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Urban Skyline Version 1.1
Published on NA
Created by erazeR
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/IbWFE.jpg)
Aesthetics:
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Analyser:
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DETAILS:
Map Name: Urban Skyline
Spawn positions: 2
Playable Area: 132x134
Lighting: Korhal
Textures:
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Braxis Alpha Mesh
Shakuras Bricks
Korhal Small Tiles
Korhal Dark Concrete
Meinhoff Concrete
Typhon Rocky Dirt
Bel-Shir Grass Light
Bel-Shir Dirt Light
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Cliffs: Korhal Skyscraper cliffs
Bases: 12 Blue bases (zero golds)
XWT: 2
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Hi everyone this is my sixth project map I have created. I have used a variety of different textures from different tilesets to show a city theme, with some green areas for added aesthetic effects and colour relief, for this, my first city stlyed map.
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Thanks and feedback and suggestions are WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED.
~~~~~~~~~~Updated to version 1.1~~~~~~~~~~
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Other maps I have created:
Rezar'e Island - First Map
Arid Waters - Second Map
Murky Lands - Third Map
Hostile Sands - Fourth Map
Kel-Morian Plains - Fifth Map
Urban Skyline - Sixth Map
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My first impression was that the 3rd (and 4th) base were quite hard to defend (especially for protoss). There is no really good position you can take defensively and the attacker can move straight into the area of the base and kill it. The 5th and 6th bases are positioned so that you have to defend in the middle of the map or leave everything open. There is not much room to mount a decent defence.
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The aesthetics are well done =). Something of concern straight away is getting a 3rd base. The middle bases which as listed as 3rds in the analyser pics could be very difficult to defend as 3rds due to being very open from all directions and having a direct attack path across the center on top of being close to your opponents 3rd. The other option for a 3rd is very away from your natural which in return also makes it hard to defend.
Theory-crafting a bit something you could try as a variation of this map (perhaps release it as a different version e.x. "Urban Skyline B") would be to take both of the current 3rds (the middle and 6/12 ones), turn them into 4ths and reduce them to 6m1g. Expanding on that idea (pun intended  ) on the high-ground at the 6/12 add yet another epxo (between the ramps) which would act as a 3rd, but also with 6m1g. This would make taking a 3rd relatively easy BUT it will mine out faster and forces you to expand to a 4th faster. This plays somewhat on Barrin's breadth idea even though I disagree with it for the most part. If you do this leave the rest of the bases at their current min/gas counts.
Of course if you don't want to make that drastic of a change I would simply suggest pulling the current 6/12 towards the ramp some so they're not quiet as far away from the nats.
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On April 11 2012 19:10 Darkomicron wrote:
My first impression was that the 3rd (and 4th) base were quite hard to defend (especially for protoss). There is no really good position you can take defensively and the attacker can move straight into the area of the base and kill it. The 5th and 6th bases are positioned so that you have to defend in the middle of the map or leave everything open. There is not much room to mount a decent defence.
+1 maybe if the map would have been bigger it wouldn't have been as hard, you'll have more time to preper a defence.
pretty good looking map all in all. gj!
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The ramp in front of the third seems to be the biggest concern - possibly split it into a smaller and a larger ramp, the smaller one closer to the middle.
There are also white border missing at some places.
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I like the 2 close together expansions on this map in the upper left and lower right corner. The expansions in general look pretty nice. Feels like an option for every race.
I also like this little ledge leading down to one of the thirds, which allows colossus to move around the first 3 bases really fast and help in defending everywhere. Otherwise i would have said the ramps leading away from the natural area would need to switch their size, so a toss can wall of the one leading into the middle easier, creating only one attack path on the ground over the other third.
Hope this map gets popular and moves over to eu, looks fun to play on for all 3 races. (atleast for me hehe)
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On April 11 2012 21:48 FeyFey wrote:
I like the 2 close together expansions on this map in the upper left and lower right corner.
I don't. The lowground expansion shouldn't come that free after you take the highground one. That, and it's quite hard to attack by air (only one lane, meaning 2-3 turrets or an overlord cover everything) and it's quite late in the layout, so it makes for a way too easy fifth.
The map is beautiful, but I guess you already knew that ; I think that, however, it could be way better layout-wise by making the alternate third closer to the natural and father away from the highground (since there it's very easily siegeable), and adding a path from it to the sixth.
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Thanks for the feedback everyone so far!
On April 11 2012 23:13 ArcticRaven wrote:
I don't. The lowground expansion shouldn't come that free after you take the highground one. That, and it's quite hard to attack by air (only one lane, meaning 2-3 turrets or an overlord cover everything) and it's quite late in the layout, so it makes for a way too easy fifth..
Updates to try and fix this soon, stay tuned!
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I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to have the corner expansions on low ground, it creates diversion tension in such a way that if you respond to a threat in it too strongly, it puts your army in a bad position.
