my main issue with bf2: the maps
its been a bit after the release of bf2 and after playing a bit ive come to realize that i too seem to be heavily favoring urban maps above the vehicle oriented ones (that and all the urban ones are mec, and i hate the chinese army equips/maps in general). its not that im some kind of stat whore, or that i dont appreciate the delicate art that is vehicle combat. back in the bf42 and DC days, i was actually more partial to the el alamiens, the bocages, 73 eastings, dare i say it, even gazala had its moments. it wasnt because the infantry system on the bf42 engine was underdeveloped (lost village was still reasonably fun). Ive derived that it comes down to a few major differences between the two games that changes the experiences dramatically.
-# of vehicles given
even on vehicle oriented maps, BF2 simply gives out too little armor. even at 64 player sizes, ive never seen more than 2 MBT's per uncappable spawn. Even LAVs and BTRs are in short supply. this simply reduces the game to a humvee/infantry walk-athon, which bores people. the fact that the spawn times for each vehicle post-destruction has been shortened is a poor substitute, as with the new system you cannot have the 3 MBT tank column that were such a joy, and made you and your friends feel like real badasses when rolling into a CP. More airpower would be lovely as well. who DIDNT miss those 2 v 2 dogfights back in bf42/dc. the teamwork involved in you and a wingman tagging up to out manuever 2 others. times like those i could have slapped on aviators and been called tom cruise. if increasing # of armor at main is undesirable, at least give each CP a mbt. this gives each CP more value to be held, and also encourages players to use that tank to defend that CP. this leads to my next point
-maps are too damn big and that makes too many damn CPs
i know the devs said that they wanted more map sizet 64 person level so that there was more action to go around, but that has happened to the extreme extent. now, there is not ENOUGH action to go around. at all map sizes, 16, 32, and 64, there are about at least 2 CPs too many on a lot of the maps. i find myself spawning in a base, and waiting in defense forever for action. yet none comes. with bf42/dc even having only 2-4 cappable CPs the game was fun, and i believe because of it. each CP had a high value since there were few others. teams would scramble for one if lost, and defend each vehemently, devoting large resources to save it. now a days, i see almost zero defense of any CPs, and why should there be? with so many, sometimes up to 6 cappable cps, losing one is not a problem. This is why flag skipping is so common. People just roll up to a CP, cap it fast because its undefended anyways, and move on. How many of you can say you can call all the CPs by name and rememeber each distinctly on any given map? theres just too many to really grow familiar with, unlike DC/Bf42 where if you said "north CP" everyone knew what you were talking about. pretty much what im trying to say is that my funnest moments in DC/Bf42 was defending a CP with a group of teammates against a large attacking force, frantically calling air support, mining tanks, chasing down infantry, explosions going around, but ive never had that experience in BF2, because noone cares to defend a CP or to even send a large force to attack one.
-vehicle maps rarely fully cater to vehicles in full.
maybe its due to taking advantage of the "advanced" bf2 undergrowth/overgrowth system, but the maps that seemingly are supposed to be vehicle oriented are quite annoying for vehicles themselves. think of the great vehicle maps of BF42 or DC. they were plain, flattish maps with large fields of fire, only trees and buildings were around the CPs. i found that to be the perfect setup. Leave all the space between CPs flat and plainish, to make helicopter strafing runs more formidable, tank battles more intense, and to encourage convoys. Dont worry about that making the map boring for infantry. thats what all the vehicles available are for, and also infantry will have their fun defending CPs. by making the Cps themselves complex, with buildings and shrubbery all around, this makes it ideal and greatly fun for infantry to defend, and play cat and mouse with tanks. the maps in BF2 are too cluttered, making half the time in a tank spent gingerly navigating a road, and making micro turns, reversing, etc.
these are my main issues, and i know its long but i wanted to explain my points fully. if i think of more, or if i get good suggestions from you folks ill add to it. im not saying to make BF2 exactly like DC or BF42, for there are mods already at work at that, but i believe that these are core, key ideas to keep in mind when making any map for this type of game, and they will improve the quality of gameplay expierenced, and maybe actually get people to play vehicle maps.
-# of vehicles given
even on vehicle oriented maps, BF2 simply gives out too little armor. even at 64 player sizes, ive never seen more than 2 MBT's per uncappable spawn. Even LAVs and BTRs are in short supply. this simply reduces the game to a humvee/infantry walk-athon, which bores people. the fact that the spawn times for each vehicle post-destruction has been shortened is a poor substitute, as with the new system you cannot have the 3 MBT tank column that were such a joy, and made you and your friends feel like real badasses when rolling into a CP. More airpower would be lovely as well. who DIDNT miss those 2 v 2 dogfights back in bf42/dc. the teamwork involved in you and a wingman tagging up to out manuever 2 others. times like those i could have slapped on aviators and been called tom cruise. if increasing # of armor at main is undesirable, at least give each CP a mbt. this gives each CP more value to be held, and also encourages players to use that tank to defend that CP. this leads to my next point
-maps are too damn big and that makes too many damn CPs
i know the devs said that they wanted more map sizet 64 person level so that there was more action to go around, but that has happened to the extreme extent. now, there is not ENOUGH action to go around. at all map sizes, 16, 32, and 64, there are about at least 2 CPs too many on a lot of the maps. i find myself spawning in a base, and waiting in defense forever for action. yet none comes. with bf42/dc even having only 2-4 cappable CPs the game was fun, and i believe because of it. each CP had a high value since there were few others. teams would scramble for one if lost, and defend each vehemently, devoting large resources to save it. now a days, i see almost zero defense of any CPs, and why should there be? with so many, sometimes up to 6 cappable cps, losing one is not a problem. This is why flag skipping is so common. People just roll up to a CP, cap it fast because its undefended anyways, and move on. How many of you can say you can call all the CPs by name and rememeber each distinctly on any given map? theres just too many to really grow familiar with, unlike DC/Bf42 where if you said "north CP" everyone knew what you were talking about. pretty much what im trying to say is that my funnest moments in DC/Bf42 was defending a CP with a group of teammates against a large attacking force, frantically calling air support, mining tanks, chasing down infantry, explosions going around, but ive never had that experience in BF2, because noone cares to defend a CP or to even send a large force to attack one.
-vehicle maps rarely fully cater to vehicles in full.
maybe its due to taking advantage of the "advanced" bf2 undergrowth/overgrowth system, but the maps that seemingly are supposed to be vehicle oriented are quite annoying for vehicles themselves. think of the great vehicle maps of BF42 or DC. they were plain, flattish maps with large fields of fire, only trees and buildings were around the CPs. i found that to be the perfect setup. Leave all the space between CPs flat and plainish, to make helicopter strafing runs more formidable, tank battles more intense, and to encourage convoys. Dont worry about that making the map boring for infantry. thats what all the vehicles available are for, and also infantry will have their fun defending CPs. by making the Cps themselves complex, with buildings and shrubbery all around, this makes it ideal and greatly fun for infantry to defend, and play cat and mouse with tanks. the maps in BF2 are too cluttered, making half the time in a tank spent gingerly navigating a road, and making micro turns, reversing, etc.
these are my main issues, and i know its long but i wanted to explain my points fully. if i think of more, or if i get good suggestions from you folks ill add to it. im not saying to make BF2 exactly like DC or BF42, for there are mods already at work at that, but i believe that these are core, key ideas to keep in mind when making any map for this type of game, and they will improve the quality of gameplay expierenced, and maybe actually get people to play vehicle maps.
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