Barotrauma Beginner’s Guide to Combine Assault

Einführung

There are five different groups/factions in Combine Assault:

• Kombinieren
• Widerstand
• Bürger
• Gman
• Xen

The two main factions are Combine and Resistance who are both working to eliminate the other.

Xen are trying to eliminate everyone else while Citizens are simply trying to stay alive until the end of the round.

Gman has his own set of three randomly-generated objectives and has a 1 In 3 chance to appear in any game with 10+ Spieler.

Kombinieren

The Combine are made up of several jobs:

• Consul
• Ordinal
• Soldat (two variants)
• Civil Protection
• Grunzen
• Civil Worker (two variants)

Each round can be made up of a different assortment of the above jobs so do not expect every job to be present/represented in any given round.

The leader of the Combine. They have access to all areas of the Nexus (Combine headquarters) as well as Citizen areas (such as apartments) that lower-ranking Combine cannot open.

As the Consul does not have any significant armor or weaponry they should try to stay inside the relatively safe walls of the Nexus (especially their office / reactor room, depending on the city) and use the camera system to monitor the situation on the ground and issue orders to other Combine units. The Consul can send/speak commands over the radio as well as using the !announce command that will reach all players (even non-Combine).

In cases where the Consul needs to leave the Nexus it is advised to bring along an armed escort as an unprotected Consul is an easy target for Resistance members to kill.

This job can be difficult for new players and is better suited to more experienced ones.

The second-in-command of the Combine. Like the Consul, they have access to all areas of the Nexus as well as Citizen areas (such as apartments) that lower-ranking Combine cannot open.

Like the Consul, Ordinals should issue orders to other Combine and ensure they are performing their duties. Jedoch, unlike Consuls, Ordinals are more heavily armed and protected so can more easily leave the safety of the Nexus to monitor Combine operations and issue orders from the ground. In games where a Consul does not spawn, Ordinals are in charge.

This job can be difficult for new players and is better suited to more experienced ones.

The heavy hitters of the Combine who protect the Nexus, the Consul, and respond to emergencies when Civil Protection needs assistance. This job has two variants, the Suppressor and the Charger, who start with different equipment.

The Soldiers start with equipment that gives them a high resistance to stun making them much more difficult than other Combine for Resistance to knock out and rob/kill.

Notably the Minigun (which the Suppressor starts with) can not be stored anywhere in a player’s inventory and must either be carried in both hands or dropped.

The police officers of the Combine who patrol the city, keeping an eye on the citizens and watching for Resistance activity. They can drag unconscious / stunned people very quickly and are useful for transporting players to prison for interrogation.

The engineers and mechanics of the Combine, responsible for fixing electrical and mechanical items as well as repairing damaged walls/floors.

This is the only combine role which spawns with a Combine Multitool (used to repair/rewire items like a combination wrench and screwdriver) and a Utility Plasma Emitter (used to repair walls/floors or to cut into them if „Cutting Mode“ is selected when the emitter is being held.)

The Combine members responsible for distributing scrap to the Citizens and monitoring their production of Universal Terasteel as well as maintaining the health of Citizens and fellow Combine. This job has two variants (a medic worker and a hazmat worker), who start with different equipment.

Care should be taken to monitor the amount of Scrap provided to Citizens with the amount of Universal Terasteel produced in return as Resistance members will attempt to steal Scrap and Universal Terasteel to produce equipment to use against the Combine. Workers should also monitor fabricators to ensure Citizens are not producing contraband items (like Resistance Spray Cans, Wodka, or other items that could be used against Combine interests.)

The primary concerns of the Combine are:

• Hunting down and eliminating Resistance members usually through interrogation (described later) or after their identities are revealed in chat (described later).
• Having Citizens convert Scrap into Universal Terasteel using Fabricators which can then be used to fabricate other items such as weapons, Munition, and medical supplies. Citizens can fabricate Universal Terasteel quickly whereas it is extremely slow for Combine to do.

