Fleisher Resnovich
Osmon Surveillance
Caldari State
3
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Posted - 2012.07.30 23:00:00 -
[1] - Quote
Hi all. First post and all that so please be gentle to the noob :)
First off, I'm a sniper. I'm hopeless at shooting while moving, so I've cut out the moving.
I'm building a sniper, rather than going for the scout suit basic variant. (There is a point to that statement. Trust me)
I try not to spawn camp, but one of the objectives for both sides is the control of points A, B & C to protect/destroy the MCC. Whichever side I'm on, I pick a letter and I "guard" it from range; either to keep it on or keep it off (if I'm making sense here).
It's not done as a spawn camp (that is camping the main non-destroyable/stealable one to me) it's done because it's what snipers do; they shoot people from the safety of range. Unfortunately A, B & C are also spawn points. I'm therefore likely to shot at (and maybe even hit) someone who is spawning, rather than trying a hack.
If I die - which is quite frequently - I respawn somewhere I think is safe and head for a different sniping point. That's common sense for me. Whoever killed me is likely to see if I go back there; especially if I've been causing problems. By moving around points that cover A, B & C I get to try different shots etc and increase my chances.
My kill/death ratio is 1.74. To be precise its 501 kills vs 287 deaths. I'm hardly invisible or invulnerable and have probably been crushed or sniped more than any other death.
To be honest, as sniper rifles and dropships exist in the game, there's not a lot that can be done vs spawn camping. The best you can do is restrict certain aspects of it. For example:
1) Restrict which vehicles can be dropped onto which buildings. (Tanks on towers anyone?)
2) Increase the number of fixed spawn points.
3) Don't have the fixed spawn point in the same place each time.
If you redesigned the towers so only dropships could fit on them without toppling off, (big if probably), then it wouldn't stop the likes of me, but it would stop the 30th floor tank attack.
If you increased the number of fixed spawn points then - to be honest - you are only delaying the inevitable. Dedicated campers will log the attacker fixed spawn point when attacking & the defender spawn points while defending. A way around this is to have maybe 10 fixed points, but only allow 2 people to spawn at them every two minutes. (Numbers used purely as examples here). Given 12 man teams it would be virtually impossible to camp all of them and you'd only have a few viable targets every few minutes if you did.
Randomising the fixed point seems a reasonable idea. I'd have two randomly positioned fixed points (yes, I know that doesn't read right) that moved after every second spawn. Keep folks like me guessing, and probably moving around a lot.
In reality, it could be argued that you could enter the field of battle from anywhere. Problem is, you have to arrive there from somewhere and - if your enemy figures out that initial staging point - then they're going to hit it hard with everything they can. For games like Dust514, that's a spawn point.
Sniping - even if not deliberately spawn camping - is always going to be contentious to some and attractive to others. The problem is that it's a valid military tactic and sniper rifles in Dust514 means it can be done. You remember earlier I mentioned that I was building a sniper, rather than using a standard scout? Now it becomes relevant...
I'm close to MY optimum sniper skill/equipment set. Unfortunately, this means that I can not only take out someone wearing a standard heavy suit in three shots using my chosen sniper rifle, but I can hit someone from halfway across the map when all they are to me is a small red icon. (No exaggeration in either case; especially the latter)
This means that I can "camp" the enemy's fixed spawn point from half the map away. There are at least half a dozen places this can be done from without restricting your field of fire too much with regards to the rest of the map. If you don't know where I mean, unlucky; I'm not telling :)
I suppose the point I'm rambling slowly towards is that you'll never stop spawn point camping. The best you can do as the designer is make the spawn points harder to camp or harder to anticipate. The best you can do as a player is pick your spawn point with care and run for cover as soon as you've arrived. Short of camping the campsites, I don't see any other alternative, as it's not going to be taken out of the game I wouldn't have thought.
Anyway, that's quite enough from me.
See you on the battlefield :)
Fleisher. |