Midway

IIn the forged competitive maps in Halo Reach, there are certain genres and common themes that occur most often, mainly small structure maps meant for small, tactical games. MIDWAY is about as far from this as one can get. The map is a new genre of gaming on Reach, what I like to call an air assault map. A large, asymmetrical map, MIDWAY has players spawning in two hangars, which serve the purpose of bases, one in the colisum and one in the tunnel leading to Hemmorage, which is blocked off in the back. Each hangar is outfitted with an armory of anti-air weaponry, a fleet of aircraft, and teleporters which take players to the various defenses for the red and blue team. These defenses feature anti-vehicular weapons, turrets, structures, or some combination. MIDWAY's gametype, called THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY, is a neutral bomb game meant for a large scale 8 vs. 8 game. The bomb is located in the middle of the paradiso mountain, midway between the two bases. The purpose of the game is for teams to decide on a balance of either attacking and securing this bomb site with aircraft, or staying back and using weapons and turrets to defend the base. The large number of vehicles available has the purpose of similating the conditions of a real war -the enemies keep on coming. If you die, hop in a banshee and go at it again. With 16 people playing, epic battles can be carried out on MIDWAY, games where teamwork and strategy will be far more important than individual skill. The real idea of having so many vehicles and power weapons is because, like in a game of Shotty Snipers, if everyone has a power weapon, nobody has a power weapon. It all comes down to strategy and teamwork. While other maps focus on the pure geometry of the stucture of the map, Midway is more focused on air combat. While each base has access to structure, the point of the map is that most of the combat will occur in the air; if you are killing people in the structure then something isn't right. If you are looking for a different type of map, one with large scale aerial combat and an emphasis on teamwork, then MIDWAY is definately worth a download. And yes, my forging is not perfect, and there are portions that could be better, so feel free to comment on my map. However, I truly hope that this new idea of a large scale battle will catch on. Let the battle of MIDWAY begin!

Midway's blue base. See the hangar and the walkway defenses, as well as the teleporter access defenses on top of the coliseum and on the pillar.

Some of the defenses of the red base. Not visible in this picture is a fortified wall forcing entry to the base to be by aircraft only. Players spawing in the base have the option of using a teleporter or walking to the system of defenses visable here in the picture.

Some of the basic defenses around the blue base. Note the rock formation and bridge, which are great vantage points for defense, as well as the various structures located near the water.

Spawning in red base. Take your pick, aircraft or heavy weapon. Note the fortified wall in the background.

The bomb. Pretty self-explanatory. However, its location in the center of the map leads to most of the battle being centered around that area.

The blue base hangar.

Some red base defenses.

 

The purpose of the gametype THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY is that objective carriers can fly and ride in vehicles. Therefore, somebody could take a banshee and capture the objective, without the enemies knowing. A solution to the laser issue is the convoy system; with vehicles travelling in groups at high speed, it is harder to destroy all of them. Also, snipers in various locations could eliminate laser defenders at the enemy base.