Malfunction is a lethal affliction which occurs:

• when a Combine kills a Citizen or another Combine who is not a member of the Resistance and
• periodically to the Resistance Spy if they are a Soldier (in the future this may also include Ordinals)

Malfunctioning Combine will eventually die unless the Malfunction is treated using a Health Pen (which can be fabricated using Universal Terasteel.)

Combine should avoid killing Citizens whenever possible (both as they are required to efficiently manufacture Universal Terasteel and to avoid the Malfunction affliction.)

Possessing contraband (such as a Resistance Spray Can or Resistance Radio) does NOT guarantee that a player is Resistance. Suspected Resistance members should be arrested and interrogated whenever possible to confirm their identity; killing should be a last resort for self-defence.

Stun Batons are useful for subduing a suspect and giving time to handcuff them without killing them. Both Stun Batons and handcuffs can be fabricated using Universal Terasteel.

Citizens who have been interrogated but do not appear to be Resistance and who have committed relatively minor crimes should be released.

While Anti-Citizens are part of the Resistance they are not included when determining if there are any Resistance left alive (so if they are the only remaining Resistance alive the Combine win) so there is no benefit to the Combine from killing them.

If there are any Resistance Anti-Citizens (who start in prison cells in the Nexus) they should be kept alive (and recaptured if escaped) until they can be interrogated for valuable information on the Resistance (described later).

Widerstand

The Resistance are made up of:

• Resistance Leader (chosen from the Citizen population)
• Resistance Members (recruited during the game from the Citizen population by the Resistance Leader or an Anti-Citizen)
• Anti-Citizens (who start as prisoners in Combine custody)
• Resistance Spy (a random member of the Combine)
• Gordon Freeman (who can be summoned using a Resistance Radio)

Every round there will always be a Resistance Leader and a Resistance Spy but the other Resistance roles may or may not be filled depending on the players/gameplay.

At the start of the round, the Resistance Leader will be informed in the !role popup as well as the text chat the name of the Resistance Spy.

The Resistance Leader should recruit citizens to their cause and coordinate with the Resistance Spy (and any Anti-Citizens) to lead a successful uprising against the Combine, killing them all.

When Citizens are recruited by the Resistance Leader or an Anti-Citizen a pop-up message will appear on their screen informing them they are now members of the Resistance.

Resistance Members should attempt to remain hidden from the Combine while assisting the Resistance Leader in accomplishing their goals.

Resistance Members are not currently told the names of the Resistance Leader, Resistance Spy, or any Anti-Citizens nor is anyone else informed that they have joined the ranks of the Resistance so it can be helpful to use Resistance Comms to let everyone know you’ve been recruited as well as to determine the identities of the rest of the Resistance (especially the Resistance Spy, so you don’t accidentally end up killing them.)

Anti-Citizens are Resistance Members who have been captured by the Combine and start the round in a Combine prison cell.

At the start of the round, Anti-Citizens will be informed in the text chat the names of the Resistance Leader and Resistance Spy.

Ten minutes into the game, the Combine will be authorized to interrogate Anti-Citizens to attempt to extract the names of the Resistance leaders, so it is important for the Resistance to try and break them out of prison before this occurs.

Like the Resistance Leader, Anti-Citizens can recruit Resistance Members from the Citizen population.

A random member of the Combine team (

excludingthe Consul) will be chosen as the Resistance Spy at the start of the round. Externally they will appear indistinguishable from other Combine but they do not count as members of the Combine but instead the Resistance.

Their task is to provide help and support for the Resistance while avoiding raising the suspicions of the Combine and remaining undetected. One common way to help the Resistance is to release Anti-Citizens from prison as quickly as possible without being caught by any Combine.

At the start of the round, the Resistance Spy will be informed in the !role popup as well as the text chat the name of the Resistance Leader.

