It's been on the CW server for quite some time. Just nobody ever wants to play it :D You should come over and rockthevote it
I have been working on RC2, but I have come along a problem. What side, NF or BE, has the advantage on the map?
Everytime ive played it, it ended with a victory for nf. Be was enclosed in the north east corner, after losing their main. Its to easy to run from the nf start position to the be start possition over the hills and rpg/mortar/nadespam their base from higher ground.
And all the games which I have played have ended to NF's loss because BE has capped the Northeast corner and after that the Southwest corner where NF has very little access after they seal it with walls. There goes total of... 2 refs for BE and NF can't get one of them at all easily back plus BE then has quite easy access to NF's base from Southwest corner when they have a barracks there.
Every time I've played this map, BE has won. Granted, I've only played it four or five times, but this still leads me to believe that BE has a slight advantage. Two or three of the games were won in the exact same way-- NF commander got trapped in the SW corner of the map, and was slaughtered. One time the BE just rushed main, and the last time, well, I have no fucking clue how BE won. I was commanding, and my command style--if you can call it that--amounts to basically spamming barracks over all claimed territory, shouting out research requests, and generally panicking about anything that moves. So I'm not sure what happened that round, let alone how the hell we won. Maybe make things less sloped downward towards NF, idk. Things I like: -I don't see why people say it's ugly. It looks different from the other maps, that's all I care about. Then again, graphics are always last priority for me. Maybe add some snow texture to the mountain tops, idk. -I also really really like the fact that everywhere on the map is traversable by infantry. Keeps things open and flowing. -I like the lake, but it seems a bit excessive. See suggestion 4. From this experience, I have a couple of thoughts. Suggestion 1: Make the vehicle traversable areas-- the wide open and/or flat roads that already exist on the map-- generally easier to traverse, and safer to traverse. In other words, lower the steepness and slope gradient where possible, maintain a certain minimum width if possible, and in the REALLY precarious areas (the road north of the south-west corner) consider putting up either natural or artificial (rails and walls come to mind) barriers to keep tanks from falling off. Reason for suggestion: Like I said, the majority of the wins I've seen on the map are because a CV managed to get itself stuck or trapped, through no fault of the enemy. This seems frustrating and generally not fun. Furthermore, the map is large. With the vehicle routes already restricted, this means that traversing the map in tanks can be slow, and risky (not 'stay on the defensive' risky, just 'drive like an old lady' risky). I figure, make the EXISTING routes easier and clearer, and that will facilitate movement around the map. This will also allow for the second idea: Suggestion 2: Put up one or two vehicle chokepoints on the pre-existing roads. I'd suggest this sparingly, because I, for one, love the maps with less of a chokepoint atmosphere, like duststorm or isle. But I think natural chokepoints like on slaughtered are preferential to having to add turrets into the map at the start of the game. (I guess cyclopean could be the exception to the rule?) Reason for the suggestion: Obviously, to slow down the early game and allow for a less decisive victory early on. Basically, what De_Ghost complains about. BUT the ONLY reason I suggest this is because you've specifically stated that every single area of the map is traversable by infantry units. So despite the vehicle chokepoints, infantry will theoretically be able to go around them and the open-ended feel of an isle map would be preserved despite the chokepoint feel of a slaughtered map. Not sure about this. I know that really, ALL the vehicle pathways are chokepoints, technically. Basically some way to slow down the vehicle advance WITHOUT making them drive 2 miles an hour. I have no idea how you'd do this. A constructable bridge seems a bit unoriginal after slaughtered already did it. Suggestion 3: Do something about the cave in the corner and the waterfall. Basically, they're both VERY cool little additions to the map that give it a unique flair, but they both feel like just eye-candy. Some way to make them integral to infantry deployments would be nice. That and I know you said you hated how the cave mouth looks. Suggestion 4: This one is tentative at best. DO YOU THINK that the lake is too big. I don't really know about this one. Imo it seems like a waste of map space, rather unused, and something more interesting could be done with it. At the very least, I say make the shoreline immediately adjacent to land (but still under water) more shallow, so infantry can use it more, and tanks could mess around (at their own risk, of course). Sort of like the pools in emp_isle, or the water-routes in cyclopean. This is in conjunction with the waterfall suggestion. I'm not saying GET RID of the lake. I'm just saying make it smaller, or have less volume. I can't stress enough that the lake LOOKS great, and really adds atmosphere. Just get people to interact with it more. Also, is the water-table accurate/realistically mapped? Suggestion 5: The brushwork on the houses could use a lot of work. I'm assuming that's all beta, anyway, and will be revised. That's all I can think of for now.
