I can think of plenty of reasons i ' ve dropped mines in locations that seem totally random , here ' s a few off the top of my head . Driving my ant , harassertank kills me but i jump out and attempt to tank mine around the area , he wipes me but one or several of the mines get left behind . Spawn locationcould have been a cloak sundy a little way from a constructed base , player tank mines around sundy , later moves and hasn ' t yet replaced mines . Max on the field , someone places some mines hoping to catch him , never happens . Being chased by another vehicle , round an obstacle , drop some mines hoping to catch vehicle behind me , move out , but he misses the minesbecause he gave up , died , or flanked . There are any number of scenarios where fighting may have occurred in the given area and the engineer had reason to think a vehiclemax may pass through the area . The area might be dead now , but it might not have always been .