With Meet Your Maker judging in full swing and Dominion out of matchmaking, I wanted to try and create a little bit of love for the unappreciated gametype that 343i gave birth to. In this article I'll be covering the basics of Dominion design to try and attract some of the dissuaded over to the persuaded. These include, the bravo dilemma, alpha/charlie segmentation and weapon placement.
Dominion is a gametype that was designed to scratch the itch of invasion lovers in Reach, while giving out a completely fresh experience. It possesses many gameplay elements that resemble to its predecessor. Like invasion, dominion has a focus on busting bases and objectives open to capture them in order to unlock new weapons and vehicles. Dominion, unlike invasion, does not feature progressive loadouts and play spaces, fireteams or the beloved core rushes that made the last invasion tier ever so frantic. It's much more accessible with its emphasis on tug of war gameplay and map control. The July update to the gametype changed how weapon drops work and made it even more accessible for players.
Map Layouts
Dominion maps are typically set up in one of two layouts, triangular or linear.
Below is a good example of the triangular layout, it's longbow. As you can see the bases are set up so that together they form the illuminati, uh wait I mean a triangle.
The Linear layout, I wanted to show off Wraith's Catacombs or Torta's Scrapyard but they don't have overhead pics of them so I'll show you guys Vortex.
The Bravo Dilemma & Alpha/Charlie Segmentation
I can already hear your questions echoing, why the hell is it setup like that? The answer is two part and quite simple, the bravo dilemma and alpha/charlie segmentation. The bravo dilemma and alpha/charlie segmentation go hand in hand, they're best buds. The bravo dilemma and alpha/charlie segmentation refers to the design element in which dominion is built off of. Basically Bravo has to have sightlines on Alpha and Charlie, while Alph and Charl have to be segmented but also have a route between them that Bravo can't influence. Think of Longbow, from Bravo you can see Alpha and Charlie but you can't effect blue/red sneak, coast or arch. Alpha and Charlie are segmented by the mountain but can take the route that Bravo can't control to flank the opposing base. On Vortex and all other linear maps, Alpha/Charlie segmentation is achieved through Bravo itself.
Both Vortex and Exile don't actually have all that much control on the flanking routes beside, but instead have heavy control on the direct routes.
Weapon Placement
Weapon placement in Dominion follows a layout that is inverse to base placement in Dominion.
Note the picture is not entirely accurate but is there for explanation purposes. Note how the weapon in between A/C on Longbow allow players to push the opposing base while the shotgun spawns mean that players will have to disconnect themselves from the fight.
Apart from the initial drops now present in dominion there are also the base resupply drops which are as follows.
Four Drops per base:
2 Grenade Drops
Plasma Grenades 2ea.
Frag Grenades 2ea.
Pulse Grenades 2ea.
Assault Weapon Drop
Assault Rifle
Supressor
Storm Rifle
Magnum
Plasma Pistol (optional)
Precision Weapon Drop
Light Rifle
Carbine
Battle Rifle
DMR
Spartan Laser
Spartan Laser (optional)
Base Design
Dominion base design is actually fairly simple. The difficult part is in mastering it so that every single encounter that occurs in the base is interesting. First things first, your base should have no less than 3 entrances and no more then 6 as you don't want it too approachable or too defensible. It's also recommended that these consist of a variety of jump ups, lifts, dropdowns and doorways. The golden rule of base design (in my mind) is to never make a box. That might sound silly but it's a trap that regularly occurs. Bases need to have a little more shape to them and also be segmented with elevation, rooms or levels to be interesting on the 100th encounter. Exile, Longbow, Vortex and Meltdown (Ignore the horrific Bravo) all have this implemented.
Another thing that should be considered when forging is the function of the base. Bravo's have good sightlines and routes to A/C so this needs to be evident with windows/balconies. Alpha and Charlie need to feel safe but apart from that can have very dynamic functions. On the linear maps like Exile and Vortex Alpha and Charlie are typically placed against the boundaries of the map and are narrow and stretched (high ground) while the lower bases are also backed onto the boundary but have more compact designs. On Longbow A/C behave very similar and both have nice driving paths around them for the hogs and wraiths.
Mexican Torta's 'Scrapyard' is a perfect example of bases having dynamic functions.
