Blodir's maps

[speed2]

#maphype
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2eqw3pd6gw0p0k0/Screenshot%202015-02-14%2023.31.44.png?dl=0

such a long time already... when can we expect this?

[Tokyto]

Yeah what the hell man, we are waiting for you to finnish(haha) it for like 3 years now. Do you think that when you are doing something for free you don't have any responsibility???

U forced me to it!!! I will have to kidnap your dog if you dont finnish(haha) it in next 2 weeks!

[Blodir]

One beautiful day...

It's about 90% done btw, just no inspiration to finish it.

[Blodir]

Thx to HZH for poster

[KD7BCH]

Feedback...

Too much reclaim in the beginning. I personally do not like the small mountain right next to the player spawn on the south of the map. It makes it unnecessarily difficult building your base around a visual landmark feature. There isn't enough land area which is unreachable by the sea, probably by design but it just sucks during sea bombardment when one side invaringly gets the upper hand on the sea. Whichever team gets the center island gets control of the sea shortly after, because there is too much mass on the center island. Not reclaim mass but too many Mexes. Each starting position also feels like it has too much MEX points too.

[Vee]

I really like this map because each player is more or less equal and can do different strategies. Some start positions are much better than others though. One player has two hydros, one of which is very close, and several big rocks, and is in a protected position. On another spot the hydro is very far, and you have only one hydro, and no big rocks, and you're exposed. It would be nice if the positions were more balanced, then people can't stack the game as much by putting their good players on an OP spot and putting the enemy good players on a crap spot. Because of the necessity to drop the middle island the start positions are extra important because it affects transport timing.

[Blodir]

Feedback...

Too much reclaim in the beginning. I personally do not like the small mountain right next to the player spawn on the south of the map. It makes it unnecessarily difficult building your base around a visual landmark feature. There isn't enough land area which is unreachable by the sea, probably by design but it just sucks during sea bombardment when one side invaringly gets the upper hand on the sea. Whichever team gets the center island gets control of the sea shortly after, because there is too much mass on the center island. Not reclaim mass but too many Mexes. Each starting position also feels like it has too much MEX points too.

The amount of mexes and reclaim is there simply to boost up the speed of the game. With lower amount of mexes and reclaim it will take a longer amount of time for the game to progress, and given this is a 20x20 map I don't want to make it any slower. I agree that the ground could've been a bit more even for more build space...

The mass on middle island is quite easily defendable and I don't see any problem there. Island should have a very real impact on the game, and so far I feel like I've hit a pretty good spot with it.

I really like this map because each player is more or less equal and can do different strategies. Some start positions are much better than others though. One player has two hydros, one of which is very close, and several big rocks, and is in a protected position. On another spot the hydro is very far, and you have only one hydro, and no big rocks, and you're exposed. It would be nice if the positions were more balanced, then people can't stack the game as much by putting their good players on an OP spot and putting the enemy good players on a crap spot. Because of the necessity to drop the middle island the start positions are extra important because it affects transport timing.

I am actually quite concerned with the topright/bottomleft position. It has the advantage of being extremely tree reclaim heavy and having some extra mexes on main island, but many of the mexes are simply too far out and extremely difficult to defend.

Though some spots being better than others doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing: it encourages teamwork.

I will definitely pay more attention to spot balance on my next map though..
speaking of which I was working on another map earlier today https://www.dropbox.com/s/b5611nm22hx9kb8/Screenshot%202015-05-15%2009.13.32.png?dl=0

Thanks for the comments

[IceDreamer]

I like the map, but there are some things I would change.

I think the prevelance of "The Air Player" is an absolute curse on the game, and should be discouraged, not encouraged, by mapmakers. There should be no "Air Slot", everyone should be vulnerable to raiding, everyone should have to help out their mates, and everyone should take responsibilities for issues. If one player goes Air for the team, it should be at the cost of a ground vulnerability the rest of the team have to help out for in return.

There's too much reclaim overall

The land is too vulnerable to Navy, but I solidly believe this is not a fault with the map, but with the fact that there is no such thing as a land-mounted defense against navy right now. With better T2 Static Arty and better Torp Launchers, which should both be a thing IMO, this would change things around

I'd like to see some Mex on the outskirts, away from navy fire, only accessible by drops.

Aside from this, excellent map.

[Blodir]

Having an air player in a teamgame map is an absolute necessity. I'm saying this as someone who absolutely hates the current air metagame. One player from each team must rush t3 air ASAP or they risk their whole team dying to strats in 15 minutes. Sorry, this has nothing to do with map design and everything to do with game balance. Having an airspot simply makes it clear for everyone who is the unfortunate being that should be rushing t3 air so that we avoid some confusion.

[IceDreamer]

I disagree massively. If NOBODY has the safety to rush strats then this simply isn't an issue. Someone decides to rush strats when there is no safe spot, you scout it, and you snipe their E production, or swarm them with T1. Rushing strats, which is the problem, is an enormous risk any time you're not in a super-safe, super eco map position. It should be hard to pull off without being killed. Your team need to support you. But it's high risk because the reward is massive. The only time this doesn't happen is when the guy rushing strats is much too safe.

The meta has arisen from map design, not strictly game balance. You don't see stratrush on maps where every player is vulnerable to raiding right from the beginning, there are just so few of these that people don't realize it.