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MotM #5 Winner!
MotM #6 Winner! Tied with funcmode's Sanctuarium!
Score:
-Balance: 8.4
-Aesthetics: 7.6
-Intangibles: 7.6
There is an aesthetic update en route. I'll finish it at the latest by July 8th. I'm planning on cleaning up textures and making the cliffs actually have doodads that look more pleasing.
+ Show Spoiler [Finalists] +
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/X7VQU.jpg)
+ Show Spoiler [Analyzer Images] +
Named after the song "Hysteria" by Muse.
I have Analyzer Images, thanks to EatThePath!
Theme: Desert Ruins
Title Set: + Show Spoiler +Modified Monlyth Title Set
-Monlyth Bricks
-Typhon Stone Tiles
-Zhakul'Das Bricks
-Xil Sand Cracked
-Monlyth Cracked
-Xil Sand
-Monlyth White Sand
-Xil Dirt Rocky
Playable Size: 110 x 132
Max Players: 2
Servers: NA
For this map I decided to use a custom title set. The last time I used one the mini-map was all black throughout the entire game, so I hope this one doesn't have the same problem (I haven't checked yet). I owe a lot of credit for the texture idea to Barrin for this thread.
The design is unique and centers around the three paths between the sides of the map. These paths can be used for flanking and counter-attacks to a great extent. The paths can merge together by destroying the large destructible rocks there. The center path has the largest choke, a 4x ramp, and the other two have a choke of 2x at the exit (natural) and 3x at the entrance (enemy fifth). It adds a lot of mobility in later game. The towers overlook the center path and each one overlooks one of the side paths respectively. The natural has a backdoor the size of one ramp that leads into the intended third and can be walled with a Pylon and a Gateway, or the equivalent of those buildings. I might change it to just a 3x choke, so it can be walled with just a Gateway, but I'm not sure how I feel about that yet.
~Feedback is greatly appreciated!~
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Look pretty cool, not sure how I feel about the gold expos where they are, but looks like a lot of fun to play.
Willing to play a couple games on this.
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<3 the texturing. Layout's pretty good too.
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I might actually remove the watchtowers, they seem a little bit too powerful on such a small map. I'm glad you guys like it!
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Open ramp straight into the natural mineral line seems like a good deal for the terran users..
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dezi
Germany1536 Posts
The gold is way to vulnerable. I also don't like the position of the minerals there.
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solid layout, nice texturing and a good song. but i have no idea how i am supposed to defend that gold 
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As soon as I saw the title of this thread I knew it had to be something to do with Muse :D
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looks extremly cool, but I have some concerns, because I don't see Zerg winning a battle on this map with those narrow paths + the ramp behind the gold minerals seems a little odd.
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Ok, thanks for voicing your concerns. The golds will be changed (I don't know what to do with them at the moment), and the fourth will be moved further away from the center of the map (I'm going to increase the bounds a little to do this) and the towers will be removed to make the map less choked. Besides, they reveal too much.
I could just remove the gold expansions entirely, I think that would work best. There already are twelve bases, ten is fine. Pus it will add flanking areas.
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I see the 5th base as a problem. Naturally you will take the one that's in the same direction as you're already expanding (for 12 o'clock spawn that would be the 5 o'clock base), also noone will late you take your expo next to their 4th that is right next to it on low ground. However if you now take the 5 o'clock base you'll have to defend 3 chokes that are veeeeery far apart. Without any towers your enemy can just freely move up and down in the middle and attack you at the weakest choke and you won't be ready for it.
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On May 02 2011 00:10 FlopTurnReaver wrote:
I see the 5th base as a problem. Naturally you will take the one that's in the same direction as you're already expanding (for 12 o'clock spawn that would be the 5 o'clock base), also noone will late you take your expo next to their 4th that is right next to it on low ground. However if you now take the 5 o'clock base you'll have to defend 3 chokes that are veeeeery far apart. Without any towers your enemy can just freely move up and down in the middle and attack you at the weakest choke and you won't be ready for it.
//thinks really hard//
Ok, I'm going to increase map bounds to make sure that towers are not OP, I can see that they are a necessity if I open up the gold path. I want the towers to cover only the center path and not the other gold paths. They will be able to see units coming down from the exit of the gold path, they'll just have less time to deal with it though. Hmm... I think I can decrease the middle ramps to 2x, so that all of the chokes that you have to cover are the same size, but far apart. Hmm...
I'll figure something out, give me a while, guys.
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Wow that middle is really cool. I love the creativity. Probably you're coolest map yet.
Right now I think the main issue is lack of open space. A lot of the expansions here, particularly the 3rd and 4th, are really choked off. Battles are really awkward without some open ground, and its easy to exploit choke points. The middle is pretty open, but there isn't a reason to put your army there since its low ground and choked on the sides.
The middle gold expansions seem really hard to hold, since the opponent is right next to yours. I think you could probably switch the side that they are on, and maybe open them up a bit. [edit] Before you change this, try to decide how each player will expand. Then make sure its possible without being too close to the opponent.
As a solution to the open space, I think the sides should be remade. You could probably increase the map bounds, and try to give more open space. I think the 3rd should stay lowground, but the wide ramp should be closer to the natural. Then I would rework the 4th and 5th side expos to allow more open space, but keep the nice flow you have here.
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On May 02 2011 08:16 monitor wrote:
Wow that middle is really cool. I love the creativity. Probably you're coolest map yet.
