Video Game / Centaura

Only the dead have seen the end of war.

Centaura is a Battlefield 1 inspired game on Roblox created by ClassicMasterNoob, originally created on February 5th, 2022 as a game called Gridlock. It was first made as a simple multiplayer game with only one map and two teams. However, it was renamed and greatly expanded upon by Classic and is now a fully-fleshed out game that includes improved uniforms, new and improved maps, new features, new nations, new weapons, etc. While the entire game as a whole is not complete, it is actively being worked on, with new nations, weapons, maps, etc expected in the future.

Current maps in chronological order are Blackton, Coastal Battery Q, Capri Valley, Kelson Village, Mons Planus, Whitemouth Estuary, Roland's Prairie, and Ascendens Forest.

Centaura has a Discord server, which can be found here.

Centaura contains examples of:

• Achilles' Heel: With great classes come great weaknesses for them.
  • The Flame Trooper is very powerful in close quarters owing to their flamethrower and are counters to all classes in this respect. However, they can be sniped from afar safely by a rifle or simply be wrecked by a grenade, possibly igniting people around them. They're also hampered by the fact that only player can be a Flame Trooper at a time and players only being allowed to play as them twice in one round.
  • The Assault class is great in close quarters and in medium range to some extent due to their SMGs and DB shotguns, along with carrying one grenade. Again however, they can be finessed by a rifle shooting from a distance and are vulnerable when reloading.
  • Officers are essentially superior riflemen, having a revolver that does more damage, fires faster, and has one more bullet than the rifles, along with a longer ranged ensis/sabre. However, their class limit is extremely low with only 2 people able to be officers at a time and reload slower in Southern Corvus War maps due to them not having speed loaders.
  • Mortarmen are effective at harassing enemy positions with inaccurate but deadly mortar shells raining down. However, they have no gun to speak of, meaning they're very ineffective against even just one player with a gun. They're also affected by a 2 player class limit and players only able to play them twice in a round.
• A Million Is a Statistic: When a map is finished, the amount of players killed in the map is listed in the end screen.
• Action Bomb: Players can invoke this themselves with the dynamite; they will drop it, preferably into a crowd of enemies, and immediately detonate the dynamite, killing themselves but also any enemies nearby.
• Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: Compared to the Corvun T05 and the Antarean E/VIII bolt action rifles, the Cetans use the M1889 LA (lever action) rifle when they first fight the Corvuns in 1908. For balance reasons, it has the exact same stats as both bolt-action rifles so there are only visual differences.
• Anti-Infantry: Tanks and armored vehicles are a major obstacle for players as they cannot damage or destroy them with conventional bullets, grenades, and mortar shells, forcing them to use buy points on things like dynamites and tripwire bombs. Also, because they're controlled by AI, their accuracy is almost very precise, helping in its anti-infantry role.
  • Applies aptly to Flame Troopers, as they can devastate hordes of enemy infantry with their flamethrowers.
• Anti-Structure: A few structures can be destroyed in Centaura. The Point B Tower in Coastal Battery Q can be destroyed by dynamite or by the CIS Mira's artillery shells, and so can the barn and cowshed in Mon Planus by dynamite. The bunkers in Roland's Prairie containing the field guns can be destroyed by placing dynamite in or on top of it or if a tank shoots and hits the bunker a few times.
• Anti-Vehicle: In Roland's Prairie, Aquila does not have flametroopers, instead having a new class called the "Anti-Tank" class, equipped with an Anti-Tank rifle. These can destroy tanks in at least 9 hits when close and a dozen more when farther, and are the only way to destroy them besides field artillery.
  • Dynamites, tripwire bombs, and flamethrowers can also be used to take down tanks and armored vehicles, although players can only use the flame trooper class twice, making dynamite and tripwire bombs more consistent as they will appear in a players inventory for the entire round.
