Drop Shock

DROP SHOCK
-by Gunnergrunt

400+ downloads


Description
Drop Shock, a conquest map. More specifically, a conquest v3 map. It is also my second entry in the ConquestForgeoff. This map features a unique death pit and central chamber, in the shape of an octogon. Each team has a hallway that curves back around the outside of the octogon forming various rooms and hallways (pre-forge ketch posted below for a better idea of the layout). Each side, yellow and red, are completely symmetrical and equal. Drop Shock plays well, following the traditional "reverse-tug-of-war" style of gameplay. Weapons are well placed throughout the map to allow maximun flow. This map is best played with 4v4, although it functions well with any number of players (6v6 was incredibly fun). Along with great gameplay, Drop Shock looks great. It's new, smooth, and shiny!

Pre-forge Sketch



Weapons and Gameplay
2 frag grenades (increased respawn times)
2 spike genades (increased respawn times)
2 sniper rifles (0 spare clips. 120 respawn)
2 needlers (1 spare clip. 90 respawn)
4 spikers
2 SMG's
2 plasma rifles
2 plasma pistols

The weapons on Drop Shock are placed with usefulness in mind. The sniper is most useful in the center of the map, therefore it is placed in the room just before entering the center. The needler is placed is the longest hallway, and it can be used in that location or taken to the center as well. All dual weapons are placed in the rooms to give players more control in tight areas. A frag grenade is placed by the sniper rifle, and it is most effective when thrown across the center into the enemy team's sniper room or thrown into the hallway. A spike grenade is placed on the wall in the first territory and is most efficient in clearing out the sniper room, although it has many other uses as well.

As a new round starts, each team will either race to reach the sniper room, picking up weapons are they go, or they will gain control of the first two territories. Either strategy works well. After that, each team will rush into the center, trying to capture the floating platform over the death pit. It's not always the best idea to have a whole team standing on the platform at once. It may be better to have one man capturing the central territory while the other press enemies back into their sniper room. Positioning members of the team on the walkway surrounding the death pit is most useful in capturing it. Once one team gains possesion of the central territory, they will try and gain the opposing team's sniper room. This is where the dual weapons come into play. As the other team comes from the hallway, capturing their sniper room is not easy. It is rare that one team will gain control of all five territories at once, unless the teams are uneven. But even if that happens, it nevers lasts long. So altogether, there will be large, open fights in the center, and tight, close combat battles in the rooms and hallways.

Hints, tips, tricks
I added this section to describe some unique features of this map that can not be shown in the pictures. Anyone who has downloaded Drop Shock has been surprised that players actually spin around in the death pit instead of falling strait in. This allows for once last chance to gets some kills while you are spiraling to your doom. If you spin pass close enough to the middle of the death pit, you may be able to pick up some weapons laying in the bottom. You will have a total of about five seconds in the death pit before your spin dies out completely.
Second of all, here's a suggestion for a really fun, casual game to play on Drop Shock. If you change the base player movement to 150% speed and 50% gravity you will be able to spin around in the death pit without fall down! This is really fun with gravity hammers of swords. Players can have interesting sword battles while spinning in the death pit. Gravity hammers allow you to boost yourself back out of the death pit as well. Of course, this has nothing to do with the conquest variant this map was made for, but it's still a blast to mess around with.
Okay, now here's a hint. If you hide under the shelf in the sniper room, you may be able to pull off a few assassinations before you are noticed. There is a downside to this strategy though. After a few kills in this manner, that will be the first place enemies will look as they come around the corner, so you'll have to get clever.
I will continue to add to this section of the post as new secrets of Drop Shock are discovered. Feel free to post what you know, as I may add it to this section.



Pictures

Battle for the central territory (floating platform and someone falling in death pit)




View inside death pit (players will spiral around the sides until they reach the geomerged sender node at the bottom)




Central platform (yellow sniper room in back)




View from yellow side's sniper room




Inside the sniper room, leading to the hallway (note the small ledge above the grenade)




The hallway. Needler spawn (I used the natural barrier of the top of foundry to keep players from escaping my map, don't worry).




First territory room (note the energy swords in the territory marker).




View into first territory room, leading into hallway




Other side of sniper room




Yellow side




Red side




View from inside of the death pit




Falling in the death pit




Full look into the death pit




A large confrontation in the hallway




Where the death pits puts the bodies (When you fall in the death pit, you will be given a cool view of the central platform).




Central territory without one side (Half of the map was removed to take this shot)




Spawn room





A big thanks to all my map testers! (...and the many more that are not listed).




[URL="http://www.bungie.net/Online/Halo3UserContentDetails.aspx?h3fileid=66837061"][SIZE=7]Download[/SIZE][/URL]


[URL="http://www.bungie.net/Online/Halo3UserContentDetails.aspx?h3fileid=53843513"]Conquest v3[/URL]

 

Don't worry the snipers only have 4 shots so they aren't a huge probelm. They usually get used up within the first 40 seconds of the game

 

Compatible with territories or 1v1 slayer only. It was built to be played with Conquest v3

 

I'm glad you brought that matter to attention! To answer your question, no i did not put a roof on the hallways. But I did not have to! I used the natural barrier formed by the top of foundry to keep people from escaping my map. Thank you for the concern, but this map is impossible to escape, sir. And thank you all for the feedback and commments. I really appreciate it!

 

While playing this map, I am often asked how long it took to make the death pit. Building the death pit was the very first thing i did to start this map, and it only took about fifteen minutes. Once I had the correct angle of slope (steep enough to slide down but maximizing the diameter of the pit), I built a ring of double boxes and used the geomerged teleporter node as a reference point to line up all the bridges. From there, the map got a bit complicated to forge. I just worked from the center, outwards. Hopefully that clears up all questions regarding how the map was built.

Thanks for helping me test the map SyIva. I think i added an extra room on the outside since you've played it last

 

I built the halls and rooms small intentionally to allow more dual weapon combat and compensate for the large central area. The halls are wider than the doors, to prevent a whole team from passing through them at once. This gives a fair chance of capturing each territory.

The needler only has 1 spare clip and a 90 second respawn to prevent it from overpowering. The sniper has already been mentioned...

As for the spike genade, there is only one, and it has an increased respawn time. Everything aspect of weapon placement/choice has been considered and this is the best weapon set for this map. Thank you for the concern!

 

It sounds like you could use a round or two on this map! Trust me, it has been well tested. The territory in the sniper room changes possesion the quite often. Still unconvinced? Let me extrapolate!...

Because your team respawns in the furthest room back, a steady stream of enemies will continue to flow through the hallways and doors. The rate and amount of enemies increases the further your team progresses into the enemy's side of the map. After all the matches i played on Drop Shock, the first territory was only captured once (and i'm pretty sure the other team had two guys that weren't playing). Conquest v3 also enables 3 seconds of invincibilty as a starting trait when players respawn. This gives the freshly respawned players a slight advantage when it comes to controlling the first territory. I hope that helps!