[M] (2) Archi - The Machine II

spawn ramp to spawn ramp time has been made longer.
I was exactly the same and XNC, and the same as steppes if u took the bridge.
However, only one player out of all the matches even used the bridge, also zerg was too much at a disadvantage with it there.

Feed back from nearly everyone was that the XNC timings felt like steppes timing. So i increased it by about 5 game secs to just shorter than lost temple and that seems to be perfect with the balance for the rest of the map. (I did make it the same as lost temple, and nearly everyone said it was way too far and so may as well just go flying).
It was quite strange but i wonder if its because of the shape and because its based onthescrapstation concept and so there is a certain expectation.

I have reduced it to just 1 tower based on what EatThePath said about being able to flank and the old positions being too powerful. Well he was spot on really. I've placed it in the centre in easy reach. It was on right on the path before and it became a place of contention, so I've moved it up a bit into a more micro area, and it has drawn the fighting up into that area, especially in the early game, and as bases get taken that area contintues to be used.

Gold expos have been brought down to the middle right next to large micro area. And within easy reach of the gas of the 4th (i will come to that next)

A small 4th has been added just beneath the new gold. Its easy to take, but can be harassed from the high ground. Also taking it chokes that route, so there is more to consider when taking as you can reach the gas from the gold.
Zerg players quite often took the gold, then when a gas boost was needed they pulled 6 workers off mins and put them in the gas of 4th, so not taking it early meant they could keep the route open.
Obivously Terran put a PF there, but i will come to that later.)

An easy third that is very open to harass near the spawn. This was suggested by Dimfish with the idea that it would also allow harass from the bridge. Well the bridge is gone but they are still there because they work as an easy expo, and dispite the harrass that you know will come, they were taken ALOT. It was also good because i wanted to add a close third and this was a good idea. Though turtling was an issue.

The design as a whole was to avoid players simply going flying because it works best, but rather emphasize ground micro and drop play with flying as secondary to ground in most instances. Also I wanted the whole map to be used in a progressive way almost to the point of shifting everything from A to B, in this case from bottom to top.
That goal and the terrain was all to work against turtling without forcing a player not to too much.

Even with the easy third, it is open to harass, there is obvious harass of the main and the nat is fairly safe unless they come from the north to harass.
Also the third is a small expo so it only lasts for so long. So as soon as they look to taking the 4th they have to extend beyond turtlemode, and that 4th is easy to harass, very easy if they still want to try and turtle from spawn.

The terrain around the leading to the spawn +expos is all higher ground than the turtle area. This worked out better than I thought in keeping a turtler at a disadvantage (in turtling), but often the alternate route round the outside to attermpt to counter or expand remains open for the turtler to try and escape or do something none turtly.

In all the testing not one Turtler won, even if it went on for a while.

The Machine II
Download Here
Available on EU

Change Log:
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(If there is issues viewing the images please post, imgur was intermitent as i was uploading them. I will reupload them if there issues.)

The theme is basically the same as its first incarnation, on my 3 player map The Machine.

Its just that I quite liked it and so wanted to use it again. And so again its a mysterious ancient machine that does.... Something.



Layout:

Usually I like to cram in as many expansions as I can fit, but this time I wanted try to be liberal with space, but at the same time keep distances/timings reasonable.. I do like the idea of resource wars aswell and when I have that in mind usually I would put just under enough minerals for everyone to get very desperate over expos. This time though I tried something a little different. Even though the third is easy to take, it is possible to be cut off from it. In fact the further away from spawn you get, the easier it is to be cut off from your expo.

Aditionally I wanted to make a Scrapstation type map, (coz I dont think i did that before).
Also ther is a bridge with a narrow path. In the early game its obviously useful for rushes and small numbers, in the mid/late game, the bridge remains useful because even though its easily defendable, it is always an option for use harass or 2 pronged attacks, at the very least, forgeting about it can cost dearly

Distance
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Bridge info (some pics)
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Map Stats:
Players - 2
Size - 144x168
Spawn Ramp to Spawn Ramp time (Game time - Marine Speed) 40secs
Expos - Blue = 8, Gold = 2
XWT - 2


Map View
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Game View
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Angled View
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Overview
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Analyzer (Note: the analyzer cannot see the bridge and so the ground/cliff shortest path is incorrect)
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Extra Pic
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