TDM Spawn Points

[ScottyB 2,086]

I was wondering if any body knows how spawn points work when you die in specifically a team deathmatch.

If there isnt any official information on it, what are your theories based in your observations?

The reason I want to know, and every creator should, is so that it will help me predict what will happen during a TDM and I can place spawn points accordingly.

I would assume that it would place you away from your enemies and closer to your team after analysing a few other variables.

[G37 3,445]

HC was a very good reference for stuff like this, it's unfortunate he's not with us any longer.

 

From what I can tell the game is supposed to spawn you nearby your team and/or not too far away from the action (entirely dependent upon your lay out though).

 

When I asked him about a good way to approach the lay out of spawn points he mentioned it's a good idea to start in the middle and as evenly as possible work your way outwards (for most areas). It won't matter if a few of them are close together as it might not even be used but it's good to have just in case as an option for the game to select.

 

If you don't do this dot and drop approach you can attempt to divorce the spawn spots as much as possible by pushing them back to the outskirts and leaving giant gaps (assuming in the middle of the map) to keep teams separate in theory.

 

It's never gonna be perfect though and will always depend on the terrain you're building around.

 

I personally also avoid (for the most part) putting spawn points on roof tops if I can. I like areas that I can climb up to and not having to worry about someone spawning above me (again, entirely dependent on the area, sometimes you can't help it or sometimes it's not a bad idea).

Edited February 4, 2015 by G37

[ScottyB 2,086]

I have a new deathmatch that I will post up soon. I haven't had a chance to test it either. I have made it for 30 players but I am already thinking it will be too many people.

If the spawn points work like that the majority of the time it should play out pretty well. There are a few in the centre of the map where all the action is taking place which would most likely result in spawn killing.

I always try to place spawn points near cover but a lot are close to each other so it's possible to spawn and be trapped in by enemies.

I guess I could over come this by lowering the player limit but will wait and see how it goes, and wait for feedback.

It would be cool if you could put team spawn areas in the team deathmatches (and to make the exclusively tdms) like in captures.

[zmurko 7,622]

One thing to mention. I believe game "calculates" your spawn location at the time you die, so players can move quite a bit during your respawning period. This is mostly a case in small / action packed run&gun maps, where teams might be on a constant move and you actually end up spawning right in the middle of the other team. If this happens a lot, it's usually a good idea to reduce the number of max players and/or move spwan points.

 

I agree though, It would be good to know the exact algorithm of how a spawn point is chosen.

 

 

When I place spawn points, I just mostly try to have them covered from as many angles as possible. Or I try to imagine different scenarios of team placement for each spawn point. Like, it'll be covered for 120 degress, is there any chance player might be exposed (enemies located somewhere in those other 240 degrees and close enough to kill you) when that spawn point gets used.

 

I haven't yet mastered spawn point placement to direct / change actual gameplay though. I generelly just spread them all over the map, so you can quickly get back into action most of the times.

 

 

Speaking of spawn points, I need to get back to my almost finished projects, quite a few still unpublished.

[ScottyB 2,086]

One thing to mention. I believe game "calculates" your spawn location at the time you die, so players can move quite a bit during your respawning period. This is mostly a case in small / action packed run&gun maps, where teams might be on a constant move and you actually end up spawning right in the middle of the other team. If this happens a lot, it's usually a good idea to reduce the number of max players and/or move spwan points.

 

I agree though, It would be good to know the exact algorithm of how a spawn point is chosen.

 

 

When I place spawn points, I just mostly try to have them covered from as many angles as possible. Or I try to imagine different scenarios of team placement for each spawn point. Like, it'll be covered for 120 degress, is there any chance player might be exposed (enemies located somewhere in those other 240 degrees and close enough to kill you) when that spawn point gets used.

 

I haven't yet mastered spawn point placement to direct / change actual gameplay though. I generelly just spread them all over the map, so you can quickly get back into action most of the times.

 

 

Speaking of spawn points, I need to get back to my almost finished projects, quite a few still unpublished.

That's a good point about it calculating your spawn point when you die and then teams moving towards you.

From what I can gather so far it always keeps you close to the action and closer to your team mates so it works pretty well.. When I can get more players on my map I will pay attention to where I'm spawning which should shed a bit more light on how it works.

Good luck getting the other jobs done! I usually get them done in one go and then fine tune them later if needed. It's hard to get away from the game to actually create something though

[DavidCore89 7,404]

From what I can tell from playing DM's as opposed to creating them, the game will respawn you closer to your teamates rather than away from the enemy if there is ever a 'choice' between both.

 

Example: If both teams of 4, 6, 8 or 15 are using one corner of the map and a few die from the same team, they will respawn near to where they just died so they can be near their teammates, when the better option would be to respawn them on a clear side of the map and away from the enemy.

 

This is why moving in a pack is so effective on linear maps, you can effectively spawn kill the opponent by continuously moving from one end of the map to the other and flushing out the enemy (a lot like El Burro Heights), priory spawn is near teammates when it should probably be away from the enemy in situations like that.

 

So I guess a lot of it is down to how each team is playing, R* created maps don't have much thought put into them, but if a team actually play as a team and stay together then there isn't any problems, if the teammates from both teams become split up then spawn points are totally unpredictable, it could make you believe that your map is flawed when it isn't.

 

The new R*maps have this issue, they're so big and the weapons are so spread out, if you play them with any less than a full lobby you'll find each player becomes separated from their teammates in a quest to find a weapon and the enemy. When you die, you'll be handed a random spawn point with a half-mile run to the nearest action because there is no obvious area to respawn.

 

If any of this makes sense, well done  .

 

I've never published a DM, but sometimes it's easy to see how the respawns work, especially on smaller 4 vs 4 maps.

Edited February 4, 2015 by DavidCore89

[G37 3,445]

To add to this, I decided to finally create a map INTENDED to be a DM (free for all) - but works as a TDM too. Most of us create TDMs and mention it is intended for such, myself included, but some may assume it can function properly the other way around and it usually can't (depends on thought/creator).

 

Making DMs .. sucks. As far as I can tell there is NO way to precisely start it as the game utilizes the regularly placed spawn points to dictate where each person starts. As you can imagine that means spawn points need to be more carefully dropped and mostly why you see DMs in larger areas (not only to move about) but because it's you vs everyone. You need the space.

 

I wish there were "Singular Start Points" along with "Team Start Points", I wish you didn't have to place all 15 TSP when you have NOWHERE near 30 players (it forces you to drop them all which is stupid as fuck).

Edited February 6, 2015 by G37

[DavidCore89 7,404]

I agree, regular DM's are much harder to get right for the reasons you've given.

 

IMO, DM's work as TDM's, but not vice-versa.

 

Concrete is a DM, but works very well as TDM and it even has team start points as opposed to the randoms start points that you would associate with a regular DM.

Edited February 7, 2015 by DavidCore89