Hey all.
This thread is in two parts. First, I will be introducing some of the peeking techniques that exist in this game and how the game's physics and weapon hitboxes affect the game as a whole. Second, I will be putting forward the case that, as a result of these techniques, Saltspray Rig heavily favours one team over the other due to its reflective symmetry (as opposed to rotational, like every other map in the game).
Peeking
Peeking is a common technique in basically any FPS; those who play CS:GO are most likely to be familiar with it, but the idea of using a corner for cover and only exposing yourself from that corner just enough to take a shot on someone is one that is fundamental to shooters.
How this differs in Splatoon is, yet again, due to the fact that bullets come from the player's gun, as opposed to the player's camera origin or some other central point on their model. Observe that for every gun, the inkling holds their gun on the right side of their body:
This means that for all weapons, your bullets will be spawning from the right side of your player model, NOT the middle. As a direct result, how you peek corners will be different depending on which side of a corner you peek.
Observe how far out from the corner I need to stand in each image:
This effect is even more pronounced with Chargers, particularly the E-Litre, where the E-Litre need only expose a single foot and the gun barrel in order to fire around the right side of a wall, whereas they must expose their entire body to fire around the left side of a wall.
This affects every shooter, every charger, and every throwable (i.e. not seekers). I cannot tell if it affects Inkzookas, but I have no reason to suspect that it doesn't.
Implications
The main advantages to peeking the right-hand side of a wall (right-side peeking henceforth) are:
- Less hitbox exposure
- Less time needed to peek
- Less visibility to other players
- Time from exposure to first shot reduced
- Scopes are superior to non-scopes
Less hitbox exposure
Making yourself harder to hit is very useful for dealing with weapons that either rely on inaccurate sprays (jr, sploosh) or single, slow shots (gals), but it also has very specific and very powerful use cases.
The first is dealing with rollers. Any roller main will tell you how annoying it is to have your flick be partially blocked by a wall, and right-side peeking makes that virtually guaranteed to happen. The farther the roller is from the wall, the harder it is for them to hit you while you can still hit them just as well as normal. There is no right-side advantage for any rollers, as you can see here:
Which means that you can use right-side peeking to properly cover yourself against roller flicks in a reasonable percentage of cases, especially in longer-ranged engagements.
The second is in charger peek battles. Regardless of the context, the main threat to one team's charger is always the other team's charger; being able to win 1v1 against said charger is key to a number of maps, including Saltspray (which we'll get to later). Right-side peeking is the difference between exposing only about ten pixels of your hitbox versus your entire body.
Less time needed to peek
A simple concept, really; if you only need to take two steps out from the corner to shoot, that's going to be better than taking five steps out. You will be able to start shooting at someone you see around a corner sooner if you peek the right side than the left, and they will have less time to react to you. Given how slow some long-range weapons are to move, this is not an insignificant difference, as we'll come to in a moment.
Less visibility to other players
Seeing gun barrels, stray feet, or someone's Power Armour around a corner is not always guaranteed, and the time you have to react to seeing them without dying (particularly to chargers) is very limited when they're peeking from the right side of a wall.
Time from exposure to first shot reduced
This is where your theorycrafting comes in. JS takes 25 frames to fire the four shots it needs to kill (given that it fires on frames 1, 9, 17, 25). Each of those four shots travels for 11 frames to their target, and there's a 2 frame weapon raise time, giving a best-case TTK of 38. To take an arbitrary number, the JS needs to step 5 range units out from cover to be able to shoot from the left side, so let's call it 5 frames of visibility before it can shoot. This means the total TTK at max range is about 43 in the best case--which it will likely attain due to its high accuracy.
Now, consider the Splattershot. It takes 13 frames to fire its 3 shots to kill (1, 7, 13), has the same 2-frame raise time, and maintains max damage for about 6 frames. This results in a max-range TTK of 21. However, it's engaging around the corner that the CJS is peeking, and its inaccuracy means that it has to round the corner fully in order to reliably hit its three shots. This could take anywhere from 10 to 30 frames.
So even though the Splattershot has a better TTK and will almost always win a heads-up fight against a JS, if it has to engage from the left side of a corner, the time between engagement and getting three shots on its target is actually drastically increased.
Scopes are superior to non-scopes
Forgot to mention this in the initial write-up here: scopes zoom in on the origin of their shot, so you can actually see around corners when using a scope but you cannot see around corners without one. In other words, you actually increase your FOV by using a scope, instead of lowering it.
Regarding Saltspray Rig
Every map in this game but one has rotational symmetry, i.e. when you take one half of the map and rotate it 180 degrees, you get the other side of the map. Saltspray Rig has reflective symmetry, meaning one side is the mirror image of the other.