Alpha Bravo Charlie
Alpha (low ground) - Segmented by 3 floors, verticality makes it much more defensible, gauss hog allows it to be aggressive.
Bravo (mid ground) - Supports a balcony which has sightlines on A/C, balcony/top floor much more accesible to Charlie, Low floor more accessible to Alpha.
Charlie (high ground - Rooms which allow attackers to take base in parts, no support vehicles (2 ghosts only), closer to Bravo.
Dominion Turret Placement
With the placement of Dominion turrets you actually don't need to consider all that much.
- It must not impede player movement (block doorways, stop jump ups).
- Should discourage and punish unintelligent movement (approaching a base in the open).
- It should be easily avoidable by the use of cover, or longer, safer routes.
- Players should be able to get long lines of sight onto turrets.
- It is advised that turret monitors are used so players can understand when their turrets are active.
Spawning
Spawning in Dominion is determined by base respawn zones. Base respawn zones are areas in which a team will spawn if they own the corresponding base. Players will respawn on the respawn points that are inside this area. e.g. if a team owns Alpha, they will spawn inside the base respawn zone surrounding Alpha. It is important to have safe spawning areas around dominion bases. You can achieve this by creating pockets. The 'dark blue' area on Exile is great for this. On Longbow safe spawning is usually reliant on blue/red sneak coast and caverns. Safe spawning can be fairly easily to achieve for Bravo on triangular layouts too, but what about linear layouts? While it is true that linear layouts tend to be wide to allow A/C flanking, this can cause issues with safe Bravo spawning. You can't spawn players in the base, then it's too easy to defend, and yet you can't spawn them too wide of it, otherwise they'll be disconnected. What do you do? A good example of safe Bravo spawning is Vortex. Vortex relies on the lower dip below the base itself to provide its spawning. While usually this would create an issue of disconnection, Vortex has the luxury of lifts up into the base from down in that dip.
Pathing I don't have all that much to say on pathing other than what you would try on a Big Team map. Don't try to polarise infantry from vehicles too much, the bases do enough of that. Just make sure vehicles can apply ample pressure to the bases so they can support their spartan brethren, ideally providing open spaces around bases for them to reign in terror. Oh and try and make the maps hog-friendly, pretty much every standard MM style dominion map has initial hogs.
Dominion is a gametype that was designed to scratch the itch of invasion lovers in Reach, while giving out a completely fresh experience. It possesses many gameplay elements that resemble to its predecessor. Like invasion, dominion has a focus on busting bases and objectives open to capture them in order to unlock new weapons and vehicles. Dominion, unlike invasion, does not feature progressive loadouts and play spaces, fireteams or the beloved core rushes that made the last invasion tier ever so frantic. It's much more accessible with its emphasis on tug of war gameplay and map control. The July update to the gametype changed how weapon drops work and made it even more accessible for players.
Map Layouts
Dominion maps are typically set up in one of two layouts, triangular or linear.
Below is a good example of the triangular layout, it's longbow. As you can see the bases are set up so that together they form the illuminati, uh wait I mean a triangle.
The Linear layout, I wanted to show off Wraith's Catacombs or Torta's Scrapyard but they don't have overhead pics of them so I'll show you guys Vortex.
The Bravo Dilemma & Alpha/Charlie Segmentation
I can already hear your questions echoing, why the hell is it setup like that? The answer is two part and quite simple, the bravo dilemma and alpha/charlie segmentation. The bravo dilemma and alpha/charlie segmentation go hand in hand, they're best buds. The bravo dilemma and alpha/charlie segmentation refers to the design element in which dominion is built off of. Basically Bravo has to have sightlines on Alpha and Charlie, while Alph and Charl have to be segmented but also have a route between them that Bravo can't influence. Think of Longbow, from Bravo you can see Alpha and Charlie but you can't effect blue/red sneak, coast or arch. Alpha and Charlie are segmented by the mountain but can take the route that Bravo can't control to flank the opposing base. On Vortex and all other linear maps, Alpha/Charlie segmentation is achieved through Bravo itself.
Both Vortex and Exile don't actually have all that much control on the flanking routes beside, but instead have heavy control on the direct routes.
Weapon Placement
Weapon placement in Dominion follows a layout that is inverse to base placement in Dominion.
