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ESV.TV, the home of the Korean Weekly!
Version 0.4
by IronManSC - Published to NA
Also search for Peepmode to play that version of clearwater
+ Show Spoiler [Change Log] + + Show Spoiler [0.4 Changes] +
1) Minor bug fixes near the natural back doors
1) Adjusted pathing
2) Re-designed the natural backdoors from 3-wide to 2-wide, and also made them more aesthetically appealing.
3) Removed the rocks around the center of the map. These were only important in the early game, but very easy to remove in the mid and late game. The idea was to raise its HP to twice the amount, but it would confuse or upset players it seemed, so the rocks were removed entirely. At first I wanted to leave it open, but then the center base was too open, so I ended up just putting a stationary piece of doodad work there for good.
1) Fixed mineral node placements to properly fit the CC/nexus/hatchery
1) Re-positioned minerals in main bases
2) Changed the center half-bases to full, regular bases
3) Fixed playable (and overall) map borders to better identify the bounds and pathable areas
4) Aesthetics are updated (dirt/sand blending, main base walls, Vines, bushes, Omni lights, new doodad on center pillar, rocks)
5) Replaced Tyrador Grass with Bel'Shir Brush texture
6) Re-textured the main bases to make them more natural. I also blended the grass with the bricks more around the center to make it look more overgrown.
HQ Overview Pic
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Ui8ht.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ylui5.jpg)
+ Show Spoiler [Previous Clearwater Overview versions] +
Introduction:
I learned a lot from my previous map, ESV Ohana RE. While I believe beach maps look beautiful, I do think they need to be playable at the same time. I took what I learned from Ohana and applied it to my next beach map and decided to make this map more simple in terms of water arrangements. In this map, The island is surrounded by sand, and as you go closer to the center, it becomes more green and lush, while also exploring ancient protoss ruins and artifacts.
There are omni lights in the trees to make them glow more, and the temple banners in various places have a small glow added to them as well. In the middle I added a temple artifact surrounded by destroyed walls, and to emphasize the "power" of this artifact I put sunrays around it to make it look "beaming."
Anyways, this is my newest map, Clearwater, and it is published on NA  Enjoy!
Features:
• The half-bases in the center contain lit-up, rich geysers to promote usage but also at risk
• The natural can be walled off with a FFE, but you still have a large back door blocked by rocks
• The watch towers provide safe coverage over your 3rd (which is a little open)
• There are two sets of destructible rocks around the middle that can be used to utilize choke/defensive advantages or to break them down and create a more open battleground (Zergs might like this)
Analyzer:
+ Show Spoiler +
Eye Candy:
+ Show Spoiler +
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I'm trying to find problems with this..... but I can't! You're too good!! Loving the changes you made!
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United States9925 Posts
The map looks very good with no real way of having a perfect turtle. I commend you for this brilliant map. Also your middle rocks are amazing!!!
10/10
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Thank you guys ^^
Previously I had 4 sets of rocks in the center, but I replaced the top left and bottom right with man-made protoss wall/structures as you can see in the picture. While I thought 4 sets of rocks was unique, I felt it was too much, and gave Zerg way too big of an advantage if they are aggressive because all they would have to do is knock down the defender's rocks and his middle expansion has no way to be defended. So I put those towers there to give terran and protoss a helping hand with their center base. With that said, I felt the more important rocks were in front of the naturals since they can completely change the the game, whether defensively or aggressively, so I left those there.
I may add pockets of islands around the map... but I think this is just realistic as is. If you notice, there are no palm trees! This isn't your typical beach map, so I thought it was rather unique, and my personal favorite thing about it is how it's beach on the edges, then lush in the middle ^^
I hope you guys enjoy it!
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that's a really small main. The Terran player inside me groans at it.
Other than that, this looks awesome. Can't wait to play it Ironman.
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On January 01 2012 10:11 Vindicare605 wrote:
that's a really small main. The Terran player inside me groans at it.
Other than that, this looks awesome. Can't wait to play it Ironman.
It might appear small because it's stretched horizontally so you have to build a more horizontal-oriented base rather than just a big ball of buildings, but then again, there is extra room in the natural for production buildings
If you get a chance to play it, please leave your feedback! Mabye a replay!
