Re: Iron Eagle and other rare maps
Posted: 2011-11-10 10:47
As has been said before. I think maps like Iron Eagle are created with teamwork in mind. The map works when there are transport helicopter is in the air, when the Merkavas are taking infantry squads with them, and when the CAS just has aerial battles above everyone's heads. The reality is however that the transport choppers in most cases blow up because there's either a bad pilot, or they have to touch down in a vast open area where they can get shot down by a tank. Or they run into CAS all the time, get a lock on and are obliterated. Great to deny the enemy transport, but it's a buzzkill for both teams, since the team that just lost their transport chopper won't be able to offer quick resistance, and thus kills the map.
Then there is indeed the issue of the flag position. When you come from Bijar you need to go to Radar Station, not the city on the diagonal opposite of the map (which is like 4km away), and then radar station. Every time troops move from one corner of the map to the other one, they either meet each other in the middle, or both end up at an undefended flag, which they in turn both can't cap completely, because their previous flag was neutralized by the enemy team doing exactly the same as you were doing!
Add to that the hardcoded player issue, where everyone is just out to score kills, or be uber leet with the tanks and just hunt enemy tanks instead of offering support, and the round very quickly turns very lame.
And this is the same with most 4km maps, to be honest. Cap zones are too far away from each other for infantry to move about on foot, as is reality. Don't come with the argument of "omg use transport chopper/APC" because it just doesn't happen often. Transport choppers in 4km maps are a must, but there's just so many assets that can take them out, that they are often wasted. And APC's doing transport? That's something that isn't in most peoples dictionaries. And in the end.. caps are really only made by infantry squads. Because again the tanks are on the outskirts of the maps hunting each other. The APC's are in between flags to kill enemy infantry and the CAS is mucking about 10.000 feet in the air to hunt each other until one is dead, and then the other one crashes because the pilot can't fly close to the ground and hits a tree or something.
It might seem all doomsday scenario, but it's often what happens. Hardcoded players can't be changed..
Then there is indeed the issue of the flag position. When you come from Bijar you need to go to Radar Station, not the city on the diagonal opposite of the map (which is like 4km away), and then radar station. Every time troops move from one corner of the map to the other one, they either meet each other in the middle, or both end up at an undefended flag, which they in turn both can't cap completely, because their previous flag was neutralized by the enemy team doing exactly the same as you were doing!
Add to that the hardcoded player issue, where everyone is just out to score kills, or be uber leet with the tanks and just hunt enemy tanks instead of offering support, and the round very quickly turns very lame.
And this is the same with most 4km maps, to be honest. Cap zones are too far away from each other for infantry to move about on foot, as is reality. Don't come with the argument of "omg use transport chopper/APC" because it just doesn't happen often. Transport choppers in 4km maps are a must, but there's just so many assets that can take them out, that they are often wasted. And APC's doing transport? That's something that isn't in most peoples dictionaries. And in the end.. caps are really only made by infantry squads. Because again the tanks are on the outskirts of the maps hunting each other. The APC's are in between flags to kill enemy infantry and the CAS is mucking about 10.000 feet in the air to hunt each other until one is dead, and then the other one crashes because the pilot can't fly close to the ground and hits a tree or something.
It might seem all doomsday scenario, but it's often what happens. Hardcoded players can't be changed..