\\_ ISIS STATION _// Isis station is a competitive map that takes inspiration from maps like Battle Creek, Meltdown and my recent map, Panopticon. The layout is 2 very large bases on each side separated by a courtyard (small island) in the middle. Each base has one main entrance and 2 side entrances that branch off into multiple paths once inside. Competitive map that supports: Slayer (2-16), CTF (Much Fun), FFA/Regicide, Flood, KOTH and Oddball. The map is subject to change. Continually evolving. Weapons marked in yellow indicate random drops. Comments/feedback are welcome. \\_ Created by ORANGEDRONE _// MORE IMAGES (***Can someone tell me how to do that "Spoiler" thing to collapse the additional images?) BLUE BASE - INTERIOR 1 BLUE BASE - INTERIOR 2 RED BASE - MAIN ENTRANCE RED BASE - INTERIOR 1 (DAMAGED) RED BASE - INTERIOR 2 (DAMAGED) BLUE BASE - FOYER SIDE TUNNEL RED BASE - FOYER 3-WAY FORK OVERVIEW (Yellow weapons indicate RANDOM DROPS)
The good use of rocks and the fairly simple layout look to make this map easy to understand and fun to play. The weapon choices are really interesting too. Definitely want to give it a try.
This map looks gorgeous. Did you use one of the filters? The pieces have a much more Forerunner look to them, and the lighting looks sharper.
This map is absolutely gorgeous! I plan to DL it to see it up close, I see you used the tunnel design from the first draft, wonderful job! I will have to send you a FR so as to try this out with you as well.
You have a good aesthetic sense, clearly. I have to admit, the floating rock in the center of the map looks slightly odd though. If there's any way you could connect it in with some other structure on the map, or make it look like there is some force levitating it, that would probably be better. I know this was brought up in your last map thread, but is there any reason for the shield doors aside from aesthetics? I personally feel that gameplay should always be the top priority by far on a competitive map, and that good solid aesthetics should be present to immerse the players into the experience, but should be secondary. I have yet to see a situation where shield doors (that are actually used as doors) improve the way a map plays. A note on Respawn Zones. It's generally a good idea to have 3 identical respawn zones stacked on each side of the map, and one Anti Respawn zone on each side of the map for CTF gametypes. The way spawn weighting works in this game, one respawn zone on each side is often not enough weighting to assure that the red team will spawn on the red side of the map. Quite frequently, having only one spawn zone on each side results in players spawning on opposite sides of the map, sometimes even right next to the opponents flag. It's an easy fix, though. You can just duplicate the ones you already have.
Aesthetics, like the previous map, are fantastic. Well done in that regard. One thing I notice is that it's all kind of focussed onto the center circle area, and there doesn't appear to be any pathways that don't lead to the center. Can't say I'm a huge fan of that as there is a possibility it could end up as a mess of explosions, but I'll wait until I've played it before saying anything. Anyway, incredible aesthetics, nice simple layout, good use of weapons that aren't overly common for competitive matches.
so shotgun spawns in the bases with the only way into the bases being covered by a shield door or a CQC corridor..... do i even need to explain how bad that is?
Thanks for your comments/feedback man. Yeah, I basically ran out of pieces with this map. Even though I'm using a modded canvas, forge apparently still has a limit of 650 total items. Once you hit that you can't so much as even place a re-spawn point. I placed that center floating rock mainly to serve as a cheap way to sight block between the bases. I was going for the Promethean floating look and feel. Perhaps, the circular base it's hovering over is somehow levitating it? The shield doors are always a love it or hate it ordeal. I had one guy in a playtest the other night suggest removing them. But, I had multiple people tell me to keep them. I am open to play a game on here without them to see the difference that creates. The idea to keep them came from me ultimately wanting the bases to not be super inviting. Like, you can't just waltz on in, even the side entrances have a barricade-type entrance you have to hop. But, teams were having no problems getting into the bases. Especially, in the slayer modes where re-spawning is open to the whole map. I've never added anti zones for CTF but, I'm not against doing so. So far, I've played a handful of Big Team Slayer games on it and one Big Team CTF. All of which have been super-close games. 1000 to 990 for example. I'll be testing more games on it... and other objective stuff shortly. -O
This map looks absolutely gorgeous. With the entrances and the title picture, I thought that this was a remodeled version of Panopticon. Those forerunner entrances with the shield doors look stunning in particular. I'm not the biggest fan of shield doors (this is why ----- Why, Shield Door?! Why?! - YouTube) but maybe that area would work with the way you placed yours. I agree with a Chunk about the floating rock piece. It looks kind of weird but maybe you could find a way to make it work. One last thing. In the second picture, look to the rightmost window. Outside, I see an extended piece poking out just a little. Is this intentional or has that piece been overextended? *This is how you do the "Spoiler" thing. Spoiler (Add the image codes and anything else here) Spoiler <-----Add a forward slash (/) after the first bracket of the second " Spoiler " to make it work.
Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Thanks for your comments/feedback. Yeah, that is part of the colosseum wall that you are seeing there. it's not really noticeable during gameplay. Additionally, when you are down on the ground floor it is not visible at all. Thanks, for the tip on the spoiler thing! -O
First off, I want to say that I love the rocky, forerunner feel of this map. This is probably the most unique map I’ve seen, based on aesthetics. I ran through the map and there are a couple of things that I think can be improved. The first problem I see with the map is the placement of the shield doors. With the current placement, I could see people sitting in the doorway and easily guarding it because of the low line of sights on the side of the shield facing the bases. What I would recommend is pushing the shield door back to the other side of the entrance so that the high point on the side facing the bases would be easy to fire on using the side entrances. My second concern is that walking out of the central area is difficult and could be annoying, but also can probably be easily fixed.
Thanks for your comments/feedback man. I do want to run at least one test game without the shields entirely for comparison sake. However, the center area is the most open part of the map. I would be mildly concerned that without the shield doors the main entrances would become camping spots. As people could take shots from further back in the entrance giving themselves more cover. With the shield doors in place, they are forced to exit before shooting. Furthermore, the shield doors kinda help tone down the fuel rod a bit... you can't just nab the fuel rod and start bombarding the base. I like that. -O
This map looks promising and I like the design choice to make one side damaged, making it easier to orientate yourself on the map. I'll have to DL to check this out.
Can't speak for bigger games, but this plays pretty well for 1v1. I wish there were some FFA spawns in the center, however. We kept having to meet in the middle.
You seem like an "Aesthetic Genius!" Both this and Panopticon are beautiful maps! From the pictures I'd say your design for this map is much better than Panopticon, but my main concern is about the height of the interior. In Panopticon, I had issues with hitting my head on the ceiling of the interior when trying to jump. Given that the design for the main entrances to each of the bases are both identical to Panopticon, I'm hoping that you've resolved this issue. If you have, this has the potential to be an outstanding map! -Hydro
Thanks for your comments/feedback. Glad you enjoyed playing a competitive match on the map! There is actually 4 respawn points in the middle portion of the map. They are located on each side of the main entrances behind the struts. However, the game hardly ever spawns anyone there.. not sure why. With the exception being CTF games, with your flag away, you would be more likely to spawn there. -O
Thanks for your comments/feedback. While there are still some low height areas on the map.. the majority is fairly open. -O
Good to see another map from you Orangedrone. I'm going to be just as blunt in my feedback for Isis Station as I was for Panopticon, so again, just take it as feedback and nothing more. Positives: Isis Station is stunning aesthetically. You made great use of a modded canvas and created a map that provides a deep aesthetic experience. Things to work on: Isis Station is modded. The chances a modded map will enter competitive play or matchmaking is zero to none. Shield doors and shotguns. This combination is one of the major things that breaks this map in my opinion. Not only do you have shield doors, but you also give each team a shotgun off spawn. Shield doors + shotguns = camping. There is no competitive value here. The shield doors only serve as a troll in my opinion. Remove the shield doors, place the shotguns in vulnerable positions. Scaling and segmentation. Isis Station is huge and far too large for anything less than 6v6. Not only is the scaling huge, the bases themselves are so segmented and so large that they could function as an entire map on their own. There is no direct line of sight into the bases from the middle at all, and with the shield doors trolling people who go into the middle, this map becomes a "let's guard our base behind the shield door and wait for them to charge us" experience. That is not good. Head room. Those hallways where the shield doors are placed are not tall enough. Players hit their head when jumping in the same manner as those hallways on Panopticon. Depending on your goals here (4v4, 8v8, etc), you may or may not need to scale the map down. That is your call. I think regardless of the player count however, the shield doors need to go, shotguns moved, and segmentation reduced.
