Destruction

Destruction is a feature in the Battlefield series debuting with Battlefield 1942, but appearing to a much greater extent in the games utilizing the Frostbite Engine. It allows the player to break down cover, fell trees, and destroy buildings. From Destruction 2.0 onward, some buildings will entirely collapse after a certain amount of damage is executed.

Overview
Destruction is a feature which allows many types of items to be destroyed. Several selected items will be able to sustain damage to ensure stability and balance for every match.

Pre-Frostbite Engine
Before the Frostbite engine was developed for Battlefield: Bad Company, there was a far more limited amount of destruction found in the Refractor engine games such as Battlefield 2 or 1942. Certain obstacles and objects such as bridges can be destroyed by explosions.

Destruction 1.0
Destruction 1.0 debuted with Battlefield: Bad Company utilizing Frostbite 1.0. With it, segments of buildings could be obliterated, parts of vehicle body-work could be chipped away, trees could be felled, and the ground could be reshaped by explosions. The Destruction 1.0 mechanic introduced selective destruction, where only certain weapons or objects could cause damage - for instance, a Cobra 4WD couldn't run over a tree, whereas a Black Eagle battle tank could. This limited the amount of destruction that could be caused by certain players in certain scenarios.

By creating the Destruction 1.0 mechanic fully with the Frostbite Engine in mind, the DICE developers were able to combine the Destruction 1.0, the dynamic lighting and sound mechanics to create a "sandbox world", where the destruction caused by the player(s) would cause the lighting and sound to change with the removal of walls, fences and trees.

Destruction 2.0
Destruction 2.0 arrived with the release of Battlefield 1943. The mechanism gained the sole improvement of being capable of destroying entire buildings, though lacking any form of collapsing. With Battlefield: Bad Company 2, an even further enhanced version of Destruction was developed. When enough segments (walls and roof) are destroyed, the entire building will collapse, crushing everything inside. This allows Destruction to kill opponents and destroy enemy objectives. Once a building has been destroyed, players are able to navigate within the rubble by crouching or jumping through small paths formed by the debris.

"A building is a group of entities linked together. The entities are a bunch of wall and roof segments. Destroy a part, the wall disappears behind a smoke particle and is replaced by a hole. When a percentage of the walls are destroyed, the building plays its collapse animation. There's little else to it. For example, the building behind the first MCOM on Port Valdez. Break about 26 of those parts, and the thing goes down."

- Den Kirson

Additionally, Destruction 2.0 allowed pieces of the environment such as concrete barricades, walls, and wooden fences, to be destroyed in pieces, rather than entire entities.

Alongside all of the new aspects, Destruction 2.0 retains the same features from the original Destruction; one can chip away cover and parts of vehicles, fell trees, and reshape the terrain.

Destruction 3.0
Destruction 3.0 is a feature in Battlefield 3. Destruction 3.0 allows players to destroy objects with explosives like before, although, regular firearms such as the M4A1 can demolish on a much smaller scale. This new form of destruction is known as "microdestruction". Certain buildings can also collapse if they receive enough damage. Falling pieces of rubble and collapsing buildings can potentially kill a player.

Unlike the Bad Company series, not all structures in Battlefield 3 can be damaged. Stairwells in certain concrete buildings and the cores of many buildings will resist total destruction for the sake of maintaining gameplay.

In the Back to Karkand DLC, many more structures can be demolished. The patch coinciding with the DLC also allowed for more destruction in the original multiplayer maps.

The Close Quarters DLC enhanced the 'micro destruction' capabilities of Destruction 3.0 by enhancing the destructive effect of bullets. This meant that regular firearms such as the M4A1 could destroy furniture, chip poles and demolish walls.

Though map-changing Destruction features were formally introduced in Battlefield 4, some major events occur in certain maps:


 * Caspian Border
 * Towards the end of a Conquest match, an artillery strike targets the anchors for the radio tower, causing it to fall across open field towards the main checkpoint. (This was originally meant to be a player-initiated event.)


 * Operation Métro
 * Upon clearing the first stage of a Rush match, an airstrike will expose the subway tunnels underneath the park, allowing U.S. forces to infiltrate the Métro.

Levolution


Levolution is a feature in Battlefield 4. It was originally known as Timeline with the concept that game changing events would occur based on a timer. This soon changed to allow players to dramatically change the environment and gameplay on maps through player actions and the new name reflected on that.

Levolution ranges from raising bollards, setting off car alarms, and cutting power to bringing down entire buildings, destroying ceilings of underground areas, and destroying a dam to consequently flood the map.

Certain destructible buildings now collapse in ways that allow limited travel through them, as floors retain strength and create crawlspaces and hiding areas for infantry.

Main Levolution Events of Battlefield 4

 * Dawnbreaker
 * The bridge in the middle of the map can be destroyed by overriding the gas pipes in either sides of the main street. One is located close to Objective B, and the other at Objective D. Be sure to stay away from the main street after activation.


 * Flood Zone
 * The levee on the North side of the map (North of Objective B) can be destroyed with explosive weaponry to flood the entire map. After the map has been flooded, attack boats, RHIBs, and PWCs will spawn instead of most land transportation.


 * Golmud Railway
 * The train in the middle of the map, if captured, will move closer to the capturing team's base. Also, there are IEDs placed around the map which can be detonated via a suitcase located near them, or by attacking them with explosive weapons. These IEDs will destroy anything within its radius.