  • Artillery can destroy tanks and armored vehicles in a single direct hit, but this is not entirely consistent and reliable as barrages are more focused on killing multiple players than a few singular tanks/armored vehicles.
• Asymmetric Multiplayer: Due to the amount of classes and maps, the play style will differ greatly, even for one class as it will not be the same experience in all maps. Riflemen are vast and have unlimited slots, so most people will play as them, and they're adept at sniping and essentially being the main line. The Assault class is devastating in close quarters maps like Ascendens Forest and Capri Valley, Flame Troopers are excellent anti-infantry and good anti-vehicles, etc.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • The Anti-Tank class in Roland's Prairie. While it can be used to destroy Antarean tanks, a big nuisance for Aquilan players, these tanks respawn after a little while anyway, which is compounded by the amount of shots it takes for tanks to be destroyed (9 at minimum and more than a dozen usually!) Most players just use it for anti-infantry where they're ironically and arguably better at that role than being anti-tank weapons.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • If you hate the permanent deafness feature from artillery shells, then you can turn it off in the settings.
  • Due to the dynamite's blast radius, you cannot kill teammates with the dynamite, allowing you to be more carefree when using it in close quarters.
• Bayonet Ya: All riflemen have a bayonet equipped, whereupon pressing X will cause them to charge and kill an enemy instantly if the player is in contact with them. It does punish you if you do not hit an enemy however, as you will be out of stamina for a few seconds, allowing you to be easy pickings for the enemy.
• Boom Head Shot: Headshots with most weapons will instantly kill players. For SMGs, it takes multiple headshots to kill a player, likely for balance reasons.
• Carry a Big Stick: All classes except the Flame Trooper, Officer, and Sweeper carry a club which, due to the fact that all melee weapons instantly kill players, can easily clean up enemies in close quarters, has splash damage, allows you to clear out trenches, and perform sneak attacks effectively.
• Character Class System: There are 9 classes so far, those being the Rifleman, Assault, Grenadier, Medic, Anti-Tank, Flame Trooper, Officer, Mortarman, and Sweeper.
• Combat Medic: The Medic class is equipped with bandages, along with a rifle and a club, meaning they're as capable as regular riflemen, plus being able to heal themselves. That being said, there is an actual achievement where you must heal 30 teammates without killing any enemy.
• Constructed World: Very obvious but this game takes place in an entire different planet called Forma. Interestingly however, it seems Forma only takes the place of Earth and is not in a different galaxy, as people on Forma can see the same constellations as us and the sun is also implied to exist.
• Counting Bullets: Zigzagged. While its obviously not Bottomless Magazines because you have to reload after firing a certain amount of shots, the guns in Centaura have infinite ammo, likely because you can die so quickly that you can't really enforce limited ammo.
  • However, the bazooka in maps during and past the late Columban campaign does fulfil this trope as it is only single use.
• Custom Uniform: Officers have a distinct appearance compared to non-officers so that players can tell between an officer and a regular soldier. Interestingly, Aquilan officers are barely different from regular soldiers.
• Death from Above: On most maps, uncontrollable artillery fire will occur either continuously or a set time, brutally and mercilessly destroying anything and anyone unfortunate enough to be struck by an artillery shell, even killing players on the team the artillery fire is from. On maps like Capri Valley and Mons Planus, this is the intended way for teams to get ground due to the back-and-forth nature of the maps. Players can also pick the Mortarman class after gaining 250 points and start raining down inaccurate but nonetheless deadly mortar shells.
• Deadly Gas: The map Kelson Village is covered with chlorine gas that not only serve as a lore piece but also have a gameplay purpose as it hides enemies quite well and can lead into ambushes or sneak attacks. Thankfully, all players have gas masks, so the gas itself is generally not any threat to the players. However, if a player's health is below 50, the gas will poison the player until they're healed by a Medic or die from it.
