Salvage is a themed map where a floating salvage operation is taking apart a spaceship for scrap. The spaceship is therefore the map's aesthetic and strategic centerpiece; the broken ring that surrounds it is the salvage station. And if that's not complicated enough, there's a lower level of natural geo that can be used to escape the upper-level heat for a bit and move from place to place without all those pesky bullets flying at you. It is therefore a BIG and COMPLIMACATED map that is probably meant for teams of 5 or more, but I need to test further to confirm this theory. The design leans on Halo classics like Avalanche (the basic horseshoe layout, with the ship replacing Avalanche's hotly-contested keyhole) and Zealot (the lower level here functions in much the same way as outer space did for Zealot - but hopefully better). It also incorporates the max number of mancannons and a few teleporters as well for unexpectedly fast travel around the large map, and a gloss of old-school arena-shooter feel on top of the basic Halo template. Salvage is currently in playtesting - if you want to get in on it, click the banner in my sig for the TCOJ customs lobby. I'm running this and several other maps right now.
This is an interesting design Nutty, I'm still having a little trouble understanding it from the pics. I'll be interested to take a closer look, maybe we can get a 6 v 6 game tonight at ducks lobby?
Thanks Shoe! Here's a diagram that hopefully clarifies things a bit - this is focused on the top level, so you can't see where the teleporters connect to, but it gets the basic layout across I think. The four drop shafts are basically at the outer corners of the bottom area, so everything down below that's outside that area is a kill zone.
4v4 is a bit too small here, but our game at TCOJ the other night was surprizingly enjoyable. In all honesty, I wasn't with high hopes for this map (though I was extremely intrigued by it), but it was fun just to run around on it and have those long distance firefights with the ever looming threat of the binary rifle. I think this would play so much better as a 6v6 or maybe even 8v8. I'd like to try one of those sizes here some time. Until then, the map is beautifully intriguing, and I want to play it again.
It's nice to see this from above. Now all the disjointed memories I have of the layout can be put into the correct place and order. That's sad, because it's relatively simple, just like the diagram you posted a few days ago. I'll have to run through it more on my own to grasp all the connections between the top and bottom so that I'll have a tactical reason to move around on the bottom. It was just too much for me to fully understand in the two games we played, but I can see the usefulness of the bottom area materializing with a good understanding of the layout. Regardless of my slight confusion during the games, I thoroughly enjoyed playing on the map. Both games were nice, intense battles. I look forward to playing some more on the map with my new found understanding of it intricacies.
aesthetically pleasing and fun to play. some interesting line of sights and some frantic firefights. good job. i am looking forward to playing this again.
I think he did a fantastic job with the ship as the center piece, the undeside looks good as well, do the players go down there much?
Thank you sir! re: the bottom - we've run two tests so far and in both of them there was a steady trickle of players to that area, but not quite enough that there was a lot of fighting down there (I think there were just a few short skirmishes in each game; most of the action stayed upstairs, so mostly people were going down there to use the lift or teleporters). I suspect it will be a little more used once people get to know the whole map layout, and realize how they can use the bottom to move to different areas that might be hard to get to in the upper level. But it's not intended to see as much action as the main level. Much like Zealot and its space section, if people start hanging out there a lot then I did something wrong. (I'd almost consider soft-killing the whole area like they did on Zealot, but it takes longer to move around down there so people might end up dead a whole bunch.)
You should add "explicit" to the title or NSFW. Because this map is full of sex. Looks like a lot of fun and I like the zeal-ot inspiration. I need to play this. I hate my life. Lol
Your Captain's Seat is out of scale compared to the regular spartan size. The use of the Ghost Vehicle Pad with a Shield in the middle of it just make the overall room weird in the 7th picture. What a strange look for a holographic panel, since you left the Pad base exposed, it keeps the Player to still see it as a Vehicle Pad. Anyway, I think it just took their attention out in my opinion.
I know, but it looks better than the smaller chair I made out of scenery objects, and it makes for a better piece of cover as well. I like it as a base - it's got flashing lights and is just the right size. Yeah it's obviously a vehicle pad, but anybody that plays Halo and forges isn't going to exactly be confused over what any of these objects are. Originally I was going to sink it into the floor to just use the hologram part, but I like the way it looks as is. Actually I think it makes more sense as a Star Trek-esque, hologram-generating base for a viewscreen than as a magical device that somehow makes a vehicle out of thin air - no amount of flashing lights can cover for the fact that that technology is completely ridiculous.
Gameplay vid courtesy of Fenix Hulk: Salvage CTF - YouTube Map is still undergoing testing, but it's playing well for CTF in my opinion, which was intended as the primary gametype. Just need a few more tests for other gametypes and maybe a few resulting tweaks.