AS-Glacier

Map Description
This map takes place at an Izanagi research station on Lamdon 3. The attackers must cross a frozen lake to infiltrate the research station, activate the ion core that powers the station, steal the ion tank, and proceed up an access tunnel towards the power station bordering the dam. Activating the power station will open the gateway to allow the attackers to cross the dam, overload the two hydroelectric stations there, and blow open an outer door that will allow the tank to escape the station before it goes up in a ball of fire.

The map can be considered an updated and reimagined AS-Guardia.

Objectives

 * Infiltrate the Base
 * This objective comes (more or less) in two parts: cross the icy river and then get into the base. There are a couple methods for attackers to get across the river and start the assault. The most common way would be to use the floating chunks of ice to hop across. Swimming can help attackers remain hidden, but it is usually too slow to bother with. Another method is to jump onto one of the trusses crossing the river above. This is slightly less conspicuous, but it is still easy to be picked off by a sniper.


 * Once on solid ground, the main objective is to force your way into the base. Walk up to either of the doors to the base to start opening it and slip in once you can fit through. Defenders should be mindful that they can inadvertently open the doors too, which only helps the attackers. As such, defenders should drop through the hole in the upper level to get outside rather than go to the main level and use the doors.


 * Optional : Raise the Bridge
 * There's a third way to get to the base entrance, but it involves getting across the river first. There is a small room to the attackers' right as they reach the shore, with a switch on the wall. Stand next to the switch to raise a bridge from underwater, allowing for quicker assaults on the base. However, be wary that while this allows the attackers a quicker way across it also allows the defense to play more forward and aggressively as they can use the bridge too.


 * Activate the Ion Core
 * Once the base has been infiltrated the two doors will open up completely. The attackers now must activate two ion core switches in the center of the base. These are essentially right under where the defenders spawn, often making this a difficult objective to procure, because the attackers still spawn way across the bridge. To get to the switches, attackers must traverse two narrow hallways (the right being shorter than the left), making their job even more difficult due to the effectiveness of spam. Once these are activated, the bay doors by the ion core will open, allowing attackers to enter the Ion Plasma Tank area.


 * Capture the Tank
 * Once the bay doors are open, attackers no longer need to go through the narrow hallways, though they will still be spawning across the bridge. Again, this can make things difficult as the trip is a long one. All the attackers need to do, however, is get next to the tank and enter it. Usually the next course of action is to shoot the pillar to the immediate left of the tank's parking spot to clear the area of defenders.


 * Destroy Access Doors
 * After the area is relatively defender-free, drive forward a bit and use the tank to destroy the large red door to the left. This activates new spawn points opposite the tank spawn point for the attackers. Once the door is destroyed, take the tank through it and up the tunnel.


 * Once the tank gets to the midway point of the access tunnel, the announcer will advise the players that "the access tunnel is secured." This moves the spawn point of the attackers, including the tank, forward to that location.


 * Open Security Gate
 * From the new spawn point, attackers must again travel upwards in the tunnel to arrive at the next building, and again the area is set up to be a defensive stronghold complete with minigun turrets and a large gate to the right. The switch is placed at the back of the building in its own highly-defendable room. There are initially two foot entrances to the sides under the minigun turrets, but if the attackers can manage to drive the tank onto the platform in front of the building, a third door will lower. This allows the tank to shoot into the building and clear the switch room of defenders. Once the switch is activated, the gate to the right will slowly open. The attackers spawn is moved forward to in front of this building.


 * Shutdown Primary Dam
 * Proceed to the next building. There are two steps to completing this objective. First, the dam controls must be destroyed. They lie in the lower portion of the building and can take about 1500 damage. Defenders spawn in the upper areas of the building and can either run out to the large overhang or drop down into the control room.


 * Destroy the Depot Door
 * Once the dam controls are destroyed, the shielding over the large door fails and the door can be destroyed with a tank shot. Move through to activate new spawns.


 * Shutdown Secondary Dam
 * Like the first dam, the controls must be destroyed here in a similar fashion. Once these are destroyed the final gate will open and the final spawn points are activated.


 * Destroy the Blast Door
 * If the map doesn't end in a stalemate around the ion core objectives, this one is the next likely place. The attackers, even with their precious ion tank, have their work seriously cut out for them. The blast door can only be damaged by the tank and takes two full shots to dispatch of. The problem here is that it's set well within the building, making it hard to get a clean shot off. All the while the defenders will be concentrating on taking that tank out, which is easy because it's so slow. The attackers should take the longer left route around the mountain to destroy the door because it eventually provides a clear shot if the tank can make it.


 * Escape the Base
 * Once the blast door is disposed of, attackers need to simply drive it out. This sounds a lot easier than it is as defenders will spawn right in your path and have instant access to link plasma and rockets, both great at damaging the tank. Take the right route as it is shorter and drive through the broken blast doors to complete the level.

Pickups
You'll generally find pickups "hidden" inside the large crates that are scattered everywhere. The keg is in one by the left base door for the first few objectives, the amp lies to the side of tunnel exit on the security gate objective, and the 100 armor is in one near the first dam controls. There are 50 armors scattered around various spawn points both for attackers and defenders.

Strategies

 * Offensive
 * On offense the Link Gun is one of your best assets (beside the tank). Not only does it heal the tank but its plasma is good for destroying the dam controls. To actually manage to complete the last two objectives, it is imperative that nearly everyone on the team link up to the tank to keep its heal rate up as high as possible. This is can be difficult due to the limited ammo on the last spawn, however.


 * Having a good tank driver can make this map a breeze. He should generally be shooting nonstop into the key areas and into the spawn points. For instance, on the dam control objectives, shooting up near the overhang can take out many newly-spawned players, while it's also possible to line up shots into the control rooms themselves, taking out all the defenders inside.


 * There are many "exploits" (or "options" depending on how you look at it) available to the attackers if they know where to look. For example, it's possible to walk on the base by the river, enter the security gate building from the second floor, shoot the dam controls from outside, and even get up to the second-floor spawn points in the second dam control building. It is not certain whether or not such actions are condoned.


 * Defensive
 * Glacier is linear in design and thus rife with choke points, and these should be used to the defenders' advantage. Taking out the tank quickly can make it easier to defend the objectives, but they mustn't ignore the other players, especially since the tank will just respawn and come right back.


 * On the last two objectives, the only real goal is to take out that tank as quickly as possible. This can be made easier if you take out the attackers linking to it first.