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Citadel of Gaia is the first of two 2v2 maps that I am creating for the Prodigy Team Starleague. The map is inspired by Twilight Fortress, the very first SC2 2v2 map. I feel that Twilight Fortress was always quite solid, however it had room for improvement. This is what I came up with:
Features
-In-base natural expansion
-Main base has three ramps, two 1x ramps and one 2x ramp blocked by debris. These can be walled on the lowground by one central wall or on the highground by two separate walls
-Third base can be taken as an easy-to-defend mineral only or as a riskier gas expansion by going around the trees
-Two Xel'Naga Towers overlook their respective ramps leading into the center
-One Xel'Naga Tower on each of the outer expansion areas
-Gold expansion can be harassed via the path above
Specs
Map Size: 164x160
Expansions: 20 blue, 2 gold
XNT: Six, two in the center and four along the outer expansions
Tileset: Custom - Uses elements from Bel'Shir, Aiur, Agria and Haven
Closeup ImagesThe center ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/mmm0vh.jpg) Blue Base ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/X3r5sh.jpg) Red Base ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/MYmO2h.jpg) Two-Way third expansions ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/WMPXPh.jpg) Gold expansion ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/s6nsgh.jpg) What lies beyond the wall? #gameofthrones ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/raplah.jpg) Team Rocket HQ ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/kcbozh.jpg) Abandoned Military Base ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/IT3Edh.jpg) Abandoned Military Factory ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/0uO5Mh.jpg) Waterfall! ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zcgf5h.jpg)
Map is published on NA and EU as iCCup Citadel of Gaia [2v2] - PTSL
Note from the author
prodiG I thought you retired?!?!?!
Well, before I announced my retirement I had committed to the PTSL that I would make a pair of 2v2 maps for their league and I am not someone to back down on prior commitments. I'm still "retired," but I'll still be following up with these 2v2 maps. I hope you all enjoy it!
Follow me on twitter!
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Map looks amazing, looking forward to the next one!
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Nice work in general. Wish I had your amazing texturing and doodad skillz. 
I do think the two way third is a nice twist. I'm looking forward to playing this map a lot!
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On May 23 2011 11:38 Kinetik_Inferno wrote:Nice work in general. Wish I had your amazing texturing and doodad skillz. I do think the two way third is a nice twist. I'm looking forward to playing this map a lot!
Practice practice practice ;D
I wasn't very good at this when I started either
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Very nice. The aesthetics are quite excellent.
It's nice that it's mirrored, so the teammates have equivalent spawns.
I have a slight concern that heavy turtling will be encouraged with the in-base naturals. Not entirely sure how that effects it, I'm not really familiar with 2v2.
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On May 23 2011 13:19 Gfire wrote:
Very nice. The aesthetics are quite excellent.
It's nice that it's mirrored, so the teammates have equivalent spawns.
I have a slight concern that heavy turtling will be encouraged with the in-base naturals. Not entirely sure how that effects it, I'm not really familiar with 2v2.
Turtling on two bases on twilight fortress rarely works as the other team will just take the map and build the most hilarious death ball they can think of and run the turtles over with it. I'm hoping it'll be the same here~
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Yeah... I guess turtling not so much because of that, but that to me doesn't sound like a very fun game. I didn't much like Twilight Fortress, but I never saw pro matches on it so this might be totally fine. I do enjoy all the one-base strategies in 2v2, though.
I think part of the issue is that with twice the players, there will be in theory twice the amount of units to keep track of, and so encouraging the players to stay on a lower number of bases for longer seems like it would be better from a spectator standpoint. Then again, really massive battles might be fun to watch as well, we'll have to see.
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On May 23 2011 14:39 Gfire wrote:
Yeah... I guess turtling not so much because of that, but that to me doesn't sound like a very fun game. I didn't much like Twilight Fortress, but I never saw pro matches on it so this might be totally fine. I do enjoy all the one-base strategies in 2v2, though.
I think part of the issue is that with twice the players, there will be in theory twice the amount of units to keep track of, and so encouraging the players to stay on a lower number of bases for longer seems like it would be better from a spectator standpoint. Then again, really massive battles might be fun to watch as well, we'll have to see.
At high level play I think the players will catch on pretty quick that turtling is not the way to play this map given the scenario i described above
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This looks so damn good I can hardly believe it's the sc2 editor.
Apart form the minerals, teh scene looks very realistic. It's also interresting beacuse it makes you guess at what has happened there (wildlings or Others? ).
I must ask about the concept of mineral walls sicne they look quite innovative to me. I've seen them used in BW, but not to this extent. How will this play out, do you think? will players mine the bases from teh other side? Will armies split up to let lings and the like attack between minerals, while the main bulk of the army goes by the front door?
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Oh wow, beautiful map. Love the red v blue touch.
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I'm willing to publish this on EU if anyone is interested, I know I am 
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Norway839 Posts
On May 23 2011 20:48 WaliWali wrote:I'm willing to publish this on EU if anyone is interested, I know I am
Please do. I hope it will be picked up by 4PL team, Competo and ESL.
