Any CoD2 player looking for a busy, well administered tactical realism server will quickly cross paths with General Underpants and the 82ndAB. Their server is currently running Wolfsbane’s Realism Mod and is consistently in the top 5 as ranked by Game-Monitor.com. It’s the best thing going for CoD2 right now and the only reason I personally have not given up on the game. I interviewed General Underpants and asked him about making a great clan/server, CoD2 and the future.

D6Veteran: What attracts you to the CoD series and first person shooters in general?
General Underpants: I like the up close and personal aspect of FPS’s and the fact you get to see the result of the damage you cause.

D6Veteran: Where you interested in tactical-realism gameplay from the beginning, or did you have a deathmatch phase?
General Underpants:Well…I never did like the run and gun deathmatch style…wasnt good at it and didn’t find it much fun…I thought it was full of cheap exploits that dragged down the fun of the game.

D6Veteran: Is the 82ndAB the first clan you’ve run?
General Underpants: No, I was the CO of the 17SS back in the MOHAA days, then I was the XO of another popular COD2 clan the 1stSF/SS. Hint, the SS in their name is the 17SS that I was the CO of. We merged with the 1stSF clan.

D6Veteran: Last I checked the 82nd had reached 75 members! How do you keep all those guys in line?
General Underpants: By having guys around me I can trust and giving them the power they need to keep them all in line.

D6Veteran: Not only is the 82ndABs server the most popular CoD2 tactical realism server, but you’re ranked #4 on game monitor among all CoD2 servers. As the clan’s leader, how do you think you’ve achieved that?
General Underpants: I attribute our popularity to a number of things. We had our server up a couple of days after the release of the game. We enforce our rules stringently, fairly and impartially. The one thing I dont want us to be known as is hypocrites…so enforcing our rules within our own clan is as important as with the pubs. Quality pubbers see that and appreciate the work that we put into our clan and servers. Oh and friendly members…I always try to be as friendly as I can to regular pubbers and people who are new. New members who abuse the public players dont stay members long. We recently removed the tags from a recruit for that kind of behaviour. We also screen our new recruits ALOT before making them full members. This way we keep the troublemakers out.

D6Veteran: As a player on your server I have noticed the evolution and trial of modifications since the release of CoD2. How are those server configuration decisions made?
General Underpants: Its usually trial and error. We see what works and what doesn’t work…plus we ask our pubbers what they like and dont like via our forums and try and take that into consideration. We also ask our membership their opinions. Its up to me and a few higher ranking officers to decide what we want to do and see what kinda responses we get back and make any changes accordingly.

D6Veteran: Do you think the lack of vehicles in CoD2 makes it a better or worse game in terms of tactical gameplay?
General Underpants: I am torn on this issue. I like vehicles but w/o them its more of a TR feel to the game going infantry only. So having UO was great cause you could have both….being maps with vehicles and maps w/o vehicles. Not sure the maps with vehicles in public play is that great though cause you get people who spawn camp with tanks and such and that sucks but in scrim settings against another good TR clan it can be alot of fun.

D6Veteran: What do you think will be most important for the longevity of the 82ndAB’s CoD2 server: custom maps or an expansion on the scale that UO was for CoD?
General Underpants: I think if they want anyone to buy the expansion (which i dont think is even gonna be made since cod3 is already in the works) a patch needs to come out that will allow custom maps to be made and all the things that were fixed in UO are fixed with this game. I see the game dying badly soon if a patch isnt forthcoming SOON!

D6Veteran: Red Orchestra’s retail release is drawing a lot of attention and hype among TR players, how much attention is this release getting among the members of the 82nd?
General Underpants: RO is getting a lot of attention within the 82ndAB, I’ve pre-ordered and pre-loaded it via steam and eagerly awaiting the release sometime this month 8-D. We will most likely get our own server.

D6Veteran: Ok one last question, why ‘Underpants’?
General Underpants: Well…it goes back to when I needed an online name…I have a boss who last name is Underhill…but I called him Underpants instead and I just decided to adopt it as my own.