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The map is currently still in alpha phase, with all of it's strategic elements finished, the rest of the way to beta will be tweaking scale and making the map look more aesthetic.
![[image loading]](http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/XizorHalfwingseen/butterflyeffectv0_0.jpg)
Now to break down the map and features for everyone:
Let's start with the obvious
The Mains:
+ Show Spoiler +
Exposed to cliff jumping but moderately insolated from air the main is harrassable early on but difficult to push into.
The Naturals:
+ Show Spoiler +
Open to alot of air harrassment the natural can be vulnerable to those that do not have the air advantage, or static defenses.
The Third Expansion:
+ Show Spoiler +
The third expansion is connected to the main by two stacked destructable rocks, and protected from the ground by three forcefields, which last until crushed by a massive unit. However protected this third is, it is strictly a mineral only expansion.
The Fourth/Optional Third:
+ Show Spoiler +
The fourth possible expansion is blocked by a forcefield that must be crushed by a massive unit in order to be taken. It is also located on a defensible island with a narrow natural bridge to the mainland.
Partial Expansions:
+ Show Spoiler +
Two Upper mineral only partial expansions are guarded by walls and narrow chokes, while the open bottom two expansion are only protected by a wall of vines. The differences do not end there, as the top expansions have a total of 4 patches each of minerals two golden and two blue. The bottom expansions sacrifice the two blue patches in order to gain a regular gas geyser. IF all four expansions are taken the equivilent of one mineral only expansion and one regular expansion.
High Yield Expansions:
+ Show Spoiler +
The Two High Yield Expansions are guarded by walls, however it is possible to be harrassed by the cliffs above. Instead of the typical high yield minerals, six regular mineral patches exist with instead two high yield gas geysers.
Other features:
+ Show Spoiler +
White lines and circles denote Line of sight blockers and in the middle of the circles are watchtowers. the watchtowers only provide sight over the vast empty space surrounding them and do not provide for much more than an early warning system.
Paths of Control:
+ Show Spoiler +
The white path shown is control gained by holding a strong air based army, while the red is a ground based armies control. As you can see the mineral rich north is difficult to gain control of my ground, many narrow chokes, this makes it great for control by air. however the air heavy armies are quickly out of gas, as the majority of the gas on the map is located in the southern, open areas controlled by ground.
Defender Advantage:
+ Show Spoiler +
Butterfly Effect has a distinct defender advantage when it comes to protecting the main and natural from a ground attack, the white path is the path a defender must take to defend against a ground attack from any angle, the red path is the path an attacker must take to reach either extrance to the main. however once this front ground is lost, the defender has to rely on fortitied positions in order to withstand attack, as the advantage is turned into a weakness. Also this advantage is diminished the further south you expand, while it is strengthened the further north you expand.
View Larger Image
EDIT: Rush distance: the rush time is exactly 60 seconds using the method described in this thread http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=124510. of course this makes it longer than blistering sands by a few seconds.
An Alternate version with a more protected main:
+ Show Spoiler +
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And here I thought there was finally a ums map where I could be Ashton Kutcher...
I like the design, make sure to make the map look pretty enough to be a butterfly when you spice it up.
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i liked the name. Would like to see it in game before making a real opinion about it
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What are the rush distances like? It seems like it's really long path from main to main.
Also the main looks a little exposed to siege tanks from below. The tanks can cover the nat's choke + possibly hit the main.
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Reminds me of that dragon map in WC2 that looked like a dragon.
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Looks good but I'm really tired of maps giving such an advantage to Terran mech play, the minerals in the main def need to be moved to a less hostile area, possibly make it so only 1 geyser can be hit by seige tanks.
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Whats with the forcefields that have to be crushed to take ur 3rd?
Doesnt that make it extremely difficult for zerg to take their third? especially with them being the race that usually takes their 3rd first.
EDIT: nvm misread; the 3rd is blocked from the enemy by forcefields right?
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there's a problem with this map. Zerg will be be at a BIG disadvantage due to the forcefields. You need Ultra's which take the longest of all three races to tech to, contrary to Thor / Collosus they are also not always a good unit to make versus certain enemy compositions.
