Set near the Millennium Dome in London, our very own Dome features clustered buildings separated by wide streets, an underground tunnel system to sneak through if you should so desire, and an urban jungle for the many Mercs found in Dirty Bomb to navigate!
Speaking of navigation, Dome takes Dirty Bomb’s advanced movement mechanics such as Wall Jump and Long Jump, and puts them to good use throughout the map. Derelict buildings and spacious roofs have become a sprawling playground for skilled Mercs.
Blockout
Dome is in its blockout stage of development. For those not quite sure what a blockout map is, it basically means that the map has yet to receive the vast majority of the artwork that helps to make the location feel like a living, breathing space. The blockout phase focuses purely on gameplay and map flow. By focusing on those elements early in the map’s development, we can take internal and player feedback, and make quick map updates without the art team having to redo their time consuming work. This allows us to tweak and improve the map far faster than would normally be the case.
Quite a few changes have been made to Dome as, we’ll go through the details below:
A Brand New Objective: 2 becomes 3
*Please note that this image primarily covers the first objective. It does not feature the entire map.
The previous iteration of Dome was a ton of fun to play, but we wanted more! A third objective has long been on the cards, so we’re really pleased to get it into the map now. Due to Dome’s formerly short nature, an additional location allows for even more meaningful changes in gameplay and tactics, and creates a better sense of map momentum and pace.
Since we already had two C4 objectives, we decided to go with a carry. We still wanted to end the map with a bang, so destroying AA gun fit the bill perfectly! The obvious choice was to add new carry objective to the beginning of the level.
The Forward Defence
While it may seem like it’s infinitely more important for the attackers to play aggressively; thanks to Dome’s forward defence setup, defenders need to match that level of aggression in order to secure and hold their strongpoints. Rather than camping the objective, the defenders must push forward to the all-important strongpoints to hold off the onslaught of oncoming attackers.
With the defenders heavily entrenched, the attackers must utilise speed, mobility, and the element of surprise on their side. They’ll need to work together to strike at the heart of the defensive line and break through to attack objectives. The defenders on the other hand, will have to work hard to ensure that their strongpoints remain fully manned and almost impregnable at all times.
Should the defenders fail to ensure that their strongpoints remain secure, they’ll be scattered into the wind and forced to attempt a difficult split defence at each objective.
We’re keen to continue testing the notion of two primary plant locations right now, as they create more varied tactical choices that can be employed to outsmart the opponent. Having to commit to one of the primary routes introduces additional pressing choices that need to be made on the fly. Do you have what it takes to be the benefactor of this?
A Dual Bomb Objective (Objective 2)
Two bomb sites for a primary objective, a notion that prompted quite a bit of discussion amongst the community. A number of you took issue with that notion which is understandable as it isn’t something that we’ve done before.
We’re going to stick with it for the time being as we’d love to find out how you feel it fits into the new Dome setup. One of the things that we’re looking to do here is split group combat into smaller firefights by dividing the active combat area across a number of locations, to ultimately create multiple points of contention at this stage of the map.
Get To The Cover! (Objective 3)
It quickly became clear that planting and holding a bomb plant on what was formally the 2nd objective (now the 3rd) was really quite difficult. The open space left anyone around the objective rife to be filled with lead. As such, we’ve added cover around the point, giving everyone a better chance of being able to plant and diffuse without saying farewell to their noggin.
The Evolution Continues
On the whole, this update sees some sizable additions making their way to Dome. We’re eager to learn what you think of it once you’ve had a little while to sink your teeth into the map, but feel free to share your immediate thoughts after reading the article as well.
Until next time!
