Types of Network Games Assassin Each team has a target unit (or units) who has a double thick yellow border when they're selected (on most levels this target member is a Baron). The object of the game is to assassinate your opponentsÕ targets before they can get to yours. If your target is killed at any time in the game you're eliminated from the game and your troops will disappear. Similarly, if you eliminate an opponent's target they will be eliminated and all of their troops will disappear. The winner is the person who eliminates the most enemy targets. In case of a tie the winner is whoever eliminated an enemy target earliest in the game. There's a variation of the Assassin game known affectionately as "Choke the Chicken." This game is identical to a normal game of Assassin, except that the target units are uncontrollable chickens. Balls On Parade Each team starts the game in possession of a ball. The objective is to capture as many of your opponentsÕ balls as possible. When time runs out, the player with the biggest set of balls wins. Captures A number of balls are placed on the battlefield. The winner is the player who is the uncontested owner of the most balls at the end of the match. Similar to Territories, although the movable nature of the balls means that you can dribble the balls back to a well-fortified position rather than spreading your troops thin across the entire map. Flag Rally There are up to nine flags on the battlefield. The winner is the first player to capture all of them. It is not necessary to defend a flag after it has been captured; touch it and move on. Hunting Each team struggles to kill the most wildlife. Every target animal has a certain point value; the player with the most points at the end of the game wins. The wildlife loses. Sometimes. Last Man on The Hill One area of the map is designated as the hill and marked with a flag. The hill is captured when one or more of your units moves within a certain range of the flag and no enemy units are within range. The winner is the last player in control of the hill, regardless of how long they have possessed it. Tactics in this game are quite interesting, as you must preserve as much of your force as possible for your final assault on the hill. If time runs out and the flag is contested, the game will switch to sudden death overtime until one player has uncontested control of the hill. Scavenger Hunt A number of balls are scattered around the map, and the first player to own all five wins. This game is similar to Flag Rally, although the ability to move the balls around the map adds another level of challenge. When dribbling the ball be careful to avoid obstacles (trees, houses, etc.), as the ball has a tendency to get stuck alongside them. If the ball does get stuck, you can always try blasting it free with a few well placed grenades. Stampede! Each team starts with a herd of animals (usually pigs) and a number of flags. The object of the game is to shepherd your herd to the enemy flags. When they are within contesting range of an enemy flag they will be teleported to safety and your team will gain a point for each teleported animal. The winner is the team with the most points at the end of the game. If neither team succeeds in teleporting their herd to safety the winner is the team with the greatest number of surviving herd beasts. As a variation of this game, some maps have only a center flag that will transport pigs from any team to safety- assuming you can get them there. Steal The Bacon Somewhere on the battlefield is a ball, which assumes the color of the last team that touched it. The object is to snatch the ball and keep it away from your opponents. The last team to own the ball is the winner. The game will switch to sudden death overtime if the ball is contested when time runs out. In order to place the net ball in the most advantageous spot on the map you must either dribble it there or blast it there using explosives. To dribble the ball select one of your units and line it up about ten feet behind the ball, but facing toward it. Your unit should form a straight line with the ball and his destination point. When everything is lined up correctly select your unit and click on the ball. Territories There are several flags on the map. The object is to capture and hold more flags than your opponents. Note that, unlike Flag Rally, you may need to leave units to guard each flag after capturing it. The game will switch to sudden death overtime if a flag is contested when the time runs out. The winner is the team in control of the most flags at the end of the game. Communication During Multiplayer Games The Whiteboard During network games - especially team games - you may find it useful to draw up a battle plan on the overhead map. Small pencil and eraser icons will appear beside the overhead map during multiplayer games. Clicking on the pencil puts the map in draw mode. Click on the pencil icon with your mouse, then click and hold the mouse button to draw on the overhead map. Clicking on the pencil again turns off draw mode. Clicking the eraser icon clears the map. YELLING YOU CAN SEND MESSAGES TO TEAMMATES AND OPPONENTS DURING A GAME. HIT THE YELL KEY THEN TYPE YOUR MESSAGE AND HIT RETURN/ENTER. YOUR MESSAGE WILL APPEAR AT THE BOTTOM OF EVERY PLAYER'S SCREEN. THE DEFAULT KEY IS SHIFT-Y. whispering You can also whisper to your teammates during team games using the Whisper key. The default Whisper key is Y. You can review the last 10 chat and game messages by pressing and holding the up arrow key. Unit Trading If you have clicked the Allow Unit Trading checkbox in the Game Options screen, you can exchange some of your units for others at the beginning of a multiplayer game. Trading can only occur before any of a teamÕs units have moved. To trade, consult the scoreboard which will appear at the top of the screen during planning time. Each unit is worth a certain number of points. Click the down arrow next to a unit type to remove one of those units from your force. Your available points will increase accordingly. You can spend those point by clicking the up arrow next to another unit. If you have enough points, you will add another of those units to your force. You can quickly trade for the maximum or minimum number of units by holding down the shift key while pressing the up or down arrow beside the unit you're trading for. Post-Game Carnage Statistics After a multiplayer game has ended, all players will return to the Game Setup screen. In place of the list of available games will be the Post-Game Carnage Statistics list, graphs which