Documentation and Scope
Roadmap | Mod Page | Discord | Karma Community Reserve Slots
Official Server: [NA] Karmakut Community Dynamic Direction #1 - hosted by awn.gg

Direction and Intent:
Dynamic Direction is primarily focused on rebalancing and recreating the Squad experience. It is focused around the Occupation gamemode which is designed to provide a sandbox-like experience that requires infantry tactics, planning, and teamwork at the platoon level.

The Occupation Gamemode:
The Occupation gamemode is the premise for which the majority of changes have been made. Occupation is a FOB-centric, thematic gamemode that allows teams to fight where and how they’d like. Just like in vanilla Squad the objective of the gamemode is to reduce the enemy’s tickets to zero, however there are now dynamic factors that can influence ticket gain or loss. Each round of Occupation should feel different and enable multiple different strategies to allow for replayability and creative thinking.

AO Mechanics:
In Occupation a large purple circle denotes the AO which is primarily used to centralize action, influence FOB placement each match, and act as a mercy bleed mechanic if the enemy is wiped out of the zone. The AO is set on a delayed live timer 10-minutes after the match begins. Once the AO goes live it is then able to be controlled to begin bleeding the tickets of the enemy team. The AO is considered controlled after a 6-player lead has been acquired by a team within the zone (displayed on the top right of your screen) and will gradually increase in steps. Controlling the AO should be consequential to your primary objective of destroying enemy FOBs and as said before, serves to primarily centralize players, influence FOB placement, and act as a mercy bleed if a team is completely wiped from the zone.

Once a 10+ player lead occurs, the team with the lower amount of players will begin suffering ticket bleed:

• 10-14 player lead = -1 ticket per min
• 15-19 player lead = -5 tickets per min
• 20-24 player lead = -10 tickets per min
• 25-29 player lead = -15 tickets per min
• 30+ player lead = -30 tickets per min

Gameplay Tip: As mentioned before do not think of the AO as a capzone but rather as a location where players should be. Short flanks or quick maneuvers out of the zone are completely viable but will end up costing your team a few ticks from bleed .

Faction Mechanics:
Occupation is also intended to play differently depending on the faction matchup on each layer. Factions have been categorized into two types, Conventional Forces (British Army, US Army, US Rangers, Russian Ground Forces, Middle Eastern Alliance, etc) and Irregular Forces (Militia and Insurgents). These two types of factions have unique mechanics related to their FOBs to provide asymmetrical and thematic gameplay.

Gameplay Tip: Conventional Forces and Irregular Forces play very differently. Conventional Forces are slower but much more lethal in traditional firefights, whereas Irregular Forces are much more maneuverable/mobile and should operate as a guerilla force.

Conventional Force (CF) FOB Mechanics:
Conventional Forces are limited to 1 FOBs at any point in time, are worth 150 tickets, can only be dug down, and are revealed to the enemy team after 5-minutes with a large red circle.

These changes are made in order to further emphasize that these FOBs are BASES to be built up and defended, not just team-wide spawn points. CF FOBs and HABs are invulnerable to all damage aside from shovels to avoid cheesy FOB removals. These changes are intended to prevent FOB ninjas or indirect fire from removing a FOB. CF FOBs cannot be placed within buildings and have a larger antenna attached to them. CF FOBs should only be lost if they are truly overrun. Each CF FOB created should be reinforced and actively defended. CF FOBs also interact with the AO and will GAIN tickets depending on its distance from the center. Ticket gain for CF FOBs is split +1 tickets per minute in the outer ring and +2 tickets per min in the inner ring.

Conventional Force (CF) Patrol Base (PB) Mechanics:
Patrol Bases (temporary spawn/organization areas) are intended to create dynamic sub-objectives around the map that punish teams that turtle or lose map control. Conventional Forces can place one Patrol Base at a time after 10 minutes of in-game time has elapsed. If a PB survives for it's full 15 minute life-span, the enemy team will lose -75 tickets, however, losing your own PB will cost you -25 tickets. Each PB lasts a total of 15 minutes with a cooldown of 10 minutes as soon as it's destroyed or completed. Only sandbags and ammo crates are buildable at Patrol Bases and they can only be damaged by shovels like CF FOBs.

Irregular Force (IRF) Cache Mechanics:
Irregular Forces are limited to 3 Caches up at a time and are only destroyed by 2x IED/C4s. This is designed to give IRF the thematic experience of being a guerilla force that can fight asymmetrically against CF with superior mobility and spawn options. IRF Caches also interact with the AO. For each IRF Cache in the zone -1 ticket is drained from the enemy team every minute. IRF Caches also generate 50 ammo/build every minute and the rough location of the cache is revealed after 10 minutes. This is intended to create the feeling of a growing insurgency or uprising that must be quelled and incentivizes CF to leave the safety of their FOB to patrol/clear the region periodically. 

Gameplay Tip: As IRF, attempt to place as many FOBs in the AO as possible to create multiple avenues of attack and create mounting pressure on CF while avoiding traditional decisive engagements. IRF must approach engagements as a guerilla force as fighting head to head with the superior weaponry of CF is highly inadvisable.

Gameplay Changes:
Various changes have been made to all aspects of gameplay. FOB mechanics have been adjusted as documented in the Occupation section above, but changes to the Infantry, Loadout, Revive, Suppression, Vehicle, Map Marker, and Commander systems/mechanics have been adjusted as well.

