New Main Arena Maps

[Babalonian]

Personally, I'd like the map auto-reset every day, maybe every 12 hours. Would you?

IMHO 60-72 hours I think is a good amount of time for a map to get mulled over by a few hundred participants. 

But, I don't think there are more than half a dozen maps in the rotation currently though, so then a faster rotation would bring up the issue (sooner or later) of needing more maps to rotate through.  It's a fine balance more than anything I think.

[TDeacon]

nooo

vbases crumble vs cv groups. and airbase vs cv is more fights too.

I don't really have a preference as to whether the "chain" of vBases is on the coast, or one in from the coast.  However, I would like to see the "chained" vBases, for reasons I describe above. 

With respect to your second comment, Fester, do you really enjoy fighting over CVs, where if you fly above 3K you get blasted out of the sky by puffy ack?  

MH

[TDeacon]

if you want more vbases just add 1 per country(or more with even number for each country) between the airbases as a fight anchor or somthing like that.

nothing anchors a furball and adds in bombers like a vbase between airbases.

True, but if you read my posts above, you will see that I am trying to convince the map makers to provide areas where GVs can fight each other, without constantly being pounded by bombers.  With my proposal, the air-to-ground guys will still get to bomb GVs where GVs attack air bases, and where they choose to fly to vBases (which IMHO should be made somewhat difficult for them to do, as in much of Compello).  In turn, the GV guys will have some chance at fighting each other with the “chained” vBases, without constant air presence.  So both groups get something.  Your suggestion above sounds very air-to-ground-centric to me.  

Thus, it’s not a question of "more" vBases, but a question of how they are connected.  The "chained" vBases, as in Compello and Grinder, tend to ensure that there are adjacent opposing vBases, no matter where the front line currently is.  While you get "fights" when you attack an air base with GVs, it is normally an excercise in masochism for the GVs, due to the bomb-rinse-and-repeat cycle from the nearby air base.  The "chained" vBase pattern allows one to spawn to an enemy vBase instead of an enemy air base, thus promoting better (not constantly under attack by aircraft) GV-to-GV fights for those who prefer this.  

I would hope that you would take these factors into consideration for your new terrain, and I would like to discuss this further with you if you are not doing so.  

MH

[bustr]

Is there a reason other than ease of reseting the map and generating constant sea and land air combat action that the vBases are a string of pearls around the coast? Aside from Crater Town in the center to protect GV fights. There looks to be room for a second string of 12 pearls about midway inland to the volcano caldera base of vBases if thats TDeacon's spawn relationship description.

Otherwise this is one of the most Air Combat centric maps I've seen in awhile. Thank you for not placing vBases in the canyons of those country boarder ranges while allowing easy canyon flight access through them. Late nights on Trinity everyone seems to devolve into GV fights in those high canyon bases with 20k+ peaks all around.

[Greebo]

The main reason for putting the V bases around the coast on my map was so that the spawn route ended at the HQ while skirting the uncapturable bases.

I have worked out a way to get five V base long spawn routes from each border to each central port and the HQ. These routes will be inland except for the last couple of bases. It will also increase the total number of fields on the map to 120, which should make the map harder to win.

[icepac]

Schweet!   I like that.

[SmokinLoon]

Greebo- did I read that right that you are going to put GV SP's to the industrial complexes and HQ's???     

That would be a great time doing battle in and around the complexes.  LOTS of opportunity there for some major gv battles.   

[Greebo]

Each of the HQs have spawns from two V bases and one uncapturable airbase. As an added bonus the HQ's train tracks run across the routes in from the SPs, so you can blow up some trains if you like.

I vaguely recall HTC saying that they didn't want spawns into the city complex so I didn't put any into there. That complex is too big to generate fights really anyway, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack trying to find another GV there.

[SmokinLoon]

Any chance of you taking that exact map and painting it white?      or different shades of tan, brown, and other desert earth tones???   

[kvuo75]

Each of the HQs have spawns from two V bases and one uncapturable airbase. As an added bonus the HQ's train tracks run across the routes in from the SPs, so you can blow up some trains if you like.

I vaguely recall HTC saying that they didn't want spawns into the city complex so I didn't put any into there. That complex is too big to generate fights really anyway, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack trying to find another GV there.

plus the ack destroys you very quickly.. the west country on ndisles has a vbase pretty close, we drove to the city a few times.. the ack towers are deadly to gv's.

[TDeacon]

I'll have a look to see if making all the coastal bases V fields is practical. I'd need to add some offshore island airfields so the CVs have something to interact with.

Hi Greebo,

I just looked at your latest map iteration.  Was there some reason why you decided to not implement the "chained vBase" suggestion?  As it stands, you have alternating vBases and air bases.  Although I'm sure your terrain will be great for air and air-to-ground battles, as it stands, I fear that it won't be much fun for GV-versus-GV.  

A good analogy for ground attack aircraft showing up at a GV battle is this:  You have 2 10-year-olds boxing.  Part way through, an adult sneaks up with a baseball bat, and whacks one of the 10-year-olds on the head.  Perhaps if the kid sees the adult in time, he may be able to dodge or attempt to defend himself for awhile, but then while he is distracted the other kid decks him.  In either case, game over…

We currently have maps where the above scenario is ubiquitous (Tagma), and maps where GV-versus-GV can occur in relative isolation (Compello).  In the latter case, this is achieved with continuous chained vBases, which are not too easy to fly attack aircraft to.   The Compello situation wouldn’t work if either of those 2 elements (chained, and not-too-easy) were missing.  

MH

[Greebo]

I'm working on a revision to the map with chained V bases. I'll post in here when it is done and uploaded to the server.

I don't think it is possible to make a good looking snow or desert terrain without changing lots of textures. HTC do not like that for MA terrains as it makes the base terrain file much larger.

[The Fugitive]

I'm working on a revision to the map with chained V bases. I'll post in here when it is done and uploaded to the server.

I don't think it is possible to make a good looking snow or desert terrain without changing lots of textures. HTC do not like that for MA terrains as it makes the base terrain file much larger.

Greebo, don't make changes on your map based on a single players ideas..... other than your own of course. 

Meaning no disrespect to TDeacon but what does he know about map lay-out? He may have ides, but who's to say their right. Your the designer. YOU decide what you want. I'm sure you had an idea of how the map would play out. Tweaking the SP is a good compromise, but I don't think reworking the whole map to please one guy is a good idea. What are you going to do when the guy shows up and complains about GV bases being in a chain?

Go with the idea you had. Make changes because YOU want to, not because someone else tells you to.

[Greebo]

I don't change the map for every suggestion I get but  Citabria, Easyscor and others have also made good suggestions I have implemented. TDeacon's input is useful in letting me see a GVer's perspective on things. I'd like the map to be popular with as many player styles as possible, not just furballers like me.

[Greebo]

I've uploaded the latest version of the terrain to the server. This has V base chains and an increased field count of 120, which should mean 8 fields from each of the other countries now need to be captured in order to win the war.