show just how well you did. All stats are written as team scores, with single players constituting a team of one. Rank - Team rankings Perm - The running stats for that gaming session Score vs. Time - Progressive score over time Kills vs. Time - Kills over time by team Damage vs. Time - Damage inflicted over time Units vs. Time - Number of surviving units per team over time Team Kills vs. Other Teams - Which teams were beating on which Internet Latency An inevitable reality of the Internet is that latency (the measure of time that it takes for your computer to send and receive information over the net) will cause games played over the Internet to sometimes Òhiccup,Ó jump or slow down. There are a few things you can do to reduce these internet anomalies if you are using a modem. Using the control panel or configuration software for your modem, turn off error correction and turn on TCP/IP header compression. Multiplayer Tips Myth II: Soulblighter is a dynamic game of ebb and flow of forces on the battlefield. In general, keeping your forces moving Ð charging and retreating, feinting and flanking Ð will keep you safer than parking a group in one location and waiting for the enemy to take them out. Units who do explosive damage can be as much a threat to your forces as to the enemy. Wights are typically best kept a good distance from friendly formations, warlocks need to have a clear path to the enemy, and dwarves need to be maneuvered carefully lest they throw too near your forces, or explode upon dying and cause friendly casualties. Keep your projectile units on the highest ground possible. A line of bowmen at the crest of a hill firing down have a distinct advantage over a line at the bottom of the hill, firing up. Be careful when firing into a melee, as you're likely to shoot your own troops in the back. Don't engage an enemy of superior strength unless you plan on sitting out the rest of the game. Wait until they've been weakened, and then pounce on them. If you think you're about to be overwhelmed, consider pulling back to a more defensible spot, even if it means sacrificing a few units. There's nothing as satisfying as tricking your opponent into range of a wight. Hide your wights in deep water early in the game, and then try to maneuver your enemy so he is vulnerable. Use fast units like Gh™ls to rush and disrupt enemy projectile formations, allowing your slower units to advance in safety. Keeping missile units moving away from danger is a great way to neutralize them. Use Thrall as a living wall to protect units while they advance. A vanguard of Thrall makes a great protective barrier for moving Dwarves forward. Many undead units can also be hidden under water indefinitely. Don't commit all of your troops too early in a net game. The winning team in a game of Last Man or Bacon is usually the team with the most patience...and the most sack. It's often useful to assign your units to presets at the beginning of a network game, and then use the F key to cycle quickly between the groups. The Scoring System The bungie.net scoring system is a combination of mathematics and voodoo magicÑ while it's calculated mathematically, it's complicated, and will sometimes seem like voodoo magic. The system is designed to reward skill above all. For example, a high ranked player will gain few points for beating a low ranked opponent, while a low ranked player will gain considerable points for beating a high ranked opponent. Game Type Scores Each game type is scored separately, and has its own ranking system. Thus, it's possible to be the number one ranked player in Assassin without being highly ranked in any other game types. Overall Score Your overall score is a composite of your standings in all of the ranked game types. In order to have an exceptional overall score it's necessary to excel at a wide variety of game types. Rank Icons When you first log in to bungie.net your rank is an indicator of number of game played. The first rank you have will be a single dagger. After you've played one game in a ranked room your icon will change to a pair of daggers. After your third ranked game it will change to three daggers, and after your eighth you will be counted in the bungie.net ranking system. Rank icons are dependent upon overall score. The player with the highest overall score on bungie.net wears the Comet. The player with the next highest score wears the Sun, and the third highest wears the Eclipse. The fourth and fifth highest ranked players wear the Moon, while the sixth, seventh, and eighth wear the Crescent Moon. After the eight named ranks, icons are given out according to what percentage range your score falls within. Orders Orders Ð teams of Myth players Ð have been around since before the release of Myth: The Fallen Lords. While our original support of Orders was merely an icon and a link on the bungie.net web page, things have drastically changed. Orders are now an integral part of bungie.netÐ players wear their Order icons as player icons, and their group performance affects their Order's rank. For a game to affect your Order's scores, two requirements must be met. First, every player in the game must be in an Order. Second, each represented Order must have at least three players present, none of which are observers. Order Scores Game type and overall scores for Orders are calculated the same way as individual player scores. To learn more about Orders, visit some existing Order web pages, or to join or start your own Order, visit the bungie.net web page at http://www.bungie.net. bungie.net Code of Conduct bungie.net is a great place to make friends and have a lot of fun. However, the inherent anonymity and the broad origin of the audience also make it a place where you must be exceptionally careful to avoid offending other players. Use good judgement in your dealings with others and show respect, and you will be the recipient of the same. Admins Treat admins with honesty and respect. They've earned our trust, and they're volunteering their time to help make bungie.net a better place. Cheating Dummy accounts, hacked preferences, and any other attempts to artificially boost rank will not be tolerated. Language Not everyone on bungie.net shares your sense of humor. Be considerate to othersÐ don't swear, and go out of your way to avoid anything else that you think may be offensive. Visit http://www.bungie.net for a full list of the bungie.net rules. These rules are meant for everyone's benefit. If you break them or any other bungie.net rules then you face the risk of having your bungie.net account permanently revoked.