Vegas Insider: A Developer’s Map Guide to Vegas Strip and Area 51

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Vegas Strip
  • Battle Breakdown
  • Behind the Design
  • Tips From the Team
• Area 51
  • Battle Breakdown
  • Behind the Design
  • Tips From the Team

Sin City is under siege. Before you deploy, it pays to know the terrain.

Season 5 introduces two very different battlefields. Vegas Strip turns a world-famous destination into a dense urban combat zone filled with contested hotels, casino lots, and underground routes. Area 51 shifts the fight beyond the perimeter fences, combining large-scale vehicle warfare with infantry combat inside a hidden research facility beneath the desert.

Here's a closer look at both maps, including key objectives, design insights, and tips from the teams that built them.

Vegas Strip

Las Vegas wasn't built for a war, but it's right in the middle of one.

Vegas Strip drops players into a dense urban battlefield where casinos, hotels, and landmark attractions have become the center of the fighting. The map was designed around variety. One moment you're fighting through a hotel lobby, the next you're pushing through storm drains beneath the boulevard or trading shots from an upper-floor hotel room. No two fights feel quite the same. A push through a luxury resort demands a different approach than a battle in the storm drains beneath the Vegas Strip.

The team's goal was simple: create an all-out warfare experience in an iconic urban setting while making sure every playstyle has a place to thrive.

Battle Breakdown

Olympus Pools

The Olympus Lobby is an infantry-focused objective centered around vertical combat.

Players can enter through the valet area, push through staff entrances, or use ziplines to reach the rooftop before dropping through the collapsed dome overhead. The objective rewards teams that attack from multiple angles and make use of the space above and below them.

Crater & Storm Drains

At the center of the Strip sits a massive crater surrounded by the wreckage of a destroyed PAX convoy.

Above ground, infantry and vehicles fight across exposed streets and debris fields. Beneath the surface, storm drains and tunnels create a completely different experience, with tight corridors and close-range engagements that offer a safer route through the middle of the map.

Karat Plaza

Karat Plaza is built around a large public square surrounded by fountains and vegetation.

A destructible casino sign sits at the center of the objective and can dramatically change how the area plays once it comes down. Most fights happen at medium range around the plaza itself, while longer-range engagements tend to develop around the edges.

Art Deco

Heavy battle damage has ripped through the center of this hotel, leaving a collapsed interior filled with rubble.

Players can move through the remains of the building, fight room-to-room along its sides, or battle directly over the objective in the center. Ground vehicles often pressure the area around the objective, while infantry battles stay concentrated inside the structure itself.

Behind the Design

One of the team's biggest challenges was balancing the experience for both infantry and vehicles.

The Vegas Strip naturally serves as the center of the battlefield, creating a wide-open space that vehicles can take advantage of. Throughout development, the team focused on giving infantry more ways to move between objectives through alternate routes, interior spaces, and cover that helped break up the action.

Verticality was another key consideration. Rooftops, hotel rooms, and zipline routes all offer unique ways to approach an objective, but they also need clear counters. The goal was to give players options, encouraging movement around the map rather than funneling everyone into the same fights.

Playtesting reinforced the importance of making each section of the Strip feel distinct. Every casino lot was designed with its own character and combat rhythm, helping ensure that moving across the map feels like a journey through different parts of Las Vegas rather than a single continuous battlefield.

Tips From the Team

• Recon players can provide valuable intel, helping teammates navigate contested areas and coordinate attacks.
• Helicopters can use the city's skyline to reposition quickly and attack from unexpected angles.
• Don't charge straight down the Vegas Strip. Use cover, alternate routes, and squad support whenever possible.
• Secure rooftops and upper floors before pushing an objective.
• The destroyed PAX convoy can provide valuable cover when moving through the center of the map.
• Use vehicles to move quickly between objectives and avoid getting caught out in the open.

Area 51

Most people have heard of Area 51. Very few know what's supposed to be inside.

