EXpanded MultiPlayer

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The correct title of this article is eXpanded MultiPlayer. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.

eXpanded MultiPlayer (XMP) is a multiplayer expansion to Unreal II developed by Legend Entertainment. XMP contains just one game mode that is similar to Capture the flag but requires more sophisticated tactics.

The scenery of the map 'Islands'

[edit] Development

Unreal II: eXpanded MultiPlayer was developed by Legend Entertainment for Atari to deliver on the original promise to extend the original single player game Unreal 2 with a multiplayer functionality. The first playable version was released and made available for download on December 9, 2003. Almost nearing completion, the development of the game was suddenly halted by the unexpected close-down of Legend Entertainment on January 16, 2004.

Although the single player edition of Unreal 2 was disappointing to fans of the original Unreal, the online multiplayer add-on (XMP) is considered one of the most sophisticated and addictive multiplayer games ever issued. Realistic graphics and visually stunning maps complement complex class-based game play in a truly team-cooperative environment. A departure of the frag-fest environment of the various Unreal multiplayer bretheren, XMP is a measured shooter employing sophisticated weaponry and tactics. Players who gain experience and hone skills, such as wall jumping (Ranger class), concussion jumping (Gunner class) and other maneuvers, are rewarded through game points and notoriety. To date, there remain few online games that can compete with the level of realism and control of XMP. While the XMP community has suffered serious setbacks with the loss of master server support and the closing of Legend Entertertainment, a small dedicated community of highly skilled players still meet on a daily basis for lively sessions on a variety of colorful maps. XMP and its dedicated core of players are an elite secret society of the most skilled online gamers around.

[edit] Master server

As XMP is a pure online game living from game servers hosted over the world. It is quite dependent on a server which the user's XMP copy queries for online game servers. As this master server crashed often and the manufacturing company stopped support for the game, it was not easy to find online games for XMP newbies.

An XMP fan later implemented his own master server, so that users can find online servers easily again.

For more information, visit

[edit] Gameplay

XMP is a team-based game, where the players are split into two teams, red and blue. Both teams have a base with an Artifact Node. Each Artifact Node initially contains two Artifacts. (XMP players often refer to these as "Artis".) The main objective is to steal the enemy's Artifacts and then register them at your own Artifact Node, both accomplished by running through the appropriate Artifact Node.

The game relies on some basic concepts, which make XMP unique:

Three classes: The player can play as a Ranger, a Tech or a Gunner, each with its own pros and cons,
Energy: Every action costs energy; each team has to ensure a sufficient energy level at all times,
Vehicles: Three different vehicle types enhance gameplay,
Teamplay: The team with better collaboration is more likely to win the game.

[edit] Hacking

Some of the items in the game can be hacked to be owned by the hacking team. The two most important things to be hacked are Energy Generators and Deploy Points, but you can also hack panels of some doors and lifts. To hack an item, stand close to it, press and hold the key you have bound to "Use". A progress bar will appear. When it is full, the item belongs to your team and you will hear the announcer say something like "Your team has gained <your item here>". While you are hacking, you are an easy target for the enemy, so it is a good idea to wait for the opportune moment to hack a given item, or otherwise call a teammate to provide some cover.

A special way of "hacking" is treating teammates. The player can always approach and "use" them. Depending on the actual player class the teammate can either be healed (Ranger), repaired (Tech) or resupplied (Gunner).

The speed of hacking items depends on the player class and the actual personal energy reserve. Techs hack fastest, Gunners and Rangers take longer to hack. All three classes treat (heal, repair, or supply) teammates at the same speed. However, if the player's personal energy supply is depleted (e.g. due to excessive use of the jump pack) hacking and treating will take significantly longer.

