This looks really good. Even better than Sacred Sands, and thats saying something!
My only concern is with having a choice for a 4th. It seems to me that you can make this possible.
To hold all the red bases you can position your army at the red position, but when one takes the green base as a 4th, the army rather naturally moves to the green position. This is great! You even can leave the destructible debris at the 3rd, and play a rather turtley style. But if you take the Blue 4th the Blue position leaves the main exposed, and it leads to some shady chokes. This also requires the destructible rocks to be destroyed. What I would do would be to take make the green base's ramp larger, and easier for an attacker to enter on. I might also re-arrange how close the Blue base is to the 3rd. + Show Spoiler +
I have to say that this map is marvelous none the less. And my rantings are really just pedantic I really can't find anything majorly wrong with this ramp.
I am curious on your decision on putting one central watch tower since that has been under fire lately. Anyway map looks fantastic I hope to see it go somewhere. I also hope to see a HoTS version!
On December 19 2012 06:41 Veloh15 wrote: I am curious on your decision on putting one central watch tower since that has been under fire lately. Anyway map looks fantastic I hope to see it go somewhere. I also hope to see a HoTS version!
You might see it on HotS and NA for WoL sonner than you think!
I really like it, you actually have a strategic choice between the 3rds, one that is closer to the nat and one that defends your main better from drops. That expands even more when you're in close positions, since for example in PvZ if you take the 3rd that closer to the opponent then they won't be able to take an easy early 4th, they would have to either break the rocks or expand with a very long path to the expansion, but it does make defending your 3rd harder, I simply love these choices
I might give it a play or two if any of my friends will be willing tomorrow
Reminds me of TPW Concrete Dreams and my map Hellholt but it is really well executed. IMO the base configuration in these maps is really the best for 4p maps since it gives the ability to expand in both directions thereby minimizing positional imbalance. You still will have some positional imbalance though. It kinda sucks to me that no tourneys use 4p maps with a layout like this and all spawns enabled. To me its really the forgotten "genre" of map.
On December 19 2012 08:34 Aunvilgod wrote: Only one player has to destroy rocks to get his fourth? Are you kidding me?
Hmm I don't think any player has to kill rocks to get a 4th. You CAN kill the rocks to get an alternate 4th if you don't want to expand towards your opponent (assuming close spawns), but I don't think it's imbalanced b/c while your normal 4th is close to your opponent, his 3rd is towards you. So you both have a vulnerable-ish base.
On December 19 2012 09:41 TheFish7 wrote: Reminds me of TPW Concrete Dreams and my map Hellholt but it is really well executed. IMO the base configuration in these maps is really the best for 4p maps since it gives the ability to expand in both directions thereby minimizing positional imbalance. You still will have some positional imbalance though. It kinda sucks to me that no tourneys use 4p maps with a layout like this and all spawns enabled. To me its really the forgotten "genre" of map.
Yeah it really is the same map as Concrete Dreams just about. But that kind of thing is bound to happen when lots of standard/safe maps are made (I'm not bashing safe maps, they are necessary and sometimes really great, just saying that it's true).
On December 19 2012 08:34 Aunvilgod wrote: Only one player has to destroy rocks to get his fourth? Are you kidding me?
Technically both players have to destroy rocks when expanding to their fourth, assuming they both expand away from their opponent.
On December 19 2012 10:21 EatThePath wrote: This map is really distinct from Concrete Dreams because of the distances and shapes and extra routes.
Both players need to break rocks to continue taking 3rd--->4th away from opponent.
Is this just a reskin? Looks good.
Atlas is a remake of one of my previous maps, Sacred Sands. Most of the major changes are mainly aesthetic, though gameplay improvements have been made too.
I see that each of the mains are color-coded. Why don't you extend the colors to the platforms beneath them? I think that'd be cool. I can see decals that are all just a gray color; you should color code those to match the main bases.
I have no gameplay suggestions though. This map is a solid 4 player rotational map.
On December 23 2012 10:16 EatThePath wrote: I couldn't find any gameplay improvements. Can you explain what changed?
I haven't made any big changes, which is why you'll probably not notice. What I have done is mostly pathing refinement (doodads/cliffs moved/removed/added to change pathing), and the natural choke has been changed.
On December 23 2012 10:27 Antares777 wrote: I see that each of the mains are color-coded. Why don't you extend the colors to the platforms beneath them? I think that'd be cool. I can see decals that are all just a gray color; you should color code those to match the main bases.
I have no gameplay suggestions though. This map is a solid 4 player rotational map.
This is something I have considered, but desided to keep distinct to the highest level. Thanks for the suggestion anyway, I might change it in the future.
Prime, LG-IM, StarTale, FXOpen, MVP, NSH, Team AZUBU SC2, and Axiom-Acer will participate in the “Heart of the Swarm GSTL Pre-Season.” The game format will be single-elimination tournament, best of 7, all-kill format; all tournaments will be done on the HotS beta server, and the maps are the previously used Akilon Wastes, GSL Bel’shir Vestige SE, GSL Whirlwind Se, GSL Icarus. On top of this, new maps Howling Peak, DF Atlas, and TPW Silver Sands will be used starting with this team league.