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On May 23 2011 21:00 Snute wrote:Show nested quote +On May 23 2011 20:48 WaliWali wrote:I'm willing to publish this on EU if anyone is interested, I know I am Please do. I hope it will be picked up by 4PL team, Competo and ESL.
Will definitely try then Can't wait to do some 2v2's on this one.
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Can you set it so that the blue team spawns as Blue/Teal and the red team spawns as pink/red/orange?
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On May 24 2011 02:07 Kinetik_Inferno wrote:
Can you set it so that the blue team spawns as Blue/Teal and the red team spawns as pink/red/orange?
I thought about trying to do this and I figured I might piss off players since some people REALLY like to pick their colors, so I decided against it
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thank you for making this not kill my computer (: looks like an improvement over twilight fortress.
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this is exactly what i was lookign for!, a well made 2v2 map.
any chance to get this on EU?
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PMed you about getting it on EU ProdiG
And now we wait ^^
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Looks like an improvement indeed. I really like the walkway behind the gold. The center seems a little too choked up to me for maxed-out battles, but I'd have to play it a few times to really judge.
I'm tiny bit sad I didn't get my map with two-way expo out there, but of anyone I'm glad it was you prodig to "debut" it. ;D
Note about that: it looks like the way you did it, it should only take 4 workers to "distance" mine the gas once there's a hole in the minerals, which some people might find surprising. You might max out the saturation slightly at 5 depending on the distances and which patch(es) are missing.
I think this type of expo will be really cool for zerg because they can eventually put a hatch down on the more vulnerable side. Terrans can fly of course. Protoss. =\
Strategic mules to open it up faster is really interesting though.
Nice work!
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Map is published on NA and EU as iCCup Citadel of Gaia [2v2] - PTSL
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thats quite a long name 
glad you're pumping out a few more maps before retiring for real
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On May 24 2011 07:26 lefix wrote:thats quite a long name glad you're pumping out a few more maps before retiring for real
The name might get changed or altered in the future, we'll see. I wanted the name to display the fact that it was solely a 2v2 map and that people could find it by searching both iCCup and PTSL.
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OMG, such a beautiful map. <3
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When is the second one gonna be out :D:D:D:D::D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:DD
Maybe one based on arid wastes?
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Wow great, so you are still making maps? :D
Visually, this map looks really really good!
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Excellent looking map and I really like what you have done with the middle of the map.
However I think it will still have the same problems as the original given that still have
- Joint main bases
- Protected Nat
I think it prevents that best part of 2v2 team play where you had to work with your teammate to co-ordinate attacks against 1 player and then bet able to fight off a counter attack from the other guys.
These maps just let you sit back and then push out as 1 big death ball directly to both of their bases.
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@Frenzy175 fortress bases like this have a place in a 2v2 map pool, as long as there are alternatives
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On May 25 2011 02:34 Meltage wrote:
@Frenzy175 fortress bases like this have a place in a 2v2 map pool, as long as there are alternatives
The second map I'm working on for the PTSL will not be a shared base map. I've only got a sketch of it at the moment but as soon as I've got something to show everyone it'll be on my twitter.
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This map is wild! You know what stands out the most to me? The center of it has a body, a true mass that doesn't look like what was leftover after you put down the bases.
Examples of maps that looks like the center is just leftovers: Backwater Gulch, Slag Pits.
So yeah, cool map and its fun to see a little 2v2 action, I know some players that wish there were better 2v2 maps.
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The middle was one of the first things I started experimenting with The center of twilight fortress is where (naturally) most of the battles took place, and i didn't quite like the way everything played out so I wanted to make a few changes that tied into the third expansions I had set up. I went through a few variations (some that involved rocks , cliffs, rocks and cliffs, etc :O) before finally coming to the conclusion that you see today~
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This looks gorgeous. I love maps that fuse tilesets and this does it perfectly, with a fittingly great name as well.
Any plans to put this up on SEA?
I'll definitely be using this map for 2v2 practice. Well done indeed.
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On May 25 2011 08:59 prodiG wrote:The second map I'm working on for the PTSL will not be a shared base map. I've only got a sketch of it at the moment but as soon as I've got something to show everyone it'll be on my twitter.
Sweet have an up-vote! I'm really hoping for a nice big map that allows cross position spawns that would warm my cockles.
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Maybe for the 2 way expo, u could make the safe way like 6 min and 0 gas and the other way the full 8 and 2 gas, or have like 2, 3 gold
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On May 27 2011 10:32 TheREALRaRas wrote:
Maybe for the 2 way expo, u could make the safe way like 6 min and 0 gas and the other way the full 8 and 2 gas, or have like 2, 3 gold
I was thinking about doing this but I decided to avoid overcomplicating it. I may change it in the future.
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Canada1169 Posts
This map is actually so amazing. I love the concept of the ramps and the easy expansion. But aesthetically one thing i REALLY love is how in the spawns that are darker your minerals and probes glow and it looks so freaking amazing, water in this map looks amazing as well.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/JBE6C.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/AsRhj.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/0Q0L9h.jpg)
