propane tank

Brainbread is a popular multiplayer mod for the popular first-person shooter computer game Half-Life.

Background

BrainBread was created by IronOak Studios, a German mod team also known for the mod Public-Enemy, a cyberpunk/dark future-themed mod also for Half-Life. BrainBread was originally a side project to Public-Enemy, and borrows the vast majority of its weapon models and at least one map from that earlier mod. PE has faded into relative obscurity, while BrainBread has become a cult success.

Gameplay

Brainbread is supposed to recreate a zombie outbreak. The players work as a team to combat AI controlled zombies, and complete various mission goals. When a human player takes enough damage, he will start to turn into a zombie himself. The player has two minutes to either get ready for zombification, or to kill himself in order to prevent it from happening. Once a zombie, the player must either kill one human controlled player, or two AI controlled soldiers. Brainbread also incorporates an innovative RPG-like system. As players kill more zombies, they gain experience points. With experience points come levels. These levels can be turned into points for three different categories. HP, which allows for more health, speed, which increases how fast the player moves by 5%, and Skill, which allows for different weapons to be used, and increases the amount of damage by 7%. High levels of skill allows the use of certain specialty items, such as the flamethrower and mini-gun. A players level is saved on the server, if the server is configured to remember player stats. Also, each player must rebuy their skills in each game; only the number of points a player has is saved, not where they are allocated.

Human Gameplay

The human players in each level have to complete a series of objectives. These objectives usually consist of retrieving a brief case, killing a set amount of zombies, killing Fred the mutant zombie (or any of his identical relatives), or a map based objective (like getting to a gun shop or destroying an obstacle). After these objectives are completed, the players are evacuated by AI Black Hawk helicopters or leave through an exit, thus winning the game. If not all of the players on the server escape, those who have may permanently play as zombies until all have escaped.

Any player who would be reduced to 0 life or less by the damage of an AI zombie is instead reduced to 1 health and begins transforming into a zombie. Human players transformed into zombies can kill non-zombie players normally. AI allies of the human players can also kill transformed players just as fully as their former comrades.

The human players have a few AI allies available to them. The most common are the Marines (which are the same marines from Half Life). On a few maps, security guards are available instead of marines (these are Barney from Half Life). An AI controlled M1 Abrams tank can also be encountered. The Black Hawk mentioned earlier has miniguns to shoot at zombies from above. The Marines and Barneys can be killed by zombies (AI and Player controlled) while the tank and helicopter are invincible.

Many weapons are available to humans.

Melee

• Axe

Weak and useless. The zombies have the humans severely outclassed in hand-to-hand combat. On the light side, it knocks an AI zombie back a bit, allowing the player to escape. On occasion, some players may use their axe to display skill and impress others on the server.

Pistols

• Heckler & Koch USP9
• Beretta 92FS
• Smith & Wesson Revolver
• IMI Desert Eagle
• GLOCK 18 - Right-click to fire a 3-round burst.
• SIG P225

The USP, Beretta 92FS, and the P225 pistols can be held sideways (or "gangsta style") when the right mouse button is clicked. The purpose of which is "to look cool" and serves no other purpose, as far as anyone else knows. The Beretta and the GLOCK can be used akimbo.

Shotguns

• Sawed-Off Shotgun -One of the most powerful weapons in the game; capable of killing any normal or transformed zombie with a single solid hit. Click the left mouse button to shoot the left barrel. Click the right mouse button to shoot the right barrel. Click twice to kill anything in 1 hit.
• Benelli M3 Super 90 Shotgun - Is one of the least used weapons in the game. Is only powerful at dangerously close ranges, and thus isn't safe to use. It is mainly used if no other weapon is available.

Sub-machine guns

• Heckler & Koch MP5-10 -It is weak but has a high rate of fire and is moderately accurate (especially when zoomed in with the scope). The scope is activated with a right click.
• IMI Micro Uzi - Another of the least used weapons in the game. Like the pump shotgun, it is mainly used when no other weapon is available. The akimbo version is more popular, however.

Rifles

• AK-47 - Rather inaccurate. It is used mostly for close range combat. If using the AK47, aim for the head, and release single shots.
• Colt M16 - More acccurate than the AK47. It can be capable of all modes of fire and is very useful in all ranges. One simple left click will result in one shot being fired. If one holds down the left button, the M16 will fire automatically. If the right button is clicked, the M16 will fire a quick, accurate 3-round burst.
• Winchester Rifle - An accurate weapon that is used as a substitute for the Stoner Rifle. Headshots with this rifle will usually result in an instant kill.
• Stoner Sniper Rifle (Most likely the KAC SR-25) - More powerful than the Winchester and has a better zoom function than the MP5. It is a popular zombie killer.

Special Purpose

All of these weapons require a high skill level to use.

• Propane Tank -To use this weapon one needs the skill level to be 10. The propane tank is thrown (preferably into a crowd of undead) and then shot with a weapon. If the thrower of the propane tank is too close (eg:uses his axe to detonate the propane tank), he will be killed along with the zombies. If friendly fire is on, the propane tank may cause more damage to the humans than to the zombies. While it is on the ground, any player with enough points in skill may pick it up and throw it again, so the original thrower must time his shot carefully. Like other weapons, you can only pick up and use one instance of this weapon, so after you've blown one up you can't pick up another.
• Flamethrower - Is not very popular in multiplayer servers. When used, it causes lots of lag and kills zombies rather slowly. Although, it is an effective crowd stopper. It would be better to have the minigun. The Flamethrower also can kill your teammates rather quickly and it also spreads from person to person, like a disease.
• Minigun - Is popular and fun to use. It has the highest rate of fire, good stopping power, and LOTS of rounds. The minigun is the best weapon to use against the Fred zombies, because it doesn't require reloading and has plenty of ammo to spare. It's accuracy is pin-point at the first three or four shots, so a wise technique is to fire in small bursts. Holding the mouse button pressed will only result in extreme ammunition loss.

Zombie Gameplay

Once a player transforms into a zombie, their only goal will be to return to the human team. To do so, the player must kill either two AI controlled soldiers, or one human player. The zombies that caused the player to transform then become his allies. There is only one way of eliminating enemies, and that is by a short ranged swipe. Although zombie players only have one attack, they have increased speed, which allows catching prey to be a much easier task. Human players transformed into zombies also receive 200 hit points, and their skill and speed still affect their damage and movement; a max-level player turned into a zombie is a fearsome foe, moving faster than the humans and hitting for great damage.

See also

• List of Half-Life Mods

External links

• Official website for BrainBread
• BrainBread at Valve's Storefront