Atomic Games has recently been cutting its teeth designing simulations for the American armed forces and intelligences services. It’s hitting the civilian market January 26th with Breach, a multiplayer shooter that seeks to update the classic Counter-Strike “terrorists vs. good guys” conflict with a variety of bells and whistles.
There are obviously a number of technical innovations, and the above screen-shot shows the implementation of destructible scenery and the Havok-like behavior of destroyed objects and sprites. Added to these distinctively “game-y” touches are a number of extensively researched real-world devices that Uncle Sam has made available to highly trained soldiers who participate in “deniable ops” — devices that Atomic plans to make available, in their virtual incarnations, to Breach’s playerbase.
Being faced with such a sprawling, nuanced and, most importantly, new multiplayer shooter environment can be daunting, so we’ve enlisted one of our expert writers to help introduce you to the explosive world of Breach.
It’s important to find a mouse sensitivity setting that you’re comfortable with and that fits your play style. Close-quarter combat and twitch shots work better with higher sensitivities, whereas long-range sniping and methodical aiming are better suited for lower sensitivities.
If you are a low-sensitivity gamer, you may find that the lowest menu settings just don’t cut it. In order to further decrease your mouse sensitivity, you need to edit the game‘s .ini file, as per the official Breach FAQ:
Where can I adjust the mouse sensitivity further than the menus allow?
You can make some tweaks in the hidden Breach.ini file located in (steamsteamappscommonreach).
Default values:
UseMouseFiltering=On
MouseInputScale=4.000000
Replacing the “4″ in MouseInputScale with a 1 should sufficiently lower the sensitivity. Always create a backup of an .ini file before you edit it.
An ammo cache with rocket launchers (left), and without (right)
When picking which class you’d like to spawn as, you should take into consideration the map, the game type, and what the current situation is in-game.
The Rifleman serves as the general-purpose class. He is effective at all but the longest of ranges, and is equipped with Breach Charges. Use these to create an alternate entrance to a heavily-guarded building, or deploy them as traps. When in doubt about which class to choose, pick Rifleman.
The Gunner‘s light machine gun is perfect for laying down suppressive fire against groups of enemies. Not as accurate as the Rifleman, the Gunner packs a bigger punch and rarely has to reload. He is equipped with Frag Grenades, which can be used to either kill or flush out enemies entrenched behind cover.
The Sniper is the long-range solution to all your short-term problems. This class is most useful at the start of a match, when the two opposing teams have spawned at opposite ends of the map. As the match progresses, battles tend to become more up close and personal, rendering Snipers less useful. Like the Riflemen, they are equipped with Breach Charges.
The Support class is armed with a semiautomatic shotgun. Up to 8 shells can be loaded and unleashed in a rapid-fire barrage that is devastating in close quarters. Equipped with Smoke Grenades, this class can nullify the range advantage of Snipers or Riflemen and force enemies to fight on their terms.
Every class is equipped with a pistol as a backup weapon. A Sniper may rely on his pistol for close and medium quarters, while a Support may use it for longer range.
Infiltration
In this game type, several control points can be found on the map, indicated on-screen and on your radar with letters within chevrons. Points are colored according to which team controls them, or white if they have yet to be captured.
Each point controlled by your team will award points over time, making this a highly offensive game type. While defending a control point may seem like a good idea, if there is no action at your location, then you’re wasting time you can be spending capturing an enemy control point–and every second counts.
Points are captured by remaining in proximity to them for a few seconds. While a kill will generally earn you 5xp, capturing a control point is worth 10xp.
Convoy
In this game type, one team must escort a convoy across the map within a given time limit, while the other team must stop it.
The convoy consists of two armored vehicles whose location is represented on-screen and on your radar by a white vehicle icon. When the convoy is moving, the icon takes the color of the escorting team. The path the convoy takes is demarked with signal flares; each time the convoy reaches a flare, time is added to the clock.
In order for the convoy to move, at least one member of the escort team must be within fifteen feet of the lead vehicle. Both vehicles are armed with turrets that can be manned: the lead vehicle has a machine gun, while the rear vehicle fires explosive rounds in three-round salvos.
A convoy will stop moving when it comes within fifty feet of a roadblock, represented on-screen and on your radar by a red X overtop a white vehicle icon. To destroy a roadblock, you need to grab a satchel charge from the back of either convoy vehicle and place the explosive on the barricade.
If a vehicle takes enough damage, it will break down and stop moving until it is repaired. While it only takes a few seconds to repair a vehicle, this can make or break the match if there is little time left on the clock.
A good tactic for the escorts is to have one soldier crouching alongside the lead vehicle, using it as cover from enemy fire, while the other escorts kill the enemies who threaten him. If you are the only escort moving the convoy, resist the urge to man the turret–this will make you an easy target. Stay in cover; you may not be getting kills, but you’re moving your team toward victory.
The assault team needs to eliminate the priority targets: the escorts within fifteen feet of the lead vehicle. Every inch the convoy moves brings it closer to the next flare–and an extension on the clock. The assaulters need to be patient–they’re job is to burn out the clock. Once the convoy has stopped moving, they should set up in tactical positions to suppress the escorts and kill anyone who approaches the convoy. The objective is to prevent the escorts from moving the convoy, not to rack up kills. Rocket launchers and breach charges are great for breaking down the convoy.
Retrieval
This game type has both teams fighting over possession of a canister that spawns in the center of the map. The objective is to pick up the canister and deliver it to a drop-off point in enemy territory. Points are scored each time the canister is dropped off.
