Underground Design Update - Issues Identified

[kopyright]

@SD_AK said:

Transition Area

##Spawn Transitions
There is no clear indicator as to why attacker’s spawn shifts from above the escalators to the level below often ontop of where defenders are defending from.

Reported by: kopyright, Dentist-svk, spookify, DrDacreamer

Since I was among those who brought this up - maybe you could move the defenders’ spawn into the ceiling area above the second escalator. The distance to cover to reach the elevator would be pretty much the same compared to the current spawn, and you could just block entrance to the lower level until X happens (attackers take a forward spawn around the elevator, hack an objective, etc.). There’s already a door between the mid platform and the lower escalators, so why not put it to good use?

However, this would also mean that the attackers lose a potential stealth route to sneak around defenders rushing up the escalator and plant while everybody else is still fighting it out around the elevator - I haven’t seen this happen too often, but sometimes it works (and is extremely satisfying )

[Crunch612]

I know I’m a bit late but here’s my though on all that.

Attacker balcony
In the comments, a lot of people suggested to add a barrier to block the defenders of camping there. I kind of disagree. If you remove the acces to jump from the roof of the obj1 to the balcony, you will remove the acces to get ammo (without taking the elevator) who will create another problem. I Think the easiest way to fix this general problem is to replace the elevator with an escalator. By doing so, defenders would loose their interest to camp there due to the facility from the attackers to shoot them at range.

[Rokon2]

I’ll give my two cents based on my own experiences with Underground.

Not enough opportunities for Air Support
One of the big uses of Fire Support is to be able to do so on Objectives. However, I think that those uses should not be exclusive to just the objective. I think opening up the ceiling a bit more on the first point while keeping the framework will allow mercs like Arty to bombard the Attacker side without threat, and vice-versa. The openness also allows Kira to maneuver her death laser around more freely. I also think the cubby hole in the first point should be opened a bit more, as it is easy for anyone on top of the point to dispatch anyone inside with little opposition. Perhaps opening up some of the floorboards a bit to offer a few more LOS in various spots on the ceiling so that anyone inside has a bit more leeway in an engagement.

Too easy for Defenders to spawn camp via Balcony
I think an ideal change could be to remove one of the boxes sitting behind the ammo crate in the balcony, offer an entry to the balcony via Defender’s lift, and remove the ammo crate altogether. This would allow a tug-of-war for the vantage point, but you cannot also stay there for extended periods of time since there is no ammunition crate to refill from, forcing you down to a teammate (or have them come up, which would be tactically advantageous for the team) or go to an ammo crate like the one in the choke opposite the map.

Roof offers too much over for defenders
As I’ve said before, I think opening up some of the floor panels a bit should offer the Attackers some LOS they can use to combat Defenders. This will give Attackers a bit more leeway in their engagements.

Spawn Transitions
I think placing players either inside or just outside of the completed objective, having them look at the escalators would be a good idea. Players are naturally going to go straight when they spawn, as they’re confident the game will guide them along. This would let them know that there are escalators here that you can access to get across the rest of the map.

Seconary gas route gives little advantage
The main problem when I use this route is that I am fully exposed, as opposed to the enemy team that can hide behind the table on the point, or on the pipes by spawn. Perhaps adding a box or two would allow players to use cover. Moreover, I think adding a flanking route from the gas route to the point via a door/hallway would allow both the Attackers and Defenders to divide their team, instead of funneling the entire match to the route opposide of the gas route.

[k3endo]

Reported by: Pegarex, k3endo, woodchip, PorkyPerson

Oh shit dats me

In terms of what i was talking about, see @CommissarTyr excellent collection of screenshots. My main problem was on the pseudo 1.5 objective area at the escalators, in which trying to line up airstrikes are too unpredictable due to the way the light, shadows and where you can actually airstrike seem to have little/no correlation.