their victims. Once hooked, the victim is disabled and pulled slowly towards the Strangler. The Survivors can "Shove" their teammates out of the grasp of a Strangler, if they cannot immediately kill it. However, a well placed pull can completely devastate the positioning of the Survivor team.
The Swarmer: Swarmers belch a putrid bile on their victims, coating them with a scent that attracts zerglings to attack. It also blinds and slows the victim, however, the more targets hit by the bile, the more zerglings that attack. Also, when the Swarmer dies, it explodes, covering any nearby victims with the same bile, and causing the same effect. Their job, unlike the previous two Superiors is to slow the Survivors down as much as possible. They die fairly quickly, so positioning to surprise the Survivors is essential, as they are also pretty slow.
The Lurker: Lurkers are the most sturdy of the Superiors, with a large health pool, they can burrow underground, waiting for victims to pass over them. As they pass, they stealthily reach out from underground, gripping the ankles of their victims, holding them rooted to the ground until detected and killed. As they hold on, their hp slowly drains, but like the Swarmer, their job is primarily to aid the minor swarm and slow down the Survivors, or lock them in place long enough for a strategical ambush.
The Behemoth: The mother strain of the Swarm. These bad motherfuckers are gigantic, will wreak plenty of havoc on the Survivors if allowed to get too close. The Behemoth throws rocks, cars, even other Swarm at the Survivors. In addition to throwing things, the Behemoth can cause massive damage and stun all targets it gets into melee range with. Mutations of this caliber require time to develop, as only one can be spawned every 15 minutes, so strategic use of the Behemoth is crucial to stopping the Survivors.
-------
So what's so special about this zombie map over others?
A mix of MOBA-style play, and "real-time" aiming come into play here. All attacks require some kind of aim to hit their targets, this isn't a typical zombie UMS where you A-move, and go afk while your characters tear up the zombie hordes. Both teams must time and aim their attacks accurately to do the most damage.
Using a targetting line to guide your attacks, you can attack targets in different ways based on the weapons of the Survivor that you pick. For instance, Ace's machinegun attacks in a straight line, dealing quick light damage to everything in front of him. Meanwhile, Dex's shotgun does scatter damage each time he fires, doing more damage to targets that are in close range.
In addition to having to aim attacks, each weapon has a limited magazine of ammo. Picking up ammo and conserving it is crucial to survival, as there is very limited amounts scattered about the map. To circumvent this, every Survivor has the ability to "Shove" enemies, a very weak melee attack that pushes any targets nearby away from them. While this uses no ammo, and can be efficient when used as a group, it also is slower than mowing zombies down (obviously), and will have very little effect on most Superiors other than stopping a disable. Additionally, you can "Shove" an ally to break them out of the Strangler's choke ability.
------
So it's Left 4 Dead Multiplayer, on Starcraft?
Basically. If you know how to play L4D, this is the closest mod on BattleNet to it!
How do you determine who wins?
Each team takes turns playing the Survivors, and the Swarm. After 2 rounds, whichever team got the Survivors the furthest in the map, with the most health, and the least incapacitations, wins. Scoring is based on the above factors, so sticking together will make or break your performance rating.
When the Survivor team is either wiped, or makes it to the end, the round ends and you switch teams. So the Swarm must do a good job at wiping the Survivors as efficiently as possible to make their run as the Survivors easier in order to win.
Replayability: Why play this more than once?
Well, basically each game pre-determines where zombies will spawn, or where ammo/medkits will spawn at random. Every game will have the same number of ammo packs and medkits, but they will always be in different locations.
So what if one team gets luckier than the other?
There is no "luck" involved. The spawns are determined at the beginning of the game, so they will always spawn in the same locations for both teams, but the spawn points are randomly generated so each game will not play the same. Also, the Swarm team are a factor in each game, so a competitive factor is included which will make each game a new experience.
HOW DO I FIND YOUR MAP?
If you can't find it on the first 5-6 pages of the BNet List (I know, it sucks -_-), click "Show NEW ONLY" and check the first 3-4 pages. I'll be hosting games periodically in hopes of bumping some popularity.
Don't forget to report bugs on this thread or contact me in-game to set up a game @ Mephs.303
Enjoy!
