Night of the Dead

Night of the Dead is a popular 8 player cooperative survival map for StarCraft II. Development started in July 2010 and the mod is set to be complete by June 2011. Features include 3 storylines and 12 classes. The game has a number of features that set it apart from other survival maps. It has a persistent ratings system that saves locally, allowing you to maintain rank, karma, and rating throughout games. It has a large array of weapons, and an inventory and weight system. Balance adjustments are made almost daily and can be checked on the Official Forums.

Class Overview
Night of the Dead features 12 unique character classes, each suited to a unique role. A team should be varied and cover all its bases. Most teams should contain at least 1 Medic, Rifleman, and "Tank" (Assault, Flamethrower, Demolition, Bob). Players will often have to forfeit playing as a class they prefer in order to play a class that best supports what role the team is lacking, especially on higher difficulty campaigns.
 * Further class information can be found here.

Weapons
Night of the Dead has a large arsenal of weapons, each with a distinct role on the Lunar battlefield. Most characters start out equipped with only a Gauss Rifle, but there are exceptions. Some weapons, such as Flamethrowers and Sniper Rifles, are quite common. Others, such as Chainguns and Laser Rifles, are very rare and must be scavenged from the map.
 * A full weapons guide can be found here.

Equipment
Night of the Dead features an equipment system that allows users to change the armor and other gear to improve their characters abilities. This is broken up into Armor, Marine Modifications, Ammo Upgrades, and Non-Weapon items. Each and every item in NotD also has a weight, weight adds up and slows you down.
 * A full item guide can be found here.

Enemies
Night of the Dead has a large caste of enemies and bosses, each weak to specific weapons and best fought in a certain way. Certain enemies can only be fought on higher difficulties and various bosses gain new abilities on higher difficulties.
 * A full enemy and boss walkthrough can be found here

Ailments
These are negative buffs that can be put on the Marine from the infested. They should be removed as soon as possible.
 * Should a player's health reach 0 with a Fatal ailment, they will die regardless of how many lives they had.


 * Venom - Each Venom slows movespeed by health degeneration. Can be cured by a Medic's Anti-venom. Stackable. Fatal
 * Open Wound - Each Open Wound degenerates the Marines health quickly. Can be mended by a Medic's Surgical Laser or a Bandage. Stackable. Fatal
 * Cripple - Movespeed is reduced by 30%. Can be fixed by a Medic's Surgical Laser.
 * Short Circuit - Causes the Marine's energy degenerate and prevents their shields from regenerating. Can be fixed by a Engineer's Repair. Stackable.
 * Blindness - The target is blinded for 8 seconds. Can be fixed by a Medic's Surgical Laser.
 * Madness - The Marine's attack damage is decreased by 35% and attack speed is increased by 45% for the duration of the game. Can only be fixed when the Marine is reduced to 20% health. Only on Veteran and Nightmare games.

Rating
An estimation of how good the player is. Rating starts at 1500 and has a maximum of 2000.

How to Lose/Gain Rating
 * Rating is lost should you die, fail or take too long to complete an objective, take too many hits or kill another teammate.
 * Rating is gained should you win and complete an objective within a certain time.
 * Rating loss due to hits does not apply to the Assault and Demolitions as they are Tanking Classes and the Medic is slightly more hit/rating tolerant than the other classes.

Rating Brackets
 * 1300-1399 = Awful Player, 11 lives
 * 1400-1499 = Bad Player, 9 lives
 * 1500-1599 = Average Player, 6 lives
 * 1600-1699 = Above Average Player, 3 lives
 * 1700-1799 = Good Player, 2 lives
 * 1800-1899 = Excellent Player, 1 life
 * 1900+ = Extreme Player, 0 lives

Karma
An estimation of the sportsmanship of the player. Karma starts at 1500.

