CPL - Circular Payload - Bad idea, or untapped potential?

Fluury

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 30, 2017
236
170
Hiya!

This was an idea I had ever since I first touched hammer - and now that I feel like I have enough knowledge about Payload and TF2 Mapping, would like to expand on.

Circular Payload.

What?
Circular Payload would be a map and gamemode that would, like the name suggests, be a Payload map that is technically endless, and does not not have a Last Point. The Payload would essentially be run in a circle till the timer stops.
The current concept of it looks like this:
Each "game" would last roughly 10 Minutes and the map would consist of 4 points to capture until the timer runs out. In that time, the team pushing would try to capture as many points as possible while the defending team would try to stop them from it. After the round ends, the next team would get their turn to try to cap as many points as possible.

As far as the "lore" goes; The Payloads would be batteries. The teams have to manually push the batteries to charge it up for a comically big laser in the background to destroy the other base - that also has a comically big laser. The team that caps the most points - and thus charges the battery the most - would win, given their laser would have more power than the laser of the enemy.

Why?
From my personal experience and the experience and thoughts of friends, etc. - people like payload. Yet a lot of payload maps end up turning into stalemates once the Last area has been reached, which is something a fair amount of people enjoy, but more than enough people despise. This is a universal issue with the gamemode itself, and not mapping - as the Last point will always be differently built, with spawns close etc.

This design of Last areas often has other side-effects, for example the reduced usefulness of Spies; Where spies usually have a "Back area" to fall back to, at last areas spies don't exactly have that and can only undisguise around the team's spawn (Imagine Upward - taking out the sentry in the upper area!)

This "circular payload" would be an different version of payload that would appease the people that do not enjoy the stalemates that usually occur around the Last area of Payload maps, as there wouldn't be a Last area to begin with.



I'm posting here to collect ideas, feedback, and potential worries over such a gamemode/change to the Payload genre. Maybe I am missing a big flaw in this, and this is an absolutely stupid idea.

So please, if you have any thoughts on this, post at will!
 

MegapiemanPHD

Doctorate in Deliciousness
aa
Mar 31, 2012
1,937
1,280
There was a payload race map kinda like this called Snake Temple where each team had to push their bomb around a circular track, speeding it up to try and ram into the other bomb and win.

https://tf2maps.net/downloads/snaketemple.647/

It's an interesting idea to do this with one payload but I don't know how you would represent the "score" in the hud.
 
Oct 6, 2008
1,947
445
he could use a logic relay to trigger a counter - he could also use a ctf game mode for the timer