Right now I think the main issue is lack of open space. A lot of the expansions here, particularly the 3rd and 4th, are really choked off. Battles are really awkward without some open ground, and its easy to exploit choke points. The middle is pretty open, but there isn't a reason to put your army there since its low ground and choked on the sides.
The middle gold expansions seem really hard to hold, since the opponent is right next to yours. I think you could probably switch the side that they are on, and maybe open them up a bit. [edit] Before you change this, try to decide how each player will expand. Then make sure its possible without being too close to the opponent.
As a solution to the open space, I think the sides should be remade. You could probably increase the map bounds, and try to give more open space. I think the 3rd should stay lowground, but the wide ramp should be closer to the natural. Then I would rework the 4th and 5th side expos to allow more open space, but keep the nice flow you have here.
Thanks for your feedback, I just finished another version and didn't see this, sorry!
The new image is in the topic.
-Map size increased from 108 x 124 to 110 x 132.
-Changed the fourths.
-Removed the golds.
-Increased the size of the mains.
-Added LoSBs in the main (i.e. Metalopolis).
-Increased the size of the middle.
-Lowered the fifths.
-Other minor stuff...
Feedback is still needed so that I can make this better!
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I love the look of this map.
I also like the layout,
Though I would remove the rox from the middle, It seperates the map too much for the early game, and they probably wont be there in the late game. The XWT's cover so much ground anyway so limiting movement with the rox I think would ruin the flow/freedom of movement.
I'm also a little worried about FF's from P being OP in the narrow areas, coz it looks like there is alot of narrow areas. Maybe get it play tested in some Protoss matches, and see how much it gets abused.
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Looks like a great map. Honestly I can't think of any balance suggestions to improve the map, it seems very solid. I hope it can get used in some kind of iccup event!
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On May 02 2011 09:54 Archivian wrote:
I love the look of this map.
I also like the layout,
Though I would remove the rox from the middle, It seperates the map too much for the early game, and they probably wont be there in the late game. The XWT's cover so much ground anyway so limiting movement with the rox I think would ruin the flow/freedom of movement.
I'm also a little worried about FF's from P being OP in the narrow areas, coz it looks like there is alot of narrow areas. Maybe get it play tested in some Protoss matches, and see how much it gets abused.
I disagree about the rocks in the middle. If they are not there, counter-attacks and some flanking can go unpunished. With the rocks there, it forces the player doing the counter-attack to commit to a route. Without the rocks they can easily traverse back to where they need to be if they get counter-attacked. The towers do not cover as much area as it looks. They cover the fourth and that's about it. You cannot see anywhere into the middle except for the top of the ramp, or anywhere into the third.
FFs could definitely be a problem; I'm still running tests 
Thanks for your feedback!
On May 02 2011 10:15 Whiplash wrote:
Looks like a great map. Honestly I can't think of any balance suggestions to improve the map, it seems very solid. I hope it can get used in some kind of iccup event!
That would be awesome! I think they only show games on their maps though. I'm glad you like it!
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This looks like a Terminus RE 2 player map...
I like how the rocks lead to a better attack route. Overall, nice map design.
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I put this on the MotM thread, but I figure I'd put it here too:
1) make main ramp normal, 1x wide (instead of the 2x it looks like now). Its just a kick in the balls to terran and protoss, because of the 6 pool. It doesn't really prevent turtling either, just is easy to baneling bust.
2) Open up the path from the 4th to 5th, and probably add another ramp down (to make it harder to turtle) That path is really small, and pretty easy to abuse. Making it wider would balance ZvP/ZvT, and adding a ramp would reduce turtling on the sides.
3) Move the XelNaga towers so they don't favor turtling (maybe no towers?). Right now taking it makes it easier to hold the 4th, which will increase turtling. I suggest either removing the towers, and making it a tower-less map, or you could put one in the center. That would allow more aggression, but it could mess up the flow too.
4) Add a ton of doodads. Everywhere. Try some ground decals, put some doodads against cliffs, and find some trees/foliage that fit. The textures are really nice right now, but its lacking the small details I think. The middle textures are actually a bit bland, you should add some different textures there.
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On May 02 2011 13:36 monitor wrote:
I put this on the MotM thread, but I figure I'd put it here too:
1) make main ramp normal, 1x wide (instead of the 2x it looks like now). Its just a kick in the balls to terran and protoss, because of the 6 pool. It doesn't really prevent turtling either, just is easy to baneling bust.
2) Open up the path from the 4th to 5th, and probably add another ramp down (to make it harder to turtle) That path is really small, and pretty easy to abuse. Making it wider would balance ZvP/ZvT, and adding a ramp would reduce turtling on the sides.
3) Move the XelNaga towers so they don't favor turtling (maybe no towers?). Right now taking it makes it easier to hold the 4th, which will increase turtling. I suggest either removing the towers, and making it a tower-less map, or you could put one in the center. That would allow more aggression, but it could mess up the flow too.
4) Add a ton of doodads. Everywhere. Try some ground decals, put some doodads against cliffs, and find some trees/foliage that fit. The textures are really nice right now, but its lacking the small details I think. The middle textures are actually a bit bland, you should add some different textures there.
Main ramp is 1x.
I'll open up that path, just gotta do some sim city with the fourth expansion.
I was thinking putting them in the center in the losbs. Thoughts?
Doodads. Everywhere. Got it!
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/nxuXY.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wkMvc.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/PwcLO.jpg)
