Forward Positions and Squads
Forward positions only matter if squads know how to use them. Spawning, movement and AI coordination all have to work as one system.
A forward position is useful for a very simple reason:
it changes where the battle begins.
If every soldier always returned from the same main base, losing ground would mostly mean spending more time walking back to the fight.
Forward positions change that relationship.
They allow a team to maintain pressure, reinforce an area and recover from losses closer to where the battle is actually happening.
But adding another spawn point is the easy part.
The difficult part is making squads, AI and the rest of the battlefield understand what that position means.
THE MAIN BASE SHOULD NOT FOLLOW THE BATTLE
FLANKED already has a main base and a broader battlefield structure built around objectives, tickets and squads.
The main base provides a stable point of origin.
It should remain important.
But it should not be the answer to every reinforcement problem during a match.
As the frontline moves, the useful part of the map moves with it.
A squad attacking an objective several hundred metres away should not necessarily return to the beginning of the map every time it takes losses.
That is where forward positions are intended to enter the system.
FOBs and Rally Points will allow teams to establish new points of support closer to the fighting.
The important part is that they will not be interchangeable.
A RALLY POINT IS NOT A FOB
A Rally Point is meant to belong primarily to a squad.
It is lightweight.
Temporary.
Tactical.
Its purpose is to help a squad remain operational near the area where it is currently fighting.
A FOB represents something larger.
It is a team asset.
It should require more commitment, interact with logistics and provide a stronger foothold on the battlefield.
That difference matters because the two systems create different decisions.
A Rally Point asks:
Where does this squad need to return to the fight?
A FOB asks:
Where does the team want to establish a position worth supporting and defending?
If both simply become interchangeable spawn markers, much of their tactical value disappears.
SPAWNING CHANGES MOVEMENT
Where a soldier appears determines what happens next.
That sounds obvious, but it has significant consequences for AI.
A bot spawning at the main base can begin with a relatively simple problem:
move toward its squad or assigned objective.
A bot spawning at a forward position enters a battlefield that may already be active.
Enemies may be nearby.
The route ahead may be dangerous.
The squad may already be moving.
The original objective may no longer be the most immediate problem.
This means spawning cannot be separated from navigation and squad behaviour.
The AI needs enough context to understand what it is joining.
THE SQUAD SHOULD REMAIN THE REFERENCE POINT
Individual AI soldiers should not behave like unrelated units that happen to share the same objective.
The squad provides their tactical context.
Where is the Squad Leader?
Where are the other squad members?
What is the current order?
Is the squad attacking, defending or moving?
How far has the squad already progressed from its spawn point?
These questions become especially important after a soldier dies and returns to the battlefield.
The correct behaviour is rarely:
spawn and run directly toward the objective marker.
The useful destination may instead be the squad itself.
Or a safe position close to it.
Or the area the squad has been ordered to defend.
This is one of the reasons squad navigation has become an important part of the AI work.
ORDERS HAVE TO SURVIVE LOSSES
A squad does not stop being a squad because one of its members is killed.
Its objective still exists.
Its movement still has direction.
Its remaining members still occupy positions on the battlefield.
When reinforcements arrive, they need to rejoin that situation rather than restarting their behaviour from zero.
That requires the order system and the spawning system to remain connected.
A squad that was defending should still behave like a defending squad after receiving replacements.
A squad attacking an objective should not suddenly become a collection of soldiers independently sprinting from the nearest spawn point.
The order represents the squad's intent.
Individual soldiers may disappear and return.
The intent should survive them.
AI NEEDS MORE THAN THE SHORTEST PATH
Navigation is another part of this problem.
The geometrically shortest route from a forward position to an objective is not necessarily a sensible route.
It might cross open ground.
It might pass directly through an enemy-controlled area.
It might separate a soldier from the rest of their squad.
It might be suitable for infantry but impossible for a vehicle.
At the moment, we are progressively strengthening squad-level movement rather than treating every AI unit as an isolated pathfinding problem.
The goal is not to create perfect tactical AI that always discovers the optimal route.
It is to create behaviour that makes sense in the context of the squad and the battlefield.
That is a much more useful foundation.
FORWARD POSITIONS CREATE TARGETS TOO
A forward position helps the team that owns it.
It also gives the enemy something worth finding.
That is essential.
If a FOB provides reinforcement, logistics or a useful presence close to the frontline, its location becomes tactically significant.
Finding it matters.
Protecting it matters.
Destroying or disabling it matters.
A forward position should therefore create gameplay in both directions.
It is not simply a convenience for the spawning team.
It changes the geography of the battle.
A previously quiet group of buildings may suddenly become important because a team has established itself there.
A route may become dangerous because it leads toward a known enemy position.
A squad may be redirected away from an objective to deal with the infrastructure supporting the attack.
THE FRONTLINE SHOULD EMERGE
FLANKED does not need a perfectly drawn line separating two armies.
The location of squads, objectives and forward positions can create that frontline naturally.
When a team establishes a FOB, operates squads from it and begins contesting nearby objectives, that area becomes strategically important.
When the position is lost, the effective frontline may move backwards.
Rally Points can extend squads beyond that infrastructure without creating another permanent team position every few metres.
Together, these systems allow the battlefield to expand and contract according to what players actually do.
WHAT EXISTS AND WHAT COMES NEXT
The current foundation already includes squads, orders, objectives, tickets, a main base and AI soldiers operating inside the same battlefield as human players.
Squad behaviour and navigation are actively being developed around that structure.
FOBs, Rally Points and the logistics surrounding them are part of the next layer rather than something we want to bolt onto the game later as an unrelated spawn system.
That distinction is important.
We want forward positions to connect:
spawning,
squads,
AI,
territory,
logistics,
and command.
If those systems work together, moving the place where a team reinforces does more than shorten the walk back to combat.
It changes the battle itself.