When no one is holding the canister, a white icon appears on your radar and on-screen, along with a distance measurement of how far from it you are. When the canister is being held, the icon is replaced with the chevron icons for the drop-off points in the carrier’s team color, complete with distance counters. This means that a held canister will not show up on your radar, regardless of what team you’re on.
Certain maps lend themselves to Retrieval better than others. To avoid having matches end in stalemates, it is important to remember that the ultimate objective is to deliver the canister. If you want to win, you have to be willing to die for your team.
Rushing for the canister is worth the risk of dying–and you’ll die plenty of times going for it–because once it’s in your possession, you force the enemy to fall back to their base to defend the drop-off points because the canister is off their radar.
Defend your carrier–take a bullet for him, if necessary. With the canister in hand, a carrier can only melee. If he needs to fire, he must drop the canister, and dropped canisters return to their spawning point after a few seconds.
Aggressive, offensive play is what wins Retrieval matches. Passive, defensive play may prevent the enemy team from scoring–but it won’t win you the game.
Team Deathmatch
The staple FPS game type, Team Deathmatch is a race to earn the most kills. What’s important to keep in mind is that avoiding death is just as important as earning kills–every time you die, you feed the enemy team a point.
Raising your kill count while maintaining a low death count is the key to success. Someone with 10 kills and 2 deaths benefitted the team more than someone with 30 kills and 30 deaths. Because of this, defensive play styles can be a strong option; particularly sniping.
Sole Survivor
Sole Survivor is Team Deathmatch with a twist: once you die, you don’t respawn. This makes stealth and defensive play even more important, and increases the usefulness of rocket launchers, because rounds generally won’t last long enough to deplete all the rockets on a map.
Know the maps inside and out: the spawn points, the various routes, common sniping spots, the location of ammo caches, turrets, and important destructible terrain. Map control is what wins games, and in order to control a map, you need to know its nuances.
The Passage
With its wide, open bases divided by a tight midfield of tunnels, this map offers varied gameplay. Both bases feature a number of wooden bridges that allow the teams to reach the midfield quicker, so these could be strategic targets to eliminate.
On Team 2′s side of the map, a mining tunnel and destructible bridge form a U, with a Retrieval drop-off point located at the bend. The tunnel offers cover, while the bridge provides an alternate route of access. It may be advantageous for Team 1 to take out the bridge to prevent Team 2 from adequately defending the drop-off point.
On Team 1′s side of the map, a wooden shack with a machine gun turret serves as a foothold for Team 2, with a drop-off point nearby. Team 1 should shoot out the shack’s lower supports to collapse the front wall and deny Team 2 cover, while Team 2 should shoot out the bridge near the drop-off point to prevent reinforcements from arriving.
In the center of the map lies a sturdy metal bridge that overlooks the central tunnel and provides direct access from one side of the map to the other. Lined with sandbags and two machine gun turrets, this bridge is a highly contested area regardless of the gametype. It is impossible to move from one side of the map to the other without being spotted by someone on the bridge, making this location strategically invaluable for map control.
Two blast points–one on each side of the symmetric tunnels–provide a quicker route into the main tunnel. It is generally ideal to blast open your own route for ease of access.
Ascent
This map is sniper heaven. Wide, open areas, plenty of places to hide, and a lot of high ground.
Team 2 spawns on the higher ground, but Team 1 is given a few terrain features to help level the playing field.
A tunnel system allows players to traverse a third of the map without exposing themselves to snipers, while also granting access to cliff-mounted shacks at various altitudes. While these shacks can grant cover and serve as sniper roosts in the early game, as a match progresses, they fall easily to rocket launchers.
A wooden bridge connects the highest points of both bases and is the quickest route to the enemy. This renders it a highly contested area. If the enemy is using it to gain map control over you, it’s best to destroy the bridge. Once destroyed, this area serves as an excellent sniper’s roost for both teams.
A cabin roughly midway between the two bases is Team 1′s ideal spot to gain a foothold. It is a solid structure with a machine gun turret and rocket launchers, with decent cover from enemy snipers. A defensible position with a view of a good chunk of the map, this cabin is essential for map control.
Silo
This map consists of two bases and a central mountain complex that houses a missile silo. Combat is generally mid-range, although it is possibly to snipe from base to base.
In Retrieval, the canister will spawn within the silo, which can be accessed by two winding walkways or two short bridges. The bridges offer the quickest routes to drop-off points, so blowing up the bridge on your side of the map is strategically advised.
Short tunnels offer alternate paths to avoid snipers, but they are not as useful as on other maps.
Peak
With two bases separated by a mountain, this map is superficially similar to Silo. On the opposite ends of the map are sniper roosts with a view that extends to the midfield.
A cave with an ammo cache lies in the midfield. Three bridges allow access to it: one from either base, and one from the central mountain. Destroy the enemy’s bridge to secure this tactical position.
Opposite the cave is a small fort with two machine gun turrets–one pointed at each base, making this another key structure for your team to control.
Each team has a defensible outpost where players can take cover from enemies who control the midfield.
The central mountain has tunnels that connect the two outposts, the cave, and the fort. Each outpost accesses this tunnel system with a bridge; destroy your enemies’ bridge, and you’ve cut off their access.
In Retrieval, two drop-off points (points B on the map) are easily accessed by bridges; destroy the bridge on your side of the map to prevent your enemies from scoring easily.
Nocturnal
This map is The Passage at night. Streetlights, and lights within the tunnels, can be shot out to darken the environment, making gameplay more stealth-oriented.
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