[M] (2) Para Bellum

Ferisii

Denmark199 Posts

April 16 2015 15:04 GMT

"If you want peace, prepare for war"
Released on: Global - UNLOCKED

Oh Agria, barely anyone likes your tileset, but dammit, I just had to give it a try!
Welcome to Para Bellum, a small farming outpost in the middle of nowhere, where the villagers have a little hidden secret. WMD in masses.

Anyhow, this is (was) my submission to the TLMC#6. I wanted to try a different map layout with small corridors added in. No 4 player map this time, as they are kinda... trickier to do.

Map Description:

'Para Bellum is a 2-player map with 12 normal expansions located on the outer reaches of the map.
The middle area consists of semi-big corridors, 4 of which can be controlled by destroying the standing Cooling Towers located at the entrances. Giving the ability for players to shape the area after their wishes.

Map size: 140x140
Distances:
* Main to main - 59 seconds.
* Nat to nat - 43 seconds.

Update Log:

~1.8
Replaced an old, unused texture with a new one. (Korhal Wastes Grass) Thanks to Algue for pointing it out!
Improved the texture details around trees somewhat.
Minor detail fixes.
~1.7
Major changes to the Natural base area. Reduced the width of the natural ramp, while also moved it slightly closer to the expansion base location. The area below the natural ramp got changed as well due to, well, the changes.
Moved the natural expansion one inch closer to the main ramp.
Expanded the terrain details underneath the cooling towers (Rock towers), to make them "pop" out more for the players/viewers.
Moved the rock decorations, the ones on the lowest level, to the sides of the playing field. (Too good widow-mine hiding spots)
More critters has entered the playing field. Can you find them all?
Completely removed the dark green texture from the map.
Minor terrain and detail fixes.
~1.6
Made some adjustments to the painted pathing at the corner bases.
Moved the dogs (critters) to outside the playing field.
Minor detail fixes.
~1.5
Fixed a painted pathing issue near the natural bases.
Vastly improved the performance around watery areas.
~1.4
Removed every single Floodlight doodad from the map. (PC performance cheers!)
Fixed some minor terrain issues
Updated the battle.net screenshot showcase again again.
+ Show Spoiler [Older versions] +

~1.3
Fixed a Gameheart logo issue.
Added 100 blue rock flowers to spice things up a bit.
Minor terrain fixes.
~1.2
Removed the Xel'naga Tower covering the middle area.
Widened up some more paths around the map.
Added in some more wildlife to the map. Birds now roams the land!
Updated the battle.net screenshot showcase once again.
~1.1
Widened up the corridors at the middle area.
Spiced the theme up some more with More random small rocks everywhere
Updated the battle.net screenshot showcase with the recent changes.
Hit the special 1500 doodad count!
~1.0
Non-beta release.

Overview, Analyser and Screenshots:

Overview:

7 o'clock Bases

Details

Fun times ahead! ~

OtherWorld

France17333 Posts

April 16 2015 15:13 GMT

Not really a fan of the middle tbh

The_Templar

your Country52798 Posts

April 16 2015 15:27 GMT

There seems to be way too much dead space in this map. The corner base is OK, but I'd open up the center (you can keep the same layout with the rocks if you'd like).

Fatam

1986 Posts

April 16 2015 19:52 GMT

Loving the aesthetics. The tire tracks are a nice touch. Farm theme was definitely nailed.

I don't think the layout is particularly interesting, but it's solid.
@ opening up the middle - it's probably a good idea, I would leave some of the paths narrow and maybe just open up 2 of them or something. I don't think it's far off from being the right openness since even though it's chokey, you have multiple paths to the same point so a zerg with a large army can split it and flank from different directions and still have a decent engagement there.

IMO the map needs 1 more wrinkle to make it interesting enough, but that may just be me.

Ferisii

Denmark199 Posts

April 16 2015 20:20 GMT

Version 1.1 has been pushed out. The corridors around the middle area have been widened up a bit. Also while I was at it, I upped the aesthetics a bit by adding some small rocks to it. Rocks is the new Pipe (fps players will get this)

Edit: A video preview will be done sometime tomorrow. Should be much more interesting to watch than simple pictures.

FlaShFTW

United States10588 Posts

April 16 2015 23:30 GMT

if you made all those dead spaces and made them highgrounds, this map would have so much potential. maybe an inside 12/6 base with those dead spaces on high ground. then make the other places highgrounds too.

EatThePath

United States3943 Posts

April 17 2015 05:45 GMT

Very pretty as always ferisii.

The deadspace is what makes this map, why all the hate? Is there an actual reason? imo the middle is fine, it creates a space that's actually worthwhile to hold. While it's not easy to kick out a camping army there, that's kind of the point of winning the position. All the routes out of the middle are narrow = bad for a huge army to move through. All the terminations of those narrow routes are wide open intersections, if not fields, where you have plenty of space to concave and engage from superior position.

While this map appears standard to the point of boring I actually think it has quite some nice things going on beyond first glance. Nice work!

[edit] Ok I take it back there could be a litlte more space in a few spots. It's hard to judge unless you look at the shots of individual bases. The one labelled "3rd" in analyzer should have more openness, take out those huts. And the crops poking into the middle should go to make it more open around the tower. Sorry haters I reinstate you now ^^ In principle though I still like the design.

OtherWorld

France17333 Posts

April 17 2015 06:54 GMT

On April 17 2015 14:45 EatThePath wrote:
Very pretty as always ferisii.

The deadspace is what makes this map, why all the hate? Is there an actual reason? imo the middle is fine, it creates a space that's actually worthwhile to hold. While it's not easy to kick out a camping army there, that's kind of the point of winning the position. All the routes out of the middle are narrow = bad for a huge army to move through. All the terminations of those narrow routes are wide open intersections, if not fields, where you have plenty of space to concave and engage from superior position.

While this map appears standard to the point of boring I actually think it has quite some nice things going on beyond first glance. Nice work!

[edit] Ok I take it back there could be a litlte more space in a few spots. It's hard to judge unless you look at the shots of individual bases. The one labelled "3rd" in analyzer should have more openness, take out those huts. And the crops poking into the middle should go to make it more open around the tower. Sorry haters I reinstate you now ^^ In principle though I still like the design.

Narrow routes are not necessarily bad for a huge army. They are bad for an army that requires to spread itself to trade decently. Basically I can't see a Zerg winning a game on this map past 10 minutes unless he goes full air, and then he probably loses anyway.

EatThePath

United States3943 Posts

April 17 2015 07:10 GMT

On April 17 2015 15:54 OtherWorld wrote:

Show nested quote +

For ZvT specifically, there are lots of situations where zerg is happy to fight in a corridor, especially if they can have a flank from behind as well. That seems plausible here. But zerg doesn't have to force that because they have good open areas outside the nat and vertical 3rd and either side of the 4th. I'm not sure why you make such a strong statement about imbalance..?

OtherWorld

France17333 Posts

April 17 2015 07:38 GMT

#10

On April 17 2015 16:10 EatThePath wrote:

Show nested quote +

Yes, because in those situations it's the Terran who needs to spread out to trade well, and then the Zerg will be very favored. But in ZvP and Zvsome styles of Mech, I think that this middle design is too narrow to be balanced. Now that's just theorycrafting, obviously.

Ferisii

Denmark199 Posts

April 17 2015 21:15 GMT

#11

so many distractions I had to endure today! But I finally got the newest version finished up and made a small preview video for it! Hope you'll like it. Check the OP for it.

I decided to remove the middle Xel'naga Tower to open up some space, and I also made a bunch of areas more wide, thus, army movement should be much more fluid around the map.

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