-With the current AAS setup usually less than 50% of the map is used, strategic and tactical options are limited, and things like zerg rushing and the ever-present slaughter as squad after squad throw themselves onto objectives are common events. Flanking is often pointless as the time it takes to perform it means you'll be losing a lot of tickets if your team is bleeding and teams are forced into throwing everything at a flag in the hope that maybe they'll overrun the enemy. So instead of the linear and singular flag capping sequence I propose a more open alternative that makes use of the entire map and makes them a different experience every time you play them.
-Right now there's about 3-5 flags on a map(ignoring mains), spread out over a large area, jumping to and from north, south, east, and west. Due to this you have a basic and pervasive strategy where 1-2 squads stay back and defend(Yeah, like that happens a lot...) while the rest go throw themselves at the next objective. Once an objective is capped everything behind it is abandoned and the process repeats itself. Because of this Point A-----Point B setup there is often little point in "going off the beaten path" as the advantages of a superior position and/or surprise do not negate the penalties imposed by a lack of time, tickets, and manpower. Flanking movements are often on foot, they take time as you advance in a very indirect manner, if your team is bleeding then you lose tickets without being able to balance the loss, you're not in the radius capping, your team is low on manpower where the action is, etc. You're forced by circumstance to limit your options to a very small pool of viable strategies and tactics.
-As for map usage, Qinling is a good example. When have you ever been in the NW corner of that map? The SE corner sees a little more use only due to the proximity of coal mine, but large areas of the map are never used because of the aforementioned limitations on strategy and tactics on players due to the current linear setup.
-In addition, due to this linearity the gameplay on popular maps becomes increasingly predictable as the same areas are used for firebases and rally points, static assets become useless as the next objective is taken, and so on.
-What I propose is the following; see the map as the objective and use flags spaced evenly(or unevenly if that's better
) across the map as territory control markers. Instead of a single linear flag sequence you make it so that if a team holds a flag it can then cap any neighboring flag, as so:
-As an example lets use a 4x4 flag minimap where each side starts at their main to the north and south:
-The purple and yellow are main bases and the other colors are linear paths of advance. As each side hold their main they can advance and cap any of the flags in the line closest to them. Lets focus on purple at the top; as the purple team caps the black path flag in the NW corner the next black path flag becomes cappable, and when it's capped the next one becomes cappable and so on. Provided that there is no opposition the purple team can cap all the way to the last black flag. In addition, they can also cap any neighboring flag to the east of any black path flag they hold(The red flags in this example). As long as an unbroken chain of flags leads back to the teams main base they can can any neighboring flag north, south, east, or west of their current flags. For instance, you can cap the first and second black flags, then go straight east and cap all the way to the second blue flag. If you hold BLACK1, BLACK2, RED2, GREEN2, and BLUE2, you can also cap BLACK3, RED1, RED3, GREEN1, GREEN3, BLUE1, and BLUE3. You can cap east and west, north and south from any flag you hold with an unbroken chain to your main.
-Lets say yellow and purple teams meet at the center(Purple has all 1 and 2 flags, Yellow all 3 and 4). Purple pushes through on the black path all the way down to BLACK4. However, purple has now over-extended themselves and without the manpower to defend their dramatially extended frontline(Almost 50%) yellow simply moves into BLACK3 and recaps that(Which they can do as the have an unbroken line from their main to RED3, which neighbors BLACK3). As BLACK4 has now been cut off from the rest of purple's territory that flag drops down to neutral regardless of any purple players present in the territory. Yellow will still have to recap BLACK 4 though to ensure that no enemy is present there.
-The flags would represent the territory of their cap radius and all cap radii would be hugging each other, so to speak. Capping time would be drastically reduced(The time it takes to cross the diameter of the cap radius on foot would be a good guide) with a possible increase in manpower requirements(To be explained later).
-Some questions arise with this suggestion, questions that might be stupid, but since we're talking about the BF2 engine here stupid becomes necessary. Is there any limit to how many flags can be on a single map(Either due to arbitrary limits in the code or it for some weird reason devouring your CPU)? Is there any issue with removing/changing flag icons(A gabillion flag icons on the map would be a little meh...)? Are there any limitations to coding flags to behave like this? And would it be a real ***** to make this change to the maps themselves?
-Provided that none of those things are quarrelsome I believe that this would enhance the PR gamplay drastically. With the entire map now in play smaller and older maps would be rejuvenated and not have to be phased out for bigger maps, static assets would become useful for area control which is necessary with an extended front line. Throwing bodies at small areas would no longer be necessary as you have several avenues where you can advance. Defense would become necessary to maintain your front line(This is where static assets shine), and a multitude of strategic and tactical options would open up to the players.
-Now, the reason why the amount of people required to cap a flag might have to go up is because if you're a small squad trying to operate under the radar(Recon, Snipers, etc.), say 3-4 players, it would be a little hard to remain undetected if you start capping areas as you move behind enemy lines. An increase from the current 3 up to 5 should be sufficient as these squads should never be any bigger than 4.
-Flags should ideally go in a straight line between point A to point B, A and B being the opposing teams' main base, though for some maps it might be necessary to place them according to the demands of the map.
------EDIT------
As for ticket bleed, a % based bleed should be implemented. As a quick example:
51%+ = 1 ticket lost per minute
61%+ = 2 tickets lost per minute
71%+ = 3 tickets lost per minute
etc, etc.
-The specific amount of tickets lost and % is simply used as an example.
