Vesuvius

Vesuvius

The idea: A map with a functioning volcano at its core.

Yeah, yeah... it's been done before. I know. But that's the great thing about this map. It doesn't just feature a volcano for the sake of having one. In this case the volcano is the map.

In a nutshell, the action plays out on three levels. You can scale the peak and witness the unpredictable fury of the unstable volcano. (Great spot for KoTH and Headhunter action)






Or, you can head inside the mountain itself...





Winding your way through the arched tunnels in the middle of the volcano, each fiery eruption will shake the walls around you, pelting your armor with tiny bits of rock and ash. (a nifty little visual effect I pulled off purely by accident.)





Moving back out into the daylight, you can work your way around the mountain, or proceed down to the bottom level.







Here, you'll find the volcanic island's secret submarine loading dock.





And what would a secret volcanic lair be without sharks with lasers attached to their heads? So they're here too. Look carefully and you can see them lurking just below the surface of the water.





The map itself is built off the coast of Paradiso, out in the waters that lie directly in the shadow of ForgeWorld's majestic waterfalls.





So there you have it. Vesuvius. A raging volcanic island lair that offers a variety of unique areas to explore and sling bullets in. My friends and I have been having a blast with it. Works really well with 4-6 people. The map is easy to navigate, but adding jetpack loadouts makes it even easier to get around. I'd recommend trying it both ways.

There's a good selection of weapons available on the map. Plenty of frag/plasma grenades, several DMRs, a shotgun, a spiker, a needler, a plasma pistol or two, a few needle rifles, and a turret. I will admit that there are also quite a few "power" weapons on the map, mainly because my friends and I really get a kick out of 'em. So you'll also find a sword, a hammer, a sniper, a rocket launcher, and a grenade launcher. It may sound like a lot of weapons, but I carefully considered their map placements to keep things fair, balanced, and most importantly, fun.

Looking forward to any comments/feedback anyone cares to offer.
More maps on the way.

-Shamrock20

 

Thanks for the comments/feedback. In response to a few...

#1.) Glad you're digging the Austin Powers inspired "sharks with frikkin lasers on their heads". They were a late addition to the map, and a point of some mild frustration for me. I was REALLY close to pulling off actual laser beams emitting from the lasers on the sharks' heads. I was attempting to use the golf flag part of the tin cup piece (found in the 'toys' menu), but unfortunately, I had already built the sharks and would have needed to move both of them to make it work. (To effectively hide the grassy part of the tin cup in the wall and the top of the golf flag in the shark's body, leaving only the blue-ish laser beams) But oh well, other than that minor detail I was pretty psyched about how the map turned out.

#2.) I can see what you're saying about Invasion. I think it could work pretty well on this map if done right, but to be honest, I don't have the first clue about how to set up an Invasion gametype. Same goes for Infection. Not really sure where to begin with spawn placement, etc...

 

Wow, thanks. I appreciate it. Glad you like the map.

Just to give you a little insight into this "ash" effect... It happens because the core of the volcano was built using fusion coils that explode. When you're running through the areas of the map below where the explosions are happening, you'll see what looks like bits of "ash" or tiny "rocks" falling from the ceiling. What it actually is, is the remnants of destroyed fusion coils. It's somewhat random, but it adds a nice little detail to the volcanic atmosphere of the map.

 

Thanks for the feedback. A kill barrier would definitely make the lava as lethal as the real deal. Good suggestion. My only reservation with adding one is that for certain game types, like say Oddball, the mouth of the volcano is where the ball spawns, so in that situation it's actually a good thing that you can reach into the center of the lava without dying instantly (Of course, even without a kill barrier, the eruptions from the volcano can be lethal if they catch you just right or if your shield is knocked out.)

I suppose I could just add a kill barrier for non-objective game types.

Thanks again for the feedback,

-Shamrock20

 

Wow -- Over 560 downloads! That's more than I was expecting. Glad everyone is enjoying the map (or at the very least interested enough to check it out).

I just recently updated the download link, as I've made a few edits:

• Added support (spawnpoints) for Team Slayer gametype
• Added support (spawnpoints) for Multi-Team games
• Fixed a few aesthetic details that don't impact gameplay (closed a small gap in the rocks, added color to all non-rock pieces (red), made slight adjustments to some soft-kill barrier dimensions.

Thanks for the feedback. The volcano "mechanism" uses fusion coils. There's basically a hollow column of rock that runs down the center of the volcano. There are four upward facing man-cannons at the bottom and the fusion coils spawn just above them, which sends the coils flying upward. When the coils either slam into each other, or the rocks forming the open peak of the volcano, they explode and the flames shoot out the top of the mountain. Not sure exactly how many fusion coils I've got spawning in there, but I varied their spawn times to keep the explosions happening randomly instead of at specific repeated intervals.

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Edited by merge:

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Map now also supports Territories game type.

Download link has been updated.