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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DMSP7.jpg)
Overview (click here for HQ image)
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In-Game Description
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A splinter section of an ancient archive world is found adrift in the midst of the Korprulu sector. Early expansions are easy to take but later expansions can only be safely held through constant aggression.
Introduction/Inspiration
+ Show Spoiler +I was playing around with some layouts which focused on allowing the aggressor to threaten two bases (via a fork) if the defender gives up key positions. After quite a bit of tweaking I came up with this, which offers some slight variation on mid-late game expansion patterns and differing gameplay depending on how the two players go about it. I blame funcmode for the use of the Ulnar texture set, when I was told it was hard to use the tiled areas well I had to take it as a challenge  and many, many hours more than I'd expected of them later I think I finally nailed it. Might tweak the rocky area some more too, as it's very busy at the moment and I worry it might be distracting.
Pictures (Aesthetics) (image titles linked to fullsize images)
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Data (Aesthetics)
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Texture Set & Cliff Type: Ulnar
Lighting: Ulnar
Ambience: Ulnar
Fog: None
Number of Doodads: 482
Analyzer Pics
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Angled Overview (click here for full size pic)
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Data (Gameplay)
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Playable Bounds: 160*160 full, 136*136 playable
Number of Starting Positions: 2
Number of Bases: 12
Number of XWT's: 2
Number of Rocks: 2
Main Choke <-> Main Choke Distance: 44 ingame seconds
Nat Choke <-> Nat Choke Distance: 38 ingame seconds
Mineral/Gas Counts: Standard, 8m+2g blue, 6m+2g gold
Number of Resources / (Map Width * Map Height): 8.44
Changed Data
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v1.1
- Moved Xel-Naga Towers vertically outward and horizontally inward to make early tank pushes onto zerg third easier to hold. Will likely affect momentum late game, but I haven't seen or played enough games on the map yet to know if that'll be a good or a bad thing.
- Various pathing blockers added or moved to remove marine pillars.
- All mineral lines tweaked to allow for more efficient mining and/or to improve their aesthetic look.
Anyone is free to download, change and/or upload my map to other servers as long as credit is given.
This map is intended to be submitted to the Blizzard mapping competition at the end of the month. If anyone has any feedback I would love to hear it, thanks.
totalpigeon
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Something I see right away on your map is that you have misplaced your mineral patches. On several locations, they will force a player to build their CC/Nexus/Hatch to be 1 cell further away from their expansions due to one mineral patch being 'tripple-layered' (meaning its three mineral lines in a row).
I had this problem myself and it played out annoyingly, so I suggest you change that. I will post some pictures of what I mean.
Mining Problems:
+ Show Spoiler +Main Mining Range:![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/nuknE.png) Natural Mining Range:![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/8tulw.png) Gold Mining Range:![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/sXUO4.png)
Other than that I really think you have done a good job with this map. The aesthetics look good and the map seems balanced on first glance, though I would need to play it to actually find problems.
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Some of the expansions have 8 ptaches(intentional?).
Nice aesthetics, interesting layout with many attack paths. I like it
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its a very nice looking map. i like the expansion layout too. it favors deathballing toss and terran to take the rocks and more mobile armies to take the outer expansions thats great. also you hit cirular army movment on the head with the way the middle is set up.
i have quarms with he xelnaga towers tho ( im not sure if they are xelnaga towers those things on the outside of the middle highgrounds.) if they can spot the outer expos i think its abit unfair for zergs and mobile players who took that expo. my solution would be to move the left one slightly up and the right one slightly down. i imagine they would still spot creep but that doesnt mean there is an expo there. its just a bit more forgiving if you lose control of the tower.
overall very nice map
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Published on: [EN]
I tried to test this map today, but could not find it. EN/GB = EU server right? It doesn't seem to be published on the name Dark Horizons.
Edit: Found it, why the search function shows me all results with word Dark in it is beyond me, what a retarded function. 
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I tested your map today against warbio, a willing guy in the TeamLiquid channel in-game. It was a fun match, the map seems okay, but I have some comment on the balance for ZvX. It is very easy for Protoss and Terran to take their natural because they have two tight chokes near their main. It was impossible to break with either a Roach or a Zergling rush. Fast expanding also did not do me much good, on this map the only choice a Zerg has is doing a fast third expansion, meaning Toss and Terran can predict Zerg tactics too easily and take them out.
I think you should widen the openness of the natural, fix the mineral and bam; you have a winner.
