Plan of Attack

Plan of Attack is a multiplayer Half-Life 2 mod, which had its first official Beta release on April 15, 2005. It is a team-tactics first-person shooter with objective points.

History
The Plan of Attack team (which formed into Agora Games) released regular updates through Beta 4, which launched on October 5, 2005. The game is no longer under official development. The source code was freely released to the public on April 15, 2006 - one year after the mod's initial release. Due to the release of the source code, the game has given rise to the Plan of Attack Community Project, which aims to bring a polished rewrite of the game using the current source SDK, as well as numerous improvements based on feedback after Beta 4.

Gameplay
The game features two teams: the Americans and the multi-national Coalition, fighting each other using weapons modelled after their real-world counterparts. It takes place on maps representing various urban environments, and the winning condition for either team on any map is to control the three strategic locations on that map. Each player has a variety of tools for communicating with teammates and coordinating actions, including a mini-map of the player's immediate surrounding area, a larger map that displays the entirety of the map and teammate locations, and voice communication capability through the use of a microphone.

The player can choose to be one of four classes, each specializing in different weapons and abilities. Furthermore, each class has 5 levels. A player starts at the first level, and as the player earns experience points (XP) playing that class, the player may "level up" and increase their level, which generally confers benefits such as a higher armor level, higher movement rate, and a more accurate crosshair. Even though a player may be a class that specializes in a given weapon, it does not mean that the player cannot use other types of weapons; it simply means that he cannot use them as effectively as the specialist for that type. Through the course of a game, players will earn XP towards their next level and in-game "money" by completing objectives, killing members of the opposing force, and/or surviving. The "money" is used for purchasing better firearms and equipment to replace the default pistol every player receives when he respawns or has just joined the game.

Game Progression
By default, Plan of Attack plays out in 2.5 minute rounds. The first round for any map is a "Coin Toss" round, where each player can see every other player on his large map. Players start with the default pistol, and victory for the first round is achieved solely through killing all members of the opposing team. The winning team will be the first to attack (see below). Otherwise, if there is at least one surviving member from each team still alive when the round ends, the game randomly decides which team will attack first.

After the first round, the game plays out as follows: for 30 seconds starting from the beginning of each round, players may buy better weapons and equipment with the "money" they have. Each round, one team is considered as "attacking". A random member from that team chooses from four locations to capture: one of the three strategic locations on the map, or the enemy's base. Once a location is chosen, the attacking team is notified of the decision, and the team then attempts to capture the location, either by having at least one player inside the boundaries of the location (marked clearly on the map) for 45 continuous seconds, or by killing all of the opposing team. Once a capture begins, both teams are notified that the location is being captured. If the capture is successful, that team controls that point, and earns any rewards associated with capturing that point. If a capture of the enemy base is successful, the only effect is that the enemy team's members lose all money they had up to that point. Regardless of whether or not an attack is successful, once the round ends, it is the other team's turn to attack.

The team that is not attacking is considered "defending". The defenders have a 10-second head-start on the attackers to buy weapons and prepare a defense. The defending team's only objective is to prevent the attackers from capturing any location that is neutral, or under the control of the defenders; this includes the defenders' base.

Critical reception
Plan of Attack was a finalist in the 2006 IFG Modding Competition. In 2005, the mod received coverage in PC Action, PC Games and GameStar.