New 10 way FFA map - Kolmogorov

[Beherith]

I was toying around with the graph representation of FFA maps, and i got this balanced 10way map out of it. Every spot has 3 neighbours, each connected with an expansion.
Road bonus is less than my usual ffa maps, only 30% because the map is smaller than usual.
Its 20*20, and most of the sea (except the direct coastline) is UNPASSABLE.
Also, tidal is 0, so dont try to run. If you get banished, your dead.
Height differences are greater than normal, yet kbots still pass all.
Texture made purely in carrara this time, and heightmap is World Machine 2.1 basic (free edition).

Enjoy!

Screenies:




Maplink:

http://spring.jobjol.nl/show_file.php?id=2126

[smoth]

2 happy faces!

[Strategia]

Looks excellent, and I think it'd make for an interesting 2-way or 4-way team map as well.

I just played a 3-way (corner v. centre v. corner) SP game, it works very well.

[hunterw]

your most balanced FFA map yet - everyone has a "wall". it'll probably be good for NOTA too

[Strategia]

it'll probably be good for NOTA too

Actually, that's what I tested it with. The expansion metal is just outside comm con range.

[Beherith]

Finally got to play a few on it :)
Games are usually over in 30 mins, quick and zippy; start points seem very well balanced, and overall the map looks quite nice with some action going on:

[kburts]

AMAZING MAP 10/10.

played a ffa on it... ALLOT of waiting...
id say that the island corners are the best becasue its more difficult to hover rush you, but all in all VERY balanced good gameplay, thanks a whole lot!

[Google_Frog]

The walls aren't high enough to make it perfectly balanced and even then there would be spiders. Could you just have made it a bit smaller instead of using typemaps? They tend to break games.

[Beherith]

The walls aren't high enough to make it perfectly balanced and even then there would be spiders. Could you just have made it a bit smaller instead of using typemaps? They tend to break games.

The mountains are passable by all kbots, that is intentional, but because they are so tall, almost 600 higher than the flats, they are much slower than the +30% roads. Perfect balance is hard to achieve, and its boring as well, it limits options too much imo.
You know I like large maps, not the least because ba has a guardian(and in general longer ranges than CA), and I didnt want to make it so that you could plunk down a guardian in an expansion and shell the enemy base.
I specced/played around 7 games last night, and what I found to be the best quality of this map is, that in the first 20 minutes, very few players die, but the game is usually over by 35 minutes, giving newbies ample playtime as well. Mearth and Dworld usually half their player count by 15 minutes, and the game draws on to more than 45. Also, with sea porc being disabled, there is nowhere to run.

[Jazcash]

Looks like 2 happy siamese twins joined at the chin. Nice :D

[Beherith]

Didnt notice that till smoth pointed it out

[Gota]

Why wouldn't you want a guardian to be used ?
It never gets used anyway...hell even in an FFA I wouldn't build it in BA.
Kinda hard to believe you were actually afraid someone would use a guardian..
If anything id be encouraging it's use...
When you build a guardian,especially for it's price in BA It's use is very very limited especially on big maps.
The bigger the map the less effective it gets cause it covers a smaller % of the map with it's range..
Good map,personally i wouldn't use typemaps.

[knorke]

not played it yet.
i like the layout, dont like typemaps.
texture is ok but it could be more interessting instead of just mirroring. like dirt&rock in the south and grass in the north or something.
like this: http://spring.jobjol.nl/show_file.php?id=453 just with dirt and grass.
digitial divide (http://spring.jobjol.nl/show_file.php?id=196) also uses two colors and imo it seems much nicer to look at this way.

[smoth]

not a bad thing, tis a good thing.

[1v0ry_k1ng]

you sir, are an officer and a gentleman

[Dragon45]

Hmmm, Kolmogorov, eh? The map seems to be of a rather irreducibly complex nature, mm yes?

