[M] (2) TPW Polaris

On December 19 2012 10:03 SiskosGoatee wrote:
I'm very sceptical towards Island maps, not so much even for the fact that you have to use air, but for the lack of scouting. Though I guess hallucination and the mothership core provide a HotS answer for protoss.

That aside, aesthetics seem a bit rushed.

On December 19 2012 19:40 Sumadin wrote:
I could see this map being really broken for terran. It is not at your fault really, island maps in general favors terran. But nothing here is done to try to mitrigate that advantage.
Since Island maps are kinda tricky i will try to pinpoint flaws.

First what you did right:

2 bases on main islands. That is the correct number, less than that and Zerg is screwed, more and the hole island theme is screwed.

Blink distance islands: A neat touch that can certainly help protoss. Protoss aren't that bad in islands but certainly not as good as terran.

Problems pretty much everything else:

It is 2 player spawn only. This means Terrans can reliably scout using scans. On 4 player island maps scans is too unreliable for initial scouting, and that is one of the ways the advantage of terran can be graducally evened out.

Very low distances compareably: With this size it might as well have been a normal map. Terrans are the least mobile in air meaning they want smaller distances. Viking/Raven however is a combination unbeatable in Air-to-Air straight up. But here there is little room to exploit the added mobility for Phoenixes and Mutas.

Finally this is really not the type of map to put high yield bases on, as much as i like to see them return to competative Starcraft.

On December 19 2012 20:12 moskonia wrote:


I really do not understand some of your points, Terran is not the strongest in HotS, in WoL island maps highly favor Terran I agree, but in HotS, especially without reaper access, Terran is the weaker than Protoss. You can't reliably scan since I think you need to scans to check the whole main + nat, could be even 3 scans (depends on how big is the main, hard to tell), therefore using scans early on is not really worth it.

Protoss has msc which can harass and scout, Zerg has overlords for scouting and they have natural defense - queens which are also good later on while Terran has to waste scans, build a barracks and fly it or only scout with air units later. Also Protoss has the fastest form of all in, 4gate prism, which unless scouted can be devastating, especially since Protoss has many other options such as Nexus 1st into tech or blink stalkers which require completely different responses.

While Terran has the strongest air army in a straight fight I think ever since HSM lost its splash damage if you can get HT's or infestors under your army Terran can simply not fight the splash damage, even though I might be wrong.

On December 19 2012 21:34 Sumadin wrote:My primary concern only lies in TvZ really. Being forced to get a lair before taking a third is quite the dissadvantage considering todays meta. I think protoss would do alright vs terran on this map.

On December 19 2012 20:12 moskonia wrote:


I really do not understand some of your points, Terran is not the strongest in HotS,

On December 20 2012 01:50 lorestarcraft wrote:


What? What are you even basing this one? No one even has enough games in to make a judgement on the best race in HotS.

On December 20 2012 03:39 moskonia wrote:

I obviously meant in air, and of course its pretty much theorycraft but tempests can kill everything from range, nothing beats void rays per supply (for all I know) and the phoenix is the fastest unit in the air - allowing for harass while preventing harass from the opponent.

On December 20 2012 06:07 Sumadin wrote:


Vikings still beats Void rays, they are faster and have longer range. Phoenix is technically stronger but when ravens deploy their PDD it turns over quickly. Also Battlecruisers if need be.

Tempest is a largely a wild card. It can technically fire from a safe distance, but whatever is providing vision will still be pwned by the vikings.

TvP is basicly hard to predict when it comes to Island/Air maps. Which is good that means it is likely to be balanceable. I am just very worried for Zerg. Their Air-to-Air is by far the weakest of all races now. With Infestors rebuffed they might have a chance. But i am worried.

On December 20 2012 07:10 moskonia wrote:
TopRamen, you can't just say "I think you should do that", you need to provide reasoning, why should they be moved, what will it improve over the current location, etc. Simply stating an idea without any reasoning is really not helpful.

On December 20 2012 10:15 TopRamen wrote:


Well, I don't know that it would be a good change, I think it could be potentially cool.
But I think it'd be cool because it can force players to split up units more. Not by a ton, but some.

Idk, it's a pretty general idea, my bad.

I would at the very least relocate the golds. Gold bases should be in contested areas

On December 20 2012 14:33 Fatam wrote:


That's exactly why gold bases shouldn't be in the middle. The player who is ahead will control the middle, so putting gold bases there puts them even farther ahead.