Soak and Destroy

Water warfare game types, ideas, rules, organization, etc.
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TacticalTyphoon
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Soak and Destroy

Post by TacticalTyphoon » Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:16 pm

What is it?

I noticed it on steelboot's sig and was wondering what it is exactly.

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HBWW
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Re: Soak and Destroy

Post by HBWW » Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:54 pm

You can do a search next time to find out instead of having to wait for a reply. =p

Apparently, Steelboot likes my Soakn' Destroy game, which has actually has several definitions. (Not sure which one he likes.) It is, in a way, a variation of CTF in that both teams are trying to complete an objective.

The "Official" Soakn' Destroy game (as official as I can make it) involves several objective items; a Target and Bomb in particular. The goal is to take the Bomb to an enemy Target, plant it (which takes a short amount of time), and have it detonate (which takes longer; it runs on a "timer") The Bomb may be diffused by the team who owns the target in the reverse method of how it was filled. There may be two targets instead of one, and the game may be played as a single-sided game where teams alternate roles of offense or defense each round (kind of like in CounterStrike or 1-bomb in Halo), or the Bomb may be neutral, placed in the middle of the field, and each team has a Target that the other can score on if they get the Bomb.

The Bomb typically spawns near the Offense team's spawns/starting points in non-neutral games.

Planting the Bomb: The Target can be an empty water bottle, while the Bomb is a filled bottle, and the bottle representing the Target is filled up in order to plant it. Alternatively, if a faucet or hose is available where the Target is, the filled bottle can be done away with and the Bomb is represented by an empty bottle. To plant, the bottle is filled.

Bomb Timer: An hourglass may be used for the Bomb's timer. (It is fast to "activate" and hopefully sealed against water getting inside; if water ends up getting inside, it will have to dry off on its own in order to use the hourglass again.) The hourglass is started as soon as the Bomb is filled up. It is deactivated as soon as the Bomb is diffused (emptied) by the Defending team. If the hourglass runs out, the Bomb detonates and the team who planted it wins.

Overall Game Timer: A watch or some other method can be used to keep track of an overall game time limit. This is only required for the Offense/Defense (1-Bomb) variation of this game, not required for Neutral Bomb or any other variation that's not single-sided. If the bomb is planted, its timer overrides the overall game timer.


Other variations of S&D: Originally, my definition of S&D was not very specific. Now however, I consider it to be any game that uses the specific Bomb and Target objective system, regardless of how such objectives are setup. Originally, I specified S&D to also include two other types of objectives which are much simpler: assimilation type objectives. In video games, these objectives are typically where a player has to stand over them or in them for a period of time to complete them, but no suitable method works for water warfare. Instead, I have two types of objectives I use: Blast-The-Target (typically a piece of toilet paper; simply destroy it with water to complete the objective), or Fill-The-Container, where any container (bucket, bottle, whatever) must be filled up for the objective to be completed.

S&D originally included the toilet paper and bottle fill-up objectives, but all other setups were the same; each team had their own objective(s) that the enemy could complete to score points, and Offense-Defense games are also possible with these setups. However, these objectives are also good for Territory/Conquest/Land Grab type games where several of them are scattered throughout the map and completing them earns points and spawn areas for the team who gets them. The difference between this and games however, is that it is difficult or not possible at all for teams to reverse ownership of a Territory/Objective.


Overall, my way of categorizing games seems excessively complicated, but there's a code to all the chaos. Consider the following to game setups, as they are all based on common features to water war games:


- Hit or Soakfest (or mixed): Rules regarding whether the game counts hits. Actual hit rules must be defined individually.

- Number of lives: Elimination (1-life), Limited Lives, or Unlimited Lives. I personally prefer sticking only to Elimination or Unlimited Lives

- Timers: Any system of time limiting that affects the game as a whole, or objectives within a game, etc.

- Rounds and Phases: Some Games (or Matches) are divided into Rounds and/or Phases and gameplay often ceases temporarily between them. (i.e. A standard 2-Flag CTF game may be divided into multiple Rounds/Phases (doesn't matter what you call it), and each time someone scores, the phase ends so that teams may stop playing in order to reset the flag, refill, etc.)

- Physical Objectives: Flag capture, Bomb and Target, Target Blasting, Container Filling are all just examples of physical, mechanical gameplay-oriented objectives you can use. Games centered around elimination, kill scoring, etc. do not count as having these types of objectives.

- Soak-based Objectives: Less formally defined than Physical Objectives, this may be something as simple as rewarding points to a team for making kills in a CTF game, while flag captures merely count as more points than kills. All organized water war games are considered to have at least one of either type of objective.


That's about all the main factors I can think of at the moment. I'll put in more if they come up.

But yeah, that's pretty much the gist; everything you need to know, on Soakn' Destroy, and my little "theory" or organizational method on setting up games.
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