-
Screens & Videos
Dex holds off a wave of zombies as a rogue radio broadcast directs the Survivors to safety
Real-time aiming requires you to direct your fire. LOS and friendly fire apply. Dex's main attack is a scatter-fire shotgun.
Dex, the Engineer protects his pet "cat" S.A.B.R.E. with the Nullifier field. Of course, these have longer cooldowns than the rest of his abilities.
Strategic use of the landscape is crucial to survival. Dex is pinned up in the corner of the statue pedestal. Zombies deal double damage if they hit your back, so always keep your back to the wall when overwhelmed. You can also see the aiming line as he readies a powerful blast from his shotgun.
Five unique roles to choose from. Each character has their own primary and secondary ammo based attacks, and 2 more cooldown abilities which support the group or inflict massive hurt on the swarm.
BTW maps on 3rd or 4th page dont have players when you join game. I look at this as a BUG.
And what is actually map name ? ...
Dude, you have to be specific about some things. You are calling you maps "SvS (Survivors vs. Swarm)" and "Survivors vs. Swarm (SvS)" and "SvS" and "Survivors vs. Swarm". Now I would need to search it like that...
Video critique - I was a bit distracted by the soundtrack, by the way. Maybe turning it down to a background level with more of the in game sound coming through. And I didn't read much of the explanation text because I was mostly focusing on the action. Perhaps a voice over dub would be much more helpful. Oh and I hate when peeps don't post soundtrack credits in youtube videos! ;) Sounded like a bad TechItch and the Prodigy rip offs?
This is the official beta info & feedback thread for the UMS Survivors vs. Swarm
What is SvS (Survivors vs. Swarm)?
SvS is a zombie map unlike anything you may have played on Battle.net before. This zombie map is a competitive 3v3, 4v4, or 5v5 game heavily inspired by the game Left 4 Dead. There are two teams which compete to "survive" the zombie apocalypse the longest. Each team plays as either the Survivors, or the Swarm.
Meet the Survivors
The Survivors are tasked with escaping the city alive. They each have up to 4 unique abilities, and working as a team is crucial to winning. Each team will get to play the Survivors one time, and whoever can get the furthest in the map without everyone dying, will win the game.
Ace Gunner, the Soldier: Ace is a medium range DPS role, armed with a fully automatic gauss rifle and grenades. He has the unique ability to break out of the grip of the swarm, also increasing his movement speed for 5 seconds. His ultimate ability grants nearby allies a double damage buff and an incredible boost to speed for 15 seconds. He is best suited at mowing down lines of zombies, or freeing teammates from the clutches of the Superiors.
Hawk Infra, the Sniper: Hawk has a knack for detecting and wiping out Superiors. Her firepower is limited however, it does large amounts of damage and can pierce up to 3 targets in a straight line. Her secondary attack launches a wave of psionic energy which gives her the ability to scout, stun enemies, and damage them slightly. Periodically she can sense targets within a long range, and increase her attack range by 100% during that time. This will also reveal buried or hidden targets. Finally, her ultimate spawns clones which explode upon death and also reveals heights. Her role on the team is to keep an eye out for the Superiors on the Swarm team and dispatch them efficiently before they can get within a dangerous reach of the Survivors.
Dex Noes, the Engineer: Dex carries a fully packed arm-grafted decimator shotgun, and combat drones which can be deployed to perform a number of tasks. His drone ability is different from the rest of his allies' secondary attack. He can deploy combat drones as either an automatic firing turret, a land mine, or an observer which detects and reveals heights in the area it is thrown. Dex can deploy a nullifier field for 3 seconds which reduces all damage taken to 0. His ultimate ability summons his pet mechanical tigre "S.A.B.R.E" which aids him in battle, giving the group a small movement and damage buff while in play. Dex specializes in group support and does reasonably high damage to close-range targets. Also, Dex has much lower HP than the rest of his group, but a protoss plasma shield installed on his armor to protect him. While more fragile, he can serve as a quasi-tank because of his regenerating shield.
Rush Bulwark, the Guardian: Rush is a Dark Templar, thrown into the Survivor's misfortune by chance. He carries a plasma sabre and can blink "through" enemies, eviscerating most targets instantly. Unlike the rest of the survivors, Rush uses no ammo and has no need for it. However, he is limited to melee range attacks. His third ability is a wide-range stun, and his ultimate will repel all enemies for 15 seconds. His role is, of course, a tank, due to his high hp and regenerating shield. He can take quite a beating for the team, and his job is primarily to disable the Superiors if they jump his teammates. He is immune to the Predator's pounce attack.
