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TPW Polaris by lefix Map Size: 136x144 Tileset: Iceworld Spawns: 2 Bases: 12 Published: HotS (Beta) - once patch is done
TPW Polaris on sc2melee.net
About: Made this map because I wanted to figure out how/if air maps will work in HotS. And because I wanted to try a polar theme with the Kaldir tileset Thoughts and feedback welcome!
Screenshots:
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Wow pretty cool. Might actually work. Spawns are top left / bottom right, correct? Did you think about including cliff walking paths?
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Cool. This is how air maps have to be (lots of land) so that some semblance of a ground army can be viable as well.
I think it might be interesting if you made the XNTs so that air units can use them too (it's a super quick change in the data editor)
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United Kingdom12021 Posts
oooo Island map! Can't wait to give this a try if I can find someone to play it with.
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I'm very sceptical towards Island maps, not so much even for the fact that you have to use air, but for the lack of scouting. Though I guess hallucination and the mothership core provide a HotS answer for protoss.
That aside, aesthetics seem a bit rushed.
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So sexy map. How long does it take to fly a CC to gold? Oh well.
On December 19 2012 10:03 SiskosGoatee wrote: I'm very sceptical towards Island maps, not so much even for the fact that you have to use air, but for the lack of scouting. Though I guess hallucination and the mothership core provide a HotS answer for protoss.
That aside, aesthetics seem a bit rushed. ...lol?
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try using the niflheim lighting on the tileset rather than the default one
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I understand the goal of trying to create a map that promote mainly air play but at the same time having no ground attack paths, even between the two middle islands, strikes me as a bad idea.
IMO take the 2 middle-most bases and tuck them into the cliff closer to the golds. Then add 2 small bridges by each tower that connect to the other middle island.
Adding ramps to the high-ground on the golds would also make drop/nydus a stronger option to harassing those bases.
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United States9948 Posts
ill be the first to say it, terran OP.
jk looks nice. first island map which i really like. i think the middle should be more of one big island rather than 2 smaller islands.
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I really wonder how this will go, I think Protoss is the strongest here since you can blink from island to island and you have the strongest unit to attack with early on (msc), I think giving reaper platforms might be necessary since Terran is very weak here, unlike in WoL island maps.
I do like that the middle is very large, making ground army possible option, either blink stalkers, MMM or any ground unit using drops or nydus as Zerg. Using many static defenses might make ground armies not possible in the lategame, but until all of the edges are full of those, ground armies will be a valid choice since in a direct fight they win versus non-tier3 air.
While I doubt any island map is balanced, I am sure it would be fun to play or see games on such maps from time to time. Overall the map looks good and even though Protoss might be imbalanced here I think you did an excellent job
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your cliffs are boring my dear friend! they look man made although they should be natural looking. icy chaos can never be that regular. insert some un-walk-able lowground areas to break up that regular pattern.
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I could see this map being really broken for terran. It is not at your fault really, island maps in general favors terran. But nothing here is done to try to mitrigate that advantage. Since Island maps are kinda tricky i will try to pinpoint flaws.
First what you did right:
2 bases on main islands. That is the correct number, less than that and Zerg is screwed, more and the hole island theme is screwed.
Blink distance islands: A neat touch that can certainly help protoss. Protoss aren't that bad in islands but certainly not as good as terran.
Problems pretty much everything else:
It is 2 player spawn only. This means Terrans can reliably scout using scans. On 4 player island maps scans is too unreliable for initial scouting, and that is one of the ways the advantage of terran can be graducally evened out.
Very low distances compareably: With this size it might as well have been a normal map. Terrans are the least mobile in air meaning they want smaller distances. Viking/Raven however is a combination unbeatable in Air-to-Air straight up. But here there is little room to exploit the added mobility for Phoenixes and Mutas.
Finally this is really not the type of map to put high yield bases on, as much as i like to see them return to competative Starcraft.
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On December 19 2012 19:40 Sumadin wrote: I could see this map being really broken for terran. It is not at your fault really, island maps in general favors terran. But nothing here is done to try to mitrigate that advantage. Since Island maps are kinda tricky i will try to pinpoint flaws.
