3.0 The Player

The NS:CO crown jewel is it's rich player interface; a configurable player ability system that functions like in realistic and infinitely variable sliding class system of skills and ability.  The TASS™ system also is part of the NS:CO rewards system and how you configure your abilities determines your access to specific weapons and attachments.

3.1 The Player Menu

The player menu is the master game interface and is where you can change your name, player appearance, configure your load-out and most importantly configure and distribute your skills here. Understanding and mastering the Player Menu and all its features is critical to your effectiveness in NS:CO. To reach reach the Player Menu press "ESC" and select "Player" from the Master Menu the Player Menu will then pop up in the middle of your screen.

Primary Weapon
Clicking on the weapon name opens the selection of primary weapons you can choose from; if a weapon name grayed out, then you have selected a weapon that you don't have the experience requirements to equip with; in that event you are equipped with the default weapon for the team you're part of until you reach the ability limits for the selected weapon You can also select the ammo for your primary weapon as well as weapon attachments here.

Sidearm
This section works just like the primary weapon section. The only difference is the maximum of sidearm ammo and that there are only two possible weapon attachments:.

Melee Weapon
Shows the default edged close combat weapon for your team; either the Multi Purpose Knife if you're a SEAL or the Khukri if you're a Tango.

Grenades
You can have up to two grenades per type. Available grenades are: fragmentation, flash and 40mm (launcher) fragmentation grenades. Learn more about the grenades in section 4.3 Grenades.

Your Head
This model shows your current custom Head-Stuff selection and the team uniform for the team you are playing on.

Head Stuff
In this menu you can select and choose facial skins and head accessories. Find out more about these options in section 3.3 Head Stuff.

Free XP
Clicking on this button will free all your distributed experience points and reset all your abilities to "1". Read 3.2 Abilities for details on the XP and Ability system.

Change Team
If you click on this item the player menu closes and the team selection appears and you can choose the team you want to join. If you switch teams while playing you loose experience points you have won and receive the default based on the team you switched to.

Mission Info
Displays the briefing for the map you are currently playing includes a set of helpful objective location images.

Armor
Here you can select whether to wear a Kevlar vest and helmet or not. See section 4.5 Special Equipment for details on armor.

Experience
This section is used to distribute your experience points creating your ability profile. Your current  free Experience Points are listed as are your assignments for each your abilities. Click on the desired ability to add points from your current pool. If you have enough experience points, then this ability will be raised by one. See see section 3.2 Abilities for details on the abilities and their functions.

Total Weight
This display shows your total load-out weight with all the equipment you have currently selected. Note: total weight effects your walking and running speed and how far your sprinting stamina will take you.

3.2 TASS™ - Abilities System

note: If you read only one section of this manual this should be it!

TASS™ or "The Ability System" is the core element to NS:CO player configuration. Through TASS™ you configure your attributes and skills; different abilities give you skill in certain areas at the expense of others that are required to access and effectively use specific weapons, weapon attachments and equipment. You get a starting number of experience points (abbreviated "XP"), and additional points are awarded staying alive, completing mission objectives and killing opposing team members. All players also get experience points for time in-game so game-play won't get imbalanced. If a game gets out of hand and should get lamed or become imbalanced TASS™ will award extra points to the suffering team; the successful team and players will always lead in experience points by some small margin however. The available TASS™ abilities include

Technical - adjusts your skill in handling grenades, bomb defuse and bandage times.

Accuracy - effects your weapon control accuracy when moving and jumping; more accuracy points are required for certain weapons.

Strength - adjusts your ability to control recoil, grenade throw range; more strength points are required for heavier weapons.

Stealth - effects how much noise you make running, sprinting, jumping and climbing.  Noise is reduced progressively for loud sounds first like jumping, not incrementally where every noise you make is decreased gradually with more XP. There are minimum stealth requirements for using weapon suppressors.

Stamina - adjusts stamina and toughness, more stamina lets you sprint longer, sustain more injury and recover faster from exhausted stamina and injury.

Speed - adjusts your walking, running and sprinting speed when not heavily encumbered.

An ability can never be below 1 and you always start with minim of 10 pool experience points to distribute. If you're joining an game in progress you get the average amount of experience points the team you are joining has.

To increase an ability value use the player menu and click on the chosen ability. You will have to use as many of your pool XP as the current level of the ability you want to raise to raise that ability one point; so if your current Speed ability is 5 you will need 6 free points to raise your Speed Ability one point to level 6.
 

As mentioned you win additional XP for staying alive, completing mission objectives and killing opposing team members. So for example; if you survive a round you gain one XP. if you kill two enemies within one round you gain two more XP, if you successfully complete a mission objective you are awarded XP depending on the type of mission.

3.3 Head-Stuff™

Since our player model and seasonal uniforms are determined by the map and team you play on we decided to add an extra level of customizability to NS:CO.

To make your player model look unique every player can select a face skin and Head-Stuff™ accessories. There are three types of accessories: headwear, eyewear and mouth-stuff. Head-Stuff™ is team specific so there are affectations and hats available to the Tangos not available to the SEAL/s and vise versa. You can select your Head-Stuff either via the "Setup Menu" when you start the game or if you're playing you can do this via the "Player Menu". Some accessories are automatically turned off if you select certain equipment; for example if you're wearing a helmet and you have a hat selected in Head-Stuff™ the helmet will replace the hat.

A few of the possible combinations are shown below.

Face Skins


Accessories

3.4 Teams & Ranks

The available team in NS:CO are SEALS and TANGOS. You have to choose one team before you start to play. Then you play for that team until you decide to change teams.

Your rank in turn is determined by your abilities. Depending on the total amount of Experience Points you have already earned and distributed you can raise in rank. Rank is nothing but a measurement for your team-colleagues on how good you really are. SEAL/s and Tangos have different Names for their ranks. See below for details.