Omnivium by prodiG After several months of hard work I've finally finished Omnivium. I started this project back in April, and here we are now at the end of June. Omnivium is a 4 player rotational symmetry map named after the song Vortex Omnivium by Obscura. The map's main concept is to heavily use high ground and LOS blockers throughout all of the congestion points in the map, and force players to position their armies aggressively in order to hold the central double gas expansions.
Map is currently published for testing on NA as "Omnivium BETA - prodiG"
Omnivium evolved from my extreme distaste for the vast majority of current tournament map pools. The maps that they are comprised of, are - for the most part - stale, uninteresting and lack innovation. I wanted to do something that was somewhat fresh. A map that forced players to push out from their bases to secure more expansions (duh!) and position their armies very strategically in order to control the center bases with the double gas. I had originally designed it around using Destructible Xel'Naga Towers, but decided Testbug-style Xel'Naga Towers would be the best fit here. No spawns are blocked (because that is dumb)
The aesthetic concept stemmed from my desire to re-use the tileset and doodad style I used on Neo Enigma and Edge of Oblivion. The idea I followed was that the map was a Xel'Naga landmark with several devices and structures left behind, with the Terrans establishing a small foothold within the infrastructure and using it to perform tests on other species. The structure in the middle of the map emits a green glow so strong the ground below is torched and dried out.
Features
-LOS Blockers - These are designed to break up death balls and force players to move their armies a little more conservatively and strategically as opposed to just taking a deathball and 1a-ing around -Testbug-style Xel'Naga Towers - The Xel'Naga Towers will provide vision beyond the LOS blockers and above the high ground pods, as well as allow you to harass the double gas expansions from the lowground if you control one near your opponent's expansion. Early game, they serve to choke up the middle and can be broken later to widen things up and give more map control -Defensive rocks on the natural ramp - this is to make the natural a tad easier to defend from all-ins in the early game. The rocks are exposed to the lowground side, so ranged units can still snipe it! -5m1g third expansion with overlooking cliff to harass - The idea of the map is for players to push out to get gas. The 3rd expansions are very very easy to hold by ground, but do not provide a huge economical advantage, and are very susceptible to drops and air harass. The cliff has a ramp leading up to it to counter harassment as of version 1.1. -Cliffwalk/Blink bridge into main base - The main base is connected to the 4th by a small bridge. This is to allow units such as Blink stalkers to get in and out of their main base to more easily defend mutalisk harass, and act as a patio for Reapers and Colossus to get around easier - pic
Info
Number of Players: 4 Map Size: 158x158 Tileset: Shakuras, Ulaan, Zhakul'Das Main to Main (ramp) - Close Pos: 45sec ingame45 Main to Main (ramp) - Cross Pos: 58sec ingame Nat to Nat (choke) - Close Pos: 34sec ingame Nat to Nat (choke) - Cross Pos: 45sec ingame Number of Expansions: 8x 8m2g, 4x 5m1g, 4x 7m2g Number of Xel'Naga Towers: 4, blocked by Destructible Rocks Published as: Omnivium by prodiG
A note from the author Please check out my website http://www.prodiGsc.com - I've recently relaunched it! I've been casting Shootmania, a new upcoming FPS title similar to Quake as well as playing plenty of other games alongside SC2 and launching my consulting company eGeek Consulting. Go take a look, and while you're at it follow me on twitter <3
Why did you make the texturing such a 'hard' transition on for example the expansions? Theres a pretty clear line between the dirtycreep and the tiles atm. If its dirt it should be more smudged in my opinion...
Thats just nitpicking tho since the rest of the map is perfect as usual
On June 26 2012 15:48 ihasaKAROT wrote: Why did you make the texturing such a 'hard' transition on for example the expansions? Theres a pretty clear line between the dirtycreep and the tiles atm. If its dirt it should be more smudged in my opinion...
Thats just nitpicking tho since the rest of the map is perfect as usual
Because the tiles are supposed to go over top of the dirt! It looks much cleaner in game, of course~
The semi-third is just right where safe players are happy to take it, greedier players will get out on the map for a better base.
Then I consider how to attack someone who kills the closest rock for a tower and tries to sit back on 2.5 base, and I like that the full thirds on high ground also serve as excellent alternate attack paths, just skirting the tower range.
One suggestion: the small high-ground ridges in the center I think are a bit too big and subtract a lot from the center. Would you consider squeezing them one ramp-unit skinnier? And I would flatten not the "outside" where the chasm line touches but the "inside". I mean you've got the rock/towers presenting some chokiness already. Or maybe its fine... blah, I want to see some games on it!
It is a sad day to be a reaper. Think you could extend the area on the fourth so that it makes contact with the borders of the main?
