Good news everyone! I didn't make a strategically challenging map this time like i normally prefer as a fan of the RTS genre. In fact, in accordance with the average IQ of the empires playerbase, i made a brand new, very small dumb people map called emp_callofduty. The map features: - next to no strategy at all: at start you can go north or south ... and that's the only decission anyone will ever make - one enormous chokepoint, so don't fear that dynamic gameplay might be knocking on your door demanding that you actually use your brains to solve problems ... there won't be any - bad lighting and color scheme - no details on the displacements at all - a lot of stretched and unaligned textures, which works out great since dumb people actually think of these as details, so you can scratch the previous feature Even more importantly i probably succeeded in my goal of keeping all long time veterans happy by giving them reasons to complain by: - making the layout unbalanced - not putting restricts on the cliffs - setting the res income wrong - not adding invisible walls to block artillery shells - not providing enough build space - yet also not providing enough infantry cover - yet also not providing enough open space for vehicles (i'm proud i have managed to succeed with all three of these goals at the same time) - and many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many more including but not limited to incorrect files breaking the map for anyone trying to play it So here you go: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/234836/mapping/emp_cod/emp_cod.rar Screeny: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/234836/mapping/emp_cod/emp_cod0000.jpg Also a sneakpeak from my next brand new map, to be released next week called emp_line, which features absolutely NO STRATEGY AT ALL: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/234836/mapping/emp_cod/line.jpg Enjoy !!
Yeah if all goes like planned, it should be the most complained about and most played map of all times Unless ... emp_line gets the first price
We already have had a map like emp_line, it was called rainbowroad and then there was another map called emp_gorge or something
so.. someones apparently hugely butthurt. Cyber, there is also emp_hobbes.. It makes oasis and railroad seem good.
Yeah but rainbowroad didn't kill the playerbase subtle enough so people hate it now With emp_line the goal is to kill the playerbase equally as effective, while making everyone think it's actually an examplanary map bringing out the best of empires emp_gorge actually had ladders going down there didn't it? if so that's way too complex for most people's brains to cope with. If it didn't, i blame uglyness. You can go too far with that.
Damnit!! I knew i needed Jephir for something ... That's what happens when you don't immediately write down tasks that have to be done the moment you think of them
Needs bridges, tunnels, walkways, elevators, escalators, rope bridges, poles, ladders, trampolines - to access the extremely complex trench system in the middle of the map which ideally will have no flag point or refinery. Perhaps a deer stand in the center that you can HMG prone frm and see the whole battlefield.
Ladders. Just that. We can never have enough of them. They give attackers a fair chance, as they cannot be camped, abused and can be climbed fast by multiple people at once. Maps with lots of ladders are the best ones. Fuck duststorm and canyon and their simplicity, ugliness and fun. Ladders for the people! Ladders for everyone!
You laugh Silk, but this is a really simple but useful design for low playercount, i.e. less than 14 players. Honestly, I get why you get pissy Silk, I do understand it. The reason Empires always boils down to "Alpha North, Bravo Mid, Charlie South" is because commanders lack the tools to direct the players. We're trying our best to fix that, but it's really nothing to do with the maps. More complex maps are great, but as a commander, I have a nightmare telling people where I want them to go on Chain. I know what I want them to do, and I know how I want them to do it, but I really struggle to convey that to the players. That's the problem with Empires in general when it comes to high level strategy, and it's why you only really see it in scrims. We are going to work towards improving the commander's ability to direct the players, so just hold on until that happens, and then we can start seeing an increase in the complexity of maps. It is worth mentioning Silk that the best battle lines are the ones done by the players using walls and such, they're done dynamically, on the fly. You'll have to excuse the terrible mspaint skills, but I did this a year or 2 ago, just to explain how simple a low playercount map has to be to actually function properly. It might look dumb, but it would be functional.
I like this desing, it's absolutely biased towards one side, a common feature among popular emp maps.
Yes sure this certainly has to do with it. The tactical map that ... that guy (sorry guy) made for comms to actually draw their plans on the minimap alone would be very welcome. And for me personally i'd like some voice hierarchy where you can check boxes or something to hear only the people that actually guide all the minions through the map, cause right now i have no idea if someone was actually speaking to me at all or if i should even listen to him - own squadmembers (checked) - own squadleader (checked) - other squadleaders (muted, unless i'm a squadleader myself in which case checked) - everyone (muted) (commander always heard by everyone) A problem equally as big is playercount. Midbridge, Chain, Mvalley, ... with 30 players is just not what it should be. With 48 however .. Still it's not all about that though. Last example and why i made this map was the scrim two days ago. This is where the best and most experienced players of 7 years of empires come together to show how good this game can be. The map can easily be decided in advance and teams can discuss tactics hours before the actual game. But like any pub game we played coast (an oval with 1 line through it), and then for the next map canyon won the votes (just an oval). That's just what the average empires player wants to be honest, and not fixed by giving the comm more clear and better ways to communicate. Most players just don't like to strategize, and i admit that's nothing more than personal taste of which i can't really complain. I wouldn't be so annoyed about this if there was another rts game in which up to 64 real people take the roles of the units, but this is actually the only game that offers this in a way i like. So now it feels like the perfect game is so close, i just can't get at it.
Yet despite empires' uniqueness we only peak at 40 players in total on late evenings and most of the time there is less than 15 players. I miss the days when empires was well populated all day every day. Those days were awesome but now most of the time its just the same few players bitching and trolling each and not playing the game properly. When it's a full server and everyone plays properly this is the best game ever but the rest of the time it's just mediocre. If you look at the source mods that are the most popular it's usually the ones with more simple gameplay (not that I am endorsing dumbing down empires I just wish it was more popular and people would play it like they used to back in 2008)....
True enough I never understood why empires isn't much more popular than it is. Especially going through the list of what passes as a "new game" these days.
Back in the day people said it was because of a steep learning curve. For me, except for comming, the game is as simple as the next multiplayer fps. Recent changes only make it easier. There is also the fact that community is known for being very vocal when commenting pretty anythin mod related. Also, people like hsm, daruck, blakkcooper, while funny as fuck to some and a major source of injokes, are probably absolutely irritating to newcomers. Noone likes being called an idiot by strangers. /rant