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New Proleague maps revealed
This week's edition of the Korean e-Sports magazine esForce features screenshots of the four new 1on1 and two new 2on2 maps for the upcoming 2008 Proleague Season. Unfortunately my camera and photographing skills are not the best, so the quality might not be that good, but it's better than nothing eh : )
The maps have been approved by Kespa and have now been sent to the Proteams for testing. Keep in mind that the maps are subject to change until the beginning of the season. The map 폭풍의 언덕 has no official English title, but it is the Korean translation of a movie called Wuthering Heights. Literally the map's name translates to something like: Hurricane Hills. (폭풍(暴風) a storm;a windstorm;a stormwind;a wild[violent, stormy] wind;a tempest;a gale;a typhoon;a hurricane).
Updated with new offical screenshots of the maps.
Here are the maps with quick analysis by Daigomi (click to enlarge pictures):
1on1:
(Wuthering Heights) - 폭풍의 언덕
Andromeda - 안드로메다
Colloseum - 콜로세움
Othello - 오셀로
Katrina - 카트리나 - from last Season
Blue Storm - 블루스톰 - from last Season
2on2:
Hannibal - 한니발
Hunters - 헌터스 (!)
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/snowbird/map/heights.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/snowbird/map/andromeda.jpg) | Andromeda - 안드로메다 1v1 Map - 4 Player - Space Tileset Another very open four played map, Andromeda's unique feature is the higher ground area opposite to the choke, which is separated from the main base with two neutral buildings. This area allows for shelling of the natural, which might force players to destroy the neutral buildings at an early stage. Once this area is taken over, it could make the main and natural very difficult to destroy. There is also a mineral only behind the main choke, which has interesting potential (zerg three hatching for instance), and a large mineral spot in the middle of the map which will be almost impossible to hold. |
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/snowbird/map/colloseum.jpg) | Colosseum - 콜로세움 1v1 Map - 4 Player - Desert Tileset Colosseum appears to be a standard four player map at first glance, but there are some very interesting deviations from the norm on the map. The player starts on lower ground, with a safe higher ground natural inside his base. What makes it interesting is the second expansion, which is also on higher ground, but is not safe at all. This expansion has two chokes, the first leads to the middle of the map, while the second comes out right at the main's choke. This also allows the opposing player to attack any form of Terran wall from higher ground, and it should be interesting to see how players cope with this factor. |
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/snowbird/map/othello.jpg) | Othello - 오셀로 1v1 Map - 4 Player - Twilight Tileset Othello is yet another four player map with a twist. The idea of the map seems to be to make it difficult to defend expansions. The natural can be cliffed, although there is a neutral building which can be destroyed to prevent this. The middle expansions have gas, which is slightly odd considering their open positions. These bases can also be cliffed. Finally the mineral only bases seem to be the safest bases on the map, but they're far away from the natural, so it will be intersting to see if they're utilised. |
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/snowbird/map/hannibal.jpg) | Hannibal - 한니발 2v2 Map - 4 Player - Jungle Tileset All the maps are strange, but Hannibal might be the strangest. The first 2v2 map, Hannibal has only seven mineral spots, and two gasses in the main. Added to this, the players will have great trouble fitting more than four factories into their main bases, which could become a problem. Because it is a 2v2 map, players tend not to expand too much, but the size, as well as the lack of resources in the main bases, will force players to leave their bases much earlier to expand. Once you move out of the main to the natural, you find that every base on the map can get shelled from higher ground, and even the main itself can get shelled from behind with a few well placed tanks, although it is possible to defend the choke at the middle which should prevent tanks from getting to such a position. With all this taken into consideration, base layout will be absolutely crucial on Hannibal. |
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/snowbird/map/hunters.jpg) | Hunters - 헌터스 2v2 - 8 Player - Jungle Tileset Yes, this is not a joke. The Hunters is back, and it seems to be the standard version of the map. This must be the strangest choice I've ever seen for a pro map, even if they only want to use it for 2v2s. You all know how the map looks, but here are some interesting things to think about: - It's an eight player map, so there's going to be a lot of scouting that needs to be done. - Look at position 11 and 12, think about what would happen if two opposing players started there. - Some naturals are safe (5, 6, 7, and 9 positions), while others are very open (1, 3, 11, and 12). The map is positionally completely imbalanced, so starting positions will determine a lot. I seriously doubt that they will use the map, but it would be awesome if they do decide to. |
Thanks a lot to pachi for the nice GFX and Daigomi for the great analysis!
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