On the topic of breaking entrenched defenses…
First off, this isn’t Enemy Territory, and with how this game is designed, it never can be. There are some lessons to be learned from Enemy Territory’s success on the end of objective-based gameplay however, and I think it’s something that Dirty Bomb is sorely lacking.
Secondary Objectives.
- Command Posts
Sure enough, Dirty Bomb has a few secondary objectives such as the forward spawn flag or gate barriers, but they aren’t as feasible as they were in Enemy Territory. One of the most often overlooked, yet extremely important objective in ET was Command Post control. For those who haven’t played that: The Command Post increased the rate at which energy bars (supply) recharge. Abilities such as Airstrikes and giving out ammo/health were linked to this energy system.
Capturing the command post meant that your team is better supplied, and the enemy team would be somewhat crippled and unable to spam abilities.
Another difference is that ET’s secondary objectives were usually on a fair distance from the main objective, which created more ‘flow’ of power over the battlefield. Defenders had to move between different objectives, forcing them out of camping.
Lastly, in Dirty bomb, the secondary objectives aren’t very “secondary”. They still need a C4 plant that takes up a lot of time, giving far too much time to respond.
- Flags
Another advantage you could get in Enemy Territory was through the securing of forward flags to spawn at. Only Terminal has such a feature at this moment, and it takes ages to capture for a very slight benefit (heck, I don’t even think defenders have to walk further than they would from their usual spawn). Perhaps more of these forward spawns could be created and balanced?
All in all, I like how Dirty Bomb is at this point, but I’m afraid it’s going to bore easily when you can’t do anything to make a difference. Adding secondary objectives would stop the stalemates we see so very often.
Thoughts?