HOW IT WORKS

Each of the twelve Rating Categories are assigned a value in the range from minimum to maximum on a scale from 0 to 10 Special Factors are items or design elements that dramatically alter the balance of game play. Special Factors in D1 are assigned numerals, while in D2 they are assigned letters (see list of Special Factors)

Dogfight Factor

Dogfight Factor - measures how much open area a level has and how much of a role it plays over the course of a game, plus how much dogfight skill you will require to dogfight successfully in this level. Dogging is going at it in a room. It's that simple. So if you were going up against a player who prefers to dogfight, how comfortable would he be in this level, and what degree of dogfight skill would you need to win the game. Odd-shaped rooms make for more difficult fights, so the complexity of room designs figures into this rating. A rating of 0 means the level has no rooms at all, while a rating of 10 means you will be engaging in dogfights of the most extreme duress throughout the entire course of the game.

Tunnel Rat Factor

Tunnel Rat Factor - measures how much of a level is devoted to tunnels, mazes, corners and back alleys -- not to be confused with Traps, which have only one way out. Ratting is the fine art of fighting in tight spaces or making use of cover. This includes primarily the skill of prediction, but also includes anti-prediction (foiling your opponent's predictions), dodging fire in close quarters, misdirection, and the ability to confuse your opponent and get him to make mistakes. The higher this factor, the more of a mind game you will have to play to succeed vs most opponents in this level. A rating of 0 means the level made of one room without so much as a single corner to hide behind, while a score of 10 means you will be constantly fighting in the closest of quarters.

Tempo

Tempo - is the pace at which the game proceeds, how often opponents run into each other, how easy it is to find your opponent, how long it takes to play a game, and how important it is to press your opponent if you have an advantage. The higher the rating, the faster the level plays for a typical game. A rating of 0 for Tempo means the game will be extremely boring, slow to progress, spent mostly in searching for your opponent in a level that is too large for head to head play, while a rating of 10 means the action will be nonstop and there will be no opportunities to rest.

Traps

Traps - are places that are easy to get in to and very difficult to escape, usually having only one or at most two ways out. When trapped by a skilled player, your chances of survival are low to medium, depending on the severity of the trap. Ratings in this category have in mind those players who are expert at trapping opponents, and how easily the level lends to this tactic. Levels with more than minimal Trap rating require intimate knowledge of the layout, gained through experience, to avoid the disaster of being trapped time and again by a veteran opponent. A rating of 0 means the level has no traps, not even so much as a long hall, while a 10 rating means the level is nothing but wall to wall traps. The average rating in this category is 2 or 3.

Energy Bay aVailability

Energy Bay Availability - measures three factors: number of energy bays, their placement relative to the primary fight zones, and how easy or difficult it is to trap someone who has gone for energy. Ratings in this category are done with that in mind: if your opponent will seek to kill you as you go for energy, how easy or difficult will it be for him to try. A rating of 0 means the level has no energy bays at all, while a 10 rating means it is impossible for an opponent to prevent you from juicing up whenever you please.

Gimmickry

Gimmickry - is any use of level design that creates an exploitable design feature, including secret weapon caches, one way walls, false walls, grates and windows, switches, locked doors, Reactor placed in trafficked area, etc. D2 levels with secrets controlled by panels are the worst. If a level has too much gimmickry, it's playability is usually low or nonexistent. A few gimmicks can be fun, but gimmicks are usually the sign of the novice designer, enamored more with his own cleverness than with making a playable level. Ratings in this category have in mind the player playing a level for the first or second time, facing someone who has played it regularly and knows its secrets, and what sort of advantages the veteran will have by his experience with the level's gimmicks. A rating of 0 means the level has no gimmicks, while a 10 means the level's whole design is devoted to gimmicks.

3D Elements

3D Elements - measures the use of height and depth in the design, and indicates how much a player could benefit from the use of 3D tactics and fighting skills. A rating of 0 means the level is flat as a pancake, with no height or depth at any point, while a score of 10 means the level requires players to bank and turn and change orientation constantly, with no fixed sense of which way is "up" or "down".

Weapon Factor

Weapon Factor - measures the relative importance of using primary weapons to score kills. This is often heavily influenced by the availability of secondary weaponry. A higher rating means a level demands that you use guns to defeat your opponent, whereas a very low rating means that missiles and bombs are readily available and will play a dominant role in defeating most opponents. A 0 rating means that guns are all but irrelevant in this level, while a rating of 10 means that there are no secondaries available besides concussions.

