New map: Pathway

[Johannes]

http://springfiles.com/spring/spring-maps/pathway




Another map. Basically I wanted a big map which would allow for dynamic maneuvering and a wide selection of units. BA 1v1 and 2v2 were main targets, there isn't too much mexes on it despite the size. I think both bot and vehicle starts should work.

It's kinda like that thing Knorke was talking about, though the design is older than that.



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Also an update on Heartbreaker:
http://springfiles.com/spring/spring-maps/heartbreaker

Mex size lowered a bit, and graphics tweaked significantly.

HF!

[Pxtl]

a 14x14 1v1 with that much flat ground and vehicle-friendly ramps would support bot starts?

Is there something I'm missing here?

[Johannes]

There's a bit of bot-only cliffs on the west and east edges of the map, next to the starting base too.

Mostly it's the economic structure though that gives bots an edge. At the start there's not much metal to be had, so you can get a good force of ak/pw compared to what you can get in flash/gator. The starting mexes are far apart enough that it's not easy to just defend with comm or llts without setting yourself into a too defensive stance.
And the ramps direction heavily favors the attacker.

Overall bots work on a lot of flat maps that have the right circumstances, due to cheaper lab and m-cheapness of pw and conbots. Usually you play against it by either spamming cons and turrets (iffy here, there's not enough mexes close enough to take quickly) or by getting heavier units that can deal with the bots better (they are too slow to force any threat to the bot player here).

Slowness of conbots can be a significant problem though, with the mexes being so wide apart. And later you will want to switch to veh probably, or have both labs.

But of course it's mostly speculation atm, the map might just be big enought that bot attacks arrive too late, but I'm pretty confident it's not.

[Forboding Angel]

http://springfiles.com/spring/spring-maps/pathways-v04

-1 for name fail.

other than that, looks fairly solid. The colors are very drab though. Would do wonders for the map if the colors were more vibrant.

[1v0ry_k1ng]

looks like a good layout and I like the texture, but I think it would benefit from having contrast & saturation played with and/or the maps lighting played with. nice work!

[Cheesecan]

As mentioned before you need to fix the texture's saturation. Also looks like it's using the default detail texture which tiles when you zoom out because it's small.

Metal layout is too centered on the edges imho. It's easy to porc the openings especially since distances are long. It will mean that sending rocket kbots or rocket trucks will be slow, so takes forever to knock down llt spam. Even sending a jeffy across the map takes 50 seconds(I counted).

Ramps take long for vehicles to traverse, approximately 10 seconds for a jeffy. Consider decreasing the height difference a bit perhaps.

The knee-high water in the middle is a nice touch.

Overall I'd say it's an okay map but not a great one like Into battle.

[Lord_Hector]

looks like another decent and playable map, can never have too many :]

[knorke]

Played 1 xta game on it so far: http://replays.adune.nl/?3192
I kinda liked it gameplay wise, bit more varied colors would be nice indeed.
Startpositions were a bit of a surprise, I was expecting everybody to start in a corner.

[Johannes]

Metal layout is too centered on the edges imho. It's easy to porc the openings especially since distances are long. It will mean that sending rocket kbots or rocket trucks will be slow, so takes forever to knock down llt spam. Even sending a jeffy across the map takes 50 seconds(I counted).

I'm just interested to see how this'll play out. If someone comes up with a plan to solidly just defend & tech fast, that'd be cool but I don't see it happening. It's a bit slower paced in a way than usual, longer distances and smaller mexes, but there's still a ton of stuff going on. Maybe there could be a few mexes on the ridge more, but I wanted the resources focused on the sides because it leaves the center areas more open for maneuvering.

I don't think it's very easy to sensibly porc up very much though, turrets alone don't too do much against larger armies of anything. And big distances also make it often difficult to move army into defending position. Also note how the ramps favor the attacker, that's why the slopes are so steep too. And it's not too easy to get up a ton of turrets in a distant position, needs time or sending alot of cons.
Or as always a good response to turrets, strike another place or expand more yourself.
I'm not too happy about how long the rush distance is though, mostly because it makes for too long pause before you can scout enemy.

I'll try to get around to releasing a more polished version, same base texture but some messing with gimp + look into spring lightning settings, plus a fitting detailtex, was a bit hurried release. Not too soon though, when I've just moved (no internet at home yet), and I'd like to play a bit more to see if any gameplay changes are necessary. Plus it's summer.

pathway, pathways, forb it's totally different!

& thanks for the imput everyone!