Hello everyone, and welcome to the Bay of Thunder preview thread! ... And that sounded far better in my head than it looks. Fortunately, the map itself looks far better: Anyhow, Bay of Thunder is an invasion map built around the island and Forge World and extends to the beaches which lead to "Blood Gulch Canyon"; and for my own tracking purposes, each successive version represented by the appropriate roman numeral. It's already been through the Testers' Guild once, with a second (and completely reworked) version submitted has been submitted for testing as well. Heck, I even found some issues with the first phase that version (elites didn't have equal distance to the objectives); as such, there's a quick preview of Bay of Thunder IV in this thread. Whether or not that version will be uploaded depends on how the testing for Bay of Thunder III goes, but for the most part the changes are fairly minor and apply only to the first phase; and sorry if it's coming off as I'm overloading you guys with this. The intent here is to get as much feedback as possible, everything from small comments and other suggestions are all welcome; I want to make this a genuinely good map, so I'm all ears to what anyhow has to say. And now seems like a good time to post the download links: Map - Bay of Thunder III *Replaced* Updated Map -- Bay of Thunder IV Custom Gametype - Invasion: Bay of Thunder III The custom gametype isn't a huge departure from the default Invasion gametype, using the default loadouts and timers: 4 minute phases, 20 second offense timers, 7 second float time, and 15 second core return time. The main difference is that runspeed is increased slightly, to 110%, to compensate for the relatively large size of the map; for the most part, it's barely noticable (beyond the phases feeling too tight with time requirements. As of BoT III (and IV), the general premise of each phase is as follows: Phase I -- Capturing the Outpost On the outside of the island is a small outpost, with two territories for the Spartans to capture ; one in a small building on the docks, the other in the lower area of the main set of structures. Spartans spawn on the side of the island with the falls, Elites on the beach on the far side of the base. Phase II -- Opening Up the Base The game then moves to the central area of the map, with several access routes available to the Spartans (who now have control of the outpost, giving them more arms and a few vehicles); there are two access points on each side of the island, as well as the tunnel underneath the mountain. Elites are forced back, but they still have to move forward a bit to reach the territories which the Spartans are now trying to capture; one is located near the "razor wall" in the forward area of the main base, the other on a small platform partway up the hill. Phase III -- Bringing the Core to the Mountain Top The final stages of the round open up the rest of the map: the large energy barriers (grids) blocking the sandbars leading to the back of the base are deactivated, and the "razor wall" blocking the central area of the map from rest of the base sitting in the bay retreat into the ocean. The core itself is located on an elevated platform which can be reached via the several walkways in the base; don't worry, it's much less convoluted and cleaner than the walkways seen in Bay of Thunder II. From there, the Spartans must carry the core to a platform high up the hill; it's not quite on the top (the big and almost purely asthetic gun being there instead), rather being the highest point where the conventional path up the mountain leads. This phase is the one which was the main reason why the run-speed was increased to 110%, because it takes a while longer than the usual invasion maps to get the core up the hill at normal run speed; if normal run speed should be kept, this phase would likely get extended to 5 minutes (the other two could be kept at 4 minutes if necessary). Game runs for two rounds, so that each team gets a chance to play both offense & defense. It's designed around the default 6v6 set-up for invasion maps, but some additional spawn points were included; it can also support a full 8v8 match if desired. Images Most of these are the same as the TG submissions, so they can be skipped over if you've seen them already. Spoiler Bay of Thunder IV Preview Just as brief run-down of the changes, it's predominantly the structure sitting on top of the rock which was blocking the Elites from a clean path to the dock area and it's objective. The complicated barrier (a large brace, two XL ramps, and a one-way shield wall) to the side of the island on the left of the image was also replaced with a single colliseum window. UPDATE -- Bay of Thunder IV is now available for download! Bay of Thunder III Images Spoiler An overview of phase 1.... if I can get this image to actually work. An overview of phase 2. An overview of phase 3... sorta, more like most of the map. Bay of Thunder II Images Spoiler A good view of the asthetic centre-piece of the map, a colossal cannon. A profile view of the map from the waterfall side. A view of the outpost before the overhaul in BoT III One shot of the messy old base interior. Another shot of the old messy base interior. An overview of the old messy base. Feel free to take a quick look and tell me your thoughts on the map, any suggestions for improvements and so on. Thanks to the Testers' Guild for providing the initial feedback on the map, and hopefully any more assistance they're willing to provide. Well, maybe I guess I'll be thanking everyone in advance for any input on this map. And of course, don't forget to have fun.