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Please understand, I enjoy the hell out of MWO & the following is a constructive offering of thoughts & ideas, not a complaint or judgement, it is intended to help. If I'm covering old/obsolete/invalid ground, my apologies!
Without further ado:
Introduction
As much as I enjoy FW when I get to play it with any amount of the StranaMechty squad, the limitations for attack/defence have often tweaked my suspension of disbelief.
What I'm driving at (& its a general gripe for myself with FW, not bad, just, personal preference) is that (& Boreal Vault illustrates it nicely) you have limited options for attack. Gate A, Gate B. I don't know about anyone else, but given those options I'd be inclined to find a different route that didn't require a Force A meets Force B & we see what happens situation, surely a wise tactician seeks an alternative whereby the odds can be better balanced in their favour (or maybe I am tactically as capable as a wet paper towel & its just as well I don't do a lot of drop calling?)
Initial Thoughts
I'd love to see more options for those looking to gain entry to a base. I don't mean more gates (though I do feel like maps with more gates have more flexibility generally speaking), what I'm talking about is for instance a route that might only be viable for jump jet capable scouts & even then, quite a tight, treacherous route so bigger mechs can't make it through & the incautious might suffer (possibly it has a few turrets to discourage all but the committed & quick? In the right configuration, only certain mechs could get in there & most of these would I think struggle with well positioned turret pairs).
In one of the Stackpole books (I think) the assault on the Smoke Jaguar homeworld involves a retreat through mountainous terrain, littered with tight paths & ravines. I'm just wondering if something similar couldn't be done to allow for more tactical nuance than we currently have (not a criticism of FW, I enjoy it, I just, yearn for more flexibility). As an alternative, not all terrains are mountains & hills, a future map might eschew the archetype & say "hey attackers, your first & most obvious option is a straight sprint across this essentially open ground (doesn't have to be perfectly flat, though even the best kept park or parade ground could have a toppled statue or a few burnt out wrecks to break line of sight!). But, if you want to spend some more time, & avoid the defences placed because this is the obvious approach, there are these other routes that require gate take downs etc.
Illustrations
Now, perhaps for these ideas to work (& avoid a Light Zerg Rush through a well intentioned pass), we may need to look at some more dynamics in the drop decks, things like only allowing so many Light/Medium mechs per wave (possibly unpopular, & potentially stifling of the valid tactic of a light rush, but its just an idea to support my main point).
Regardless, below follow some illustrations, with the kind support of Google Maps. Please bear in mind, these are for illustrative purposes only, scale is often wildly out to achieve the desired visual key points.
Key
- Red Dots - Primary Route - Clear sightlines, some cover, defences & defender advantage
- Green Dots - Secondary Route - Challenging terrain, difficult to traverse, potentially hazardous, possibly longer traversal time, may require jumpjets, reduced access & possibility of defences that are better sped past/avoided with team ECM coverage etc
- Yellow Dots - Key Hazards - Gates / Blockades, sensor towers etc
Two versions for Huntress Highlands, one where attackers are aiming for a station on a peak & another where they are aiming to destroy an incomplete facility. Both have primary routes that heavily favour the defender, but which a canny team could use for their heavier mechs once some defences have been drawn off by scouts/flankers.
The yellow dots indicate Sensor Towers that cannot be destroyed without exposing oneself to sniper fire from the defenders, but which will provide the defenders with a ping when mechs are passing on a Green Route.
Note: This image taken from the Andes, so scale is crazy out, I'm not suggesting the traversal times that this image would imply, purely using this to illustrate the look/feel - wider valleys up which several mechs could comfortably bash around (ala Emerald Taiga's Attackers spawns), with tight, difficult routes up switchbacks & small roads, along ridge lines etc. Watchful defenders will be able to pop the unwary along the tops of routes, while some traversals could include environmental hazards (death drops might be overdoing it, what do people think?) & will limit what mechs can use those routes.
If you want to get really clever, maybe defenders/attackers can liberate boulders at key points which can hinder passage / damage mechs (I'm thinking defenders setting traps & clever attackers luring defenders past a trap, before leaving them struggling to return over a newly created blockage).
Concordia
Again, the scale is a bit off here, Central Park being rather big (but stunning as settings go), all those tall buildings hemming you in to a series of killing fields before giving attackers 2 options: Slip round the tight left or right, concentrating their lines in a high risk/high reward route, or, stomp clear through the lake, everyone sees everyone coming but maybe you draw defenders/attackers out from the "coast", only to reveal a deadly ring of mechs along the shoreline?
Odori Park
Once again a wide but busy park offers long sight lines down the main streets, with plenty of communal buildings, statues & civic projects to make each city block of park land its own mini-arena, a breathtaking snow capped mountain rests dead centre of the park in the far distance, framed by the foresight of a visionary civic planner who placed a park as a corridor through a city to the world beyond.
Meanwhile, out on the wings, long streets are risky & littered with blockades & high points for defenders to ambush or guard from, but conferring more options to the brave & bold.
Imperial City
A personal favourite from a long ago visit, Tokyo's Imperial Palace in the guise of the Luthien capital city. A wide moat with high walls limits access to the main bridges at the South & East, but lighter mechs can traverse narrower bridges to slip in among their enemy. Once again, a potential for some gates as classically seen in FW & the possibility of a map that can be used twice with different objectives, or played once with two which must both be completed.
Particular attention is drawn to the public park in the South East, defenders enjoy a strong position as their enemy attempts to close across the bridges, before things descend into an exciting melee in the park proper, the gates of the palace standing behind them, yet to be overcome (unless you get your sneak on & destroy a generator, suddenly unleashing your main force on defenders who thought themselves secure).
Wrap Up
Cool, so now you're thoroughly bored & tired from the essay above, here is the gist of what I'm driving at;
- More objectives than O-Gens & Space Guns (though lets be honest, all I'm doing is offering something that looks different & has a different name to blow up) - though maybe some you have to capture instead of destroy?
- More alternatives to direct line combat, the option still exists for toe-to-toe & its still valid, sometimes entirely & exclusively, other times as part of a broader strategy to draw off or strike when a line is convinced an assault approaches from elsewhere.
- As an additional thought on the topic of alternative modes with FW, what about a hunt mode on some maps? Attackers have already driven the enemy into a gorilla situation (bit of an expansion on counter attack without the base to blow), requires a larger map but its down to a hit & run, wipe out the remnants or bloody the invader's nose.
I think that's it. I'm going to stop there, I'd love to hear your thoughts, again, apologies if this is glaringly, obviously stupid/ill considered/old-hat & please, please, please, folks of PGI, know that I have done the above not to insult, the work you do (in my mind) is fantastic & I am a happy Mech Warrior, I know this stuff ain't easy from working on mods in my youth & my day job in Design, my intention is never to suggest that this is easy or simple, I'm sure greater minds than my own have covered & dismissed far grander ideas than the above for any number of reasons.
That said, I would love to play more FW & variety would really help me want to, plus not feeling like I have to be part of a deathball. Its anathema to my piloting style & while I'll do it & rejoice in a victory, it never feels as awesome as a Quick Play win/loss where I assisted my team mightily by distracting/destroying mechs that were focused on the main force & not watching their flanks/rear.
Thanks guys, keep on doing what you do.
Major Disclaimer: My thanks to Googlemaps, I hope nothing is infringed by the use above (it certainly isn't intended), & I hope no-one will take offence to my use of existing locations for the benefit of illustration. I know people can be sensitive, but I have enjoyed immensely my visits to the places I've used above & use them only as examples & with all respect intended.
