Killjoy: Element of surprise, while sounding great from an offensive mode, create big problems for actual game play.
Think of it this way, if the element of surprise is so overwellming that there is no way to defend against, then that is the path of least resistance, and hence will become the primary mode of attack. That is the state of affairs as it stood previously with big maps.
Now there are NOE raids that do not cause this, I.E. NOE raids to acheive singular objectives, I.E. hitting cities, factories, possibly 1 open field deep in enemy territory. But if all objectives can be taken by NOE raids, IT creates non defensible game play.
2nd it easy to say, well people should just defend then. Think about what it really takes to defend against NOE raids, and do you really want to do that defense.
To defend successfully at NOE raids, you need more than 1 player.
2nd to defend against them you have to sit in the tower, waiting for the base to flash, and then up soon as it does.
Does that defense sound fun to you ? I.E. do you really want to just wait in tower for something that might or might not occur? Sure if you new a NOE mission was otw, but didn't know where it might be fun. But not where you don't even know if one is going to occur.
Hence what we are talking about is simply balance. I see where NOE raids can be fun, but we have to have a system where they do not become the path of least resistance for base capture.
HiTech