[M] (2) Ilio Volta

This is how, in my mind's eye, I sort of see the this map playing out in a very generalized fashion. I'm adding this section in not to tell people how the map should be played, but rather to help me improve it. This is simply theory crafting, and your criticisms are appreciated!

I've tried to design the main and naturals so that it would be easy to do 2 base plays: there is a smallish choke to the natural (see Wall-Offs section) and a ledge overlooking it. This should help a little with defending baneling busts, early rax pressure and early offensive gateway timings. Furthermore, there are destructible rocks that should aid the defender with getting a good concave once he steps outside his natural.

I see the player who is willing to split his army and multitask as the favourite on this map; I've created (for now) three illustrations in which I humbly attempt to demonstrate how the player who tries to go for the death push is at a disadvantage against the player who abuses good positions and lots of counter attacking.

Legend:

Blue: A player whose strategy rests on doing a focused death-push, for instance a Colossus Death-ball player or a Terran Mech Player.
Red: A player whose strategy revolved around a lot of harassment, counter-attacking, small engagements and probably a fairly mobile force
Yellow: Non-committal aggression from the Red player.
Filled Ciricles: Bases taken
Empty Circled: Army positions
Barbed Concaves: Advantageous positions taken by the defending army or parts of it.

I am not a pro-player, and with good reason: I kinda suck at this game. So I'd love to hear peoples thoughts: perhaps I'm right about these, perhaps I'm wrong, perhaps I'm right but for the wrong reasons.

So as I mentioned I see two-base play sort of straight forward, with the defender typically at an advantage. But with 3 base play, the player who even in defense splits up his forces can carve out a victory:


4 base play starts to really divide the map up, but there are so many counter-attack paths that a very aggressive player can force a base race or an ill-timed desperation push. If he prepares for it by assuming good positions and splitting his army correctly (very tough to do) he may almost immediately secure the win:



When each player arrrives at 5 bases and the map is completely split, even a very well-entrenched, defensive player will find it difficult to cover all of his bases and manage his opponent's expansions at the same time:



Maps like Tal'Darim have massive open expanses in which smaller armies may be quickly surrounded, which I feel often results in timidness. Here, the terrain is not necessarily disadvantageous, but good decision making is critical in the positioning of your army. Along which avenue should you attack, and which avenues make your expansions vulnerable?

I hope this makes sense, let me know what you guys think!

(I play Zerg ... I hope these wall-offs make sense! In any case, the choke is 8 tiles long.

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Bases:

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Aesthetics:

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v1.0 -> v1.1:

* Broke up straight lines along sides of map.
* Moved destructible rocks to help defend third, not block it off
* Widened passage going from third toward Xel'Naga towers
* Tweaked the ledge overlooking the choke into the natural, less abusable now.
* Widened ramps flanking the Xel'Naga Towers
* Widened passage from 4th to 5th bases
* Removed Columns outside of the naturals
* Cleaned up topology in the Naturals
* Try to improve the awkward shape of the main bases
* Optimized and improved lights
* Added supply depot to bottom of ramps to prevent wall-ins.
* General polish and aesthetic improvements

v1.1 Large Overview

v1.1 - v1.2 (Current)

* Gold bases have been changed to normal bases, eliminating some circle syndrome and solving balance better.
* All bases now have 8 mineral patches and 2 geysers. This may be changed in the future depending on balance.
* The natural is no longer siegable from the cw third bases (used to be the gold)
* Slightly improved the symmetry of the map
* Widened entrances to nat to 9 tiles so that 3 3x3 structures are required to block it off completely.
* Natural mineral lines are no longer within siege range from the ramp/ledges at cw third (formerly gold bases)
* Lighting: Saturation decreased from 0.1 to 0.05
* Geysers no longer emit that hissing sound, making the map feel more space-like
* The Global and Ambient Audio Reverbs have been set to "Dizzy" to contribute to the atmosphere
* All sound emitters have been deleted
* A good deal of additional aesthetic improvements, including more refined texture painting and extra doodads
* Ilio Volta has acquired its own loading screen, engineered by yours truly.

To Do:
Update the Wall-off screenshots to reflect change in natural choke.

Special Thank You to:
Polygon for hosting this map on the NA server