Single Player AI Spawn Rate

[Timpraetor]

Spent time last night playing the single player "Landing Zone" and flamed my way into the lower AI spawn room. Once there, the spawn rate was so high that two new AI characters would spawn before I could kill one of them. I think that this spawn rate is a bit high for a single player vs. AI game.

I also think that spawn points should be out of bounds for enemy units unless the game type is capture the flag. If the spawn rate had been lower in my games last night, I could have stayed there and picked them off. This could also prevent team killing where an enemy player camps on a team's spawn and prevents things from progressing.

[Mataeus]

I think the spawn system from Halo 3 works the best.
If you look at the maps in Forge, you can see how they work as they're physical points on the map (invisible when playing proper)...
Each team has a randomly-decided-from-multiple-choice initial spawn zone, with a dozen or so places and facings within that zone to spawn.
Other spawn points are set around the map, both team and individual, and are usually done in groups so you're never repeatedly spawning into the reticle of a well-trained sniper rifle.
The spawns have AI - They're weighted, dependant on where you last died, where your team mates are, where the opposing players are and where the person who last killed you is.
Although it doesn't always get it perfect, the game does a stupendous job of giving you a safe spawn near good weaponry and cover, but somewhere that you are easily able to get back into the fight.
Although the two following games in the series emulated this, they seem to get it right far less often!

As for Call of Duty, well... Everybody has seen the video where the guy wipes out the entire enemy team with a mortar, within seconds of the match starting, right?

[rrunnheim]

[BushKillFalls]

It would be cool to have AI Guards at Spawns in Multiplayer to Help Stop Camping.

[Mr Nukealizer]

[still crosshair]

You could always add a one way barrier around spawn if you needed to. Like how Team Fortress 2 has done with their spawns.

[Mr Nukealizer]