Spec Ops

Spec Ops
Appearance	Since EA1, Significantly Updated in EA21

For the dialogue included during Spec Ops, see Spec-Ops/Dialogue.

Spec Ops, short for Special Operations, is a game mode in Ravenfield.

Overview

A unique mode in which the player and their squad must infiltrate enemy territory and fulfill randomly generated missions. The enemy's detection AI is altered to allow for stealthy operations. Focusing heavily on improvisation and tactics, this mode does not allow for anyone to respawn, and will terminate immediately if the player dies. Unlike the other modes, this mode is also partially scripted in progression, and features named story characters.

Mechanics

Objectives

• In Spec Ops, the goal is to accomplish all objectives assigned to the player. There can be no more than one copy of any single objective.
• The number of objectives generated depends on the match length:
  • Short = 1-2
  • Normal = 2-3
  • Long = 4-5
  • EPIC! = 5-6
• Potential objectives include:
  • Clear a patrol squad. This objective mainly appears on long or epic game lengths.
    • The squad may consist of pure infantry; with vehicular patrol(s) being either MG Jeeps, RHIBs, APCs or Attack Boats. Playing on hard difficulty increases the chances of stronger vehicles spawning.
    • Patrol squad length will also vary depending on the game length, from the minimum 4 to the maximum of 8 infantry making up one patrol squad.
  • Kill all enemy infantry assigned to a specific point.
  • Destroy at least 3 ammo crates near a specific point.
  • Kill a single communications officer located at a specific point.
  • Destroy a target vehicle.
    • The target vehicle is always a high priority vehicle such as an APC, Attack Helicopter, Transport Helicopter, Attack Boat or Bomber.
    • Getting close enough to a target will display a prompt to plant explosives with "F". Doing so will plant a 30-second C4 charge, even if the player has no C4 in their inventory. If ordered using squad commands, a bot can also approach it and "place" an explosive themselves. This ensures that the player will never be without the means to complete this objective, be it due to no ammo, or no anti-armor weapons.

General Gameplay Mechanics

Flags and Infantry/Vehicle Spawning

• The player and their squad, playing the role of the infiltrators, will spawn at a procedurally selected spot on the map, never on a flag capture zone.
• Hollowed-out flags will not spawn enemies or objectives, but vehicles can still appear with several restrictions:
  • For static spawns, only the Jeep, Quad, and RHIB can appear as usable vehicles.
  • Emplacements spawn normally.
  • The destructible vehicle targets cannot be utilized.
  • Neutral vehicles will not self-destruct when abandoned, but enemy vehicles will.

Player Perks/Restrictions

• If the player is defeated, the match ends and they lose.
• All allied units have "Hero Armor" and take reduced damage from all attacks. The maximum damage taken by one hit is around 30, but varies with the game difficulty.
• The player will be backed by a squad with 3-6 bots, depending on the balance setting, and one of them will always carry an Anti Armor Weapon. They are all less likely to be spotted when they are close to the player.
• Upon completing all objectives, the player is required to exfiltrate.
  • If the player is not currently being searched for by alerted enemy units, or all units have been defeated, they will exfiltrate on foot, ending the game instantly.
  • If alerted enemy units are searching for the player and/or one or more of the player's ally bots are killed, the player needs to reach a Transport Helicopter and enter it, along with their entire squad, to exfiltrate. The helicopter is invincible and is resistant to being flipped over and getting stuck.
• When playing as the Eagle team, the team is additionally backed by EYES who provides intel support and monitors enemy movement. She will alert the player to approaching patrols once they come within a certain radius of the player, once they are alerted to a signal flare, once they decide to leave their base, or when they are receiving reinforcements. She will also temporarily highlight these new threats on the minimap.

