Solar Created by [user]chrstphrbrnnn[/user] Recommended Players: 2 Required Gametype: Smackdown Welcome, gentlefolk, to Solar, this week's 1v1 Smackdown map (Round 4). This map, spawned from the creative mind of the infamous chrstphrbrnnn, is an inversely symmetric beauty. Chrstphrbrnnn has been an established forger since glory days of Halo 3, coming up with inventive design ideas, and interesting map layouts. Solar fully benefits from his creative and sometimes unorthodox style of map design. The name of Solar's game is control, and that's what players will be fighting for; the map is filled to the absolute brim with desirable weapons and powerups, such as camouflage, rockets, and two grenade launchers (Pro-Pipes, for you cool kids out there). Verticality is also a major factor on this map, with many overlapping height differences. Clearly hearkening back to FPS routes by emulating some of the design choices of quake maps, Solar offers a solid battle space, with a highly rewarding meta-game. So, download this map and get to practicing for the next round in the tournament! Time is wasting, and you are going to need to know this map like the back of your hand to fully take advantage of all of its strategies. Download Solar Smackdown Rules Smackdown FAQ
This looks decent, don't get me wrong, but I was curious when the user-created maps would be used in the tournament (Mojo, Navi, etc.).
Oh I know this map! From what I remember, it was meant to be apart of the Throwdown Contest. I remember seeing it in its early stages back when about 4 of the Throwdown maps were shared around months before the contest even began.
This is a pretty neat design, simple. Traffic is predictable and minimal. The fusion coil tac jump is pretty neat. I'm disliking the weapon set up though. Rockets, in my opinion, are way too overpowered to a 1v1 or 2v2. Plus there are 2 teleporters that take you straight back up to the top which removes most of the risk involved in securing the Camo or Rocket Launcher. I think it would play better if there were a 60s or 90s Snipe or GL (provided the other two were removed) with the teleporters removed. 3 explosive weapons is a lot.
I wouldn't even want to imagine what the map would play like with the teles removed. Horrible, horrible amounts of map control.
Hmm, well maybe the receiver nodes could have been put somewhere other than the tippy top of the map. Then again, I haven't played it so maybe I should just shut the **** up. Lol.
Top control isn't like..super crazy..there is a lot of fun to be had on the lower levels too. Players like RK stay down more often than go up. The weapon set up is there to try to force players to time things and punish them if they don't. It's really hard to find any other weapon that virtually every single player will pay attention to other than rockets, so I was kind of left with that unfortunate choice, though I do enjoy the minuscule variety it offers lol. In truth, I wish they were H3 rockets, but what can ya do. I put the 'nade launchers there so if players don't get the rockets, they aren't completely screwed. The timing battle does make for some interesting scenarios though. There are a whole bunch of ways to approach (tele down, drop from the top, control from pistol, wait at health pack, get camo and sit bottom mid, wait and watch with a nade launcher) and you really need to pay attention to what your opponent is doing. While the area itself doesn't pose a ton of risk since both players are going to be focused on the area every 3 minutes it's not easy to escape without a fight. Glad ya like the layout though, this is a map I've wanted to finish for a long time. I originally made it for the 2v2 Throwdown! Never completely finished it though and stepped down from staff, so it just sat on my hard drive for like..over a year. When my asym for this tourny was a little too grandiose, I decided to revisit this map.
Really like this map, great style, good flow. After walking through the map, I can see the teles being used alot during gameplay. This is def a map of control and I'm anxious to get some practice games on this. Great job Chrstphrbrnnn, the forging techniques are original and the theme really fits with the name of the map. It felt like I was in a big power storage facility with all the struts and yellow colors. Great job!
Was this map only featured because you can see trees from that window? Yea you fh vets will get it. Glad to see you're still in the forge game chris. I'd say this looks more interesting than some of the other maps so far, but I haven't played any of them lol.
Halo 4 revealed a map called Solar! They stole your map name Na, this is an awesome map, very cleanly forged.
So are you guys going to feature anything that's not 2v2/1v1? I like slayer and all... but tbh Halo 4 is so close that it's hard to keep my attention to anything that's not casual. That's just me though.
Yeah we had this same issue with the Throwdown competition, and I don't want it to happen again. No one likes to see competition maps getting featured back-to-back instead of anything casual.
You guys do realize that every map in the Smackdown tournament is going to be featured right? I agree that the maps should not be auto-featured simply because they are in the tournament, but they will be for several reasons. One is because they've been auto-featuring maps for every tournament. Another is that it publicizes the map for tournament. Those are the only reasons I can recall from previous posts of staff members, though.