Yep, you guessed it – teleporters! Just build them, and I can stop crapping on about them. I find most players tend to leave spawn from the right exit, so that’s the place to put the teleporter entrance. The exit can go pretty much anywhere that is away from fire, higher than the ground (i.e. the ‘first floor’), and closer to the middle control point than your second spawn point. If your team knows what it’s doing to should be pretty safe, and the reinforcements will flow.
Like all other ‘tug of war’ style maps, the middle point is everything. If you can take and fortify that, your team will very likely not lose. As such, that capture of that point will be the main focus of Badlands Strategy. The first matter to consider is the route you take from spawn. There are 3 obvious paths: straight up past the spire control point and up the stairs, across the bridge outside second spawn, or under that bridge and towards the bottom of the middle control point bridge. All of these have advantages and disadvantages for different classes, so I’ll be brief.
The straight, open path is really only good for snipers, who can quickly get a great view of enemies running towards the control point without being in much danger themselves. In most cases I’d recommend the second path – through the bridgehouse via second spawn. This is the most direct route, contains health and cover, and doesn’t sacrifice any height. However the ground path does have its charms – mostly for the scout and pyro, who can quickly cross the gap spanned by the bridge and come out in the middle of the enemy force to wreak havoc. Sometimes a demoman under the bridge spamming sticky bombs onto the point from out of sight below can be helpful, but don’t overdo it. Height is a very powerful asset.
So that leaves the medics, soldiers, heavies and demomen to attack through the house. The demoman is invaluable here, as the enemy has only 1 practical path to the capture zone, and that is to cross the bridge from their side. This creates a fantastic opportunity for a demoman or 3 to spam stickies all over the bridge and control point, denying the enemy access and splitting their forces as they probe the other ways around. The blind primary grenade lobbed from one side of the bridge to the other can also be very effective, and the more the merrier.
One tactic that is effective almost beyond measure is the sentry gun in the window. You know what I mean, you’ve been killed by it plenty of times. In the bridgehouse along the ‘arm’ corridor that runs parallel to the bridge, there is an open window just before the balcony. A sentry gun built facing out that window will be able to fire at anything on or around the control point (even at level 1) while exposing very little of itself to enemy fire. Even if this is expected, it takes quite some effort for the enemy to counter it properly, especially when they can’t move due to a carpet of sticky bombs. Get an engineer to build a sentry gun here. Always.
Side note: be extra paranoid about spies. There’s a lot of different paths they can take, and many of them aren’t watched. Anyway, by this time your medics should be getting their übercharges ready. Given the relatively short distances and uniform elevations involved, most classes will make for pretty effective über targets. The best choice is often an über pyro rushing into the enemy’s window room, scaring off enemies and destroying any engineer buildings – especially that sentry gun which they should have built. Another option is an übered heavy strolling out onto the control point with his team following up behind. Watch out for that sentry however, because a heavy will not be able to take it out in a single übercharge and will be left helpless when it wears off.
Once you’ve taken the middle control point, as with Granary, immediately focus on fortifying the point (move up teleporters and sentries, though leave one in the window) before pressing forward too hard. Once your team gets things under control, it’s time to push on towards the spire control point.
There’s a couple of paths to the spire – either go down the stairs to the wide open hill, or go through the enemy’s bridgehouse, past their second spawn point. I emphatically recommend the second option because, again, you get far more cover and it’s much easier to hold your ground if forced to fall back. Another bonus is that soldiers, demomen and scouts can jump up into the hole near the enemy’s second spawn onto their battlements and flank the enemies watching over the control point. It’s far easier to take the spire if you cause some serious distractions in the enemy base first. And of course rocket jumping to the top of the spire is a great move – if you’ve got the health.
The final control point is usually a pushover. If you can’t take it in the rush following the capture of the spire point, the worst that tends to happen is you are forced into an indoor struggle with neither team making much ground. In this case get the teleporters up, sentries inside the enemy base, and just keep chipping away until you get an übercharge or two. Pop them on heavies and demomen to clear troops and sentries, and finally just breathe on the point and it’ll be yours. Seriously, a scout can take it in less than 2 seconds. Good luck!