• Dress-Coded for Your Convenience: All nations in Centaura have distinct uniforms and traits to make it easy for players to tell who is who and to give them unique identities. It is especially noticeable in Antares vs. Aquila maps, as Antares wear dark grey uniforms while Aquilan uniforms are khaki colored, which are complete opposite colors.
• Easter Egg:
  • In one of the dugouts in Roland's Prairie, a jar of Pickle Rick can be found.
• Every Bullet is a Tracer: They are obvious enough to be tracers but not flashy enough to be distracting. They look pretty cool to say the least.
• Evolving Weapon: Not by your hand, but the game's. As the years progress for each battle in Centaura, so does the technology and weapons. An example is that starting from the 1930s during the Columban campaign, Corvun, Antarean, and Columban soldiers will start to use semi-automatic rifles and bazookas instead of anti-tank rifles and bolt-action rifles.
• Fantasy Conflict Counterpart: If the inspiration from Battlefield 1 was not any indication, the early battles from 1908-1919 are very similar to World War 1, especially in Capri Valley and the Ascendens Forest where trench combat is the entire environment in those two maps.
• Friend or Foe?: As mentioned above, the uncontrollable artillery fire will kill anyone that is hit by a shell, even if they're from the team the artillery fire is coming from. This also extends to the bunker destroying feature in Roland's Prairie, as those who blow up a bunker may end up killing both nearby Aquilans and Antareans in the process.
• Fire-Breathing Weapon: The Flame Trooper class is naturally equipped with the flamethrower, a devastating weapon that can easily clear out hordes of enemies. However, it has a slight delay when it fires and has a cooldown after firing. Flamethrower tanks are also planned to be added into Talona for Antares.
• Fictional Country: Quite a lot in Forma, the world of Centaura and Dead Ahead. They're listed in the character page.
• Gas Mask Mooks: In the map Kelson Village, a map engulfed with Chlorine gas that the Corvuns had filled to resolve the stalemate in 1909 and 1910, Corvuns and Cetans both wear unique looking gas masks to protect themselves from the gas. It even muffles the normal voice lines soldiers shout out too.
• Grenade Spam: The Grenadier is pretty much intended to fulfil this trope. They spawn with a rifle, club, and 3 grenades, meaning they can easily clear out trenches or just any group of soldiers stuck in a single area. If the player buys an extra grenade from the shop for 75 points, then they get 4 grenades, which can be very powerful. Because the class limit for Grenadiers is 5 players, that means 15 grenades or 20 (if you include the extra grenade!) can be thrown out and cause explosive havoc.
• Hand Cannon: All officers before the late Columban campaign carry revolvers that are essentially just superior rifles, although the ones in the Southern Corvus War do not have speed loaders and so are worse than the rifle in reloading.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Players can accidentally kill themselves with a grenade or a dynamite if they're too close to the blast radius. It especially happens with grenades by mistake, as they can bounce off pretty easily and the blast radius is larger than players believe.
• HUD: A pretty simple one at that, only containing crosshairs, buttons for your weapons, the killfeed, and the map points above.
• Inspired by…: Battlefield 1. Indeed, Centaura does focus on the atmosphere and psychological aspects of war like Battlefield 1 and also has voice lines from BF1.
• Interface Screw: If an artillery explosion kills a player near you, their blood will be splattered across your screen for a few seconds, which can hamper you if you're in active combat.
• Jack of All Stats: The rifleman class is pretty standard for the most part, as it can excel in long ranges with the rifle and be effective in close quarters with clubs, grenades, and dynamite, not to mention that this class has no limit unlike other classes.
• Man on Fire: If a person is set on fire from a Flamethrower, by interacting with objects or places on fire, or by being caught in the explosion of a flame trooper's fuel tank, then they will be set on fire and scream. Players can run around while on fire, although they will eventually perish in a few seconds.
  • There is an achievement called "Feeding the Fire" where you heal a person on fire as a Medic. Obviously this does nothing as it will only make them stay alive for a few seconds before the fire consumes them again, likely hence the name.
