Fixing Turf War

[OnePotWonder]

For most players, Splatoon 3's Anarchy Battle modes are hit or miss. Some people really don't like Clam Blitz. Some people despise Splat Zones. Some will outright refuse to play Tower Control. But the fact of the matter is that none of the Anarchy Battle modes are any seasoned player's least favorite mode. That title will almost always go to Turf War. A mode where the objective is to paint as much as possible, and a game-winning comeback can occur in the last 30 seconds of a match even if one team has been dominating for the first 2:30. Turf War is inured to any meaningful change; its core gameplay is the core of Splatoon's marketing. But I think I've figured out a way to make the mode a bit fairer.

The idea is simple. Rather than judging based solely off of the coverage at the end of the game, the winner is determined by the average of each team's turf from three snapshots taken over the course of the match, one after every minute of play. If one team's average is over 60-70% coverage after two minutes are up and it's virtually impossible for the other team to win, it's a knockout victory.

This doesn't solve the issue of the main objective making players prioritize passive play and flanking over winning fights, but it does solve the issue of the first two thirds of the match ultimately being pointless, as well as mitigate spawn camping issues with knockout functionality.

Feel free to share your thoughts on this idea below. This feels like a change Nintendo could actually make in the next game, be it for the main mode of Turf War or as a side mode more suitable for competitive play (if only marginally).

Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful rest of your day.

 

[missingno]

I don't think Turf War needs to change. Remember that it's explicitly designed to be the casual mode, and the 'problems' we have with it as more competitive players are almost certainly by design. Messing with it will only alienate the players who like it the way it is.

Comebacks are supposed to be as volatile as Mario Party, because that gives even Little Timmy a chance to get lucky and snag an exciting last second win and get some dopamine for it. It may not be literal RNG, but this level of volatility still is something I would describe as a form of luck, and I do think that's an intentional part of its design.

It's also just simple enough that even Little Timmy can understand the rules and understand how to win. Adding on new mechanics risks becoming too confusing for younger/casual players.

Really, the only change I want is for Nintendo to stop doing that thing where for one weekend every month, Turf is suddenly the only mode you're allowed to play. Turf has its target demographic and it's perfect for that audience, as do the objective modes, but stop tormenting players outside its demographic with it. We have modes we like so let us play those.

 

[Algae]

Flanking can be fun tho

Also, measuring the average paint throughout the match's duration is interesting as a new ranked mode idea.

 

[solz]

Challenge thread^ but seriously i kind of agree because it could be 60%-20% at the final 10 seconds then bam: wipeout sploosh and aero sprays push coming back for a 54%-34%. In a real match this happens and especially with last ditch effort it just feels like you can come back from anything.

I admit this is a problem in anarchy too but it’s not as easy (except rainmaker) but i agree that something needs to be done.

Tricolor fixes this in a weird way that the beacons make the area that they paint kind of irrelevant to the other teams and if the team with the sprinkler is rushing the other attacking team maybe the defending team can win by trailing them but it seems much harder to pull of a comeback with 6 people against 2 or having to compete with a giant sprinkler that rains from above so yeah.

 

[Smash Arena]

While I think Turf War is fine as is for most players, I think there are ways to expand on its formula to give a more fleshed-out battle mode for seasoned players. A new variant of Turf War based on the Shifty Station "The Bunker Games" or even "Sweet Valley Tentacles" could prove to be very fun. What it comes down to is Turf War having room to include "permanent progress" like an Anarchy Battle mode, with containment zones or openable gates being a way to achieve this.

Myself, I love playing Turf War, it's a good way to warm up for Anarchy Battles or just a mode to play when I want a more relaxed experience with Splatoon.