EDIT:
I just want to make it known that the 3rd feels quite open, but here's the thing, it's away from your opponent. For an opponent to reach your 3rd (along the shore next to your natural), they have to go all the way to the opposite side of the map and attack along the shoreline, or they go through a watch tower that hopefully you occupied, but either way they have to cross over your primary path where you will have an army placed.
In short, the third looks and feels open, but positionally, it's well protected. I just want to clear that up.
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On January 01 2012 10:13 IronManSC wrote:Show nested quote +On January 01 2012 10:11 Vindicare605 wrote:
that's a really small main. The Terran player inside me groans at it.
Other than that, this looks awesome. Can't wait to play it Ironman. It might appear small because it's stretched horizontally so you have to build a more horizontal-oriented base rather than just a big ball of buildings, but then again, there is extra room in the natural for production buildings If you get a chance to play it, please leave your feedback! Mabye a replay!
Well that's fine except that all Terran addons are placed horizontally.
What it turns into is rows of production facilities with units having to basically traverse a maze to get to their rally point. When bases are constructed in a more vertical fashion there's a lot more freedom of movement for their units.
Terran's really the only race that has to worry about this. Zerg don't have to construct a lot of buildings at all and Protoss Warp Gates don't require rallying.
It's a strategic thing for all Terran production to come from the same place. This is so that if an enemy ever breaches your defenses your units are all spawning at the same place and can rally together to defend your base, doesn't work as well when your production facilities are scattered all over the map.
I'm not sure exactly if its' really going to be a problem yet with your map because I haven't played it yet, this post is really more of an explanation of why Terrans are at a disadvantage when their main base is so cramped.
EDIT: This concern is obviously speculation in nature. I'll leave more detailed feedback about the size of the main after I've played a few games on it.
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Sorry I meant that it's vertical, not horizontal --- but that you had to build bases in a more vertical stance >.<
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I really think you have to mark walkable area borders with cliffs or doodads. The terrain dropoff and waterline is too ambiguous and not shaped. It's too hard to know what's available for movement for the spectators and players. And honestly, it would be a lot more realistic and I think better looking to have a cliff dropoff near the waterline anyway. I don't think oceans ever have a smooth sandy dropoff like that, as all the sand would fall away to form a more gradual slope, unless there was a rocky cliff.
The dirt texture also feels a bit out of place to be for some reason. Korhal Dirt, right? That one has a hard time fitting in with other tilesets for me. I don't know what would be better, though.
Layout wise, I really like the setup of the bases. Having the five like that is really cool. I don't really like the high yield gas bases like that in general. They never really seemed to play out very well on maps like Daybreak. I think I'd prefer them to be full expos, but that would of course cause other problems. I don't know if others agree, I'm just not really a fan of them. Absolutely destroys any chance of getting it on ladder, too, and I think the ideal maps should be designed for both ladder and tournaments, but that's not too big of a deal.
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I like the look of it, but staring at it I noticed each player only gets 3 and 2/3 expansions, which is new. I dunno, the outside seems a little bare, by the overview at least. I may check it out in game, it might feel better there. But from first impressions, it does look like there are aesthetic pieces to fill in. Great map though!
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Alright after a couple games on it, I've noticed a few things.
The first is that my fears about the size of the main for terran production are somewhat realized although not to a magnitude greater than maps already in the ladder pool so i suppose it isn't that big of a deal.
It's cramped but workable. So that's not a problem.
The problem I discovered while playing it is that all of the attack paths are very very narrow. There are very few places on the map where its possible to have a battle where one choke or another is not in play. This makes Siege Tanks, and Forcefields exceptionally powerful on this map in a way very similar to Crossfire in the GSL. I didn't play a TvT on it yet but I'd imagine any of the complaints I had with the chokepoints would be greatly magnified if I did.
This is probably an intended design feature although I personally was not much a fan of it.
What I did like was the location of the expansions. They all felt valuable yet there wasn't a clear distinction that made the location of the third something that was predetermined. I like that a lot. The overall aesthetics of the map were what you'd expect from one of Ironman's maps.
