With Dichotomy, all players have one of two special Shield Packs, which grant them immunity to a certain type of damage. This is indicated by the UT2003-style shoulder lights, which glow either green or gold (as not to interfere with team colors).
Green lights means that the player is immune to all energy weapons, while gold lights are immune to physical weapons. The class that each weapon falls into is as follows:
| Energy Weapons |
Physical Weapons |
| Shield Gun
Shock Rifle
Biorifle
Link Gun
Lightning Gun
Ion Painter
Manta Fire
Raptor Fire
Scorpion Plasma
Hellbender Turret
Hellbender Air Mines
Stationary Turrets
Paladin Fire & Combos
SPMA Shock
Leviathan Turret
Leviathan Cannon
Cicada Turret
|
Assault Rifle
Assault Grenades
Minigun
Flak Cannon
Rocket Launcher
Avril
Sniper Rifle
Grenade Launcher
Spider Mines
Redeemer
Target Painter
Goliath Fire
Scorpion Blades
SPMA Bombs
Leviathan Rockets
Cicada Rockets
Being Crushed
|
This new capability fundamentally changes all modes of play:
DM/TDM - A player who relies heavily on one weapon will no longer rule, as his weapon of choice will be ineffective against half his opponents. A diverse and well-rounded player who can use all the weapons will be more successful.
Assault: Attackers will find it easier to accomplish their goal, as they now have the option to protect themselves from Minigun turrets and Snipers, among other hazards. Working together, a Green and a Gold player can almost guarantee that one of them will make it to their destination alive.
Onslaught - Gold players have nothing to fear from the mighty tank, and Green players don't have to worry about being harrassed from the sky by a Raptor. Likewise, Spider Mines are no longer the lethal annoyance they currently are. Note: no matter what color shield you have, you will still die if your vehicle explodes.
To make combat even more interesting, players can change their immunity in the middle of a fight just by running over a shield icon of the appropriate color, leading to some ferocious and devious one-on-one contests.
Finally, the Dichotomy mutator has a few server-selectable options:
1) Damage Level. By default, a player takes 0% damage from weapons of his Shield-type. The admin can change this number to anywhere from 1 to 100% damage.
2) Choice. There are two ways determine which Shield-type a player gets. By default, the normal shield powerup is replaced with 2 icons, and the player runs over the color of his choice. These shield powerups don't disappear, so the player can always change his mind, and the entire team only needs one set. As an alternate server option, players can be randomly assigned a Shield instead.
3) Shield amount. Normally, every shield powerup on the map is replaced with a color-choice shield, as shown above. For maps without any shields, the mutator can add permanent shield-stations in random locations throughout the arena.
