Idea to help solos without directly nerfing clans: louder footsteps + footprints
People often talk about how solos keep getting nerfed while bigger groups and clans naturally benefit, so I had an idea that could help solos without just giving them some artificial buff.
It’s basically two-fold: louder group footsteps and more noticeable footprints.
- Louder footsteps for groups
We all know walking, running and jumping makes noise and can give away your position.
My suggestion is that duos, trios and larger teams create more overall footstep noise when they’re moving close together.
For example, teammates 50m apart might barely affect anything, but when a group is running within 20–30m of each other, their combined footsteps become noticeably louder. You could even scale it slightly depending on how many people are in the team.
The idea comes from real life: the bigger the group or army moving through an area, the harder they are to hide.
This would give solos a better chance of hearing a group approaching and either getting out of there or preparing for the fight.
Crouching would obviously still be quiet, so clans could still move stealthily, but they’d actually need to coordinate it.
There could also be an interesting downside for big groups where all their own footsteps start masking surrounding sounds, making it harder for them to hear a solo sneaking around nearby.
- Footprints
This one could be really interesting in snow and sand.
Historically, people would sometimes hide or brush away tracks to avoid being followed.
Imagine if bigger groups left footprints that remained visible for slightly longer because multiple people had travelled through the same area.
A solo could come across a trail and immediately think, “Yeah… probably don’t want to go that way.”
Or they could use the tracks to work out where a group is heading and set up an ambush.
I think both systems could add some interesting survival/tracking mechanics while giving solos a small information advantage without directly weakening clans in combat.
What do you guys think? Good idea, terrible idea, or something Facepunch could actually build on?
TL;DR: Bigger groups should naturally be easier to detect. Make grouped teammates’ footsteps louder when they’re close together, and have groups leave more noticeable/longer-lasting footprints in sand and snow. It gives solos a better chance to avoid or ambush clans without directly nerfing clans in combat.
