Day of Defeat box art
Day of Defeat (also known as "DoD") is a popular, team-based, multi-player, World War II, First-Person Shooter (FPS) computer game of the European Theater of World War II. It takes place around the year of 1944.
Gameplay
Day of Defeat is a 3-D multiplayer shooter that simulates squad-level infantry combat between the adversaries of World War II's European Theatre; the Allies (United States or Great Britain) and the Axis Powers (Germany). The goal is to complete various mission objectives, varying from capturing flags scattered across the map to the destruction of key objective installations.
Players can choose between British or American Allies armies and German Axis armies. In Day of Defeat:Source there are only American Allies and German Axis armies.
A round begins with two opposing teams starting simultaneously in their respective spawn area of a map. A round ends when one team accomplishes all of its objectives or the timer for the round reaches 0.
Player casualties become reinforcements which are supplied according to a timer. The reinforcements originate at spawn and can be composed of anywhere from 1 soldier to the entire team. The reinforcement timer is usually between 10-20 seconds, but this time may vary from server to server.
Like other Half-Life mods, Day of Defeat tracks each player's accomplishment in team objectives, how many enemies each player has killed and how many times each player has died. The game also tallies these statistics for the entire team, this reflects the team's score which is primarily based on objectives.
After many rounds, the game ends when a set time limit expires, and the team with the most objectives achieved is the winning team regardless of kills or casualties, except in the case where both teams have not achieved any objectives or are tied in the objective score. The scoreboard is displayed and the game is restarted with another map or the same map, depending on the server.
Map Objectives
Day of Defeat maps do not always require that both teams have the same objectives. Some of the more popular maps have different objectives for both teams.
- Conquest Mode (Or "Capture the Flag")
Players can capture a flag by standing near the flag for a certain amount of time. Certain flags require more than 1 player for capture. Flags are presented as either uncaptured (Grey), Axis (German Cross) or Allies (White Star in a Green Background or the Union Flag if the Allied team is British). Certain maps such as dod_charlie do not allow a captured flag to be recaptured by the defending team.
- Destroy target
Players destroy a target by first planting a bomb at the target. The bomb is obtained from the spawn area, fallen team mates, or from the enemy spawn and vice versa. To plant the bomb, the player has to just stand within the designated bomb area. Bombs once planted cannot be defused or removed and will detonate in a sizeable explosion that is capable of killing both friend and foe alike. In certain maps such as dod_jagd, players may destroy targets (enemy tanks)with the use of either Satchels or Rocket Launchers.
- Capture target
This is a variation of the Capture The Flag mode. Instead of a flag, a target (truck, airplane, or building) can be captured.
- Capture item
Players attempt to capture an item (secret documents) and return it to a designated location.
History
DoD began as a Half-Life 3rd party mod in 2001. Later, the DoD team joined Valve Software and produced a standalone version published through Activision. DoD (ver.1.0) was officially released in May 2003. It was converted over to the Steam delivery system in version 1.1. Steam is now required to play DoD. Day of Defeat: Source was released on September 26, 2005.
With the initial release of the game (when classes included only Support Infantry, Sergeant, Rifleman or Sniper), choosing a class determined the speed of the player. Rifleman moved the fastest and Support Infantry moved the slowest. Sergeants moved at a medium pace.
With the release of Beta 2.0 in October 2001, players witnessed the expansion of character classes and the speed differential was eliminated. This version added the Allied Staff Sergeant class who carried an M1 Carbine. The Axis Sniper Rifle from the Beta 1.x releases, (the Gewehr 43), was replaced with a scoped model of the Karabiner 98K (K98k in-game), in order to more effectively balance the Axis and Allied sniper classes. Furthermore, both sides now received general Purpose Machine Guns (.30 Caliber Browning M1919 for the Allies, and the MG34 and MG42 models for the Axis), which added a new tactical element to the game. Also, so called head-bobbing or gun-sway was introduced, so players could no longer simply point and shoot while moving, but now had to stand still for improved accuracy. Gun kick was also introduced, and kneeling and lying down alleviated this and made a player's shot more accurate.
Beta 3.0 was released in July 2002 and added the Allied Sergeant, who carried a M3 Grease Gun, as well as the para gameplay mode which was similar to Counter-Strike in that players did not re-spawn until the end of the round. The Germans could now also choose between two models of the powerful and deafeningly loud FG 42 Fallschirmjäger (bipod/scope) and the Gewehr could now be selected as a class, in order to compete with the semi-automatic Garand rifle the Allies used. Valve then made Day of Defeat an official valve mod and released 1.0v in May 2003 which featured a lot of changes. Activision distributed a retail version of the game though it could still be downloaded for free, if the player has Half-Life. Later version 1.1 became the first Steam release. 1.0 included quite a few new features - the pace of the game was increased, which helped to attract new players. Friendly-fire was made non-default, an on-screen map where one's allies and thrown grenades were displayed was added, as was a Battlefield-style flag hanging over the head of friends and foes for identification. Pop-up help messages, spoken by a dog wearing a helmet (in the same vein as Microsoft's Office Assistant), also appeared in v1.0. Bleeding - a key feature of the betas - was removed, as testing found that new players had difficulty understanding the concept of pressing the bandage key when health could not be recovered. Night time battlefields were removed as they tended to be the least-played of the beta maps. Version 1.0 also included auto-reload (which defaulted to "always on"), some new maps and major modifications to some old maps (eg. Anzio). At first old players felt that the Garand had been made weaker, adding an Axis bias to the game. It was later learned that there were issues with hitboxes, which caused a lot of shots to register as hitting different body parts and doing less damage. British Troops were also issued in 1.0, but were only featured in 3 maps and had only 5 weapon classes. The American Bazooka, German Panzershreck and British PIAT became independent classes in 1.2v and Mortar-classes were proposed, but never got released. Para-maps were kept, but the special gameplay was removed and replaced by the traditional Flag-capture or objective gameplay. Version 1.0 also introduced the bipod for the BAR, allowing for it to be deployed in the same locations as the machine guns and FG42s. In September 2005 Day of Defeat: Source was released.