[edit] Energy

What makes XMP different from typical CTF is Energy. Energy is required for almost everything in the game: weapons, vehicles and even the player's advanced movements. Autonomous mechanical defenses (so-called "Deployables") consume the most energy. Without Energy you cannot register the enemy's Artifacts as your own, drop turrets and so on. Each map has a number of Generators which can be hacked by each team to provide energy. Each Generator contributes to your team's energy level at a specific rate. To register Artifacts, your team must have at least a level of 800 Energy. For every 50 Energy from 800 down to 500 the team gains/loses a function which is announced like this: Red/blue team "item" are online/offline.

There are two separate supplies of Energy a player is concerned with: their team's Energy supply (the tall blue bar to the extreme lower right of the HUD) and their personal Energy reserve (the short yellow bar to the immediate left of the team energy bar). The personal Energy reserve is depleted when performing any of the 'advanced' functions of the game; ie. hacking an object, deploying a turret or a mine, healing a teammate or activating jump jets. Some things, however, draw directly from the team's energy reserve, such as deployed turrets, or driving or firing from a vehicle. The player's personal reserve is refilled from the team's Energy bank; therefore, if every team member 'spends' their energy frivolously, the team will soon find itself without defenses, vehicles, or even a place to register stolen artifacts. For this reason, a player should handle their energy responsibly, at least until their team has enough Generators under its control to support multiple energy-intensive activities.

[edit] Deploy Points

A Deploy Point is a place where you can spawn after being killed. You do not need to redeploy every time after being killed, as any other player can revive you. However, when you are revived you start with one health point (although you can still be healed back to full health by a Ranger).

Most Deploy Points can be hacked like Generators, except for the ones closest to either team's base. It is good to have as many Deploy Points as possible, since that will both increase your potential starting points, as well as limit those of your enemy. Every Deploy Point has a deploy time which means that you will have to wait for the countdown of the current time cycle to be able to deploy.

Pressing the 'Jump' key repeatedly while waiting to respawn allows a player to cycle through all of his team's available Deploy Points, in order to spawn at a key location or to get back into the action quicker. Viewing each Deploy Point will also display a list of teammates: white names are live teammates that spawned from the Point in question, while grayed-out names are teammates that have been killed and are waiting at this Deploy Point. An icon next to each teammate's name also displays their class: a medic's cross for a Ranger, a wrench for a Tech and a bullet for a Gunner.

[edit] Scoring

Each successful action increases the player's personal score while all negative actions decrease it. Individual scores of the team members are neither added up nor are they of any importance to win the game. however, they are a good hint to the personal performance of the team members and also the overall success of the complete team.

The individual scores can always be displayed by all players with the <F1> key. The "most valuable players" by score can always be retrieved with the <F2> key and will also be listed in the loading screen of the next map after the current game ends.

[edit] Winning

There are two ways for your team to win the game:

Steal and register all four Artifacts at your Artifact Node,
Hack and keep all Generators until the enemy runs out of Energy.

If neither of the two options is achieved when the game time runs out, no team wins according to the original game rules. In some leagues however, a custom rule is enforced so possessing more Artifacts than the enemy will also win the game.

[edit] Communication

There are several possibilities how you can talk to other players in a match. Most important (because available to all players) is the in-game-chat. Standard key for typing chat messages to be seen by all players is 'T'. If you want to type messages only to be read by your teammates, the standard key is 'Y'. Key bindings for that can be changed either in Options menu of the game or manually in the MyUser.ini file. If team messages are sent, the player's current location on the map is displayed after the player's name and before the actual message.

XMP also supports voice messages which can be bound to any key. There are 39 possible voice messages which are spoken during a match by your avatar. Each player class has its own voice, so a gunner sounds different from a ranger or a tech. It's possible to let all players hear (and read) a message or only the players of your team. Additionally to the speaking, your avatar also sends out a chat message. The voice messages can also be invoked from console with either the command 'speech <number>' '(for sending it to all players) or 'teamspeech <number>' (for sending only to your team). Those commands are the same that can be put in the MyUser.ini file. The following commands are implemented (starting with the number):

