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Battleblog #11: Every Battlefield 3 multiplayer game mode explained

In Battlefield 3, all maps adapt to the five multiplayer game modes available at launch. Read on for the full breakdown of every multiplayer mode in the game, plus details on how you can tweak each match to suit your personal tastes even further.

Battlefield 3 multiplayer action on the Caspian Border map. Hit the pic for full resolution.

Long standing classic Battlefield game modes Conquest and Rush are back in Battlefield 3, together with interesting new additions to make this our broadest and deepest Battlefield yet. From the close quarters infantry combat of Team Deathmatch and Squad Deathmatch to objective driven all-out vehicle warfare – Battlefield 3 has it all. All of the 9 huge multiplayer maps in Battlefield 3 adapt to all 5 game modes, effectively giving you 45 distinctly different multiplayer experiences to choose between. Without further ado, here are the five available multiplayer modes at launch in detail. What they are, what their respective goals are, and how they play.

Team Deathmatch

• Availability: On all 9 maps
• Players: 24 (12 vs. 12)
• Focus: Team Based Infantry Combat
• Goal: Eliminate a set number of enemy combatants
• Winning the game: The team that reaches the set kill number first is declared the winner

Team Deathmatch is of the true classics when it comes to multiplayer game modes, and a game mode that makes its first appearance in a Battlefield game since the original Battlefield 1942. In Team Deathmatch, two teams of 12 players each duke it out on tight knit maps with a distinct infantry focus – there are no vehicles available in Team Deathmatch. For that quick instant action fix, this is the perfect game mode. For players new to Battlefield, this is a good place to start. Once you get the hang of the infantry gameplay, you can move on to deeper modes that include the signature vehicle warfare for which Battlefield is known and loved.

Squad Deathmatch

• Availability: On all 9 maps
• Players: 16 (4 squads of 4)
• Focus: Squad Based Infantry Combat
• Goal: Eliminate a set number of enemy combatants
• Winning the game: The squad that reaches the set kill number first is declared the winner

Squad Deathmatch is a larger and more dynamic variety of deathmatch that also features the inclusion of an Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV). The IFV can help break a deadlock, as long as you keep it alive with solid Engineer gameplay. The 4 squad setup means that there is a constant battle throughout the game to gain and maintain the lead. Sticking together, keeping your squad healed up, supplied, and repaired are the keys to victory. The squad that can combine the potent Battlefield mix of team play and combat prowess will be proven the winner.

Rush

• Availability: On all 9 maps
• Players: 24/32 (Console/PC)
• Focus: Objective Based All-out Warfare
• Goal: Attack/defend M-COM stations
• Winning the game: Destroy all M-COM stations/Deplete the attacker’s tickets (Attackers/Defenders)

First introduced in Battlefield: Bad Company, Rush has now made its way to the heart of the Battlefield series in Battlefield 3. An objective based mode, the attackers have to arm and detonate pairs of M-COM stations in each area of the map to unlock the next area and the next pair of M-COM stations. While defenders have an unlimited amount of spawn tickets, attackers only get new tickets every time they destroy a pair of M-COMs. If all M-COM stations on the entire map are destroyed, the attackers are declared the winning team. If the defenders manage to deplete the attacker’s tickets to zero (by killing them), the defenders are declared the winners.

As an all-out warfare mode, Rush features a large variety of vehicle setups tuned specifically to that map’s landscape and features. Players can find all types of vehicles on Rush maps, including transport vehicles, armored vehicles, helicopters, and of course, jets. Rush offers a compelling objective based all-out warfare game mode for Battlefield veterans.

If you are familiar with this game mode from Battlefield: Bad Company 2, you might want to know we are refining it for Battlefield 3 in a number of ways, based on player feedback. Some of the gameplay tweaks we are bringing to Rush are:

1. * You cannot use explosives or shoot at the M-COM to take it out. Only arm and disarm.
2. * If the attacking team arms the M-COM but runs out of tickets, the match will continue until the M-COM detonates or defenders disarm it
3. * If the defenders start disarming an M-COM just before it’s about to blow, the explosion is prevented until the disarm is accomplished. If the defender gets killed during the disarm process, the M-COM will instantly blow

