Download Map reparation; a short: :The History: This long awaited map, Sahara of Snow, is finally here. Scheduled for release in August, things came short and I didn’t feel I had enough testing. I continued to test and made some more major changes. Finally balancing it, I felt it ready for release. I patched up the last few things and posted it in my file share, followed by a preview here on FH. Sahara of Snow has come a long way in its forging history. Back in early July, I felt that I never made a map showing what I could make with the forge, which truly exemplified my skill. Every time I made a map – it would end up short in one area or the other. I would start not caring about aesthetics, or gameplay, among other things. That lousiness was over. Propelling myself into the two month project that Sahara of Snow was, it was a very quickly made map. Though two months may not seem like much for this map, I assure that’s not all. Two months of effort, and over 110 hours of work. The first version with just construction hit about 85 hours, much before ghost merging originated. This was planning, designing, and testing various gameplay elements before beginning to actually test it. On the first version, I had included a cavern as an entrance. During testing I had realize this was an extremely fatal flaw so I blocked the cavern altogether. Additionally, I made many weapon changes and vehicle changes. Sahara of Snow was playing great, but there was something that I didn’t feel brought out its potential, and I think everyone else thought the same. I moved the objective closer to the outside of the shotgun room and did some final touches. I had hit the spot. Sahara of Snow harnessed excellent gameplay and amazing aesthetics. I felt it was truly worthy of now being posted. Sahara of Snow is my pride and joy. My hope is just that you play this map, and enjoy it. I have put countless tiresome hair ripping hours into this map, and to see my work become appreciated by the community is all that I wish. :Map Specifications: Name: Sahara of Snow Author: NewbAmoeba Version: 0.99 Player count: 12-16 (16 recommended) Weapon defaults: BR primary, AR secondary Gametypes: One Flag/One Bomb recommended, supports Territories and One Sided VIP. Time spent: 110+ hours :Weapon List: Weapons: Battle Rifle x 1 (BR starts is recommended after all) Sniper Rifle x 3 SMG x 4 Spiker x 2 Magnum x 2 Plasma Pistol x 3 Needler x 2 Brute Shot x 1 Rocket Launcher x 1 Spartan Laser x 1 Machine Gun Turret x 2 Missile Pod x 2 Carbine x 2 Mauler x 2 Equipment: Plasma grenade x 16 Bubble Shield x 1 Power Drain x 1 Trip Mine x 1 Regenerator x 1 Radar Jammer x 1 Deployable Cover x 1 Active Camo x 1 :Tips and Strategies: :Tips: Defender tips: Take out the Hornet quickly. Get to neutral sniper and eliminate incoming enemies. Throw the trip mine into the middle entrance to prevent an early rush. Do not under any circumstances waste the missile pod. Sniper may have 0 extra clips, but it respawns every 60 seconds. The goodies are on top of the base, and the objective is on bottom. Have a fair balance with your team. Watch out for people sneaking in from the far entrance. You must jump into the teleporters to get into them. There are two strategically placed ghost edges used to assist getting around. Attacker tips: Rush for the Hornet. If the enemy gets the hornet, you have two plasma pistols and a missile pod. The active camo in the open single box near the defender's base is extremely useful. If you get to the neutral sniper first, use it to snipe and cover your allies as they retrieve the objective. To the right of your spawn is a tower where a sniper is located up top which can be used for defense or otherwise. There is a radar jammer near the cavern entrance at your base. Sneak around, there's a needler. There's a back up mongoose at the sub base, with rockets. Rocket Race anyone? Wraith spawns later in the game. Watch for it, and make sure your enemy does not get it. Do not leave the intended playing area. It is blocked by teleporters. Strategies: Attacker Strategies: Creator: NewbAmoeba Strategy #1: The Rush Required participants: Six Gametype: One Flag/One Bomb The Strategy: Have 3 men quickly pile up in the hog, side seat carrying bomb if its One Bomb. Have 2 men get into a Mongoose and go to the far side and sneak in, then go up top and eliminate any defenders you see. The hog should rush in from the middle entrance and the gunner has the responsibility of eliminating any trip mines. Have a final man get in the Ghost and boost to the Hornet. Use the hornet to assist your teammates and be a secondary pick up option for a flag carrier. Creator: MultiLockOn Strategy #2: Safety Required Participants:1 Gametype: One Bomb / One Flag The strategy: Grab the