Infantry Changes:
The following changes have been made to create stickier infantry squads and incentivize players to work together and use infantry tactics.

• Stamina Regeneration increased by 300%
• 0 Stamina Jog removed to make players more mindful of their stamina
• CF Health increased by 10%, but Move Speed decreased by 10%
• Falling Damage no longer causes bleeding
• Top 20% of sprint bar is now significantly faster

Revive Changes:
Changes have been made to encourage players to wait for friendlies to help them up.

• Medic revive time reduced to 6 seconds
• Non-medic revive time reduced to 10 seconds
• All players revive at 35% minimum health
• Medics heal 2x faster speed
• Rally spawns are now 60 seconds non-wave
• FOB/Cache spawns are now 90 seconds non-wave

Suppression Changes:
Changes are intended to force players to look for cover or immediately return fire as they would in real life.

• Saturation decreased while receiving incoming fire
• Every incoming round in proximity to your character will cause a slight flinch (larger rounds and sustained fire will gradually increase the intensity)

Vehicle Changes:

• Added 3 VBIED Technical Gerry (fast technical, 1.5x damage and radius of standard IED) to INS/MIL
• TOW/ATGM emplacements have been removed from the game
• Thin-skinned vehicles and APCs respawn in 2-minutes, MBTs, IFVs, and helicopters respawn in 5-minutes
• 0 ticket loss for logis, trans, and technicals, 5 ticket loss for MRAPs, and APCs, 10 ticket loss for MBTs, IFVs, and helicopters
• Helicopters now have 2x hull health to create survivable crashes
• Helicopters now have .5x tail rotor and main engine health, aim for the tail rotor or engine to disable helicopters
• Helicopters are now instantly killed by Combat Engineer charges to recover/reset the vehicle

Map Marker Changes:
The changes to Map Markers are focused around decreasing visual information on the map to disincentive lone wolfing and encourage communication between command, SLs, and squadmates.

• Players can no longer see other blue players on the map aside from their own squadmates, other Squad Leaders, and friendly vehicle icons
• SL player markers have been changed to NATO Unit markers
• Removed 1st person SL pings
• Removed SL marker ranging as rangefinders were added

UI Changes:

• Compass has opacity reduced and has been shrunk by 25%
• Many other UI elements have opacity decreased
• 3D Nametags now require you to be looking directly at player for them to show up and cut off at 25m, down from 150m vanilla
• Removed and minimalized other non-essential UI

Commander Changes:

The Commander role has been reworked in order to reinforce the concept that platoon leaders should be LEADING. Lethal call-ins have had their intensity reduced, frequency increased, and support call-ins have been added/adjusted.

• CF Static Artillery on a 20-minute cooldown and has a reduced round count of 12
• CF Creeping Artillery on a 30-minute cooldown and has a reduced round count of 48
• CF Airstrikes on a 10-minute cooldown
• CF UAV on a 1-minute cooldown with a 10-minute duration
• CF Smoke Mortars on a 5-minute cooldown
• IRF Drone on a 1-minute cooldown with a 5-minute duration
• IRF Smoke Mortars on a 5-minute cooldown
• IRF Heavy Mortars on a 10-minute cooldown

FOB/Cache Changes:

• Build Radius and Exclusion Radius on both FOBs and Caches has been drastically increased to 450 meters
• Conventional FOBs cost 150 tickets on loss; limited to 1; gain +1 or +2 tickets per minute respective of which circle in the AO it is placed
• Conventional FOBs and HABs are can ONLY be dug down and cannot be destroyed from explosive damage, mortars, or artillery
• Conventional FOBs exert a Zone of Control or Exclusion Radius that also blocks ENEMY FOB/Cache placement
• Irregular Caches cost 5 tickets on loss; are limited to 3; generate 50 ammo/build every minute; and drain -1 ticket from Conventional Forces every minute when placed anywhere in the AO
• Irregular Caches are damaged ONLY by IEDs/C4/Thermite Grenades and cannot be dug down, however their HABs can still be dug down, it takes 2x charges to full destroy a Cache
• AA guns per IRF cache reduced to 1, from 2 vanilla
• IDF bunkers per CF FOB increased to 5, from 3 vanilla
• Razor Wire cost increased from 50 build, from 20
• All mortars now fire at a fire rate of 1 round per reload and cost 50 ammo, from 10 vanilla

Ammo Changes:

• Frags and GLs now cost 25 ammo to rearm, up from 10
• Mines cost 100 ammo to rearm, up from 20, and are limited to 1 per Combat Engineer/Sapper
• CF Combat Engineer charges cost 50 ammo to rearm
• Persistent Ammo is now much harsher with a minimum ammo count of 1 mag

Faction/Platoon Changes:

• Extensive rebalancing and thematic/realistic platoon sets of all factions have been created. (Includes GB having an NLAW for every squad but no LAT, RU SL getting a UGL, etc)

 

How to Join the Team:

We are looking to expand our team to bring new factions, weapons, vehicles, and features that align with our vision for a more dynamic, teamwork-oriented, hardcore version of Squad! Currently we are looking for Texture Artists, Modelers, Riggers, Animators, Programmers, and Blueprinters who have experience. If you are interested and would like to apply please use the form here. Note that there is no estimated time for a reply and that we only reply to individuals who have been accepted. 

If you have any questions about the application, please feel free to reach out to TheRubbaPelican#1171 on Discord!