I have been busy converting CraterMA to AH III format and the current version is attached to this post. I'd be interested to hear players' ideas and opinions, good or bad, on the map. Also any framerate issues, rock textures seem to cause slow downs in the game and there are quite a lot of those on this map.
To use the map navigate to your beta folder and put the file craterma.res in the ahterr folder. Then create the folder chconfig/craterma and put the files craterma.awa and craterma overcast.awa in it. The craterma.awa file is the default weather system which has a number of isolated weather fronts scattered across the map while craterma overcast.awa is an alternative system with a single overcast layer across the whole map. You can access this by typing ".sweath craterma overcast" into the radio bar.
I have made some changes to the map from the AH II version:
1. Moved the spawn points a little closer to the fields, they were about 3.25 miles before, now they are mostly 3 miles out.
2. Moved most of the strats nearer to the coast and each one close to a V base. The idea is to give each of the strats some radar coverage. Also all the strats bar the city are within reach of the outer spawn routes running across the map. Maybe the chance of blowing up a factory or some trains might tempt a few GVers out of TT now and again.
3. Changed some of the airfields to the new super large type. The starting position for the map now has a choice of two small, one mid and one super large airfield per front line, rather than all small fields. Possibly the large fields might get bypassed by attackers.
4. Changed some of the small V bases to the new larger type.
5. Added five of the new flak bases per side. There are two flanking each HQ and city, plus one per side in tank town. These bases are all uncapturable and online only the Fi 156 can up from one. I did some offline tests for this arrangement by running a set of Lancs over the city and HQ with their four flak bases. It took four passes before I lost a plane and prior to that I was only hit one other time. If you want to duplicate this I have left a bomber spawn active for testing, which is accessed by selecting the SE spawn button at A1. Adding these 15 extra bases will increase the online map win requirement from 7 enemy fields per side to 8.
6. Revised the field layout in tank town. This was necessary since AH III has a new restriction on how fields can be spaced. Also I didn't like the way players were climbing the canyon walls to overlook everyone so I have bordered the fighting area with water this time.
There are currently no roads or railways etc on the map, since HTC hasn't done those yet. I am hoping to be able to incorporate the forthcoming river supply routes and bridges into GV spawn routes and tank town, which should add something a bit different to the map.