sniper at spawn and bubble shield and take out the defender's sniper on their tower. Go towards hornet and dispose of any visible players from there. From then, either grab the hornet, or go through the teleporter to gain the neutral sniper giving you an amazing view of the defender's base. Once you move forward grab the camo and assist any players in the base. Defender Strategies: Creator: NewbAmoeba Strategy #1: Map Control Required participants: Six Gametype: One Flag/One Bomb The Strategy: The first person must get in the mongoose and quickly drive over to the Hornet. If you can, steal it and cover their missile pod. Do your best to prevent the attackers gaining the hornet. Three more men should go up top at the beginning, one should grab the sniper, one should get the missile pod, and a final one should get the spartan laser. Use them cautiously and defend the base of all vehicles. The fifth man should go through the man cannon and grab the neutral sniper, picking off any dangerous enemies and supporting his allies. The final sixth man should grab the trip mine and mauler and stay on the lower level. Defend the bridge and middle entry. Only throw the trip mine if there is a warthog about to run into it. The sixth man should be able to communicate when the enemy is about to obtain the objective. Feel free to tell me your own strategies with this format, and I will add them. Outside defender's base overview Inside defender's base overview Attacker's base overview Attacker's sub base overview Blue starting spawn Red starting spawn Bridge entrance (now changed to make it easier) Middle entrance Third entrance not shown Sniper tower Neutral sniper spawn Outlands (you sneak in from over here) Rolling Valley Safe spawn Bridges Mancannon (you land over by the single box) The halfway mark. Don't cross! Nothing over there. Sub base teleporter to neutral sniper Tower teleporter Trip teleporter to second story B.net rendered video - you'll see more of the map then action, large but inactive party (you'll see myself go AFK a few times) but its on the most recent version of the map. [bungievid]93339032[/bungievid] It shows that I'm playing on default button layout although I actually play bumper jumper.. strange Testers list (90 or so, thank you all!) bolded special people MultiLockOn - Helped with most, if not all patches and tweaks. Attended all tests. Zachary9990 AceOfSpades0707 XxAbstainxX AngelzFire xXHysteria08 Cory021 Conkerkid11 Slash34715 Twitchy Bacon used man ExtreemKablooie XIpUn15h3rIX Urban Myth XXXX Master Debayter Bartoge TheSteelKnight IceIsNice TM I GoDShoT Staguel SPAR7AN 018 Frozen Banshee jabob bradely (wish you weren't here) cptpwnage1996 FH RacingLeague (lololol) SilvenRobinGood irishALBO SIROIS1218 Silver0range - Offered great suggestions. Jackoooooooo DoWw - Offered great suggestions and there for many tests. x Tucan Sam 5 x DarkDeveloper RawRgasim St33lyDaN76 BicMac003 iTz Fuzzywig Lunarnious Son of Sue KWDzero MASTERMAN187 CostlyAxis Zoa The Wind Boykin91 mista tipsta AuSam general alarm DOA PRODIGY07 meltyourtv Artiver policedylan (why do I even mention his name, I know not) jmen77 TopOfHer PsychoBucket owndbiglime1 bandana pirate Chin Brothers iWiggums Stonato - Here the whole way. Motivational support. xSharpshooter94 Tylyr1 FiendishCash Supreme KILA 54 Viperforce One Whats A Scope Ultra Magma Man Arsalan Rehman InnerSandman15 Playerhata27 Squirrel Rider Halo Nemo Broc Rambo R0FLninja bos45redsox Pelgore Scorched Fire 2 Yuri Brute My Drunk Buddy L1ZARDLuvr sooke e sam Cryptokid POTWINKLES MNM1245 Xx Taisho xX mista tipsta Skittlemeister0 ell3ment Vincent Torre STORMTROOPER118 ernadc DreamCrusher11 lVlR SlUSHee Thank you so much to all my testers, this map couldn't have been tweaked to perfection if it weren't for you guys. Most of you left after two minutes, but at least gave me a motivational splurge. If I missed you, I'm sorry, thanks to you. If your name is mispelled/incorrect feel free to post and I'll fix it. That concludes the thread. Thanks to you all who read the whole thing, this thread took me a long time to make. Download link at the top or the following: Download Map
Truly a beautiful map. During testing people had trouble playing the first couple games because they were still taking the entirety of the map in. Beautifully done aesthetically, gameplay as you kindly pointed out probably surpasses even Castleanche. I'm going to personally say right now this is hands down the best one sided Flag and Bomb map I have ever played, ever. Your hours of testing definitely payed off, as I saw the map transform throughout the weeks, even though you had to sacrifice much that you loved about the map. I can't tell anyone who haven't played this map how balanced it is, it really is a beauty.