0. "Acknowledged."
1. "All clear."
2. "Get in the vehicle."
3. "I've got an artifact!"
4. "I need backup!"
5. "We need defense!"
6. "We need more deploy points!"
7. "We need energy!"
8. "I need a medic!"
9. "I need repairs!"
10. "I need supplies!"
11. "No problem."
12. "Sorry."
13. "Thanks."
14. "Incoming!"
15. "Wait up!"
16. "Affirmative!"
17. "Negative."
18. "Nice shot!"
19. "On my way."
20. "Same team!"
21. "At the base."
22. "At the generator."
23. "I'm on defense."
24. "I'm on offense."
25. "Cover me."
26. "Follow me."
27. "I need a ride."
28. "I need health."
29. "Someone revive me!"
30. "<--- I'm hacking this."
31. "<--- We now own this."
32. "Get rid of those deployables!"
33. "Hack their DeployPoints!"
34. "We need more automated defenses!"
35. "Enemy in our base!"
36. "I've dropped an artifact!"
37. "<--- I've heavily mined this area!"
38. "<--- There's a live Juggernaut here."

Any message, speech or plain chat, directed specifically at the team, is also accompanied by a location label in parentheses behind the player's username. This is useful in conjunction with speech messages such as 30, 31, 37 and 38 to let the team know where something is happening, as it saves the time normally spent asking 'Where are you?' or something to that effect.

XMP does not come with a built-in support for communication through a headset (Voice over IP). But it is of course possible to use external programs like TeamSpeak, Roger Wilco or Ventriloto establish that during a game.

Communication during a match can be vital for the outgoing of a game. Your team mates can react on certain messages immediately. E.g., if an artifact has been stolen and you see the artifact carrier, a very important thing is to tell your teammates about that, either through team chat or a headset.

[edit] Classes

In XMP, players can choose to spawn as one of three character classes. The classes have several different attributes, such as speed, armor and weapons. All three character classes have the same amount of health (100).

All classes have a stamina bar and the ability to sprint; sprinting roughly doubles the player's base speed (determined by their class) and depletes their stamina bar at a constant rate. In vehicles this is represented instead by a turbo bar, activated by the driver with the same key. Sprinting, predictably, also allows for longer jumps, and is necessary (in combination with jump jets and mantling) to reach certain areas of the map. The player's speed is represented by a tall blue bar to the lower left of the HUD and an abstract value next to it; stamina is represented by the short yellow bar to the immediate right of the speed indicator.

All classes also have the ability to "mercy kill" (or, as it is often called in-game, "KO-wn") enemies which have been killed and are waiting for revival by a teammate. Those enemy players can be recognized by a skull symbol hovering over their twitching body. To KO-wn an enemy, approach him until you can see the progress bar, then press the "Use" key. KO-wning disallows the enemy player to be revived by friendly Medics or watch his surroundings, and forces him to redeploy at one of his team's current Deploy Points.

The third and final ability available to all three classes is the use of 'jump jets'. These are, very simply, small jet boosters each player carries on their back that assist in defying gravity by providing a short but powerful burst of upwards momentum. Jump jets are activated by pressing the 'Jump' key a second time before touching the ground. Combined with a player's other inherent abilities such as jumping and dodging, in addition to a good sense of timing, jump jets can:

When triggered at the apex of a straight jump, increase the jump's height; the absolute gain in height varies per class. Obviously the Gunner, being the heaviest class, cannot jump as high as the Ranger.
When triggered at the end of a long jump, increase the jump's length; the same class-based weight modifiers are effective with regard to the actual distance gained.
When triggered simultaneously with a dodge (a double-tap of the 'Left' or 'Right' key, resulting in a short, quick dash in that direction) allows a faster, longer, jet-powered dodge move that can also be triggered in midair.
When triggered soon before hitting the ground after a fall or a jump from an extreme height, prevent loss of health from falling damage. What actually happens is the maximum upwards momentum provided by the jets is subtracted from the downwards momentum gained by the falling player; in the case of a light fall this is often enough to stop the player in midair and set them falling again, obviously causing less (or no) damage upon impact (a skilled player can time this to occur just before impact for an extremely light landing). In the case of a severe fall, however, such as from the upper level of the map XMP-Alcazar, the jump jets often merely slow the player slightly, as the accumulated momentum from falling far exceeds that provided by the jets.

