Nuclear Dawn is a gritty multiplayer modification for Half Life 2 that combines elements round in real-time strategy, such as base-building and resource management, with the fast-paced infantry combat of a First Person Shooter. Two military factions face off in the post-apocalyptic near future over a decaying landscape and the dwindling resources of a brighter age. Nuclear Dawn offers a unique experience, deep game play, and bleak end-of-the-world atmosphere.

It wont cost you a thing as long as you own a legal copy of Half Life 2 with Steam installed. We are 100% committed to remaining a non-commercial venture.

In the past we've given erroneus release estimates and it's unfair to continue doing so. Unofficial estimates are shared with our community on the forums, but there is no official release date other than "when it's done". More recently the original design has been dramatically scaled down to make for a quicker release that we can build on with subsequent patches and versions. Nuclear Dawn community members will have opportunities to see and even play the game before it is made available to the public.

The most obvious difference is the subtle introduction of RTS and RPG elements to the First Person Shooter genre. The ideas we bring to the table come not necessarily from purely original thought, but from decades of multiplayer gaming experience across a rich variety of genres. We hope that the blend of ideas will be what sets us apart from other takes on team-based multiplayer (and of course the $0.00 price tag!). By combining a basic resource management system with the intensity of a First Person Shooter, we are setting the stage for advanced coordination between infantry and their strategic supervisor. The Commander will provide tactics, logistics and equipment as well as vital support from automated defensive structures. It’s up to the elite infantry to take objectives and wipe out the enemy. We have also gone to great lengths to ensure that the two teams in the game are not merely a “red” and “blue” team functioning in a vacuum, but have options available to them throughout the game to truly differenciate them from eachother.

From the last fortresses and surviving cities of man, the two factions of Nuclear Dawn will launch expeditions and assaults to recover supplies and technological artifacts of the prewar era. These battles will take place in a wide variety of locations: an eerily intact Japanese city damaged only by the rioting of the population as they were wiped out by bio-weapons, a military installation in Russia wracked with the damage of a fierce battle and additional post-apocalyptic scenarios. These are just some of the battlefields of Nuclear Dawn, but we expect the imagination and talents of our community to expand this list with support from our developers post-release.

Each faction deploys three categories of ground troops, which include the standard infantry (who has access to the greatest number of weapons), the armoured infantry (equipped with powered exo-suits), and the stealth infantry (who is outfitted with high-tech active camouflage).

The role of the commander heavily depends on the sort of game you are playing. The more organized a game the more important the role of the commander becomes. Teamwork and in-game coordination are both vital to success on the battlefield of Nuclear Dawn, so henceforth clans and organized servers will get the most out of our mod's gameplay over most public servers.

An effective commander will guide his team to resource points and objectives, gain access to new technologies, issue orders and instructions on how to (or not to) engage the enemy, and make sure his troops are well equipped. The commander will have the information available to interpret enemy tactics and create choke points with mines and turrets and funnel enemy troops into a withering ambush. Do you want to mount a frontal assault? Bypass enemy defences with stealth units to knock out their power supply? Capture and fortify resource points and then bleed them white on your well-prepared defences? These are just some of the tactical options in Nuclear Dawn.

Sometimes you just want to cut loose. Turn off your radio, quit following the commander and sneak behind enemy lines to create a little mayhem. This sort of game play is not rewarded in Nuclear Dawn, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. A well-organized and coordinated team will usually win the day in Nuclear Dawn, but there is always a place for the lone hero in a good First Person Shooter. Who knows, maybe the commander will take note of your bloody Rambo killing spree and start dropping supplies and fortifications to help you along your way.

Nuclear Dawn is not going to state -as many games and mods do- that it will revolutionize the way teamwork functions in a team-based First Person Shooter. Our goal is to combine elements from genres and give players the tools they need to build a solid foundation of teamwork and coordinated tactics.

There will be several incremental test stages as we bring in more and more players to stress-test the gameplay.

A selection will be made from our beta test applicants and our longstanding community members. This number will increase depending on how much third-party server support we receive from our testers, and from our official sponsors, Multiplay UK.

They’re pretty much the as the Half-Life 2 requirements. Around 1.4ghz CPU, 256mb RAM, DX7 capable GFX card. Although we may push the HL2 requirements as much as 30% (to tie in with growing hardware capability).

The maximum recommended number of players is largely dictated by the size of the map, but generally speaking we have balanced the weapons, classes and the resource economy for a maximum of 24 players per server (i.e. 12v12).

Nuclear Dawn is a multiplayer based modification only.

There will be three game modes allowing for varied tastes and gameplay. The two main game modes are Classic and Lite. Classic is the original game mode that combines all gameplay features for maximum strategic and tactical versatility. Lite mode is designed for smaller battlefields and while it retains most of the game mechanics of Classic mode, it also lacks many of the RTS elements for simplicity's sake. Lite serves as both an introduction to and a wind-down from Classic's more involved gameplay.