We have this little fun thing called "nodeploy zones" over bases that stop enemy sunderers from deploying too close to the spawn or the capture point. In theory they are there to force the attackers to come from the "outside" So they won't have spawn points on the actual capture points. The nodeploy zone does not work. It is a useless piece of trash that barely does what it is supposed to do. Issues: -Too small. Usually no-deploy zones only somewhat cover a base's central area. It is also usually slightly offset so it also covers the spawn-room and then some. But this has the rather infuriating outcome of uneven cover over a base. Most notably sunderers can, in most bases, be deployed closer or into a far better position then the spawn room is relative to the capture point. By considerably expanding the NDZ (with some tweaks to a base's layout) base layouts will become somewhat more defender friendly. For example on Amerish's "Auraxis Firearms Corps" enemies can deploy sunderers parked right next to the capture point buildings. That means when attackers get their sunderers across the bridge, they can deploy their sunderers no more then 15m away from a capture point. Similar with tech plants where attackers can basically deploy sunderers next to shield gen buildings. This is a bit too close to being closer to the point then the spawn room (tunnels do not bend space and time, they just make traveling faster, not closer) The NDZ is also inconsistent as for example with Amp stations you can deploy a sunderer deep into the zone if only you get the sunderer a few meters off the ground. This particular bug has been in the game since the NDZ was implemented and I will not believe any word said that this was an intended feature. This needs to be fixed. -They don't negate vehicle Squad Spawn functionality. On more then one occasion I have witnessed sunderers being parked deep into the NDZ only to keep spitting out enemies. This is most noticeable in tech plant fights where the attackers spawn a metric ton on sunderers (half of which are repair) and just sit there. With one guy sitting in a bulldog or fury gun and killing anyone trying to come in through the tunnel and keeping these spawn points going for the entire attacking force. NDZ should disable this function on vehicles that have this option (galaxy, sunderer, valkery) when they are in the zone. -NDZ does not apply to friendlies. Yes, I said it. NDZ should apply to all sides of the fight. Defenders don't get a free pass, they spawn room should be the point of origin in a base and the battle flow should be designed around that. Argument can be made that allowing squad spawning in vehicles if defender has some merit to still encourage the use of transport vehicles in a defensive fight. TL; DR Nodeploy Zone needs to be tweaked so never in any conceivable scenario can a sunderer spawn point be closer or in a position with easier access to the capture points then the spawn room and it's teleporter.
Sure. Even as a full time engi, which includes lots of sundy driving getting a sundy INTO the point room is kind of cheesy... So how about something like this? Calculate the distance from the center of the spawnroom to the cap point. Then make that distance the radius of the no deploy zone around that point. Not sure how it would work for multi-point bases, though...
In some cases the ndz does not the job, I agree. But personally I feel redeploy is a much more urgent matter. That screws good fights much more.
I think the NDZ should have more of a "creative" approach. Where the NDZ is not just a circle, but a shape drawn specifically so as to maintain the superiority of spawn rooms over whatever spawn sunderer placement. Or an another option is to, as you said, find the optimal distance from spawn room (and teleporter) to the capture point, use it to draw a circle. And then make the circle a bit bigger. As for multipoint bases, I think the best option is if the NDZ is hand-drawn or originates from the cap point, but is hand-set so NDZ's of all the points overlap into a large solid area. Question is, however about bases such as The Ascent or Crux Headquarters on Amerish where the CP's are so far apart that each having their own NDZ could leave a blank spot somewhere in the middle of the base. Again, Hand-drawn shapes might be better. A more tech heavy option is to have dynamic NDZ's. Meaning the NDZ originates at some point between the cap point and the spawn room (or just the CP) but it grows bigger the more people are present. At 1-12 fights you can park the sunderer pretty close to the point but at 48+ the NDZ is considerably bigger then the base itself. Forcing the attackers to make use of their massive numbers to actually get to the base, not to mention capture and hold the points, and the defenders also need to cover more ground to fight off the attackers. Forcing more populated fights to spread out over a larger area. In theory. I agree Redeploy is a very important thing that needs work. Fast, and a lot of it. But I also think that since Redeployside is a mechanical issue. As in it's based on Code and is one of those things that only breaks when you put it in the hands of humans, you need testers more then anything. And only a few coders. I see no reason why they can't work on both things.