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On April 12 2012 21:44 Duvon wrote:
I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to have the corner expansions on low ground, it creates diversion tension in such a way that if you respond to a threat in it too strongly, it puts your army in a bad position.
I believe that the problem is that its simply too easy to take after taking the base next to it, and needs another path to it, to make it harder to hold, not so much that its on the lowground.
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I'm looking at the bottom starting position right now, so this goes for top as well:
I think you might wanna try moving the very bottom expo (third or forth) some spaces to the left, nearer to the ramp, as this would be the natural third imo, definitely not the one in the middle. This would make it easier to defend, otherwise this would just be another two base timing push map.
Also you could add a path from third to fourth (the one in the lower corner of the map), as this should be the natural forth imo. I have to say I don't like the expo in the middle, reminds me of the xel naga or antiga.
Other than that, I like this map, especially the look!
Edit: typo
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Hi all, I've edited the third a bit and given the corner base another path from it, As you will see in the screenshots I have only done the bottom half so as not to waste time if it is better unchanged or changed to how it is in the screenshot. Once again thanks for all the feedback and please continue to provide me with assistance to improve this map! I believe it can be a great map. - Screenshots below:
Overview: (top half original bottom changed)
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Summary overview: (top half original bottom changed)
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Re-do looks great, the changes fix all genuine flaws stated above, I think. Can't wait to see this on GSL. What price do you think you will put to the rights of it? I hope it's at least triple digits. Great work once again by the notoriously genius erazerr.
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Terran favored map imo. The third base really pushes you into the middle. If a terran gets that base with a planetary fortress it's really easy for him to attack and defend. While the other races don't benefit at all from that 3rd and it's really hard to defend especially for protoss because of the openness. It's impossible for protoss to hold 3rd in PvZ because it's too open and he can't use forcefields to defend. 5th and 6th are impossible to hold too imo.
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I really do like this map, especially after the revised layout.
However, given just how secure the natural is and how far away and vulnerable the next logical expansions are, I can't help but feel this map will descend into far too much two base play, particularly from Protoss, who will really not like trying to secure a third on this map.
Definitely needs some play testing and a bit of evolving before it's going to realise it's potential. Still, it looks absolutely great and it's hard to fault most of it.
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Okay I'm back to post that I have once again got a few screenshots I would like some feedback on after altering a few things, before deciding to fully publish the map as version 1.1.
Screenshots followed by Changes from original below:
Overview:
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Summary:
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Changes from original:
- Smaller main bases overall, however increasing in areas to remove as much airspace in corners as possible
- Playable area changed from 132x130 to 132x134
- 'Fourth' moved closer to become Third base ramps changed accordingly
- Entrance from outside third to 6th corner bases
- Middle area reduced however removed cliff for middle statue to increase area again
- Some texture fixes etc
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Rendition looks amazing. I have come to the conclusion that you actually have the hands of Jesus and thus you were able to create this godlike map. New third is fantastic, I cannot wait to thrust my tiny ling dong down the road to it as harass. Have GSL contacted you yet?
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The new version is definitely an improvement. I'm not sure the corner expansions are as separated as they need to be, but they are definitely distinct in the timing at which you can take them, if not as much the positional control you need to keep them secure at a later point in the game.
The third base is unspectacular and more or less correctly facilitated, which is also improved. I'd say better than some maps given how your center pathways work, and how it's a slight "expand away" 3rd. Nothing fancy, that's fine because the other parts of your map are the focus it seems. I do like the basic but functional dynamic of high ground in front of natural that you can step down from to defend the 3rd. Nothing special but it gets the job done.
Despite this, I feel this map has a huge potential problem: zerg will have to play similar to xel'naga caverns -- essentially on a clock. This is because the forward 4th base (towards the center) is so well situated, especially for a terran, but also protoss. A strong position at the 4th base leaves zerg really awkward options for any of the remaining expansions on the map (at least one or two of which they would have already taken by the time T or P has a 4th).
However, the center expansions are a lot more stable than XNC for example, and by using that as a focal point maybe the corner bases can be made safe for the zerg. The problem though is that eventually the zerg enemy will take a 5th base along the vertical edge which essentially denies the wing expansion option for zerg, forcing a map split where that center base focus becomes way too easy to knock down, splitting off zerg's remaining mining. Hence why I say zerg will be on a clock because the longer the game goes the harder it will be for them to keep a stable expansion / position dynamic, whereas the zerg enemy doesn't experience nearly the same level of discomfort.
On a positive note it's great that the "more unlikely" map split actually seems to be a real possibility, which I always appreciate. 
And in any case these late game issues are constantly overlooked even on GSL caliber maps so overall good work. The corners might need some work still depending on if you have testing feedback but it's definitely interesting and worth trying.
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