Decoys are a pain in the ass, but they don't kill you if you fall for em. Solution? Intel briefcases filled with high explosives and a timer switch.

-Looks exactly like the intel model, but a mirror image or with some other subtle difference.
-Spawns automatically like an intel
-Doesn't show up on a map
-Shows a false message to the player that he has picked up the intel
-Explodes shortly after being captured, killing the carrier

The idea being that an enemy running through your base might spot this and, if he isn't paying attention, mistake it for the real deal

Cool idea. How many of these at once do you think would be reasonable? I can just imagine a minefield of false intels and exploding deuces

Should be left up to the server host, the same way they can set cap limits. A good default might be 1 or 2 per team?

They should be a weapon equip.

Replacing grenades, it would be planted on the ground, but if someone planted it already players would be restrained with a message or something, and would have to wait till the planted one explodes to plant a new one. One per team.

^
Some troll's always gonna go plant it a mile underground

Then it should be timed. Or at least disappear after a certain length.

Then teams would have to strategically predict when and where to plant them.

Could be abused simply by editing the kv6 file to make the decoy very obvious. It would have to use the exact same model as regular intel.

Maybe just a switched rotation? Or would that be too obvious?

That could work.

To be honest, I'd rather have these dangerous decoys than the exploits currently used. (drawing squares on the map)
I don't think it's an intended feature and people abuse it. The intel icon on the map should flash or something.

Well, if it was a mirror image, they maybe could use the same kv6 file, with the fake one flipped? Then no matter what the two would look very similar.

A reverse rotation? Interesting...

There's still the problem with someone making the intel look like it has the letter "S" on it or something, a backwards S would look very obvious.

or it could be the current kv6, instead of blue/green it could be an orange symbol or some other arbitrary color

i once made a gigantic replica intel on a map once, it didn't fool anyone and they still stole the intel so i support this exploding intel idea :D

This is actually a pretty good idea in my opinion. I don't usually go for the enemy's intel unless I'm about to quit, so I support this for defensive purposes.

Random deuce: Yay! I can finally prove to my allies that I am not a n00b!

*grabs intel*

*realizes it's fake*

Deuce: AW SON OF A--

*boom*

Dear deuces.
"WHICH ONE IS THE REAL INTEL?"

I get this message a lot. I feel your pain. Or, i used to feel your pain.

Now i just walk up and down hills with my map open to see which one is real.

M for map.

Walk up some stairs.

Real intel is obvious.

Have fun.

DECOYS:

Yes.

Very yes. I like this idea.

just make it spin the other way or something. i like this idea a lot.

This was a triumph.

I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS

I give it a thumbs up :P

Signed
(RT)Rush

P.S. Wouldn't hurt for an Artillery Strike lol

@exile, I usually put fake arrows both ways on the intel so you can't tell

Glad you guys like this idea :D

Regular intel

False intel

Or was it the other way around?

Another way to do it would be to have both look identical, the only difference being the real intel shows up on the map, and the false intel explodes while strapped to your back.

I honestly don't see what all the fuss is about decoys in the first place. Nine out of every ten servers I join don't even have any decoys, so it's not what seems like a huge problem to me. If someone's clever enough to make a decoy, I say let 'em. Thanks to the look-straight-down/look-straight-up glitch, it's pretty easy for a tunneler to tell the difference, and to a surface raider there can be a lot of other giveaways.

I quite like this actually, but I think if the defender team isn't able to move their own fake intel, then it should spawn quite close to the real one, close enough that a careful map check would be needed to make sure it was the right one or not. Also, it shouldn't give the proper picked up intel message. New players would be baffled by how they always explode after picking up the 'intel'.

Considering a player can't willfully drop the intel, why not just tell the player upright that they've picked up the decoy so that they can spend the last 10 seconds of their life either in a panic, telling their team to keep away, musing on how they were tricked and need to be more careful next time, or just running at an enemy to try and take them out too?

@1337101: The problem is that it is exploitation of the interface in a way that was not intended. It's not an in-game feature, it's just exploiting a gimmick with the map.

The problem isn't actually that it's unintentional -- there's unintentional stuff that turns out to be fun.

The problem is that it it means playing the game optimally makes the game less fun.

Someone could have pencil and paper and whenever the intel resets, they make a quick note showing where the real one is, and never be fooled by fake intel. Whenever somebody has an advantage by taking notes, you have to ask why the game isn't taking notes for you automatically.

Someone could make a program that captures map screenshots every 30 seconds, displays them on a second monitor, and not even have to take notes. So, again, the game might as well do this for us.

Simply having a flashing intel icon on the map (which it should, because icons are part of an interface that aren't meant to be exploited) would solve all the problems.

The exploding decoys would also have their own icons on the map, but the difference between them and the real one would be very subtle.

Personally, I would not like this..
Reasons:
1. It already takes a fair amount of time to get to the other side of the map, dodging the flak
2. Once inside the enemy spawn area, it takes a bit of skill to find the intel out of the fakes, and this increases the amount of time you spend wondering around, exposed
3. And after all that, the intel may just blow up in your face.
4. Fake intels on the map are deceiving enough, and hard to find the real one if there are a few well-made and well-placed ones.

I would find explosive fakes annoying..

1. This would replace having fake intels on the map, as they wouldn't (and shouldn't) work anymore.
2. I think it'd be fun and add more risk to the current game-mode.

What we really need though is new game-modes entirely. Capture the intel is getting old.

Someone mentioned that the intel sign on the map should flash.

If that gets added, why don't they both flash, the fake and the real?

And how about we remove the explosive property? And instead, when they deliver the fake, the team loses a point instead of gaining one?

Spengbab, they would both flash, decoy and real. There would, however, be a slight subtle difference, either in the frequency of the flashing, or perhaps a slight shift in the color, decided randomly upon spawning (for the decoy only, the real intel would always flash at the same frequency and always have the same color)

Perhaps as an extra caution, allow intel to be shot. Decoys would explode, the real intel, if shot more than once, would disappear and respawn elsewhere. (cannot be shot by the same team to force a respawn, because that would be abused)