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Hahaha, awesome. This is like Rising Tides transported into the future, magically developed through 18 months of SC2 mapping progress.
Best use of rocks in the middle of nowhere that I've yet seen. The outside beach pathways are very interesting; would like to playtest.
Kind of small number of bases. This is a little bit unfortunate because:
A solid, macro oriented player (who won't succumb to the allure of all in play) will try to be cost effective on a map that only has 2.5 bases after the main/natural. In the ideal game between two such players, there would be a lot of interesting repositioning and probably few major fights while the players calculate and try to find openings. But with so few bases, I feel players will have little incentive but to turtle and strike at the right moment. By playing cost effective, you plan to accumulate material advantage and possibly use a starvation endgame. When the timeline is limited by the resource count, it presses back the horizon of when a player should "cash in" his advantage gained through cost effectiveness.
On the other hand, it might just make for slow and cagey games, assuming the style of play I describe above.
+ Show Spoiler [in other words] +To take the above and say it a different way -- zerg is kind of on a timer. They have to win with their 9 geysers, there's nowhere else to extend the game. Even though most lay spectcators consider a lategame battle epic, it's still an all in if you're forced to just "go for it" because you can't possibly take more bases and keep the game going.
And this map has so many cool ways to reposition, it's a shame if they can't be used to their fullest extent. But, it's also just a style of map and that's okay too, even if the terrain rarely gets to experience its potential fully, cause it's nice terrain. 
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Pretty nice, I like the simplicity of it and the openness of the third. One thing I've noticed with your maps IronManSC is that your texturing is a bit cut-and-dry, in that there isn't much natural blending between certain textures like grass and dirt, and that there also doesn't seem to be much natural terrain deformation such as hills and valleys. Still looks great and better than most maps out there, but it's something you could perhaps work on if you want to step your aesthetics up a notch. Also it's distinct enough that I instantly knew this was one of your maps before looking at the name because of the texturing  .
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too few bases to be a serious map, but it certaintly looks fun, and in my books thats all that matters. nice dirt/jungle work too.
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On January 01 2012 14:50 WniO wrote:
too few bases to be a serious map, but it certaintly looks fun, and in my books thats all that matters. nice dirt/jungle work too.
I agree somewhat with this statement, however there are 10 bases which is a decent amount even if 2 are 'half-bases'. It's good to keep in mind every map doesn't have to be a macro map. It also means you won't see extremely long drawn out game where both players just posture back and forth and one eventually gets steam-rolled because of a simple mistake.
Lastly to address the issue some people are having with space in the mains for terrans, you could move the gas and mineral to be at the back of the mains. This might fix the issue all together. TBH I don't think the mains are small, they're probably the same size as Xel'Naga if not slightly bigger, I think it's just a positioning issue.
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PS the Protoss artifact in the middle is kinda boring , not the walls around it, just the artifact in the little pedestal.
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pretty basic and straight-forward; i like these kind of maps.
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Awesome. I really like the creativity in it. I think that it could really benefit from adding islands in the dead space (either top right/bottom left corners or in the top/bottom middle) so that you have another expanding option past 4 or 5 bases.
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On January 01 2012 14:50 WniO wrote:
too few bases to be a serious map, but it certaintly looks fun, and in my books thats all that matters. nice dirt/jungle work too.
Not true at all, this map has 10 bases. Dual Sight, Crossfire and Shattered all have 10 bases as well. Bel'Shir Beach, Metalopolis & Daybreak have 12 just 2 more than this map.
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This map takes a bit to wrap one's head around.
MisfortuneS Ghost mentioned the outside looks a little bare, and, while it does on the overview, I think, for the most part, it will look quite nice in a casted match. Not every map needs huge protoss relics surrounding it. Not to discourage you from taking the aesthetic a bit further, but mostly just say "ahhh, I like it".
Aesthetically speaking, the mains feel... almost out of place. We have these massive artificial structures on both sides of the island (the mains) that are rather plain, and then the rest is bright and organic, till we get to the mysterious middle ruins. I think giving them an overgrown look, or having the outward-facing cliff as organic (with doodads hidding the seam), would remove the out-of-place feel I get from it now.
I like it, IronMan, nice layout.
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