P.S. I tried to upload the replay but sc2replayed gave me a parser error =(
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@ Callynn
I'd love to get the replay, no matter where you upload it. Perhaps you could email it to me or something? I'll pm you my address.
I'm looking into the mineral thing, I thought I was doing it correctly (well, the gold was a complete failure) but I can see a few minor issues I hadn't picked up on which I'm contemplating the best way of trying to fix (probably just reverting to the shape they were when I copied them over). I had tried to make it easier to get units through the mineral line by introducing more gaps in the main, but in doing so I have moved two of the mineral patches one square further away from the cc/nex/hatch than they should be. I don't think it should be a major issue as the cc isn't any further away than it should be from most of the patches and both sides have the same layout so there isn't any question of unfairness, but I guess it could throw timings slightly out for builds.
I'm also in a bit of a bind with the openness at the natural. I don't think I can make it significantly larger without completely invalidating FFE against a zerg 6 pool, and I've heard from a lot of other mappers that they prefer FFE to be possible in maps to keep as many options open and add depth to the map. I'll look further into it though, I have some time before I need to submit ^^ thanks for the feedback.
@ Turbogangsta
The placement of the Xel'Naga towers is primarily to aid a Terran player taking the outer third in holding back a siege tank push coming over the highground (it can't be seen from the highground without air support, so it makes the position much stronger in defence) and to watch for any units coming through those two pathways so you can respond if your army is out of the way. I'll look into some other placements which can still achieve this, but if I move them much it won't be able to fulfil these functions and it may end up not being any use at all. I suppose an alternative is to possibly move the third out further.
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Unless I'm mistaken, this is one of the few maps I've seen with gold expansions not directly in the path of attack or in the middle of the map, nor at a choke point. As a zerg player on this map, I dare a protoss to pylon my natural -> going to the Gold!
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On October 18 2011 20:31 TheRedViper wrote:
Unless I'm mistaken, this is one of the few maps I've seen with gold expansions not directly in the path of attack or in the middle of the map, nor at a choke point. As a zerg player on this map, I dare a protoss to pylon my natural -> going to the Gold!
Funny point you're making, I may test this to see if i can exploit it.
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On October 18 2011 20:20 totalpigeon wrote:+ Show Spoiler +@ Callynn
I'd love to get the replay, no matter where you upload it. Perhaps you could email it to me or something? I'll pm you my address.
I'm looking into the mineral thing, I thought I was doing it correctly (well, the gold was a complete failure) but I can see a few minor issues I hadn't picked up on which I'm contemplating the best way of trying to fix (probably just reverting to the shape they were when I copied them over). I had tried to make it easier to get units through the mineral line by introducing more gaps in the main, but in doing so I have moved two of the mineral patches one square further away from the cc/nex/hatch than they should be. I don't think it should be a major issue as the cc isn't any further away than it should be from most of the patches and both sides have the same layout so there isn't any question of unfairness, but I guess it could throw timings slightly out for builds.
I'm also in a bit of a bind with the openness at the natural. I don't think I can make it significantly larger without completely invalidating FFE against a zerg 6 pool, and I've heard from a lot of other mappers that they prefer FFE to be possible in maps to keep as many options open and add depth to the map. I'll look further into it though, I have some time before I need to submit ^^ thanks for the feedback.
@ Turbogangsta
The placement of the Xel'Naga towers is primarily to aid a Terran player taking the outer third in holding back a siege tank push coming over the highground (it can't be seen from the highground without air support, so it makes the position much stronger in defence) and to watch for any units coming through those two pathways so you can respond if your army is out of the way. I'll look into some other placements which can still achieve this, but if I move them much it won't be able to fulfil these functions and it may end up not being any use at all. I suppose an alternative is to possibly move the third out further.
ah i didnt think about that hmm thats very interesting and very important. i still think it is unfair on zerg, it really shows their hand when taking a 3rd w/o having good map control but i spose that could just add to the gameplay and decisions of the players.
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Changes for v1.1
- Moved Xel-Naga Towers vertically outward and horizontally inward to make early tank pushes onto zerg third easier to hold. Will likely affect momentum late game, but I haven't seen or played enough games on the map yet to know if that'll be a good or a bad thing.
- Various pathing blockers added or moved to remove marine pillars *facepalm*
- All mineral lines tweaked to allow for more efficient mining and/or to improve their aesthetic look.
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