I had a great idea... Why not have a thread where all of the mappers around here post links to the great tutorial sites that they know about? The tutorials don't have to be Empires related, they just need to be useful to the beginner and advanced hammer user. I'll start things off with this great site which I stumbled upon a while back: http://gamewag.com/hl2.html I look forward to finding out about some great new tutorial sites!
MY website it mostly for HL1 mapping, but there's some HL2 stuff too. The great big tutorial teaches you everything you need to know to make your first functioning HL1 map (and no, it's not just a hollow cube). While it is for HL1, the basic mapping is pretty much identical to Source. Then there are Source-specific tutorials such as the entity system, using props, glass, camera, turrets and stuff. http://hlmmaps.freespaces.com/tutorials.html
http://www.iwannamap.com/index.php http://www.interlopers.net/index.php?page=tutorials.htm http://www.snarkpit.net/
Or, you could use the valve mappping forums list, or even ask for help there.. http://www.chatbear.com/board.plm?a=viewthread&t=600,1119639957,1163&id=871881&b=4989&v=flatold
