Tarogato, on 23 October 2016 - 06:09 PM, said:
Try looking at the map of Terra Therma, and then looking at a similar map of Tourmaline Desert.
I had to go into a lot more detail to get Tourmaline across because it is a much more open map - the nuances in terrain matter more because large swathes of the map aren't completely blocked off like they are in Terra Therma.
Here's a fully detailed map of Terra Therma if you're interested:
It doesn't matter that they aren't completely blocked off in Tourmaline.
Why?
Because the only 'Mechs that can ever perform a proper flank are Lights and certain fast Mediums (IFR, CDA, VPR, SHC). These are 'Mechs limited in their ability to be threatening at the 800+ meters you damn well know that using those flank options will require. Everything that can remain dangerous is too damn slow to make a flank in a remotely timely fashion without getting spotted early. To add, the moment the enemy smells something like a Heavy missing from your main force, they start moving in because they have more guns at that point.
It's happened in pretty much every single MWOWC match; as soon as a heavy goes missing through death or mal-positioning, it's clean-up time. There were no inherently effective flanks in the matches that weren't a Light going wide toward the end of the match, when people are damaged and the Lights can actually be threatening.
Now, it's precisely because only those Lights and fast mediums that can perform the flank, that the blocked sight-lines to center in New Terra don't mean diddly squat. They couldn't take advantage of the angles anyway. The reality is that you are free to let the enemy have Theta, and all you need worry about is controling E6 and/or G6, and those regions have some fine terrain to work with.Trying to hold F7 is literally the worst possible play you can make, because if you take it and then try to move out of Theta and the enemy has E6 and/or G6, they either rotate to come in behind you or head you off entirely, depending on if you are circling to their rear or you are coming straight at them.
What this does is turn Theta into a wildcard gamble. Which makes it interesting. Unlike old Terra, it doesn't take me literally two minutes to get from one cap point to the next around the outside in the fastest 'Mechs available in the game, which makes it even more interesting.
And you know what? Games on Tourmaline are not terribly fun to watch or play. It's a degenerate snipe-fest with PPCs and Gauss being traded for ten frickin' minutes until one side nuts up to make a finishing play. So, for all our theories on how it is superior, the execution ends up being nigh identical.
Edit: And to add, all opening up sight lines to center would do is turn it into a no-man's land like Grim Plexus.
Edited by Yeonne Greene, 23 October 2016 - 10:21 PM.