Squad Rush

• Availability: On all 9 maps
• Players: 8 (4 vs. 4)
• Focus: Squad Based Infantry Combat
• Goal: Attack/defend M-COM stations
• Winning the game: Destroy all M-COM stations/Deplete the attacker’s tickets (Attackers/Defenders)

Squad Rush is the ultimate test to show which squad is the best of the best. Squad Rush is an extremely tight duel between two squads that borrows the main rules from normal Rush, but in a much more intimate setting. In Squad Rush there are only 2 bases with 1 M-COM station per base, meaning that every M-COM taken or defended in Squad Rush is vital to the victory or defeat of the game. There are no vehicles in Squad Rush, so it’s all down to your infantry fighting skills.

To be successful it’s key that you and your squad mates customize your soldiers to complement each other on the battlefield, in order to keep reviving fallen mates, provide ammo, and perform other essential duties. Squad Rush is often favored by players who know each other’s play styles intimately and want to show their skills in the most personal of combat settings.

Conquest

• Availability: On all 9 maps
• Players: 24/32 or 64 (Console/PC)
• Focus: Objective Based All-out Warfare
• Goal: Capture and Hold Flags
• Winning the game: Deplete opposing team’s tickets

Conquest is without a doubt the most classic of Battlefield game modes. Introduced in Battlefield 1942, Conquest has defined the entire Battlefield series (and influenced a lot of other games out there) and encompasses everything that makes Battlefield great. Set over a series of large-scale maps, Conquest is the game mode best suited for the experience of all-out vehicle warfare. In Conquest, two teams fight for control of a number of flags by being the dominant force in the vicinity of each base. Capture and keep control of a majority of the flags and the enemy team will bleed tickets. Killing enemies will also reduce their ticket count, and the first team to run out of tickets loses.

Conquest is a strategic and tactical game that often asks you to make important decisions on whether to attack an enemy base or defend one of your own. Your forces will rarely be enough to capture and hold every base on the map, so in-game communication and quick thinking is necessary to be victorious. Of all of the game modes we have invented here at DICE, Conquest will always have a special place in our hearts.

Tweak your game with Hardcore and Infantry Only settings

Not a fan of vehicles? No problem -- just click the “Infantry Only” box in your server browser when searching for a server game where no attack vehicles will spawn in, only transports. This is a great way to get a feel for the game or the map before you go all-out warfare.

Want a more lethal and tactical game mode where the risk and reward is even higher? With the Hardcore Mode setting, we are leaving you on the battlefield without much external help from the game interface. This game mode modifier will test the limits of your skills.

You can flick the Hardcore switch for any of the regular game modes. Doing so tends to turn matches into more deliberate and tactical affairs, since the penalty for being careless is higher. A lot of players prefer Hardcore Mode since it means that flanking and ambushing pays off to a higher degree, or because of the increased sense of immersion and authenticity that comes with removing user interface elements.

There is something for everyone in Battlefield 3’s adaptable array of multiplayer modes, maps, and modifiers. Add our many customization options for vehicles, weapons and classes, and you can see why we call this our biggest and deepest Battlefield yet.

All the current Battlefield staples, as well as the series main claim to fame -64 player Conquest-, are accounted for. I am a bit disappointed, that there won't be an all new 'This is BF3!-Mode', unless you're inclined to count the first timer '24 player TDM'. I'm not.

Hoping they'll add a second and more innovative 64 player mode into the mix post-release. A healthy mix between Conquest freedom and a more directed affair - something along the lines of Assault mode. That'd be baller!

BF3 will have a very long DLC tail (much of it will likely be free-of-charge), so a brandnew 64 player mode is not out of the question. Let's hope for the best.

Hardcore Conquest 'till I die

Also, beta is done, they are awaiting sony/ms certification. All three platforms will beta at the same time sadly.

lowdown

looking good I don't like Rush at all, I strongly prefer Conquest but sure a Battlefield deathmatch sounds like it can be fun.

You know, I won't focus on it, but I'm actually glad TDM is there. It'll give me the quick, fast paced matches that I still go to CoD for every now and then when I don't have time to play a thirty minute rush or conquest game. SDM from BC2 was alright for that, but it was a bit annoying as many times you got screwed over and put on a team with 2 people against three teams of 4.

