New Maps - Tau10 and Tau10Dry

[hunterw]

Tau10








Tau10Dry






I want to crop the top 2 units off these maps to make 16x14 4v4 maps but I'm having trouble resizing the 16bit .raw and with mapconv vomiting out weird glitchy textures.



Here's Saktoth's original idea from which this map is based upon:

[Hoi]

In before dsd remakes:)

Looks nice

[Regret]

Seems promising.

A part for each style. Kbots top, vehicle middle, sea bottom, air all over.

[Forboding Angel]

Part of me wants to poo poo this right off the bat for the dsdness but on the other hand it's more like a combination of dsd and okiriver which might actually be really cool.

It's not very pretty though :-/

When .77 comes out you should add worldbuilder features to it.

I'd have to play it to make an accurate assessment, however, it looks promising

[RogerN]

I'm having trouble resizing the 16bit .raw

Since RAW files are stored top-to-bottom with no header and no compression, you can just delete the first 262,400 bytes from the file (1025 width * 128 height * 2 bytes per pixel). That will crop off the top 2 units. Any old binary file editor should be able to handle that.

[Jasper1984]

Where can you walk onto the north plateau? Only via the middle, or also the sides? If it is the middle, people might try rush there. Alternatively just use air to get on top, or making a factory on the plateau by putting the commander on the downside of the cliff.

Looks ok, maybe a little empty.

[Gota]

Well this is a cool map but just more of the same really.
How about some diversity,something except an almost symatrical right vs left or top vs buttom game?
Complete asymatry or some interesting heightmap ideas...
Make it weird but in such a way so it still remains very fun playable and replayable.

[hunterw]

I'm having trouble resizing the 16bit .raw

Since RAW files are stored top-to-bottom with no header and no compression, you can just delete the first 262,400 bytes from the file (1025 width * 128 height * 2 bytes per pixel). That will crop off the top 2 units. Any old binary file editor should be able to handle that.

Oh man, good advice! Will do.

making a factory on the plateau by putting the commander on the downside of the cliff.

This is a good strat, but be careful to build the factory diagonally away from the cliff edge or you'll have to wait a long ass time for it to terraform.

[hunterw]

Well this is a cool map but just more of the same really.
How about some diversity,something except an almost symatrical right vs left or top vs buttom game?
Complete asymatry or some interesting heightmap ideas...
Make it weird but in such a way so it still remains very fun playable and replayable.

i disagree with pretty much all of this...

the basic idea behind this map is Saktoth's - from bottom to top, a different unit is emphasized - ship, hover, tank, kbot, air. all these battlefields are segregated from each other, lending itself more to a series of 1v1s moving back and forth rather than a cooperatively-held front. at the same time, if one player can push his adversary back far enough, they can feed through behind other enemies' front lines.

high ground doesn't result in extreme advantage like most maps, as most plateaus have a sort of lip ridge that prevents porc spamming and encourages airlifts. kbot slopes are extremely plentiful and are marked with a visual cue. the shallows offer some more interesting unit combinations that are rarely seen, ie subs vs flash and the like. they also allow a route for an enemy flagship to attack all enemy start spots. i even put a hover/amphib only path in the middle, something i've only seen in tangerine. it's pretty much every heightmap trick out of my bag plus a few new ones.

asymmetry and team maps don't mix well. all popular team maps are nearly symmetric.

imo the map plays very different from everything else - maybe too different. i've been underwhelmed by the gameplay thus far, but further games are needed.

i haven't even played dry.

[Saktoth]

Looks good ill give it a try.

I think you're going to be far more likely to see airdrops or building a fac from the bottom of the flats than a serious air battle. In CA, you might see AT wars, but the terrain is mostly flat once you get up there, there are no serious cliffs running top-to-bottom seperating one side from the other, only left-to-right seperating allies from lending support.

[Gota]

Well this is a cool map but just more of the same really.
How about some diversity,something except an almost symatrical right vs left or top vs buttom game?
Complete asymatry or some interesting heightmap ideas...
Make it weird but in such a way so it still remains very fun playable and replayable.

i disagree with pretty much all of this...

the basic idea behind this map is Saktoth's - from bottom to top, a different unit is emphasized - ship, hover, tank, kbot, air. all these battlefields are segregated from each other, lending itself more to a series of 1v1s moving back and forth rather than a cooperatively-held front. at the same time, if one player can push his adversary back far enough, they can feed through behind other enemies' front lines.

high ground doesn't result in extreme advantage like most maps, as most plateaus have a sort of lip ridge that prevents porc spamming and encourages airlifts. kbot slopes are extremely plentiful and are marked with a visual cue. the shallows offer some more interesting unit combinations that are rarely seen, ie subs vs flash and the like. they also allow a route for an enemy flagship to attack all enemy start spots. i even put a hover/amphib only path in the middle, something i've only seen in tangerine. it's pretty much every heightmap trick out of my bag plus a few new ones.

asymmetry and team maps don't mix well. all popular team maps are nearly symmetric.

imo the map plays very different from everything else - maybe too different. i've been underwhelmed by the gameplay thus far, but further games are needed.

i haven't even played dry.