Note the picture is not entirely accurate but is there for explanation purposes. Note how the weapon in between A/C on Longbow allow players to push the opposing base while the shotgun spawns mean that players will have to disconnect themselves from the fight.
Apart from the initial drops now present in dominion there are also the base resupply drops which are as follows.
Four Drops per base:
2 Grenade Drops
Plasma Grenades 2ea.
Frag Grenades 2ea.
Pulse Grenades 2ea.
Assault Weapon Drop
Assault Rifle
Supressor
Storm Rifle
Magnum
Plasma Pistol (optional)
Precision Weapon Drop
Light Rifle
Carbine
Battle Rifle
DMR
Spartan Laser
Spartan Laser (optional)
Base Design
Dominion base design is actually fairly simple. The difficult part is in mastering it so that every single encounter that occurs in the base is interesting. First things first, your base should have no less than 3 entrances and no more then 6 as you don't want it too approachable or too defensible. It's also recommended that these consist of a variety of jump ups, lifts, dropdowns and doorways. The golden rule of base design (in my mind) is to never make a box. That might sound silly but it's a trap that regularly occurs. Bases need to have a little more shape to them and also be segmented with elevation, rooms or levels to be interesting on the 100th encounter. Exile, Longbow, Vortex and Meltdown (Ignore the horrific Bravo) all have this implemented.
Another thing that should be considered when forging is the function of the base. Bravo's have good sightlines and routes to A/C so this needs to be evident with windows/balconies. Alpha and Charlie need to feel safe but apart from that can have very dynamic functions. On the linear maps like Exile and Vortex Alpha and Charlie are typically placed against the boundaries of the map and are narrow and stretched (high ground) while the lower bases are also backed onto the boundary but have more compact designs. On Longbow A/C behave very similar and both have nice driving paths around them for the hogs and wraiths.
Mexican Torta's 'Scrapyard' is a perfect example of bases having dynamic functions.
Alpha Bravo Charlie
Alpha (low ground) - Segmented by 3 floors, verticality makes it much more defensible, gauss hog allows it to be aggressive.
Bravo (mid ground) - Supports a balcony which has sightlines on A/C, balcony/top floor much more accesible to Charlie, Low floor more accessible to Alpha.
Charlie (high ground - Rooms which allow attackers to take base in parts, no support vehicles (2 ghosts only), closer to Bravo.
Dominion Turret Placement
With the placement of Dominion turrets you actually don't need to consider all that much.
- It must not impede player movement (block doorways, stop jump ups).
- Should discourage and punish unintelligent movement (approaching a base in the open).
- It should be easily avoidable by the use of cover, or longer, safer routes.
- Players should be able to get long lines of sight onto turrets.
- It is advised that turret monitors are used so players can understand when their turrets are active.
Spawning
Spawning in Dominion is determined by base respawn zones. Base respawn zones are areas in which a team will spawn if they own the corresponding base. Players will respawn on the respawn points that are inside this area. e.g. if a team owns Alpha, they will spawn inside the base respawn zone surrounding Alpha. It is important to have safe spawning areas around dominion bases. You can achieve this by creating pockets. The 'dark blue' area on Exile is great for this. On Longbow safe spawning is usually reliant on blue/red sneak coast and caverns. Safe spawning can be fairly easily to achieve for Bravo on triangular layouts too, but what about linear layouts? While it is true that linear layouts tend to be wide to allow A/C flanking, this can cause issues with safe Bravo spawning. You can't spawn players in the base, then it's too easy to defend, and yet you can't spawn them too wide of it, otherwise they'll be disconnected. What do you do? A good example of safe Bravo spawning is Vortex. Vortex relies on the lower dip below the base itself to provide its spawning. While usually this would create an issue of disconnection, Vortex has the luxury of lifts up into the base from down in that dip.
Pathing I don't have all that much to say on pathing other than what you would try on a Big Team map. Don't try to polarise infantry from vehicles too much, the bases do enough of that. Just make sure vehicles can apply ample pressure to the bases so they can support their spartan brethren, ideally providing open spaces around bases for them to reign in terror. Oh and try and make the maps hog-friendly, pretty much every standard MM style dominion map has initial hogs.
