The northern and southern expansions have 6 mineral patches each and 1 rich vespene geyser. The central expansion has 8 mineral patches and 1 rich vespene geyser.

XNW's are placed inside the curves (8 o'clock can oversee the path of 4 o'clock a bit and 2 can see 11).

Before I start texturing and all that, what do you guys think? Anything that needs changes?
I'd like to playtest it, but I don't have anyone to try it with, and I'm not really that good at the game. Just platinum level.

Gfire

United States1699 Posts

March 06 2012 21:30 GMT

#24

Looks really great. Warping in over the minerals could be problematic, or even over the walls with the watchtowers. Also, mineral walls can be messed up if mules drop on the wrong side. I think that the map shouldn't allow cross spawns for allies because that would cause positional imbalances and separate the allies too much. Otherwise, I think it's great and it's about time it's been remade in SC2.

InfestedHydralisk

Netherlands110 Posts

March 06 2012 21:44 GMT

#25

I too have been having concerns about warp-ins.

I have been thinking about just not having watchtowers and maybe even having shared vision off. Might keep things interesting.
If shared vision is on, you can still warp in over the walls without the need of having watchtower control.

Gfire

United States1699 Posts

March 06 2012 22:12 GMT

#26

Oh, that's a good point. I guess the only way to make it work would be to make them wide enough you can't reach with a pylon. The mineral walls might not be doable in SC2. You'd have to do like two rows of rocks, and then you are getting away from the original map quite a bit.

Dark Lord

United States38 Posts

March 07 2012 01:54 GMT

#27

Commenting on the original map, I think Zerg is too powerful here, as they are the only race capable of scouting the island early. They will at least have an idea whether an early rush is happening, like banshees, early drop, nydus, or 4gate prism, as opposed to a expand first build due to the fact early aggression on an island isnt really possible. Teams without a zerg will be pretty much completely in the dark and won't be able to properly prepare for either types of opening.

One way to minimize this effect would be to remove the naturals on the island because that would decrease the amount of strategies you could use, although one base is pretty bad for zerg players.

It's an interesting concept, I just don't think it can be balanced, although since there hasn't been any testing on it there's no was to know for sure.

InfestedHydralisk

Netherlands110 Posts

March 07 2012 14:05 GMT

#28

I have been thinking more about warp-ins; if they happen early, the one who is doing so will outnumber himself on his side. If they happen later on, the other player will probably have dropships/nydus ready to support his/her ally.

kanada

Canada255 Posts

March 07 2012 14:41 GMT

#29

Yes, i see terran being an issue, especially reaper. might be best to make the sections in the middle a chasm and then where it meets minerals? so that at least early game reapers are slowed a bit.

InfestedHydralisk

Netherlands110 Posts

March 11 2012 03:38 GMT

#30

I will probably put pathing blockers on the small walls so reapers cannot pass them.

Been having some frustration with making it look pretty. Trying to go for this infested protoss grounds look.

XenoX101

Australia729 Posts

March 11 2012 12:04 GMT

#31

Double walls would mean reapers and colossus can't cross. Nice map idea

InfestedHydralisk

Netherlands110 Posts

March 15 2012 01:22 GMT

#32

A playable version has been uploaded on the EU. Enjoy!

Feel free to share your replays and notify me incase of any bugs.

Can an admin change to thread name to Black Curtain instead of Atmosphere WIP? Thanks in advance!

EatThePath

United States3943 Posts

March 15 2012 01:52 GMT

#33

This map would be a lot of gimmicky fun, but I feel like it's just a race to exploit the map more effectively. I'm not sure you can say it has race imbalance, but things like tanks at the center expos, warpins over the minerals, and far distance to ally could make this a nightmare to play if you are not yourself doing something cheesy with your teammate.

And because of this I don't think it's worth adding in adjustments to fix some of these issues because the map will always be "broken" like that. Probably still fun though!

ClysmiC

United States2192 Posts

March 15 2012 04:33 GMT

#34

I feel like the new SC2 mechanics of warp-ins and nydus worms would make the divide kind of useless pretty early on in the game. I guess it'd also force Terran to go for a MM or MMM style as well, for the mobility that the medivacs offer.

Dead9

United States4725 Posts

March 15 2012 04:44 GMT

#35

blink stalkers yo

docvoc

United States5491 Posts

March 15 2012 05:06 GMT

#36

this. is. genius. i really think this is a new era within 2 v 2, this needs to be expounded upon.

docvoc

United States5491 Posts

March 15 2012 05:08 GMT

#37

On March 15 2012 13:44 Dead9 wrote:
blink stalkers yo

Heh, i think that could be solved by a couple methods, but the main one would be using the fog of war to set it up so they can't see but mostly just hoping the match making system makes the matchup even that each needs to defend the other.

-NegativeZero-

United States2142 Posts

March 15 2012 07:43 GMT

#38

Is it possible to put LoS blockers directly on top of the center minerals? If so, that could solve the warp-in problem.

AiurOG

United States98 Posts

March 15 2012 07:55 GMT

#39

Would teams be divided along the north/south or could team mates be split cross map from each other?

InfestedHydralisk

Netherlands110 Posts

March 15 2012 18:50 GMT

#40

@-NegativeZero-; Yes it is possible, but you have to keep in mind that shared vision also allows players to warp in to the other side. But in all honesty, all races have various ways to work together and crush an opponent. We will see how it works out once we see a few games going.

@day[J]; Team Spawns can be left vs right, north vs south but never cross.