• Not-Actually-Cosmetic Award: The Cetan Theater Veteran Badge. While the Cetan & Corvun rifles for all players in any nation have no real benefit in maps before the late Columban campaigns because the stats are the same, they (along with Vegan, Grusan, Aquilan, and Antarean bolt actions from other badges) could be an alternative to semi auto rifles since the latter have more bullet dispersion and do not instantly kill upon headshots.
  • This is the case with the Double Barreled shotgun, as it can be very effective in all maps but particularly Ascendens Forest and Capri Valley due to their close quarters nature. It also applies to SMGs in Blackton as they're good in close quarters map which Blackton encourages a lot.
• No-Sell: Armored vehicles and tanks are completely immune to bullets and weak explosions like mortar shells and grenades, making them extremely effective at anti-personnel if there are no soldiers with dynamites, tripwire bombs, flamethrowers, or anti-tank rifles.
• Not the Intended Use:
  • Obviously Anti-Tank rifles are supposed to be used against tanks and armored vehicles. However, players can use these with a surprisingly decent degree of effectiveness against infantry since it instantly kills players regardless of where they hit.
  • Bayonet charges are supposed to provide a way to kill from a distance where you cant use your club but isn't effective for the rifle to be used effectively. However, the player runs slightly faster with the bayonet, so it can be a useful way to gain some distance, although be aware that you cannot run for a few seconds after doing a bayonet charge.
  • SMGs are naturally meant for close quarters combat but they can be useful in a squad support role as a suppression weapon to allow fellow soldiers to advance or to whittle down a player's health from medium distances.
  • Before the weapon shop, the Double Barreled Shotgun was only in Blackton and it is pretty clear that the map was made to support the DB shotgun because of the close quarters nature of the map. This meant that all other maps were never really balanced with this weapon in mind. However, now that it can be used in all maps with the Cetan Theater Veteran badge, it now has a chance to shine in all other maps, which it does surprisingly well as it is suitable for other close quarters maps like Ascendens Forest and Capri Valley which are focused on the tightly knit trenches.
• One-Hit Kill: A few weapons and tools are like this. The flamethrower is practically an instant-kill weapon, as players are functionally dead as soon as they're on fire (they cannot damage enemy players while on fire). Explosions are also guaranteed to kill players if the blast reaches them. The Anti-Tank Rifle will instantly kill players no matter the range or where they're hit.
• Player Mooks: Players spawn as nameless soldiers and officers who get replaced by more nameless soldiers and officers if they die.
• Pun: One of the achievements in Centaura is called "Friendly Fire", which involves you accidentally killing a teammate by exploding an enemy Flame Trooper's fuel tank and causing them to be burnt by the explosion.
• Purposely Overpowered: In contrast to most FPS games and even the game's inspiration Battlefield 1, the melee in this game is extremely powerful, as they can kill multiple enemies at once and instantly kill when hit, not to mention that melee weapons swing fast. This may have been done to make the melee not useless and to have an easy way to clear out trenches in close quarters if you don't have flamethrowers or grenades.
• Pinned Down: There will be multiple areas in maps that can result in you being pinned down, such as point B of Battery Q, where armored vehicles from either Cetus or Corvus can get you pinned down with their AI-controlled machine guns. There is also a slight shake whenever a bullet hits near you or if a grenade explodes near you but does not kill you, and the Assault class is quite decent at suppressing, so this element is somewhat embraced in Centaura.
• Razor Floss: All maps in '"Centaura'' have barbed wire lying around to help restrict or outright prevent player movement in certain areas. They can deal high amounts damage in seconds, and even touching a little bit of barbed wire will hurt you gravely.
  • Barbed wire can be cut with wire-cutters that cost 75 points. Not only will you get rid of potential obstacles, but you also gain 25 points for each barbed wire that is cut, so its a great way to get points.