Gordon Freeman can be summoned using a Resistance Radio which needs to be fabricated, placed on a wall (holding RMB and then pressing E), wired to power, have recharge rate increased to charge up, and then have the message sent (clicking on the Resistance Radio to open its interface and then clicking the „SEND SIGNAL“ Taste) when it has reached full power.

Once Gordon Freeman has been called, he will be controlled by a random player chosen from dead players (who are not currently controlling a Headcrab or Headcrab Zombie). He starts in a shuttle with an HEV Suit (very strong armor) and a crowbar and needs to dock to and board the city.

Once he has reached the city, he should rendezvous with the Resistance and assist them in killing all the Combine. If Gordon Freeman is killed, the Resistance lose / Combine immediately win.

The primary concerns of the Resistance are:

• Vandalizing Combine posters
• Recruiting members
• Eliminating all Combine members (except the Resistance Spy)

There are Combine posters scattered throughout the city. When a poster is vandalized it grants an additional recruitment slot to the Resistance (which starts with none). The image above shows an example of every Combine poster in both original and vandalized states.

Anyone can vandalize a poster, whether or not they are members of the Resistance, by holding a Resistance Spray Can (which can be fabricated for one Universal Terasteel), hitting E, and clicking „SABOTAGE“.

Whenever there is a free recruitment slot, the Resistance Leader or an Anti-Citizen can recruit a citizen as long as they are in the same room as that Citizen and no Combine are present.

To recruit someone, Typ !rq in chat followed by the start of their name (enough unique characters to identify them.)

Zum Beispiel, to recruit someone named Gordon it should be sufficient to type the following in chat as long as no other players have names starting with these characters:

!rq Gor

When recruited, Citizens will receive a pop-up message informing them they are now part of the Resistance but they will not be automatically informed of the identify of anyone else in the Resistance (nor will existing Resistance be informed of the new recruit.) It is especially important new recruits are made aware of the identify of the Resistance Spy so they don’t mistakenly kill them as they are otherwise indistinguishable from the rest of the Combine.

The Resistance can communicate with each other secretly using the !comms command in text chat. Care should be taken to type the command correctly as typos can unintentionally reveal Resistance to the Combine.

Typing:

!comms Hello how are you

Will send a message to the entire Resistance saying „Hello how are you“.

Any other variation (wie !COMMS, !Comms, !coms, !cmms, usw.) will not be sent secretly and instead to the public chat where anyone (including the Combine) may see it and figure out that you’re in the Resistance, so care should be taken to ensure !comms has been typed correctly at the start of the message.

Bürger

Except for the Resistance Leader, who is automatically selected from the Citizen population, all Citizens start neutral and are not on the side of either the Combine or the Resistance.

The primary concern of Citizens is staying alive until the end of the round, regardless of which group/faction ends up winning. Citizens are the only group that do not have their own unique round-ending win condition (as they win simply by being alive at the end.)

Citizens who are

nichtmembers of the Resistance or Gman’s Associate should avoid attacking/killing Combine as well as their fellow Citizens. Non-Resistance (or non-Gman’s Associate) Citizens who kill will come down with the Sickness affliction which, like Hunger, is not lethal but can significantly hamper gameplay.

Zusätzlich, many players consider attacking/killing while a non-Resistance (or non-Gman’s Associate) Citizen to be a form of griefing and many server hosts will kick and/or ban players who do so.

While attacking/killing other players is frowned upon, it is common practice for non-Resistance (or non-Gman’s Associate) Citizens to perform tasks which aid the Resistance (such as distracting/occupying/wasting the time of the Combine, using Resistance Spray Cans to vandalize posters, or setting up a Resistance Radio to call in Gordon Freeman, unter anderem) in hopes that their efforts will be noticed and they will be recruited.

Gman

The Gman group/faction is made up of:

• Gman
• Gman’s Associate (recruited from the Citizen population)

Gman has a 1-in-3 chance to spawn every round in which there are 10 or more players which means he should show up roughly once every three games. He is automatically selected from the playerbase and given a popup message indicating his role as well as his three randomly-generated objectives. Gman immediately wins once all three of those objectives have been completed.