I dig the base layout(through only 5 min on third might be a tad too little) but the center puzzles me. I am not a fan of Xel'naga towers you can't bypass and while it technically is possible here it is very small area and it takes a long time to bypass them all. I guess that is what the rocks are for. The patches of highground in the center also puzzles me. What are they for?
On June 26 2012 19:13 lost_artz wrote: I can't remember the name of the map but this reminds me of a map that I believe was from the map contest last year. Very similar layout overall.
The only criticism I have is that the 4ths look a bit out of place on those large high-ground areas.
Also I can't decide via map overview those blue-ish fissures/streams by each 4th un-path-able?
I like a lot of the ideas that are being explored in this map. My only worry is that in PvZ it encourages 2/2.5 base all ins as the 3rd is only a half base and the 4th is really hard to hold when the opposition has the Xel'Naga. How much HP do the destructible rocks covering the Xel'Nagas have?
On June 26 2012 18:34 Sumadin wrote: It is a sad day to be a reaper. Think you could extend the area on the fourth so that it makes contact with the borders of the main?
I dig the base layout(through only 5 min on third might be a tad too little) but the center puzzles me. I am not a fan of Xel'naga towers you can't bypass and while it technically is possible here it is very small area and it takes a long time to bypass them all. I guess that is what the rocks are for. The patches of highground in the center also puzzles me. What are they for?
I did it like this to avoid Blink Stalker and Medivac abuse (think Antiga Shipyard)
On June 26 2012 19:13 lost_artz wrote: I can't remember the name of the map but this reminds me of a map that I believe was from the map contest last year. Very similar layout overall.
The only criticism I have is that the 4ths look a bit out of place on those large high-ground areas.
Also I can't decide via map overview those blue-ish fissures/streams by each 4th un-path-able?
That area is also doubling as an attack path, I wanted to have it wide enough for players to move their army through if they had an expansion there.
On June 26 2012 21:13 Sea_Food wrote: Why is the attack path in close positions much more tight and much harder to surround than in cross position?
Depends where you're trying to surround, I guess. Lots of space to do it below either natural expansion, or near the 4th's. Doing it near the chokes as you might imagine is a bad idea...
Most of these things I'm pointing out I could easily test myself by logging into sc2. But I'm not actually around my desktop so I'm unable to do that. So instead I'll ask here so you can easily double check!
Make sure 4th's outter gas doesn't take 4 workers to saturate. Make sure XWT can't get activated with the rocks still there. I know on one of my older maps I had to lower the activation range on the towers to make them not work when 6x6 rocks are on them. Those little cliffs in the middle between the 2 high ground pieces.....best part about this map!
My final concern itself is mainly about the watchtowers. Are they really needed? With them all being blocked by d-rocks the likelyhood of anyone breaking them down early is very slim. Zerg almost make no units to break them down, Protoss won't want to push out to break them down until they get a big enough army. I suppose Terran could, but depending on the matchups a few hellions and/or marines would take forever to break them down.
End game though, all they will serve is a point where Deathballs are going to stand because of the positioning of them, especially with the high ground platforms right next to them.
I know a lot of people hate the lone single XWT exactly in the middle but I think that might be best here. Get rid of the 4 you have now, remove that doodad in the middle and just put the XWT in the middle. No d-rocks on it though. Now it'll give early game vision of all the paths in the middle and thus you can defend easier against 1-2 base all-ins because you'll be able to scout it if they push through the middle. Yet it still won't give vision if you decide to sneak all the way around the edges. (assuming cross positions anyway)
Also, the map still looks amazing, but aesthetically it feels a little lackluster compared to many of your other creations.
Nice work prodiG! I am really digging the middle, the low ground dead-end surrounded by LOSBs that can shoot up to the 4th is pretty clever. I also like the half base 3rd, I want to see how games play out with this setup.
Since these are the TL forums, I must criticize something ;-) - so I'll also criticize the 4ths not "touching" the mains, sure it limits medivac/blink abuse, but it will make it harder to defend mutas w blink stalkers and give brood lords ideal dead air to it in.
Simplying beautiful. I expected nothing less from you prodig.
I think you need to switch the mineral placement of the 4ths. If a player gets map control, they can control every 4th by just harassing from the low ground areas, giving them even more control on the map.
On June 27 2012 00:44 SidianTheBard wrote: Most of these things I'm pointing out I could easily test myself by logging into sc2. But I'm not actually around my desktop so I'm unable to do that. So instead I'll ask here so you can easily double check!
Make sure 4th's outter gas doesn't take 4 workers to saturate. Make sure XWT can't get activated with the rocks still there. I know on one of my older maps I had to lower the activation range on the towers to make them not work when 6x6 rocks are on them. Those little cliffs in the middle between the 2 high ground pieces.....best part about this map!
