Community Asteroid strategy

Community Asteroid strategy
Basic Information
Developer(s):	{{{map-developer}}}
Map Info
Environment:	Space Station
Setting:	Outer Space
Map Photos

This article is about Community Asteroid strategy. Asteroid is a Mann Co. Beta Map, so strategies may change until the final version is released.

General (All Classes)

Attack the enemy robots

Each robot drops Power Cores which increases the team score when you collect them. First team to reach 300 points wins the game.

• Attack and destroy both A robots and collect the 2x5=10 Power Cores that they drop. Then proceed up to the left for health & ammo along the way and move through the A door which opened up as a result of destroying the A robots. The A robots will re-spawn after 60 seconds.
• You will arrive above the B robots...destroy them and collect the 2x10=20 Power Cores that they drop. Move to the right along the walkway and through the B door which opened up as a result of destroying the B robots. The B robots will re-spawn after 90 seconds and the A robot timer will restart in-sync with the B robot re-spawn timer.
• Destroy the C robots and collect the 2x25=50 Power Cores that they drop. Your team will now have 10 + 20 + 50 = 80 points on the board. The C robots will re-spawn after 90 seconds and both the A & B robot timers will restart in-sync with the C robot re-spawn timer, so all robots will re-spawn at the same time...after 90 seconds but only the A robots will be vulnerable.

Steal the enemy reactor core

If it looks like the enemy is getting close to 300 points then steal their Reactor Core and bring it back to your Reactor Core location (your Reactor Core doesn't need to be present to capture the enemy Reactor Core) and all of the enemy's points will be added to your teams points.

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.

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.

Defend your Reactor Core

If the enemy carries your Reactor Core back to their Reactor Core then all of your team's points will be added to theirs. When they steal your Reactor Core there will be a Player Running icon showing how many points are in the core. You temporarily lose those points while the Reactor Core is in enemy possession. If the enemy manages to take your Reactor Core to their Reactor Core location then all of those points will be permanently lost and they will gain them.

Defend your robots

Losing a few points may not seem like a big deal, but each point contributes to the other team winning.

The first group of robots may seem like an unimportant loss, but it adds up. The more robots that are destroyed, the closer the enemy team is to your reactor core. Don't let the enemy team into your base!

Class-specific strategy

 Scout

• Work as a team of two Scouts. One Scout enters the enemy Reactor Core area through the right gate and the other Scout keeps the gate open so the Scout with the enemy Reactor Core can get out without going through the lasers or the crawlspace.
• Bonk does not protect against the lasers in the Reactor Core room.

 Soldier

• Soldiers work best attacking the robots, or if necessary escorting Scouts.
• Soldiers are very powerful on this map due to the enclosed spaces, splash damage is a very viable and consistent source of damage output here.

 Pyro

• Pyros consistent damage makes them reasonably good Robot attackers, but this consumes significant ammunition and requires directed attacking (unlike e.g. Demomen).
• Airblast can be useful for escorting Scouts or blocking pushes.
• The importance of Engineer buildings, particularly in the enemy base, makes a Pyro buddy very valuable for Engineers that are the constant target of enemy Spies.
• 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 behind, where the the Backburner is particularly effective.

 Demoman

• Demomen seem to be most valuable destroying enemy Sentry Guns or sticky trapping the Reactor Core area.
• Demomen are also very powerful in this map due to their high splash damage, capitalize on this, and you can control large areas of the map if you have a keen eye.
• Stickies can be laid en masse and detonated to destroy a whole stage of robots instantly, before the enemy team can respond to the Robot damage alert.

 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.
• Heavies seem to be most valuable on area defense...around the robots when they are being attacked, or around their Reactor Core if it gets stolen or is in jeopardy of being stolen.
• Heavies can also be used to push as there is little room to dodge the Heavy's large cone of fire and high damage output. He can be a reliable source of damage and pushing power.

 Engineer

• The attackers must destroy the first group of robots, so defending that group is critical to denying the enemy from scoring points.
• Protect the reactor core by placing a sentry in the thin corridor to the right of the core, it is difficult to take on a sentry in such a tight space and the area behind you can only be opened by someone from your own team, practically eliminating the risk of Spies sneaking up on you.
• Sentry Guns will automatically attack enemy robots, and since the robots don't shoot back the Gunslinger becomes much more useful in Robot Destruction mode.

 Medic

• Medics should be flexible and be where their team is getting hurt the most...either with a Soldier or Heavy, or perhaps a Pyro.

• The tight corridors means that the Kritzkrieg is relatively effective on this map.

• ÜberCharge specific issues:
  • It is not yet clear whether an invulnerable Medic and their target can stop the capture of their Reactor Core by the enemy...needs to be tested.
  • It is also not clear whether an ÜberCharge protects against the lasers guarding the Reactor Core.

 Sniper

• The sniping options on Asteroid are fairly limited, though they remain effective:
  • The roof areas next to the mid bridge.
  • The upper decks on either side of the A robots bridge.
• 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.

 Spy

• Spies work well on this map as both attack support by sapping Sentry Guns and back stabbing Engineers and as defensive Spies back stabbing enemies which are focusing their attention on destroying robots. Note that Sappers do not work on the robots.