"* If the defenders start disarming an M-COM just before it’s about to blow, the explosion is prevented until the disarm is accomplished. If the defender gets killed during the disarm process, the M-COM will instantly blow" that doesn't sound like fun. I think that would ruin rush for me if i try to disarm get shot and it instantly goes off? what if someone else was there to disarm it?

"* If the defenders start disarming an M-COM just before it’s about to blow, the explosion is prevented until the disarm is accomplished. If the defender gets killed during the disarm process, the M-COM will instantly blow" that doesn't sound like fun. I think that would ruin rush for me if i try to disarm get shot and it instantly goes off? what if someone else was there to disarm it?

I just hope they fixed the disarm but actually pickup a fallen weapon issue.

@mmzOne said:

@AntoineDiamonds said:

"* If the defenders start disarming an M-COM just before it’s about to blow, the explosion is prevented until the disarm is accomplished. If the defender gets killed during the disarm process, the M-COM will instantly blow" that doesn't sound like fun. I think that would ruin rush for me if i try to disarm get shot and it instantly goes off? what if someone else was there to disarm it?

I think that is a good change. If we think of a situation where there is ~1 second of timer left before the box explodes and you start to disarm it, the timer will still run to zero but it won't explode, you have chance to complete the disarm. If you get shot while disarming, since the timer is now 0, the box goes boom. In BC2 it would just explode in your face. If there's multiple people disarming it , the box won't blow up as long as there's someone disarming it. Or that's how I think it will work.

Yeah, I think this only affect the situation when there is no more time on the timer. You can defuse and get shot all you want without blowing the thing up as long as there is some time left on the clock.

argh i wanted 64 rush :(

@AntoineDiamonds said:

"* If the defenders start disarming an M-COM just before it’s about to blow, the explosion is prevented until the disarm is accomplished. If the defender gets killed during the disarm process, the M-COM will instantly blow" that doesn't sound like fun. I think that would ruin rush for me if i try to disarm get shot and it instantly goes off? what if someone else was there to disarm it?

The bomb doesn't blow as long as there's a defender actively interacting with the bomb. It will never blow before the countdown's up, but it will blow instantly, if you are killed while in ' disarmovertime'.

Logically - that's what it means to say.

@mosdl said:

I just hope they fixed the disarm but actually pickup a fallen weapon issue.

According to Demize99's Twitter it is.

@Seppli said:

@mosdl said:

I just hope they fixed the disarm but actually pickup a fallen weapon issue.

According to Demize99's Twitter it is.

Sweet, couldn't remember if it was fixed in the alpha or not.

I do worry about putting team deathmatch in, I don't want to find the large bulk of the population in there while struggling to get a full game on Conquest or Rush after the first few months. It just wouldn't be Battlefield somehow.

@gaggle64 said:

I do worry about putting team deathmatch in, I don't want to find the large bulk of the population in there while struggling to get a full game on Conquest or Rush after the first few months. It just wouldn't be Battlefield somehow.

That will never happen. Especially with server browser functionality even on consoles.

I'll probably be playing Conquest the most with a little Rush thrown in for some Variety, but I don't see myself playing the other game modes very often at all. They're just not what I come to Battlefield for.

@Giantstalker said:

Hardcore Conquest 'till I die

Which won't take long, because its hardcore.

Really pleased with this info. All game modes available in all maps is great. The changes to disarming MCOMs is great. The "not picking up a weapon when trying to disarm" is friggin awesome. I also heard that no MCOMs will be in collapsable buildings either, which is fine too.

The addition of TDM is not a big deal to me, but its nice for newcomers to the franchise to be able to cut their teeth there first. Like someone else said, it's probably going to be better than Squad DM, which had a problem with lop-sided teams. Infantry-only options will give me another thing to try, not sure if I'll like it or not, but its great for those people who are sick of getting base-raped by choppers.

Overall I find nothing to complain about here, this game looks like they took a lot of the BC2 feedback to heart, and and I just can't wait to jump into this game.

The lack of Titan mode continues to make me sad.

Is 2142 really just being forgotten about? D:

The lack of Titan mode continues to make me sad.

Is 2142 really just being forgotten about? D:

Conquest mode is the best assuming you can get a full 64 player game.