Ok, I don't know if these are tips or if its a guide but oh well. I'm very bored and was looking through the casual maps and found a crap load of infection maps that had ridiculous armories. Still being bored, I decided to make a guide. This was inspired (sort of) by the guide to infection maps. If you scroll down to the bottom, there will be tips on placing armouries in casual and competitive maps. What is an armoury: An armoury is nothing more than a collection of resources or a place where weapons are kept. What Armouries can do: Armouries can possibly make or break a map. If applied correctly, they can create very unique gameplay and make your map a lot of fun. If applied incorrectly, the humans can be too powerful and the zombies won't be able to kill any humans. If it's in a casual map, a team can lock the armoury in slayer and easily win or camp the objective and make it ridiculously hard to get. When to apply an armoury: When in doubt, don't even put in an armoury. Only use one if you are sure you need it. Sometimes it is better just to scatter weapons about the map. Never place an armoury if humans have unlimited ammo. It will be to hard to kill the zombies. Also, some armouries may only work if the gametype is altered, for example, more shields to the zombies. The structure of an armoury: The first thing when designing your armoury is asking yourself if there are more than two ways into the armoury. Having only one or two will result in the humans easily being to camp inside of it and the zombies will never be able to get in. You want to make it so the humans do not want to stay in the armoury. You want them to just grab weapons and seek another place to camp. Have multiple access points so if the humans decide to stay in the armoury, it will be very difficult to hold out. Armouries that are out in the open can sometimes work quite well, but other times, the zombies won't be able to get to the humans if they camp in the open armoury. If you ever do decide to make an armoury in the open, make sure there are still multiple access points as well as some crates or little cover so the zombies have a chance to kill the humans. Where should you place an armoury: Where you place an armoury can have a huge impact on how your map plays. You don't want the humans spawning in one because they will be able to have a lot of time to pick the weapons they want and most likely, they will be able to camp the spawn. But at the same time, If you make it at the zombie spawn, It will never be used and it will have been pointless to make. I find the best place to place an armoury is where humans can get to it easier than the zombies, but the humans are rushed because the zombies aren't to far away from it. That way, the humans will be able to pick up weapons, but won't have time to make sure that it is the one they want for sure. If they do take to much time picking up weapons, the zombies will kill them. Also, placing an armoury at a high point is bad as you will be able to look down on the entire map. What to place in an armoury: Armouries are a collection of resources so that is what you want in it. Resources can be weapons, grenades, equipment, and it can even include vehicles, as seen in the map convoy tunnel. Depending on the weapons, an armoury can be easily camped even if you have multiple access points and it is on low ground. (Convoy tunnel is a great map, but the vehicle part in the beginning is very easily camped. Put someone in the tank turret and someone watching the teleporter.) The stronger the weapons in an armoury, the farther away you want the humans to spawn from it, while the weaker weapon armouries, you can have closer. Always be careful while placing fully automatic weapons. In a lot of situations, they are a lot more helpful than semi automatic weapons because it allows you to kill more zombies without reloading. Your map and its size will tell you which kind of weapons to place in the armouries. If you want weak armouries, an open map will have SMGs, Spikers, ect. A closed map will have BRs, Carbines, ect. If you want the armouries to be strong, reverse each of those. Power weapons should always be placed with care and few spare clips. I can't tell you how to place power weapons because it soley depends on your map geometry and how the game plays. One open map might not work with rockets, but another open map may work with them. Equipment combined with weapons isn't a smart thing because you can plug up doorways resulting in the zombies trying to get passed the obstacle and in that time, they will have been shot down. Some equipment can also let you escape very easily. Try avoiding flares and deployable covers in an armoury with weapons. Try to place those in an armoury closer to the zombie because if you want extra cover, you will have to risk your life getting it. I find that grenades can ruin armouries as well because you can keep picking them up and you can block doorways with them. Make sure grenades have long respawns. If you must put certain weapons, equipment, and grenades, make sure they have a long respawn or have no respawn at all. Always keep limited ammo in the armoury. It is nothing more than a temporary holdout point and you want the humans to eventually have to move. If you stack the armoury, the humans will stay in there the whole time and it will create boring and repetitive gameplay. Armouries for maps other than infection: If you are making a map for an objective, never place an armoury near the objective or it will be much easier to protect the objective. Try placing it in a far corner of the base. You also don't want the armoury in places where people run the flag as they can grab a few weapons while running the flag, which will end up making it harder to kill the flag carrier. Keep them tough to get to and off the beaten track. For a slayer map, You will want to make multiple armouries so you can't gain the lead, and sit in one the entire time. Never place the power weapons in the armouries, and when in doubt, don't even make one. Well those are my tips/guide. This is more for beginner mapmakers but advanced mapmakers can still get help from it. I used the search button and didn't find a guide on armouries so if there is one i will delete this. Well, i'll go back to being bored. Tell me if you have any tips and tell me if you think some of this is wrong. A Very Helpful Link that will help you with the rest of an infection map: Guide to making an Infection Map Created by redearth. It goes into detail.
