Author Topic: What Makes A Good Map (Read 822 times)

mussie · « **on:** November 10, 2005, 05:02:27 AM »

Just a though here ppl

A while back maybe 7 of 8 months I got in my first knife fight, it was between me in an LA 5 or 7 I cant remeber and yeah I know it was a bad choice of plane but I was so green I needed mowing, the other guy was in a Spit or maybe a yak (been a while)

Anyway we were fighting in a valley between two or three big arse hills.
it was real intense you know the sort of stuff, going between trees as we pulled out of manuvers that were right on the edge of the envelope (hey well thats how it felt)

(I have the film some where and will have to find it )

Now my point is that I only got in the knife fight cause I was low and passing through the valley created by the hills.

Like I said I was very green and did not even realise that there were different planes for different fighting styles, hell I did not really understand the difference between B&Z and Turn Fighting at that stage...

But I degress, What I was asking is... What makes a good map for you?

That valley made my day because it made the knife fight happen, no where to run sort of thing.

~~All~~

Schatzi · « **Reply #1 on:** November 10, 2005, 06:27:49 AM »

Actually i think its less the map and more Who you meet. Ive had good nights on all maps, and ive had bad nights on all maps.

True, on maps where the fields are very far betwee, im less likely to hop in a Mk1 and go hunting. I might do more of the Bore&Zoom, pass-extend game in a faster ride. And then, maybe not

.

mipoikel · « **Reply #2 on:** November 10, 2005, 07:00:47 AM »

Old, small maps are the best for me. Big maps are frustrating.

Ghosth · « **Reply #3 on:** November 10, 2005, 07:07:33 AM »

A good map is a balance of many factors. Some mountains & valleys, some rolling ground for GV action.

Personally I'd like to see more rivers & bridges. They become natural choke points and funnels. The bridges should also be able to be destroyed. Not easily, not by a single person in one plane. but possible with 2 or 3 people. It should also rebuild itself after an hour.

Max · « **Reply #4 on:** November 10, 2005, 07:49:21 AM »

I enjoyed the canyon fights of Pizza but didn't care much for the brown desert like ground color. Mindinao is fun but the country starting with the northwest tri-sector always has an advantage. Trinity is fun for GV'ers but the mountains are a wee bit hi. I suppose the map I like best so far is Donut...just cause I'm not a huge fan of water-maps.

Dmdmax

lazs2 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 10, 2005, 07:50:38 AM »

no map is any good if the fields are too far apart.

mussie · « **Reply #6 on:** November 10, 2005, 08:09:20 AM »

canyon fights Man that would have rocked....

I played Pizza offline a couple of years ago when I first thought about playing AH, pitty it took me till this year to actually start playing

MMMM Pizza

ghi · « **Reply #7 on:** November 10, 2005, 08:16:34 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by mussie
canyon fights Man that would have rocked....

I played Pizza offline a couple of years ago when I first thought about playing AH, pitty it took me till this year to actually start playing

MMMM Pizza

on top of that, Pizza was the only map that didn't have the bases/teams divided in 120degrees ungle, i like that ideea better

Max · « **Reply #8 on:** November 10, 2005, 08:56:22 AM »

Funny thing was....EVERYONE and their sister HATED pizza. HTC prolly pulled it out of rotation to quell the whining. I for one would love to see it back again.

DmdMax

and yes, the canyon fights were a BLAST! Woe was he who dove in with too much E

mars01 · « **Reply #9 on:** November 10, 2005, 09:40:42 AM »

Pizza Crap had about 2% cool features and 98% boredom. The alts and canyons were cool, but the fields were way to far apart and the map was way too big.

I think the Fester Map is the best benchmark. It has a good mix of close bases and boredom bases for those that like that.

IMO a good map will always have a good balance between field spacing. Follow that and you can do just about anything else you want with it. Playability should always take precedence over eye candy. The map should also create as much fighting as possible so that battles would rage on rather than make for easy base captures.

That is one thing that has always cracked me up when guys talk about how it was too hard to take a base and that they had to fight too much.

Isn't that the point?

Wadke · « **Reply #10 on:** November 10, 2005, 11:29:26 AM »

DONUT is the best!!!

SuperDud · « **Reply #11 on:** November 10, 2005, 11:38:13 AM »

Unleash the donut!!!!

SkyRock · « **Reply #12 on:** November 10, 2005, 11:45:06 AM »

Krispy Kreme anyone? Donut rules!

indy007 · « **Reply #13 on:** November 10, 2005, 12:04:45 PM »

Kinda subjective, but imho a good map needs...

Number of bases should be about 50-60 per side. Not so many that the fronts are spread thin, but enough to keep the hordes from clumping up.

A furball pit in the middle. 2 or 3 bases per side, 5k elevation descending into a 0k pit. 25x25 miles seems to work okay. Maybe alittle bigger.

A tank town with a city in the middle. Can't remember the map name that has it, but I like it. I wish you could put it on it's own seperate island far far away from the 3 sides, but then it'd be unbalanced because somebody would be closest to show up in lanc's. Remove the map room on the main base for each side so the fight can't be ended by some dweeb. Add an airbase for each side only capable of upping IL2s, Ju87s, & the 37mm hurri for flavor. Would actually get people to bring an ostie or 2 with them.

Linear strings of bases on the front lines all close together, mixed gv & airbases. Just need 1 string for Rook vs Knight, 1 for Knight vs Bish, etc. Helps to put them in a canyon for head to head fights. A river system to run PT boats down through the canyons would be great also. End the string with a base that can up 163s (or not.. but I think it'd be cool... definately could deter some lankstukas).

Surround the entire map with water and drop in 4 ports per side in closely spaced pairs. I like being able to merge fleets

After the main strings, some nice, spread out mixed airfields like we see alot of now for the good, traditional horde play we all take part in but never admit to. Stick the factories & HQ in here, and it's almost perfect.

Mustaine · « **Reply #14 on:** November 10, 2005, 01:25:52 PM »

i have the plan in my head for the "ultimate" map... and i really think almost everyone would love it.

if i could only work the TE better, never was good at figuring that kind of stuff out.

making the hills and mountians si why i gave up.

anyway, imagine FESTERMA inversed. the outter edge is 10k+ mountians. the center is a small ocean, islands like NDISLES abound, in the middle is a tank town like on TRINITY. the mid part around the ocean and the mountians is rolling hills like MINDANAO.

there are rivers going through the middle of each country, that a CV can traverse. on the outter edge of the map are the HQ's close to sore enough to actually be shelled by CV's if the enemy gets the CV that close.

on the map the bases in the middle are nice and close, and all mostly below 1.5k

the "middle ring" bases are a bit further apart, and average 3.5k alt

the "outter ring" bases are all above 8k in the mountians and at least 2 sectors apart. they are strategically very significant, as you can launch attacks from above to all the middle / lower bases. bomber guys would have a starting point, so they wouldnt have to grab alt as long, and be able to bomb the middle ring, along with all the strats.

this gives the land grabbers something really important to go for, but hard to capture at the same time.

the middle "furball" area has all the stuff you'd want, islands, CV's, low bases, close bases, all that.

the lowlands just on shore would be GV deserts, and put some space between the center and the "middle ring" there would be airbases in the area, but not many.

oh well, that was my dream until i found i know **** about math and making elevation files for the TE