There is no doubt that this is a great map. For the more serious games, and the fun games people get from Big Team Battle. and you had great use of the objects available to you on Avalanche! This is just sooo... Awesome! I cant get over it.
This is an understatement. Thank you for sending me a pm, and I will definately downlload this immediatly. I have never played a one sided map this amazing, and never one this even. No matter how long you go around looking at it, not matter how long you play it, there still is only one possible thing you could have trouble with in any situation. The stupid random color generator for double boxes on avalanche. Once again it takes an absolutely amazing map, one definately worthy of outstanding praise for it wonderful gameplay, and makes it seem almost sloppy. Dont let that fool you at all. You will play this for quite some time before you get over the sheer awesomeness of how cool it is, then you will be once again overwelmed by the splendid gameplay. Download this, regardless of what your first impression is. 10/10
Certainly not everyday that you get to see a map this well thought out and awesome! This loks like so much fun with 16 ppl... Hopefully we can play this next TGIF. I will be sure to play this when i can, btw nice description.
The reason this map beats most asymmetrical avalanche maps is the fact that it completely involves the player with the flow of the map. Almost every path is well thought out in coordination with points of interest. When I pick up a sniper rifle, I think to myself "damn, I am really glad I have a sniper rife in this spot" and not only that, but not one single spot is too overpowered when it comes to lines of sight. I was glad to help test, and think the map came out really great. 5/5, and is one of only 2 Avalanche map with a home on my hard drive.
Wow, I barely remember testing this, though now I remember it. It is an interesting map, and definitely something unique in terms of Avalanche. Although something I'm noticing now,but not during playtesting, is that you can get out. Easily... Why didn't attempt to make a little more 'intimidating' barrier. The teleporters are a little odd. Also, I like the effect you put on your pictures, I might try that; though it is a little messy in some places.
Well to tell you the truth, the only way aMoeba managed to update the map is by deleting items, he literally has no items left. Besides, there's literally nothing at the other side of the map, anyone that goes there is wasting their own time. It's not supposed to be intimidating, it's supposed to act as a warning. But as I said, as much as we wanted to make a barrier, aMoeba couldn't scrape that many items together. It doesn't take away from the map at all regardless.
IMHO, this map is perfect in every way. it's balanced, well forged, and well planned out. definitely deserves a feature and a spot in matchmaking. 10/10
The Story was all right. I just wouldnt suspect ODSTs were P****** or anything. The map looks really good and the video hows the smoothness. I wish budget permitted so you could put a wall up behind the attackers base. It really doesnt matter either way but it would bring out a little, I dunno the word...The geomerged structure just made me so surprised. I never have see such a thing. I wish I could have been a tester, it would have been a really big honor. All your forging looks 95% natural to Avalanche. Just...a good map. And don't worry, someone would have to be insane to bad mouth this map....
it looks pretty good, that main part in the middle. But . . . the rest seems like you just learned that new geomerge technique and wanted to use it [no idea if you used it or not]. That random merges aren't pointless, but it just seems like you shoved them in at random.
I believe he stated that this map was made before the technique was discovered. Besides, everything serves a purpose on this map despite how random it may look.
