[M] (4) Erratic Caldera

sCnDiamond

Germany340 Posts

November 08 2011 12:39 GMT

Erratic Caldera (0.6)
Made by: Diamond (not the one formerly associated with ICCup)
Published on: <[EU] [KR] [NA] [SEA] > (thanks to raVenSC2 from reddit!)

[image loading]

Introduction/Inspiration:
I loved the way Johanaz made the borders of his map "Crimsonite" and felt a burning desire to make that work for an entire map, where the lava actually comes very close to the player's units and buildings. Also my previous map "Arid Mesa" was to big in my opinion, that's why i went back to study popular maps like Metalopolis and Shakuras Plateau. Those turn out to be pretty one-dimensional which offer moderately difficult to take expansions and make it easy to split the map in half. So i tried to for a similar design.
I also played quite a lot of WH40k - Space Marine while making this, which resulted in the industrial look of the bottom right.

Pictures (Aesthetics):
+ Show Spoiler +

Data (Aesthetics):
Texture Set:
Char Dirt
Char Dirt Cracked
Char Rock
Char Lava Cracks
Avernus Panels
Avernus Plates
Avernus Metal
Avernus Large Tiles

Cliff Type:
New Folsom Organic Cliffs
Redstone Manmade Cliffs

Pictures (Analyzer):
+ Show Spoiler +

Further Balance Comments:
Close Spawns will be disabled in the next update.

Samro225am

Germany982 Posts

November 08 2011 13:02 GMT

aesthetics:

you johanaz-ed the map quite nicely, but all the work put into the textures doe not show, because it is quite dark. possibly you want to adjust the lighting a bit?

the middle highrounds really need more love. I suggest give them some tech-textures like the mains.

layout:

on first sight, the layout reminds on of shakuras + highground + golds. probably because of the symmtry in your map, but also because there is no close spawn.

hence the regulat third base will only be used in cross position games. going for many bases you then break the rocks (or rather not, i think) and expand into the other quarter of the map. OR you take gold directly which causes some imbalance due to mules (you are a terran, aren't you?)

in horizontal spawn position games your third just has to be the gold base - did i mention that this is a bit problematic?

why did you make gold so close to your nat at first? why do you not use all that space in centre (highround, lava) to make the gold easier to attack similar to antiga shipyards?

rocks between thirds: not needed in my opinion, because in cross spawn you need to have the highground or a aprt of it to actually take both thirds, hence if contained that backdoor won't help you secure another base. Even in a TvT I do not expect both take the thirds, so you can just leave them away and create an extra path.

i think there are some interesting things going on here, but they might need a few changes for better balance and more interesting gameplay.

Turbogangsta

Australia319 Posts

November 08 2011 13:05 GMT

dude this map is so sick love it

chocopaw

2072 Posts

November 08 2011 13:11 GMT

Great work with the industrial parts, I wanna see more of it!

Johanaz

Denmark363 Posts

November 08 2011 13:38 GMT

Am I a verb now? Good job on Johanaz-ing the map

You took that industrial theme far beyond what I did. Looks awesome.

Layout looks clean and solid. Like taking the best of Shakuras Plateau and adding a far more interesting middle. Well done!

/edit: spelling

Samro225am

Germany982 Posts

November 08 2011 13:42 GMT

On November 08 2011 22:38 Johanaz wrote:
Am I a verb now? Good job on Johanaz-ing the map

You took that industrial theme far beyond what I did. Looks awesome.

i do not want to spoil the party, but please add some eyecandy in centre

On November 08 2011 22:38 Johanaz wrote:
Layout looks clean and solid. Like taking the best of Shakuras Plateau and adding a far more interesting middle. Well done!

but it works differently in horizontal spawn...... :x

Sea_Food

Finland1612 Posts

November 08 2011 13:56 GMT

Lets be honest, the gold is the best third is all postions. Now the thing is that
1. Third base blocked by rocks. Terran favored.
2. Third base is gold. Terran favored.
3. Third base only has 1 gas. Terran favored.

Now some could argue that the third base is very open for terran unfavor, but it is not enough to compensate for 1, 2 and 3.

I suggest a fix

This would make the blue, double gas third more viable, and the gold 1 gas third less viable. If this happened players would have a choice to take either one.

sCnDiamond

Germany340 Posts

November 08 2011 17:18 GMT

on gold as third:
I agree that i should do something about it. Maybe make it face towards the lava in the middle, so it can be harassed from there, making it much less appealing (i don't play terran, my main was protoss for a long time, before i switched to random; And terran is still my weakest race)? I don't want to change to much about the ramps on the natural, i like how the middle cliff and the two ramps work together. But i will move the blue 3rd closer to the natural, to make it easier to take and defend it.

on middle needs more eyecandy/love
Yeah, you're right. That poor thing. ^_^

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