I came across a you tube video in which the person was trying to explain how the spawning worked from a gamers’ perspective. As I listened to his narrative, I began to realize that there are still some misunderstandings of how the spawning behavior unfolds during game play, despite understanding how it functions under the hood.
If you die in battle, the greatest influence that drives where you will spawn next is not where your teammates are at, but where the enemies are at. The enemy proximity influencer (PE) has a relative weight of -19.5 to that of a Weak Respawn Zone for typically a large region (5.5 unit radius on Adrift, 7.0 on Haven, 12.0 on Ragnarok and Long Bow, 9.5 for the various forge canvases, etc.). In comparison the ally proximity influencer (PA) has a relative weight of just over +4 very close to the ally and drops off over distance. If you have three teammates in close proximity to a Respawn Point, and one enemy within say 11 units on Ragnarok or Long Bow, you will spawn else where. The enemy will drive you far from his presence. Of course, this can change if there is a Respawn Zone (+14). In that case, the zone along with two allies will be capable of overcoming the enemy’s influence.
In CTF games, zones are used to encourage spawning at and around your base. If you study the map in forge and learn where each Respawn Point is around the bases, you can identify where you position yourself in the enemy’s base such that your proximity influencer will prevent them from spawning in or immediately around their own base.
In fact, whenever I play CTF and I spawn away from my base even a little, I typically rush back to the base to look for an enemy who may be crouching off radar within the base. Whether they show on radar or not is irrelevant. Their presence in the base will drive the base’s team to spawn away from the base. Spawning away from your flag is the most significant indicator that an enemy is hiding in your base, setting up and waiting for an opportunity to steal your flag.
This is a tactic that I use quite often when playing BTB CTF. I will hide in their base while my team is scoring their flag. When their flag resets, their players are not near the base (because they didn’t spawn in nor around the base), and our team has more opportunity to rush their base without surprises. Knowing how to manipulate the spawning of the enemy helps make CTF a tactical movement game.
(The one thing you need to always keep in mind as you execute this tactic is never get too close to the flag if you are waiting for a ride, lest you grab the flag and give away your position. This is especially true if you have a power weapon, like the iCannon on Long Bow. Grabbing the flag makes you much more defenseless as can only shoot with the pistol.)
Being hidden in the enemy base near the flag will prevent the enemy from spawning in the base or near the flag. Your teammates will not spawn near you so long as there are Respawn Points within your team’s Respawn Zone that are not driven low by the enemy’s proximity. In other words, the mechanism to drive your teammates to spawn by your side in the enemy base is driven more by the enemy overrunning your base than by your tactic of hiding in their base. Hiding in their base only enables your teammates to spawn in the enemy base with you, but cannot force such an occurrence.
In fact, having your teammates spawn in the enemy base with you indicates that the enemy has completely overrun your end of the map to over come all of the Respawn Zone covering your base, or both Respawn Zones flanking your base when your flag is off its stand.
343 Industries designed the CTF maps such that when the flag is off the stand, the flag’s team will be encouraged not to spawn in the base, but on either side of the base as far from the base as possible. When the flag goes off stand, there are two zones, one on either side of the base, that go active. The intent is that a team stealing the flag will be fighting and moving the flag from one side of the base, so the flag’s team can safely spawn on the other side of the base. (I am talking left and right side of the base, not across the map.)
There are fundamental problems with 343 Industries’ logic. The PE radii are so large that they can easily cover over both these zones on some maps and that can lead to the flag’s team spawning across the map, even at the enemy base. Understanding where these zones are located and where to position yourself to shut them down with your PE radii can help you manipulate where you want the flag’s team to spawn while you move their flag to your base.
In general, you want to move the flag out of one side of the map and intentionally leave the zone on the other side free for the enemy to spawn at so that they spawn behind you rather than in the middle of the map in front of you or even at your flag pole. However, on Ragnarok, the most common theft is straight out the man cannon into the center of the map. In this case, if your team takes up a position along only one side of their base, you are forcing them to spawn on the other side. You are controlling where they are spawning at, and you can flank them with your BR or DMR as they move toward the center of the map.
The Enemy Proximity Influencer determines where you spawn far more than any other influencer, especially your teammates’.
Crouching off radar in the enemy base will prevent the enemy from spawning near or in their base. When you spawn away from your flag, you might want to run back and see if there is an enemy hiding in your base setting up and waiting to steal the flag.
You can control which spawn zone the enemy uses when their flag is off stand to help move their flag across the map faster.