Spawn Killing, sometimes referred to as Base Raping* , is the tactic of taking up a position with a good view of an un-capturable 'red flag' base, and continually killing opponents as they spawn, or using other methods to achieve such results. It should not be confused with spawn camping, which involves applying this process to a capturable base.

Most servers take a dim view of spawn killing, and will kick or even ban those found to be using this tactic. However a sizeable minority specifically allow it in their rules, arguing that it is part of the game and therefore players should learn how to deal with it. Also on some servers with Anti-Spawn raping laws, they will allow a team to spawn/base rape, as long as all capturable flags belong to that team.

Rules against main base killing, however, are highly controversial because, especially in cases where the uncappable base is an airfield, it provides jets and attack helicopters with a safe base from which they can rape the enemy at will with no fear of being attacked while repairing and reloading.

Battlefield 2Edit

Battlefield 2 significantly worsened the problem due to the introduction of two new gameplay elements - remote artillery and the presence of destroyable 'strategic objects' in uncapturable bases. Most servers consider calling artillery on an uncapturable base to be spawn raping, however the rules on destroying strategic objects vary widely, and are often unclear.

The most common basis is that the following rules must be observed when attacking strategic objects:

• Only players using the Special Ops class are allowed in the un-capturable base
• The use of vehicles to reach the base is allowed, however on-board weapons such as turret-mounted guns and cannons must not be used to kill players within the base.
• When the Special Ops has destroyed all the strategic objects or as many as he can destroy, he is expected to leave the base as quickly as possible.
• Stealing vehicles in un-capturable bases can also count as Base Raping

Battlefield 1943Edit

In Battlefield 1943, spawn killing was punished by not giving the player any points for a kill or vehicle destroy and the kill goes unnoticed in the killfeed, although it counts for a "Leatherneck" award, for example: if you kill 6 enemies at their base and 14 kills was shown on the scoreboard, you earned the reward. A sign of this happening is you get a message saying "No points in enemy bases!." Unfortunately, the concept was mistaken at your own home base. You earn points for killing enemies at the end of the carrier the planes are facing, but if you kill an enemy using one of your own anti-air guns, you aren't rewarded any points and instead get a message saying "No points in home bases!"

Battlefield: Bad Company 2Edit

In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, spawn killing is also prevalent. Defenders can sometimes use helicopters such as the UH-60 Black Hawk to drop soldiers behind enemy lines. A good example of this is the map Port Valdez - at the second to last and final defending bases the defenders are given an AH-64 Apache and an UH-60 Black Hawk, in that order. The defenders may take advantage of using the Apache to destroy many of the vehicles belonging to attackers, hindering the efforts of the attackers. Later, at the final base the defenders can use the Blackhawk by dropping onboard soldiers behind the enemy lines.

In another Bad Company 2 map, Isla Inocentes, another possibility for the defenders to spawn kill exists. When the defenders lose their first base, some Personal Watercraft spawn, intended to be used as a method of retreat for the defenders and assault by the attackers. A defending player can then use the watercraft to move to the attackers base which is now inside the bounds for defenders. Later in the match at the final base the defenders are given a Mil Mi-24 Hind which can be used to drop allies into the enemy base.

Furthermore, in the map Atacama Desert, it is possible to base rape by using vehicles or the AH-64 Apache or Mi-28 Havoc, or any of the land vehicles and have a group of people steal the opposing side's chopper and proceed to spawn kill them. The only counter to this is to use the TOW-Launcher, AA guns, a tracer-launcher combo, or the tanks the RU or US side have.

Bad Company 2 also has a feature that guards against spawn killing. The game does not let a defending player spawn on squadmates who are farther away than an a specific ingame distance from their base. However, in some Conquest maps like Atacama Desert and Port Valdez the "automatic range detection anti-spawn killing system" seems to be ineffective and may still allow squad members to spawn camp, and ultimately spawn kill.

Battlefield 3Edit

In Battlefield 3 the uncapturable deployment for the opposing team is unaccessable as this is outside the combat zone. However, this does not prevent spawn killing completely. Although land vehicles and even the EOD bot are unable to leave the combat zone to enter the deployment area, they can still fire and kill many soldiers in deployment zones.

Air vehicles such as jets, attack helicopter, scout helicopters and transport helicopters are not bound to this combat zone limitation, therefore, they will hover or fly arround the deployment killing any soldiers seen while also destroying enemy vehicles to prevent their use. Often this can be countered by the AA guns like the Pantsir S1 or Centurion C-RAM, but not always. Another issue is the presence of an engineer in a scout or transport helicopter who will constantly sit on the side of a helicopter and repair it, this is particularly fustrating for the opposing team as any damage done to the helicopter by most means will be instantly repaired. However, a Javelin performing a top attack on a helicopter would usually kill occupants and will render the helicopter disabled.

Furthermore, if a sniper is able to gain a vantage point of the enemy deployment, he/she is able to take pot shots into the deployment. A well placed mortar can also be effective in spawn killing, though this again can be countered by flanking the mortar.

Similarly to Bad Company 2, squadmates or teamates cannot spawn in aircraft in the deployment zone of the opposing team, however often this system does not work.

Unlike Battlefield 1943, any kills will count.