[Saktoth]

Typemaps arent just about travel times, thats not why they break balance. They break balance because when a fast unit is balanced vs a ranged unit, if you give it more speed, the ranged unit has less time to react and get off free shots before the fast unit is in range itself and starts firing. This is especially so of defenses which cannot use the speed bonus to run away themselves. Units can rush past defenses more easily, close range with artillery, engage or escape from enemies, all faster than the game is designed for.

If hovers can go in the sea, that does make the start positions imbalanced. There may not be tidals but there are still sea fusions, which are harder to get in BA but in CA hiding fusions underwater is a big part of FFA on hunters etc. I cant really speak for the games you've played, but the players surviving to 20 minutes and dying at 35 is probably more a virtue of the type of players you have than the map. Ill have to play it though.

[Beherith]

Yes, I know what typemaps do to balance, Ive made quite a few maps that use them. This is all intentional, and careful thought goes into choosing them. I just think this adds to ffa games, I dont care if it breaks "perfect" balance, this is how the map is intended to be played.

When whining about typemaps, everyone seems to forget that DSD has one as well...

Ranged units also get speed boost. Also, the map has very big height differences, so now thats breaking arty balance? As a map maker I reserve the right to mix up the balance a bit to serve my gameplay direction intentions. You, as a smart player, are given the opportunity to use this to your advantage.

Hovers cant go sea.

Deep sea has a typemap of 0 for all classes, so no porc there, unless you go the trouble of building a seaplane lab and making fusions with seaplane cons. Hell, if you go that far, enjoy your porc!

Ive played hundreds of ffas on all kinds of maps, and yes, I wanted to try to eliminate the sea porc thing. It draws out way too long. If you want sea porc, play Neurope or Mearth or Dworld.

And the not perfect balance thing: perfect balance is boring as hell, noone wants it. Imo in every players heart theres a little hope that he gets "the good spot". Thats what makes a small variation fun.

Yes, many players surviving wasnt exclusive to lower avg skill, it happened with similar playerbase composition as the usual ffa games, but it gives all players an opportunity to play sim base, or kill stuff, or whatever they feel like doing. As maps like dworld and mearth have spots that are like: make 10 flash asap, kill enemy comm, then porc.

That doesnt work so well here, firstly because of the decreased typemap boost, and secondly because you have 2 other neighbours who might exploit the fact that you have nothing in your base and will pop you.

[CCBlackmilk]

Yes, I know what typemaps do to balance, Ive made quite a few maps that use them. This is all intentional, and careful thought goes into choosing them. I just think this adds to ffa games, I dont care if it breaks "perfect" balance, this is how the map is intended to be played.

When whining about typemaps, everyone seems to forget that DSD has one as well...

Ranged units also get speed boost. Also, the map has very big height differences, so now thats breaking arty balance? As a map maker I reserve the right to mix up the balance a bit to serve my gameplay direction intentions. You, as a smart player, are given the opportunity to use this to your advantage.

Hovers cant go sea.

Deep sea has a typemap of 0 for all classes, so no porc there, unless you go the trouble of building a seaplane lab and making fusions with seaplane cons. Hell, if you go that far, enjoy your porc!

Ive played hundreds of ffas on all kinds of maps, and yes, I wanted to try to eliminate the sea porc thing. It draws out way too long. If you want sea porc, play Neurope or Mearth or Dworld.

And the not perfect balance thing: perfect balance is boring as hell, noone wants it. Imo in every players heart theres a little hope that he gets "the good spot". Thats what makes a small variation fun.

Yes, many players surviving wasnt exclusive to lower avg skill, it happened with similar playerbase composition as the usual ffa games, but it gives all players an opportunity to play sim base, or kill stuff, or whatever they feel like doing. As maps like dworld and mearth have spots that are like: make 10 flash asap, kill enemy comm, then porc.

That doesnt work so well here, firstly because of the decreased typemap boost, and secondly because you have 2 other neighbours who might exploit the fact that you have nothing in your base and will pop you.

amen and that's the power of scouting.