For A3 i'm thinking of converting to a more King-of-the-Hill-like gamemode
Having 2 separate capture points on earth (and those points being so close to spawn) means the teams rarely meet
Getting it all down to a single checkpoint per planet should also make the gamemode much simpler
The switch from intelligence briefcases to the MvM bomb also seems to help convey the Reverse-CTF idea, so I'll try to keep the theme of destruction going
I've got plans for other planets, some serious, some mini-jokemaps.
For the off-world segments I want a range of difficulties and themes, as well as gameplay unique enough to make each planet memorable
However I'll stick to just the one until I figure out a good basis for the offworld layouts
My plan is to have the planets be asymmetrical with a series of chokes, to give a pacing change from the symmetrical koth each team must win to take the stargate
I'm going for a something like Lazarus, with the Stargate replacing the fountain of life/youth/dispensers
I feel the point plays in a way that works with the way I'd like Stargate dialing to work
Though I'm not 100% on how owning the point can/should make it easier for the winning team to take the stargate
Also the one-way nature of the gate means it's quite difficult for teammates to assist each other from opposing planets.
Since to keep the earth-side gate clear for returning teammates the point must be held for 15seconds, then the time it takes teammates offworld to cap and travel back
and if holding that long is easy, since the attacking team then pushes to the losing team's spawn, taking back the stargate will be really hard.
Not much back & forth, not much fun.
Maybe returning the intel to your own base is better? Then again that would force the losing team to push to the dominating team's spawn.
Making gates 2-way would probably make this play faster & prevent one team from trapping the other offworld
I think I'll go with that. I think forcing a more flanky gameplay was a bad move, scouts are favoured far too much.
I'll also swap capture times on the points so dialing home is faster than dialing from earth, since you can't respawn offworld
(which gives the team that's mostly offworld an advantage, rewarding them for taking the risk of focusing on offense over defense)
TF2 really is more fun when you're fighting other people, so this gamemode should probably facilitate and encourage that