 * Hainan Resort
 * The left and right wings of the resort can be brought down by destroying the support pillars. There are also oil slicks scattered around that can be lit afire.


 * Lancang Dam
 * The dam itself can be destroyed by shooting or planting explosives on it. As it is being destroyed, pieces of the dam may roll into the rest of the map, damaging anything in the way. Once fully destroyed, the entire map will be covered in dust and a path will be blocked, making land vehicles harder to move around.


 * Operation Locker
 * The guard tower (Panopticon—Objective C) in the middle of the map can be destroyed by shooting or planting explosive weaponry at it, moving the flag and allowing infantry to move between the lower and upper levels through its wreckage. Several corridors have sliding doors that can block the path of the opponent. A blizzard blows through the outside area, making combat difficult at long ranges outdoors and in the passages leading outside.


 * Paracel Storm
 * A storm overtakes the map, with high rolling waves making naval combat more difficult. Once the storm hits, the wind turbine holding the damaged destroyer can be destroyed with whatever weaponry, including pistols. Once the windmill is destroyed, it will set the destroyer free. The destroyer will crash into the building at Firebase Island. After it has crashed, the AA guns on the destroyer can be used by the team that holds the island.


 * Rogue Transmission
 * The telescope receiver above the radio focusing dish can be dropped down by destroying ten of the cable anchors that are holding it. The anchor towers will also partially collapse.


 * Siege of Shanghai
 * The skyscraper in the middle of the map can be toppled if the four main support pillars located on the front of the skyscraper are destroyed. Once the skyscraper is toppled, the whole map will be covered in dust, making targets less visible at range.


 * Zavod 311
 * The red and white chimney located in the factory's manufacturing building can be brought down by interacting with the laptop located inside the factory. Once the laptop has been activated, it will start a countdown of three minutes. Once the countdown is over, a missile warhead (inside the factory) will go off and the chimney will come crashing down, making a mess in between the two main factory buildings. This prevents land vehicles from using the main road to get to the other side.

Second Assault

 * Caspian Border
 * The new communication tower at Hilltop can be demolished by triggering a gas explosion in the control room at the tower's base.


 * Gulf of Oman
 * IEDs are set up around the beach. In time, a sandstorm engulfs the map, making it extremely hard to engage enemies at medium/long-range, as vision gets drastically obscured. There is a scripted event that occurs just after the storm rolls in, causing the crane at Construction Site to fall, killing anyone in its path. Near Construction Site, there is a concrete tunnel piece being held by a crane, and when the hold is shot or severely damaged, the tunnel piece will fall, again, crushing everything in its path.


 * Operation Firestorm
 * Much of the map is rendered flammable by means of broken equipment or oil slicks. The refinery tower can be purged, incinerating anyone hiding at the top. One of the gantry cranes can be made to drop its load, crushing anything beneath. Another one of the cranes can be destroyed through an IED.


 * Operation Métro
 * The dry grass and brush in the park can be set on fire, which will spread until no vegetation remains. Weakened areas of the Métro tunnel ceiling can be collapsed.

Trivia

 * -|General=
 * If a player has deployed C4 in a building while it is collapsing, it may explode while the walls cave-in, creating a shower of debris that can be an effective smokescreen.
 * Several lightweight objects, such as corrugated iron and boxes, will not be destroyed by explosives, and will merely be pushed away by the detonation.
 * In all Frostbite-powered games, furniture can be destroyed by pushing it into other objects.
 * -|Battlefield: Bad Company=
 * If the player knifes a tree three times, it will collapse.
 * -|Battlefield: Bad Company 2=
 * If a player is crushed in a collapsing building, the kill feed will state their death was caused by "Destruction 2.0".
 * The player responsible for causing the building to collapse will have points deducted for killing teammates and destroying their own team's objective. Destruction 2.0 is the only way to teamkill in a non-hardcore match.
 * The destruction of watchtowers works differently than with buildings. If a player is underneath, their death will be attributed to "Destruction 2.0," but if they are on top of the watchtower they will fall, and their death will be attributed to "suicide" (and award no points/kills to the person who caused the demolition).
 * Players will be killed even if they are on the roof of a collapsing building. In addition, players can be crushed even if no visible debris has fallen on them.
 * Laguna Presa is the only map in which a player cannot kill with Destruction 2.0. The map lacks any structures that can be collapsed. Valparaiso has nearly the same attribute, however, there is a large building near the end of the Relay Station which can be destroyed.
 * Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam is devoid of the enhanced Destruction 2.0 as seen in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Instead, it uses the same kind of destruction as Battlefield 1943. 
 * In Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam, on Phu Bai Valley, it is possible to kill enemies with Destruction 2.0 by making the watch towers on the US Base collapse through destruction.
 * -|Battlefield 3=
 * If a player gets killed by a building collapsing on them in Battlefield 3, "Destruction 3.0" is not listed on the killfeed, but instead says "KILLED".
 * If a player kills an enemy with falling debris in Battlefield 3 the weapon used to cause the debris will be shown in the killfeed.
 * -|Battlefield 4=
 * Players killed by Destruction may simply be shown as "Killed in Action".
 * In a nod to BF:BC2, one of the Rush objectives in Zavod 311 is held inside a partially collapsed building.
 * All players very close to a Levolution-affected building will be instantly killed a few moments before the structure collapses.