First what you did right:
2 bases on main islands. That is the correct number, less than that and Zerg is screwed, more and the hole island theme is screwed.
Blink distance islands: A neat touch that can certainly help protoss. Protoss aren't that bad in islands but certainly not as good as terran.
Problems pretty much everything else:
It is 2 player spawn only. This means Terrans can reliably scout using scans. On 4 player island maps scans is too unreliable for initial scouting, and that is one of the ways the advantage of terran can be graducally evened out.
Very low distances compareably: With this size it might as well have been a normal map. Terrans are the least mobile in air meaning they want smaller distances. Viking/Raven however is a combination unbeatable in Air-to-Air straight up. But here there is little room to exploit the added mobility for Phoenixes and Mutas.
Finally this is really not the type of map to put high yield bases on, as much as i like to see them return to competative Starcraft.
I really do not understand some of your points, Terran is not the strongest in HotS, in WoL island maps highly favor Terran I agree, but in HotS, especially without reaper access, Terran is the weaker than Protoss. You can't reliably scan since I think you need to scans to check the whole main + nat, could be even 3 scans (depends on how big is the main, hard to tell), therefore using scans early on is not really worth it.
Protoss has msc which can harass and scout, Zerg has overlords for scouting and they have natural defense - queens which are also good later on while Terran has to waste scans, build a barracks and fly it or only scout with air units later. Also Protoss has the fastest form of all in, 4gate prism, which unless scouted can be devastating, especially since Protoss has many other options such as Nexus 1st into tech or blink stalkers which require completely different responses.
While Terran has the strongest air army in a straight fight I think ever since HSM lost its splash damage if you can get HT's or infestors under your army Terran can simply not fight the splash damage, even though I might be wrong.
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Yeah I must confess island maps is something i have really missed from starcraft1 even if they where not ballanced at all it was extreamly fun to play dire straits even though it was completely broken it was still a hel of alot of fun to play especially ffa and 2 vs 2's
it's sad taht it is so hard to get fun games going in sc2 (excluding ums'es/arcade games)
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On December 19 2012 20:12 moskonia wrote:Show nested quote +On December 19 2012 19:40 Sumadin wrote: I could see this map being really broken for terran. It is not at your fault really, island maps in general favors terran. But nothing here is done to try to mitrigate that advantage. Since Island maps are kinda tricky i will try to pinpoint flaws.
First what you did right:
2 bases on main islands. That is the correct number, less than that and Zerg is screwed, more and the hole island theme is screwed.
Blink distance islands: A neat touch that can certainly help protoss. Protoss aren't that bad in islands but certainly not as good as terran.
Problems pretty much everything else:
It is 2 player spawn only. This means Terrans can reliably scout using scans. On 4 player island maps scans is too unreliable for initial scouting, and that is one of the ways the advantage of terran can be graducally evened out.
Very low distances compareably: With this size it might as well have been a normal map. Terrans are the least mobile in air meaning they want smaller distances. Viking/Raven however is a combination unbeatable in Air-to-Air straight up. But here there is little room to exploit the added mobility for Phoenixes and Mutas.
Finally this is really not the type of map to put high yield bases on, as much as i like to see them return to competative Starcraft. I really do not understand some of your points, Terran is not the strongest in HotS, in WoL island maps highly favor Terran I agree, but in HotS, especially without reaper access, Terran is the weaker than Protoss. You can't reliably scan since I think you need to scans to check the whole main + nat, could be even 3 scans (depends on how big is the main, hard to tell), therefore using scans early on is not really worth it. Protoss has msc which can harass and scout, Zerg has overlords for scouting and they have natural defense - queens which are also good later on while Terran has to waste scans, build a barracks and fly it or only scout with air units later. Also Protoss has the fastest form of all in, 4gate prism, which unless scouted can be devastating, especially since Protoss has many other options such as Nexus 1st into tech or blink stalkers which require completely different responses. While Terran has the strongest air army in a straight fight I think ever since HSM lost its splash damage if you can get HT's or infestors under your army Terran can simply not fight the splash damage, even though I might be wrong.
Alot of it comes down to the early game. Terran has by far the easiest time expanding and also has the strongest static anti air. A MSC will not get past a turret. it just doesn't work. The hole exercise is to make sure that the map has dissadvantages for terran so that this doesn't snowball too much.