In rotationally-symmetric maps, one team's relative left side is identical to the other team's relative left side. On Saltspray, this is not the case; from the west spawn, the battlements are to the left, while from the right spawn, they're to the right.
You can already see how this might become a problem given how effective right-side peeking is. But perhaps Saltspray has a nice mix of advantageous positions across both spawns. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The western side is favoured in literally every peeking position but one.
Here's a video of what I'm talking about:
The biggest problem is encountered from east bats to west main/ramp. It is impossible to shoot between the cushion and the point without jumpshotting from the second step, and you must expose yourself so much to get shots on main that not only do you often fall off, but you also are completely open to shots from the position that west bats can use to hit both sides of main.
(the jumpshot in the second image can be used in the same way by the west side from a lower step, I just forgot to record it at the time).
Furthermore, sniping into mid heavily favours the west side. Not only are the shots easier and you are less exposed, but the spot on the west is not vulnerable to the opposing E-Litre on the eastern side bats.
Sniping north is also easier for the western spawn:
(observe that the eastern side has a foot hanging off the platform)
The only time where the eastern side is better is when you're sniping from behind the T-block... but that's hardly an advantage for the eastern side given that it's literally less than Sploosh range in difference.
Spawn camping from the west is much safer, since you can stand all the way back (the eastern forward elitre spot is the corner you see directly ahead in this image):
And the respective defensive side is further forward (easier to shoot) and has poorer angles on main:
And here's a shot that simply does not exist on the east side (CJS can use this spot as well):
These spots break all modes in some form or another. Given that Saltspray is already arguably the strongest E-Litre map, having this level of advantage on one side is game-breaking. Furthermore, winning mid (which is key to all modes) is much easier on the western side than the eastern, and the west ramp can be more easily defended with the barrel spot in the last image (that the east side literally cannot use). Both pushing into the east and defending from the west are easier. As a result, the western side has a significant advantage, which immediately raises the question of whether Saltspray can remain in competitive play.
A footnote regarding SZ@Bluefin:
Bluefin Zones does not have rotational symmetry, but for the most part, this does not actually affect how the map is played and does not seem to give one side an advantage over the other. This may be demonstrated to be false in the near future once we have a more thorough understanding of the map, but for now, Bluefin Zones is fine.
This thread is in two parts. First, I will be introducing some of the peeking techniques that exist in this game and how the game's physics and weapon hitboxes affect the game as a whole. Second, I will be putting forward the case that, as a result of these techniques, Saltspray Rig heavily favours one team over the other due to its reflective symmetry (as opposed to rotational, like every other map in the game).
Peeking
Peeking is a common technique in basically any FPS; those who play CS:GO are most likely to be familiar with it, but the idea of using a corner for cover and only exposing yourself from that corner just enough to take a shot on someone is one that is fundamental to shooters.
How this differs in Splatoon is, yet again, due to the fact that bullets come from the player's gun, as opposed to the player's camera origin or some other central point on their model. Observe that for every gun, the inkling holds their gun on the right side of their body:
This means that for all weapons, your bullets will be spawning from the right side of your player model, NOT the middle. As a direct result, how you peek corners will be different depending on which side of a corner you peek.
Observe how far out from the corner I need to stand in each image:
This effect is even more pronounced with Chargers, particularly the E-Litre, where the E-Litre need only expose a single foot and the gun barrel in order to fire around the right side of a wall, whereas they must expose their entire body to fire around the left side of a wall.
This affects every shooter, every charger, and every throwable (i.e. not seekers). I cannot tell if it affects Inkzookas, but I have no reason to suspect that it doesn't.
Implications
The main advantages to peeking the right-hand side of a wall (right-side peeking henceforth) are:
- Less hitbox exposure
- Less time needed to peek
- Less visibility to other players
- Time from exposure to first shot reduced
- Scopes are superior to non-scopes
Less hitbox exposure
Making yourself harder to hit is very useful for dealing with weapons that either rely on inaccurate sprays (jr, sploosh) or single, slow shots (gals), but it also has very specific and very powerful use cases.
The first is dealing with rollers. Any roller main will tell you how annoying it is to have your flick be partially blocked by a wall, and right-side peeking makes that virtually guaranteed to happen. The farther the roller is from the wall, the harder it is for them to hit you while you can still hit them just as well as normal. There is no right-side advantage for any rollers, as you can see here:
Which means that you can use right-side peeking to properly cover yourself against roller flicks in a reasonable percentage of cases, especially in longer-ranged engagements.
