We ran a playtest in October and watched people use TacLink at a real game. The map worked. Everything around it was too much: several ways to pay, several kinds of event, and too many screens between opening the app and seeing your squad. TacLink 2 is the answer to that playtest. It does less, and the part it does is easier to explain.
The web creates
Organizers set up events in the browser at app.tac-link.com. That is where the area is drawn, the sides and squads are defined, the commanders are chosen and the pins are placed. A big screen and a mouse beat a phone for this work.
Publishing an event gives one QR code per side. Print them for the meeting point or share the links.
The app plays
The phone app has one job: get you into the event and keep your side on the same map. You sign in with Apple or Google, pick a callsign, and scan your side’s QR code. The server puts you on that side and in a squad, and the live map opens.
There is no event creation in the app, no team administration and nothing to buy. The app has a home screen with your events, a scan button, your team, the live map and settings.
One kind of event
Earlier versions had several kinds of event, each with its own rules. TacLink 2 has one. An event lives on the server. Joining needs signal, which the meeting point usually has. At join the phone downloads everything the event needs. During the game the side’s phones keep the map going over Bluetooth where there is no signal, inside the same event.
One price per event
Players never pay. An event with a player cap up to 15 is free. Above that the organizer pays once per event on the web, by player cap: 15 EUR for 16 to 40 players, 39 EUR for 41 to 100, 89 EUR for 101 to 250 and 169 EUR for 251 to 500, no VAT. There is nothing else to buy and no subscription. See pricing.
What stays
Sharing with the phone locked, the Bluetooth mesh and bridge, enemy markers, squad pins, player status and per-side visibility all stay. New in TacLink 2 is a chain of command: a Commander per side, Squads with Squad leaders, and orders with a point on the map that receivers acknowledge.
What comes next
Apple Watch and Wear OS apps, and mesh range extenders. We will write about them here when they are ready.