Thread: SLB pod steering. (again)

I have to completely agree with Science on this one. Lets look at the basic breakdown:

Through the multitude of patches that EA has put out for 2142, as well as the addition of northern strike, MANY problems, bugs, glitches and exploits have been fixed. EA intentionally released a fix that toned down the movement of pods. Sure, you can go a fair distance, but thats about it, no more podding from one base to the other. So if it's not an intended part of the game, why was it repaired and not removed? Simple, it IS intentional for the exact reason of avoiding spawncamps, similar to the way that spawning at a flag will place you at a random spawnpoint a good distance away from the specific point on the map where the little white spawn point indicates.

Also, pod spinning gives and equal opportunity of a tactical advantage (such as access to rooftops, behind lines insertions, etc) to all players who know how to control the direction of their pod drop. It's not limited to one side or the other. Any smart squad leader is going to want to give their troops a tactical advantage over the other team. This advantage has downsides as well:
∙if you pod to a rooftop, it's going to take you 3x as long to reach a flag you're trying to clear from high ground.
∙if you pod behind an enemy defensive line, they can simply spawn back behind YOU.
If we're going to outlaw things that give people a tactical advantage thats within the limitations of the game (non-exploitive, of course), then we should remove all maps that doent have even numbers of ground/air vehicles, as well as outlawing the destruction of assets. But that path is ludicrous to run down.

Certainly, there are ways this can be exploited, such as dropping a beacon outside the walls on gibraltar, but we have defined rules that describe that kind of activity as illegal. As for the other stuff that Zoraster described, I'm sorry my friend, but I believe you're WAY off the mark.

Knifing too much? Not equipping defibs? You must be kidding if you think that those even constitute "infractions", much less anything that could be remotely considered bannable. For the knifing, 2142 gives AWARDS for knifing. If a player chooses to use his knife for a whole round in an effort to get the award, I say more power to him so long as it doesnt interfere with teamplay or break any of the other rules like bunnyhopping, which is common with knifers. For the defibs, i'm sorry if YOU frown on people not having defibs, but they designed kit customization with a reason: to let the player have a little more control over what tools he has. So if a player wants to equip rockets and shotgun shells for maximum offensive potency, it's his decision. Just because you want everyone who plays assault to have a defib doesnt mean they should, and it's not within our rights to tell people that they have to or that they are any less of an asset if they dont (not to even think about kicking/banning them for it).

On the other side of the coin, I believe that spawncamping is one of these gray areas you speak of, but the threads mentioning pod steering mostly point to this specific problem. So on one side, we have people willing to semi-cross an invisible line and spawncamp a beacon instead of taking 5 bullets to destroy it (which speaks to kill/stat-whoring, which we do frown upon), and on the other we have people suggesting a way to beat the spawncamp. Plus, nobody can tell me that it's hard to kill a beacon. I kill them all the time. Under fire or in the clear, it takes less than 3 seconds.

I agree that there are gray areas and that it's our job to steer clear of those and I think that most TG members understand that, but to tell people that they cant use something that appears to be an intended function (unless it borders on exploitive, such as the gibraltar thing) is not our place.

EDIT: Yes, podding behind a solid defense gives a tactical advantage. We're at Tactical Gamer for a reason. The real militaries of the world exercise behind-the-lines insertions for just the reason you mentioned all the time, so even in this altered reality, why would anyone not choose to do the same given the opportunity? If the suggestion is to get rid of the ability to get in behind someone and take them out, then full recon squads moving in stealth to get around behind a defending squad and rock their world should be outlawed too, shouldnt it?