ASB² mod for Alien Swarm

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ASBI mode created by Honk became a breath of fresh air for many players and helped them not to lose interest in AS. It happened due to unimaginable difficulty of the mode, new achievements, statistics server, and rating tables. So one could not only play the game, but compete with other players and prove that they are faster, smarter and that their team is superior. ASBI gave rise to new tactics and team strategies in AS.

Since ASBI hit the ceiling and not only stopped developing, but started regressing, players could lose their interest in the game once more. Nobody maintained the mode or attracted new players. To prevent gamers from being totally disappointed, we made our mind to revive AS and created Alien Swarm Beyond Brutal (ASB²) mode. We believe that this would make the game more existing and thrilling for us and our friends, as well as appealing to newcomers.

The principal ideas of the mode:

1. We added easy and normal levels to attract new players. Now, even weaker gamers will be able to play on the ASB mode, develop their skills, and switch to higher levels of difficulty in due course.

(The exception is made for players under the 27th level of the no-star promotion. When such a player connects to ASB² servers, they will be automatically discarded and will be given a message informing of their insufficient experience).

2. In order to encourage people to play at higher levels of difficulty, there are no achievements or stats at easy and normal levels.

3. For those who are bored to play with adrenalines simplifying the game, there is an achievement for the completion of each mission without adrenalines {no adren}.
4. We preserved the achievement for the run of each mission without flamer {no flamer}.

5. Originally, AS relied on the balance among 4 characters belonging to 4 classes and cooperation among players selecting different classes. We have added the achievement {classic team} for the run with all 4 players, i.e. full team consisting of the tech, officer, medic, and special weapons. This would as well affect the game tactics in certain missions.

6. The strategy of the slow-moving, adrenaline-free runs by the full team will provide new prospects in the game. In order to reward the application of such tactic, we have introduced the achievement {sector distruction 400}. This achievement is given on the precondition that players have destroyed 400 aliens per mission.

7. We also created the command {!kills} to make the mode more user-friendly. When this command is typed in the chat or lobby in real time during the game, the counter of those killed by you and the whole team will be shown.

We also did not forget about the classic features of ASBI

8. For those who love the fast completion of missions, the achievement {speedrun} is awarded not only on Jacob's Rest maps, but on all the other maps of ASB2 mode. Our testers determined the reasonable time for customized maps, so that you might discover and work out new speedrun tactics for other campaigns.

9. In order to make speedruns more popular, the achievement {bestime}given to players that completed the mission faster than the others will be counted only upon the presentation of the video confirming the run. {bestime} will be awarded by administrators after the video has been posted in the group, and each player of the community will have access to it. This will help to get rid of the so-called unfair game.

There are also such innovations as:
- new system of automatic discard of players without stars and under the 27th level;
- the so-called slot bug was repaired;
- apart from 4 players, there may be 2 onlookers on the server (this will also solve the unfair game problem);
- the chat command {!help} that show all additional commands used by players;
- anyone can download the server, as its size is not more than 6 MB;
- there are other new achievements, besides, a number of additional achievements will be elaborated in the future.
Visit our web-site for more details.

To summarize, we would like to say that our main point was to create ASB² for ourselves and for you, our dear friends, and new players in order to develop the game culture at higher levels of difficulty.

Our thanks to:
Dante, Begby, Pepyator, Tosha , Lucy, Pawlikooo for tests
Frenzzy for the mode development and advice
Zak, Justas, Ghost Apple, Frenzzy for everything
Special thanks to:
Honk for the basis, Zak for ASB²
and of course to
Orange who motivated us to start creating our mode.

PS.
While playing AS I made many friends. While working on ASB² I learned how to make peace with Zak and some people showed their unexpected qualities.
I sincerely wish new players to join our community. We need fresh blood, since we need newbies to make laugh at.

Welcome and wish you good luck
Yours truly,
nomer43 aka D/)le Cooper -)

Steam group Steamcommunity.com