So after playing airfield in Normandy as the defender I think that side new objectives is good idea but poor execution.
Biggest flaw is that it’s rightfully completely ignored by the defenders because they can’t do anything to stop the allies. And it turns into point and click adventure for the attackers, not very exciting gameplay.
Because it doesn’t cause any interaction between players, it’s pointless.
How side objectives should look like (imo):
I think that battle over the bridge would make a good side mission.
To make it something more than just another cap point it can be “don’t let the defenders blow up the bridge” kind of mission. There would be a time limit in witch the attackers would have to either control the point or maybe interact with detonator for example (bomb defusal kind of thing to make it more unique than just another cap point). So it woud be a choise for the attackers: secure the bridge to gain tickets and then atack the point; leave the bridge and don’t waste tickets on attacking it. If the attacking team blitz through to the next objective without securing the bridge first, the bridge side mission is lost.
After the time has passed there is a chance that the bridge will be blown up (so it’s not purely arcade “enemy gave us his schedule so we can know when exactly he will blow up the bridge”), when the oblective is skipped, it’s blown up instantly.
In this case, this side mision can be used as a “controlled map destruction” thing, a bit like the collapse of the skyscraper in BF4 (to be clear, I don’t mean “make the Enlisted into another BF4”). Devs would have full control over it and would be able balance it properly as it’s basically scripted change of the one part of the map into another. So it could be a downside for the attackers that their tanks have one way less to get to the battle.
Although it may require too much effort from the devs so consider map destruction as a wish.
The bridge in only an example. This idea can be implemented with radio tower, ammo storage etc.
It would be certainly better than current side missions that don’t require anything from the players other than time.
