Project: Gauss By Flying Shoe ILR "The Horse You Rode In On Just Got An Upgrade." So you are probably thinking I couldn't have picked a worse vehicle to base a map around. The Gauss Hog: It is ridiculously powerful, extremely accurate over a large shot radius, has a high rate of fire, moves around fast, and even shoots through most objects (I'm giving Bungie a little shout out right now for that totally not annoying bug. At least it made for fun playing Battleships.) Most maps that have even one of these fire-spitting monsters are huge BTB style maps with tons of rockets, splazors, and tanks to try to make up for these traits. Because of this, the Gauss Hog has gained a bad reputation as a vehicle only found in mini-games and noob maps, with no competitive place in Reach. Wrong. Well, hopefully wrong. I have done my best with this map to fight the ever-looming problems this vehicle creates, and I think with a little spit, polish, and a lot of testing it might work (or fail tremendously, but let's start with a little optimism.) While most maps follow the same formula with this vehicle, I thought it was a good time to mix things up a little bit: -Gauss is designed for a maximum of 8 players, with a large focus on infantry having safety from the hog. The Hog is very open from spawn, making it a dangerous choice to take as if it dies, at least half your team is guaranteed to go with it. And with two players in the hog, you have only two others to work the other weapons and objectives on the map. -There are a lot of corners and buildings to slip in and out of on Gauss, making it harder to land those shots on players. Cover is abundant except near power weapons, which include 1 sniper, a grenade launcher, a plasma pistol, and an evade for dodging shots with. Corners are also hard to take in the hog, so careful, precise driving is crucial. Here are a few pictures to get you acquainted with the design. I will provide an overview shot if asked: The main courtyard in front of Red base close up and in front of Blue in the background. The opposite side of the map, featuring the sniper hallway and part of the low road where the Gauss Hog spawns. The hallway along Red base. One of the extremely useful plasma grenades is here, along with a needler. The tunnel by Blue base, featuring entrances to both it and to the central office building and to the plasma pistol. Now one obvious issue from the start was the fact that gauss shots pass through most objects. However, through experiments I have found every item that will absorb a shot as well as a way to proof other items cheaply, if not quite efficiently. Through this I have been able to proof most of the maps walls and cover from gauss shots, allowing for safety inside most buildings and even in the open courtyards. Here is a post on how to block the Gauss Hog an what pieces/ methods can be used to do so. Finally, as a show of good faith, I will be allowing you to download the current version of the map to look around yourself. Any problems you find are appreciated, though remember this is the first version of the map I am testing. Here is the Link. I do know about the slight framerate from Red base already, and I also know of the few walls that have yet to be proofed. It will come, and hopefully all problems can be fixed in the end. If they can't and the Gauss Hog ends up just being too much (something I will fight but will not rule out) I have a backup plan: a second version of the map replacing the Gauss with a Chain Hog and getting rid of the pricey choices I made to proof the walls for gauss shots. I will hopefully release both after extensive testing. Thank you for reading all of this, I hope we can see very soon how this will play out!
I was just thinking the same thing. If your going to surprise us by not putting pics for now, at least have a description, or general hint, as to what it is. its not really a map preview, more like a picture of a gauss warthog DETAILS!
I know, I'll have full info up tonight or tomorrow. I just wanted to do do a little teaser first. Stupid, but I thought I'd try it. This is my newest side-project, designed to try new concepts in order to balance the usually ridiculous Gauss Hog. I'll have more as soon as I have some free time, so bear with me for now.
You fool, those can shoot through objects! LOL, just kidding. I look forward to seeing everyone's reactions once they actually see a bit more of the map. Yes people, that is a gauss hog, and it's on a map.
I really like what you're trying to do here. It is so hard to make a Gauss Hog a useful part of the map while not making it an instant win for the controlling team. The map looks really solid. It's like Turf+Headlong+District. Even if the whole Gauss Hog thing doesn't work, you've got a really nice map here. If you ever need a tester just throw me an invite.
OhHhHHHHH boy, this will take a loooong time to get right, but I have confidence in you Shoe! When's the testing start?
Testing begins ASAP. I am setting it up for another gametype or two first, but I'll be starting today. Update: All outdoor walls are now gauss-proofed! I dug around for extra budget and blocks, something I will continue to do to fight the framerate issues.
This map looks awesome and cleanly forged, I am especially interested in how the gauss will play. If balanced you would definitely have achieved an amazing feat by any standards. I don't think you need it but if you ever need a tester please feel free to invite me or friend me (GT: X2Sora).
Might you also be aware that Rocks are gauss-proof as well? I understand the theme you're trying to accomplish, and I applaud you for that, but using some strategically placed rocks might do some good. It's better to have a map that plays well than to have a map that looks great, but has some makor flaws. I hope that this works, as i'd love to see a map that uses the Gauss hogs. P.S. I'd love to help test if you need some help.
I did, and there are quite a few rocks in the first picture. I guess I'll get on that list then and then get on to finish it up for testing. Edit: List is finished and linked to in description.
Why do you need to gauss proof the outside walls? That just leads off into Forge world, correct? So use the pieces that you're using those for and let them shoot out into the world all they want.
By outside walls I meant ones blocking the inside of the building from the outside of them. I didn't proof any walls leading out into FW, nor any walls only separating one inside area from another, which is what I meant above by outside walls.
This looks really interesting. To be honest I'm a little surprised, I expected the game play to be based around being in the warthog, but you went the other route which actually seems pretty neat. The only thing that seems like it might be tricky is that if you are making it risky to take the gauss, it might be hard to avoid making it too risky where nobody will even use it.
I really enjoy what I see from this so far, I'm glad your trying to gauss proof everything and make it actually worth playing it with a gauss hog on the map. The gauss hog is a beast always was even before the going through most objects glitch, this and the scorpion are quite deadly in the right hands. I'll definately download the version your letting us look at and I thank you for doing so, I always enjoy your maps solo, coforge,. I'm really liking the base designs and the height variation you added here, this should make gameplay quite different no matter how many games you play. If you need another tester hit me up GT: SilentRaine this looks like alot of fun.
It has massive amounts of screenlag. I could not see what I was doing half of the time. And some areas feel really cramped, and a few other a bit cluttered, like the entrance to that one hallway with four upside down turned door pieces in the middle of it. The really narrow entrances to the mid room are the worst parts, in terms of "crampness".
The screen lag was bad, though I never had it to the point I couldn't play. The parts I have t use to block the shots unfortunately cause most of it, so it's likely the Gauss version will never be free of framerate. I think I can mess around with the red base entrance, and the middle base maybe as well. I agree, I don't like walking in those areas. I have some ideas. Overall, I think the Chain Hog version is quickly becoming the main version. While the Gauss Hog can be fun, I don't think anything will make it less of a death machine than it is now without making it completely useless. I still enjoy playing it, and it is probably the best I have seen one play, (based on past experience) but it isn't competitive most of the time. I will continue to test both, but I will probably focus on Chain more for the freedom I have to work on it while avoiding framerate and the problems the Gauss Hog brings. Gauss will be an alternate version of the map instead.