Splatoon Strategy

Having just got done with the first Splatoon Global Testfire, I can say this game is a purchase I'm looking forward to making. The lack of voice chat isn't such a big obstacle in the information age, and moreover it seemed the teams I worked with were able to get along fine without explicitly coordinating their actions. Without further ado:

くコ:彡

The demo made four weapons available. Splattershot, Splattershot Jr., Splat Roller and Splat Charger. Of these, only the Splattershot Jr. and Splat Roller were seeing consistent play. Every team I saw used the Roller, almost every team used the Jr. I tried all four weapons over the course of an hour and I can see why. The Splat Roller has the most immediate benefit and creates a defined role for Inklings; it leads the charge throughout a map, efficiently covering the most area possible with a single weapon thoroughly and without the need to pause to cover walls. In close quarters it's very difficult to splat anybody with, but can be used as an improvised weapon by swinging it, and it's perfect for sneaking up on other Inklings from behind and splatting them while also maximizing coverage of their turf. The Splattershot Jr. was seeing tons of play for two reasons. First, it complements the Splat Roller perfectly by having a long range and wide area of spray, which makes it easy to follow behind your team's Rollers and shoot them from behind to resupply their ink while then switching to providing cover fire when it came to confronting the opposing team. The second reason Juniors were picked is because of their special ability, which creates a bubble shield that provides temporary invincibility. Splatoon caters towards an offensive march, not pulling retreats, and it's very difficult to get away from an enemy that you can't shoot back at. (The first time I saw a shield I could not understand what was going on.) So whichever team gathers territory and puts its shields up first tends to gain a monopoly over the space of a given map, but the Rollers allow you to make a comeback. If you can take out the opposing team's Splattershot Juniors while they're empty after the shields wear off, the Rollers and built-in bombs let you retake the territory quickly in an extended tug-of-war.

Each of the ten teams I played with this evening came to convene around a single strategy; sending their rollers out into the field to cover the key routes towards the opposing camp, and protecting them with a squad of Juniors. Towards the end of the night each team's two Rollers would pick a direction and start rolling, and those of us playing Splattershot Juniors would split up to follow one of the Rollers and provide cover fire. This led to a lot of territory being taken very rapidly, followed by skirmishes between individual pairs of Rollers and Juniors. The existence of the superjump makes staying alive even if your partner gets splatted valuable, at least long enough for them to superjump into your territory using your map icon as a homing beacon; if it's clear that survival is impossible but you can at least make that contribution, then the best move is to try and pull off a double splat in close quarters where you knowingly get yourself splatted but also take them with you while your partner is in mid-superjump. With the opposing Inkling cleared out, that lets your partner retake the territory lost in the skirmish when they land, and you can superjump to their spot and go back to business together.

As for the actual maps, Walleye Warehouse is a nightmare and nobody likes playing on it. Saltspray Rig was much preferred because it provided distance between the different teams and only allowed for select skirmishes. Everybody seemed to be a total mess the moment they had to compete in Walleye, as the only effective survival method is to establish ink paths along the corridors, avoid the open space in the center and come up on people from behind--but the map is so cramped already that trying to be sneaky is next to impossible. Saltspray allowed for much better superjump gameplay by comparison.

I'm completely burned out at this point. The next demo starts in six hours; I'm not sure I'm up for it, I have Vanguard related work to do. I could catch the afternoon demo, if I'm around then. I think the most exciting part of the Testfire was playing with international players. Almost every team I was on had some Japanese players on it as well.