Enemy Behavior

• Enemy bots will typically guard their own objective from within their own capture range, wandering about at a slow walking pace when not alerted. In this state, they will take a while to spot the player, especially at long range, and their awareness will be indicated by a colored arrow on the player's HUD. Once alerted, they tend to race to a mix of cover spots and either hide completely from their assailants, or partially take up arms and fight back. Once alerted, bots will also abandon their slow target-spotting routine and go back to engaging enemies on-sight. They can become alerted by:
  • Loud Enemy fire or explosions
  • Being shot, having bullets miss near them, or having an ally shot near them
  • An objective being completed
  • Spotting the player or their squad
• When a group of defending bots become alerted, a randomly selected bot will usually fire a flare soon afterwards, but if they haven't spotted the player or their squad by that time, a flare will be fired if the player is detected afterwards. A fired flare will usually:
  • Attract a nearby patrol
  • Call in an enemy transport helicopter filled with reinforcements, if sufficient landing space is available.
• If an objective on a flag point has been completed, there are bots defending this objective, and the player is not detected, they will usually leave their positions to search for the player whilst alerted.
• Enemy Patrols will slowly move between objectives and scan the area casually. If alerted without spotting the player, they will patrol around the map at increased speed, and hound the player squad once found until they (or the player) are defeated.
• Enemy helicopters will swoop in and deposit all of their passengers onto the flag with a flare fired. After doing so, the ground squad will patrol between the remaining objective flags, while their airborne helicopter will attempt to search for the player's squad. If it finds the player, it will hover above them until destroyed.

Factions

- Factions serve as an important role throughout the gameplay of Spec-Ops, giving out instructions, comments, and warnings throughout gameplay.

Eagle

• TALON - The team of special operatives lead by the player, working for Eagles.
• Advisor - The commander which monitors and comments on progress.
• EYES - A scout which warns TALON of patrols and capture points.
• Eagle Grunt- A normal soldier that only comments when exfiltration is required.
• Eagle Pilot- A normal soldier that pilots the exfiltration helicopter.

Raven

• RAVEN - The team of special operatives lead by the player, working for Ravens.
• Raven Advisor - The advisor that monitors and commands.
• Raven Grunt - A normal soldier that only comments when exfiltration is required.
• Raven Pilot - A normal soldier that pilots the exfiltration helicopter.

Gallery

The error message that plays when an incompatible map is loaded. This can only happen with modded maps, and not any of the game's own ones.

A Raven Communications Officer.

Prompt displayed while attempting to plant explosives on a Transport Helicopter.

A team member notifying the explosives' deployment.

The scout reporting on an approaching APC

EYES reporting on an enemy infantry patrol.

Trivia

• Some modded maps may not support Spec Ops. If this happens, the game will say "This map doesn't support Spec Ops :-("
• If a custom map made in the Map Editor does not have a generated Nav-Mesh, and is loaded in spec ops mode, the game will produce a black screen with no message.
• Equipping the Patriot TAC will override Weapon Switch settings and allow allied bots to use the weapon.
• It is possible to trigger the intro cut-scene if the following circumstances are met:
  • Player equips the Patriot TAC.
  • There are 3 allied bots.
  • Playing as the Eagles.
• The allied transport helicopter and its accompanying infantry exhibits several properties:
  • Under normal circumstances, the infantry inside cannot exit, unless they are bot-controlled. It is still unknown what would cause them to leave the vehicle.
  • The helicopter itself is invincible, and when it becomes stuck or inaccessible for whatever reason, the game will automatically correct the vehicle.
  • Its occupants cannot be struck with any sort of projectile.
    • Trying to use the turrets will result in the players's vision being severely obscured. This also applies if the player somehow assumes control of an enemy APC via mods.
• The enemy patrol Helicopter has a spotlight mounted on its underside during night mode. This spotlight is procedurally placed on the chopper, and is therefore automatically mounted to any chopper in use, be it modded or otherwise.
  • As a result, it is very likely to appear too large on the chopper's belly, often hanging lower than the aircraft's landing gear.
• The original SpecOps mode was extremely threadbare pre-EA 21, consisting exclusively of one defending group of 8 bots around a single flag rigged with an alarm. Their detection AI was primitive, and no dialogue was present.
  • This mode spent three and a half years in this threadbare "preview" state before being drastically overhauled. As of the EA 21 "Spec-Ops update," it has become the most complex mode on the game, and has seen the very first implementation of named story characters.
• If there's no space big enough for the Transport Helicopter to land after all objectives are completed, then the game ends instantly without the need to extract, no matter if there are enemy forces still searching for you.
  • This only happens on very small modded maps, as the official ones always have enough space to trigger the extraction objective.
• If a match of Spec Ops ends instantly without the need to extract, the player and all the bots in their squad are granted immunity and cannot be damaged or knocked down.