It's pretty fun. No new suggestions my end: still think there should be an entrance of some sort in north and south.
rv1b version is up. Changes: New entrances on other sides. Light indicators along entire span of shield. Instructions at barracks entrance to maze. spawn protection comes on when shields are back online. be armory roof interior spying fixed.
Very cool! About to hop on and check it out. Edit for opinions: North and South openings are very cool - I think they add quite a lot to the map. Feels like a good blend of sneaking around and open combat. Somebody brought up a point I can sort of get behind, that there are no obstacles (like a box or something in a straight path) to hide behind within the maze. Is it at all possible to change what direction people spawn in a rax (by placement or whatever)? Because if so then the NF side spawns facing away from the maze. Quite fun in its current form - JGF didn't quite figure it out because he couldn't be arsed to read the sign you put up at the maze entrance.
Another thought: maybe put trees or some kind of obstacles in north and south for both sides leading up to the openings. Then it's not a completely straight shot from one side of the maze to the other if players from both sides are trying to go around at the same time - as it is now you're extremely vulnerable if you take the sides.
Problem is, it would ruin the story line for the map. Let me give a synopsis of it that will explain it. Long post coming. Story line: While a small band of Northern Faction and Brenodi soldiers were battling in a remote highland mountain area, they came across an ancient maze dug out of the top of the highest mountain. In its center stood what appeared as some sort of sacrificial alter. Thinking there might be some ancient powers or other mystical advantage to it, both sides agreed they each wanted the mountain for their own side. Barracks and armories were erected at opposite ends, along with high voltage barriers to keep each side honest. A remote triggering device was installed in the center of the alter, and terms were agreed upon, with the winner of the contest taking sole ownership of the mountain top. The rules, while ghastly and spelling complete annihilation for the loser, were as follows: Troops would fight to reach the alter button which would start a timer that would disable the opposition's shield for 20 seconds. If the same team could then fight their way into the enemy's barracks, the owner of the barracks agreed to execute 5 of their reinforcements in an offsite location as an offering to the power of the mountain alter. The victor and ruler of the Mountain Maze Alter would be the side with some living troops still alive. So the location is the top of a mountain, above the tree line. No cover as this would go against the agreement both sides reached. Hope this makes more sense now.
What I hope is the final version is done and up running. Fixes include: Trigger multi firing multiple deductions on ticket bleed is fixed. Certain areas on above are now clipped to not allow players on mountain top. Final cubemaps are built for both LDR and HDR
the map isnt exactly eyecandy anyway - though some of the textures look awesome. but here have the minimap, noone should be forced to open pdfs, thats inhumane :p i assume the majority of the map is going to be underused as there are 2 more or less direct ways to center. it at first also is a bit confusing that you cant shoot through the gaps in the walls. would be cool if the fence wouldnt be static and new routes develop over the round. idk if its possible though - neither from a "its too much of a hassle" nor from the "it will look shite because of precomputed lighting" side. also does it take 5 tickets per player or just per try?
Having played it, I used pretty much all of the map to great effect. Sure, there are direct routes but you can do a lot of work by taking side routes or unexpected paths.
The pdf was for a synopsis of the map. Picture posting won't do it justice. It's 5 tickets per press and entering barracks. Also, those walls are models, and the not shooting thru was on purpose, no need for sniping thru them, not their intent. It was to allow you to see movement, but force you to navigate for the confrontation.
Ok, so I thought I would post an update to the map here. It's finished from what I can deduce now. Here are the alterations, changes etc. map name has been changed to its final version name, emp_themaze.bsp Center Alter area now protected from engineer building exploits on the button. Visual text indicating button press with countdown timer. Also alerts which shield is down. Northern Faction now spawns facing maze entrance. Both Barracks and Armory are now indestructible, so don't waste your time trying to. Skybox was changed to empsky_day3_* Button can no longer be spammed while timer is running. All camel-casing has been removed from textures, and some textures renamed to avoid conflicts with old ones.
you could do a little map script magic to open random routes each play through. There was another map that did that.