My final concern itself is mainly about the watchtowers. Are they really needed? With them all being blocked by d-rocks the likelyhood of anyone breaking them down early is very slim. Zerg almost make no units to break them down, Protoss won't want to push out to break them down until they get a big enough army. I suppose Terran could, but depending on the matchups a few hellions and/or marines would take forever to break them down.
End game though, all they will serve is a point where Deathballs are going to stand because of the positioning of them, especially with the high ground platforms right next to them.
I know a lot of people hate the lone single XWT exactly in the middle but I think that might be best here. Get rid of the 4 you have now, remove that doodad in the middle and just put the XWT in the middle. No d-rocks on it though. Now it'll give early game vision of all the paths in the middle and thus you can defend easier against 1-2 base all-ins because you'll be able to scout it if they push through the middle. Yet it still won't give vision if you decide to sneak all the way around the edges. (assuming cross positions anyway)
Also, the map still looks amazing, but aesthetically it feels a little lackluster compared to many of your other creations.
I haven't tested everything in-game yet, but my editor testmode tests have shown that none of the potential issues you're describing exist.
The towers are necessary because they provide vision of the 4th expansions. The point of the map is that if you want more than 5 geysers, you need to move out into the middle of the map and position your army a bit farther forward. Losing the tower below your 4th means that ranged units will harass the expanion.
Aesthetically, I went for a more standardized theme here as opposed to my usual explosive amount of doodads, to try and avoid performance problems and bugs that make me look like an idiot in front of 52 thousand people.
On June 27 2012 00:52 TheFish7 wrote: Nice work prodiG! I am really digging the middle, the low ground dead-end surrounded by LOSBs that can shoot up to the 4th is pretty clever. I also like the half base 3rd, I want to see how games play out with this setup.
Since these are the TL forums, I must criticize something ;-) - so I'll also criticize the 4ths not "touching" the mains, sure it limits medivac/blink abuse, but it will make it harder to defend mutas w blink stalkers and give brood lords ideal dead air to it in.
The current metagame has shown me that medivac harass quickly dropping on one side and then the other is more of a problem than keeping a few units back to deal with things like muta harass, which is why I decided to go this way as opposed to keeping it flush. It's the lesser of two evils, imo.
That said, the whole "Zerg > All" status quo atm might make me change my mind. I'll keep an eye on it.
On June 27 2012 00:58 FlaShFTW wrote: Simplying beautiful. I expected nothing less from you prodig.
I think you need to switch the mineral placement of the 4ths. If a player gets map control, they can control every 4th by just harassing from the low ground areas, giving them even more control on the map.
Has the same problem all 4 player maps have, its just simply too large. Also in TvT it is ridiculously effective/easy to set up a Tank contain as the high ground+xwt+2sensor towers would literally set up a map edge to map edge vision field around a 2.5base part of the map.
EDIT: Also I wouldn't mind the .5 base being 4m1hyg.
On June 27 2012 01:18 iTzSnypah wrote: Has the same problem all 4 player maps have, its just simply too large. EDIT: Also I wouldn't mind the .5 base being 4m1hyg.
I have to say I think this is definitely your most successful attempt to create a map that pushes beyond the current safe mapping metagame. This is the kind of mapping we need. ;D
I have a feeling the ledges above the half base might prove imba for competitive play. It's pretty rough that marine drop can hit every patch. Of course it remains to be seen, and I hope they aren't. Maybe a ramp blocked by rocks? Or just narrower so they are harder to abuse (less space to avoid defenders on the low ground). I'm curious if you've tested it / what you think. Regardless, it's really cool that you can skip that base in some matchups/positions anyway.
Also I agree that flush cliff between main and 4th would be preferable, as a protoss.
On June 27 2012 01:18 iTzSnypah wrote: Has the same problem all 4 player maps have, its just simply too large. Also in TvT it is ridiculously effective/easy to set up a Tank contain as the high ground+xwt+2sensor towers would literally set up a map edge to map edge vision field around a 2.5base part of the map.
EDIT: Also I wouldn't mind the .5 base being 4m1hyg.
On June 27 2012 01:18 iTzSnypah wrote: Has the same problem all 4 player maps have, its just simply too large. Also in TvT it is ridiculously effective/easy to set up a Tank contain as the high ground+xwt+2sensor towers would literally set up a map edge to map edge vision field around a 2.5base part of the map.
EDIT: Also I wouldn't mind the .5 base being 4m1hyg.
On June 27 2012 01:18 iTzSnypah wrote: Has the same problem all 4 player maps have, its just simply too large. Also in TvT it is ridiculously effective/easy to set up a Tank contain as the high ground+xwt+2sensor towers would literally set up a map edge to map edge vision field around a 2.5base part of the map.
EDIT: Also I wouldn't mind the .5 base being 4m1hyg.
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