Potential future use for Recon: Game Master?

[Grafkarpador]

Haven't seen this discussed much yet, but I wonder if this has any sort of viability in comp beginning from August.

As of right now, the ability Recon is rather pointless (or at least inferior to other options like Ninja Squid and Cold-Blood). You can look at your map anytime and see where enemy ink is spreading, so you can infer where enemy activity is roughly. Additionally, you only stay shortly in spawn and as soon as you move out, the enemy is already at another position anyway, making the exact location knowledge besides enemy count in specific spots rather moot. You can't communicate your knowledge with your teammates as well. Recon gives you certainty and is certainly not bad, but most of the things it does for you are things you can do for yourself with a trained eye.

When we have constellated squads with external VOIP though, Recon gains more utility because now we can communicate the positions to team members who are still in the heat. Most of you probably already concluded that and it's been a point of discussion already. As I see it though, the discussion revolved around the person with recon consistently jumping back to spawn or staying in spawn a bit longer when splatted to give the team a rough draft on what to expect, then get back into the action.

However, what if we take it even further and have one player be completely dedicated to the recon and never leave spawn? This would make it effectively a 3v4 situation if the enemy doesn't do the same, but the perk is that if the Game Master is really observant and really good in their description, they can perfectly predict every single approach from enemies and warn teammates from ambush. They can tell where the leaks are in their defense, which side passages are vacant, where to go to give the enemy a nasty surprise and so on. Maybe by the pattern of the ink shot, they can even predict the rough weapon the enemy is using (flick traces or rolling traces from rollers, long elongated traces from chargers, diffuse traces from shooters etc.). Heck, they could even suggest the angle to attack just by seeing the direction the enemy is looking and blind-spotted. Additionally, the Game Master could function as a coordinator, scrambling together a strategic approach plan and send the teammates to different positions and chokes.

The question is, would the benefit of always having perfect game prediction outweigh the effect of one person not inking and splatting? Can 3 players outplay 4 if they can know about their every single step? I would personally say that this strategy would task the team to be way more kill heavy to prevent the opposite team to out-ink them, so there's a lot of risk-reward involved.

What do you think?

 

[Setu]

I can definitely see recon being useful when competitive actually becomes a thing. Also very useful because it not only shows the enemy's location but also the way they're facing. With skype you could easily point out/warn of the enemy's position to teammates. The only downside is, there are only 3 active players while you are on the spawn.

 

[Jet]

this is a cool idea

 

[daguyontheladder]

I do get to communicate with friends in a skype chat, but the only issue is that the game has an annoying habit of placing us on opposite teams. but when we do get a chance, i am the one essentially "ghosting", while painting the base with a aero spray RG. a friend asks me, i squid jump to the spawn to tell em where the enemy is. if i have my inkstrike up, i go to the spawn to aim it on someone, usually a charger hanging out in a snipers nest. all in all it has it's uses, but i'd rather have another perk so i can rush along side my team.

 

[correojon]

I don´think it would wok so well, just an enemy with Cold Blooded could totally destroy your strategy. Also, the game may be too fast for you to be able to communicate fast enough with your teammates, there are too many things going on. Imagine narrating the enemy´s position in Port Mackerel with all the corridors, or coodinating the defense of the upper zone in Saltspray Rig with all the different places the enemy can come from at once. You may be able to order your team around in time, but you still don´t know what specific enemy is where, so you may end up sending an aerograph against a .52 Gal head on.

If the enemy pops up an Echolocator suddenly you loose your advantage and you are 3VS4. If he pulls out a Killer Wail you won´t be able to see it coming from the map, or a Kraken, or a Bubble, InkStrike, Inkzooka...There are too many ways in this game to circumvent this.

Also, knowing where the enemy is doesn´t mean you´ll be able to take him down. For example it´s easy to locate where chargers are without looking at the map, but it´s not so easy to get there and take them down.

I think loosing one active fighter is too big a disadvantage compared to the potential gain.

 

[Grafkarpador]

I don´think it would wok so well, just an enemy with Cold Blooded could totally destroy your strategy.

Cold-blooded does not prevent Recon from working.

Also, the game may be too fast for you to be able to communicate fast enough with your teammates, there are too many things going on. Imagine narrating the enemy´s position in Port Mackerel with all the corridors, or coodinating the defense of the upper zone in Saltspray Rig with all the different places the enemy can come from at once. You may be able to order your team around in time, but you still don´t know what specific enemy is where, so you may end up sending an aerograph against a .52 Gal head on.

I really think that once terminology is established, communicating enemy positions will be very streamlined.

If the enemy pops up an Echolocator suddenly you loose your advantage and you are 3VS4. If he pulls out a Killer Wail you won´t be able to see it coming from the map, or a Kraken, or a Bubble, InkStrike, Inkzooka...There are too many ways in this game to circumvent this.

The teammates on the field are of course smart and competent enough to see and predict counter attacks like these for themselves. Also, with Echolocator you're way too preoccupied with the playing field to be looking at the map.

Also, knowing where the enemy is doesn´t mean you´ll be able to take him down. For example it´s easy to locate where chargers are without looking at the map, but it´s not so easy to get there and take them down.

No, but you still have the advantage of knowing blind spots where chargers are vulnerable. It's not an impossible task.

I think loosing one active fighter is too big a disadvantage compared to the potential gain.

But yeah I kinda agree? I find the concept interesting, but I admit it's more of a gimmick and I'd be interested to see if these kinds of super dedicated roles have any place in splatoon or if the jack-of-all-trades with minor role tendencies will prevail. It's probably not the most viable strategy, but I like novel stuff and I spontanously came up with it, so I wanted to share the concept.

 

[suavevillain]

I have been wondering for awhile how useful cold blooded and recon are in general.

 

[Grafkarpador]

I have been wondering for awhile how useful cold blooded and recon are in general.

Cold-Blooded is absolutely great, the echolocation debuff is so dangerous to you and pretty common, so cold-blooded is a godsent. After using it for a while, I prefer it over ninja squid, especially now that its speed is going to get nerfed. Recon you can kind of efficiently use if your weapon has beacons, but otherwise currently it's rather meh and doesn't achieve a lot.

 

[suavevillain]

Cold-Blooded is absolutely great, the echolocation debuff is so dangerous to you and pretty common, so cold-blooded is a godsent. After using it for a while, I prefer it over ninja squid, especially now that its speed is going to get nerfed. Recon you can kind of efficiently use if your weapon has beacons, but otherwise currently it's rather meh and doesn't achieve a lot.

Thanks alot gonna give cold blooded a shot.