Pyro, the Destroyer: Pyro carries a flamethrower built into his armor, and can fire molotov shells as his secondary attack. His ability to wipe out swarm zombies is unprecedented, as his flame attack can hit a wide area of targets simultaneously, and deals more damage the closer to the source of the flame targets get. His third ability will stop a target cold in its tracks, before the shell bursts and decimates targets all around it. Finally, he has the power to nuke the entire screen clean of enemies in one fell swoop, but this should be used with caution as it hurts teammates as well if they aren't nearby him. Enemies nearby will also be spared, however.
---------Meet the Swarm
The Swarm team is primarily the AI controlled zombies which spawn in massive droves all over the map as the Survivors navigate throughout it. However, multiple "Superiors" as they are called, spawn from the remote hatcheries planted by the zerg during their assault. These Superiors possess greater intellect and powers that will make the Survivors run a living hell.
All Swarm can "Tunnel" to any location in the map, and they can also see the Survivors at all time. In order to tunnel to a location, they must not be near any Survivors where they wish to tunnel -from-, and they cannot tunnel -to- any location that is too close either. Tunneling takes 3 seconds to cast.
The Predator: Predators can leap great distances and are very agile/deadly if ignored. With one fell swoop, a Predator can pounce its victim and rip them to shreds fairly quickly. Once their victim is on the ground, there is no escape until the Predator is disabled or killed. Ace can break himself out of a pounce if his Hardened Resolve ability is not on cooldown.
The Strangler: Stranglers are a sneaky strain of the swarm which fire a tendril over a great distance at their victims. Once hooked, the victim is disabled and pulled slowly towards the Strangler. The Survivors can "Shove" their teammates out of the grasp of a Strangler, if they cannot immediately kill it. However, a well placed pull can completely devastate the positioning of the Survivor team.
The Swarmer: Swarmers belch a putrid bile on their victims, coating them with a scent that attracts zerglings to attack. It also blinds and slows the victim, however, the more targets hit by the bile, the more zerglings that attack. Also, when the Swarmer dies, it explodes, covering any nearby victims with the same bile, and causing the same effect. Their job, unlike the previous two Superiors is to slow the Survivors down as much as possible. They die fairly quickly, so positioning to surprise the Survivors is essential, as they are also pretty slow.
The Lurker: Lurkers are the most sturdy of the Superiors, with a large health pool, they can burrow underground, waiting for victims to pass over them. As they pass, they stealthily reach out from underground, gripping the ankles of their victims, holding them rooted to the ground until detected and killed. As they hold on, their hp slowly drains, but like the Swarmer, their job is primarily to aid the minor swarm and slow down the Survivors, or lock them in place long enough for a strategical ambush.
The Behemoth: The mother strain of the Swarm. These bad motherfuckers are gigantic, will wreak plenty of havoc on the Survivors if allowed to get too close. The Behemoth throws rocks, cars, even other Swarm at the Survivors. In addition to throwing things, the Behemoth can cause massive damage and stun all targets it gets into melee range with. Mutations of this caliber require time to develop, as only one can be spawned every 15 minutes, so strategic use of the Behemoth is crucial to stopping the Survivors.
-------So what's so special about this zombie map over others?
A mix of MOBA-style play, and "real-time" aiming come into play here. All attacks require some kind of aim to hit their targets, this isn't a typical zombie UMS where you A-move, and go afk while your characters tear up the zombie hordes. Both teams must time and aim their attacks accurately to do the most damage.
Using a targetting line to guide your attacks, you can attack targets in different ways based on the weapons of the Survivor that you pick. For instance, Ace's machinegun attacks in a straight line, dealing quick light damage to everything in front of him. Meanwhile, Dex's shotgun does scatter damage each time he fires, doing more damage to targets that are in close range.