• Satchel Charge: The dynamites fill this role, being a multipurpose explosive tool that you must drop and detonate in order to use. The dynamite can stop enemies from advancing defensively or destroy groups of soldiers on the defense offensively. They can also destroy structures, tanks, and armored vehicles, making it very necessary, especially in Mons Planus as tanks and armored vehicles will appear every 5 minutes. Additionally, dynamite explosions are more much powerful and larger than grenade ones. A major advantage is that unlike the tripwire bomb and grenade, the dynamite is not single use, meaning you do not have to die in order to use it again and can place as many dynamites as you like.
  • The dynamites do have disadvantages however; the dynamite is quite expensive, costly 350 points, meaning most players won't be able to use it in maps that do not have an infinite timer, and you also have to drop the dynamite where you stand, making it more risky to use than the grenade as you can't use it in cover.
• Scenery Porn: Some maps have really pretty backgrounds. One great example is the background of Ascendens Forest, where you can actively see "The Scorch" occurring with smoke and orange tint (representing fire) being seen.
• Screaming Warrior: Riflemen will scream whenever they do a bayonet charge via pressing X. If an officer blows a whistle near 5 other teammates, then it will also cause them to scream, although this has no gameplay effect and is purely for people's ears. It can however, be used to coordinate attacks and encourage other players to charge, although since the enemy can hear the screaming as well, they can be prepared for it.
• Short-Range Shotgun: The shotguns in Centaura are not that accurate past a few yards, forcing the Assault^note The Assault uses double-barred shotguns in the Battle of Blackton as SMGs were developed chronologically later after this battle. and Sweeper classes to be more up-close and personal.
• Smoke Out: Smoke Grenades can be bought in the equipment store for 100 points and do exactly what you expect it to do.
• Shown Their Work:
  • In the Kelson Village loading screen, a caption reads out "Do you smell that? It reeks of pepper". In real life, chlorine gas is said to have a strong smell of peppers and pineapples. The same loading screen also mentions that the chlorine gas was used in the Corvun cities for sanitation, which is Truth in Television as chlorine can be used to kill bacteria and viruses and importantly disinfect water.
  • It is mentioned that the M1889 LA rifle's higher fire rate didn't exactly matter much in wartime as mud and dirt frequently jammed the lever itself, while the simpler T05 bolt action rarely suffered from this. It is true that lever actions are much harder to clean than bolt action rifles, as the latter only requires taking out the bolt and cleaning the insides.
  • The artillery barrages in Capri Valley. While some may criticize the barrages as too excessive and unfair for players on both sides, artillery barrages are meant to be extremely disruptive and destructive, meaning that artillery fired a lot of shells, and do provide an actual gameplay purpose, that being for each side to have a chance at attacking the trenches. Even the number of artillery fire shown in Capri Valley are microorganisms compared to the amount of shells fired in the Battle of Verdun, which are estimated to be in the numbers of hundreds of thousands and millions.
• Storming the Beaches: In the Battle of Whitemouth Estuary, the Cetans (represented uniquely by the Exercitus Maris, the Cetan Navy's marine corps) first spawn point is at the beach, where you can see various boats that show the marines stormed the beaches of the Whitemouth Estuary.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Oh so many. In maps with artillery fire like Capri Valley, the explosions are loud, shaky, and effective, and can even give you tinnitus. Grenades and dynamite will also surely give you an eyesight of explosions.
• Suave Sabre: All Officers and Sweepers get a sabre, aka an ensis in Forma, which has a range slightly longer than the club, making the officer superior in melee compared to other classes with clubs. The design of the sabre is dependent on the nation of the class.
• Shell-Shock Silence: If an artillery shell explodes near you, you will receive temporary deafness that is usually more of an annoyance than an actual threat. However, this will sometimes result in permanent deafness that will last until you die, which is much more severe and dangerous as sound is important to surviving in a round. You can turn this off in the settings (Tinnitus on and off) if you'd like however.
