Matchmaking is the main online multiplayer option featured in Conduit 2. It is available through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and lets up to 12 players to play with or against eachother in a variety of game modes.
Any player of Conduit 2 can participate in matchmaking matches, wherether or not he/she knows any of the participants of the match, however, voice chat will only be available to players that had befriended eachother.
Joining a Lobby[]
To join a match, players first need to find a lobby. To do this, the game offers 4 basic playlist that will determine what game modes will be available in the lobby and how many features the matches will have.
Playlists[]
- Big Team Grab Bag
- Free For All Grab bag
- Hardcore Team Games
- Hardcore Free For All
The Big Team Grab Bag playlist features all 9 team based game modes with their default values and allows up to 12 players:
- Team Deathmatch
- Shared Stock
- VIP
- Capture the Flag
- Killing Override
- Single Flag CTF
- ASE Basketball
- Annexation
- Power Surge
Additionally, the game will always offer one deathmatch mode for every voting.
The Free For All Grab bag features all 5 FFA game modes with their default values and allows up to 8 players:
Both Hardcore playlists feature the same game modes with the same default values as the regular playlists, but in these matches the Radar display on the HUD and the Lock-On function are disabled against enemies (players can still lock onto the TPC Launcher mines and Widowmaker Turrets). Hardcore Team allows for 8 players but does not support all modes (all CTF based modes and Power Surge are not included), and Hardcore FFA only allows 6 players to join the lobby and only features basic Deathmatch as the game mode.
After picking one of the four, the player chooses Find Game to search for a lobby that is using the same playlist.
In the Lobby[]
Once within the lobby, before a match begins, the player can do many things before a countdown ends, like seeing other people's stats (like their rank and unlocked achievents), view the last game's statistics, setting the profile and loadouts, and voting a map and game mode set for the next match.
The voting system displays two maps, and each one will have one game mode selected. This limits the posible choices to basically 2: One map with a mode or a different map with another mode (sometimes the voting will be between one map and two game modes). Maps and game modes chosen for one match will not be available for voting for the next one, this way players will not be able to choose the same map and modes all the time, and the gameplay will stay varied.
Once the countdown ends the map and game mode with the most votes is selected and the match begins to load.
After a match, players return to the same lobby and will recieve XP, credits, and achievements based on their actions during the match, and if they acquired enough xp points, they may level up in the ranks.
Other options for the lobby include the possibility of befriending other players encountered in the previous match by either exchanging friend codes or sending them a rival request. It is also posible to make a voting to kick an annoying player from the lobby if he/she is using exploits or simply not playing fair.
Update System[]
It should be noted, that the game features an update system, that High Voltage Software can use, among many things, to modify the way the matchmaking works. These modifications include adding new playlists or modifying the voting system to make some game modes appear more often. Fixing errors and balancing issues can also be corrected, some of the changes can also be aplied to offline gameplay as well. Connecting to the online multiplayer will automatically check for updates and download them if the player wants, however, downlading these updates is mandatory to play online.
It is also possible for HVS to set up "Special Events" through this update system. For instance, at release day, every player enjoyed a "Double XP Launch" which basically doubled the amount of XP gained through the multiplayer matches.