Let's take a look at the spawn system for Territory matches. While awesome, there are some issues with it:
I propose the following tweak to the Spawn System to combat the above shortcomings, using an attacker-defender map as an example and using a cap that would be locked once captured (but it also applies to other maps):
IN SHORT:
Points are captured in 2 stages: first the defender's spawns are pushed back, then, after holding the point for 2 minutes (or taking the next cap), the point becomes locked and the attacker's spawns are moved up.
IN DETAIL:
Consider the following example for the first 2 caps of MamayevKurgan.
The Axis spawn points are in white, the Russian in red.
For comparison, here is the situation in the current implementation:
With the tweak in effect:
Notes:
- Intrusive spawn protection: when the defenders lose a cap, they suddenly are faced with immediate spawn protection, which is not nice and breaks the flow of battle. The attackers are also do not have to worry about clearing the captured point of enemies: the all-mighty spawn protection is basically a weapon.
- For a lot of maps, the flow consists of a sequence of smaller subsegments, with no fluent progression between them (mainly for attacker-defender maps)
- A map is really only as big as the distance between the spawns. The spawns, although they are moving, are always close to each other, where close means close as compared to the total map size.
I propose the following tweak to the Spawn System to combat the above shortcomings, using an attacker-defender map as an example and using a cap that would be locked once captured (but it also applies to other maps):
IN SHORT:
Points are captured in 2 stages: first the defender's spawns are pushed back, then, after holding the point for 2 minutes (or taking the next cap), the point becomes locked and the attacker's spawns are moved up.
IN DETAIL:
- When the attackers capture the point, the defender's spawn is pushed back, as it is currently the case. However, the attacker's spawn is not moved up, yet.
- The captured point can be recaptured by the defenders, where as in the current situation, it would be locked.
- After a timespan of 2 minutes, the point will become locked (timespan open to tweaking and can be different depending on map/capture point). This lock-progression is displayed by the point icon slowly becoming black.
- Whenever the defenders initiate a recapture, the lock progression is paused. When they recapture, the situation returns to the initial one: this means the defender's spawn advances forward once again.
- When the lock-progression is complete after 2 minutes of uncontested cap, the attacker's spawn moves up. Spawn protection comes into effect in the cap. The defenders have 30 secs to evacuate the cap. We are now again in the same situation as when capping the point in the current implementation.
- The lock is immediate when the attackers capture the next point faster than the 2 minute lock-progression.
Consider the following example for the first 2 caps of MamayevKurgan.
The Axis spawn points are in white, the Russian in red.
For comparison, here is the situation in the current implementation:
- The initial situation
- The Axis have captured point A. Point A becomes locked immediately and point B is the new target. Spawn protection will hit the remaining Russians in point A.
With the tweak in effect:
- The initial situation
- The Axis have captured point A. Note that point A is not locked. Russian spawns are pushed back. However, Axis spawns are not advanced. Note that there are no spawn protection issues. Also note that due to the greater distance between the Axis and Russian spawns, the battlefield becomes larger.
- Over a timespan of 2 minutes (open for tweaking), point A will progress towards a lock:
Point A remains recappable during this period. Starting a recap on point A halts the lock-progression (but does not reset it), recapping point A takes us back to the situation in step 1.
Note that we are now in a situation where both teams can push each other back. If the Axis should capture point B before the lock is in effect on point A, we immediately move to step 4.
Also note that the Axis don't need to be present in point A to progress the lock, they only need to keep the Russians out.
- The Axis have controlled point A for 2 minutes, and it now becomes locked. Axis spawns move up and spawn protection comes into effect on point A (30 secs to evacuate). Point A is now forever lost to the Russians. Note that the Russian spawns do not move. We are now in the same situation as in the current implementation.
Notes:
- Do not forget there is an immediate benefit for the attackers when they cap a point: the defender's spawns are pushed back.
- This tweak is applicable to all maps, and one can be creative in applying this tweak for cases where there are simultaneous caps. For example, capping D on Commissars might push only the right spawn of the Axis back, but not the left spawn. The lock-progression may or may not be applied to this cap, etc...
- This tweak will shift the balance of the maps in favor of the defenders. Others measures have to be used to compensate for this. Note that the maps are currently not perfectly balanced yet, so we are not destroying finely tuned balance here
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