Vindication

Private Jameson ducked back below the parapet, and smiled with grim satisfaction as he heard the dull thud of a body hitting the floor. Corporal Taylor to his left risked a quick glimpse over the wall, which was greeted with a salvo of tactical training rounds. He was hit in the shoulder and fell back out of sight.
The training exercise had been going on for almost an hour now, and no attacker had yet made it to the walls. This stalemate would go on, Jameson knew, as the mock demolitions device had been dropped out in the centre of no-man’s land, and none of the attackers could reach it without taking fire from the defenders.
A piercing scream filled the air, coming from beyond the fortress’ walls. Risking being shot, Jameson peered over the wall. Towards the back of the warehouse there was a marine seemingly suspended in the air. It took a few moments for Jameson to spot the characteristic glow of an energy sword through the centre of his chest, and this realization was shortly followed by the hulking form of an elite materializing behind the marine.

Casting the marine aside, the elite, clad in red armour, let out a mighty roar and leaped forward, TTRs deflecting off his shield, towards the hapless marines playing the attackers. More Covenant troops spilled out of the doors behind the elite officer, and the battle began.

Jameson could not think of any reason for the Covenant to make such an attack on an unimportant training ground, but there obviously was one. One important enough to warrant the best reinforcements the UNSC could provide. They were sending Spartans.







Vindication is a siege map with one flag and one bomb in mind for gameplay. That said, I have gone to great lengths in ensuring balance in symmetrical gametypes, though I cannot say that those are perfect they are perfectly usable. In one bomb and one flag, however, where this map shines. It is best played with at least 8 people for objective games, and only improves with more. If playing slayer then the number of players is recommended at 4-12. I also spent a lot of time on the spawn system, which I believe to be the best I have yet made.

The weapons are themed with the Covenant attacking and the UNSC defending. The Covenant side has been given weapons which are impressive and make large explosions so it seems that they have the upper hand. While they do have very heavy eqipment the UNSC have enough power weapons of their own to maintain a balanced environment. The weapons are: for the Covenant, a fuel rod, an energy sword and a wraith, and for the UNSC, a rocket launcher, a shotgun and a sniper rifle. Now I have limited the ammunition somewhat so that the game does not become one of power weapon whoring, but there is still enough emphasis on them to provide some nice to-and-fro gameplay.

Equipment is a lot more abundant for the Covenant side and is essentially siege equipment, much like the Wraith. Speaking of the Wraith, it is trapped in a relatively small area so that it does not become the be all and end all of the game. The massive plasma explosions and the ensuing rumbling, vibration and screen shaking all help to make the game feel more epic, they make it seem like a much larger fight. That said, I have provided enough cover within the base to allow players to avoid the plasma mortar shots most of the time - they only have an effect on defenders manning the walls, which gives the wraith a purpose - pinning the defenders.

The problem I have had with siege maps in the past is that being a defender is often quite tedious as all you have to do is man the walls. I have tried to fix this in a number of ways, first and foremost with the wraith. This is a major target for the defenders and there are many ways to destroy it, improving variation and replayability. The other way is the very shape of the base. The fort does not stretch from one wall to the other, which is the most common format. Instead there are large areas to either side which needed to be defended, and give the defenders opportunities to sally forth.

There are many ways to enter the fortress, though they are not all immediately obvious, to demonstrate them I have prepared some images below.

I will begin with the easier methods, where all you need to do is jump:





And for the more advanced jumpers:



Now we move on to methods which require the use fo equipment:



- Very simple, deploy a deployable cover next to the walls, jump on it and then again over the walls.



- More difficult to organise, but more rewarding as it can take several players at once. Simply get to the wire spools directly in front of the base and deploy the nearby grav lift when on top.

In a similar vein, there is a valuable method of getting out of the central area where the flag is/the bomb must be planted:



- It is very important not to neglect this, and remember - destroying those pallets might be a good idea if they are about to get the flag.

