Rainbow Six: Siege beta - 7 playing tips from the developers
Playing the Rainbow Six: Siege beta this weekend? Get this exclusive advice from the men who've been making it for the past three years.
The Rainbow Six: Siege beta kicked off yesterday and runs until next week. It's a little shaky so far, but it's worth persevering to sample one of this gen's unique first-person shooters.
There are three maps to play and two different modes, and a promised Terrorist Hunt event is also happening over the weekend. Matches consist of three rounds with five operatives per team. Each round begins with a 60 second window to prepare, before guns are drawn and the siege gets brutal. You are using live rounds and friendly fire is on, buster.
Rainbow Six: Siege isn't a run and gun FPS and it takes a few rounds to get adjusted to its play style. So we sat down with Scott Mitchell, animation director on Siege, for this exclusive intel on how to stay alive and take down the enemy during the beta.
Use the the first minute to scout or defend
"If you're an attacker you should be going in with the drone and trying to find out entry points. Scope out what the defenders are doing, what they're barricading without getting seen. If they shoot your drone, it's gone. Later on you might need to rely on that drone, so keep it hidden. Also try and find out where the objective is, where the bombs might be, where the hostage or VIP might be.
"If you're on the defender side you need to obviously block all of the easy access routes for the attackers, but be aware they're keeping an eye on your barricades. Opening up little access points on a barricade you've put on a window or door is a good idea. You can look out and still be protected."
Learn to manipulate the map
"Not only are you dealing with close quarters combat that's almost all indoors, but things are destructable too. Not all surfaces are destructable - pillars and supports aren't - but you can open up sight lines all over the place. It destroys old-school thinking about a shooter map. And it's not an arena. It starts off nice and enclosed but then sight lines start opening up everywhere and it's forever changing, it's never the same. So be aware of how the map can change around you."
Change your tactics between rounds
"We've seen some pretty crazy tactics. We've seen defenders barricading themselves inside a room and expecting the attackers to come in from the other side. They didn't, they came in from the ceiling and the match was over. It was like shooting fish in a barrell. Don't expect a tactic that you used previously to work a second time."
Choose the right operative for you
"You need to consider it's close quarters combat. Choose the right weapon for how you're going to go in, but then also consider what's going to happen once you get inside. Playing as the Pointman will teach you to slow down. You really need to communicate with your team mates, but you need to check your corners too. The Pointman is a great way to break into the game because it gives you a little bit of extra protection with the shield. You have a pistol so you need to be accurate and your movement speed is slower than a normal operator without the shield."
Forget the bad habits you've picked up from other shooters
"When a player comes in expecting to use arena-type tactics, that's a bad habit. Run and gun does not work. You'll find that out very quickly. Communication again is very important. If you are going to play as a lone wolf then you really need to be checking your corners."
Day and night cycles
"Between the day version and the night version of the map the structure doesn't change but shadows will be different, you'll see things you didn't see before. A map like the SAS training camp in Hereford, that changes a lot during day and night. Scanning quickly isn't wise, take your time."
What happens when you're the last man standing
We have seen people come back and take out everybody. It's a real nail biter. It's intense. What's the secret to it? Remain calm. Check your corner. If it wasn't destroyed at the start of the match you still have access to your drone. Send it in. And use your kit. Operators have different gadgets like the heartbeat monitor to see through one wall into the next room. Tools like that are very useful. If you have a weaker team, choose an operator with a tool that can give you a defensive advantage.