Jump jets may only be activated once per jump; once the player touches the ground they immediately recharge.

[edit] Ranger

The Ranger is XMP's lightest class and therefore the fastest; however he has the lowest amount of Shield (100).

[edit] Weapons

Image:Bm sniper.jpg

The Sniper Rifle

The Ranger has the following weapons:

Sniper Rifle with zoom function,
Pistol,
Grenade Launcher (fragmentation or smoke grenades).
Shock Lance (best used to destroy deployables e.g. turrets).

This player class doesn't carry any mechanical Deployables.

[edit] Skills

The Ranger can heal teammates by approaching and "using" them. If there is sufficient Energy he can also throw Health Packs which can be picked up by any player (including the enemy team!).

[edit] Tech

The Tech is a middle-weight class with medium amounts of Shield (300) and speed.

[edit] Weapons

The Tech has the following weapons:

Assault Rifle,
Shotgun,
Grenade Launcher (EMP or toxic gas grenades).

Depending on his team's actual energy level he can also deploy Auto Turrets, Rocket Turrets, and Force Walls (electric fences). Those Deployables consume a lot of the team's Energy, so it has to be ensured there is always enough of it by hacking and holding Generators.

[edit] Skills

Techs can repair the shield of his teammates by approaching and "using" them. If there is sufficient Energy he can also throw Shield Packs which can be picked up by any player (also those of the enemy team).

[edit] Gunner

The Gunner (Also called "Gunny") is a slow player if you count out concussionjumping and lasertripminejumping, but with the highest amount of shield (500).

[edit] Weapons

The Gunner has the following weapons:

Rocket Launcher,
Flamethrower,
Grenade Launcher (incendiary or concussion grenades).

Depending on his team's actual energy level he can also deploy Laser Trip Mines and Land Mines. Those Deployables consume a lot of the team's Energy, so it has to be ensured there is always enough of it by hacking and holding Generators.

[edit] Skills

Gunners can repair the supply teammates by approaching and "using" them. If there is sufficient Energy he can also throw Supply Packs which can be picked up by any player (also those of the enemy team).

Due to a bug in the game a teammate revived by a Gunner starts with full ammo, instead of the amount he died with.

[edit] Vehicles

XMP has three vehicles: Raptor, Harbinger and Juggernaut. Like the player classes, each vehicle type has specific advantages and disadvantages over the other ones, like speed, armor and weaponry. Vehicles do not need to be hacked to be available to one of the two teams and cannot be repaired. However, driving a vehicle or firing a vehicle weapon uses energy from the team's reserve. After they are destroyed they will respawn at their original spawn points. For all vehicles, whether in the driver's seat or manning a vehicle weapon, alt-fire will send teamspeech message 2 ("Get in the vehicle.") to the team.

A useful side note is that vehicles are also affected by falling damage; landing with the wheels down usually dampens this effect slightly (as opposed to landing on the front end or upside-down, as has been known to occur, particularly from very steep falls or from traveling off an edge at high speed), however, vehicles are much more sensitive to damage than players, and due to their tendency to explode when disabled in any way, a fall that would remove half a player's health is likely to destroy their vehicle completely and take them with it, also often making them inaccessible for reviving due to the burnt-out wreck of the vehicle on top of their corpse. Exploding vehicles have a very limited splash damgage radius, however, with most of the damage being directed at the occupants, and combined with the fact that a player's momentum is set to 0 upon exiting from a vehicle, a skilled player can survive an otherwise fatal fall by piloting a vehicle off the edge in question, exiting a good distance above the ground, continuing to fall unaided and softening his final landing with his jump jets. The resultant avoidance of death, revival and/or redeploying in this case more than makes up for the loss of mobility incurred by the inevitably destroyed vehicle.

