My brother just gifted me Rainbow Six 3: Gold Edition on steam, since we both loved the RB6 3 on PS2. I now realize that it was pretty inferior to Raven Shield in terms of content (different story/missions, no planning phase, and always the same operatives on a single team). The planning phase and different tactics make the game much more impressive, and add to the replayability. I’m loving the customization and easy to save/load different schematics. The operatives becoming wounded or dying during missions also makes the campaign feel much more alive (in the PS2 version, the team members would just be there for the next mission).
I will admit I have very little time on the game now, and the stupid decision to start on ‘elite’ difficulty to challenge myself. A lot of my time was spent in the training trying out the different mechanics and controls. It seems though that there are a few irritating flaws:
- I wish you could order your team to breach and clear a door, but it seems that it needs to be planned ahead (this was possible in the PS2 version), which brings me to the next point:
- I wish your team would follow set actions on go-codes. From what I’ve seen and read, your team never follows pre-planned orders unless you switch off the team.
- AI is a bit lackluster sometimes. This is the least of my issues with the game, as the AI is very decent for a 2003 game. Most games I like have the AI lacking a bit, but with all the tactics and scenarios available, it sometimes is less rewarding to have terrorists randomly spread around a map, not moving too much even if they are alerted by your presence.
I haven’t tested this yet, but wonder if there are possible 2 workarounds to this. Let’s say I have 2 teams breaching a room on opposite ends for example, and I want both to be breached with a charge simultaneously. I like playing on the team (although I plan to also have an observer campaign), so perhaps you could switch to the other team once they’ve set up their charge and waiting for their go-code, call it, then switch back, and immediately call it again. This is not optimal for the well oiled machine I want my operatives running, so I think from now on I’ll consider the other option:
Have my team either running solo or with one additional operative following another team with clear marks. That way the AI team can place charges and follow through with the plan, while my player controlled operative is ‘kind of’ with them. The flaws of this workaround is the ability to issue commands on the fly without switching back and forth.
Don’t get me wrong though, I’ve had a blast playing this game. I just find it irritating that the first 2 points are not difficult to fix, so I’m surprised they weren’t addressed before launch 20 years ago. I’m sure there are mods, but I like playing vanilla. Great game!
Curious to hear your thoughts on these issues and possible workarounds, or if I am perhaps not understanding something correctly.
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Edit: So far I’ve been prepping ‘open and clear’ on zulu for go-code points for my own team, but it’s not as satisfying as having co-ordinated action on a single go-code, and of course the inability to breach and clear. I’ve sometimes loaded the breach myself and then immediately ordered my team to run inside. Putting ‘open and clear’ on zulu when I personally breach seems to not work properly.
Issue 1: you can tell your teammates to breach a door. On my setup it’s space. If you hold down space you get more options. Look at the bottom middle of your screen. You can see a rectangle with various icons depending on what you’re looking at like a door.
Issue 2: if you want two teams breaching at the same time, tell your team to breach and flash. You can’t do it in planning, you have to do it by looking at the door and holding down space to select the command, and then right click if you want it on Zulu. If your team has breach charges you can tell them to breach, flash, and clear on Zulu by holding down space.
It sounds like to me you didn’t play all the tutorials because they pretty much cover everything I said. They even teach you how to use the sniper team. There’s of course going to be the lack of fluidness with your team always having to do the Zulu commands in conjunction with the ai teams but was 2003. This was one of the most in-depth shooters at the time.
Vegas 1 and 2 allow you to more fluidly command room clearing if that’s what you’re looking for
I know how to order room clearing and I was paying attention in the tutorials. There is no option to breach with space, only Open, Open and Clear, Open and Nade, Open Nade and Clear. That was the whole point of the post haha.
I found that zulu commands in tandem with go-commands weren’t as satisfactory as I hoped, as there is invariably a bit of lag between them.
I will probably try Vegas after I’m done with this one. Raven Shield is very enjoyable so far however, so I don’t want to complain too much.
Hmm, you’re right. Vanilla Raven Shield does not let you use breach charges. I was using a mod called Raven Shield Overhaul (im not sure you can even get it anymore) that lets you use breach charges with your team.
Yeah, it’s such an annoying little thing I’m not surprised it was a mod.
Random thought though, is 3rd person view in observer mode a mod? I can’t find the key for it in vanilla.
Never use observer mode so idk