Gman has a briefcase that allows him to teleport (click LMB while holding RMB to teleport in that direction). This briefcase will return to Gman’s hands if dropped (he is unable to hold anything else, such as a weapon). It starts with three Gman Healing Orbs which can be used to almost instantly completely heal any character.

Gman can recruit one Citizen to his cause to help him complete his objectives (as he is unable to use weapons or pick up poisons himself) mit der !rq command in the same way the Resistance Leader does.

Gman can communicate with Gman’s Associate using !gomms in the same way the Resistance can use !comms.

A player recruited by Gman from the Citizen population (excluding anyone Gman has as a target as well as any member of the Resistance.)

Einmal rekrutiert, the player can use !gomms to secretly communicate with Gman in the same way the Resistance can use !comms.

Gman’s Associate’s only goal is to assist Gman in winning by completing his three objectives.

Both the Combine and the Resistance want to stop Gman from winning so care should be taken to keep the identity of Gman’s Associate (as well as Gman’s objectives) hidden as if Gman’s Associate is killed he will not be able to recruit a replacement.

Gman’s only goal is to complete all three of his randomly-generated objectives.

Xen

Xen are made up of:

• Headcrabs
• Headcrab Zombies / Necrotics

The Xen have no selectable roles nor are they automatically chosen at the start of the round. The only way the Xen grow their ranks is through death.

When a player dies a two-minute countdown begins after which they will respawn as a headcrab. If that headcrab dies, the player will then start respawning as a headcrab every 45 Sekunden. People who have joined the server mid-round will NOT be spawned as headcrabs.

Headcrabs can use the creature attack key (Standard „F“) to bite almost any other character (manche, like Gordon Freeman and Gman are immune). Their bites will temporary stun a character so they can continue feeding. If they successfully bite a character to death, that character will turn into a Headcrab Zombie.

Headcrabs cannot climb ladders but can be carried by Headcrab Zombies (or other players) when they are ragdolled (usually by holding SPACE).

Headcrabs who spawn in unfortunate spots can use the !sonic command in chat to kill themselves.

Players can use the !optout and !optin chat commands to opt out of (or back into) spawning as a headcrab.

Players will become Headcrab Zombies when they successfully kill another player as a Headcrab. The Zombies will wear the same clothing as the victim but their head/helmet will be replaced by a Headcrab.

Headcrab Zombies can climb ladders and open any door the ID of their host had access to, although they move very slowly.

Like Headcrabs, they can attack/kill other living players using the creature attack key (Standard „F“).

The only goal of the Xen is the elimination of all Combine/Resistance/Citizen characters.

Players should forget their previous role before death and have no loyalty to their former team: once a player becomes Xen they should attempt to kill all other non-Xen players regardless of whether they are Combine, Widerstand, or Citizens.

Chat Commands

Combine Assault has a number of game commands that are used by typing them into the game chat window in the bottom left.

Care should be taken to type the commands exactly as if there are any typos they will not be recognized as commands and instead be sent to the chat for everyone to see which can be especially revealing when trying to use a command like !comms for Resistance communication.

Typing !help will bring up a list showing the various commands

!role is an helpful if you’ve forgotten your role or didn’t see the initial popup.

!rq [first part of name] is used by Resistance Leaders and Anti-Citizens to recruit Citizens into the Resistance when there are recruitment slots available (as well as by Gman to recruit one Citizen to play Gman’s Associate.)

!comms [Nachricht] is an essential command for Resistance members to use for secret communication.

!gomms [Nachricht] is used by Gman and Gman’s Associate for secret communication.

!rw [Nachricht] is used by Citizens who wish to make a secret report to the Combine (perhaps offering to reveal information on the Resistance in exchange for Rations or other favours.)

!resist will show you the names of everyone on the Resistance, but only once you are dead.

