There are some people who play using classes, but that is mostly the folks who are involved in the Humans versus Zombies games at various universities. If it is your show, though, play however you like.
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[15:51] <+Noodle> titties [15:51] <+Rhadamanthys> titties [15:51] <+jakejagan> titties [15:51] <+Lucian> boobs [15:51] <+Gears> titties [15:51] <@Draconis> Titties. [15:52] <+Noodle> why is this so hard?
Generally NERF is about long range tagwith ineffective taggers and not a simulation of real war. If you want that, you're better off playing Airsoft or laser tag.
If you are not providing all the equipment, you're telling people that they can/can't use certain of their blasters depending on some arbitrary game mechanic. Basically, you're telling people that if they have the wrong blaster, they can't play your game. Which is a terrible thing to tell them if you want them to play.
Unless you're going really far out of your way to supply everything, you likewise can't overcome the basic NERF instincts: Scaving darts is a thing. Players pick them up off the ground and put them in their pockets. You can't possibly enforce an ammo-limit restriction.
All blasters can have basically equal performance given equal darts and equal FPS restrictions. A fully-automatic Rapid Strike can fire just about as far and as accurately as a bolt-action blaster as a pistol. The only difference is that the former can do it at ~12 DPS, then ~2, then ~.25. You could maybe cause some players to be more accurate by giving them significantly better darts and/or blasters than everyone else; if you supply everything give high-accuracy players Boomco, Rival, or Mega blasters while everyone else uses regular 0.5" foam darts.
My group usually plays 3 hits (to any part of the body, clothing, or blaster - hits are called by the shooter with an audible "Did that hit?" and acknowledged by the target with "Hit X", where X is the number of hits they've taken) and 30 second respawn at base (count out loud to 30 at the designated respawn area). Rockets are instant-eliminators, every other dart is just 1 hit. This works pretty well and is easy to keep track of. Making it any more complicated (We tried Mega darts count for 2 hits) doesn't work - in the heat of the competition, you can't reliably tell what kind of dart hit you. Fiddling with the numbers (3:15 is common on the East coast I hear) should be fine, but lower hits means you're out more often.
Melee needs to be handled carefully - lots of players hit harder than is appropriate and your main draw (NERF battling) isn't about melee so many players won't be ready for it. Don't use stock NERF melee weapons, they're not soft enough. Look up boffers and see which types -if any- you'd want to allow.
I appreciate your point of view. Some of our players have 1000-400 darts at their disposal others have 12. I do this to make the game more approachable to all skill levels. Some of my players will be worth upwards of 10 regular men on the battlefield. I will provide what i can to new players and many of our vet players would do the same. I will roughly follow orlandonerf guildes for archetypes. http://www.nerforlan...dier-types.html
I appreciate your point of view. Some of our players have 1000-400 darts at their disposal others have 12.
Supply darts then. It's only a few bucks to supply hundreds of darts (that's a link I found just now, not the best price I've seen). You could be in the thousands for less than $100, and asking your players to all pitch in $5 to cover dart costs could easily end you in the black.
I do this to make the game more approachable to all skill levels. Some of my players will be worth upwards of 10 regular men on the battlefield.
The best way to deal with this is to divvy them up among the teams rather than say "Hey guy, you're worth 10 other guys so you have 10 fewer people on your team". This is especially true when he's just as vulnerable to stray hits as anyone else, since all blasters are probably going to hit roughly the same ranges.
Also keep in mind: In NERF equipment > skill. Perhaps as in many things, but it can be especially deceptive when a guy shows up in full gear with a good-looking blaster and then fails to perform while the guy with one maverick wrecks everyone around him.
I will provide what i can to new players and many of our vet players would do the same. I will roughly follow orlandonerf guildes for archetypes. http://www.nerforlan...dier-types.html
- If you are on your last life and are killed then you are out of the battle - leave your weapon and bullets on the ground (but not custom weapons) and go inside the house until the next battle. Do not come outside or people will waste their shots thinking you are in the battle (adults are the exception).
ick. IMO, player elimination shouldn't be a thing - it makes the game unfun. In HvZ, you've got permanent team swapping, but you're never just plain out.
Hang on, might be best to go through point by point in their quote:
Spoiler
Honor Rules
... Actually pretty good and I like the 'honor-point' incentive given. It'd be tricky to enforce and keep track of unless you were super-organized though.
Safety Rules
- No intentional face shots. Very Yes, hard to enforce
- No physical contact with other players... Kind of contradictory with melee
- When striking with a melee weapon you may only tap the opponent - no hard contact. Super hard to enforce, players accidentally hit too hard in the heat of battle. Test and use safe melee weapons or use none at all.
- You must always wear eye protection... Very Yes
General Rules
- Only nerf guns may be used - no water or other weapon types. Ok as long as "NERF" also means "Buzzbee, Boomco, Mega, Rivals, etc. etc. etc." unless you are supplying all the stuff as before.
