- Famliarization with maps (so people don't end up playing only atcs and plat23).
- Familiarization with advanced evolved alien forms (see this thread, and yes, I've seen complete FPS beginners start with this game).
- Giving people something to do when there is nobody to play with.
Core gameplay:
- One of the teams is actual players and the other team is bots.
- The win and loss conditions are the same as in normal game.
- For each room/area of the map there's a list of bot structure layouts, ranked by difficulty.
- There's a list of potential starting points and initial bases for the player team.
- Bots only rebuild what's already been there, and don't rebuild rooms which have been cleared.
- The enemy spawn rate scales with the number of players (in the old training server it was very annoying to play alone due to the number of enemies).
Progress system:
- Players start 0 light years into the enemy territory.
- Winning brings them 4-6 light years further.
- Reconnaissance "missions" start easy (small maps, easy/empty rooms, few enemies).
- The further the players are into the enemy territory, the harder the maps get.
- Losing sets the players back a few planets.
- Losing twice in a row sets the players all the way back to 0 light years.
- Players keep their special items and credits and part of the unused BP pool between the maps.
Extra stuff:
- Special items, eg. ones which allow you to carry 2 grenades, one-time use abilities (see this thread).
- Challenge rooms. When you step on a special pad, it teleports you to a random challenge room where you have to fight off aliens, complete parkour courses, etc. If you finish the challenge, you'll be rewarded with credits or special items.
- Maybe a final boss? I have an idea for a final boss, but I'll post it as a different thread since it's so extensive.