Herstellung

Universal Terasteel is the sole ingredient required to fabricate every item with a fabricator recipe in the game, mit Ausnahme von:

• Universal Terasteel (requires Scrap),
• Ration Meal Vouchers (frei), Und
• items fabricated using the medical fabricator.

Universal Terasteel can be fabricated using Scrap. The Combine are extremely slow at fabricating it but Citizens and Anti-Citizens can do it relatively quickly which gives them value to the Combine.

Schrott:

Universal Terasteel:

Both Combine and Resistance will try to obtain Universal Terasteel in order to craft items such as:

• Waffen,
• Munition,
• Health Pens / Health Vials
• Ausrüstung (Rucksäcke, Werkzeuge, usw.)

Hunger

All Citizens (and Anti-Citizens) will grow hungry over time. Hunger will cause characters to walk more slowly as well as negatively affect their vision, however it will NOT kill them.

The primary way to address Hunger is using Rations which can be obtained by redeeming a Ration Meal Voucher (fabricated by a member of the Combine) at a Combine Dispenser.

Combine can craft Ration Meal Vouchers for free at any Fabricator (it is extremely slow for Citizens to try and craft the vouchers themselves) which can be redeemed for rations at Combine Dispensers.

Combine will often trade Ration Meal Vouchers to Citizens in exchange for Universal Terasteel they have manufactured.

Interrogation

Combine can interrogate characters by hitting them with a charged (Batterie > 0%) Stun Baton while the character is in a prison cell and alive/conscious/standing up (or manually holding SPACE), so there is no benefit to hitting characters that are dead/unconscious/stunned (unconscious characters should be revived before interrogation continues.)

Each time a player in a cell is hit with a Stun Baton they have a chance to reveal the name of the Resistance Leader or Resistance Spy in the text chat.

The Resistance Spy, Resistance Leader, and Resistance Members have a 20% chance of talking every time they are hit and can be interrogated at any time during the game.

Anti-Citizens have a 12.5% chance of talking every time they are hit and can only be interrogated after ten minutes when the notification appears in the text chat.

Thus it is important for Combine to keep Anti-Citizens alive and in custody and to arrest and interrogate anyone suspected of being Resistance rather than just executing them outright.

Disguises

The disguise mechanic found in Vanilla Barotrauma is also present in Combine Assault.

Players who are wearing the ID Card (or DNA Imprint – the Combine version of an ID Card) of another player AND have their face covered (dh: wearing a helmet) will appear to everyone else as that player. This can be useful for Resistance who want to impersonate / infiltrate the Combine / Nexus.

If you see someone acting suspiciously they may not be who they appear to be!

Only Combine DNA Imprints that spawned on a player will have a name attached – those which have been fabricated using Universal Terasteel will display „???“ above a player’s head when worn with a face covering which will arise the suspicions of most players and often lead to a player using them being searched and/or arrested.

While it is acceptable to steal Combine DNA Imprints from Combine, many players consider taking ID Cards from Citizens to be griefing and many hosts will kick and/or ban players for doing so.

Game Progression

Game events:

• 10 Minuten: Combine can interrogate Anti-Citizens to try and learn the names of the Resistance Leader / Spion (the Resistance Leader, Resistance Spy, and any Resistance Members can be interrogated at any time)
• 20 Minuten: The names of the Resistance Leader / Spy are revealed in chat
• 25 Minuten: The names of all Resistance members are revealed in chat

The game ends when one of the following conditions is met:

• 120 seconds after all resistance members are eliminated (Combine victory)
• Gordon Freeman dies after being summoned (Combine victory)
• All Combine members are eliminated (Resistance victory)
• 60 seconds after the Combine reactor is overloaded/destroyed:
  If there are any Resistance members alive (Resistance victory),
  ansonsten (Combine victory)
• All Combine/Resistance/Citizen players are eliminated (Xen victory)
• All three Gman objectives are completed (Gman victory)