Sandbar A/ Bacon Weave // // // // // // // // -All following information has been re-written according to the latest version as of 12/15/2011-// // // // // // // \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\-AKA Edit 3-\\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ Now, as many Forgers know, finding a piece of real estate is usually the first order of business, and as far as I know, most people try and use Paradisio and Hemmorage as their canvas for BTB maps. I however, took my eye on one other interesting part of Forge world to make My BTB map: The Sandbar. Many people have tried to make a good map there, but Almost all of them end up not being any fun, due to a lack of accomidatin for the terrain or just suffer from poor game mechanics. I belive I have finally overcome this challenge of the sandbar, and have made a great map taking advantage of all the sandbar has to offer. That would be a liquid-smooth beach area for driving, and an interesting infantry-freindly mountain terrain. I also shun the traditional use of snipers in a base in favor of a more-challengeng long-range tool of destruction: the focus rifle. That's not to say there's no sniper. There is a neutral 1-clip sniper perched on a unique holder (AKA the top of the middle tunnel on paradisio) to be contested for a significant advantage, especially during flag assaults. The problem with Paradisio, and subsequnt maps utilizing the area is the exploitation of the infamous sniper hill located in the direction of hemmorage. I believe I have fixed this with man cannons that launch you straight to the "top level" of the mountain, counteracting any pesky sniper perched up there, provided you reach the launch point without getting noticed. There is one for each side, yet noticible-ness has been balanced with importance. (red team cannon-sniper ledge > blue team cannon-opposite ledge) It's still a work in progress, but the Pre-fab seconday based are being custom-made now. They will have a similar layout to the old secondary/rocket bases (because they worked well), but will look nicer, have improvements, and be less boring. Spawning has also be redone, spawning each team closer to their base when their flag is away than the previous mid-way spawns. Custom Flag-away Spawn structures (and associated repawn points and zones) were made and are set to game-specific, so they will not be in play during Slayer. This changes the gameplay and tactics used during objective and Slayer objectives in a significant fashion. !!!!-New screenshots of updated version will be coming soon-!!! Edit 1: Thanks for the feedback, yet I haven't gotten any complaints on a lack of cover. Judging from the pictures, I do see your concerns, and i'll ty and address that. The map itself is also not finished, hence the preview. It's just in a playable state with most of the layout and structures made. It's also low budget because the draw distances are huge, and I wanted to have as few problems as possible with structures and the framerate. Edit 2: I've taken Psychoduck's advice, and have made the necessary changes! It plays MUCH better now, and have taken the time and effort to render a gameplay video on the new version now known as Sandbar A Here are some picture links, then i'll include in the Video. Red Team initial loadout camera -Red team main base/initial spawn *Only one grav lift to top from bottom, yet vehicles can drive behind the base -Blue team main base/initial spawn *note slight differences from Red base ( Cone line, stunt rocks, 2 grav lifts to top). Vehicles may only dive through or over the base. ----------[SIZE=+1]Updated Features in 12/15/2011 edition[/SIZE]---------- -Red man cannon to infamous sniper ledge -Man cannon 2, leaading to blue team's equivalent ledge. -Red Team's Flag_away spawn {only activated in CTF variants} *blue team has a similar Flag_away spawn, and Note the close proximity to Mancannnons that allow players to intercept a flag if it travels via paradisio. *much closer to main base/vehicles than previous versions. -Neutral sniper holder/ Upper paradisio causeway. *note cave is more noticable with door frames, well, framing it. -Blue Team seconday/ Rocket base. *** I'm working on replacing these with custom structures. Pre-fab structures were used to give a rough estimate of how well a secondary base there would function. -12/15/2011 Edition overview Action Shot -[size=+2]On to the Video![/size] Want to download the 12/15/2011 edition map? Now you can! -----[SIZE=+3][SIZE=+2]DOWNLOAD PREVIEW HERE![/SIZE] [/SIZE]-----
You say it should accomodate infantry well but I see giant expanses of flat ground that I wouldn't want to have to walk as infantry because it would take a long-ass time and vehicles would destroy me when they see me.
That's what the paridisio side is for. The beach area is mainly for vehicles, and if you can't see that, then you're not really looking at the map. As shown in the picture of the tunnel, It is in fact possible for infantry to get to the structure. I've also adressed this issue so that infantry can have an escape route to the paradisio side by placing 2 man cannons about halfway from the main base to the tunnel on both sides [of the beach]
That's the exact reason the area is so underused. The first thing when I see someone advertising low budget on a btb map is that the map is unfinished which is painfully apparent in this map. The map has almost no cover even from warthogs save or some small area on the island and a few bases, and there is no safe path between these areas. As if that's not enough you put a falcon on here to gun infantry down faster.
You can't have one half of the map only accomodate vehicles and have the other half only accomodate infantry. While in theory it might seem that vehicles will fight vehicles and infantry will fight infantry but that's just not the case. If the two "types" of areas were intertwined, kind of like Headlong or Sandtrap to an extent, the idea of separating infantry from vehicles would work out much better. Plus the map is a giant circle with no way through the middle, which will just create bottlenecks in gameplay, especially in objective gametypes.
I spent some time on this map with Firedune yesterday, and conveyed all of this information to him. Some things we talked about were adding some large overhanging structures to the beach and adding man cannons from there to the island. If these additions are implemented the map will greatly benefit, and this is his first BTB map, I wouldn't expect it to be expertly designed.
For a first shot at BTB it's not bad. I can't say mine was perfect either. Since you'll have to go through the basics of BTB at one time or anoher... Dead space is something you need to avoid in a BTB map because with the giant areas, camping is enough of a problem already. Dead spaces are generally caused by an area that has only one path connecting it to the rest of the map or offers no advantages over other paths between the areas it connects. This all means it's a perfect place for a sniper to settle down so he doesn't have to watch his back. In larger spaces like those you have here, vehicles can also sit and wait for prey. Unlike smaller maps, placing weapons there is not enough to shift flow because distances are great enough that getting the weapon is not worth the time or risk, except for snipers and lasers in which case the player will proceed to camp there. Tunnels in btb maps are direct paths that give infantry cover from vehicles in a relatively direct path between to points. These are named because in most cases they have the appearance of a tunnel. Having paths like this for infantry to move with minimal risk from vehicles is important to map flow and prevent players from going into standoff mode. Often these will be accessible to light vehicles which can use the a tunnel controlled by their team for a quick getaway; however, in an enemy controlled tunnel, infantry should have a significant advantage over vehicles. Choke points are one of the biggest problems a big team map can face because eliminating them requires a complete restructure of the map which is often not possible with the limitations of natural terrain. Choke points, however, are not all bad and allow teams to set up a strong defense, and fit the standoff style of gameplay. The problem with choke points arises when there is no way for players to get around the choke point and return movement to the battle. Choke points are not necessarily small; large open areas which players are forced to cross operate just as well for bringing the game to a stalemate and are far more common in big team maps. This large kind encountered in big team can often be solved by splitting the main path into two tunnels, a smaller one for infantry and a larger one for vehicles. Psychoduck's S is on of the best examples of splitting a choke point, in which the entire map is a split choke point. I think I might write a btb guide now.
Sandbar A Has now undergone a major overhaul, optimizing gameplay for 2-flag, while adressing problems noted previously. This update Alert post is to notify those interested in the develpoment of any major changes. A preview edition of the map will be released soon, constituting the 12/15/2011 update version. A link (when posted) will be put in this post, and the main post.