Only things I could say to improve this would be to colour code all the boxes and add at least a couple of extra BRs. The reason Castlanche is so amazing is because not only does it play great, but it looks unbelievable and this is partly due to the extreme amount of effort spent geomerging and colour coding the boxes. As for the BRs, you said that it should be played with BR starts anyway so you don't need more than 1 on the map. Bad idea. One of the most annoying things in a game of BTB is to be stuck at a certain part of the map with no BR ammo and no way to get to any without running out in the open.
I wanted to color code them, but would take far too long. Extra BR's were not needed. I find it a little bit funny for one to say this but I've done over 10 hours of testing at LEAST and nobody has ever complained about this issue, and trust me, people have complained about what seems to be things that are even more minor. I've never found myself running out of BR ammo, because that weapon isn't the focus of this map. Anywhere you go and find a weapon it will probably be more useful there than the BR. So ****ing what, its not color coded. You'll see some various colors. I can't be bothered to risk losing geomerges that took me hours on end just for a color, that's not even guaranteed to work. Oh, and keep in mind I can't place any more objects. There would be nowhere to place BR's, anyway.
Exactly. All the boxes merged forefront the base are to be used as cover or to host weaponry. For example, there's a blue merged box that homes the camo. Ever played Castleanche? Same deal. Okay really? Color coding? I think you understand the whole concept of 110+ hours on a map,that's pretty much the equivalent to your current life's work. As for BR's, that's almost like complaining that there aren't enough Battle Rifles on MLG Onslaught. There's BR starts, you'll literally never find yourself running out of ammo, ever. If you actually ever played this map you'll realize it plays as the equivalent to Castleanche, if not, better.
Honestly, at one point a had a small wall. People jumped over it because, I don't know, people like challenges for whatever reason. Either way, the teleporters serve more as a warning. If people want to go out there, feel free. I think most people break barriers just to say they could. Actually, I was inspired more by Starcraft then any ODST stuff lol. And, which geomerged structure are you referring to? Ghost merging didn't even exist when this was originally finished. What are you referring to when you say that "main part in the middle." Also, there is not a single random merge. Every single scenery object or weapon/equipment went with careful planning and design, every single one of them. I did my best to make great weapon placement, balance, and LOS, because to me those are the most important gameplay elements. If there's a object you want to specifically ask why its there feel free to and I will give you reasons You are a wise man.
Just checked it out in forge, and I can say without a doubt in my mind that you definitely can make a full wall 2 boxes high in place of the teleporters pretty easily. The teles themselves free up 5 items, then the other few is quite easy. If you want me to go into specifics on what you should delete, I can, but you definitely can do it without compromising any of the map's integrity quite easily. And I think that you should. And the best part is itd take you no longer than an hour MAX, with the new glitch
I don't have any boxes left... or at least not in my memory. I'm also not deleting objects because tis budget glitched and most objects hit the peak amount placed on map. I have I think two ramps and a watchtower base, could take the ramps used aesthetically on the base but then again that still leaves my above point left alone. During the first version of the map, I had a wall that you could barely nade jump over. Once people saw the wall they tried to get over it, but when I removed the wall (for other map purposes) and used teleporters people seemed to go over there less. I don't know if its just coincidence, but I'll see. Also, I would probably ghost merge, but everytime I do manage to dummy the both objects I always mess up on the next step. I'll take a look see today and see what I could do, but if you could help me out on what I could do here I'd appreciate it.
The map does not really need a wall. It's the same effect as Castleanche. Just because the map is breakable, doesn't mean that it is beneficial to break it. Especially on Avalanche. When playing nobody ever really went out of the map. There is no reason to. That paired with the fact that the map is designed for Asymmetrical objective, a wall is really not needed
You have plenty of boxes left, a few double and a few single Castalanche did need a wall, and so does this map. Rule of Thumb: Mini-games = honor rules OK Competitive Maps = honor rules not OK And yes, I fully understand theres no reason to go there, Ive been through this argument several times before. But the fact of the matter is that ultimately, you want more people to play the map than the few that read through this thread. And you should never assume someone else's level of intelligence.