How to Lose/Gain Karma
 * When a game starts, 1 karma is deducted from every player. This karma is regained with Victory or Game Over and additional karma may also be granted. Should the player leave the game before then the karma is lost.
 * Should it be low then the player is either a teamkiller or a quitter or has a tendency of shooting teammates.
 * Should it be high then the player stays till the end of the game (Victory or Defeat, not their own death) and completes the game.
 * Playing as a medic guarantees extra karma points
 * Should you die at any point in the game and receive a predator, having that predator alive at the end of the game will net you an additional 5 karma for going above and beyond to assist your teammates.

Karma Brackets
 * 1600-1699 = Allows for the kicking of a player by typing -kickvote x. This vote must be supported by another player who is also above 1600 karma
 * 1500-1599 = No penalties against the player
 * 1400-1499 = The player cannot control leavers units
 * 1300-1399 = The player will ONLY be able to play as with the Rifleman, Medic and Assault regardless if they have unlocked another class. Also, they will have a red box around their character and a warning will go out advising players that this player is evil and that caution is adivsed around them.

Ranks

 * Private - 0 XP, 2 stat points
 * Private First Class - 100 XP, 4 stat points
 * Corporal - 500 XP, 6 stat points
 * Sergeant - 2,000 XP, 8 stat points
 * Staff Sergeant - 5,000 XP, 10 stat points
 * Sergeant Major - 10,000 XP, 12 stat points
 * 2nd Lieutenant - 20,000 XP, 14 stat points
 * 1st Lieutenant - 30,000 XP, 16 stat points
 * Captain - 40,000 XP, 18 stat points
 * Major - 60,000 XP, 20 stat points
 * Lieutenant Colonel - 80,000 XP, 22 stat points
 * Colonel - 100,000 XP, 24 stat points
 * Brigadier General - 150,000 XP, 26 stat points
 * Major General - 200,000 XP, 28 stat points
 * Lieutenant General - 250,000 XP, 30 stat points
 * General - 300,000 XP, 32 stat points
 * General of the Army - 350,000 XP, 34 stat points

Stats
Each stat caps out at 9 points. Stat allocation can be edited for roughly the first 10 minutes for each game.


 * Strength - Increases health by 10
 * Agility - Increases movespeed by 0.025 and increases reload speed
 * Perception - Increases sight range slightly and grants a small area of True Sight, also adds 0.5% chance to gain a Critical Strike on attacks
 * Endurance - Increases health by 3 and grants minor health regeneration. Also slightly increases weight tolerance. Periodic chance to gain extra life.
 * Intelligence - Increases energy by 5 and gives a 0.8% chance with each point for a Bonus Talent point to be gained when the player levels up.

Modes of play
XP and overall squad rating are factors in how NotD games are always played, though there are two modes that are activated, the four modes are:

Easy Mode (made possible by typing in -em)
 * Reduces infested health and spawn rate
 * Players gain shared vision
 * Certain missions will not grant Mission Bonuses
 * Victory Bonus grants 10xp, rating and karma
 * Speed Bonus grants 10xp, rating and karma
 * Medal tracking is disabled

Newbie Mode
 * Game is automatically set to Newbie mode if any player has under 500xp
 * Slightly lowered infested health and spawn rate
 * All missions grants Bonuses (Provided they are finished within time)
 * Victory Bonus grants 20xp, rating and karma
 * Speed Bonus grants 20xp, rating and karma
 * Each Chapter grants Bonus xp and rating
 * Medal tracking is enabled

Normal/Veteran Mode
 * Increased infested health and spawn rate
 * Fog of War renews itself
 * New infested may spawn
 * Current infested may gain new abilities
 * New Events become available
 * New ailments may become present
 * Victory Bonus grants 20 xp, rating and karma
 * Speed Bonus grants 20 xp, rating and karma

Nightmare Mode (made possible by typing in -nm)
 * Greatly increased infested health and spawn rate
 * Fog of War renews itself
 * Auto-reload time is doubled
 * New infested spawn
 * Current infested gain new abilities
 * New events become available
 * New ailments become present
 * Each Chapter grants 10xp, 10 rating and 2 karma as a Nightmare Bonus
 * Victory Bonus grants 30 xp, rating and karma
 * Speed Bonus grants 30 xp, rating and karma

NOTE: Only the Host Player can activate either nightmare or easy mode.