I honestly just wanted to make a decent Space Platform map, as I always felt "manmade" tilesets were my weakest during my Starbow period. I forgot that there were new textures for the Shadow Corps and Korhal Platform tilesets.
I ended up option for a lowground main, with a wide and interesting natural with two bridges. Eventually one of those bridges were removed for a base, and evolved into the odd gold base (and blue base the other direction) layout. I'll focus on explaining that.
This base layout has a curtain directly behind the geysers, and is positioned in a way that you can perfectly wall off that direction with 2 2x2s and a 3x3 building. So two pylons and a gateway/forge, two depots and a bunker, or two spines and an evo. The highground can abuse the minerals at the gold base only from drop or through breaking the rocks, the base is too far for Stalkers, Marines or even the Cyclone lock-on to touch the base. These bases are also the fourths, and there is a highground option that is farther, spreading you thinner.
I also enjoy the fourth layout because it allows for attacks from behind the mineral line in a different fashion than maps like Terraform did (which created mining issues at times). The middle is also rather narrow on the high and low ground, with the only open areas behind the fourths.
I like this map quite a bit, definitely probably one of my favorite ones you've done. A few thoughts:
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Any reason why the main is low ground? I guess I just don't see the point of it besides make it less likely to 1 base, which already isn't much of a strategy in lotv unless you're going early cheese, but at that point it'll be harder to defend now because the cheeser will have the high ground advantage.
Not sure I"m a fan of the blue 4th base that's towards the middle, that has the smoke wall behind it. I feel you could move the side bases (3 & 9 o clock) closer to the 3rds and it'd be a better flow. It's a neat concept but I feel like having it on the gold and that blue base is a little much. Plus it'll open up that part of the map a little bit which is already pretty choke heavy. Pretty much all ramps in the area look to be only x2 wide and remember, to get to that point you're already up to 3 base anyway, so it might be better to just open the area up a bit.
I would give at least the Main & Natural a little extra room behind the mineral lines so that can't be as harassed from air as easily. I feel a liberator, oracle, banshee would have full control of the natural as well as the main mineral lines if they got to that air space because there isn't much room behind the minerals to build turrets, do full surrounds, get units there etc etc.
The little redish/pink arrow, wonder if you just connect those two high grounds now, maybe add a layer of LoSB smoke with some high ground pods for overlords, maybe just make one choked off path with a rock tower or just smoke towers that connect the now 3rd & 4th.
I made the lowground partly to the 1base play you'd see in multiple matchups, but also a big part of it was to favor the defender in TvT due to the nature of doomdrops, allowing the defender to have a bit more control of the core three bases of Sc2.
I honestly wasn't looking for much feedback as the map is pretty finalized, but I can move the mineral lines slightly forward (not too much to give way for more drop play like Rain City). The map's chokiness is 100% intentional and I don't have intentions of changing that.
The highground 4th being moved back might be something I'd do, but I feel like it's distance as a "safer" fourth from the gold/blue open bases is appropriate. I want the bases to be harder to take, but in a different fashion.
It would have been a much, much better map with the 2nd bridge from the nat (as you said it was originally). As-is the first 3 bases are basically behind 1 choke which is honestly boring. I guess that's not the end of the world in LotV since each race now has legit drop harass type moves, but still not a fan. I think the low-ground main is probably harmless, especially with the giant rush distance. I can get behind it since doom drops are more likely the harder you make it to attack via ground, and like you said lowground mains make doom drops a little weaker.
Once this map gets to 4 or 5+ bases is where I could see it shining. At that point the terrain gets a lot more interesting and a lot of strategies and little plays really open up, esp. with the run-through bases.
Aesthetics are cool as usual, map has a nice feel.
It was really hard to hold the natural in the original map with two bridges. But I'll try it in another map where I have a more regular layout. I'd argue there's two chokes potentially for the three bases, but both do eventually close in on the third. The only way to get to the natural or main would be to drop in. I don't think I had room for blink.
Today's launch on BaseTradeTV's Cosair cup was a success, with a great TvZ between Semper and Hydra on stream. Positive reception amongst the chat was nice to see. I'll be looking into removing one of the destructible plates at the main's ramp and possibly brightening the map just a smudge.
If you play this offline or have VODs/Replays of it, please send it to me at @SC2_AVEX on twitter, I would love to link it here.
Just wanted to say that it's awesome to see BTTV using non-ladder maps ; that's what every non-WCS tournaments should do. Props to them ! Ah yeah I like the idea of a low-ground main too
I'm going to second all of SidianTheBard's suggestions. The map is strong and unique as is, but these changes would make it better. I like how the mineral line is set up with the gold expansions, but at the same time think that it doesn't work out as well with the other two expansions. I feel like they just clog up space and four expansions like that on one map seems a bit too much.
Normally I would agree that the map could be freed up, but this is a very corridory map on purpose. It's meant to force players away from deathballs and away from a centralized army composition, option for play we saw in the Hydra vs Semper TvZ on the Corsair Cup. You are to be active on the map, and to employ new strategies, not use strategies from other maps to carry you. I always believed StarCraft, like other strategy games, to be best played when players have to think for themselves ontop of the knowledge they have already. And maps like these are the only way to push that way. Away from standard, like what we see now in the current pool.
The_Templar you should starting thinking out of the Box. You're really still stick to old odds. If something isn't very standard you usually tend to dislike it in the first place. May try to see new approves to Usualties and call it Creative TM. What's the Reasoning for being Highground then ? Right it's standard... This Map isn't that hard abuseable even if it's Lowground.
That's not ment offense at all just a course i realized while reading your comments in this Forum. Your not the only person that sticks hardly to this course tbh.
I know it can be hard to judges things when your Mindset is Set; due to the fact it has been like this for a longtime. Call it Jobblindness
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