Community Robot Destruction strategy

Asteroid

This article is about Community Robot Destruction strategy. Robot Destruction is a beta game mode, so strategies may change until the final version.

General strategy

• As of the public beta version of the map, spawn time is dramatically shorter when you die in the opposing team's base. Thus, the map rewards offensive strategies and punishes defensive strategies.
• Establishing a teleporter and other buildings in the opponent's base provides a devastating advantage by maximizing the benefit of the spawn time disparity and setting up constant raids on the enemy robots and core. Maintaining such a base for any length of time is likely to be a game-winning development and should be sought, or avoided, at all costs.

The Robots

• Robots will heal over time after a short period of being undamaged, so there is little reason to attack a robot unless you can kill it.
• Each stage of robots rewards approximately twice the points of the previous stage, rewarding clean sweeps through the enemy base much more so than individual hit and run raids on the A robots.
• Having people wait by each level of Robot until they are unprotected can also speed up collecting.
• All taunt kills damage the enemy robots, so using weapons that can taunt kill can destroy Robots quickly.
• Robots provide 5 health per second to nearby allies (compare to 10 health per second for a Level 1 dispenser).
  • Hanging around robots is therefore a useful advantage when defending them and a good way to offset afterburn or to top up if you are low, but are not an efficient source for large amounts of health.

The Core

• If the enemy doesn't have many points in their core, there's little point in stealing it. Waiting around it until they have an appropriate amount is may be a better choice, but balance the amount of points to be gained versus the time it will take you out of the fight.
• The fastest way to steal the core is to leave via the one-way gate in the vault room. Having a teammate nearby to hold it open or open it on demand can make a huge difference.
• As with the intelligence in CTF matches, having a team member nearby can help if you drop the Reactor Core.
• Unlike CTF, stealing the core requires significant time: first to charge it, and then to negotiate a route out either through the lasers, through the vents, or (with the assistance of a teammate) out the one-way gate in the vault room. Depending on the number of points being stolen, it can take 10-20 seconds for an attacker to even get free of the vault area. Because a core that is dropped within the vault area is nearly as (or even more) secure than one on the original capture point, cores do not require nearly as much close defense as CTF intelligence does.
  • This, plus the offensive-centric spawn timer implies that a large backfield presence is likely to be counterproductive.

Class-specific strategy

 Scout

• Working in pairs allows Scouts to rapidly destroy Robots behind enemy lines, as well as to open the vault door allowing for much faster Reactor Core steals.
• Bonk can be particularly useful by allowing Scouts to bypass front line defenders and score points against undefended robots or recover/reset dropped cores.
• Bonk does not protect against the lasers in the Reactor Core room.
• When stealing the Core, the Sandman is a useful tool to stun enemies rather than attempting to fight or dodge past them.

 Soldier

• The Beggar's Bazooka burst fire can quickly destroy Robots before the enemy is alerted.
• The Disciplinary Action and the Escape Plan can be useful when escaping with the enemy core.
• As there are no capture points, there is no benefit to equipping the Pain Train.

 Pyro

• The Phlogistinator's healing and crit ability allows you to roam freely, targeting enemies at choke points where you can quickly take out a whole group at once.
• The circuitous map lay out lends itself to ambushing enemies from behding, where the the Backburner is particularly effective.
• Robots being immune to critical hits, afterburn, mini crits, and airblasts making Pyro relatively inefficient for for Robot Destruction.

 Demoman

• The delayed detonation of the Scottish Resistance and Sticky Launcher can be used to lay a carpet of stickies that can destroy enemy Robots before the enemy team is alerted.
• The Persian Persuader can pick up the Robot's gibs, restoring any health lost whilst attacking.
• As there are no capture points, there is no benefit to equipping the Pain Train.

 Heavy

• The short sightlines makes the spin up time on your minigun a liability. Consider aggressively spinning up if you think enemies are nearby, or switching to the Tomislav for better reaction time.
• Partnering with a Medic can help increase the amount of damage you do during your time in the enemy base.
• The Gloves of Running Urgently can assist in destroying Robots, then quickly escaping the area if you spot enemies too tough to kill by yourself.

 Engineer

• Building a Teleporter to the enemy base can assist your team in destroying Robots more efficiently.
• Making a nest in the enemy Reactor Core can be decisive.

 Medic

• An Ubercharge lasts long enough to destroy both robots at each station, allowing your team to score points even if you are unable to control the area.
• It is not clear whether an Ubercharged player can pass through the lasers defending the core or can retrieve power cores/reactor cores.

 Sniper

• The close quarters inside both bases makes snipers generally less effective on this map. They do, however, make Jarate and the Machina somewhat more effective.
• Although the close quarters within the lobby and spawn area of both bases are not conducive to sniping, steady pressure from snipers on the upper decks of both the mid bridge and the A Robots bridge can be decisive in an engagement.

 Spy

• The major threat of enemy nests in your own base makes such installations a first priority.
• Spies are good for stealing cores due to their Cloak ability.
  • The Cloak can also allow Spies to get to the enemy Robots without being noticed.
• The Dead Ringer can allow you to quickly get behind enemy lines without having to sneak through players strategically.
• Because your cloak and disguise abilities allow you to remain in the enemy base longer than your teammates, allow a teammate to carry the reactor core if possible. Press "L" to drop it and follow behind, recovering/resetting it if necessary.
• Just like escaping with the intelligence in CTF games, remember: Scout out, Spy nearby.