I gotta tell you all that I am sore as hell today - and I had a fuggin BLAST at IC!
I've only been to Splat Action twice, the other time was Grid18 and both times it was awesome compared to the playing areas we have around here.
It was great being able to walk around and talk to everyone and meet the folks that I hadn't met before along with meeting folks I hadn't seen in a while.
The gameplay at IC was awesome, the lack of hacking and the Admin coverage was excellent, although I do echo the call for a dedicated tally admin for the respawn area - it was often hard to find him when he was covering the bridges and the large area near the Warsaw CP.
Also the safety netting was difficult to shoot through when some folks were using buildings with 'bullet proof windows' - setting their guns underneath the netting and shooting from the window, while not being able to be touched from incoming fire.
Also, the mix-up on land usage for out-of-bounds was sketchy, which cleared areas were in or out and who could go where. I got lit up in the deadpool a couple times when we were being assaulted from behind our CP and we were trying to respawn.
Those were my biggest gripes from the entire game and I only give these as constructive criticisms.
Game idea - Excellent
I LOVE the idea of dedicated respawns, I dont give a crap if I have to walk all that way if it gives me down time to get my wind, drink water from my pack, munch a power bar etc.
I also enjoyed the use of artillery and blanks on the field - there was no mistake as to when an artillery strike was made and where. It also added to the immersion for me.
The missions handed out by our CO kept things from getting bogged and stale, it kept folks moving and gave them purpose rather than wandering or wondering what comes next.
I can't afford to head that way for every one of these in the series, but you can definitely count me in for every other one of them!
The building problems can be cured pretty easily if Splat Action folks were to go to a mill or a manufacturing facility with a trailer and ask if they got rid of 8' pallets used for trim or lathe. Our plant kicks about 30 of these out a night, throwing them away. Each of these has 3 rough cut 2x4's 8 feet long on them and it would cut the facilities improvement costs greatly. Lowered costs would give incentive towards building improvements - I know materials cost and bringing in money is better than putting it out. Just an idea.
My best shot of the day was in the beginning of the game at the Warsaw Ammo Dump, firing at a guy in the opposite village who had taken cover in one of the buildings. We slugged it out from cover back and forth but he stepped by one of the holes in the buildings and I shot him from about 80 feet through it to take him out.
I had to whoop it a little there since I knew my luck wouldn't be that good the rest of the day.
And it wasn't lol.