Playing Synergy

From SynMod

• It seems fair to assume that Players new to Synergy will already have played Half Life 2 until they're blue in the face, and so be familiar at least with HL2 single-player controls and tactics. However experience of Multiplayer mods can vary widely, so this article aims to outline the main differences between playing Synergy and HL2 (single player).
• For installation and configuration information, please see the Installing Synergy Client article.

Contents 1 PC Climbing & Jumping 2 Communication 2.1 PC Tactical Commands 2.2 Player Voice Communication 2.3 Player HUD Chat Console 3 Concepts 3.1 Cooperation 3.2 Medkits and Weapons 3.3 Who is Best

PC Climbing & Jumping

• Crouch-Jump: the technique for jumping in Synergy is slightly different from HL2. In Synergy you need to press Jump (Space) followed by Crouch (Ctrl) to clear any significant obstacle.
• CameraView: sometimes when climbing and jumping the third-person camera view can help you better understand your PC's position relative to obstacles.

To toggle between first and third person ('over-the-shoulder') view of PC keybind the "togglecamera" function to "p". Note: this feature may be disabled by Server Admin.

Death view - first or third person ragdoll view (Game Menu -> Mod Settings -> View -> Death View).

Communication

Communication is crucial to team coordination and cooperation.

PC Tactical Commands

The Tactical Command System allows PCs to issue a limited number of specific messages within the gameworld. These are different from other Player Communications because they can be understood by NPCs, trigger preset playersounds audible to other Players and some also trigger special graphics in your teammates' HUD.

• Currently they are activated by opening the Command Menu -> Communication and selecting from Call for Help (specifically Medical help), Taunt, or Take Cover. Currently the Command Menu cannot be opened under the default settings, so you have to keybind "+Commandmenu" to "c".
• Tip: For quicker access, you might wish to keybind "playersound medic" to "F2", "playersound taunt" to "F3" and "playersound cover" to "F4".

Player Voice Communication

Audio communication is much quicker and easier to use than text or graphic channels and so very useful in teamplay.

• After you install and configure a microphone to work with the Steam network, you will need to keybind "+voicerecord" to "k". Then it's simply a matter of making sure the microphone is plugged in and holding "k" when you wish to speak.
• Tip: There is a little-known feature in Steam that allows you to 'mute' other Players voice comms for cases where another Player is abusing or spamming the voice comm channel. Whilst connected to a server, hit Esc to go to the Game Menu then under Player List select the smacktard's name and click on Mute in-game voice. Sigh with relief.

Player HUD Chat Console

• Players can share text messages with other players during the game by opening the HUD Chat Console, typing your message and hitting "return" to share the message. All players will be able to see the message in their HUD, but they may not have time to read it! Currently the HUD Chat Console cannot be activated under the default settings, so you have to keybind "messagemode" to "y".

Concepts

Cooperation

There is hardly any cooperation. People try to rush to ending as fast as they can and leave others fight with the enemies. Others wait near outside near some door or gate until someone has opened it, because they might die or just too bored to run back and forth. Only in hard mode you really see some cooperation at least in Synergy maps, because it is hard.

Medkits and Weapons

There are two kinds of people: People who have health and people who do not. Those who have health go to the front line and pick all the medkits up as they lose little health points. Those who only have little health left try to stay at the back, but they will not get anything ... because everything is already picked up. Same deal is for weapons: most of the time the person in front line will get all the weapons amd ammo.

Who is Best

Everyone is trying to be the best. Sadly the best player is not the one who has 0 deaths or the one who is at the end of map first. Even though some would say: "I am not playing it because I want to show off". Honestly many people are playing only to prove that. People are going to play competitive so why not give somekind of point system. Kill a combine soldier - Get a point. Press a puzzle button - get a point. Get to part of the map and get a point.

Smacktard: a Player who deliberately attempts to spoil the game for other Players.HL2: Half-Life 2 (Valve Corporation 2004).NPC: Non-Player Character. A game entity which is directly controlled by AI - as opposed to a Player-controlled PC.PC: Player Character. A game entity which is directly controlled by a Player - as opposed to an AI-controlled NPC.Player: A real person who spectates or participates in the game.Client: Synergy uses a Client/Server software architecture. The "Server" runs the game and is authoritative about world simulation, game rules, and player input processing. A "Client" runs on a player's computer connected to a game server, and generates all the lovely graphics, etc.Server: Synergy uses a Client/Server software architecture. The "Server" runs the game and is authoritative about world simulation, game rules, and player input processing. A "Client" runs on a player's computer connected to a game server, and generates all the lovely graphics, etc. A "Listen Server" runs on the same hardware as a Client; whereas a "Dedicated Server" runs on it's own, independent hardware, separate from all Clients.