Thanks for your comments/feedback man. I'll try to address your points one by one here. Spawning from my rationale at the time of building the map mixed with the several playtests I've had on this map since.. (with players that ice me more often than not I'm not concerned with the fact that it is built on a modded canvas. This map would be impossible to make without the mod. At no point while building this map did I envision it going into matchmaking. However, with all that said, I strongly disagree with your "zero to none" comment as we are already seeing modded content make it's way into matchmaking. (e.g. mini-spartans!) I don't see the shotguns and the shield doors being an unstoppable force on this map. Or related to each other in the slightest. I think there is merely a general dislike for the use of shield doors period. As I told a previous poster, I'm on the fence with them. I'm not opposed to playing a few test games with them removed. But, as far as camping goes, I haven't seen any yet and I'd be concerned that the main entrances would actually become a camping spot with the shield doors removed. As people could then take shots from further back in the entrance giving themselves more cover. Furthermore, the shield doors kinda help tone down the fuel rod a bit... you can't just nab the fuel rod and start bombarding the base. I like that. And unlike Panopticon, 2 out of the 3 entrances to each base are without shields. Honestly, in all the playtest games the side entrances are utilized way more frequently. So, imo, I'm getting away with using my shield doors but, I'm not forcing everyone to use them. You don't have to go straight in the front door if you don't want to. Surprisingly, Isis Station works down to even a 1v1. I've played a few 1v1s on it as have some other forum members (see above). However, due to it's size I would have to agree that 6v6 would be the sweet spot. In slayer, the whole map is open for spawning. So, no one really is able to try to hold a base, someone will spawn behind them soon enough. CTF, where spawning is restricted with respawn zones, is the only place you'll see base camping. But, this is how CTF should be and it was one of the funnest few games I've had on this map. With just 3 entrances call outs were a breeze (Middle, left-side, ride-side etc) . And because, the bases are so large, people were still able to infiltrate and ultimately score. It was a heavily competitive CTF experience to say the least. Think that game was an 8v8. Overall, players get a ton of head room in this map. Isis Station is probably 95% jump friendly. It's really just the main entrances where height is limited. Which, I'm not sure but, may help deter any possible campers to this location a bit as well. So, 5% low head room is a small price to pay to keep the design of my doors in tact. I can think of several 343 maps with low height in some portions of the map. (e.g. lower level of Ragnarok bases) It's a perfectly acceptable thing to do this imo. With all that said, I'm playing a lot on this map and with a lot of people. Several of which are very talented forgers. I watch the game videos and look for negative trends. If anything does start to become problematic I will most certainly address it. But, I'm not the type to start changing stuff based on preconceived biases formulated on other maps. I like to think that each map has at least the chance to stand on it's own. -O
Mini-spartans is not community made modded content. The only reason the community is able to create modded mini-spartan gametypes is because 343 enabled the possibility to do so within their game. The mini-spartan gametype in matchmaking is a 343 product, and the cartographers have a strict no modded content guideline for matchmaking maps. That dislike of the use of shield doors is based on the negative gameplay that they provide. Those doorways are severe camping spots with the shield doors in place. Players can pop out, shoot several times, walk back behind the shield, recharge, rinse and repeat. It is a terrible gameplay scenario. Removing the shield doors would force players in the doorways to commit to combat or run away, and if they chose to run away, players could still shoot and possibly kill them on the escape. There is no positives to the shield doors other than aesthetics. You can’t just nab the fuel rod and start bombarding the base regardless…the entire base is hidden behind a massive wall! There is zero sightlines for the fuel rod carrier to use to bombard the base. Also, you placed the fuel rod in the middle of a canyon. The chances that the player who grabbed the fuel rod cannon would survive more than a few seconds in a highly competitive scenario is extremely unlikely. It’s basically a paintball field. Every map can “work” for a 1v1. There is a massive difference between working and working well. Isis Station in my opinion will only work for 6v6 or 8v8. It is far too segmented for 4v4. Only having three entrances is a part of the reason why the map in its current state will not work well for CTF at all. The bases are so closed off and so protected by massive rock walls that once a flag carrier gets inside, there is no way the other team will be able to stop that flag carrier from scoring. Sightlines are too limited. My feedback is not based on preconceived biases formulated from other maps. I played Isis Station last night with a full lobby, and this feedback is based entirely off of the negative gameplay trends that occurred in that game. People were camping behind the shield doors, popping out to deliver a few shots and then going back behind their shield. Fuel rod cannon was rendered entirely ineffective due to the shield doors as well. Bases were campy, gameplay was slow due to map scaling and sightlines. Shotguns were used behind shield doors as well – there is most certainly a direct relation between the two. In general, everything about the shield doors was negative other than the aesthetic. This is one of those situations where sacrificing aesthetics for gameplay is of most importance to save the map competitively.