I have an even better tip for armories. DON'T DO THEM. Sorry, it has to be said. They are unbalanced, sloppy, and shows that the map maker didn't know how to place items. Furthermore, it heavily promotes camping and associated bad stuff in games that will make the entire thing unfun.
Correct me if i'm wrong but Convoy tunnel is an excellent zombies map and it has two armouries. the one at the end with weapons and the vehicles in the beginning.
What I think he was trying to say is, when you do use one make sure it is very balanced and Convoy tunnel gets away with it because its balanced. I have played many maps that have armories and they are terrible. But yeah, you might have to add that armories are only acceptable when they are needed. Otherwise you should never have one.
Armouries is the British way of spelling it. Like colour and color. Or armory and armoury. Also, I agree with the JAY.
I have what Jay says somewhat in my post. I say unless you are absolutely sure you need one, don't make one.
*Added to the Forge Tutorial Master Index* As for my opinion on this guide, I would have to agree with nemi. The best armory is no armory. Then again, maybe this can help someone.
I will say that while it's interesting theory, it definitely does not apply to everything. I've got a two-base map on Foundry (everybody groans when they first hear that and see the map...until they play it), where the entire thing revolves around two bases symmetrically armed (meaning both have the same weapons available to them - they're armed to the teeth). The Armories in either base are overloaded, most would say, because they have everything in them, including the objective points. They are the most defensible positions in either base and are only accessible through a two-way teleporter. At my college, this map was a hugemongous success, and I feel that the armories are what made it possible. At the same time, another friend of mine made an infection map with armory, only it was very limited in supply, and had one entry point (though a crate was all that closed off another, so with some finagling, . In normal infection gametypes, it would have killed the map, because the zombies would have been destroyed in a minute. However, in the gametype he made for it, the zombies were absurdly lethal at close range, and basically made it so that holding the armory only gave a slight advantage. So there are some examples of where armories have great success. As long as it's far away from the hill zones and doesn't give any line of sight to the hill zones, I don't see a problem with it.
You have areally good point. I need to put in their that other maps than infection can have exceptions. although i did say that as long as their out of sight it is fine to have one.
Please don't make armories!!! I can understand if its a fat kid related Infection map but otherwise avoid them... They really aren't necessary and are quite annoying... Nice guide by the way...
They sometimes mess up but if you think about it, sandtrap has armouries and so does valhalla and they play great. Sandrap is the spartan laser, trip mine and br's on the same wall. and the grouping of vehicles. In valhalla, the two bases are full of weapons.
Really it breaks down to weapon placement theory; generally, weapons should be spawned away from their points of prime usefulness, so that you have to travel a bit to be able to use them properly. If this can be said of the weapons in your armory (that none of them are really in the prime locations for use), then you're pretty much safe. Granted, this is more difficult for close-range weapons (read: sword, shotgun, mauler, hammer), so generally speaking they should be excluded from armories. That is, unless you can create an even better field for them to be used in. All in all, think about the armory: is it a place where people can camp with an infinite stalk of ammo, or is it a place where people can stop by, grab a better gun, and get back out onto the field? EDIT: To prequote linubidix... This is because 9 out of 10 times, the forge artists who make armories know nothing about weapon placement theory or map design in general. Armories are definitely not for beginners.
Let me rephrase that then. Armories Fail. The reason it works sometimes is because it's used in a mini game. In general infection it fails, in casual it fails even more, in competive it Fails on epic proportions and slaughters your map.