I have updated my blog, <mark>Forging Reach</mark>, with a new mini series of lessons on forging Invasion. I have 15 lessons published thus far and more to go still.
Lesson 1 - Introduction
- Invasion is a campaign and presents a campaign of three phases.
- Invasion maps requires both a strong Story and proper Game Elements to play Invasion.
- Our focus will be on why we forge specific concepts into our maps so we can see what it is we are trying to accomplish.
Lesson 2 - Fire Teams
- Invasion is about two Races in a conflict, and six Teams representing those two Races.
- The Play List maps were forged to demonstrate an awareness of six individual Teams, not two large Teams, and so should yours.
- The three Invaders Teams can divide the three Defender Teams between two Objectives to overcome one of the two Objectives with a numerical advantage.
Lesson 3 - The Territory Tier
- Force the Defender to abandon one Objective to save the other (or to give chase to the Invader falling back); and make this proposition both legitimate and tempting.
- Measure the distance between Objectives in time, rather than Sprints, Evades, or steps; and keep it below the Float Time.
- Do not position Objectives in power positions, but make sure that there are power positions to give the Defense an edge.
Lesson 4 - The Assault Tier
- Though you can have Dual Objectives for Assault, only one Objective can come under attack, and there is only one mobile threat - the Bomb.
- Assault is best forged into Tier 2, where vehicles and power weapons are already taking Defenders away from guarding the two Objectives.
- The bomb spawn must be protected or isolated from the Defenders, lest they camp the bomb spawn to prevent the bomb from ever reaching an Objective.
- There are several bugs with the Assault Tier, the most significant being a potential stall of the Tier should the bomb be dropped into an inaccessible location, like the ocean or a gorge.
Lesson 5 - The Core Tier
- The Core Tier adds realism to the Game Play as the finale to the Story in Tier 3.
- The Defenders focus on defending the Core to prevent it from being moved rather than on protecting the Core Capture Zone (Objective).
- The Core Capture Zone is in a neutral location and there is only one of them.
Lesson 6 - One Map
- The map is just one map with game flow management forged into it.
- The Invaders must not be permitted to enter Tier 2 until Tier 1 is won to maintain fair play.
- One can wisely use the sheer distances to discourage jacking of Invaders’ vehicles from their Spawns.
Lesson 7 - The Barrier
- Barriers add cohesion between Tier 1 and Tier 2, can help immerse the players into a theme, a place, a campaign.
- Barriers are fundamental Game Elements and foundational Map Elements that bind the two halves into one map.
- Barriers provide purpose for Tier 1 Objective and help make the Story and Game Play come alive.
Lesson 8 - Maintaining Cohesion
- Barriers are a critical feature, a foundational Element of the Map, that builds cohesion between the first and second Tier and helps the map feel like one map.
- Spawning weapons and vehicles by their respective Races builds cohesion between the Game Play and the Story.
- Gating forged objects for other than Game Play experience, or opening new fronts at the transition of a Tier, are examples of how to break cohesion of Game Play.
Lesson 9 - Escalating To A Climax
- The Game progresses to increase weapons, vehicles, loadouts, and play area with each Tier transition.
- The escalation is to help bring the Story alive, to reward players, and prevent boredom.
- The ultimate goal of this escalation is to reach a winning climax with the Core crossing the finish line.
Lesson 10 - Total Situational Awareness
- Territory Tiers have exceptional play when the Defenders cannot see each other, and must rely on communications to maintain total situational awareness of what each Team is experiencing.
- Creating chambers, rooms, and other forms of LOS obstructions forces the Defenders to communicate if they wish to overcome the Invaders.
- When done correctly, these pockets of isolated areas can be joined together to form a very fun play ground.
Lesson 11 - Tier 1 From The Spawn
- Tier 1 requires plenty of lateral movement for the Invader Middle Team to change their movements and add their numbers to either the Alpha Team or the Bravo Team in dynamic game play.
- A good Invasion map will give urgency to the Invaders to move off spawn and take cover, adding to the Story of Tier 1 being a landing of invasion forces.
- Paths should be encouraging and engaging, allowing Defenders to pin down Invaders until the Invaders adapt, improvise, and overcome.
Lesson 12 - Tier 1 Forward Positions
- The Forward Position is essentially an ad-hoc staging area near the Defenders’ strong hold.
- Controlling the Forward Position allows the Invader to maintain pressure upon the Defenders.
- Bro Spawning is an essential Game Element that is best used in the Forward Position with value proportional to the distance and the lack of cover back to the Initial Spawns.
Lesson 13 - Vehicles
- Vehicles tend to pull players attention from capturing or contesting Territories, and make subtle, yet very real changes to the way the Tier plays.
- For Tier 3, Invader vehicular play can actually hinder the Invaders from extracting the Core, since the vehicle may be in use too soon.
- The Defender vehicles could be used as secondary Objectives to provide Invaders with new divide and conquer strategies.
Lesson 14 - Power Weapons
- Power Weapons present risks for Invaders who intend to push into the Defenders’ strong hold.
- Tier 3 Power Weapons need to be matched to the enemy vehicles, while Tier 2 Power Weapons are usually just a subset of those.
- Defenders’ Power Weapons can become Secondary Objectives for the Invaders.
Lesson 15 - Bro Spawning
- Bro Spawning should be intuitively available to Invaders in the Forward Position, rewarding Invaders who rely upon it, and rewarding Defenders who interfere with it.
- Forward Positions should be discovered along the Invaders’ natural path to the Objective, and are considered safer when risky for Defenders to pursue the Invaders back into.
- Forward Positions should be areas that the Defenders can pin down Invaders until
Invasion Map should be hardened against Bro Spawning exploits.