The second is in charger peek battles. Regardless of the context, the main threat to one team's charger is always the other team's charger; being able to win 1v1 against said charger is key to a number of maps, including Saltspray (which we'll get to later). Right-side peeking is the difference between exposing only about ten pixels of your hitbox versus your entire body.
Less time needed to peek
A simple concept, really; if you only need to take two steps out from the corner to shoot, that's going to be better than taking five steps out. You will be able to start shooting at someone you see around a corner sooner if you peek the right side than the left, and they will have less time to react to you. Given how slow some long-range weapons are to move, this is not an insignificant difference, as we'll come to in a moment.
Less visibility to other players
Seeing gun barrels, stray feet, or someone's Power Armour around a corner is not always guaranteed, and the time you have to react to seeing them without dying (particularly to chargers) is very limited when they're peeking from the right side of a wall.
Time from exposure to first shot reduced
This is where your theorycrafting comes in. JS takes 25 frames to fire the four shots it needs to kill (given that it fires on frames 1, 9, 17, 25). Each of those four shots travels for 11 frames to their target, and there's a 2 frame weapon raise time, giving a best-case TTK of 38. To take an arbitrary number, the JS needs to step 5 range units out from cover to be able to shoot from the left side, so let's call it 5 frames of visibility before it can shoot. This means the total TTK at max range is about 43 in the best case--which it will likely attain due to its high accuracy.
Now, consider the Splattershot. It takes 13 frames to fire its 3 shots to kill (1, 7, 13), has the same 2-frame raise time, and maintains max damage for about 6 frames. This results in a max-range TTK of 21. However, it's engaging around the corner that the CJS is peeking, and its inaccuracy means that it has to round the corner fully in order to reliably hit its three shots. This could take anywhere from 10 to 30 frames.
So even though the Splattershot has a better TTK and will almost always win a heads-up fight against a JS, if it has to engage from the left side of a corner, the time between engagement and getting three shots on its target is actually drastically increased.
Scopes are superior to non-scopes
Forgot to mention this in the initial write-up here: scopes zoom in on the origin of their shot, so you can actually see around corners when using a scope but you cannot see around corners without one. In other words, you actually increase your FOV by using a scope, instead of lowering it.
Regarding Saltspray Rig
Every map in this game but one has rotational symmetry, i.e. when you take one half of the map and rotate it 180 degrees, you get the other side of the map. Saltspray Rig has reflective symmetry, meaning one side is the mirror image of the other.
In rotationally-symmetric maps, one team's relative left side is identical to the other team's relative left side. On Saltspray, this is not the case; from the west spawn, the battlements are to the left, while from the right spawn, they're to the right.
You can already see how this might become a problem given how effective right-side peeking is. But perhaps Saltspray has a nice mix of advantageous positions across both spawns. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The western side is favoured in literally every peeking position but one.
Here's a video of what I'm talking about:
The biggest problem is encountered from east bats to west main/ramp. It is impossible to shoot between the cushion and the point without jumpshotting from the second step, and you must expose yourself so much to get shots on main that not only do you often fall off, but you also are completely open to shots from the position that west bats can use to hit both sides of main.
(the jumpshot in the second image can be used in the same way by the west side from a lower step, I just forgot to record it at the time).
Furthermore, sniping into mid heavily favours the west side. Not only are the shots easier and you are less exposed, but the spot on the west is not vulnerable to the opposing E-Litre on the eastern side bats.
Sniping north is also easier for the western spawn:
(observe that the eastern side has a foot hanging off the platform)
The only time where the eastern side is better is when you're sniping from behind the T-block... but that's hardly an advantage for the eastern side given that it's literally less than Sploosh range in difference.
Spawn camping from the west is much safer, since you can stand all the way back (the eastern forward elitre spot is the corner you see directly ahead in this image):
And the respective defensive side is further forward (easier to shoot) and has poorer angles on main:
And here's a shot that simply does not exist on the east side (CJS can use this spot as well):
These spots break all modes in some form or another. Given that Saltspray is already arguably the strongest E-Litre map, having this level of advantage on one side is game-breaking. Furthermore, winning mid (which is key to all modes) is much easier on the western side than the eastern, and the west ramp can be more easily defended with the barrel spot in the last image (that the east side literally cannot use). Both pushing into the east and defending from the west are easier. As a result, the western side has a significant advantage, which immediately raises the question of whether Saltspray can remain in competitive play.
A footnote regarding SZ@Bluefin:
Bluefin Zones does not have rotational symmetry, but for the most part, this does not actually affect how the map is played and does not seem to give one side an advantage over the other. This may be demonstrated to be false in the near future once we have a more thorough understanding of the map, but for now, Bluefin Zones is fine.
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