Before anyone posts about bad placement: yes we already know thats why taking out friendly fortifications is a thing. The issue is that in all to many circumstances, (had several games like this tonight), where a teammate gets angry that they aren’t getting as many kills, because a teammates fortification is doing its job and stopping, or slowing the enemy, or stopping teammates from getting wrecked.
The suggestion: if a fortification has recently (within 60 seconds) had an interaction with an enemy, such as: barbwire damaging enemies, sandbags stopping enemy bullets, MG Nest or AT gun hitting enemies, Czech Hedgehogs having enemies near them, OR an ammo box being used by friendlies, etc.
The fortification in question CANNOT be removed by teammates. ONLY the person putting it down can remove it. This means things set up to intentionally hurt teammates in their spawn can be removed still, and fortifications that really aren’t helping can also be removed. Meanwhile, it stops teammates from removing fortifications that might really be the only thing holding the enemy back!
Two edged sword. I actually overall stopped building barbed wires as teammates would just remove them making it a waste of time to spend time setting up a defensive position when IQ 201 player comes in and removes it all.
But also seen some bad placement of the barbed wires so don’t know how this could be addressed in any other way than:
Remove friendly damage from barbed wire (still slows the friendly down etc) and prevent teammates from removing friendly barbed wire etc.
Im sure these things can cause other issues down the line, but as it is now, barbed wire is not just wort the time as you have the gung ho ppl who would just remove it because they can and some ppl that dont know better just removes them as they think its enemies or similar.
At the absolute very least they should put an indicator to show if it friendly or enemy’s. There are plenty of people that break down any fortifications they see, because they get points for destroying enemy fortifications.
I get that it’s a double-edged sword, but in my experience, barbwire is extremely important. Especially if you dig a trench for it to sit in. Then its more difficult to passively destroy as well as much more lethal. We all know that enough AI at close range can be pretty problematic, and barbwire (placed well) can REALLY thin those numbers down. I usually try to place mine in a way that its easy for the player to bypass, but not the AI. Many players are only concerned about themselves, rather than their squad, and barbwire makes use of that.
Also, barbwire can reduce someone’s health enough that they can be killed rather than just DBNO from bolt actions and other high damage weapons.
Lastly, you can use it to guide enemies into kill-zones. This is where it makes me really angry when teammates start breaking things down. Many times, a quick observation of the situation will show that the engineers are funneling them into a chokepoint that they can then be easily neutralized in. It might not be your teammates ORIGINAL plan, but they can still make use of chokepoints.
The problem is not the players directly having a problem with the placement all of the time but the retarded bots going off on some scripted route that makes them get stuck in the barbwire instead of following their leaders routes
But there are plenty of engineers who put barb wire on windows and door frames of capture points when the point can be captured from outside the building and the defences hinder reaching your opponents.
The flip side of the argument “the point can be captured from outside the building and the defences hinder reaching your opponents”:
First off, the AI will ALWAYS try to reach the center of the objective point, which is usually inside the building, if one is present.
Secondly, to capture or defend an objective, your team must be in the majority. USUALLY people outside the building don’t make enough of a difference if your team is holding the interior of the building.
Third, given how prevalent artillery barrages are, being inside the building is optimal. In addition, the use of sandbags stops additional damage coming through the windows, yet people tear them down a lot. (I understand you wish to shoot out them, but a good engineer will drop a second sandbag on the floor behind them, or you can use one of your engineers to do this too, if they just sandbagged the window. Every squad should have at least one engineer.
Fourth, back to barbwire, placed in windows can also make it more difficult for enemies to detect you through the barbwire. I know a fair number of people that use it as visual cover more than actual cover, as you can still shoot through it. Idk for sure if the AI have a more difficult time detecting through it, but it sure appears that way.
Ultimately, as long as the barbwire is on the side closest to the enemy, you shouldn’t be tearing it down. Go around the side. The second you tear that wire down, you might be able to go down and kill a couple, but now the enemy has a clear way in, and you just screwed your team to greed a couple kills.