Singleplayer good training for multiplayer?

This is a topic commonly brought up by the gaming community. I personally find that the single player experience often provides only the most basic introduction to multi player, but this varies by genre.

FPS: Here the single player is only marginally useful when it comes to learning multi player. Campaigns usually do a decent job of teaching the controls and basic game mechanics. But even then the player is often faced with a multitude of enemies that are weaker and AI that is designed to approximate their role in the plot rather than other players (Halo comes to mind). Other times, the single player provides the hero with power ups and equipment that are greatly toned down or missing in multiplayer (COD 4). That's before one considers the nuances of the maps, teamwork, and game types.

RTS: The story is similar here for RTS. Campaigns do a good job of introducing the basics of the resource system and the provide missions that emphasizes the strengths of the individual units. However, the AI is usually woefully inadequate compared to online players and often relies on cheats to compete. They lack the multitude of rushes, micro strategies, and build orders that define playing online.

 

it's just one form of 'training.' it's a good way of finding out the game mechanics. obviously you'll be better equipped after having played single player as opposed to jumping into multiplayer blindly.

when i used to play TFC competitively i created my own server to to run around map to think of strategies and practice different techniques.

either way you'll need to spend A LOT of time playing online for you to be good against other players.

 

Depends on the game really. Most single player modes in FPSs don't really serve as good training since the gameplay itself doesn't really emulate the MP enough. Games like CSS and BF2 are MP centric, the SP just being MP with bots so both game modes go hand in hand.

 

depends on the game. FSX? very much so. CS:S? not really.

 

yeah, counter-strike really isn't anything with bots. people are deceiving and highly skilled in that game, more so in 1.6 than source.

 

I actually brought this up yesterday here, and it always comes up on the Sony GAP site. SP modes, when used at highest level available, can be extremely useful at prepping the player for online play, especially the newer games which have excellent AI responsive capability. COD:W@W & Killzone 2 are good recent examples of games whose higher SP levels make it worth playing to prep for online play.

For example, playing the Sniper mission in COD:4 on Veteran will definitely increase your reaction/targeting/kill response time in the MP game.

 

what about quake 3 bots on the highest difficulty?

 

the best AI bots in the FPS world are in:
- Unreal Tournament (all of them)

They have even won awards for their amazing AI.

if you can beat the bots in UT (especially when you are in close range).... then you will have skill to take out a real person.

 

Yeah, playing with bots in CS:S is only helpful for practising quickly getting headshots and controlling recoil at long ranges. Playing with them too much, though, would actually make you worse because you'd develop a playing style that works well against stupid bots that have predictable movement patterns.

 

UT bots are not predictable in a mid to close range battle.

switch it it Godlike and lets see if a CS player can even survive.... no way.

UT teaches you fast pace and aggressive FPS skills.

 

I think the SP is more of just a tutorial for RTS games than FPS.

For FPS, the bots, like people above have said, can be decent at times, but with RTS, the entire perspective to the game is drastically different when going from Single Player to Multiplayer.

The Skirmish AI for RTS almost never will have the concept of specific rushes or timing attacks or the various cheap tricks that online players have. The same is somewhat true for FPS, but the aiming portion of the game is at least trainable in SP and you only need to learn the tricks. In RTS games, you have to almost learn everything from scratch except which building builds what and the maps.

 

For PVP single player game "experience" is useless...and instanced PVE in multiplayer games doesn't really need pre-game training.

 

I definately find that playing through the single player campaign on say hardest settings improves my overall performance, it gives you time to work with different weapons, improve your response times etc.

but in saying that im terrible at FPS so anything will help

 

When I used to have the time, I trained in Halo on the XBOX (and Halo 2 to some extent, but by then I didn't have nearly the time I did before) by confining myself to using one weapon, as practice with aim and techniques. The Battle Rifle in Halo 2, for instance, takes a lot of practice to completely master, especially with its various button combinations that sometimes come in handy.

 

The Unreal Tournament series, as others have mentioned, are fantastic games to use the single-player experience as training for multiplayer, since it's basically multiplayer with wicked awesomely programmed bots. Even Unreal Tournament 3, which attempts to drive a plot through single player, is really a thin veil over the core multiplayer gameplay.

 

Hey, I'm looking for some single player games to hone my skills, since my internet isn't good enough here to be competitive online. Mainly looking at RTS and FPS (I really like rpgs, but they're really independent on the individual game you're playing)

I've currently got:
CS:S (If i can ever get it to dl)
unreal tournament III
Supreme commander
Demigod

These aren't really skill oriented, but still have them:
Assassins Creed
Fallout 3

P.S. please don't mention any COD games

 

sp ai dont really use the tactics that the players you ecounter online will

ie bf2 ai will never jump around to avoid fire, they ussually just run in a straight line towards cover at best.

 

Agreed. I'have "trained" quite a while with UT Bots on Godlike. It was frustrating at first because they pwn you a lot, but after some days/weeks you get into it. When I finally joined a real Multiplayer session, I pwned most people, because they were really lazy.
Though this wild jumping/strafing/sliding around might not work in other games e.g. SWAT 4 Multiplayer

It's not that easy in RTS games, since you do not know, when they attack and what tactics they have. If you play against the AI only you will recognize a "pattern" after a while, let's say in Age of Empires I: the enemy begins to attack after 10 minutes, so you have time to build a lot of of watchtowers which shoot the enemy units. At the same time you know that the enemy units attack the tower instead of your village people collecting resources - however that will not work on a human opponent.

 

If you dont think that SP in FPS's doesnt increase skill, then try "sky high" in modern warfare on veteran. You should be able to do it first try, because you already have skill..

Plus playing any sp will teach you valuable skills you would never find out in mp.

So saying that sp in pvp games is useless, well ur wrong.

And also for RTS it is still useful. I didnt know how to play starcraft that well, but I played a few RTS's before. My friend wanted to play me and I thought I could possibly beat me. He did. Then the next few days I trained with the computer to learn everything about the factions. Then, I came back and beat him 3 times in a row. Lol

Nothing is ever useless, but not everything is always useful..

 

It really depends on the game. For example, Battlefield: Bad Company's singleplayer was an excellent intro to the multiplayer, as it introduced all the vehicles, controls, and how to operate some of the harder weapons.

 

O man I tryed passing cod 4 on veteran, but I got stuck at the end of the sniper mission when you wait for the evacuation team's chopper, just too many damn troops against only you and your injurned teammate captain

 

hehe I dont remember exactly how I beat the game on veteran, it was like a year ago. But it took lots of time and patience.

And then the sky high bonus level on veteran!! Holy crap. I played it more than 100 times until I finally beat it, and then tried again a few months later and just gave up after the first few trys.

You get like 45 seconds, and everything has to be perfect.

 

UT is generally considered to have the best bots in the industry, but even they are not great at approximating human player behavior. They do not move/jump nearly as much, and on higher difficulties they are just insanely accurate while staying fairly stationary.

 

I train in multiplayer. Then I try single-player in hard mode.