Invasion: Clandestine

This is a 6v6 territories, core, and assault invasion mapwith Spartans set as attacking in order to balance human weapon superiority. Itwas easy to forge and the structures are not aesthetically pleasing. It doesnot have a theme nor does it tell a story, but a rough sequence of events canbe extrapolated from the phase transitions. I’ve been experiencing difficulty with my internet connection; I startedforging this in the meantime. I will not include an explanation for everythingin the map in this preview, so ask anything you like.

The first two phases take place around a central rectangularstructure in the center of the canyon. There are four territories in the firstphase: three are close to the corners of the structure, and one is on the roof-each one can deactivate the one-way shielddoors that seal off the structure and prevent the Spartans from taking the corefrom the elites who spawn inside. The structure has an upper perimeter platformand a roof above that, with interior mancannons leading to the former andgravity lifts to the latter for the elites. All players can choose a jetpackoff spawn to reach them from anywhere. The three Spartan fireteams each havetheir own closest territory, but are close enough to one or two other perimeterterritories and all are close enough to the roof to be able to aid a fellowfireteam in contesting a territory, forcing the elites to react by sending thecorresponding defense fireteam- as long as you keep an eye on the Spartans spawningclosest to the territory that you spawn facing, this should be an easy decisionwhich doesn’t necessarily require communication. Each elite fireteam gets atleast a needle rifle, while the Spartans get only their standard pistol-AR+ AAloadout, to keep it balanced. Each Spartan team has a non-jetpack route theroof. The phase has a 3 minute limit for now because I predict that the eliteswill have a much harder time defending four places from relatively (that is,compared to matchmaking) closely spawning attackers. The attacking spawns canbe moved farther out if that needs adjusting , and the territory timers can beraised from 20 seconds. As far as non MM maps go, players seem to prefer ashort distance between spawns and objectives. I think that close spawnscomplement the separation of the fire teams, while distant spawns are betterused when more of the distance can be contested by defenders, (the hypotheticallatter) forcing the fireteams to cover each other. A ghost and warthog willspawn respectively, after the start of the phase. I expect that they might betoo powerful and I will not hesitate to delete them if I hear opinions sayingso.

After the shields are down, elites will spawn in thebasement of the structure, with ramps leading to the floor level, new openingsin the corners leading to the outside and a phase-specific full team spawnoutside by the earlier vehicle spawn. Again, the limit is 3 minutes because theattackers surround the core and spawn close. There are two drop off points forthe Spartans to choose from. A revenant and rocket hog will spawn 180 secondsinto the round. Both sides get power weapons phase-spawned at their spawns.

The Spartans can then choose to spawn in the centralstructure or on either side (full team spawns). The bomb for the third phasedoes not spawn by the attackers- The Spartans have to fight their way into whatwas supposed to be an explosives warehouse (which the elites can spawn behind)and retrieve it by advancing on foot towards the beach side (assuming that awarthog alone would be PPed/stuck/CRed). The warehouse was a very weak,uninspired attempt at some resemblance- the thing that I try to avoid doingaltogether. The Spartans then have to take it towards the other side and fightto arm it. This structure was even more rushed, as you would see in forge mode.If you think that it should be replaced with something better, post so. Anyideas and suggestions would be appreciated. The bomb is supposed to be armed ontop of a hatch- “cover” pieces are supposed to look like a double door in theground. In this phase the previous vehicles despawn. I don’t have a secondworking controller, so I can’t test what happens when gated vehicles areoccupied during a phase change. If anyone happens to know, please tell me. Theelites get a banshee/revenant on the bomb side and a wraith on the plant side,while replacement turret/ rocket hogs spawn by the center structure. I couldtry adding a falcon on top of the base, but I don’t know how I would drawattention to it or if it could be balanced, so for now I left it out just sothat I have a greater certainty that the rest of the third phase is enjoyablefor now. If you would like to see a falcon and plasma launchers, post so.

Thanks for reading. I previewed this so that this might betested if enough people are interested. If you want to download it, my gamertagis pat7654 for a file share search. If you want to help test it, message me and I will send a friend request and message you if there ever happen to be 12 players in at once willing to test it.
The roof of the first phase structure was removed for these pictures. The covenant crates represents the elite fireteam spawns while the human crates represents the spartan spawns. You can also see the territory inbetween.


This is the largest room of the structure that houses the third phase bomb spawn, two coliseum walls long, seperated from the central first and second phase structure by grass with rocks for cover. You can't see it here, but there are multiple entrances.
This was the rushed design of the bomb arm site. I will consider replacing it for the actual map.
http://www.bungie.net/stats/reach/default.aspx?player=pat7654

 

Ok the map and gametype are available at the link at the bottom. Ignore the "did not finish loadouts " description for the gametype, I forgot to update that after I finished the loadouts

 

Thanks. I didn't get the time to revise the map since I posted, but I will check again to make sure that the labels are set up right such that the elites spawn inside the structure and that all of the shield doors are gated. I thought that this was already the case, but I must have missed something. I don't have a working second controller anymore to test for elites, but you did try out the custom game yourself with the right gametype on my fileshare, right? That should make you a spartan for both rounds. The thing about the actual custom game is that players can see navigation points for the objectives, and my map isn't an enclosed maze. I'm still surprised though that you didn't see the hill markers pointing towards the weapons (elite spawn zones)- I'll check again.

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Edited by merge:

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I expressed that concern in my post, but the elites do get to easily see where the spartans are moving while both teams have cover. The fourth territory is in the center, so the elites would be able to see an enemy fireteam go for a roof-route (or the wall in general) and move to block them. I can add more cover to the upper perimeter. The round is 3 min and I will look into the maximum time for the territory timer. As I posted, it is possible for me to place the spawns farther away, which I am completely ready to do, but the elites would have to stay on the upper perimeter to spot the spartans quickly if they were farther away. The spawn zones as they are are a rectifiable, not an utimately game breaking flaw. I can even give the elites another spawn on the roof during the second phase and look into allowing players to drop from the roof to the upper perimeter.

As for the three obj matches, there are more differences between invasion and other objective gametypes than aesthetics. I do not consider the forge world pieces so convincing anyway, and I do not understand how someone could not be satisfied in such a way from the campaign, but I would still like to take advantage of the fireteams, choosing spawns, buddy spawning, the unique invasion territory gametype, the mix of covenant and human weapons and vehicles and the mix of playstyles (the progression of heavier weapons/vehicles and size) in one match. To play three obj matches would take at least 30 min with so many rounds, and a customs lobby is not going to want to play that. I find that for the size most people expect aesthetics and familiar structures are the only thing that can threaten the budget limit.

Edit: I will move the spartan 1st and 2nd phase fireteam spawns further away from the territories while still encouraging dual attacks. I will provide more rock cover to encourage elites to move away from the structure to be able to stop spartans before they get to the structure. I will place one 0-clip (1 sec respawn with #on map=max) needle rifle per elite instead per fireteam (2 elites) to encourage teamshotting and consciously timed fire (when a spartan is far enough from cover) instead of game-slowing suppressive fire.
I will add a falcon to the roof of the central structure to spawn in during the third phase to help balance the banshee and wraith, and I will make a kill ceiling and increase the spawn times of the P3 hogs to compensate.
I will remove the grav lifts to the roof of the central structure to make it a viable target for spartans and discourage elites from camping up there because it takes longer to get to. Jetpacking has its own disadvantages against evade, but I will give the evade loadout a plasma rifle. I will change the Active camo loadout to armor lock to prevent AC sniping with needle rifles on the roof or upper perimeter.