A year ago I made a post to improve Invasion. I thought it was time to bring it up again.
Last Years Post:
Invasion is arguably the Primary game mode for Enlisted and while it is still fun under the “right circumstances”, It is in desperate need of updating to accomodate the right circumstances with more frequency.
Enlisted has a leaving Problem
While some of the reasons for leaving cannot be addressed by improving the game modes;
- no choice of map
- no choice of campaign
- no choice of Uptier/downtier
Others can, Specifically “Snowballing”
Snowballing causes many people to leave, which exacerbates the effect even further
It ruins everyones game experience.
What causes snow balling?
Other than player skill disparitry, The most significant conditions for snowballing occur in the opening minute of the Invasion game mode, and gets much worse the higher the BR or the higher the skill disparity (or squad Stacking).
I will do from both Perspectives
Defenders:
Defenders are all spawned in on “one” Tiny Objective".
Anything that can Lob HE in the opening seconds of the game can literally Wipe out nearly everything on the point in seconds, thus the Snowball begins.
- Tanks often have a shot merely seconds after the game starts
- Some objectives get wiped by mortars
- Pacific Air spawn has start lockout missing (why is this still a thing)
Veteran Defenders know this, and can avoid it. But this is largely a Casual game, and Casuals who make up the majority of most teams, get wrecked by this again and again…and again…and then some more
This is a frequent occurance and causes matches to start very poorly, and if this happens, the mass exodus generally follows
Attackers
If the attackers Fail to abuse the opening Minutes of the game, they often find them selves facing an endless wave of counter attacks because Defenders have unlimited tickets and spawn at the same rate. This is the other common “leaving” point.
So how do we improve both at the same time?
The conundrum is you “must” address both at the same time. You cannot just fix one without making the other much worse. (Fix defenders getting wiped out at start of match? their ability to endlessly counter attack improves)
People leave early in some part because there is no natural mechanic to curb a landslide, And once it gets started, it takes some serious sweat to stop it (if even possible)
Some possible solutions could include; (some are listed twice as they are just as important for both sides)
Defender Focus
- Multiple/Layered Defender “first spawns” spread out around the cap close by, NOT all on it.
- Larger Objective points, more spread out so HE cannot Deny the entire objective so easily
- Once the Attackers have captured a point, the play area “does not advance” for the Attackers UNTIL they have cleared out “All” remaining Defenders in the previous zone (Remaining Defenders will be “spotted”, and have 60 seconds to leave the area or be Insta killed). Attackers cannot lose any tickets during this clear out phase)
- Lock capture points for a time, Like in confrontation
- Tank Spawns (attacker AND defender) either Further back or get the same Delay PLanes and Radiomen Call ins get at the start of the game.
- Warm up phase (30-60 seconds), both teams can spawn in and take actions in their zone, but no where else
Attacker Focus
- Larger Objective points, more spread out so HE cannot Deny the entire objective so easily
- Larger play area for larger flanking routes hidden from sight
- Attackers have less tickets instead of 1000 (but reset back to the full amount upon capturing)
- Tank Spawns (attacker AND defender) either Further back or get the same Delay PLanes and Radiomen Call ins get at the start of the game.
- Warm up phase (30-60 seconds), both teams can spawn in and take actions in their zone, but no where else
- Defenders have tickets per objective that can either be depleted OR carry over to the next objective (last years suggestion)
Some of these changes shouldnt be too hard to implement or to experiment with.
heres hoping for some improvements this year.
Until next year then!