Both of the times I played it, NF won. That's unique, right? Both of those times, the NF commander went straight for the northeast corner of the map. (Admittedly, the second time was me, copying what the first guy did, and nearly getting myself killed by two engineers, an ml turret, and a bunch of walls before rescue arrived, only seconds before it was too late.) After the northeast was seized, the Brenodi were squashed systematically in both games. It's probably because the BE were incompetent in both games, but I also think most of the map is attackable from the north, but not the south, making a northern position essential if you want to win the map.
that ties in nicely with my own observations, where the NF tried to push from the opposite corner, the South-west, and got utterly devastated. Still not sure if that indicates either side is at an advantage, though.
This map should be turned into escort style conquest, cut and paste some of the roads together to make it one long linear map, add another level and some more sideways and its gonna be kickass
One BIG issue I have found: The refinery in the very bottom south west gives access to a mountain overlooking the NF starting base, where BE frequently will mortar and rocket spam from. It is damn near impossible for NF to get up there, short of breaking through to that refinery (which normally has a barracks at it and a whole freaking base nearby). Either access to this point needs to be easier from the NF side, or it needs to be unclimbable.
That is one of the few mountains that will be closed off. However arty and the like still will be able to fire over it.
Alright, time to revive this tread. Finaly working on RC2 for real this time. I've, Fixed 3D Skybox. Fixed holes in ground. Smoothed Over Displacement in some areas. Fixed both middle bridges. I'm going to, Fix Alpha. (Make it grassy/rockey where it should be so.) Fix the small hut. Work more on Displacements. Add a res. file Redo Mini-map, with WATER! The question for you all is, what did I miss? Also, GIVE ME FEEDBACK!
you should make it more obvious which hills you can and can not climb, make climbable hills easier tog et up nd non-climbable hills impossible to get up. this may not be a major issue with this map but im sure ive had problems in at least a couple of places.
I've played this map maybe five times and I have a few things to say about it. First of off, the map looks really really sexy. I love the textures, I love the models, I love how everything looks. It looks like a map straight out of a AAA RPG title. Unfortunately.... the game play on the map isn't very fun at all. It's very large, and for its size, very difficult to maneuver. There's really only 4 places where you can establish a base with a VF and maybe another 2-3 places on top of that where you can stick in a barracks. This leads to extremely linear gameplay (not Slaughtered linear, but damn close). The map also seems unbalanced to me. If BE rushes NE and middle on foot and captures both of those locations, they get access to the SE refinery and basically 3/4ths of the map. If NF manages to push BE out of center, BE still gets to sit on a hill and rocket spam that base until it goes down. North East, on the other hand, is far far better defended with only a narrow road approach that is a very effective chokepoint, and a lake that only infantry can traverse -- assuming they don't get sniped out of the water from miles away. This is the kind of map where everything is determined in the first 3-4 minutes of the map. Whoever places down some luckily bases first and manages to defend them (and defense isn't that difficult -- it's a long walk from any nearby friendly permanent base and hard to hide an APC somewhere within walking distance that won't get it show to heck and back.) What I'd like would to have are smoother and wider roads. More flat terrain to establish bases (I've never been quite able to place a barracks, for example, just south of the lake just north east of the NF base and the refinery there) and more approaches to bases (such as north east).