The cash buffs weren't something we had originally planned out. The Tank just happens to drop cash when it dies, so we decided to give it a purpose instead removing it.

Since there's no actual objective in intermission, the time between the Tank and giant, we figured it would make sense to reward red team for destroying the Tank, as it would allow them to prepare for the giant. The crit cash serves as this reward -- it allows red team to setup a stronger defense around the area the Tank died at.

This means, in theory at least, that it's usually better to kill the Tank as fast as possible. The further back you push blue team, the harder it'll be for the giant to make it to the end.

I understand that sometimes blue team can sometimes defend the crit cash and deny red team from attaining this reward, but I haven't really seen this as a problem. All it really takes is one or two red players to reach the cash to clear a whole mob of robots.

Having the Tank die immediately after capping can go both ways. Either blue team keeps red away from the cash (doesn't happen often), or the giant spawns near an angry mob of reds. This has the potential to work out quite well for red team, but it's obviously more risky (and more rewarding) than waiting to kill the Tank a little farther down the track.

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't usually make a huge difference in the outcome of the round. What matters a whole lot more is how well the giant & his team perform, and the strategies red team uses against them.



Your suggestion, while interesting, removes a lot of the purpose from destroying the Tank as quickly as possible. In some cases, such as on Barnblitz, red team could actually be penalized if the Tank captures the second point but not the third (currently the only benefit I'm aware of in this scenario is making better use of the crit cash).

Perhaps the crit cash reward is not flawlessly designed, but there is one thing I like about it -- You get to set up a very strong defense in the general area where the Tank died, and no where else. If it were a global crit boost reward like the one in CTF, it wouldn't matter how early or late you killed the Tank, the only thing that would matter is how many points it captured.

Needless to say I think that would be a step backwards.

In other words, Crit Cash™ is just for fun in my opinion, it will disappear when a giant spawns in anyway, the Crit Cash™, if near a RED checkpoint, might be useful if enemies are harrasing your team while setting up defenses. Sure it might add overheal for better survival against a giant but the overheal is not really worth it, you will die quickly even with it. I've experienced this problem with some people where they think they are a god with the overheal and rush in to kill the giant but end up dead as a result.

Originally posted by ๖ۣۜЯɪᴄʜᴛᴏғᴇη:

In other words, Crit Cash™ is just for fun in my opinion, it will disappear when a giant spawns in anyway, the Crit Cash™, if near a RED checkpoint, might be useful if enemies are harrasing your team while setting up defenses. Sure it might add overheal for better survival against a giant but the overheal is not really worth it, you will die quickly even with it. I've experienced this problem with some people where they think they are a god with the overheal and rush in to kill the giant but end up dead as a result.

While it may have started as a "just for fun" thing, the cash buffs serve an important purpose. It usually forces the blue team to retreat, giving red ample time to set their defenses back up in preparation for the giant.

The point of the cash buffs isn't to be some kind of weapon against the giant (though they can be in some cases). They were meant as a preparation measure.

If the cash buffs do become a deadly weapon against the giant, why not make the giant spawn 5-10 seconds later? I say this because if the cash despawns by default at the 30 sec mark and lasts around 5 seconds, why not make the giant spawn a little later when these effects wear off?

So long as blu also gets a debuff? I like the extra depth granted by the one time red boost, I just wished it wasn't so easy to get screwed out of it.

You know, in my experience, the exact other way around happens, I even took some time to realize the opening post isn't full of sarcasm. When RED destroyd the Tank immediatelly after it captures the first point on Frontier, the Giant can consider itself DEAD. BLU's new spawn being near the cash means BLU's new spawn is near a total RED Crit-fest. It takes only two combat cappable classes (and some resource management) to keep BLU totally stuck on spawn, and once the Giant spawns everyone gets the cash and blitzkrieg at him. Even the most combat cappable Giants are likely to get curb-stomped on the spot (after all, the Medic is shileding the team).

All that said, bp's points are solid. I actually agree with Linkisher, while the Crit-cash has important purposes, it's better to change the timers so its effects are always gone once the Giant is into play. With the current system, if the Tank gets destroyed immediatelly after it caps a point, it will unbalance the game to either of the teams depending on how many people are alive on the defending team.