Notocrypta v1.0 [1v1 map]

[Pxtl]

Curious: is there any good effect for high-elevation lava? It seems like mappers are trying to make impassable regions on top of mountains with maps like this and Hells Pass, but graphically they look like normal high-elevation terrain. Hells Pass has a void that is not graphically obvious - the gameplay effect would be useful on this map, but without a visible effect stopping players, it would just cause confusion as all-terrain units would fail to climb the apparently-passable terrain.

[smoth]

I really like this change.

[Aqo]

The map has been playtested and finalized; You can now download Version 2 (moon):
[Download NotocryptaMoon.sd7]

12x12
Two main paths from one base to another, through surface and water.
Each player's base breaks into four sections. Only one is highly exposed and that is the north section. All sections are connected through your start location section.
There are 25 metal mines per player, with one neutral mine in the middle.

You can and probably should place turrets on the cliffs to cut your enemy's movement. To take down those turrets you have to use either rocket units or aircraft. You can also place radars up there.

The edge cliffs are a good place to hide fusion reactors and other fragile high tech.

With the open space in the north, the small kbot hole, the water in the back choke, which also has several very close metal extractors, and all those side cliffs, this map should support gameplay using all types of units... kbots, tanks, hovercraft, aircraft, etc.

Have fun!

[SirArtturi]

you can use jpg files for the main texture, instead
of bmp files.

I wouldnt use jpg if you want lossless textures. I suggest png and tga

edit:
What comes to the map. It's really fail because of the metalmap/layout. 3.2 / sec is definitely too much for metal income and the metal spots are spread around so that it really doesn't encourage for fight over areas, more over porcing at base and building spammage army...



Ps. Why don't you upload your map to jobjol ? http://spring.jobjol.nl/

[Aqo]

I'll upload the map once I get a satisfying version that people would like to play on. I want to hear more comments first.

How comes 3.2 is too much? In Comet Catcher you get 2.3 per metal patch, 3.2 is a 40% increase from 2.3 which means that 5 points on my map give as much metal as 7 points on Comet Catcher, where points are a lot more common and condensed. 3.2 looks like a lot because of the 3 but it really isn't that much.

As for fighting over areas, this is pretty much how the map is divided:


As for lack of fighting over areas, I see where you're coming from that if the opponent captures your side of 5 you're pretty much screwed and it becomes a linear battle (unless you aimed on getting hovercrafts in 2 way faster and managed to pull it off), and it appears that 3&4 and very easy to defend.
Maybe I should push the hill between 1 and 4 towards 7 so that it cuts 5, and create a choke path between 4 and 6?

If both players have equal control of 5, 6&7&2&3 are all going to be highly valuable for both players to fight over, but if one player catches 5 it gets somewhat linear. Maybe I could just clear all metal mines from 5 and add more to 7 and, 4/6, and 2?

Or maybe I should widen the Kbot hole, which is too thin than to be useful after 5 minutes, and add another thin hole between 2 and 2?

[BlueFrost]

cause for 3.2 u dont have to expand as much right off the bat. u can jus get 5 mexs and pump some e and there u go 6 nanos and porc already within 10 mins. only reason comet works is cause its wide open and takes lots to defend. id up the tidal, lower wind, and make each mex produce 2.3 or 2.1

[Aqo]

Wait what? Are you seriously going to only have 5 mexes after 10 minutes? I'd have over 10 mexes in 5 minutes on this... (on gamespeed 1.0, normally I play 2.0 so make that 2.5 minutes)
This /is/ a 1v1 map, you have to be aggressive while expanding a lot, can't expect to slowly tech in the back on low econ.

Anyway, here's a modification I'm going to try:


Who's up for 1v1? I'd like to actually test this with anyone here.

Here's a download for another version where I lowered the metal amount and changed the metal locations while trying to have more support for expansion fighting: Download

[Gota]

I tested the alpha i think.
#1 do not compress the texture and use the best image format to preserve quality.
#2 less metal...leave patch numers the same but reduce metal imo.
A 20% reduction in mex output would do it.
wind is very high as well ...guess its ok though.

[smoth]

Yan, the map format is more lossy then jpg. Odds are the compression was set too high.

[Decimator]

And 7zipping it does a nice job of compressing the map anyway.

[hunterw]

quite a marked improvement in the heightmap's realism and the texture map, well done

[Argh]

you can use jpg files for the main texture, instead
of bmp files.

When the map's compiled, it's always turned into DDS DXT1, which is the only DDS format I ever got working 100% correctly using the compressor tools, at least on other people's computers. And the DDS compression settings for the big tiles can be jacked up a bit without a lot of noticeable problems, if you're using user's version of MapConverter.

IOW, it doesn't matter one bit what your source format is, so long as you can get MapConverter, or user's version, to work.

But the less-lossy the format, the better results you should expect, and the faster the map compiler works, because of the way it chews up the giant color bitmap as it sorts the tiles. I use TIF, but BMP or RAW are all good choices. If you use TIF, make sure to flatten it before compiling, of course.

Just FYI.

[Forboding Angel]

send me the heightmap and I'll do it.

[BlueFrost]

na wat i was saying is, u can still fight aganst someone who trys to expand more but has slower production. if i have 5 mexs and 5 nanos on my lab, and my opponent has 2 nanos and 14 mexs, i can still win and push him back with high econ mex spots.

[Gota]

If ull ever make another verison id suggest making the passage betwen 2 sides more in between the 2 starting points and not clsoe to the middle.
And make it passable by kbot only.

[Saktoth]

Even at 2.0, thats a lot of mexes for a 1v1.

The way comet works is that firstly, it has no wind. This means you have to invest a lot more m into solars in order to spend that m. This slows down your economy somewhat as compared to a windy map. Whats your wind here?

Secondly, comet is wide open. This means you can raid easily and mexes are hard to defend. You defend with large mobile forces and you're constantly trading blows with the enemy. On a porcier map such as this one, it'd be much easier to secure your metal, throw up some defenses and just focus on tech and econ.

[Aqo]

The whole point of this amount of mexes is to reduce porcing, as when someone porcs the other player can just expand all over the map and outeconomy him. It's only relatively easy to defend your initial location, which doesn't give you all the mexes you could have if you otherwise expanded.

[Gota]

u dont need crayz m amounts ot make it less porcy
jsut make les mexes at back more at front and in open places or places a player can get to easily. you ca neven put mexes in the water on the right upper side.