All vehicles also have their own stamina reserve, separate from the player's, called a turbo boost. When the turbo gauge (that replaces an occupying player's stamina bar) is full, a speed boost can be triggered by pressing the "Sprint"-key (usually <Alt>). The boost has the same effect as sprinting; it roughly doubles the vehicle's speed of movement until the boost is depleted. It tends to last for much less time than a sprint, but also recharges much faster.

[edit] Viewing Angles

While sitting on the driver's seat the perspective can be switched between 1st and 3rd person with the <F11> key. In 3rd person view the Vehicle is shown from the perspective of a camera hovering somewhat over and behind the vehicle. Using the mouse the camera direction can be tilt in a 180 degree angle.

Vehicles are useful for quick transport, too.

[edit] Raptor

Raptor in Action

The Raptor ("Rap") is a small and speedy buggy with room for 2 players (Driver, and a mannable turret on top). The downside is that it has the weakest armor of all three vehicles. The Raptor's center of gravity is towards the rear, allowing for some tight turns. When utilizing the turbo boost, Raptor drivers are rewarded with bright flames spewing from the exaggerated exhaust pipes to either side of the vehicle's chassis.

Example: To do a sharp turn to the left or the right, the <Down> and <Left> or <Right> keys can be pressed simultanuously.

Depending on the consistency of the ground hard turns into one direction can make the Raptor oversteer, resulting in a few pretty doughnuts.

[edit] Gutblowing

The Raptor has two meat grinders attached to the front. Hitting enemies with them results in a "gutblow", instantly killing the player and making him incapable of being revived.

Note that teammates can't be gutblown. However, hitting them with the Raptor can also teamkill them.

Because of the uneven terrain of certain maps it may be possible to avoid a gutblow by crouching.

[edit] Honking

To warn teammates and enemy players the Raptor has a built-in horn, which can be triggered by the driver with the "Fire"-control (Default is left mouse-button). Pressing the control immediately after speed boosting with full turbo boost results in a "Special Honk": the first 12 notes of "Dixie", similar to the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard. Also during the "Special Honk", a faint "Yee-haw" can be heard from the vehicle, assumed to be from the driving player (Although, the voice is the same regardless of the class of the player).

[edit] Harbinger

The Harbinger ("Harby") has medium armor and speed and fits three people: one driver, one who operates the rocket launcher on top, and one who operates the rear-mounted EMP cannon. Its high center of gravity means it has a tendency to topple over at high speeds.

[edit] Honking

The Harby has a powerful, deep horn to warn all pedestrians. It can be triggered with the "fire"-control.

[edit] Juggernaut

The Juggernaut is XMP's tank and the most heavily armoured vehicle, but also the slowest. The Juggernaut has spots for two people: one driver and one gunner who operates the very powerful top-mounted cannon. The driver has also access to a flamethrower which can be used to kill opponents at close range.

[edit] Weapons

[edit] Deployables

Deployables can be deployed by a Tech or a Gunner. The Tech can place Auto Turrets, Rocket Turrets and Force Walls. The Gunner can place Laser Trip Mines or Land Mines. Land mines explode when someone steps on, or close to them. They can also be detonated by most weapons. Laser trip mines explode when someone breaks the laser beam.

While Deployables can greatly assist in defence, overreliance on them often leads to defeat. Turrets, for example, don't react fast enough to harm an experienced Ranger. All Deployables drain a lot of energy, so each team has to balance the amount of Deployables and energy gained by the Generators held by them.

[edit] eXpanded MultiPlayer lives on

In April of 2004, several key eXpanded MultiPlayer community members and ex-Legend Entertainment coders formed Free Monkey Interactive, announcing their plans to port Unreal II: eXpanded MultiPlayer to Unreal Tournament 2004 in the form of a total conversion. The project is called Unreal Tournament: Expanded Multiplayer. They have released several videos and beta releases showcasing their work so far.