[MW2] The Spawn System

I'm making this video to try to explain how the spawn system of Modern Warfare 2 works. Due to the randomness and overall counter-intuitive nature of the spawn system, i therefore do not claim this to be an end all, be all description or explanation of the spawn system. The information provided herein is merely and solely based on my observations and frustrations of the spawn system. As most of you already know based on other videos, whether here on Youtube or elsewhere, going beyond a certain point, often labeled as the imaginary line for spawn points, tends to cause the spawns for the other team to appear at different locations, presumably labeled as random locations. While this general information of the spawn system tends to suffice in so far as keeping the enemy spawn trapped, i will assert here that this information is not entirely accurate. At least 90% of the time the enemy will spawn in an area that is not visible to the opposing side. This fact is why i state that the previous information is not entirely accurate. The sole decision, therefore, that the spawn system will choose to spawn the enemy at a certain point is based mostly on three requirements. Do note that tactical insertions void all requirements. The First Requirement, and probably the one with the highest deciding factor, is enemy line of sight. As mentioned before, at least 90% of the time you or your allies will spawn in an area that is not visible to the enemy. Yes, this includes spawning next to the enemy or the enemy spawning next to you. So long as neither of you are looking in the direction of the spawn point, they will spawn there. For this reason you may have heard people claim or assert where and how big the imaginary line of enemy spawn is though they don't realize that it could have depended mostly on enemy line of sight. For example, on High Rise, on domination, the best place to try and spawn trap the enemy is normally at Alpha. Following from the First Requirement, it is easy to understand why. There are a lot of window blinds, there are a lot of obstacles: walls, cubicles, et cetera. But most importantly, there is a back room that is always outside the range of sight of your party. And this back room is where they mostly spawn at. It is no surprise, then, to see a sniper or assualt unit camping on top of Alpha, yet still seeing the enemy spawning behind Alpha. The Second Requirement is where your team mates are. The reason spawning trapping is so successful is because the spawn system also considers where your team mates are generally located. Spawn trapping forces the enemy team to be grouped up into one location. Therefore the system can only consider that one location, in so far as the First Requirement has not been violated. If the First Requirement is violated, then the Second Requirement is no longer assumed by the spawn system. The Third and Final Requirement is dependent on objective-based game types. For example, on Domination, what flag or flags are you holding now? On Demolition, the side which you start on dictates the area that you will be spawning at. Team deathmatch, Free-for-all and similar do not concern the Third Requirement. Search and Destroy is also irrelevant, as Search and Destory only deals with starting spawn points, which are always static for each squad. So, now that you have been enlightened by this information, how can you use it to your advantage? Based on the description of the requirements, it should have already been made clear to anyone that in order to make good use of this information you would require being on a team that communicates and listens to each other. Assuming that you do have such a team, in what ways could you make use of this information? I will provide one example on how you can make use of this information; every other instance i shall leave to the team's creativity. Let's assume we are playing Domination and the current map is Derail. The enemy has captured Bravo and they are giving you a hard time every time you try to take Bravo from them. Since the Second and Third Requirement are generally dependent on the First Requirement, it follows that you should plan a strategy around the First Requirement. In the case that we are assuming, you and your team are trying to take Bravo away from the enemy, since Bravo is the flag with the highest priority on Derail. Since the enemy will generally spawn around Bravo after taking them out while you were at Bravo, you should have your team positioned in areas that their line of sight covers. If the enemy has Alpha captured, the enemy will therefore most likely spawn behind the gas station. If they have Charlie, they'll spawn around or within the cargo station. How your team chooses to position themselves is entirely up to your team.