The Best Spawns?

I like the ones in upward and badwater; they spread BLU out nicely and are reasonable lorewise.

I'm partial to RED's stage-one spawn in Thunder Mountain. It's rare to go with a straight spytech look for spawn rooms, because there's usually a need for spytech areas inside the field of play, but Thunder Mountain (like most Payload maps) has no such requirement and they did a nice job taking advantage of that. It has some great views, too, both of the area that forms the first half of the round and of the out-of-bounds spytech room on the opposite side; take a gander at it next time you spawn there with plenty of time to spare before setup ends. Plus, as someone who's been regularly frustrated with the difficultly in getting the computerwall textures to look right in stairwells, I thought their approach of making the lower, red part protrude a few units was clever.

There's also Junction's BLU spawn. I've heard Gorge's BLU spawn described as the poor man's version of it, and it's hard to disagree with that.

And on that note, Gorge's RED spawn is interesting for looking like a dingy workshop as opposed to a brightly-lit public restroom or something like most do. It was a smart decision, since the rest of the facility is relatively clean and bright and high tech, so that contributes contrast and makes it look more behind-the-scenes than usual. There are other maps with dingy spawn rooms, but they're usually sparsely-detailed forward spawns (which are sparsely detailed for a reason: if you're in one, it means the game is already in action and you have no cause to hang around).

I was playing Goldrush today, and Red's spawn on the last stage is just awful.

As for favorites, Coldfront has a really neat starting spawn. Had a really nice mood to it, which a lot of other map's fail to accomplish.

I also really like Viaduct's, because it's simple and not all "I'm a spawn room. Let's do spytech."

Grizzly Berry said:

As for favorites, Coldfront has a really neat starting spawn. Had a really nice mood to it, which a lot of other map's fail to accomplish.

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Yeah I really like how Coldfront's first spawn lights up red when your last point is available for capture.

Nightfall has some spawn rooms that look good.

Actually that whole map looks great. I really like the theme and the environment on that map. I like it so much I'm planning a map right now with that setting in mind.

Now, since I could never make up my mind on what spawn looks the best, I'm picking the one with best functionality:

Upward.

The main exit gets it's use, but if you want to be a supporter, those 2 side routes are where it's at. And each of those exits are placed at just the right spot IMO.

Oh, and who can forget that lookout

I like the Blu spawns in Yukon, Upward, and Dustbowl (stage 1.) I know that last one is controversial, but I think that spawn is intentionally designed based off player preferences. It's not overly complex either. Most other maps have their exits in similar locations - or they just have one main exit, while the second one is largely ignored. I think it's cool that Dustbowl does something different.
Upward is obviously well done, great atmosphere and aesthetics. It has lots of empty space, like upper floors with no outside exit, for players to jump around in when waiting for setup. I think more maps should do this. Spawns don't have to be a box with an exit. (On the flip side, Thunder Mountain probably took this concept too far.) The other great thing about Upward's spawn is how the spawn points move closer to the exit the farther Blu progresses in the map.

Yukon's Blu spawn is just gorgeous. The lighting is nice, none of the tiles are aligned correctly, and the light in the office comes partly from a hidden skybox texture in the staircase. The spawn also has two soundscapes. One plays deep inside the spawn, while the other plays next to the exit doors on the inside. That last bit is just great.

Another Bad Pun said:

The other great thing about Upward's spawn is how the spawn points move closer to the exit the farther Blu progresses in the map.

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I... somehow have never noticed this. Does it really? Are there any other maps that do this?

And yet it's still the easiest cap on the entire map, maybe the easiest cap on any map in the game. There's a reason the game shipped with an achievement for managing to defend it.

Then again, "easy" doesn't necessarily mean "not frustrating".

Snakewater - I like that it has a ambulance in the spawnroom, I think that's what makes it memorable for me.

/

Standin - does have some interesting shapes in it

plr_dogbread

stevethepocket said:

I... somehow have never noticed this. Does it really? Are there any other maps that do this?

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It does!
You start the round here:

Later, you end up spawning at these spots. *Correction: These spawn points activate when A is capped.* Upward is the only map that does this as far as I know, but I think most spawns are too tiny for this sort of thing anyway.

Both of those spawn points just activate when A is captured.

I've said this before in another thread but I'll say it here too.

Spawn design often comes down to the gamemode and how much time players will be spending in it. This is why Payload Blu spawns are usually among the favorites for spawn rooms. Payload has a long setup time that forces Blu players to wait in their spawn room while Red gets in position. This means players need something to look at and space to roam so they don't get bored. Upward's 1st Blu spawn succeeds because it is so big and detailed it keeps people interested and it gives players different possibilities for exits to avoid getting entirely spawncamped.

On the flip-side, 5CP push maps generally do not have large, interesting, memorable spawn rooms because players should not be spending much time there. Neither team is prevented from leaving spawn at the beginning of the round, so why fill it with lots of cool, interesting places when that could end up distracting the player from the objective.