London Bridge modification proposal -> best map

[RasteRayzeR]

My idea :

I’ve been thinking about the first stage of London Bridge where you have to repair the EV and I see currently a big problem : the defense masses up at the EV location and can easily control the first stage. Lets add a side objective that will force a few players of the defense to leave the EV location and that provides a tactical advantage for the offense.

[B]What is worth capturing for both offense and defense ?

[/B]The entrance door is the main way in and if it was possible for the defense to close it, they could focus on the offices and the shops way. For the offense, it’s obvious that this is practical to have this way in. So this could be the strategic asset worth capturing :

To work, it should be possible to open / close the ramp (or make a door here instead) and there should be some protections around it because right now it is too exposed (sniper fest). So there would be a few walls to block a bit the view. This looks closer to the original gold rush imo, and the doors to access the tank were really a great fighting area !

[B]We have a meaningful objective, but how to open/close it ?

[/B]I though we could have a hackable console to give more purpose to the covert ops (provided their proficiency on hacking is applied), we could provide a hackable terminal to open/close it in a location that takes the defense away from the EV and that is close enough to the path of the offense, here is my idea :

This location is never used and there are never any combats happening in there. The hackable console could be there so that offense players would be split between going on the bridge and raid this objective and the other part of the offense going the other way to repair the EV.

Also for the defense, a part can stay at the EV, but a few should keep an eye on this and the offices. This area would need to be a bit more opened to host the hackable console. The use of grenades can become strategic in there.

[B]Any other ideas ?

[/B]Could it be possible to give a bit more space around the EV as shown the in figure below ? This would help players flowing around it and provide more chasing / tricky repairing :

Advantages

This would simulate the duality of ways that existed in the original gold rush map because back there there was the command post to build/destroy which was a meaningful objective. This is only a proposition but that combined with the new last stage could make London Bridge an awesome map.

[Mustang]

Disadvantages

No-one uses this route anyway because it’s too exposed, making it a route that needs to be unlocked means it won’t get used ever.

[RasteRayzeR]

[QUOTE=Mustang;489298]Disadvantages

No-one uses this route anyway because it’s too exposed, making it a route that needs to be unlocked means it won’t get used ever.[/QUOTE]

This all depends. The current layout can’t be reused as is for this. As I said there should be protections to make this road interesting enough for the offense. It’s just that right now there is absolutely no reason for the offense to do anything else but camp the EV’s position. I’m trying to come up with a plausible solution here.

[prophett]

Tying in with this thread I thought about the possibility of adding a “sewer” route that would allow the attackers to flank the EV.

A nice side objective would be a steel grating or door in the sewer which the attackers could plant at or hack. Likewise, the defenders could repair, etc…

[Glottis-3D]

what i dont like at 1st obj LB is:
that huge area in front of EV.
it is huge and noone can actually play there because it is most dangerous (uber crossfire from both teams).
so the whole game takes place in tiny little rooms/corridoors around this area.
and there is no good flow in the part of the map. there are just several separated areas of carnage.
map should play like this:
1 cluster route(left route) with advantage to the deffs. (this route is actually good one) - the quickest one, for rush but the deadliest for balance. main forces of the attacking team go there, to gather deffs near that place, thus other places are weakened.
2. mid-route, which should be 50/50 in balance def-attack. but this route is longer. this route is a deal-breaker. since defs are concentrated on the cluster route (they cannot give it up - it is the quick one) attackers can take out in fair fight the mid-defs, and get the advantage -->> make OBJ.
we do not have this route. the House route leads to the Crossfire-area i mentioned above. so does the Bridge route. they both end in that bad area.
3. Back route. very long and advantage to the deffs. usual sneaky-route, which we dont have as well.

so what we have is 1 good layout for a main route, which is supposed to be advantage for defs.
all other routes are also too much advantage for defs. and no back-route. this needs to be fixed.

how to improve?
I think we need to separate bridge-back route (wich is not very helpfull for attackers) and 1st cluster route
I think bridge-back route has to take us further to the EV area.

make it 2nd ‘mid route’ with 50/50 balance or ‘back-route’ for sneaks - i dont know.

[RasteRayzeR]

The problem with the first part of LB is that it was designed for the first version where the EV was right behind the gate. With the new modifications, it leaves it with misplaced routes to access the EV and a lack of coherence in there (room or places not used anymore, even dead-ends).

But clearly it seems we all approve the fact that we need an additional road to the EV that can host a hackable/destroyable door that can be blocked again by the defense.

[Glottis-3D]

yep, thats the problem

House-route/bridge-route/leftroute/central route - they all collide in the place, where EV was standing a year ago.

1. mb we can place there a forward SPawn point a-la waterloo ? there should something important (obviously, not EV)
2. -place a hackable object there (under the bridge),
   -reduce meatgrind in the center. the best way, imho - place a little building there so it will split this area in two.
   -move EV into some kind of garage, which opens after hack.

[RasteRayzeR]

The forward spawn is not a good idea here because it would be way too close to the original spawn of the offense and too close to the EV imo.

I’d really go for an advantageous route that can be blocked. This pulls the defense away from the EV (allowing for a sneaky backdoor attack) and gives a chance to surprise the enemy to the attacking team.

Take QW sewers map : it was always fun to go plant the charges on the grids of the control room (last objective) because there was a main, meat grinding way to go and two more sneaky ways including the underground.

This is the way to go imo, and this is why I opened this thread with my idea on how to modify the first stage of the map. London Bridge can be a great map if something like I or you (kroko) proposed for the first stage happens. A plain simple adaptation to the new EV’s location and a MEANINGFUL SIDE OBJECTIVE to disrupts the linear gameplay.

[Glottis-3D]

btw 2nd object also is not good.
because it doesnt take any effort from atackers to move EV from poin A to point B. it is a routine, no exitment at all.
deffs spawn is too far away.
and the layout is tunnel-like, again very linear.
some side routes (high ground presumably) needed for deffs. mb with an MG nest.

[Glottis-3D]

this route as a back-route from the bridge.

and this for second object.

[attack]

whats about the barrier is from the begin constructed?

[attack]

I think we need to separate bridge-back route (wich is not very helpfull for attackers) and 1st cluster route
I think bridge-back route has to take us further to the EV area.

+1.sounds good.

[Glottis-3D]

The EV-part of the game needs similar to the WhiteChapel modifications - side routes to intercept attackers.
since the EV-part was not intended to be so small, the geometry (1corner + 1 barricade + 1corner and there you are) is not very good.
the only place that i can think of as a potential to defence - side route is the left buildings of the pre-barricade street.