- Modified nerf guns are allowed, but none using CO2. Ok, but weak. Set a hard FPS (feet per second) limit on all blasters and enforce it with a chrono. 150 is usually considered highish super stock. I believe NH wars are around 200-220. Banning Co2 will irk some (If you're reading this Turok), but I think it's a good call until you know your players.
- Do not shoot or throw anything over the fences, out of bounds, or on to the roof. How do you judge that?
- No whining, complaining, or arguing - this will result in you sitting out for a while and/or losing a point. Should go in 'honor rules'
- Help collect equipment and darts...Ok
I'll address their ranks/roles later
Combat Rules
...
- Only hits to the torso or head count as kills (recons hits count as kills no matter where they hit) Bloody impossible to keep track of in an actual war, unless you're the guy constantly calling "I'm a recon, I hit you, you're dead!" which would get old fast or you're using an obviously-special ammo type (HIRs when nobody else has them, Rockets, Discs). Not using limbs is maybe feasible, but IMO unnecessary.
- Hits on you equipment (guns, shields, kevlar, melee weapons, etc) cause you to be unable to use them until repaired by an engineer. See above.
- If you are dead then you cannot communicate with other players at all...
- If you need healing then you can move to or call for a Medic, but not when you are dead. How do you judge this stuff?
- If you are on your last life and are killed then you are out of the battle - leave your weapon and bullets on the ground (but not custom weapons) and go inside the house until the next battle. Do not come outside or people will waste their shots thinking you are in the battle (adults are the exception). Yeah no. Only if you're supplying everything or your players are super comfortable with everyone there. We've had people walk off with/dissappear loaner blasters, I'd hate to be the guy who brought his only blaster only to get knocked out and have it stolen/misplaced.
On to their Soldier types:
So the current meta in the hobby nerf community is pretty strongly opposed to forced loadouts of any kind. I believe the reason is two fold, in addition to just that you're alinenating players:
1) The game isn't vast enough to really call for it. You're not fielding thousands (even hundreds) of players, you're not fighting armored vehicles, you're probably not even on a battlefield the size of a real battlefield. Even if you were, darts fired at a velocity safe to use on people will max out at several dozen yards. This is important because it implies a scale problem: I used to be able to cover 100 yards in ~10 seconds. You don't need a vehicle or artillery in a war where players are a few hundred feet apart at most. You could use emplacement blasters, but that'd be more like WWI than WWII: Trench warfare since anyone who pokes out will get mowed down by a higher ROF blaster with neigh-unlimited ammo.
2) The equipment isn't capable of replicating actual war/video games the way the loadouts imply. You can't reliably use a 'loser' to take players out who can return fire from just as far out as they can, and even if you did use it, no blaster is accurate enough to do that as a role reliably that isn't also replicible in a higher ROF blaster. Grenades are difficult to make/use and not as effective as you'd like them to be. Even if you wanted to use artilery, you couldn't since I can't think of a good safe way to deliver the rounds (Drone loaded with a bomb-bay of darts maybe?).
This is why I (and others) prefer to consider the 'soldier types' as self-asserted roles instead of fixed rule-based types. Generally I've categorized them thus:
Ninja - sock warrior/scout who uses socks and maybe also a pistol.
Blowgunner - if you allow it, these can be the closest to 'losers' you're likely to get. Alternatively someone who is a crack-shot using a modded Boomco M6.
Skirmisher - Your bulk players. Probably a single blaster, maybe it uses a turret. Not likely to be carrying much ammo, may or may not use mags.
Scavenger - Similar to a skirmisher, but usually intentional about it. Carries a blaster that loads on the fly and travels light so they can capture points and scout and stuff.
Player - For lack of a better term, someone who's invested in the hobby and has lots of good gear. Not automatically good, but should be balanced between teams.
Heavy - Someone who carries a mag or chain-fed semi/auto blaster with a ton of ammo onboard. Not automatically good, but should be balanced between teams.
Veteran - Someone who is actually known to be good with whatever they're using. Balance these guys out and ideally put them in charge of their team. If you're vet-heavy, put the noobs on the captain spot and have them pick vets for a fun time and to give the new guy a sense of importance and belonging.
Note that these are all player chosen and that you should not have rules governing them. A scavenger might have a bag-o-darts that holds 1,000 loose rounds, while a heavy might show up with 6-18's and call it a day. The only rules you need impose are ones observed from the game you're playing. If you see ninja's owning everybody, then you can consider limiting the amount of socks ninja's are allowed to carry (since you've got reason everyone has experianced to support your decision) or turning the meta into a ninja-war. If you see blowgunners getting smashed in the teeth, ban blowguns.
Fair rules to provide are things like medics and engineers. They do a gimmicky thing that can be fun, if the ruleset you've designed/chosen allows for them. Use care if you want them and try vanilla rounds first.
Having different kill zones for different roles is a bad idea that is just going to lead to a lot of arguments and a lot of angry players.
Also the most likely outcome of your current class system is that 95% of your players just choose Commando so they can use all their blasters and darts.