Coping With Runners

Coping With Runners - measures how easy it is in this level to counter use (or even abuse) of hit and run tactics by your opponent. It is a fact that some players run. Some run a LOT. Some never stop running. When it comes to playing for fun, guys who hate coping with runners can simply stop playing. But for a ladder match, you don't get that option. There are four kinds of runners in Descent: Tunnel Rats, Campers, Missile Boaters, and pure Runners. The Tunnel Rat is the master of peekaboo. His aim is to control the tempo of the game, and you never know whether he will run or jump in your face. He loves tunnels, particularly small tunnels with lots of interconnectedness, so that he can predict you but prevent you from predicting him, and turn aggressive once he has lulled you into believing you know what he's doing. The Camper is the guy who loves to sit in ambush and does it as his main tactic. The Missile Boater is the player who runs looking for missiles that track (smarts, homers, etc), fires his load, then runs looking for more missiles. The pure Runner is the player who refuses to engage at all; he simply runs, and runs. When it comes to rating a level for Coping With Runners, we evaluate the layout to judge how easy or difficult it will be to kill runners of all four types, and how easy or difficult it will be to kill pure Runners or at least force them to fight. A rating of 0 means there is no way at all to corner a runner and the weapon mix does not include rapidly traveling firepower (vulcan, mercs, fusion, plasma, etc) while a rating of 10 means that you can easily smash any type of runner or that running is completely impossible.

Lighting and Visibility

Lighting and Visibility - measures how easy it is to see in this level, and how much of a role low visibility can play in a typical game. High ratings have more to do with competent use of lighting and texture in the layout than with the amount of light. A rating of 0 means the level has utterly imcompetent lighting, a rating below 6 means that visibility is poor and will hinder the game, while a rating of 10 means that the level is not only brightly lit but that the lighting is realistic and technically adept, and that the lighting will enhance the mood.

Stealth

Stealth - has to do with "noise". Noise can be either visual or auditory, and factors in everything from doors to the lighting. Stealth rating has more to do with the hunted than the hunter. Reducing noise that a skilled opponent can pick up on is a skill, and the Stealth category rates how much stealth skill a level will demand of a player in order to eliminate or reduce the noise he generates, thus preventing a skilled opponent from getting the drop on him. This rating also measures the need for stalking skills. A Stealth rating of 0 means that there is no opportunity whatsoever to hide from your opponent, and thus no need to be stealthy, while a rating of 10 means the level is not only a deathtrap, it is also like a China shop filled with breakables: very easy to give away your position, and very important that you not do so.

OVerall Quality

Overall Quality - measures the quality of the level as a whole. This category is the most subjective, and should be viewed as just one opinion, not the final word on a level's inherent value. In deciding on an overall rating for each level, we try to judge not with any particular playstyle, tactic, or preference in mind, but on the basis of the technical quality of the level in combination with its balance and flow, and its suitability for ladder matches. A rating of 0 means the level is totally unsuitable for head to head games, a rating below 6 means there are design factors that may hinder an IDL match, while a rating of 9 is granted to any level that is considered flawless in its design. Only the best of the very best levels will be given a perfect rating of 10.

SPECIAL FACTORS

It should be noted that some powerups tend to dominate gameplay whenever they are present in a level. Shakers are the most obvious example, but there are others. Everyone knows how large a helix can be, or how much difference smart mines can make in how a game goes. Extra gauss ammo is another balance-shifting factor in one on one; whereas in multiplay, gauss ammo respawns out of control quickly, so the starting ammo doesn't matter at all. Rather than elaborate over and over on how these "Special Factors" impact each level, in the reviews, we simply note that the factor is present and let you judge its impact for yourself. What follows is a list of special factors.

For D1 these include: 1) Mega Missile 2) Cloak 3) Invulnerability 4) LH (Less Homers): reduced homing missile count 5) NH (No Homers): homing missiles removed from the level 6) Missile Farm: level contains more than 5 smarts or more than 11 homers 7) Weapon Imbalance: only one set of primaries available (besides lasers)

For D2 these include: A) One Earthshaker Missile B) Multiple Earthshaker Missiles C) Mega Missile D) Smart Mines E) Helix Cannon F) Phoenix Cannon G) Gauss + Ammo: More than ten thousand extra rounds of ammo are available H) Cloak I ) Invulnerability J) No Afterburners available on this level K) OW (Original Weapons): level contains ONLY D1 items L) Missile Farm: level contains more than 15 count of any secondary weapon M) Weapon Imbalance: only one set of primaries (or one afterburner) available