My primary concern only lies in TvZ really. Being forced to get a lair before taking a third is quite the dissadvantage considering todays meta. I think protoss would do alright vs terran on this map.
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dezi
Germany1536 Posts
On December 19 2012 21:34 Sumadin wrote:My primary concern only lies in TvZ really. Being forced to get a lair before taking a third is quite the dissadvantage considering todays meta. I think protoss would do alright vs terran on this map. It's perfect that Z can't just fucking afk no rush 15 drone to 70 ... what about nydus expand? Also allows defend with a small army against drops. Island maps are different and for sure have to be and don't just have to give you 3 free bases so everyone just maxes till first engagements. I like that Z has to get out of their comfort zone here.
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Zerg should be fine versus Terran, with many queens and nydus network you can defend bases very fast, biggest problem might be vikings taking out overlords and flocks of banshees 1 shooting nydus worms, but with good unit placement you will be able to defend I think, and in the midgame nothing on the air stops mutalisks so until the Terran has BC's he has to stay defensive near turrets / thors. I think its a pretty cool balance.
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Hah, thought this was a SC2 remake of Polaris Rhapsody. Oh well.
Anyways, nice use of trying to make a good island map, it looks very pretty.
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On December 19 2012 20:12 moskonia wrote:Show nested quote +On December 19 2012 19:40 Sumadin wrote: I could see this map being really broken for terran. It is not at your fault really, island maps in general favors terran. But nothing here is done to try to mitrigate that advantage. Since Island maps are kinda tricky i will try to pinpoint flaws.
First what you did right:
2 bases on main islands. That is the correct number, less than that and Zerg is screwed, more and the hole island theme is screwed.
Blink distance islands: A neat touch that can certainly help protoss. Protoss aren't that bad in islands but certainly not as good as terran.
Problems pretty much everything else:
It is 2 player spawn only. This means Terrans can reliably scout using scans. On 4 player island maps scans is too unreliable for initial scouting, and that is one of the ways the advantage of terran can be graducally evened out.
Very low distances compareably: With this size it might as well have been a normal map. Terrans are the least mobile in air meaning they want smaller distances. Viking/Raven however is a combination unbeatable in Air-to-Air straight up. But here there is little room to exploit the added mobility for Phoenixes and Mutas.
Finally this is really not the type of map to put high yield bases on, as much as i like to see them return to competative Starcraft. I really do not understand some of your points, Terran is not the strongest in HotS,
What? What are you even basing this one? No one even has enough games in to make a judgement on the best race in HotS.
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On December 20 2012 01:50 lorestarcraft wrote:Show nested quote +On December 19 2012 20:12 moskonia wrote:On December 19 2012 19:40 Sumadin wrote: I could see this map being really broken for terran. It is not at your fault really, island maps in general favors terran. But nothing here is done to try to mitrigate that advantage. Since Island maps are kinda tricky i will try to pinpoint flaws.
First what you did right:
2 bases on main islands. That is the correct number, less than that and Zerg is screwed, more and the hole island theme is screwed.
Blink distance islands: A neat touch that can certainly help protoss. Protoss aren't that bad in islands but certainly not as good as terran.
Problems pretty much everything else:
It is 2 player spawn only. This means Terrans can reliably scout using scans. On 4 player island maps scans is too unreliable for initial scouting, and that is one of the ways the advantage of terran can be graducally evened out.
Very low distances compareably: With this size it might as well have been a normal map. Terrans are the least mobile in air meaning they want smaller distances. Viking/Raven however is a combination unbeatable in Air-to-Air straight up. But here there is little room to exploit the added mobility for Phoenixes and Mutas.
Finally this is really not the type of map to put high yield bases on, as much as i like to see them return to competative Starcraft. I really do not understand some of your points, Terran is not the strongest in HotS, What? What are you even basing this one? No one even has enough games in to make a judgement on the best race in HotS. I obviously meant in air, and of course its pretty much theorycraft but tempests can kill everything from range, nothing beats void rays per supply (for all I know) and the phoenix is the fastest unit in the air - allowing for harass while preventing harass from the opponent.
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