Classes and Weapons
Day of Defeat features historical weaponry used during World War II, them and what selectable classes that use them are listed below.
Players may also drop their main weapon in order to pick up those left by dead soldiers or discarded by other players, thus Allied players can wield Axis guns and vice versa.
Controls
Along with the standard movement controls of any first-person shooter game, Day of Defeat has several other controls.
- Sprint
Holding the sprint button is used to make a quick dash. The player will lose stamina during the sprint. If there is no more stamina, the player stops sprinting and moves very slowly. The player can regain stamina by crouching, walking or going prone. The player can stop sprinting at any time by releasing the sprint button (Default controls is Shift).
- Prone
A player can go prone by pressing the prone button. A player in prone position will have increased accuracy and lower recoil while firing his weapon. Certain weapons can also be deployed such as the Medium Machine Guns by right-clicking. Players can stand up by pressing the prone button while in prone position. However, if a weapon has been deployed, it will have to be un-deployed by right-clicking again before the player can get back up. It takes a second or two until the weapon can be used (Default controls is Z)
- Drop Weapon
The player may drop the tertiary (third)weapon by pressing the "drop weapon" key. This allows the player to swap to a weapon left on the ground by someone else, thus acquiring a weapon that the class would not normally have, including the weapons of enemies. This only works with the main weapon, and not with melee weapons (knives/shovels) or handguns (Default controls is G).
- Drop Grenade
The player can drop a grenade that has been primed (by pressing the mouse button) by pressing the "Pick Up Grenade/Use Item" button (default E). This allows the player to throw a grenade that will detonate more quickly, as part of its detonation sequence is used up by dropping it. The player can also pick up the thrown grenades of friends and foes and throw them if they have enough time. If the player primes a grenade and drop it, they have the typical five seconds that a grenade takes being thrown regularly to throw the grenade. Should the player fail, the grenade will detonate in their hand and they will immediately die.
Suicide grenade The player can carry a primed grenade into a group of enemies and kill or injure all those around that are within range.
- Drop Ammo
There are 2 drop ammo buttons. 1 button drops ammo for the same class as the player. The other drops a box of ammunition's for the mg34 or mg42 class. The other player can pick up the ammo by walking over it. In the latest version this has been changed to one button and the ammunition dropped is usable by any class on the team.
- Bandage
If bleeding, the player must bandage himself to prevent death. Bleeding normally occurs if the player survives an attack which causes near fatal damage. This feature was removed after Day of Defeat left the betas, although a medic class was proposed.
Maps
Day of Defeat maps muster scenarios of historical World War II battles such as the Omaha Beach invasion during D-Day requiring teams to control territory and complete objectives. Territorial control scenarios require the players to capture flags at important choke points throughout the map. Objective-based maps take players into battle for mission targets, such as a bridge or German Nebelwerfer (artillery) or any other various tactical targets. To achieve most tasks requires the players to use TNT charges at the objective. The many different possible objectives types include "clandestine missions", such as obtaining secret documents and returning them to headquarters. Map overview of dod heutau b1 Map overview of dod heutau b1
Official DoD maps included with the game encompass scenes such as the infamous battle at Omaha Beach (dod_charlie), street fighting in the Italian city of Salerno during Operation Avalanche (dod_avalanche), and a Glider mission where the American 101st Airborne lands in a WACO Glider and has to destroy such objectives as a radio antenna and FLaK 88mm Anti-Aircraft gun (dod_glider).
Custom DoD maps available for download are also frequently constructed and remodelled by independent designers thus creating battles with unlimited missions for players to experience. Several servers specialize in Counter-Strike maps.
Day of Defeat maps offer the player the ability to blast through certain parts of the map to gain entry into new sections. This offers a twist to normal map strategies. The sections are normally marked with a crack in the wall, which can be opened by either planting a bomb or by shooting a rocket at it.
League and Clan's
There have been various DoD leagues over the years, but one of the most famous is TPG. [1]
Bots
Although Day of Defeat is primarily multiplayer online, an offline mode with user-created bots (computer-controlled opponents) can also be played. Popular DoD bots are SturmBOT [1] and ShrikeBot [2]. It is also possible for the server admin to add an arbitrary number of bots to the game.
Notes and references :
Requirements:
-Minimum:
Pentium III 700MHz, 128MB RAM, 32MB 3D accelerator
-Legislative
Pentium III Celeron 512MB RAM, 32MB 3D accelator + pixel shader 0.6