This will cause the zerg to have a 3rd that is harder to defend then T/P because they will have the forcefields up for a lot longer.
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On June 11 2010 06:55 Full wrote:
Whats with the forcefields that have to be crushed to take ur 3rd?
Doesnt that make it extremely difficult for zerg to take their third? especially with them being the race that usually takes their 3rd first.
It's the 4th that's blocked like that so it's not quite that imbalanced.
Though Zerg is incapable of attacking the enemy's 3rd which kinda blows.
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The third expansion is connected to the main by two stacked destructable rocks, and protected from the ground by three forcefields, which last until crushed by a massive unit. However protected this third is, it is strictly a mineral only expansion.
JESUS H CHRIST you go long ways to prevent an easier third expo and to top it off its mineral only? what was going trough your head?
Not only that but the main is siegeable? as zerg i would most likely downthumb this map
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i updated the OP with the rush distance, it's not that long, but the push distance is much longer, you don't want to be sending your army through 1 massive unit at a time.
As for the main being sieged by tanks, yeah it's a problem if you let up your defenders advantage. but thats a strategy thing, and drops, air harrass, and nydus worms can tear the siege apart since it would be WIDE open from the south ( takes two tanks to cover the width meaning you can avoid half the tank fire).
As a zerg player my strategy would probably be to take the natural quickly, and expand as my third the high yield gas, and then get an ultra and back expand to the other two expansions as my 4th and 5th instead of 3rd and 4th.
the third is blocked from your main by 4000 hp of rocks, and from the enemy by forcefields, so the enemy cannot attack it without thors collosus or ultras in front.
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Also just would like to state that the purpose of this map is to create a map in which units actually leave the base to hold positions rather than the style created by the cramped maps that were released in beta. a little similiar to BW style unit positioning. I can post pictures of a version of the map that puts the main in a less vulnerable position to tanks, but as it is the tanks have to be extremely spread out to siege both gases.
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imo i think taking the 3rd expansion on this map would be too easy considering all you need to do is wall in the ramp
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On June 11 2010 06:58 Madkipz wrote:Show nested quote +The third expansion is connected to the main by two stacked destructable rocks, and protected from the ground by three forcefields, which last until crushed by a massive unit. However protected this third is, it is strictly a mineral only expansion. JESUS H CHRIST you go long ways to prevent an easier third expo and to top it off its mineral only? what was going trough your head? Not only that but the main is siegeable? as zerg i would most likely downthumb this map
Pretty unnecessary bashing post.
Looks like zerg would have to utilize nydus worms a bit more on this map seeing as the bottom expos seem really far away.
OP, could you post a higher resolution/expandable picture of the map?
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The mains are really unnecessarily big.
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This looks like it would be a lot better if you took the expansions below the mains, and made them another spawn location and changed this into a 2v2.
Also the cliffs behind the mineral lines should be so easily accessible, put something there to prevent brutal reaper harassment.
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On June 11 2010 08:00 LooseMoose wrote:
Pretty unnecessary bashing post.
Looks like zerg would have to utilize nydus worms a bit more on this map seeing as the bottom expos seem really far away.
OP, could you post a higher resolution/expandable picture of the map?
Done.
On the largeness of the mains, yeah i feel that way too, i'll cut the mains in a version and move the main's location within that cliff and see how it works.
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Updated the OP with (at the bottom) a version of the map that has the main protected from siege tanks camped below, and the main is also more immune to reapers.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/XizorHalfwingseen/butterflyeffectMains.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/XizorHalfwingseen/butterflyeffectNatural.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/XizorHalfwingseen/butterflyeffectThird.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/XizorHalfwingseen/butterflyeffectFourth.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/XizorHalfwingseen/butterflyeffectPartial.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/XizorHalfwingseen/butterflyeffectHighYield.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/XizorHalfwingseen/butterflyeffectLOSblockers.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/XizorHalfwingseen/butterflyeffectAirgroundcontrolpath.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/XizorHalfwingseen/butterflyeffectDefenderAdvantage.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae216/XizorHalfwingseen/butterflyeffectv0_0alt.jpg)