• Standard FPS Guns: Rifles, SMGs, flame throwers, shotguns, etc. Mostly standard guns in FPS games, especially in a WW1-WW2 type game like Centaura.
• Take Cover!: Pretty much a necessity if you want to survive, as running out in the open guarantees you getting sniped by an enemy rifleman or being shredded by armored vehicles and tanks. However, you don't want to stay in cover for too long, as players (especially ones you've killed) will figure out your location and charge it, which could be bad, and you can be smoked out by a flame trooper or a grenade.
• The Enemy Weapons Are Better: In the lore, it is said that many Cetan soldiers dropped their unreliable M1889 LA's for the more reliable and accurate Corvun T05 rifles from dead Corvun soldiers.
  • With the Cetan Theater Veteran badge, you can use some of Corvun/Cetan (only weapons of free classes) weapons in all maps, meaning that a Corvun can use a Cetan lever action and a Cetan can use a Corvun bolt action, although this trope is subverted gameplay wise as they're not necessarily better than each other (they're the same stats wise). This also has a slight gameplay use at least with Double Barrels and SMGs as the former can be used to deadly effect in the close quarters nature of Capri Valley and Ascendens Forest.
• The Squadette: Starting from the Antarean campaign into Grusa, female Antarean soldiers will appear alongside male ones, as chronologically Antares started to allow women to join the Military for all branches by this point.
• Urban Warfare: Blackton and Talona are two obvious examples of this, taking place in a mining town and a 1900s style city respectively. This also counts for Whitemouth Estuary's town, with it being a point Antares has to defend and Cetus has to take in the first phase, although most of the map is not based around the town.
• Unique Items: Regular soldiers of the Exercitus Maris in Whitemouth Estuary carry unique short swords instead of clubs to signify their naval background. It is little more than a reskin of the club however.
  • Also applies to every weapon at least visually, as they all have different animations, firing sounds, and visuals. Again, they're nothing more than visual differences.
• Unexpectedly Realistic Gameplay: Even thought it is a Roblox game by and large, there are a lot of things in the game that are actually realistic or sort of realistic. While some may point out obvious things like headshots instantly killing, grenades being effective in trenches, clubs being effective in trenches, etc, teamwork and communication is actually quite important in this game like in real life, as you're certainly not advancing successful if the team cannot. Artillery is also very effective, deadly, and scary like in actual war and you can even become deaf from explosives.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential:
  • While necessary for players if they don't want to be shredded by it, burning an armored vehicle or tank with proper method is not pleasant to hear, as you can hear the driver screaming in pain and attempting to get out to no avail, which is very haunting.
  • In older versions of Centaura, you could kill Sandra in Blackton rather cold-heartedly on any team, making it even worse as a Cetan soldier as you essentially killed an innocent girl from your nation. This, however, no longer exists in the game and she's now invulnerable.
• War Is Hell: Centaura makes no attempt to glorify war and instead does the exact opposite, with this game being ripe full of moments that can easily and genuinely scare you even if it's a video game and not real. People blowing up in front of you, people screaming for a medic, the screaming of those on fire, dead civilians in Blackton, etc.
• Worldbuilding: Quite a high amount of lore and background is shown off in this game, even giving brief backstories for how the Southern Corvus War (the war that started Centaura) started. While most of the lore is not entirely in game, the rest in Centaura and Dead Ahead's Discord server, wiki, and lore document, it is much more than what other Roblox games provide.
• Your Head A-Splode: If you shoot someone's head with an Anti-Tank Rifle, their head will explode with a color of red. This can also happen with artillery strikes and dynamite, although this is less common as those might only blow up your limbs and torso.
• Zerg Rush: Pretty much required in maps like Capri Valley, Roland's Prairie, and Ascendens Forest because of the back and forth trench nature of the two maps and the Antarean attackers needing a strong offensive to overcome Aquilan defenses and vice versa for the final phase of Roland's Prairie.