Blink is still really good in lotv, so as a dirty Protoss, I will gladly bathe in all the blink all-ins on this map.

Besides that though, this map seems kind of fun. The expansion layout allows for macro play, but multi pronged attacks/harass seems very viable as well. The only thing that would bother me is the low ground third, as it looks like things such as lurkers/tanks/liberators can siege the third from the golds. That is kind of an issue, because the golds are in a really distant and open area, so securing that high ground area is near impossible if you're teching/macroing.

Corwinus

Croatia96 Posts

May 14 2016 00:30 GMT

On May 14 2016 08:56 Timetwister22 wrote:
Blink is still really good in lotv, so as a dirty Protoss, I will gladly bathe in all the blink all-ins on this map.

Besides that though, this map seems kind of fun. The expansion layout allows for macro play, but multi pronged attacks/harass seems very viable as well. The only thing that would bother me is the low ground third, as it looks like things such as lurkers/tanks/liberators can siege the third from the golds. That is kind of an issue, because the golds are in a really distant and open area, so securing that high ground area is near impossible if you're teching/macroing.

That's not even the main issue with this map. Zerg all-ins would have a field day here because there's no way to hold them, even in zvz you'd be forced to go ling bane or die if your opponent went for even with a pure ling all-in because it would be so difficult to hold because you can't wall it off fast enough(and it's much more difficult for zerg to wall off)... Terran and Protoss would have a really hard time establishing an expansion unless they get lucky their zerg opponent went macro, it's simply too much resources to make the wall off/forcing them into certain tech paths just to wall off two entrances(and zerg can just elevator down in the third then).

SidianTheBard

United States2474 Posts

May 14 2016 01:23 GMT

Good map! You know my feedback from what I gave you on skype. =)

+ Show Spoiler +

Shrink it!

~172x120ish.

Northwest & Southeast seem awkward & mineral base hugging main is weird.

<3 Keep it up bud!

Fatam

1986 Posts

May 14 2016 04:21 GMT

pretty interesting stuff. I do think the natural is a valid concern. Maybe if you slammed it against the main and the main ramp it would be easy to do a nexus wall at least

Timetwister22

United States538 Posts

May 14 2016 07:50 GMT

On May 14 2016 09:30 Corwinus wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +

Um, you don't need to entirely wall your natural anymore in lotv. In fact, it's kind of a bad idea in many cases, especially as Protoss. It's good to have some sim city, yes, but completely walling off gives roach/ravager all-ins a field day. They can just corrosive bile your wall, causing you to lose production/upgrades/tech. So, the whole 2-nat entrance thing is totally fine, as long as it's not super open and some sim city can be done, which is the case here. A bit of sim city and 2-3 pylons at nat holds can hold any all-in.

Fatam

1986 Posts

May 14 2016 20:12 GMT

Maybe it's ok, but I'd say the surface area could be reduced some. Seems counterintuitive on a giant macro map with a lot of terrain features and bases to have a dangerous natural that may render them all moot in many games.

Avexyli

United States702 Posts

May 15 2016 16:51 GMT

You asked for my thoughts so I'll kinda run them here instead of on my blog:

The aesthetics are nice, I like the contrast of the blue and dark grey. The main seems really open to blink aggression or reapers (such as from the lowground base near those two ramps, ontop of the third base and natural). So that could be a pro or a con depending on the rest of the map. The natural is realllllyy open to aggression. I feel like Terran and Protoss players would insta-veto. Zerg players are generally not fond of double natural entrances as well. Though what Timetwister said is totally valid as well. If you make the alternate natural route really long (which you kinda did), it's okay. I found if you're going to do double natural entrances, a setup like this is better imo - though I dont think you can apply it to this map.

[image loading]

See how the natural choke expands into two different ramps that come from different pathways? I found this to be really fun - since you can still defend your natural, but it leaves an alternate route to your third base that may not be favorable to a defender who wants to wall and "turtle" a little bit.

So even if you keep the natural unchanged, the third is wiiiiiide open - mainly a problem for Protoss. And the other third is siegeable from the highground by ravagers and tanks, so that's an obvious no-go. Also, can you siege the third's geyser - the one backed up to the main? I think it's just out of reach but it's hard to tell.

I feel like the center bases are okay, they'll never be taken until the very very last stages of the game as it's super aggressive and easy to attack. The gold bases on the outer edges.. I dunno. I'm not really sure why they're there or if they add anything to the map by being gold.

I didn't even see the XNT, and personally I don't think they do anything by being waaay far out there.

I think it's a pretty decent map, 'specially for Zerg.

monitor

United States2408 Posts

May 16 2016 05:35 GMT

Barrin!!! hey good map. I rarely check TL but I saw this and wanted to say hello.

I think the center is the part that sticks out to me as being a little odd. The highground ledges are a little too small to be useful it looks like, because they don't overlook the central choke point. On the highground pods, the expansion areas look like they are slightly too small to have a large engagement on. Did you want armies to fight on lowground? One idea that could be worth trying if you like it is to enlarge the pods so that they are big enough for engagements and also useful for defending the middle path. It also seems like there's a lot of wasted dead space around there that could be less of an awkward pathing blocker.

Cool to see ya after all these years.