For Battlefield 6, the team used that setting to create a map that blends large-scale military combat with a hidden underground facility beneath the Nevada desert. Above ground, tanks, helicopters, and jets battle across the dry lakebed and surrounding mountains. Below ground, infantry squads fight through tunnels, laboratories, and classified research spaces.

Players can battle across the base above ground or push into the facility hidden beneath it. Both spaces play very differently, but they're constantly connected by the flow of the match. Players get a look beyond one of the world's most famous No Trespassing signs while fighting through a battlefield built around both vehicles and infantry.

Battle Breakdown

The Comms Area

Positioned on a hill overlooking the battlefield, the Comms Area gives defenders strong sightlines across nearby approaches.

The objective centers on a communications building and parking lot, making it a valuable position for infantry while also supporting aerial combat overhead.

Crash Site

A downed aircraft has turned this stretch of roadway into a major vehicle combat zone.

Ground vehicles frequently clash around the wreckage, while nearby hangars create opportunities for infantry players to move between cover and challenge advancing armor.

Helipad

Built into the mountainside, the Helipad serves as a powerful overwatch position.

Its elevation provides clear sightlines toward several objectives, making it a popular location for Recon players while also giving teams anti-air options to challenge enemy aircraft.

The Crater

The Crater is the center of the map's infantry experience.

A massive impact has exposed sections of the underground facility, creating a network of tunnels, garages, abandoned laboratories, and defensive positions beneath the desert surface. Three objectives are packed into this area, which keeps infantry in constant close-quarters combat as teams fight for control of the underground.

Aircraft Control Tower

The Aircraft Control Tower changes over the course of a match.

At the start of the match, the upper floors serve as a powerful sniper nest overlooking much of the battlefield. Leave it standing and defenders can lock down large sections of the map. Bring it down, and the fight shifts to the rubble below.

Climate Testing Hangars

The climate testing hangars offer two very different combat experiences.

The Hot Climate Hangar creates a constant battle between infantry and armored vehicles. A central platform gives infantry room to defend while vehicles circle the objective looking for openings. The Cold Climate Hangar narrows the focus with an infantry-heavy objective built around a testing facility filled with experimental aircraft.

Behind the Design

Area 51 was built to support two very different styles of Battlefield combat. Above ground, vehicles and aircraft have room to operate across the base and surrounding desert. Below ground, the fight shifts into tighter infantry-focused spaces hidden within the crater and underground facility.

The crater received particular attention throughout development. The team continued refining its tunnels, labs, and interior routes to create a connected infantry experience at the center of the map while keeping it closely tied to the larger battle happening above.

Playtesting also helped shape the air combat experience. Players enjoyed the scale of the battlefield and the ways aircraft could move through the surrounding mountains, leading the team to further develop those routes and create more opportunities for pilots to maneuver around the map.

At the same time, the underground areas earned strong feedback for their fast-paced infantry combat. The close proximity of the objectives keeps teams in the action and creates a very different tempo from the battles unfolding on the surface.

Tips From the Team

• Recon players can use the map's towers, ridgelines, and elevated positions to support teammates across multiple objectives.
• Engineers are especially valuable here, helping slow armored vehicle pushes and defend key objectives.
• Pilots should make use of the surrounding mountain range when moving around the battlefield.
• The Aircraft Control Tower is one of the most important objectives on the map. Securing it early can help your team maintain control of the surrounding area.
• If defenders lock down the tower, bringing it down can completely change the fight and force both teams to adapt.
• Keep pressure on the underground objectives. Holding the crater network can give your team a strong foothold in the center of the map.

Vegas Strip and Area 51 ask players to approach combat in very different ways. One rewards smart movement through a dense urban battlefield. The other splits the fight between open vehicle warfare and close-quarters combat underground. The more time you spend learning each map, the more routes, flanks, and opportunities you'll discover.

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