Now for some overviews of the map so you can get a feel of it:



















At this point I feel some action shots are in order:







Notes: The rocket launcher has no spare clips, and respawns every 120 seconds. The shotgun has no spare clips and has a 120 second respawn. The sniper rifle has 2 spare clips and respawns every 90 seconds to balance out the danger of reaching it. The energy respawns every 90 seconds. The fuel rod gun respawns every 60 seconds and has 1 spare clip which reflects the suppressive role it takes. It is centrally placed in asymmetric games, and replaces the turret in symmetrical games. The grav lift respawns every 90 seconds, use it wisely. The deployable covers respawn every 45 seconds, again, don't waste them. The shield doors provide safe spawns for the attackers. There are weapons placed throughout the map so you are never unable to attack. The map is at both object and money limit.

Thanks for reading, Dynamic Echo.

Ok, several people have posted about the balance for the wraith so I will post my reasons for it's inclusion. Firstly, it is cool, the massiv explosions look great and make the game feel bigger. Secondly, it's effectiveness is limited - not much of the base can be hit by it an it is in a limited space so the shots are reasonably predictable. Thirdly, it balances the sniper rifle - it makes it difficult to get the rifle and impossible to stay up in the tower with it. That brings me on to my fourth reason - it gives the defenders something to do. If they leave it alone then they miss out on a power weapon and can't easily defend from the front walls. Conversely, they can quite easily take it out if they try. Because it is in such a small area boarding it is really quite easy as the wraith cannot fire effectively at close targets. Add to that the fact that the defenders have a rocket launcher with enough shots to destroy a wraith and I wouldn't call the vehicle overpowered.

If only...

Click here to download the map.

 

I am afraid I had to resort to photoshop for that one, with myself and two guests. Anyway thankyou for your positive comments, though any constructive criticism would be much appreciated.

 

I know what you mean - it does make it look a little messy. I did try the map without some of the terrain there. While it looked good the defenders get torn apart - they never even reached the walls. The wire spools directly in front of the base are used to get in and the forklift is there to lok good as it explodes when the walls are hit by the wraith shots. Thank you for trying to offer advice though.

 

Yes, as I have said before, it was. There are 26 spartans in that image. What do you think of the map though?

 

Thankyou for the helpful comments, it is much appreciated. I do agree with you on some of those points. I found that the sniper rifle and wraith balance each other out - if the attackers can hold the wraith then the defenders will find it very difficult to get the sniper rifle, and even if they do they cannot stay in the tower. The wraith itself is not as effective as one might think - only a very small area of the base can be hit so it really does just make the defenders keep their heads down. Believe me, I have spent weeks trying to decide whether or not to remove the wraith. Also once up in the sniper tower there is a large blindspot directly in front of it - where a plasma grenade spawns. It is then an easy task to bounce a sticky off the ceiling onto the sniper's head. As such, using the sniper rifle in that way requires teamwork as other defenders have to keep the blindspot clear. About the shield doors - this is rarely a problem in asymetric games as that base is only really used as the flag is brought back to base. I might remove them for symetrical games though. Again, thankyou for the comments.

 

Ok, several people have posted about the balance for the wraith so I will post my reasons for it's inclusion. Firstly, it is cool, the massiv explosions look great and make the game feel bigger. Secondly, it's effectiveness is limited - not much of the base can be hit by it an it is in a limited space so the shots are reasonably predictable. Thirdly, it balances the sniper rifle - it makes it difficult to get the rifle and impossible to stay up in the tower with it. That brings me on to my fourth reason - it gives the defenders something to do. If they leave it alone then they miss out on a power weapon and can't easily defend from the front walls. Conversely, they can quite easily take it out if they try. Because it is in such a small area boarding it is really quite easy as the wraith cannot fire effectively at close targets. Add to that the fact that the defenders have a rocket launcher with enough shots to destroy a wraith and I wouldn't call the vehicle overpowered. And to the above comment - thankyou, that is how the map is intended to be and I'm glad it came across to others.

 

There might be, but that is a photoshop. And it is in fact more balanced than you think. I know the door isn't totally perfect but I don't think it is too much of an issue.