With what didnt you agree?
There are many maps which are similair in the way they feel.
DS,DSD,tabula,tempest,tropical,the rock,therockjungle,oki river,tumult.
Those are very common and very played maps.
There werent many attempets made to make an asymatrical big team map.
or with some interesting starting locations.
Ill give you one example for an asymatrical map,RiverDale,it used to be played tons but its visual quality is way under today's standards for spring maps,it also has a not too good heightmap but the concept itself is fun because its not symatrical at all.
Im just saying there is room for such maps as well but any quality map is of course great and the more the better.

[Forboding Angel]

Ill give you one example for an asymatrical map,RiverDale,it used to be played tons but its visual quality is way under today's standards for spring maps,it also has a not too good heightmap but the concept itself is fun because its not symatrical at all.

Metal layout is totally borked. I suppose I could remake it, but I've retextured it before and was underwhelmed with the results. I suppose I could try again, but motivation is a factor...

[hunterw]

With what didnt you agree?
There are many maps which are similair in the way they feel.
DS,DSD,tabula,tempest,tropical,the rock,therockjungle,oki river,tumult.

Nevermind, if your threshold for maps feeling similar is that wide then I don't disagree

[Decimator]

Any chance of a 24x24 version?

[KaiserJ]

i found this map to be pretty sexy (tau10, havent tried the dry version)

as far as comparing the gameplay to other maps goes, i would say this plays more like altored than dsd... as was said, it's set up a bit more for individual 1v1 battles, moving up each corridor... if you win your section and your opponent porcs, you can spread to either side and look for a weak spot; i've watched a few battles and the first 20 minutes or so is generally spent in 1v1 struggles, after which people tend to spread their forces out a bit more (after a player dies, or someone techs up)

not sure how i feel about the top path, i make a vehicle factory up onto the ledge at the start of the last game i played that spot, so it's not necessarily an "air" start.

if i were to make a change to the map myself, it would be to add some small hills or features running top to bottom through the centre three paths, it would slow the progress of players across the map a bit and force a little bit more teamplay IMO, as well as making a kbot start in those areas feasible. (however, this might make the gameplay a bit more "generic"; possibly a bad idea)

apart from that; im a big fan of this map and look forwards to playing it a lot more often.

cheers!

[hunterw]

Any chance of a 24x24 version?

i can u/l all the source files for this map if u guys want

[AF]

does nobody else nto see the glaring resemblance to an existing map?

[hunterw]

does nobody else nto see the glaring resemblance to an existing map?

please enlighten us as obviously we havent unless you think its similar to 20x10 DSD

[pintle]

does nobody else nto see the glaring resemblance to an existing map?

please enlighten us as obviously we havent unless you think its similar to 20x10 DSD

Its extremely (aesthetically) similar to Oki River.

Going back to comments about no symmetrical maps: riverdale is my favourite spring map, and Bluebend is another one which i really love. The terrain dictates the game dynamic/player interaction to a far greater degree than 90% of maps (that said, i love comet too).

This looks to me to basically be another one of "those" maps tbh. Please dont take this the wrong way hunter, i really appreciate the consistently quality maps you give the community, I'm just not particularly excited by this one I guess.

I suppose what I would really like to see from you is a series of 1v1 maps (have you made any that i have somehow missed?)

[hunterw]

Its extremely (aesthetically) similar to Oki River.

god i hope not

This looks to me to basically be another one of "those" maps tbh. Please dont take this the wrong way hunter, i really appreciate the consistently quality maps you give the community, I'm just not particularly excited by this one I guess.

yeah i didnt end up liking it either, just another meh map

it ended up being a good proof of concept but the concept didnt end up being fun, at least not to me

I suppose what I would really like to see from you is a series of 1v1 maps (have you made any that i have somehow missed?)

terra is the closest thing I have to one, but its a handful for only 2 players. i'm totally inexperienced with 1v1 so don't expect much out of me when i do make them