In addition to having to aim attacks, each weapon has a limited magazine of ammo. Picking up ammo and conserving it is crucial to survival, as there is very limited amounts scattered about the map. To circumvent this, every Survivor has the ability to "Shove" enemies, a very weak melee attack that pushes any targets nearby away from them. While this uses no ammo, and can be efficient when used as a group, it also is slower than mowing zombies down (obviously), and will have very little effect on most Superiors other than stopping a disable. Additionally, you can "Shove" an ally to break them out of the Strangler's choke ability.
------So it's Left 4 Dead Multiplayer, on Starcraft?
Basically. If you know how to play L4D, this is the closest mod on BattleNet to it!
How do you determine who wins?
Each team takes turns playing the Survivors, and the Swarm. After 2 rounds, whichever team got the Survivors the furthest in the map, with the most health, and the least incapacitations, wins. Scoring is based on the above factors, so sticking together will make or break your performance rating.
When the Survivor team is either wiped, or makes it to the end, the round ends and you switch teams. So the Swarm must do a good job at wiping the Survivors as efficiently as possible to make their run as the Survivors easier in order to win.
Replayability: Why play this more than once?
Well, basically each game pre-determines where zombies will spawn, or where ammo/medkits will spawn at random. Every game will have the same number of ammo packs and medkits, but they will always be in different locations.
So what if one team gets luckier than the other?
There is no "luck" involved. The spawns are determined at the beginning of the game, so they will always spawn in the same locations for both teams, but the spawn points are randomly generated so each game will not play the same. Also, the Swarm team are a factor in each game, so a competitive factor is included which will make each game a new experience.
HOW DO I FIND YOUR MAP?
If you can't find it on the first 5-6 pages of the BNet List (I know, it sucks -_-), click "Show NEW ONLY" and check the first 3-4 pages. I'll be hosting games periodically in hopes of bumping some popularity.
Don't forget to report bugs on this thread or contact me in-game to set up a game @ Mephs.303
Enjoy!
-Screens & Videos
Videos
Give it a couple try's before you decide if you like it or not.
It can be a lot of fun after you know whats up.
EU or US ???
BTW maps on 3rd or 4th page dont have players when you join game. I look at this as a BUG.
And what is actually map name ? ...
Dude, you have to be specific about some things. You are calling you maps "SvS (Survivors vs. Swarm)" and "Survivors vs. Swarm (SvS)" and "SvS" and "Survivors vs. Swarm". Now I would need to search it like that...
@tigerija: Go
US, if someone wants to host it on EU hit me up.
And yea thats called the "BNet sucks hard" glitch.
vjeux puts things from us to eu ask him. birbe him with kittens always works
@deleted_4551290: Go
Will do ;)
Demo video added!
I gotta try this, looks awesome. I'll try and hit it up tonight.
Video Looks pretty good I just sent Sixen a pm to news it. =)
Still lookin for a EU host :), the aforementioned has a full queue it seems.
i could upload the map for you on the eu servers :) i already uploaded 5 maps of other us guys so it should be fine^^
Look good. I'll give it a try when it will be up on EU.
Blizz should enable some of their services so we can cross region maps.
Yea this looks good. Hopefully you get it to EU.
Good job!
Currently installing Win7. I can upload it for you to EU. vjeux has his slots filled already.
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Curse Premium@Mephs: Go
Looks really nice. I'm going to give it a try.
Video critique - I was a bit distracted by the soundtrack, by the way. Maybe turning it down to a background level with more of the in game sound coming through. And I didn't read much of the explanation text because I was mostly focusing on the action. Perhaps a voice over dub would be much more helpful. Oh and I hate when peeps don't post soundtrack credits in youtube videos! ;) Sounded like a bad TechItch and the Prodigy rip offs?
@zenasprime: Go
State of Mind & PNC: City on Fire Prodigy: Spitfire
There. I'm no video editting expert just puttin that out there lol.
Game is now at the very top of page 2 on SHOW NEW list. :D
Not saying I like or dislike this, but Left 4 Dead really wasn't all that good.
@ZeroAme: I think Left 4 Dead was an awesome game if you played it with friends, though l4d2 sucked.
@Mephs: have you already chosen someone to upload the map on the eu servers for you?
@SebSC2: Go
Good Question. Wanna try it out and post feedback.
@ZeroAme: Go
Like anything else, you'll either enjoy it or hate it. I don't think everyone is 100% pleasable.
Gorandor if you're on IRC i can get the map to you.