First post, let me know if this has already been said and solved…
The Problem Matches snowball too fast. If you lose the initial cap, you usually get stuck in a death spiral. You lack the Spawn Points (SP) to get back into a tank, so you either spawn in an SPAA and stare at an empty sky or get picked off by someone sitting 100m from your spawn. At top tier, this is even worse because SAMs are mostly useless against ground targets. If there are no jets up, you are just dead weight.
The Fix Use AI units as a deterrent for spawn campers and a reward to keep people from leaving after one death.
1. The Spawn Bubble (Static AI Guards)
Spawns should not just be an empty red circle. They should be defended by a small garrison of AI tanks and SPAA from one tier lower than the match BR.
- Persistent Protection: If an AI guard is killed, it should replenish after a cooldown. This keeps the bubble active all game.
- Maneuvering Room: These are not meant to be snipers. They should be positioned to act as a distraction and deterrent, giving you enough breathing room to move out of the spawn area without being instantly deleted.
- Passive Deterrent: It stops players from treating the enemy spawn like a free buffet. If you push too deep, the AI punishes you.
2. AI Air Waves (Active SPAA Gameplay)
To fix the bored SPAA problem, have squadrons of AI planes fly in waves and loiter over the map.
- Consistent Rewards: Shooting these down should give enough SP and SL to actually matter. It gives SPAA players a way to earn their way back into a Back-up tank, keeping the team in the fight instead of everyone quitting at the 5-minute mark.
- Top Tier Relevance: SAMs are currently high impact but low activity. Giving them AI targets to intercept means they are not just sitting idle waiting for that one fully laiden F-18. It makes the SPAA grind actually viable.
- A Soft Nerf to CAS: Enemy CAS players will actually have to worry about the sky. They will be forced to deal with AI patrols and SPAA that is actually awake and armed, instead of just farming defenseless tanks.
3. Why this helps the match flow
Instead of a match being over as soon as one side reaches the spawn, this system creates a second wind. It rewards players for sticking around and playing support roles. If you can jump in an SPAA, clear some AI, and earn enough SP to drop a Back-up MBT, the team collapse happens way less often. It turns a boring 10v10 skirmish into something that actually feels like a populated battlefield.