Hazardous Grounds 1.1

Map Specifications
15 Bases (3 Gold with rocks)
Map size - 100 Radius Circle, approximately the same size as a 176x176 square map
Ground Main-Main: 165
Cliff-Walk Main-Main: 131
Air Main-Main: 61
Ground Nat-Nat: 133
Cliff-Walk Nat-Nat: 133
Air Nat-Nat: 130

Map Details
Map to be submitted to the MotM. The map is a large circular map with spawn points closer to the center. Close air positions and long ground positions from the mains. The naturals have equal air and ground distances. The xel naga watch towers are located on the path between the bases and give vision to the path between the bases. The naturals are all very vulnerable and open. The third, fourth, and gold are all fairly open and a good distance away from the main. The mains are outside of range of siege tank assaults from the high ground paths. Air blockers are placed along the edge of the outside circle.

Map Pics.

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Map Analyzer

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Detailed pics

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Comments
All suggestions, feedback, and comments are welcome. I am aware it’s a very large map in order to keep the mains large enough and far enough by air from each other I had to make the map as large as it is. The map is published on the US server search for Hazardous Grounds.

Version 1.1
Thanks for all the feed back so far I still haven't figured out how to move the naturals closer to the mains as suggested without making them a target for siege tanks on the outside high ground so i left that as is for now. Any and all comments on the changes and further suggests are much appreciated.

Change log
- Version 1.1
-- Moved XWT to be on the path and provide full vision in the path between bases.
-- Moved the 3rd and 4th a bit closer to the natural.
-- Added lava/unpathable along the edges of the circle to make the map a bit smaller on ground space.
-- Added lava/unpathable along the edges of the mains to increase the cliff walk rush distances
-- Widened the ramps leading up to the paths in the center.
-- Added ramps to the outside of the raised up paths to shorten walking distance from the natrual to the high ground path.

Magrath

Canada292 Posts

March 27 2011 07:18 GMT

This is quite an ambitious map. It brings back the closer air from Desert Oasis. It's really hard for me critique this map because it's hard to see anything that would really work with this map. I'll layout a few points of concern and some recommendations.

1. First off having close with now way to see it coming is hard. I recommend moving XWT towers to the highground, maybe even the bridge between leading towards the middle. The only issue is if you move too close to the center it would spot the extractors and reveal any mind games that may be played. Zerg would have an advantage in this area anyways, but I recommend you moving the 3 outside XWTs towards the center so they cover a bit more space between the bases so people can see air rushes coming similar to how Xel'Naga Caverns works.

2. Having highground so close the cliffs by the natural can hurt Protoss and Terran. Siege tanks can leap from towards the natural easily and can be hard to taken out without a significant force. I recommend moving the ramps to rotational symmetry style and place the minerals against the cliff of the main. OR you can place ramps leading up to the cliffs, maybe somewhere between the middle and the tip of the branch of highground OR place the long destructible rocks near at the tips and forms the cliff so players can't move in to it without destroying the rocks.

3. The map has a lot of space between expansions. It can really put your army out of position really easily. I recommend shrinking the outside area. It won't ruin the style of your map but will reduce the dead space between expansions. Here's a picture of what I mean.

[image loading]

There's some scribbles there. I think went overboard but it's just a few suggestions.

EDIT: I forgot to put those outside mineral expansions back in. They go in the same place.

adso

718 Posts

March 27 2011 11:42 GMT

15 Posts

March 27 2011 14:30 GMT

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On March 27 2011 16:18 Magrath wrote:
This is quite an ambitious map. It brings back the closer air from Desert Oasis. It's really hard for me critique this map because it's hard to see anything that would really work with this map. I'll layout a few points of concern and some recommendations.

1. First off having close with now way to see it coming is hard. I recommend moving XWT towers to the highground, maybe even the bridge between leading towards the middle. The only issue is if you move too close to the center it would spot the extractors and reveal any mind games that may be played. Zerg would have an advantage in this area anyways, but I recommend you moving the 3 outside XWTs towards the center so they cover a bit more space between the bases so people can see air rushes coming similar to how Xel'Naga Caverns works.

2. Having highground so close the cliffs by the natural can hurt Protoss and Terran. Siege tanks can leap from towards the natural easily and can be hard to taken out without a significant force. I recommend moving the ramps to rotational symmetry style and place the minerals against the cliff of the main. OR you can place ramps leading up to the cliffs, maybe somewhere between the middle and the tip of the branch of highground OR place the long destructible rocks near at the tips and forms the cliff so players can't move in to it without destroying the rocks.

3. The map has a lot of space between expansions. It can really put your army out of position really easily. I recommend shrinking the outside area. It won't ruin the style of your map but will reduce the dead space between expansions. Here's a picture of what I mean.

[image loading]

There's some scribbles there. I think went overboard but it's just a few suggestions.

EDIT: I forgot to put those outside mineral expansions back in. They go in the same place.

Thanks for the feed back, I am going to try out all of your suggestions and see how it works with the changes. I really like the added ramps idea, my original thought was that the units would have to walk back along the high ground path to join the main army on an assault on the natural. But i guess with medivacs and blink stalkers it really doesn't matter. Currently the ends of the high ground paths are blocked by doodads keeping the siege tanks out of range of the command center but in range of the gas. Smaller units can be dropped at the end of the path.

[image loading]

I am going to see if i can come up with a way to leave the XWT on the low ground. I like having it on a path thats not along the main rush path and i also like that it currently spots the gold. Right now you can have complete vision along the path on top with 3 units, 1 at the center XNW, 1 at the outside XNW and one halfway in between.

The space with this map defiantly bothers me. I have attempted to close off some of it with large doodads that don't show up on the map analyzer as unpathable space. I am going to try some of the layout changes you suggested to adjust the space. Expanding the mains out will put the edges in siege tank range from the outside high grounds which i am trying to avoid.

I appreciate all the help, thanks.

FlaShFTW

United States10556 Posts

March 27 2011 16:07 GMT

if you are trying to bring back the 5 rax or 3 rax reaper, please congradulate yourself. however, if you were trying for a straightup map, then it will need improvement.

like what magrath said, you need to do major changes to the layout.

also, based upon magrath's map layout, you'll still need a third.

keep at this.

15 Posts

March 28 2011 02:31 GMT

What cliff rush distance would you recommend to keep reapers from being to strong?

SaltyDog

Uganda73 Posts

March 28 2011 13:57 GMT

This map reminds me of how much I'm looking forward to Diablo 3. Also you might want to roughen up those cliff edges a bit for aesthetic reasons.

Magrath

Canada292 Posts

March 28 2011 19:11 GMT

On March 28 2011 01:07 FlaShFTW wrote:
also, based upon magrath's map layout, you'll still need a third.

Haha. I actually forgot to put the 3rd/4th bases back down when I added more void around the outside. They basically go back in to their same places just slightly closer to the 2nd.

15 Posts

April 01 2011 03:32 GMT

Thanks for all the feedback so far I have made several of the suggested changes. I couldn't figure out how to make the natural work closer to the main without it being seigable from th high ground. Any comments on the changes and further suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

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