Bodofooko

I agree. With an actual purpose to attacking flags it really helps shape and direct a battle better.

AzrealDarkmoon

Scan is a must for commanders and for the flow of battle. I can do without UCB or arty but without Scan there might as well not be a CO.

Az

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theoriginalblankman

There are a lot of factors that go into this, but as far as the individual soldier goes:
I don't like to be stuck in open fields with my sprint button as zero, taking fire and having nothing to hide behind thats within 100 meters. Gulf Of Oman is one of my favorite maps just because almost every object (or crevace in the ground) is within one sprinting distance.

Choking Points are probably the most important thing though, if they're defensible. One of the good ones is in Dalian Plant beyond the middle base thats closest to the carrier, those two huge circle buildings. Scenario: If the US only had that base (and if there were no land bridges) and 2 chinese squads were defending at the circle buildings it would take a lot of strategy for the americans to get out of that. Although, there is that swimming thing.

Jest

There is only one map that I really dislike and that is Songhua Stalemate. It has a lot of the whack a mole quality. It doesn't have any significant chokepoints and most of the CP's except for the ones with the arty and the ones with the chopper have little strategic value. .....it also just looks too gray and dreary...makes me want to take a nap. I wish it wasn't on the server.

I prefer maps like Karkand for it's good choke points and geographically strategic points. I like Oman because of the combined effect of the jets, helos, tanks and apc's along with the ground assault and sniping. Plus I like to be killed under blue skies. I like Oilfields and Dalian Plant and Zatar because of the strategic value of certain CP's in terms of assets like acquiring an attack chopper or tank or AA vehicle. But of all the traits of a good map I think chokepoints and strategically valuable CP's are the most important.

theoriginalblankman

Ya, I hate Shonghua too, everybodys just running around and it's way to dark and foggy.
For me the best map would have to be Mashtuur City - lots of chokepoints, lots of cover (you can infiltrate into the center of an enemy's stronghold and not be seen), it also has some of the best sniper situations ever. When it gets to be one team on one side of the main bridge divider and the other team on the other side I can rack up 35 sniper kills easily.

Cantina_Fly

I would approach it like this.

If you have a lot of open ground, make sure there is transport on both sides to cross it with. You can also put more obstacles off the road to both slow down armor and give cover. That way if you want to get from point A to B fast, you stick to the road. You can go off roading, but you'll have to go slower avoiding obstacles and possilby be ambushed by clever infantry. The current maps give you no good reason to use the roads, they're just a texture put over one spot of open ground. Make them mean something.

Have a land bridge or a real one, but not both.

Avoid flags that can easily be taken by vehicles (or at least have a choke point that the vehicle will have to pass through to get to the flag.) It should be infantry on the ground determining control of the map above all else.

If you have air assets, have plenty of AA (most maps seem to have half as much as they should.)

Never ever use the burning oil derrek model, it's Soooo annoying to both pilots and AA gunners.

Make good use of static defenses. Put machine guns and TOWs in positions where they will actually be used by defenders.

The reason Karkand is so popular is A) the natural choke points. B) The fairly linear progression of CPs that naturally sets up front lines (this is also why people HATE that western most flag, it breaks up the flow of the game too much.) C) The balance of armor vs available cover. Armor is only really dominating when it has smart infantry covering it's flanks.

Shiner

Personally I love that NW flag. It has the high-ground, a TOW, and a roof with a MG that allows for a squad to hold the flag against all but the most persistent attacks.

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