On flanking
I think the reason that encamped purifier positions are so hard to deal with is because of positioning. The way the map is set up forces players to battle in the middle, with very little opportunity for flanking.
I was dealing with a heavily fortified purifier position, so I decided to hit the side flank, but found myself needing to destroy at least one tower just to hit the side, and more if I intended to attack from behind, the whole time my enemy is reaping all the gems they could want from mid, and I'm getting by on scraps, furthering their lead. By the time I was even remotely ready to attempt anything they had already pushed multiple ion cannons to my nexus and were in position to win the game.
My point being, they very straight forward, head-to-head style map currently benefits squad compositions that excel at direct engagements because most of the gems spawn in mid, and if you can't move them, then running side tactics just isn't rewarding enough.
Comments
We're doing a full map reworking to address exactly this kind of thing. Flanking, surrounding, cutting people off -- these are all core behaviors in a good RTS. We don't have them and we want'em!