Spring RTS Engine

after having a quick go:

it could work if:
the mazeyness was less complex(so you can see a clear route to the enemy

the pathways were wider so things didn't get trapped/stuck at wreckages and mexxes. if each passageway was about 4 or 5 kbot factory widths (24-30 ??) it might give enough room to manouever.

the trouble with them being too narrow will be that it'll be far too easy to defend against any ground attack ass the attacker won't ever be able to get enough units within range quickly enough (or ever!) to do the damage.

the starting areas were about 4x the area

a symmetrical layout (up/down & side to side) could be good for this one

perhaps a better layout/desing might be to foget the idea of completely surrounding bases/expansions with walls and having them as the only 'flat bits' you can build on in the trenches. they don't necessarily need to be any wider than the trenches themselves, assuming you make the trenches larger.

also think about whether you want the tops of the walls to be buildable or not (eg the pass)

keep it simple to start with until you're happy with the layout

looks interesting, willing to test it.

1 thing, map is too dark.

nother thing, map is green (too many green maps already, or red/metal ones for that matter).

you may try, in addition to that maze i dont know its scale, one in which the maze walls, are like.. aorund 2.5 kbot labs wide. (so you get another, upper, maze) but not good to start there..

not huge map.. 12x12 i suggest, maybe 14. (walls make it much bigger).

e: now ive read the post, and will be testing it soon.

just by looking, the maze passages are too small, making the hole map a chokepoint.. not fun usually, as defenses in higher places will prevent reclaiming.. blah.

I insist in a much simpler (and wider, ample, simplified maze) map, like a scaled up version of the best part of this maze, fitting the original 14x14.

This map is beyond constructive critisism.

Das Bruce wrote:This map is beyond constructive critisism.

This Man is beyond constructive critisism. And it is fine that way...

Looks more like a labyrinth to me than any trenches, have you actually seen a trench?
They don't look like that. See this is a trench:


Anyway you'll want to increase the scale of it so that units can actually fit and render it with a more impressive texture, this one looks like just blocks of color with the spring detailmap overlaid on the two different textures.

I'm not going to download it until you do this as it looks practically unplayable atm. Sorry to be so honest. If you feel offended then maybe you should try making more standard type maps, where there is a given formula for success. Starting with complicated ideas like this one is a good way to get fed up with mapping after you get a lot of criticism here.

I agree. The trenches should be straight and placed in lines with a few intersections between each line. A labyrinth design just isn't a very good one. Also, try to make the trenches wide enough to get through two standard-sized lvl 2 kbots shoulder-to-shoulder. Trenches are crammed, and the should be. Perhaps some parts could be a bit wider and some even less wide, to add some level of strategy?

Charlemagne wrote:I agree. The trenches should be straight and placed in lines with a few intersections between each line. A labyrinth design just isn't a very good one. Also, try to make the trenches wide enough to get through two standard-sized lvl 2 kbots shoulder-to-shoulder. Trenches are crammed, and the should be. Perhaps some parts could be a bit wider and some even less wide, to add some level of strategy?

yeah but traffic jams = teh boredom

unpossible wrote:

Charlemagne wrote:I agree. The trenches should be straight and placed in lines with a few intersections between each line. A labyrinth design just isn't a very good one. Also, try to make the trenches wide enough to get through two standard-sized lvl 2 kbots shoulder-to-shoulder. Trenches are crammed, and the should be. Perhaps some parts could be a bit wider and some even less wide, to add some level of strategy?

yeah but traffic jams = teh boredom

Yeah, pathfiding might be a problem, as would wreckage, but no trench warfare is ever complete without artillery charges swooshing overhead, so those problems could easily be fixed =P

It looks like epic. Ie, Easy to porc, Easy to turn into a stalemate, And easy to get-bored-and-quit-half-way-through-because-your-previous-5-armies-were-destroyed-by-2-llts-and-a-bottleneck.

Drone just put out the main reason why WW One was one of the more pointless wars in history. At least with this map you can quit half the way through, rather then wait for five years as millions of people are killed!

Actually the influenza killed more people. Oh wait, I'm getting off topic. This map sounds like a proc fest, and though its a cool idea, I really think it dosn't make good game play. I mean trench war fare is just not fun. Not that other kind of war fare are really, well, fun.

haha, i had a similar idea before...

But i would prbly agree with smoth, widen the paths and some more build space is needed...

A more Sensible trench warfare would be two flat bottomed "u's" with ramps leading upto a middle area:
U is Trench, with small ramps every now and then, A and V are ramps up, and the middle of the map is no mans land. The space behind the trenchs is buildspace.

Edit:

Something like that, Connect the lines. The foum hates formatting :O

get some MS Paint skillz foo'

WW1 wasn't very exciting alright. I played a HL mod called The Trenches and it was pure dullness. You'd run out onto the battlefield (there was no cover) and get sniped. Run out, get sniped. Eventually with about 20 of your doing this one side would get bored and let a few slip through. It was incredibly mindless.

The Battlegrounds (an american civil war mod) had a similar map style but the fact that the weapons were single shot, innacurate at range and had 12 second reload times meant it worked alot better.

Molloy wrote:WW1 wasn't very exciting alright. I played a HL mod called The Trenches and it was pure dullness. You'd run out onto the battlefield (there was no cover) and get sniped. Run out, get sniped. Eventually with about 20 of your doing this one side would get bored and let a few slip through. It was incredibly mindless.

but thats just realistic

Imperator wrote:

Molloy wrote:WW1 wasn't very exciting alright. I played a HL mod called The Trenches and it was pure dullness. You'd run out onto the battlefield (there was no cover) and get sniped. Run out, get sniped. Eventually with about 20 of your doing this one side would get bored and let a few slip through. It was incredibly mindless.

but thats just realistic

realistic is driving to work for 30 minutes every morning...but that's hardly fun in a computer game

simple layout will win the day, with a few flat places to build on. maybe some of min's ghey paint skillzored layout can work on the top/bottom of the map to add a bit more variety too...but only if he makes the texture for the whole map in paint too.

I would like a good trench-warfare map. My mind works like a WW1 military captain; train up lots of units, then send 'em in a big massive attack! Of course, it would only be effective if small, lvl 1 units were used, like peewees and AKs.

I once tried making a trench warfare map for Dawn of War; failed due to technical problems, but I reckon the layout was pretty spiffy. I'll draw it up as a concept for yous to looksies at.

EDIT: Have done a pretty spiffy concept drawing, so I'm putting up another topic for comments. (This thread is more about this particular map; mine is a concept I want some ideas about)

Ahhh, bugger it. I'll post it here, for your convenience:

Deviantart link



Well, this is my idea. What does thou lot thinketh?

(Thanks to Imageshack for hosting, TBH)

EDIT: It would probably be a lot bigger than that, TBH; I just drew in the kbots because I wanted to)

problem is it'll just be whoever grabs the high ground will win. somehow for this concept to work there has to be an advantage to staying on the low ground. bit wide trenches and unbuildable high ground would do the trick

unpossible wrote:problem is it'll just be whoever grabs the high ground will win. somehow for this concept to work there has to be an advantage to staying on the low ground. bit wide trenches and unbuildable high ground would do the trick

What about if the high ground in the middle... were LOW ground? Ahhh. It would be a valuable resource, but a bit harder to hold, and it wouldn't ensure victory for definite. Especially with artillery on the cliffs.

Artillery on the back, firing onto no-man's land, whilst armies of peewees and aks, backed up with tanks, rush each other. Now THAT's warfare. :D